First Things First - Belichick not voted into Hall of Fame, Giannis & Bucks open to trades, Big Ben joins, Nick’s Tiers

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

(0:00) Bill Belichick not voted into Hall of Fame, Giannis and Bucks open to trades (27:46) Broncos fire OC, Drake Maye’s shoulder injury something or nothing? (40:14) Good or bad that Joe Brady will call plays for Bills? (46:53) Nick’s Tiers (01:08:47) Okay with Belichick not getting in the Hall of Fame? (01:21:41) Cavaliers would ‘gladly’ welcome back LeBron James (01:28:33) Packed Stats, Bill Belichick snubbed from Hall of Fame? (01:52:44) Ben Rothlesberger joins the show (02:05:36) Patriots lucky to be in the Super Bowl? (02:09:45) Is Taunting and trash talk good for sports? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's the show that just did some trivia, and I'll tell you what. You guys did well on that one. Drew crushed it. Well, Brian Seiber. He doesn't get the love he deserves. He does on this show. On this show, he does.

He's like the opposite of Jaquosky tart on the show. No, I'm done with you. You know what? It's actually similar because they are only brought up in the only time Brian Seif and poor Rich Gannon make the show is when Brew is trying to make the point. You don't have to be great to win MVP. You know who gets the most love on this show? It's a show trivia of the trivia.

Who gets, what quarterback gets more shoutouts by a hundredfold on this show than any other show in history? Tell us. Otto Graham. Oh, yeah. We talk about OG. Otto who occasionally gets dipped in more on this show than others. Sid Luckman as well. Oh, yeah.

Whenever Danny's like best Bears quarterback ever. The Luckman family's like, you got to be kidding. You got to be kidding me. We exist. Today, Belichick shut out of the Hall of Fame. Fair, mean-spirited, or a voting quirk. Meanwhile, report that Drake May has been dealing with a shoulder issue. Why does this make me more confident?

Because every single thing that could happen makes you more confident. And so far, you've been right. But literally nothing could not make you more confident. Him playing a bunch of bad games in a row is good. If he's playing a bunch of good games in a row, It's good. If the other teams on a long winning streak, awesome. If the other teams looked bad, even better.

Everything makes you feel good. That's great. That's good. That's new. Yeah. I feel like my podcast should be more popular if I'm out here, spitting facts. Last half full. Special Dynasty edition of tears.

Very controversial this tears. Let's just say. I like, I think you make good points. We'll get to. We didn't even talk about it. I know where you're going there. Oh, good. Alongside Chris Bichardt, Kevin Wilde.

Why do you think these tears are so controversial? I don't think they're controversial, but I, listen, I did this. I did these tears. The committee did these tears because of a segment you did two months ago that Brew and I instantly mocked and I want to give it a little kernel of hope. What's the moment of that? That the Patriots aren't on the doorstep of winning a championship, that the doorstep of starting a dynasty.

No, I said this. Dynasty DNA. And you made some stupid thing about OSHA inspectors or something. Just saying if there was a bunch of paint cans over there. You're a little bit ahead of you. Look, the warehouse is not on fire, but look, there are some elements there. Don't start smoking around here. We get it.

But that's why I did it. We start with the greatest coach of all time. He will not be in the Hall of Fame, at least not right now. He needed 40 of 50 votes and came up short. First in wins, first in appearances, first in playoff wins. And by the way, I count his Giants rings. So he's got eight total Super Bowl rings wherever he keeps them. Sometimes he lets Jordan wear one.

So maybe he has seven. Before we get to your reaction, here's Tom Brady's reaction. I don't understand it. I mean, I was with them every day. If he's not a first bout hallfamer, there's really no coach that should ever be a first bout hallfamer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it. He's incredible. There's no coach I'd ever want to play for.

I'd rather play for it. If I'm picking one coach to go out there to win a Super Bowl, give me one season. I'm taking Bill Belichick. Thank you, Goat. A quick update because I confused Brew. He lets his girlfriend, partner, Jordan, wear his ring.

Not Michael. I'm supposed to like, I knew her name, first name was Jordan. Yes. I get, I know that. But if Michael Jordan asked, like, hey, want to trade rings like baseball cards? That's what I thought you meant. Like, at one in a North Carolina game, Jordan was wearing a Patriots ring. That would be sad.

And Bill was wearing a bull ring. All right, your reaction to this news. All right. Glass one-tenth full. Okay. Really, really awful, unintentional mistake. Wow. Yes.

And I do not think this. is what happened. However, I do not think it is impossible that when that committee is voting and they know only three guys can get in, that there were at least 11 people that said, you know what, I really want to make sure this person gets in. Belichick's not going to need my vote. Yep. And so I'm going to use my vote for these three guys leave Belichick out. And then they count the votes are like, Oh, man. I think that is in a very minute way on the board. I don't think he can be dismissed.

If that is not what happened, and I don't think that's what happened, then I must say, while I believe Bill Belichick is the greatest coach ever, I believe that Bill Belichick, not Tom Brady, was the driving force of the first dynasty, the Patriots had, those first three championships. and I use the greatest defensive mind of all time, if he is being made to wait a year because of multiple confirmed,

penalized cheating scandals, I don't find it to be the crime against football that seemingly everyone else does. If he were to be kept out entirely, that would be outrageous. But a slap on the wrist from the committee for what was a, according to the NFL, more than a half-decade-long spygate fiasco,

that people forget popped its head back up a decade later when they were weirdly recording the Bengals sideline. I mean, like, so I'm just telling. Bengals were like a three-win team or something. I understand, but they, but that did happen. I mean, you can, you can say all that. I think we lost, I think the team got fined or something. Exactly.

