Speaker 1: Phil shot wos your son picked up the touchdown Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Jerry bar close to the word side to McKenzie. McKenzie
Speaker 1: runs in for the score. Touchdown Buffalo again, Maccolmcubler. It
Speaker 1: wasn't the flunk at this time. He picked it right
Speaker 1: out of the air. He started, He got his hand
Speaker 1: in the Britain and raised himself along the sun lines
Speaker 1: and he's inside the ptady long before Hall and takes
Speaker 1: him down. Malcolm Butler shows up. Ryan Tannehill shows up,
Speaker 1: especially in the red zone. The Tennessee Titans show up
Speaker 1: on Tuesday Night in Nashville a forty two to sixteen
Speaker 1: win over the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills. Dan Hans is
Speaker 1: here along with the Great Mark Cessler. We have a
Speaker 1: full a t N Tuesday show coming up right after
Speaker 1: this with a very special guest as well as Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna start here with Tuesday Night Football and
Speaker 1: some other late breaking news that occurred during the game. Um, Mark,
Speaker 1: did you see this coming? Did you see the Titans
Speaker 1: rolling up a forty burger on the Bills? Who look
Speaker 1: they look like the team that had a COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: nightmare with layoffs and closed facilities and long stretches without play.
Speaker 1: Uh not the Titans. No, I didn't see it coming.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I think that if you're someone that
Speaker 1: just observes football, how much do we know whether or
Speaker 1: not practice time is a key indicator of success. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying you never practice. But I think that
Speaker 1: the Bills having to split attention and I'm talking like
Speaker 1: deep staff members players studying tape between the Titans and
Speaker 1: Chiefs might have been a bigger factor. But when the
Speaker 1: game started night, I mean, this game to me is
Speaker 1: about mistakes by Josh Allen that we haven't really seen
Speaker 1: up to this point. Um. They came home to roost tonight.
Speaker 1: The first interception was not on him, that was a
Speaker 1: deflected ball. The second one, though, was and and Ryan
Speaker 1: Tannehill kind of another notch in the belt of saying
Speaker 1: for all of us, um, and I'm included in that
Speaker 1: the question whether the offseason and into this season would
Speaker 1: have been a path that showed us that Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: last year was an aberration. From the rest of his career,
Speaker 1: He's not going to reach those statistical heights, but he
Speaker 1: really fits in this offense. He is a tough minded quarterback,
Speaker 1: and we see it with his runs tonight. We see
Speaker 1: with him blasting for a first down that it didn't
Speaker 1: seal the game, it just further sealed the game late
Speaker 1: late on his pinpoint passes. Their play action attack under
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith, who probably um generated about fifteen head coaching
Speaker 1: interviews during this game because it was on national TV.
Speaker 1: Because for some reason, Arthur Smith is still a little
Speaker 1: under the radar. And I think it's about the Bills defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Smith, Yeah, the Arthur Smith name. It feels is
Speaker 1: that the future of offense. I don't know, it feels like, um,
Speaker 1: like a paint company. I get that, Like it's not
Speaker 1: it's not something that sticks out. But the Bill's defense,
Speaker 1: you know we I think we came into the year
Speaker 1: thinking the Titans defense might be the part of that
Speaker 1: team that kind of lacks identity. Well tonight they really
Speaker 1: they put forward a great performance and caused havoc for
Speaker 1: the Bills where the Bill's defense up the middle, John
Speaker 1: Whu Smith, other guys just being victimized. And I'd be
Speaker 1: real concerned about Buffalo's defense because teams are gonna look
Speaker 1: at this and say, we're going to attack them. This way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Buffalo played without three starters or Davious White, Matt Milano,
Speaker 1: Levi Wallace. But you know that is not individual to
Speaker 1: the Bills. You know, once you get this deep into
Speaker 1: a season, especially the season, everyone is missing key guys
Speaker 1: and this has been a kind of an issue for
Speaker 1: them for the entire season. That's been papered over by
Speaker 1: Josh Down and a tremendous offense that the defense hadn't
Speaker 1: been close to their levels of last year and the
Speaker 1: year before that. You thought maybe they were making progress
Speaker 1: on that front last week against the Raiders when they
Speaker 1: had a really nice second half, but again they struggled here.
Speaker 1: Not so much when you look at the yardage, because
Speaker 1: I think the Bills actually outgained the Titans in this game.
Speaker 1: And the Titans, yeah, finished with thirty four total yards,
Speaker 1: which is not a big number, but the Titans killed
Speaker 1: him in the red zone that they got six opportunities
Speaker 1: inside the Bills twenty they scored six touchdowns, and that
Speaker 1: is being been the um the most devastating aspect of
Speaker 1: this Titans offense since Ryan Townehill got to town and
Speaker 1: got in the lineup, which is their ability not to
Speaker 1: settle for field goals or shoot themselves in the foot
Speaker 1: and have turnovers inside the twenty. They scored touchdowns and
Speaker 1: you win games that way. And they did it again.
Speaker 1: So yeah, maybe Townhill doesn't lead the league and all
Speaker 1: these fancy um metrics that people love uh this year,
Speaker 1: but he certainly looks every bit the dude that's gonna
Speaker 1: make Lauren Tannehill up there and the bleachers proud and
Speaker 1: continue to lead the Titans. That this was their most
Speaker 1: balanced stuff into the season, and and it reminded you
Speaker 1: that they are a team to be reckoned with. I
Speaker 1: think they've kind of been under the radar because they
Speaker 1: didn't play in the dominant fashion earlier this season and
Speaker 1: the COVID stuff took over. This was a nice reminder
Speaker 1: for the Bills. I guess for me, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they had been so stellar this season that it was
Speaker 1: a little jarring to see them look so vulnerable. But
Speaker 1: it was also super weird situation for them too. So
Speaker 1: if people are going to start pulling out their hair
Speaker 1: saying the Bills are in deep trouble now, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to go that far. They have some things to
Speaker 1: work on, but this was a weird, weird week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's it's we have to look
Speaker 1: at a lot of these teams as a week to
Speaker 1: week proposition. This put both teams in a weird prep scenario.
Speaker 1: The I mean this like military operations. They want the
Speaker 1: regular season to look the same week after week. And
Speaker 1: you couldn't have thrown both out of their orbit more
Speaker 1: another person thrown out of their orbit. Um and this,
Speaker 1: you know, this isn't something that we necessarily celebrate because
Speaker 1: we've had the pleasure of working with this individual in
Speaker 1: the past. But Josh Norman Um was on what was
Speaker 1: victimized by one of the more rough and tumble stiff arms,
Speaker 1: uh courtesy of Derrick Henry. That you will see um
Speaker 1: in your lifetime as a football fan. But that kind
Speaker 1: of you know, and they didn't really I thought that's
Speaker 1: another thing about the Titans. Most people said, here's what
Speaker 1: you know, you haven't been able to practice. You're just
Speaker 1: gonna lean on the basics, just lean on Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: and have him just plow for three yards in this game.
Speaker 1: And they came out basically saying, no, we're actually gonna
Speaker 1: be a play action pass team. And Derrick Henry really
Speaker 1: didn't have a big role in this until there are
Speaker 1: a couple of key moments, but it wasn't a typical
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry games. So I give the Titans credit for um,
Speaker 1: you know, creativity, um on the fly in a tough situation.
Speaker 1: But I think the Bills were in a tough situation too.
Speaker 1: And I kind of got on my nerves to listen
Speaker 1: to the broadcast hyping up Tennessee's heroic fee over the
Speaker 1: Corona thing, because because from another angle, like and I,
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying that it wouldn't be human nature
Speaker 1: if we were in the same spot to want to
Speaker 1: go practice and you're young, you're thinking you're not gonna
Speaker 1: put us in a situation where we can't practice. I
Speaker 1: get the urge, But here's what happened. It happened, And
Speaker 1: there's people who are gonna say that shouldn't matter, but
Speaker 1: to be celebrated for it's the wrong message right now,
Speaker 1: because that put the league into a scenario that nearly
Speaker 1: melted the season had this carried over for weeks and
Speaker 1: weeks right and there's I believe an ongoing investigation by
Speaker 1: the Union and the NFL trying to figure out if
Speaker 1: the Titans violated major protocol. But you know, the J.
Speaker 1: Philey is the same guy that posed a prop in
Speaker 1: a prom picture, holding it like a a three fifty
Speaker 1: seven magnum um next to his daughter's prom date. So
Speaker 1: that's amongst other pictures on the internet, so you know,
Speaker 1: take it all with the grain of salt um. Alright,
Speaker 1: any other thoughts on that game? Mark, No, I think
Speaker 1: it's I. I'm with you though that I don't. We
Speaker 1: have to learn to not in this weird season, but
Speaker 1: really any NFL season. I'm not suddenly down on the Bills,
Speaker 1: are freaking out about the Bills. Let's see what happens
Speaker 1: a week from now. I think these are both really
Speaker 1: quality playoff teams with a lot to offer in a
Speaker 1: weird a f C. Yeah, the Bills get the Chiefs
Speaker 1: at home next week. That's an awesome game. Both teams
Speaker 1: coming off humbling losses, so one of those teams suddenly
Speaker 1: is going to be on a two game losing streak.
Speaker 1: And uh meanwhile, today's winning football team gets the Texans,
Speaker 1: so you get a nice little uh Houston matchup there
Speaker 1: with chance to put some more different distance in the
Speaker 1: a f C South from the reigning defending division champion
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans. Okay, this is where we plan to
Speaker 1: throw it to ourselves for the rest of the show.
Speaker 1: But then uh some At some point in the sec
Speaker 1: and half of the Tuesday Night game, the news came
Speaker 1: out the New York Jets. Oh, the New York Jets
Speaker 1: who signed Levy on Bell to a big free agent
Speaker 1: deal last March. I remember sitting on my couch, refreshing
Speaker 1: repeatedly my browser, waiting for Levy on Bell to make
Speaker 1: it official, and he did with a horrible like rap
Speaker 1: song I believe um where he he was spitting versus
Speaker 1: about joining the Jets or something. Uh. That was the
Speaker 1: peak of the Levy on Bell ere He struggled mightily
Speaker 1: in season one, with the Jets setting an all time
Speaker 1: franchise low for yards per carry uh with a minimum
Speaker 1: two attempts. UH started sparring with Adam Gates early and often,
Speaker 1: and again recently with some of his social behavior social
Speaker 1: media behavior. The Jets put him on the block after
Speaker 1: more shenatigans this weekend, and I guess the decision was made.
Speaker 1: There weren't going to get anything back for him. The
Speaker 1: team releases Levy on Bell on Tuesday Night. Here is
Speaker 1: a statement from general manager Joe Douglas. After having conversations
Speaker 1: with Leviyan and his agent and exploring potential trade options
Speaker 1: over the past couple of days, we have made the
Speaker 1: decision to release Levy on The Jets organization appreciate, appreciates
Speaker 1: Lebyan's efforts during his time here, and we know he
Speaker 1: worked hard to make significant contributions to this team. We
Speaker 1: believe this decision is in the best interests of both
Speaker 1: parties and wish him future success. Leveyan Bell two thousand
Speaker 1: nineteen to two thousand twenty Jetsonsion. Yeah, I just you know,
Speaker 1: I think if you if you want to look at
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas, is the is the one figure that you
Speaker 1: will march on into the future with the person that
Speaker 1: you believe in. I don't hate this move. I think
Speaker 1: that this was not going to get any better. We
Speaker 1: weren't going to suddenly get this great production out of
Speaker 1: Levy on Bill in a lost season for New York.
Speaker 1: There were some financials attached to this, some bonus is coming,
Speaker 1: some injury in injury guarantee for next year. Where I
Speaker 1: think if you look at it from the books standpoint, um,
Speaker 1: it's it's the right move. Uh. The thing that sticks
Speaker 1: out for me that Joe Douglas has to solve and
Speaker 1: figure out, and probably not for much longer because Adam
Speaker 1: Gays has gone. But this drumbeat of not getting along
Speaker 1: with your players, we're just not This isn't nineteen. I mean,
Speaker 1: the head coach is not afforded that kind of leverage
Speaker 1: to disenfranchise his star players and and and and you know,
Speaker 1: left and right, and while while not growing the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So I think we know what the problem is. We
Speaker 1: don't need to you know, harp on it. It's too
Speaker 1: easy and uncreative to kill the Jets at this point. Um,
Speaker 1: I think Joe Douglas made the right move from just
Speaker 1: where I sit, I think this thing was getting worse
Speaker 1: and worse, and you've got to find a coach in
Speaker 1: one that comes in and can work with young players,
Speaker 1: developed them. Um understand who twenty year olds and twenty
Speaker 1: one year olds are in this age today. And it's
Speaker 1: not just Adam Gaze will go, you know, lose endless
Speaker 1: games by double digits and still have the faith of
Speaker 1: the locker room. So it's clear what they have to do.
Speaker 1: And I think they made the right move, even though
Speaker 1: it's highly disappointing for Jets fans. Yeah, Bell was a
Speaker 1: net minus as a player, but everything else, you know,
Speaker 1: and he was a net minus as a locker room
Speaker 1: guy with some of the social media postings and the
Speaker 1: bowling night last year. Um, so he was kind of
Speaker 1: a knucklehead. But the Jets from the very beginning play
Speaker 1: this polarly as well. It was like a match made
Speaker 1: in hell. It was the Jets basically. Um. Somehow that
Speaker 1: information leaking early on in the marriage that Adam Gates
Speaker 1: didn't want him there, that this was a Mike mccagnet
Speaker 1: move before Joe Douglas and GM arrived, somehow that gets
Speaker 1: out the door. It should have never leaked out of
Speaker 1: the building in the first place, poisoning that relationship and
Speaker 1: then Bell not playing well pounded everything. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a bad look for the Jets, but it's been a
Speaker 1: bad look for Bell really for several years now, dating
Speaker 1: back to him sitting out this season. Uh, in some
Speaker 1: type of proud measure to stand up for other running backs.
Speaker 1: I think for leve Bell ultimately exactly exactly right. And
Speaker 1: let's just be real about that. If your love belt
Speaker 1: don't don't give me this song a dance because he's
Speaker 1: he has lowered the chances of the next star running
Speaker 1: back signing this kind of contract. I mean, unless it's
Speaker 1: a different type of human being, I just view this
Speaker 1: is like you know we all had in like six
Speaker 1: seventh grade, maybe in high school or college, Like you
Speaker 1: come off that relationship with the person that just captured
Speaker 1: your heart, your heartbroken, you're a mess, and you just
Speaker 1: immediately jump into the rebound relationship and there are like,
Speaker 1: there are some thrills in that because it's a different
Speaker 1: type of individual, new challenges, new thrills. But then suddenly
Speaker 1: you realize about pretty quickly into that about a month,
Speaker 1: that rebound relationships don't typically work, and this felt like
Speaker 1: one for love Bell and the Jets. You know, the
Speaker 1: problem was that love Bell was also you know, I've
Speaker 1: had one of these, the girlfriend that's cost you way
Speaker 1: more money than you have and you have a credit
Speaker 1: card to pay off after that relationship ends. So just
Speaker 1: avoid these situations. Let's home grow these players and start
Speaker 1: to draft running backs that can be easy on the
Speaker 1: books and a thrill for fans to watch, and who
Speaker 1: players who want to be with the new York Jets
Speaker 1: right and la Michael p Ryan, who is a draft
Speaker 1: pick and a guy that could be potentially a playmaker
Speaker 1: for them, and he has been. He didn't even get
Speaker 1: a touch this past week, so this is going to
Speaker 1: open up playing time for him. That's all the season
Speaker 1: is for the Jets, as too many have been in
Speaker 1: recent years, just trying to figure out what you have,
Speaker 1: who's part of the future, because there is no present
Speaker 1: for this organization right now. So Levian Bell is a
Speaker 1: free agent, will be interested to see if if he
Speaker 1: gets a nibble um and ends up on a team
Speaker 1: this season. I guess it could go either way, but
Speaker 1: we'll track that all right. So there you go, Tuesday
Speaker 1: Night Football in the books. Levian Bell is a at
Speaker 1: in the books. And now we get to the rest
Speaker 1: of the Tuesday edition of the Around the NFL Podcast
Speaker 1: with yes, a very special guest be Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: We'll make you feel bad we're not reading. Welcome to
Speaker 1: another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Dan Hans is coming to you from a room
Speaker 1: filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. You just
Speaker 1: heard the Tuesday Night football Recapit between the Bills and Titans,
Speaker 1: and now we have a whole slew of madness to
Speaker 1: dig into, uh in the rest of the NFL sphere,
Speaker 1: including Monday Night Football. But it's not just the three
Speaker 1: of us. Today's show, we have a very special guest,
Speaker 1: A Man's Bad, got a mortgage drinks the brown stuff
Speaker 1: that writes up is Pulidge. Then X beating Manton my
Speaker 1: not State Ballet got superple stub so cunter or Fando
Speaker 1: today he got so who are you kidding me? Connor?
Speaker 1: Or welcome back to me around the NFL podcast. That
Speaker 1: just made me think of how mad I was that
Speaker 1: I wasn't said to the Super Bowl that year, like
Speaker 1: I haven't, I haven't anything. Yeah, I haven't like addressed
Speaker 1: that feeling in a long time, and now I'm just
Speaker 1: like now I'm working through it again. Hello, It's good
Speaker 1: to be it was. It's funny. I was. I saw
Speaker 1: Bill Burr host SNL this weekend and I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't really familiar with a lot of his
Speaker 1: stand up work, so I've been watching one of his
Speaker 1: specials the last couple of nights. I keep falling asleep,
Speaker 1: but I have been enjoying them. And um, he talked
Speaker 1: about this, this one situation he was in where he
Speaker 1: was actually physically, um, sexually harassed by a woman during
Speaker 1: it some type of charity gig he was doing, and
Speaker 1: it was a pain that he kept with him for
Speaker 1: a long time. And then he learned that through meditation,
Speaker 1: and Bill Bird is kind of famous for being an
Speaker 1: angry guy, through meditation, he was able to let those
Speaker 1: slights and the things that have haunted him, uh, disappear
Speaker 1: in a way. And I thought to myself, Oh, that
Speaker 1: must be nice. That could never happen for me. Do
Speaker 1: you ever try a meditation? It's like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't mean to put it down, but during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: I think we all kind of explored something along those lines.