And so if the voters decided, we are this is going to be your penance or at least 11 of them did I don't find that to be wholly and entirely outrageous the way seemingly almost everyone else associated with this story has said they find it to be outrageous well yeah I've listened to a lot of the pundits talk about it and they're giving reasons possible reasons and even you to some degree Nick some people were saying, he wasn't nice to the media. Yeah.

Okay. Others are saying he's still coaching now. You know, like North Carolina, so maybe they want to wait until he's fully done coaching. Others are saying Kenny Anderson and L.C.

Greenwood got to get in. So, you know, Bill can wait and all that. It's all hogwash. Okay. There is only one explanation for Bill Belichick not getting in on the first ballot, and that is cheating. That's it.

If you didn't vote for Bill Belichick, for any other reason, you shouldn't be a voter. In fact, I was talking with Greg earlier about it, Greg Jennings, there are some people we could argue shouldn't even be on the ballot. Bill Belichick comes up, he's just in. He's just in.

It's not even a vote. Oh, shouldn't be on the ballot. Tom Brady, there's no vote. He's in. Like, you know, there are some people that you could do that. Belichick's in that. class. So if you actually voted against him because of some reason other than cheating,

you should not vote. You do not deserve a vote. This is too important. I'm with you, Nick. If it is the, and I'm convinced it's the cheating, then I'm totally fine with it. When you cheat, you got nothing to say. Yeah, you got a little slap on the wrist with the $500,000 fine I think it was. you lost the draft pick, but you were cheating for seven years. From the moment he got to the Patriots in 2000, they said he was cheating. All right? And then they won those Super Bowls. Those first three Super Bowls, which were between 2000 and 2007, they won them by three points each.

In world-class sports, the difference between a gold medal and not meddling at all is this. if that cheating gives you this much advantage, you got an advantage. He's lucky that this is it. Nobody's taking his six Super Bowls or his first three from him. No, we should, though. No, it's too late now. Excuse me, we need to rings back, take down the banners.

Look, everybody. It's too late. Everybody, what do you mean everybody? Well, it's going to stay in Belichick. You're going to smear the entire Patriots organization. That was in this run. Hold on. Who's in charge?

Well, Belichick was the architect, though. It started when he got there. Well, if you're saying if Tom Brady just won these Super Bowls by this month. Brady may have been not even knowing about it. Brady's just out there playing. Belichick are orchestrated. Well, look, that's a whole different argument. But my point is that he cheated.

So that's the only reason they could not put him in the Hall of Fame. And remember, we don't even know how big this is. The league destroyed the video tapes, eight of them. The league destroyed the notes that the Patriots had on the cheating. All of it. During the investigation, they didn't want us to see what else is out there. So I'm just saying, I'm not saying he should never get in, but I'm fine with a slap on the wrist, a reminder, hey, we know you didn't do it all above board,

so you're going to wait a year or two. I think it's epically lame. And I have a funny take, and I have a serious. take. I'll give the funny one first. Sure. The funny take is if you want to keep them out forever, that it's going to be like PEDs, you cheated, you cannot go into the All-ofame. I almost respect that more than being put in time out like you're in third grade. Bill Belichick, sit on the curb, write me a let go on the chalk where I will not tape games anymore. I promise when I'm playing, you know, Rutgers, I won't tape the sidelines, and then I'll read your essay and

your apology, and I'll let you into the Hall of Fame. That's the funny take. The serious take, I mean, I thought it was. That's what they're doing. You know what? I'll be honest with you. It's fine. The serious take started to sneak in there. Yeah, it seemed like it. Here's the serious take, and I might ruin the show, but it might be good. We're going to gamble. It might be good might ruin the show. We got our 401 statements. I don't know if you guys contribute to the 401k. And that's for the future, right? And I looked at it. I never look at my 401k. But I took a screenshot of it and sent it to my wife. I'm like, hey, if any, this is for our future and we never talk about it. But if I get hit by snowplow, don't forget that we've got this money in the Fox

401K. Yeah. The reason I'm saying this is playing willy-nilly and trying to give people a slap on the wrist for a lifetime of work because you think you're going to vote them in next year or that they're going to be there to vote him in next year, I think is ignoring mortality and the fact that we're all fragile here. So I understand your guys' take, but man, I think that it's playing loose and fast with just like, tomorrow's guaranteed. Give him a slap on the wrist for tape and he'll get in next year. Well, what if he doesn't? No, but hold on. Can I? And that really gets, and I know it's kind of like a odd take, but it really gets me mad because I get an insult to a guy's entire life.

So a couple things. And I'll meet you where you're at in a positive way. Of all the things you do to ruin the show, talk about the, you're so wealthy, you don't check your 401k. You're not going to ruin your show. You're not supposed to check it. Don't ever tell Nick and I,

you can't talk about the 70s. Yeah, yeah. You're not supposed to check the 401K. No, I got it. But that's not, so there's no problem. You should be contributing. So I first listened to Ant. In 2006,

Major League Baseball was like, we're going to try to write the wrong of basically ignoring the Negro leagues. And we are going to let in a ton of Negro leaguers and have a committee. And the person that was in large part responsible for that effort that everyone thought was a lot was my dear friend, even though he was 70 years older than me, growing up the great Buck O'Neill.

This isn't a great story. I love that you were friends with Buck O'Neill. And somehow they picked 17 people to get. get in, Buck was not one of them, and he died a few months later. And he got in in 2004, posthumously.

So I totally understand what you're saying if the people who didn't vote for him were simply saying that we are putting you in time out. Where I disagree with you is

I think the people who didn't vote for him, if Brew and I are right, and it was about the cheating, they were saying, you are not a first ballot Hall of Famer. And that is something that does matter. While it might not show up on your plaque, like, look, after T.O. was made to wait,

and Randy got in first ballot, read what people talked about, Randy saying I'm first ballot. So I am drawing a distinction that I think is relevant. And again, if your argument is, This is nonsense. And I think your real belief, I don't want to put words in your mouth, is that Brew and I are using the word cheating too liberally, because I don't think you view it as cheating the way Brew and I might.