Speaker 1: And you just sit there thinking like I'm so mad
Speaker 1: that this isn't working, and you know, and and it
Speaker 1: just makes the whole situation even more frustrating. Mark, I
Speaker 1: have tried it. I mean, it's um. The thing that
Speaker 1: doesn't work for me is sitting alone in a quiet
Speaker 1: room because I just get too distracted by like trying
Speaker 1: to figure out like what a bird a is saying
Speaker 1: to bird bee outside the window. But if you use
Speaker 1: certain musical elements, um like HC frequency, it can take
Speaker 1: you into a very strange place. So I would recommend
Speaker 1: it to certain types of people. I gave it a shot.
Speaker 1: I gave it a shot in college, like in a
Speaker 1: dark room, you know, trying lots of different things. I remember,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't count if you wake up three days later.
Speaker 1: Now I was sober, I think, uh Connor. Of course,
Speaker 1: there's so much what a career Connors had, and it
Speaker 1: continues to thrive into his thirties, now into his mid
Speaker 1: edging into his late thirties. At this point, I would guess,
Speaker 1: am I right, h okay, you're still still baby face.
Speaker 1: I always forget how much younger Connor is than us
Speaker 1: because he's an old soul of sorts. But these days
Speaker 1: he used to be with us here at NFL Media. Uh.
Speaker 1: He has since gone on to uh s I dot
Speaker 1: com and he's a staff writer for Sports Illustrated on
Speaker 1: the Monday morning Quarterback. And you have a great podcast
Speaker 1: of your own, get a plug in right off the top,
Speaker 1: Connor for the pod that you do over at s I. Oh,
Speaker 1: thanks guys. Yeah. Jenny Frentis, who's wonderful senior writer s
Speaker 1: I and I co host the weak Side podcast, which
Speaker 1: we just got our own feed. We broke away from
Speaker 1: the mm QB feed. We've got our own feed now,
Speaker 1: so you can search find us and uh yeah, leave
Speaker 1: us a review. And I will say thank you to
Speaker 1: all the A t N fans who kind of like
Speaker 1: followed us there. We hear from a lot of them
Speaker 1: by email and stuff. So you guys are awesome. So
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. I like like doing what you
Speaker 1: can to kind of separate yourself from Albert Brier as
Speaker 1: much as possible, Like it seems like a good move.
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't he frequently on your show, Connor Albert Brier.
Speaker 1: I feel like there's been a lot of cross pollination
Speaker 1: with him. Albert's Albert is Albert's Albert. His fans just
Speaker 1: don't like us, and then like our fans like it's amazing,
Speaker 1: like every time like we did it a show together,
Speaker 1: like Alve Albert's fans are just like, who are these
Speaker 1: two other people talking on on the podcast? I came
Speaker 1: for Albert's Albert Scott Albert Scott Albert's Albert people, and
Speaker 1: then and then we're trying to find some Jenny and
Speaker 1: Connor people. You know, Albert Bert, another former NFL media dude,
Speaker 1: and you know, nice guy. Um, I didn't realize they
Speaker 1: were like Bert files out there that world, you know,
Speaker 1: would rage against anyone that would stand in in his
Speaker 1: shadow during a podcast episode for instance. Oh yeah, no,
Speaker 1: you got to Uh it's it's one of those unseen
Speaker 1: pitfalls in the business. Um. But he packs them in
Speaker 1: so it's good. He's like, Um, I don't know who's
Speaker 1: like someone that uh, you know, like a musician that
Speaker 1: just keeps pack like Tom Jones. You know, he's got
Speaker 1: like a like a Tom Jones vibe. You know, you're
Speaker 1: still selling out, so this is you're breaking news here.
Speaker 1: I don't think that the three of us understood that
Speaker 1: Albert bers fan base was this vibrant. Apparently it is
Speaker 1: all right now. And of course Bert took the reins
Speaker 1: of Monday Morning Quarterback that column when Peter King left.
Speaker 1: It's one of those good football reads every week. So
Speaker 1: check out everything over there, including of course hers stuff. Now, Connor, um,
Speaker 1: it's been a while, it's been a minute, as the
Speaker 1: kid say, um, but we're happy to have you sitting
Speaker 1: in for the whole show. In the Chris Westling chair,
Speaker 1: and we got a great show coming up. We are
Speaker 1: going to uh, since you're here, Connor, and you're a
Speaker 1: bit of a mystic on some level, a man who
Speaker 1: looks beyond the surface and tries to find truths hidden
Speaker 1: uh in the ether. I thought this might be a
Speaker 1: good episode to break out some conspiracy theories of the
Speaker 1: NFL season. Yeah. I like that. That's a nice match.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's good to have a sensibility match for your
Speaker 1: topic with your and your guest, and that's what we've
Speaker 1: done today. I think I had one that um, a
Speaker 1: listener actually sent us and I it was so good
Speaker 1: that I almost called Mark when he sent it to me, like, uh,
Speaker 1: it was just one of those things where like Mark
Speaker 1: used to have Mark and I used to read Libra
Speaker 1: by Don DeLillo a lot about the Kennedy assassination, and
Speaker 1: I have not felt a conspiracy theory click in my
Speaker 1: mind like that until I since I readily, but see
Speaker 1: it was that good. Yeah, Okay, we gotta hear this later. Excellent,
Speaker 1: So conspiracy theories coming up later, But first, let's dig
Speaker 1: Let's dig in on a Monday night football insta classic.
Speaker 1: He's trademarked his nickname the money Badger. Well, let's see
Speaker 1: from Los Angeles victory of a way off the up
Speaker 1: right and not good, and we're going on over time,
Speaker 1: the Charges are curs. Nothing will ever go right for them,
Speaker 1: even if it feels like things are changing. It's thell
Speaker 1: the same stats thirty Chargers over time Chargers really, just
Speaker 1: like on Sunday Night had with the Vikings, had control
Speaker 1: of this game, seemed like the better team for the
Speaker 1: majority of the contest, but they were unable to close
Speaker 1: things out. And you heard it. Connor will start there.
Speaker 1: I mean, if the game goes into ot the Saints
Speaker 1: get it's a bield goal range, Letts hits the kick
Speaker 1: and then they get to stop near midfield to seal
Speaker 1: the wind. But I think Steve Levy of ESPN the
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football Team, when he announces moments before the
Speaker 1: kick that the kicker has trademarked money Badger, as you know,
Speaker 1: he's looking to benefit off that and make money off that.
Speaker 1: You knew the kick was not gonna go through the uprights?
Speaker 1: Got me come on? And I think Steve knew that too,
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that he needs to address
Speaker 1: with with Anthony Lynn. But um, moving forward. I mean
Speaker 1: not to spin this into, you know, a different segment already,
Speaker 1: but I believe that the Chargers in the Saints have
Speaker 1: played each other like every election year since, like the seventies,
Speaker 1: And when the Chargers win, the Republican candidate wins the
Speaker 1: popular vote, and when the Saints win, um, the Democratic
Speaker 1: candidate wins the popular vote. So a lot was it
Speaker 1: stake last night that we weren't even thinking about. You
Speaker 1: say that badger taking one for the team. He cut
Speaker 1: it a little close, was the other thing. And this
Speaker 1: is you know, this is why I believe the Chargers
Speaker 1: are the most pained franchise, because the truly truly cursed teams.
Speaker 1: There's always that that little extra twist on it. It
Speaker 1: wasn't that he yanked it and missed it by twenty
Speaker 1: five yards. It was that it looked like it was
Speaker 1: dead on. It looked like he they had won the
Speaker 1: game there and then because I guess he didn't catch
Speaker 1: it just right. It trails off and smacks the upright,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't fall through over the crossbar like it
Speaker 1: would for the Patriots in a playoff game. It falls
Speaker 1: into the end zone. Um. For a miss kick. So
Speaker 1: Michael Badgeley, that sucks. Sorry bro Um. But Greg, what
Speaker 1: did you take away from this game from from a
Speaker 1: bigger picture? I know everyone's talking justin Justin Herbert, who
Speaker 1: had a record setting Monday night football performance, But what
Speaker 1: did you see from the Saints in this game? Well
Speaker 1: that you know, as annoying as they are to watch offensively,
Speaker 1: I'm sure if you're a fan of them, that like
Speaker 1: as slow as Breeze looks like physically he's slower too.
Speaker 1: He used to be better like avoiding hits and his
Speaker 1: arms obviously not the same. And it's this high wire
Speaker 1: act on offense. It's sort of the triumph of like
Speaker 1: how much you can win Mentally, Like, I'm amazed they're
Speaker 1: as good as they are despite his limitations and their
Speaker 1: limitations and some of the mistakes they've made on defense,
Speaker 1: Like they're still in the top ten in d v
Speaker 1: o A so far through five weeks. Like they're finding
Speaker 1: ways to hit pockets of games where they score when
Speaker 1: they need to, which they did in the second half
Speaker 1: of this game. And I think there's a chance that
Speaker 1: they could improve. Um, you know as the season goes along,
Speaker 1: that they're getting like they are. Bye week would look
Speaker 1: so different if they were going into it two and three,
Speaker 1: But now they're three and two and they feel like
Speaker 1: they're gonna get a little healthier. They get Michael Thomas back, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, like they didn't even mention until the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter how he had gotten in a fight and
Speaker 1: that's why he suspended. You would think that would be
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger of a story. We all knew
Speaker 1: about it, but it's just like they're burying that. I'm
Speaker 1: amazed that they're like surviving despite this high wire act.
Speaker 1: They almost seem like kind of an old champion um
Speaker 1: that's gonna be too tough to knock out, Like they're
Speaker 1: gonna be in the playoffs. They're gonna matter, but they're
Speaker 1: not the same old Saints. I mean, I mean think
Speaker 1: we can say that. You know, last week against Detroit,
Speaker 1: they had to work them with their way out of
Speaker 1: a fourteen nothing hole after being up in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night with Corona testing and in the in
Speaker 1: the in the drama and intention around that, they worked
Speaker 1: themselves out of a twenty and three hole. I think
Speaker 1: they're lucky to face a Chargers team that since to
Speaker 1: your point of this team being cursed in three and
Speaker 1: thirteen and one score games over the last two seasons.
Speaker 1: He is outrageous. And I know, right, I know Anthony Lynn.
Speaker 1: You know he addressed that after the game. He said,
Speaker 1: We've just got to finish these damn games. But this
Speaker 1: is an Anthony Lynn narrative and a problem to work
Speaker 1: his way out of. I would say, though, because I
Speaker 1: mean for the Chargers fans freaking out about that part
Speaker 1: of things still existing. If you don't come out of
Speaker 1: this game, for the Chargers fans that are still out
Speaker 1: there with your heart beating over Justin Herbert, then you've
Speaker 1: lost the whole perspective here. I mean, they're gonna be.
Speaker 1: Their future is literally completely different than it was a
Speaker 1: month ago. It is completely different. And I felt like
Speaker 1: I was watching a grand historic Saints team in their
Speaker 1: final chapter, you know, across the field from us, from
Speaker 1: a Chargers team that is just beginning a journey with
Speaker 1: a quarterback that made some throws last night. You know,
Speaker 1: people can call themselves quarterback gurus or whatever. I don't
Speaker 1: call myself that clearly, but you can just see when
Speaker 1: a dude has it, when the arm is so different.
Speaker 1: And I I've had a career of celebrating the Gardner
Speaker 1: Minshew and all this other stuff. This is a completely
Speaker 1: different type of quarterback. And I mean it was just
Speaker 1: one of the more unbelievable rookie performances. It wasn't perfect,
Speaker 1: but the throws he made and put on tape I
Speaker 1: would be the right. And they asked how, They asked
Speaker 1: how to like galvanize l a football specifically from the
Speaker 1: Chargers angle. Here's your answer. I think it was, you know,
Speaker 1: an eye opening performance for some people that watch maybe
Speaker 1: the league more casually. But he's been this guy since
Speaker 1: he took over as the starter. And again, I think
Speaker 1: it's the biggest most pleasant surprise of the season so
Speaker 1: far that Herbert was supposed to be this guy and
Speaker 1: that was being kept um in bubble wrap while Tara
Speaker 1: Taylor went through the first month or so of the season,
Speaker 1: and then the absurd circumstances around Taylor um being in
Speaker 1: churt essentially by his own medical staff, opening the door
Speaker 1: for Herbert starting on like twenty minutes notice. And then
Speaker 1: since he's taken that, he's lost all these games, but
Speaker 1: he's also outplayed or played up to the level of
Speaker 1: a bunch of Hall of Fame level quarterbacks. I don't
Speaker 1: nobody saw this coming, and I thought, I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was Riddick or Greasy who made the point
Speaker 1: um after the go ahead touchdown past late in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, um that his skill set is that he
Speaker 1: just has that ability that not all quarterbacks do to
Speaker 1: sense something a big play a foot down field and
Speaker 1: there's no hesitation, and when a defense bites on a
Speaker 1: double move or a safety's drifting where he shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: This guy seems to have that ability to be a
Speaker 1: mad bomber. And it was such a difference Connor seeing
Speaker 1: his style play against Drew Brees in this game. Breeze
Speaker 1: still through yards and moved the offense up and down
Speaker 1: the field when it when he needed to. But he's
Speaker 1: such a different quarterback than Herbert. Yeah, and it's weird.
Speaker 1: I mean, during the pre draft process, everybody said that
Speaker 1: he was going to add this vertical element to the
Speaker 1: Chargers offense that they certainly didn't have with the declining
Speaker 1: Rivers and and didn't really have with Tyrod Taylor. But
Speaker 1: it just felt immediately like one of those things that
Speaker 1: people say when they have nothing else to say about
Speaker 1: a quarterback. Um, you know it's so he's tall, so vertical,
Speaker 1: but um, it really did kind of come to fruition
Speaker 1: right away, and I was shocked at how good he looked.
Speaker 1: And you have to remember that he found out about
Speaker 1: his first start like literally seconds before the game and
Speaker 1: getting no raps during during practice that week. So the
Speaker 1: fact that this guy is already at this level, you
Speaker 1: just hope that any sort of meddling owner or you know,
Speaker 1: search firm doesn't come in and just torpedo the progress
Speaker 1: that they're making now and realize that they have something
Speaker 1: special here we right. I mean, that's the thing. His
Speaker 1: past protection has been so terrible. That's what's impressed me
Speaker 1: the most. His pocket presence is great. Last night was
Speaker 1: an abomination. And this is why sometimes you can um
Speaker 1: separate the quarterback from their surroundings, because if Herbert did
Speaker 1: nothing in this game, everyone would say, well, that's not
Speaker 1: his fault. But a great quarterback can overcome it, you know,
Speaker 1: even a great rookie quarterback. They had twelve quarterback hits,
Speaker 1: they had to have about twenty five urias. They could
Speaker 1: not have played any worse upfront, to the point where
Speaker 1: I didn't totally kill Anthony Lynn for his conservative play calling,
Speaker 1: but at some point you have to notice, you've run
Speaker 1: fifteen first down runs, you have sixteen yards, and they're
Speaker 1: trying to like protect Herbert, and I get that, but
Speaker 1: you're just much more productive when you're calling aggressive plays.
Speaker 1: And they waited until the Saints caught up to be
Speaker 1: more aggressive. And that's why you do worry that somehow
Speaker 1: the Chargers voodoo or ownership or whatever's ruined the fact
Speaker 1: that they drafted a Hall of Fame quarterback and Drew
Speaker 1: Brees blew that drafted Philip Rivers didn't really get as
Speaker 1: much as they wanted out of that. And you don't
Speaker 1: want them to do it um to Herbert either, because
Speaker 1: right now I don't blame Lynn. He has them playing hard.
Speaker 1: They're not just missing players, they're missing six Pro Bowlers
Speaker 1: and four other starters. That's ten starters. I mean, that
Speaker 1: is outrageous, and it's it's their best players do many
Speaker 1: of the best players. So I do give them a
Speaker 1: little bit of a pass, But I also worry with
Speaker 1: Herbert and especially the rest of this season, like what
Speaker 1: are you gonna do to protect him? Because he's in
Speaker 1: a tough spot. I would ask this, I mean, I
Speaker 1: get that Tyrone. You know, Anthony Lynn is the type
Speaker 1: of coach that he had it in his mind to
Speaker 1: start Tyrod Taylor barring anything um from an incredibly historic
Speaker 1: gaff from a trainer that will be part of the
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert narrative forever. But today, no preseason games. But
Speaker 1: do they get through all of their off season and
Speaker 1: all of their training camp practices without an idea that
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert was this much better than Tyrod Taylor could
Speaker 1: ever be. Maybe you don't know until game time. I
Speaker 1: really think that with a lot of season layers, it's
Speaker 1: like Jordan Treason, That's that's a factor. I just I
Speaker 1: wonder if there was any pushback from anyone in the
Speaker 1: coaching staff saying this kid can do it. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe they found out when we found out in week one.
Speaker 1: It seems like such a unique sport in that I
Speaker 1: don't think you can tell that. I mean you can
Speaker 1: tell from practice, but how much can you really tell
Speaker 1: you know it, I don't know. It's just such a
Speaker 1: different animal. It's like the Eagles are playing jordan' my latta.
Speaker 1: You know, Henry Hatson's favorite guy, who's you know this
Speaker 1: rogu I who literally never played football before, and they
Speaker 1: just refused to ever play him because he looks so
Speaker 1: bad in practice, and they they finally were forced to
Speaker 1: after three or four years, and then he's out there,
Speaker 1: and you know what, he's played pretty well the last
Speaker 1: two weeks. Like you almost you don't know until you
Speaker 1: see it. Um. Final thoughts from me on this game.
Speaker 1: The force feeding of Taysom Hill was baffling to me.