I think it's towing the line. That's towing the line. And so that's, right, and I don't think we have to relitigate what Spigate was. But I think the voters were saying, you don't deserve the most sturdily. designation. And what I'm saying is, if I were in the room, I would have voted for him because I am not as bothered by it as some. But it is not incomprehensible to me.

Right. And so, like, you know, if there are certain things where when a guy retires, when Peyton Manning comes up, it will be incomprehensible to me. When LeBron comes up, when Jordan came up, incomprehensible to me. this one, I do understand why 22% of the room might have said, no, I get it. Even if I wouldn't have done it, I get it.

I don't think, I don't, I don't bother me as much as some other people either. I wasn't even thinking about it. When I first heard the news after our show yesterday, I was like, what? That's ridiculous. He's not the first ballot. But to your point, if they did want to punish him for a year,

or whatever, I'm fine with it. I mean, and I think he's just like gets my blood. Well, when you do something wrong, you get punished. He was. That's our sense. Yeah, but that wasn't. They were punished. The franchise was punished.

That was a slap on the wrist. Just like I thought the Red Sox got a slap on. You know what? I'm going to. I'm going to get my licks into. 11 people. I'm fine with it because 20 years later. Let me get, let me get my shot back.

But hold on. You're fortunate. it, nobody's taking those Super Bowls, like I said. And in baseball, you might not be in the Hall of Fame. Come take the Super Bowl's then. Come. They should be. This is. No, but that's been adjudicated. I agree. The NFL didn't vacate anything, whatever, but this is a separate body. The Hall of Fame did not get to rule on that. That's what I'm saying. The NFL made its rule. You don't lose any wins. You don't lose any records. You don't lose any

banners. Right. Nothing. It's not the Wikipedia page for college. John Calipari at Uganda where the NCAA vacated something. That was the NFL's ruling. The pro football Hall of Fame is a different body that does not get to make any ruling on anyone until they come up on their ballot. They should follow the league. They have their own authority. I think they did follow.

And I guess what I'm saying is I feel they did follow the league. When the league says of every instance of, you know, let's just call it this century of malfeasance by a team or a coach, we find this coach the most. From the team, we took the biggest pick we have taken from anyone. The league said, whether they should have or not, the league adjudicated this a felony. And then the Hall of Fame is waiting and is going to adjudicate it on their own as well. To me, my read on it is, they did the same thing. So this would be my final statement where we can kick it around.

If that's the case and you have a strong principled stance against taping the sidelines, which to my knowledge was not a Belichick original, then come out and say, I voted against Belichick. Oh, I agree with that. I'm with you with that. The Polian is a we vote for him. Polian's a weasel. I voted against Belichick. I agree with that.

You should admit, I didn't vote for him because of this. And I would vote for him next year, but this year. Someone's got to do it if it's that principle. I agree. That part, I totally. And Jimmy Johnson said today, everyone's going to claim they voted for him. And obviously, he thinks a lot of them were lying to him about whether or did not vote for him. I have not been, I think there's a lot of things that still to this day cause consternation.

amongst football fans that if you're like where did this start and it's like bill polion did that too so i like i'm not i'm not a fan of so i am not on those guys side i'm not and i do agree that it would be useful if somebody said hey i don't know who the other 10 were but i'm one of the 11 and here you know what it might be 25 right it could be we don't know it be a lot yeah for the record and kyle and cowher brought this up on his show to hurt Vince lombardi and bill parcels and and maybe several other coach, I think he mentioned Bill Walsh, are not first ballot.

Well, they also changed how it works, because they used to have to compete with the players. Okay. But it was, it was they were in the mix of the players. But still, all those guys, Joe Gibbs, too, you would be like, they're in automatic.

One final, this will be actually the final thing because we get to Janus asking out. Mike Sander wrote, I would see this ruling against Belchay, as a repudiation, repudiation. Don't correct me

He's doing you a face. I would see this as repudiation. You do that privately. Sorry. We'll retape it. I would see this as repudiation of the new voting rules implemented for 2025,

not of Belichick or any candidate not making it. So we might just be arguing into the wind if it's like a... Well, yeah, but so I disagree with Sando in this regard. If there wasn't something else there, of the five people eligible,

he was the easiest one to get the vote for. Him, Kraft, and the three, the, you mentioned, Elsie Greenwood, Ken Anderson, Roger Craig. Right, those like, so that I think Sando's great at what he does. I disagree with his analysis. If any other reason, he's automatic.

Okay, all right, we're going to get to Janus right now. News out of Milwaukee. Janice is ready to go. Sean's reporting that the Bucks are ready to listen to offers that would end Janus's 13 year tenure in Milwaukee, currently nursing that injured calf, four to six weeks that he's self-diagnosed, but I bought it. Brew your reaction.

Well, just a complete mishandling by both the Bucks and Yonis. So if I'm the Bucks at this point, I'm not saying I wouldn't trade him before the deadline, but my preference, unless I get a great deal, will be to trade him this summer. I think they'll get more for him this summer. He's hurt, all right? And there's no determination of when he will be back. He said four to six weeks, the reports are, it's officially it's no time for him to come back.

We don't know when he's coming back. I used to be on Houston should trade Shingoon for him. San Antonio should even go for him. I no longer think those teams should make a move. All right. San Antonio, I definitely wouldn't break up my young core for Janus. He is in his 13th year and he's missed 30 games the last two years. It's going to be more than 30.

We're only halfway through this season. So, and then if I'm, if I'm Houston, I would play out this season, see how it goes. And then maybe in the summer, if we don't win the championship but get to the finals, in the summer, I would look at doing it. But right now with him being hurt and then the adjustment period, Yonis is such a great player. It's not like dumping in a role player or a Kevin Durant who just shoots. So I think it would be a, they should stand pat. The two teams, and I guess you can throw in Atlanta, Nick, if you want,

the two teams I definitely think should go for him are the Knicks because it's not, I know they've won three straight, but it's not going well there. If you can get him for cat and something else, do it, or Golden State. Drayman, Kaminga, whatever, you know, I guess if they would take Butler, but I don't think you need Drayman and Yonis. So I would try to do it if I'm one of those two teams. but outside of that, I think it's kind of

a little too, little too late. So I would, I disagree with you that they would get more this summer than right now because right now there's the possibility you get Janus for this playoff run. And this summer, there's, you know, anything you would get by trading for them this summer,

you would also get by trading for them now, but with maybe something additional. I made three trades. Love it. I can't make a Knicks trade work. I blame the second apron in CBA and the fact that the Knicks have no good picks. And so they would have to get a third team involved. I didn't want to.

The Knicks cannot come up with the best offer. It would have to be, Yonis says, send me to the Knicks in Milwaukee acquiesces. I feel very similar about Golden State. Golden State can't make the best offer. So I came up with three what I think are fair offers. Buck centric. Well, Buck's ain't. And Janus, I think, could compete.

Like, where... So the first one is Atlanta. Because you stay in the East. You give up Chris Staps, former number one pick, overall pick, Ries Lachet, and this is what's interesting about Milwaukee, about Atlanta for Milwaukee. Atlanta has the worst of the Pelicans

or Milwaukee's pick in 2026. Atlanta has that. They can send that back to Milwaukee. And Atlanta has Milwaukee's first round pick. next year. So if you trade Yannison, you think you're going to tank, you'd like to have your own picks. So that is something where Milwaukee's like, at least we get our own pick back next year to New Orleans pick, which might be number one overall and an interesting young piece in research. How many, you know, when we saw like Miles get traded for like five picks, is there a limit

to how many first round picks? A lot of those were second round. So no, so the thing is this. In the NBA, you can trade unlimited of other people's first round picks if you have them. For your own, you can only trade every other year and then you can do swaps. Gotcha. So that's the Atlanta offer. Here's the Houston offer because, and this brew, I think you would have to think about because you would keep all your young guys except for Shungoon. Van Blitz out for the year. And those are two, in my opinion, excellent picks you'd be sending. The Brooklyn first a year from now and the Phoenix first a year from now. and the feeling being Houston does have Kevin Durant,

which means like there is something of a win now. And then the most interesting one, go ahead. Well, it probably doesn't work financially. I was going to say, if I'm Milwaukee, I'd rather read Shepard than Van Vleet. Well, you're right. Financially, the Van Vleet thing's important. Right.

And then what if I could create a Spurs trade where you don't break up the Young Corps? the Selling Harrison Barnes plus these five first round picks none of which are Spurs picks because Spurs picks probably not going to be good they have Wimby and Yon's these young guards the Bulls first rounder this year

Atlanta's first rounder a year from now Boston's first rounder two years from now Dallas is five years from now and then I mean truly the mana from heaven in the NBA King's unprotected first round picks those things have been in the top 10 my whole life

and then I would do that The Spurs keep everybody. I'm the Spurs. I would definitely do that. I'm going to show you one other thing before we move on. If they wait for the summer. If you wait for the summer, I wonder if OKC doesn't repeat. And if this graphic continues apace, if Jalen Williams becomes available.

Because the last two years, the Oklahoma City Thunder with Jalen Williams are awesome. And without Jailen Williams are the greatest team in NBA, history. And I can't figure that out. No. But they have a ton of picks. And if they fall short this year, him with the picks. Him, you know, because it wouldn't work for them right now because he still's on a rookie salary.

But his max deal kicks in this summer. And he's going to get to be a number one guy. It's like a Brunson story. But I don't, if I'm, I mean, I think he's very good, but I don't think he's a number one guy. But with all those picks. Right. Him, another one, another piece because they have so many pieces and picks

would be interesting. I like that spur. I mean, if the Spurs could get him for that, then shoot. Oh, my. Right, you keep all your guards. You keep all your future picks. And Barnes is important for them, but certainly give him up for Yon. Coming up next, Drake May hurt his shoulder. Is this good news?

What? Does it explain why he isn't the throwing the ball right? Maybe. Great question. Check out the podcast if you get a chance. I think we're number one again. Oh, my gosh. Well, Nick's saying our pace is slown?

No, we're not. Giannis, it's cruising. It's cruising. Giannis is nervous. We've got 11 days to get 5.6 million views. You guys can do the math or else start submitting resumes. Easy money. If we do get to a billion, spot bonus from Nick Wright.

Drake May hasn't been throwing the ball. I paid a lot of those lately. You paid 50 bucks, Ian. Jake May hasn't been throwing the ball at an MVP level these playoffs. Maybe it's the defense. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's a sore arm.

Here's Drake on the radio and Vrable. I'm feeling good. We've got some extra rest. And really the only thing is from the game, I think just the built up of throwing for, this is what, almost including training camp, 30 weeks straight of throwing. And four days a week, it can add up.

But I'm not. I think we've got some extra rest and I'm feeling good. And, you know, ready to go. Super Bowl. Is that kind of something that's getting maybe blown a little bit out of proportion? I think that everybody, and including Drake, is not 100% of this part of the year. And we'll do everything that we can to help our players be prepared and get ready for this game. Something or nothing, bro.

Well, I think it's something in that it could explain why he hasn't been, he's been a little subpar by his standards in these playoffs. And it could potentially slow him down. in the game, the Super Bowl. I think it's nothing in that nobody cares. If you're out there playing, which he's obviously going to be, nobody cares if your shoulders bother you or not. We're going to judge you on your performance.