Speaker 1: I know that's something that Sean payton Um feel strongly about,
Speaker 1: so I assume it's not going to change. And I
Speaker 1: know he scored on that option uh late in the game,
Speaker 1: but when Drew Brees started playing well, it was just
Speaker 1: seemed strange to me that he kept on putting Hill
Speaker 1: in the mix and for most of the game it
Speaker 1: was not working. You wonder if that's is gonna be.
Speaker 1: They're gonna keep doing it until he gets back to
Speaker 1: being what he was to the offense UH a year ago,
Speaker 1: or they're going to start de emphasizing him. Um. Alvin
Speaker 1: Kamara the catch down the sideline, he's the best all
Speaker 1: around player in the league. I don't think. I think
Speaker 1: it's hard to deny that at this point at full health.
Speaker 1: And then My last thought was, you know, they scored
Speaker 1: thirty points of Saints. They didn't look good for stretches
Speaker 1: on offense. Drew Brees does look like a lesser version
Speaker 1: of himself, but Michael Thomas is the best, most productive
Speaker 1: wide receiver in the league and he's coming back after
Speaker 1: the bye. Uh. I think the Saints are gonna continue
Speaker 1: to put put up points, and maybe they are in
Speaker 1: the twilight and all this, but I also could see
Speaker 1: them running off a lot of wins before between now
Speaker 1: and New Year's I would Dan like, where are you
Speaker 1: if we're allowed to know this information at this point,
Speaker 1: like for your pain ranking, not your pain rankings, but
Speaker 1: you're you're overall power rankings? Where do the Staints like
Speaker 1: sit there? A confusing team to put in in a
Speaker 1: pecking order right now? For me, yeah, I have to
Speaker 1: I have to sit down and do that. They entered
Speaker 1: week five number eleven, UM, so I think they're they're
Speaker 1: probably gonna hang around the top ten. Um. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: kind of a hard team to figure out still, but
Speaker 1: that was a huge win. Those Taysom Hill plays, they
Speaker 1: tell me, and they've said it for a while, they
Speaker 1: don't trust their regular offense, especially not with Michael Thomas
Speaker 1: on Keith third downs. I mean they're giving the ball
Speaker 1: to their fullback on third and one and then punting
Speaker 1: on fourth and one. They've been doing this since week one.
Speaker 1: I think it's just a sign of like when Drew
Speaker 1: Brees in third and nine, third and eleventh, third and eight,
Speaker 1: they're going short of the sticks, like they're not confident
Speaker 1: in picking up those plays. So I know you're living
Speaker 1: Are you living on Taysom Hill right now? You're dieing
Speaker 1: on Taysom Hill. Mark Sessler two bumbles this season already,
Speaker 1: but he did have that play. This is not this
Speaker 1: is not the Taysom Hill experience that attracted me to
Speaker 1: him to begin with. I thought he was well used.
Speaker 1: Um and you know, a gadget player is a gadget player,
Speaker 1: and and that's probably what he is at this point.
Speaker 1: I'm not just not impressed with his usage. I am
Speaker 1: also not impressed also with the fact that like it
Speaker 1: becomes a sort of plaything on Twitter to destroy the
Speaker 1: human being. I mean, we get that he's not looking good,
Speaker 1: but calm down, people, I mean, it's just like if
Speaker 1: if a hundred and fifty other sportswriters have the same
Speaker 1: quip that you do. You might want to go back
Speaker 1: to the well and create something a little bit more original.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just offensive to me. There's something else
Speaker 1: going on with this Taysom Hill. I can't put my
Speaker 1: finger on it, but the vitriol toward him. Oh, you're right,
Speaker 1: there's be a little something else at play. Like you've
Speaker 1: been against you've been kind of anti Taysom Hill hype.
Speaker 1: I don't know anti, but like it's not the idea
Speaker 1: that he was the future as there. So there's a
Speaker 1: kernel of it in you, I would imagine. But you're
Speaker 1: you're not going on Twitter and you know taking shots
Speaker 1: at and why did that become a thing last night? Connor?
Speaker 1: I mean, are you am? I? Am I being too
Speaker 1: fiery about this? I think it's Sean Payton's fault and
Speaker 1: just this sort of lunacy of the off season where
Speaker 1: he was comping him to Steve Young and you know,
Speaker 1: put the put the first round tender on and you know,
Speaker 1: he had all the supposed insiders writing these pieces about
Speaker 1: how you know a team is definitely going to trade
Speaker 1: a first round pick for him, even though like everyone
Speaker 1: else was probably sitting around in the NFL and being like,
Speaker 1: what are you kidding? And uh so, I think he
Speaker 1: kind of built this all up on his own. I mean,
Speaker 1: you would your treat you were promised and under delivered,
Speaker 1: and they paint him twenty one million dollars at quarterback
Speaker 1: in the same offseason that Dalton and Cam and Jamis
Speaker 1: didn't get like anything. So I think that's all playing
Speaker 1: into it, all right, um, and yes, the Saints hit
Speaker 1: their bye week now, Yeah, Michael Thomas punched his teammate
Speaker 1: who was a Gardner Johnson. Yeah, um, and led to
Speaker 1: a suspension. I thought that was a little bit murky,
Speaker 1: just because high ankle sprain. He's so important to the offense,
Speaker 1: a bye week was coming up. It kind of made
Speaker 1: sense for him not to play this game anyway. I do.
Speaker 1: There's a conspiracy theory Thomas threw the punch at Sean
Speaker 1: Payton's direct order, um to send a message. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a conspiracy always plugged into the underground Saints Twitter
Speaker 1: for what was so that he could send a message.
Speaker 1: I love it? Alright, good stuff. Monday night football recap done,
Speaker 1: Tuesday night football recap done. Now let's do some conspiracy theories. Yes, Connor,
Speaker 1: you are a man. I mean you once had a
Speaker 1: podcast with Mark Cesler, the Heat and Light Podcast that
Speaker 1: delved into conspiracies. One of the conspiracies is how did
Speaker 1: that podcast last like three and a half episodes. We
Speaker 1: may not never know. Well, it's interesting you brought that up, Dan,
Speaker 1: because Mark and I have gotten ahold of some interesting
Speaker 1: proprietary information regarding some things happening beneath the surface in Antarcticta,
Speaker 1: and we might need to find a medium to broadcast
Speaker 1: that information. So I would just kind of keep an
Speaker 1: eye out for something in that regard. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: I clarify that it's it's information that came to us um.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say from a center, but someone who had
Speaker 1: knowledge of the show. And there's a reason the show
Speaker 1: was essentially ended at one point that we can't get into.
Speaker 1: But it will be returning because the information that we've
Speaker 1: been given, it's not just Hey, this would be a
Speaker 1: fun episode and you can just take a little jog
Speaker 1: around town. This information that must be shared with the public. Alright,
Speaker 1: file this under I'll believe it when I hear it.
Speaker 1: Election altering information. Okay, guys, make sure you get it
Speaker 1: up before November three. Trying to light a little fire
Speaker 1: under you. It's been years. That would be the best
Speaker 1: part is like on the eighth just like, oh sorry,
Speaker 1: you probably should have known about this. Al Right, here
Speaker 1: we go conspiracy theories of the NFL season. Uh, listeners
Speaker 1: should understand that we are by no means putting this
Speaker 1: out there is truth rather as things that we see
Speaker 1: feel since uh could be bubbling beneath the surface of
Speaker 1: reality or whatever people think reality is, quote unquote all right, Connor,
Speaker 1: as today's guest in the Chris Westling chair, why don't
Speaker 1: you get us go? All right? This is the one
Speaker 1: that I really just got so fired up about when
Speaker 1: I heard the first time in that is you know,
Speaker 1: I think I have a long history of inferring that
Speaker 1: the Manning family are sort of the shadowy power brokers
Speaker 1: of the NFL, uh, you know, dating back to um
Speaker 1: even before you know Archie, and you know, like this
Speaker 1: has been going on for hundreds of years. But um,
Speaker 1: I a listener, A listener sent this in and I
Speaker 1: thought it was absolutely brilliant and it just all sort
Speaker 1: of clicked for me. And that was that Cam Newton
Speaker 1: was asked to take a dive for Peyton Manning, and
Speaker 1: so he could win his second Super Bowl and tie
Speaker 1: his brother Eli, and in exchange, he got the gig
Speaker 1: with the Patriots on the back end of his career
Speaker 1: to replace Tom Brady and win another five Super Bowls
Speaker 1: is a dynasty. Uh. He knew that that wasn't sustainable
Speaker 1: with Dave Gettlman in Carolina, so he took the he
Speaker 1: took the dive. Um, and I would guess that the
Speaker 1: fumble that he didn't go for sort of serves as
Speaker 1: the Zuppruter film of this entire um is this entire thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we know that he took a dive because he would
Speaker 1: not dive. Yes, when the chips were down. But when
Speaker 1: I heard that, I'm just like, I was like, this
Speaker 1: is all all clicking. Yeah, it's all making sense. Now.