So that's a quick answer to it. Okay. Well, it's definitely nothing as it pertains to nobody cares. But this is something. And it's something because he's been sacked 15 times in the three games, three playoff games that he's been in. He's rushed the ball 24 times in the third. three playoff games.

And I'm assuming he's going to have some runs in the Super Bowl, and he's probably going to hit the ground once or twice being sacked. So when you look at that, if you are the Seattle Seahawks and you're that defense and you know that you can get pressure, you can get home, you're going to try to test that theory of how well is Drake May? Now, I don't think it has something to do with, you know, I don't think it will impact him in terms of his ability to throw the football.

I don't think it's that drastic. I don't think that's why he's been not what we've seen in the regular season. But it is something. I know to Rabel's point, everybody has some type of injury at this stage in their game. However, when it's your quarterback, it's the reason that you had such a great regular season, one of the main reasons why you're here, it is definitely something and something to be mindful of. You want to go, okay. Look, I was optimistic because watching the games, the throws have been,

unlike throws that I've seen in the regular season. And I'm like, oh, maybe that's because it's snowy and wet. And maybe it's because his clock is like sped up a little bit. And we have the numbers here. You know, the Chargers game, he didn't say that was necessarily the issue. And he had some beautiful passes in the Texans game, obviously, to boot it. But everything is down, right? The thing that hit my radar, Nick, was him talking like he was a baseball pitcher going deep into the playoffs.

Like, man, I've been throwing this ball for a long time. And did he just throw too much? Like, we never really talk about that except with older quarterbacks. But he's like, yeah, it's been 30 weeks to throw in the ball. He had a ton of attempts in the regular season. Was he number one? I don't know. I don't think he.

Was he number one, Joe? No. No, I don't think he was number one. So. But he played all the games. I know that the, you know, our pal, Dr. David Chow and some of the other internet salutes thought they saw a play in the

AFC championship game where he hurt his shoulder. If that happened, then that's one thing. This report, if I may speak on behalf of Coach Manjini for a moment, if this report is true, the Patriots should be in trouble. He has not been listed on the injury report once all year. Not with it.

They listed 13 guys before the AFC championship game. He wasn't one of them. They listed nine prior to the divisional round. He wasn't one of them. Like there is, so this report that he had a shoulder problem before the game is either wrong or the Patriots are not listing their injuries. Which again, I'm sorry? The Patriots? I know.

I wasn't going to. It was an odd day to bring that off. That's not the Patriots. No way they do. I can't list everybody. Yeah. Nobody's 100%. No, I get it.

But again, if you were like power ranking, like, man, we have these injury reports. Who are they, you know, to inform the public. If there's 14 guys and we are only going to list 13, is the throwing shoulder of the starting quarterback one of our 13 most relevant injuries? I don't know. And so I, but I didn't, I did not look at Drake May in either of the two previous games and said, that's an injured player. None of us did. I looked at him and said,

oh, that looks like a young quarterback in his first playoff games like I thought might happen, much to your dismay. And to your point, late in the Texans game, he had as good of a throw as he's had in any game.

That throw to Boudet could have been from any game all year, like peak Drake May performance. And so it obviously is something if the starting quarterback's shoulder is hurt. Yes. But Sam, and this is why I bring up the injury report thing,

you think that Seahawks wanted to just tell everyone a day before their first playoff game, Darnold's oblique. Right. They did it because you have to. Yeah. And then he had a, well, he had a. He didn't do much.

He didn't need to. He didn't need to. I wonder if he needed to. Could he have? Right. Could he? And so, like, the injury report rules are there for a reason. And so I don't know what to take of this report,

but the report is saying the Patriots didn't disclose an injury of their starting quarterback, which Coach Manjini would tell you, you got fined 50 grand for, even though Farr've never missed a game. He's still not over it. Somebody started go fund me for that money for Coach Manjini.

He's still not over. He's still upset. He doesn't always bring it up all the time. We're gonna stay in Denver. Sean Payton told the world that Jarrett Stidham was good enough to lead the Broncos to the Super Bowl. Came up short. Broncos fired O.C. Joe Lombardi.

Here's the weird part. Sean Payton called all the plays. Jeff Legwald writing, Peyton has consistently said he will not surrender play calling duties. So unless he has a major change of heart in that regard, the Broncos OC will be a prominent voice in the weekly planning, as well as in Peyton's ear on game day. But Peyton will still call the plays.

Greg, were you surprised by this move? Yeah, I'm surprised for what you just pointed out. Like Sean Payton, we all know Sean Payton is the head coach, but we most certainly know he's, He's on the sideline calling the plays. And so for him to say, you know, it was due to the lack of production and productivity of our offense.

I mean, it's kind of a shot at yourself that you're not willing to really just say. However, digging a little deeper into their coaching staff, they have Davis Webb on their coaching staff, quarterback's coach who is being sought after a lot of different teams. Your Raiders being one of them. and they want to retain them. And so if you have a player or a coach on your roster like that, that you feel like, man, somebody might pluck them away and you have an opportunity to move on from a coach

who you have a relationship with and has been with you three different occasions, then you choose that. And so I think that's one of the reasons why they moved on from... Joe Lombardi. Yeah, Joe Lombardi. Well, I agree with that. I mean, if you're moving Davis Webb up, so to speak,

you know, then that's fun. mine. Outside of that, it feels like they're scapegoating him or Sean Payton's scapegoating because, like you said, he's not calling the plays. And they've been mediocre. We know offense was kind of their weak link, right? But they were 14th, I think, in scoring this year, 10th last year. But when you look at their skill players, they got solid, but not great skill position players. And Bo Nicks is a young quarterback who's developing still. So the production, while it hasn't been great, has been pretty good for the talent they have on that side of the ball. So Davis Webb, that makes a lot of sense. You want to keep him in the building,

but outside of that, it just feels like they're putting the blame on him when it could go to Peyton. Yeah, I mean, it feels like if we had a bunch of bad shows in a row, or not even a bunch, just one bad show and Wilds Fire Dusty, like you're the one deciding the run down, buddy. Like, Dusty's the producer, but you're in there. You're in there. You're in there just yelling at Dusty like this is how we're supposed to do it. Like if we're doing the topics wrong, it's your fault, not Dusty's. And so like that. It's Dusty's fault.

We have a batch of Dusty's fault. We have a batch of Dusty. But here's the thing about Davis Webb or about this vacant job. Davis Webb doesn't want that job. This is not a good job. Your offensive coordinator, this is not about Bo Nix, I promise. No, no, I know. You just get the tight.

You get the title. Get the title. Without being a play caller is not a marquee job. But some of the guys with the chiefs have been able to move on in that case. No. So you get the title if it's a successful team. Nagy's like the only one guys. Like the, I mean.

It's an odd interview. Do you call the place? No, I just, but I support. And so like, if I'm Davis Webb and I'm like, wait a minute, I'm interviewing for head coaching jobs. And then there's other teams that want me to be. be their play calling OC, like OC, so maybe he stays because he's familiar there.

But if he doesn't, like no marquee up, I do not think this is a job people that think I'm on the head coaching track are going to want to get. Like Broncos O.C. is very different. But he would be, let's say he becomes their OC next year and they have the same type of season this year. He's going to be in the head coaching.

For Davis Webb, maybe, what I'm saying is If this job is posted, if this job's open, this to me is one of the less attractive offensive coordinating jobs because you don't get to do the thing where you make your name as an offensive coordinator calling the plays. Yeah. We thought the Eagles job was a little bit less desirable just because Siriani occasionally pops in. Never mind calls all the plays. Again, there is stability with this job, though. And that carries some weight. Yes.

And so if you're Davis Webb, I mean, obviously you have a... I mean, when they fire the guy after they make the AFC title game and they lose because they have a backup quarterback, it doesn't feel like there's quite as much stability. Yeah, but you just get the sense of being in the locker room and understanding how it works. A coach that has been paired with a young quarterback, a quarterback, you are more hesitant to just dismiss and get rid of him than somebody who's just kind of overarching, just holding the title and not in the unit. meetings, not in the quarterback meetings every day, not on the field working with him every

day, not really in his ear every single day. Not to say that Joe Lombardi wasn't, but definitely not as much as David's Webb. That's good. He hit us with the knowing how the locker room works. Damn. When he drops that one, it's like, oof, like knowing how it works, let me tell you what's up. We're a team. Bruno's. Brunos. Yeah, exactly. So this is exactly. This is receiver banter. I got it. Joe Brady. He's the new coach of the bills, and he will still call the plays. Nick, you were concerned about Mr. Brady having too much on his plate. Is this good news or bad news for Josh?

I mean, I don't like it. I don't like it for me. I don't like it. I don't like it. I mean, for, I know people are not going to believe me when I say this. I promise this is true. Assuming the chiefs. don't win every Super Bowl, the rest of Josh's career, which is what I would like to have

happen. I hope Josh wins one. Yeah, I truly, I, I, I, I, I'd like to see all great players get one, but I, it's less about Josh, it's, it's, it more about Bill's fans. So, like, I don't look at the Ravens as, like, tortured fan base. They, they, they had multiple championships. Bill's fans. The Bill's fans, I feel like, really deserve run, and they have, and so, and so I really do hope at some point the bills get one.

And I don't think this is good news. I don't think asking Joe Brady, who two and a half years ago, you had an offensive, he's on your step. You have an offensive coordinator opening. And he's not your OC. He's your quarterbacks coach. And then he gets a battlefield promotion

when you fire Ken Dorsey. And now he's not only your head coach, but he's also having to multitask his head coach, I just, I don't think that's the best way forward for the team. And when they said they wanted a CEO type head coach, that's not your young, offensive play call and whiz kid guy. So I just, it doesn't feel like this has been a coherent process from the firing of McDermott to this.

And so it doesn't mean he won't be good at play calling. I think he's been good at play calling, but there's so much more to being an NFL head coach than calling the right offensive plays. I love it. 16 head coaches started this season calling plays. Like, it's commonplace, including several first year guys, Ben Johnson, Kelly Moore, Liam Cohen,

Shane Steichen did it in Indy, you know, when he was first. Like, half the league, most of the offensive head coaches also call plays. So I don't know why we're. we would think Joe Brady can't do it when all these other guys can do it. You know, I mean, Kevin O'Connell, Andrew, it just go on and on. Dave Conallis, like, I don't think it's the big deal you're saying. And so I like it because I think the offense is going to be fine. The question is the defense.

And if they fall off, it's because they didn't get the right defensive guy, but offensively, they're going to cook. I agree with Brew. I think it's good for now because we don't know what we don't know. We will come to Snow how good he is at managing the game. game, but to your point, all those coaches you mentioned, Kellan Moore, Ben Johnson, they even had a different task more so difficult because they were dealing with young guys under center, young quarterbacks. You have Josh Allen. So you called the play, you know once the play has been

called, he has the rest. He can make the adjustments. You trust what he's going to put your team into as far as from a scheme's schematic standpoint, the best play. You can, opt out, whatever the case may be, you trust that he has it from there, and you then can do your due diligence as being head coach moving forward, X's and O's, how are we going to play moving forward, what are we going to do? So I don't mind it, but until we see how he manages the game, we won't fully know. Now, a lot of coaches, to your point, have handled it just fine, but those coaches you also mention have what I mentioned the other day. They have a former head coach on their roster.

I like that. I thought that was a good point. That's smart. Like when you, when you are a young head coach and you haven't, you haven't had the responsibility of that before, it is incumbent upon you to really have somebody who can, really, you can, you can go to their, their room and say, hey, what would you do? What did you do in this situation? Just to kind of pick their brain and then help you and assist you in areas where you might be deficient, not that you can't grow in those areas. Sure. So here, I understand all that and I get your point that it is not rare.