Speaker 1: Manning had was clearly compromised as a player by that
Speaker 1: final season. The Denver defense carried him. And yes, you're right,
Speaker 1: it would have been a stain on his legacy if
Speaker 1: he throws three picks in a Super Bowl fifty loss
Speaker 1: and then goes into the sunset the goal here, I assume,
Speaker 1: even though Brady's subsequent success probably still renders this a
Speaker 1: conversation of Brady one, Manning two. At the time, it
Speaker 1: was seen as Peyton is the number one guy potentially
Speaker 1: now because he got that second rank. In addition to
Speaker 1: all the glorious stats. I mean, there was a lot
Speaker 1: riding on that game. My guests too, is that Brady's
Speaker 1: adopts adaptation of a natural food diet saved him from
Speaker 1: any sort of foul play that the Mannings were going
Speaker 1: to try to do then to sort of just eliminate
Speaker 1: him in any sort of way. And a little more
Speaker 1: clu that Peyton. Yeah, um, so good for Tom. You know,
Speaker 1: I used to kind of make fun of him for
Speaker 1: the whole natural food advice thing, but I think growing
Speaker 1: your own um at this point is essential. So good.
Speaker 1: I mean, Connor, the other part of this mentioning that
Speaker 1: the Manning dynasty, this these power brokers, almost like Rothschild
Speaker 1: type scenario, stretches hundreds of years back to well before
Speaker 1: Archie Manning. That's that would be notable if that's accurate. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: I know we don't have time to get into it,
Speaker 1: but you know, you look at all these different things
Speaker 1: that happened in different wars and access powers and it
Speaker 1: all lines up, so it all it all makes sense. Well,
Speaker 1: it's funny you throw that out because one one of
Speaker 1: one of mine is was connected to that, and it
Speaker 1: was it was connected to the Manning family. So maybe
Speaker 1: it's like we're hearing the same frequencies. Mine was more
Speaker 1: connected to to the Giants of this year. Um that
Speaker 1: they intentionally set up impossible situation um for Joe Judge,
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones and everyone else, just to burnish Eli Manning's
Speaker 1: legacy even more. They didn't do enough giving him that
Speaker 1: last start last year. That pretty much the focus at
Speaker 1: some point of the entire organization became, let's just get
Speaker 1: Eli to the Hall of Fame. Let's try to convince
Speaker 1: the people out there that he was better than average. Um.
Speaker 1: And what could make people do that than going oh
Speaker 1: and sixteen this year with a special teams coach who
Speaker 1: has never been a head coach at any level. Greg,
Speaker 1: you gotta meditate on this Eli Manning stuff. What else
Speaker 1: exp's giving, gentleman? You know another year? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just you know it is. They are they are a
Speaker 1: Tiffany franchise in the league, and I if I'm a
Speaker 1: Giants fan, I'm scratching my head how I'm as bad
Speaker 1: as little Brother the Jets right now. You know. It's
Speaker 1: great about the Giants though, is like no matter how
Speaker 1: bad you are, um, you get to like retire with
Speaker 1: the idea that you're incredible, and like they just don't
Speaker 1: fire anybody. They just offer you the chance to become
Speaker 1: like a nebulous advisor. Like remember when they just like
Speaker 1: kind of fired Tom Coughlin, but they were like, you
Speaker 1: can still hang out and use the gym and um,
Speaker 1: you know, and and Kevin Gilbride, they were just so
Speaker 1: desperate to replace him, but they're like, no, he's retiring
Speaker 1: and you know he's gonna become a super senior offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator and and yeah, everything's gonna be fine. Like it
Speaker 1: would be a great place to work if you know.
Speaker 1: Every time you know, I did something horrible like that,
Speaker 1: they were like, oh, no, Connor's just he's being promoted.
Speaker 1: That's all. Connor has been inside the belly of the beast.
Speaker 1: Like the other people might call that classy, but you
Speaker 1: you see something for what it really is. When it
Speaker 1: comes to the Giants areas, they've been incredibly classy as
Speaker 1: they rack up the worst record in the NFL the
Speaker 1: last four years. Just all class in that find a
Speaker 1: little evil in your bones. I'll go next. Alright, So
Speaker 1: we have two Browns fans on the show today, Connor.
Speaker 1: Some people don't know that Connors, you still Browns fan
Speaker 1: or now that you're with the speaking of Tiffany establishment
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated, you know, which has always been the magazine
Speaker 1: of great esteem. Are you not allowed to have a fan?
Speaker 1: We're not. We're not really allowed to have a writing interest,
Speaker 1: but I will say that. Um, We're walking around with
Speaker 1: my daughter the other day and I went through every
Speaker 1: NFL team and I said, do you want to be
Speaker 1: a Jets fan? A Giants fan? And she was just
Speaker 1: saying no, no, no. And then I said what team
Speaker 1: do you want to like? And she said, I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a Pumpkins fan. I want to root for
Speaker 1: the Pumpkins and so pumpkinhead. And I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: well then it just sort of got me fired up,
Speaker 1: and I said, we're back into this. So let's let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's get her a let's get her a Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: jersey and uh, and let's let this rip. I'm back in.
Speaker 1: That's how you got there um. All right, So here's
Speaker 1: my conspiracy theory around the Cleveland Browns Baker Mayfield two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen season comes to an end six and ten.
Speaker 1: Mayfield played poorly. The Browns are a punchline once again.
Speaker 1: And Mayfield he looked around and he looked at what
Speaker 1: was being written about, and he looked at his production.
Speaker 1: He looked at the Browns track record, and he got
Speaker 1: on the phone with his agent and he said to
Speaker 1: his agent, say yes to everything, any opportunity we have
Speaker 1: to make bank. The answer is yes, I will not
Speaker 1: be doing regional banking ads in Central Texas like Johnny football,
Speaker 1: which is true when I was in Texas. Uh this
Speaker 1: summer Johnny Manziel, that's how he's making a living now
Speaker 1: for a Central Texas regional bank. So I think Baker
Speaker 1: said to his agent, these are my prime earning years
Speaker 1: right now. I no longer believe them to be for
Speaker 1: the next ten fifteen years as a quarterback, Yes to everything,
Speaker 1: Yes to everything, Yes to everything. And now, with the
Speaker 1: Browns having a great start to their season at four
Speaker 1: and one and Mayfield has been solid, he finds himself
Speaker 1: in a bit of a pickle. He's being stretched a
Speaker 1: little thing. He has about seven thousand commercials lined up
Speaker 1: for the next ten years, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: now he might have a career that goes that long
Speaker 1: as well. My conspiracy theory was it was never his
Speaker 1: plan to juggle a advertising career at this level. He
Speaker 1: thought it was his new career, and now he needs
Speaker 1: to figure out how to maintain multitask. Well, the two
Speaker 1: people will be twice fast that he's he's Can I
Speaker 1: just say that I hate everything and he's very funny,
Speaker 1: like he's the progressive commercials are funny. I think the
Speaker 1: bit works for me most of the time. Um, and
Speaker 1: the thing with covering the seats with the rain thing
Speaker 1: like that was that was funny, Like I think he's
Speaker 1: good at it. You know. Well, it's the repetition. Can
Speaker 1: we talk about this honeymoon scene? I mean, this is
Speaker 1: this is a very dan esque line of topic topic
Speaker 1: here and in discussion, But really, if it really was
Speaker 1: another player, Mark, you would be on fire about the
Speaker 1: repetition of this progressive advertisement. I feel like I already
Speaker 1: had this conversation a year ago when I completely acknowledge
Speaker 1: that these were they were annoying to me, but but
Speaker 1: it was the fact that they were on four channels
Speaker 1: at the same time when I but I think these
Speaker 1: were made before he did his ghost Silent Act and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Anyways, and I think that do you
Speaker 1: mean they were made this? They were made this offseason?
Speaker 1: What they did two years of taping? What well, what
Speaker 1: else is he doing on the ad front? I'm not
Speaker 1: he's got the Hulu um. But I think the Dan's point,
Speaker 1: maybe this is a credit to him. There's a growing
Speaker 1: thought that he you know, you thought like, wow, he
Speaker 1: you know, for an athlete, a good quarterback, he's a
Speaker 1: solid commercial actor. But I think there's like a transitioning
Speaker 1: happening where it's like, wow, for such a good commercial actor,
Speaker 1: he's a pretty solid quarterback. You know. That's just like
Speaker 1: a a little bit of a change. Don't get upset, Mark,
Speaker 1: I'm not taking a shot commercial of them. I completely
Speaker 1: with any commercial commercial in general. My kids don't even
Speaker 1: understand why commercials exist because they don't really watch normal
Speaker 1: television that much. They watch everything on demand. So the
Speaker 1: whole concept of commercials need they need to stay fresh,
Speaker 1: and they these progressive commercials are the opposite. But it's
Speaker 1: not my fault that Baker Mayfield has a personality unlike
Speaker 1: some quarterbacks in the league that are getting no commercial work.
Speaker 1: There's I mean, it's he has he he has a
Speaker 1: good sense of humor, and he's growing as a quarterback.