But I guess my theoretical counterpoint would be, yeah, it's not rare. And it's also one of the reasons that every year, a quarter and this year a third of the league is turning over head coaches. You know what I mean? is that a lot of teams are trying this and a lot of teams a couple years in or three years in, it's like that didn't work and we're churning coaches. And so it is the way the league is going. I just wonder if it is because the best coaches in the league, most of them do it, it doesn't

mean everyone can do it. Like McVeigh does it. I think Shannon does it. I think most people right now think those are the three best. offensive-minded head coaches in football. I don't know that it means that everyone can do it or should be doing it. A lot of these guys have done it well.

Stuyken. Schottenheimer did it this year. You know, Brian, and it went well. Right, but you're talking, and I guess I would have to just quickly try to remember. Yeah, and I don't think he does. But their offense is fine. It's the defense. Right, but so my question, but the game management stuff,

the holistic things. And are one of the, If you are the offensive mind of head coach and the play caller, I'm not even just talking about, you know, do we challenge, do we use a timeout? I'm talking about the parts of your job that happened before Sunday. Are those neglected because you are so invested in just your side of the ball? I think that's a fair. And so, like, Mike McDaniel did it.

And Mike McDaniel's offense, when he had a healthy Tua, was always humming. And it seemed like other things fell by the wayside. I just, I would be, maybe Josh Allen can, you know, hold up a wall to that. and prevent that. It just concerns me. Dynasty tiers next. All the dynasties in football. And all the almost dynasties. And all the almost dynasties as well.

That doesn't seem like they should be on there. Almost dynasties. Too short of a segment. These have five teams. Oh, okay. Live from New York, it's a show that's getting ready to see some real live jousting. I'm going to medieval times this weekend. Are you really?

Yes, you're a event? What? No. There's jousting, I guess. Where is the Middle medieval times you're going? Northern Jersey. There's beautiful horses. They have beautiful mains. You go on Friday or Saturday?

I'm going on Saturday. Which showing? If you want to come. Now, fans are going to show up just to see you. I don't think so. I think it's going to be packed. Remember how Wilde's missed our meet and greet in Miami? First thing's first meet and greet.

Wilde's exclusive. Saturday night at the North Jersey medieval times. They tried to do a meeting greet at 11 p.m. Yeah, we were in Miami. We did. Win and roll. Absolutely. Live and P.

And then I did a solo one at the casino. Yeah, that's not a sanctioned meeting. That was great. Indoor smoking back when I smoked. It was good time. How's that going? You still going strong? Clean, baby.

Wow. Second hour of first things first today. Belchick shut out of the Hall of Fame. When you look at it, should any of his Super Bowls count? I mean, really, guys. I don't know. The last three. Save the straw men.

Confiscate, go confiscate his rings. Just go grab them and auction them all. Meanwhile, LeBron headed back to Cleveland, literally tonight and then maybe next year. But right now, oh, you're in for a real treat. Last night, while watching someone try to shovel their car out from the snow and then imploring their college buddy to go help because they couldn't because they had a suit on, That happened. An elite group of experts, film watchers, and Christian Gonzalez truth.

I mean this guy. Bought and toiled and burned the Midnight Oil to deliver the best segment in all of sports. It's an honor and a privilege. It's time for a special dynasty tiers. Indeed it is. I'm glad, listen, the reason why it was included that Christian Gonzalez line is because Christian Gonzalez, great young player. Yeah.

And I think a multi-time all pro already. Yes. Yes. One of at worst, the five best players' position in the league. Unless you hear this guy talk about it, in which case he is the forgotten son of Champ Bailey, Dion Sanders with a little Darrell Green mix. It's just too much. Jarrell Revis out there.

Yeah, it's just too much. It's Alice Island. I mean, it's just, I mean, KW's not a big gambler. He's going to bet negative receptions for JSN this weekend. He's got to. Stay tuned. Greg. See you.

We have to do a little Super Bowl preview on how we're going to lock up JSN. Good luck. Looking forward to see you. All right, so here's how the tiers are going to work. It's dynasties,

many dynasties, and almost dynasties. And it's in a pyramid format. So it's a little, you know, it's a little crossover episode between Mahomes Mountain and the tears. And we will start with

the bottom row, which is great runs, not a dynasty. The Raiders from the mid-70s to the early 80s. Washington from the early 80s to 91, the Giants under Parcells, the giants under Coughlin, and the Jim Kelly, Marve Levy, Buffalo Bills. What are those teams resumes to get on here?

Those Raiders teams made three Super Bowls, won them all, made another final four. The stink, you know, stink was a part of some of these Washington teams, but the Joe Gibbs, Washington teams made four Super Bowls, won three, made another Final four. Giants, two titles, two Super Bowl appearances. The Giants, again, two titles to Super Bowl appearances. And then, I would say, the most famous non-champion in any sport ever. Yeah.

The Marve Levy, Jim Kelly, Thurman, Thomas, Bruce Smith, Buffalo Bills, as far as extended the period of time without championship. But you're doing them a favor. You're doing them a solid by throwing them on there. Look at all the other three titles, at least two titles for all the others. I mean, I get it. Nobody has a great run. Here's the thing.

Had the Chiefs made the Super Bowl this year, then maybe it denigrates what those guys accomplished. Had the Patriots with Brady ever made four in a row? Like there has been a, whether it was the 70s dolphins, the Patriots with Brady, the Chiefs with Mahomes. There's been a hard ceiling at winning your conference three years in a row for every other team in the history of the league except for the bill. I'm including the bills. I told you, add a soft spot for Western New York. See. Four throw, mini dynasties.