Speaker 1: I'll take it. I mean, you know, the the other
Speaker 1: side of the coin was why isn't Brandon Weeden on
Speaker 1: a commercial and also a terrible quarterback? This world is preferable,
Speaker 1: all right, sounds like everything is totally fine. Such a
Speaker 1: damn thing to do. I'm gonna focus on the one
Speaker 1: and only Jack easter By. Yes, okay, I want to
Speaker 1: point to an article that p f T that this
Speaker 1: slipped off my radar, and I think it was because
Speaker 1: it was last week. It was busy October. The head line,
Speaker 1: a question emerges about Jack Easterby's and NFL biography. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna read what they their investigation. This is by
Speaker 1: Mike Florio in March, and executive with a team other
Speaker 1: than the Texans pointed out that Easterby's online bio contends
Speaker 1: that he served as assistant to the director of football
Speaker 1: Operations in Jacksonville in two thousand fours first NFL job
Speaker 1: today when they took a fresh look at Easterby's bio,
Speaker 1: something had changed. The claim that he served as an
Speaker 1: assistant to the director of football operations had been removed
Speaker 1: in its place. The online bio said that Easterby simply
Speaker 1: gained his first NFL experience in the summer of two
Speaker 1: thousand four with the Jacksonville Jaguars helping in football operations
Speaker 1: and public relations. They reached out to the Texans and said,
Speaker 1: why was this changed made and when was it made?
Speaker 1: They said it was a meaningless oversight in a bio
Speaker 1: from an entry level position in Jacksonville sixteen years ago
Speaker 1: that had no bearing on our decision to hire him
Speaker 1: in his role that is bloomed. They said that the
Speaker 1: change had been made in but p FT initially noticed
Speaker 1: this in March. So something is going on here and
Speaker 1: I want to use that as a route that Easterby
Speaker 1: in general to me. Okay, when he was with the Patriots,
Speaker 1: they were, in quotes livid when character coach Jackie used
Speaker 1: to be joined the Texans. They were fired up that
Speaker 1: he left. There is an article from a Patriots dot
Speaker 1: com article that says, you don't know Jack Colan the
Speaker 1: most influential Patriot you've never heard of? And it goes
Speaker 1: on and on, listing all these people that call Jack
Speaker 1: their favorite player, on their favorite employee on the Patriots,
Speaker 1: that he is someone that they've all gravitated to. He
Speaker 1: goes to the Texans, and I believe this man is
Speaker 1: someone who I would put at like a Don Draper
Speaker 1: Dick Whitman type level, that this is somebody with a
Speaker 1: completely hidden, different past, who has no football experience at
Speaker 1: all and is suddenly the general manager of the Houston Texans.
Speaker 1: I think in his world, he is someone that sees
Speaker 1: himself as a big circle person that must influence he is.
Speaker 1: He has been tagged as a master influencer who cozied
Speaker 1: up to Bill Belichick despite having completely different personalities. He
Speaker 1: is a pastor, he is a culture coach. He is
Speaker 1: a general manager. He creates these roles in thin air.
Speaker 1: He now sees himself as something of an Al Davis.
Speaker 1: He's a general manager. A coaching role will come next.
Speaker 1: I am telling you that this is something the NFL
Speaker 1: needs to look into. This guy has a hidden past.
Speaker 1: I want to get to the bottom of it, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate p FT doing some of the legwork there.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's like a like with Don Draper
Speaker 1: Dick Whitman. What happened with Draper and Whitman? Like if
Speaker 1: people knew the secret, it could ruin his career. Do
Speaker 1: you think that's there's something truly um career altering hidden
Speaker 1: away here? I think there is a There is a
Speaker 1: hidden past, and it's hidden for reason. Um. It's not
Speaker 1: World War two based or World War one or some
Speaker 1: sort of split identity like we already had. We've already
Speaker 1: had evidence that he has altered his resume on the
Speaker 1: Texans team. Bio that that's just a little seed. It's
Speaker 1: like where the investigation begins. Why? Why are we doing
Speaker 1: these things? Who was this person? Where did he grow up?
Speaker 1: How is he suddenly an NFL general manager weeks ahead
Speaker 1: of the trade deadline? I would be concerned. I can't
Speaker 1: think of a general manager with a more nefarious hidden
Speaker 1: backstory who rose to power is quickly from a non
Speaker 1: football role as Jackie Easterby has. If it were happening
Speaker 1: to my team, I would be very upset. He's gonna
Speaker 1: run the coaching search. He's basically the headman and charge.
Speaker 1: There's a line that Draper says to Peggy when she's
Speaker 1: without giving way plot points laid up in the hospital
Speaker 1: bed after a health situation and it's her own secret shame,
Speaker 1: and Draper knows the secret, and he says, he says
Speaker 1: to Peggy, just move forward, move forward, don't think about it.
Speaker 1: If you don't think about it and never look back,
Speaker 1: you won't believe how easy it is to make it
Speaker 1: feel like it never happened. I think that's probably where
Speaker 1: Easterby is. And now it's just on is there? You know,
Speaker 1: Peter Campbell type, someone lurking. Maybe it's Mark Seiler. Maybe
Speaker 1: you are the man to uncover Easterby an expose him.
Speaker 1: Do you guys ever get freaked out after these episodes
Speaker 1: like that someone's just gonna kick in your door, you know, like,
Speaker 1: holy smokes, I'm feeling it right now. Give us another one,
Speaker 1: Give us another one? Alright, Um, this is a good one.
Speaker 1: We are in danger. Um, you know, living in the
Speaker 1: New Jersey, New York metropolitan area. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the phone calls to the fan this week and
Speaker 1: last week and the week before that have been you know,
Speaker 1: why is Adam Gaze still around? Um? All these other
Speaker 1: coaches have been let go? Uh, this doesn't make any
Speaker 1: sense And I think that the real reason that Adam
Speaker 1: Gaze is still embedded with the New York Jets is
Speaker 1: not because of his coaching acumen, but because of his
Speaker 1: deep knowledge of British politics. And he is secretly feeding
Speaker 1: Woody Johnson, um, you know, intel information in his role
Speaker 1: as the ambassador UM to the United Kingdom. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe a few people know this, but at Michigan State,
Speaker 1: Adam Gaye was just deep into like just the minutia
Speaker 1: of localized British politics. Um, you know how all this
Speaker 1: stuff goes Whigs, Tories, Parliament forget about it. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy was all over the place, and uh, you
Speaker 1: know that was really something that he had to put
Speaker 1: down his passion for in order to pursue, um, the
Speaker 1: more lucrative coaching field. But the Jets was sort of
Speaker 1: a marriage of those two things. And you know, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if if they bring him back, should
Speaker 1: Woody Johnson's ambassadorship continue in the UK? Interesting? M hm,
Speaker 1: the number one overall pick if you keep Gaye. I
Speaker 1: mean that you could add that to the conspiracy that
Speaker 1: they're not really trying to win. I mean, there's really
Speaker 1: that's like a nice little bonus here. You get the
Speaker 1: you get the British Intel, but oh we might get
Speaker 1: a you know, a franchise changing pick um if they
Speaker 1: continue on this path. There really is no other explanation
Speaker 1: for like how asleep at the wheel this team is.
Speaker 1: I don't have to tell you that, Dan like, and
Speaker 1: it's it's frustrating because while I have an ability to
Speaker 1: watch other games, like you want the one game on
Speaker 1: the main TV if you don't have you know, Direct
Speaker 1: TV Sunday Ticket, and you know, the Jets are always
Speaker 1: on and it's just it's yawn inducing. And I don't
Speaker 1: have any fantasy players on this team, and it's just
Speaker 1: like it's just like a weight on my day, Like
Speaker 1: it's it's just sad television, you know. If you want
Speaker 1: to get there's one like, um secret fantasy star that
Speaker 1: no one knows about this year, it's Jamison Crowder who
Speaker 1: goes seven for one, twelve and a touchdown every week.
Speaker 1: The Jets score seven to ten points every week, so
Speaker 1: it gets lost in the mix. But there's your one
Speaker 1: fantasy standout. Yeah, there's gotta be something, Greg, I buy
Speaker 1: into that. Um, what's the point. Basically, you don't want
Speaker 1: to have a good record, um I I but also
Speaker 1: the idea of the UK ambassadorship playing role. I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say no. I mean, well, here's the other thing,
Speaker 1: is like, a we certain that he's not speaking of
Speaker 1: the Mannings and let's bring him back in here, that
Speaker 1: they aren't already advising Trevor Lawrence and how to avoid
Speaker 1: this team like Peyton did a couple of years ago. Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, Peyton and Gaze are like best friends though,
Speaker 1: so that would that would be on the surface they are.
Speaker 1: I wonder if Peyton Mannings like smooth. I feel like
Speaker 1: you can connect hers here somehow. Peyton Manning's longstanding um
Speaker 1: belief get out the red string, aggressive belief in Adam
Speaker 1: Gaze telling owner after owner that they need to hire gays.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is on the record, calling
Speaker 1: them up, calling up Stephen Ross, the Dolphins owner, calling
Speaker 1: up Woody Johnson does that that should affect Peyton Mannings
Speaker 1: a football executive job, by the way, that should have
Speaker 1: that should count as if he was running the team himself.
Speaker 1: Here's the red string. Cam Newton takes the dive Super
Speaker 1: Bowl fifty, allowing Peyton to go out on top as
Speaker 1: a reward. Cam gets to have a great end of
Speaker 1: career with the Patriots, uh and get his career back
Speaker 1: on track. But the Patriots, they say, we need something
Speaker 1: else here. Peyton called the Jets belchick hates the Jets
Speaker 1: tell him to hire Gates, and then they get two
Speaker 1: for one. It's like, right, if we're gonna go through
Speaker 1: the mess of kicking Tom Brady out of town, here
Speaker 1: to help you out with this Cam Newton situation, so
Speaker 1: you can get your Super Bowl fifty love, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to sweeten the pot for us. Why don't you
Speaker 1: give the Jets hell for another few years? Get the
Speaker 1: red string out? I mean I would, I would say
Speaker 1: that we're probably just a couple of steps removed from
Speaker 1: connecting easter Be to the Mannings, who was with the
Speaker 1: Chiefs went to New England as part of this whole
Speaker 1: rigamarele and is now destroying the Texans. So I mean,
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's a string of mysterious individuals linked
Speaker 1: together here. Jack Easterby is the fourth Manning brother. It
Speaker 1: was so obvious, And how we didn't see that. I
Speaker 1: thought you were saying, we're only a step away from
Speaker 1: losing our jobs at the NFL at a time in
Speaker 1: the world where conspiracy theory they're doing some damage in
Speaker 1: world situations. So it's funny that I have. I have
Speaker 1: another one that's connected to Belichick and an ongoing pandemic
Speaker 1: health crisis that I'm actually not going to share for
Speaker 1: that exact reason. Anybody else have one. I have a
Speaker 1: quick one that is Atriots related, um and it is.
Speaker 1: It's it's very quick, and I just I think this
Speaker 1: will be proven true in the next couple of weeks
Speaker 1: that a J. Green in Cincinnati has been told before
Speaker 1: the season, Look, your job is to spend the first
Speaker 1: month plus of this NFL campaign looking like a gigantic mess. Uh.
Speaker 1: You've got a big salary, the Bengals are looking to
Speaker 1: move on and they're a completely new team. You look
Speaker 1: like you don't fit. That's your job. We will direct
Speaker 1: deposit forty grand a week into your account on top
Speaker 1: of your Bengal salary, and then at trade deadline for
Speaker 1: a song, we the New England Patriots will acquire you.
Speaker 1: You will suddenly look like the all pro healthy wide
Speaker 1: receiver that you are, and you will join Cam Newton
Speaker 1: in New England for what will be a celebratory a
Speaker 1: f C title win followed by a Super Bowl victory. Interesting,
Speaker 1: I felt like I I don't think I was the
Speaker 1: first person to point it out, but I sent out
Speaker 1: a video of A J. Green after Joe Burrow airmail
Speaker 1: to pass late in the first quarter against the Ravens
Speaker 1: that was intercepted by Marcus Peter. It went over Green's
Speaker 1: head and then he just kind of scampered away in
Speaker 1: the opposite direction, and that has like over half a
Speaker 1: million views the video I sent. I felt like I
Speaker 1: was snitching on A J. Green a little bit well,
Speaker 1: so that that video was like, that video was all
Speaker 1: over the place Sunday, and that's sort of where this
Speaker 1: where my thought of this came up, because he looked
Speaker 1: like he simply was completely unplugged from the motherboard. Was
Speaker 1: that his last snap of the game, though he did
Speaker 1: leave the game with an injury immediately afterwards, an injury.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, was that the play, you know? Was
Speaker 1: that the play he got hurt? What don't you say
Speaker 1: is that a conspiracy? Greg? No, I'm just saying if
Speaker 1: just if we checked the game log, if that was
Speaker 1: his last snap of the game, that, you know, I'd
Speaker 1: give him a little bit of a break there he's
Speaker 1: jogging off the field. I mean Greg is also part
Speaker 1: of this entire Manning family chain. Come on scenario. We
Speaker 1: understand that to be fair to your pro player leanings
Speaker 1: can only go so far. I mean that man is
Speaker 1: not trying. I'm saying it's a fact that he left
Speaker 1: the game in the first half of and didn't play
Speaker 1: another snap. It's not a fact that he actually is
Speaker 1: injured though. I don't know, Man. I think he's been
Speaker 1: everybody's radar since week one. It's been a strange, strange season,
Speaker 1: and now that feels like a spoke. But um, anybody
Speaker 1: else have a conspiracy theory to share? Say, I got
Speaker 1: it just a quick one for Mark um and I
Speaker 1: think that's something that maybe he believes as well. And
Speaker 1: that's just that Kevin Stefanski isn't a real person. He's
Speaker 1: uh And this isn't like playing off of the insidery
Speaker 1: reports that you know. He's sort of the you know,
Speaker 1: avatar for management. He's just a robot. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody has had heard of Kevin Stefanski before
Speaker 1: this season. Um. I think he was built in a
Speaker 1: laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania and uh, and he's
Speaker 1: come to be UM just sort of. I think he's
Speaker 1: operated on the sidelines maybe by Bill Callahan. UM, and
Speaker 1: it just Um is programmed to make all the correct decisions,
Speaker 1: which is why we're just rolling, baby. And I mean
Speaker 1: they that would make the Week one loss to Baltimore.
Speaker 1: You do that on purpose so that it's not obvious
Speaker 1: that it's happening, and then and then you just roll
Speaker 1: for the rest of the season. There's some legs to
Speaker 1: that because normally after what happened in Week one, like
Speaker 1: coaches of old would have already been fighting with with
Speaker 1: Cleveland media, which is a you know, it can be
Speaker 1: a rather contankerous crew on its own, and Stefanski just
Speaker 1: super even keeled during it. Um. I think that there
Speaker 1: they want to be an analytically driven so probably when
Speaker 1: they created this robot, he was doaused with analytical football
Speaker 1: analytical knowledge. I think they made it maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit too good looking for a head coach. You gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta toned down his sort of tidy, clean, um
Speaker 1: hot forty year old guy thing if you want this
Speaker 1: to be believable, because right I think there's cracks in
Speaker 1: the surface, no doubt, I didn't. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: share this because it was striking to me. The last
Speaker 1: League event before the pandemic was the scouting combine and
Speaker 1: I saw him plugged in. It was a plug coming
Speaker 1: out of his back when he was at the podium,
Speaker 1: and was it strange to me that it did? Were
Speaker 1: there ringing of alarm bells, of course, But I didn't
Speaker 1: know if there was a medical situation or you know,
Speaker 1: if you had some type of thing going on. So
Speaker 1: I didn't bring it up on the podcast. I didn't
Speaker 1: even say it to you guys, because it felt almost
Speaker 1: like it was violating his privacy because I was behind
Speaker 1: him when I saw the wire. But now you gotta
Speaker 1: connect out here, get the red string out. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you're doing Dan. I would say if you if
Speaker 1: you see another human being being plugged in next time,
Speaker 1: I would break that news. I would come forward with that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I sat on it, and maybe I shouldn't know. All right,
Speaker 1: Productive show today, Productive show, Connor, You've said it all,
Speaker 1: you've done it all, and you're gonna do a lot more.
Speaker 1: You're only thirty two. How about that. That's the biggest
Speaker 1: surprise of the season a legend or just thirty two
Speaker 1: years old? How does that feel? Uh, it's not bad,
Speaker 1: you know, I rebounded. Um, I had like a I
Speaker 1: had like a forty eight year old bod for a
Speaker 1: little while, Like I was just kind of Bod's been
Speaker 1: looking tighter on the Graham. I've noticed that I've been
Speaker 1: running a little bit, you know. Um, And so I
Speaker 1: think I've come to accept that. Like when I was
Speaker 1: twenty eight, I felt like I was forty five, But
Speaker 1: now I'm trying to feel more like them thirty two.
Speaker 1: So that's the goal. Yeah, good stuff, buddy, and glad
Speaker 1: to see that you are well, and I hope the
Speaker 1: family is as well. Growing family you have. Yeah, thanks, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've got another one coming. And I'll just you know,
Speaker 1: thanks for letting me sit in west if you're listening,
Speaker 1: Love you, buddy, and uh and we'll talk to you soon. Awesome.
Speaker 1: Did not did I know another one was coming? Look
Speaker 1: at you? I don't know. I mean is to me
Speaker 1: as well. I'm in his future room right now. He's
Speaker 1: uh you know, so oh that is exciting. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: excellent news there. Uh you around the NFL podcast family
Speaker 1: getting bigger. Connor, thank you for joining us. We'll be
Speaker 1: back on Thursday. Yes, so no Thursday Night Football mini pod,
Speaker 1: but we will have a full week six preview uh
Speaker 1: for you to enjoy with a special guest sitting in
Speaker 1: the West Chair for an entire episode on Thursday as well.
Speaker 1: So a lot to look forward to here. Thank you
Speaker 1: once again, Connor. This is Dan Hanson signing off for
Speaker 1: Quiet Storm, the Mailman in Absentia, Ricky Hollywood behind the
Speaker 1: Virtual glass or you kidding until Thursday. S