The Packers of the early 60s, now let me be clear. This is Super Bowl era. The Packers, if we remove Super Bowl era, they're at the very, very top because they were winning championships prior to this, but we have to pretend as if history started in the Super Bowl era. Elway's Broncos, Shula's, Dolphins, and Stalach and Landry's, Cowboys. So let's look at what these teams. accomplished.

The Packers, they won the first two Super Bowls. It was pretty good. They had dominated it before the Super Bowl era. They won the first two. The Broncos, they went back to back. The Dolphins went back to back, including going to a Super Bowl before they went back to back. So they went to three straight and they had an undefeated season. And the Cowboys were just in it every year, went to four Super Bowls, one, two, went to six final fours.

All right. So, many dynasties. Mini Dynasties. Many dynasties. Not real dynasties, miniature dinnasties. Yeah. There have been six real dynasties. Here they are.

We have had three decade-defining dynasties. The Niners of the 80s, the Cowboys of the 90s, the Patriots of the 2000 aughts. What were their resumes? The Niners, in that eight-year, nine-year period, pardon me. One four Super Bowls went to four and made one other final. four. Odd for them because the three, the four years they didn't make the conference championship game, they either missed the playoffs or didn't make it, didn't win a single

playoff game. But the five years, they made the final four, four years they made Super Bowl, they won it. Cowboys, we know what they did over those four years stretches, one three Super Bowls lost in one conference championship game. And the Patriots won a Super Bowl, missed the playoffs, then won back to back 14 win seasons, back to back Super Bowls and the longest season over season. winning streak in the history of the NFL. They are decade-defining dynasties.

But you're not, you know, the Patriots? 2001 to 2004. But you don't count 07 in that, in the decade? I, no, I do not because 05, you didn't win a playoff game, 06, because the rest of it, to me, and I'll explain it, I'll show you, I think we'll probably get to the Patriots piece of it. There is a tier higher than it.

And if we go back to the, to the pyramid, just incomprehensibly consistent dynasties. And that's the 2011 to 2018 Pats and the 2018 to 2024 Chiefs. For the Patriots, that is an eight-year stretch where every single year, they made the final four.

They made five Super Bowls, they won three. And for the Chiefs, it is a seven-year stretch where every single year, they won, they made the final four, they made five Super Bowls, they won three. There are no down years, no. no gaps, no anything. We'll see if, you know,

2024 was the end of the Chiefs run, or if they get right back to it next year and we have to do some math on how it works, or if they have a significant gap between the two eras the way the two Patriot years did, but that leaves one and only one team left standing, which is, and I thought the Chiefs were going to run them down, but up to this point they have not,

the greatest dynasty. There have only been a handful of instances of a team going back to back in the history of the league. This team has two of them, and it's the same group. The Steelers from 74 to 79, over the course of six years, here's what they did. They made four Super Bowls. They won all four Super Bowls. They made the conference championship game the year, the one of the two years they didn't, and the divisional round the other year.

And by the way, if you look, if you look at the graphic as a whole, what they, have that Raiders team from 76 to 83 was an all-time great team in the midst of what they were doing in their conference and they you know and they were able to sustain that level of excellence and dominance despite that that is for my money the greatest dynasty of all time Greg Jennings yeah look it's a great list I have a hard time wrapping my head around the bills simply because just getting there isn't isn't good enough to me. That's great run not a dynasty. It's a great run and I would not even throw a team on there that I felt should be worthy of a great run not a dynasty and that's our friend,

my guy, Willie Cologne's Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh nice. Okay. Absolutely from 5, from 05 to 10. When you look at that Pittsburgh Steeler team, they have two if we can put we can put up put up the numbers. They have two Super Bowls, two titles, three appearances, three conference championships. Obviously, they won. If you go two years before that, they went 15 and one, and we see they lost in the conference championship game. Had it not been for my Packers team in 10 beating them, if they win that, they're clearly on this list as a dynasty. Not talking about great run, potential but not a dynasty. But not a dynasty. But, This is a team that I feel like is worthy and is overlooked oddly because not, not oddly,

but because of that New York Giants team of their run that's on that list as well from 7 to 11. And so the Pittsburgh Steelers, I would argue this team is worthy of being on there. So I think you can, if I were to remove one team, it wouldn't be the 90 to 93 bills. It would be the 07 to 11 Giants. The tiebreaker for me for the 07 to 11 Giants over that team is who they beat and how they beat in the Super Bowl. And that's not, 17 and 0 Patch and then another great Pat's team, the second time. That first Steelers Super Bowl, all Super Bowls are amazing, but it beat the Seahawks team. It doesn't have the historical stickiness maybe as some of the others.

But a young Ben Rothersberger and new two. And the other piece of it that is tough for me is the fact that that era splits coaches is weird. You know what I mean? So like the Gibbs Washington teams had three different quarterbacks, but it has the same coach. The Raiders had different coaches. And, you know, so that maybe falls in that same category. They would be if, you know, whenever Colin does the herd hierarchy, he always like, and this team was 11. They would have, they're the, you know, Joe Lenardi's first team out would have been them.

Like, for real. I'm not the, the. But you would rather have their run than the bills. I would rather have their run because they won two. I would not, for the record, there are plenty of one-off champions that I think the bills run is way more impressive. It's impressive, but at the end of the day, you've got to get the ring. Yes. That's, I mean, I mean, I get it.

It is impressive to make four straight Super Bowls, obviously. But if you don't close the deal, it makes it devastating. But I think it's as far as historically great accomplishments, I think the four straight Super Bowls is more resonant than the, what the 2021 Rams did. I just do. We remember it. And so the test of time. And for whatever it's worth, but go ahead.

Well, I'm glad to see the Steelers on top. That was my, I was a rabid Steelers fan as a kid. And look, I wasn't going to go here, but when I heard Wilds go two minutes on the opposing quarterbacks for the Broncos yesterday. Yeah. In the regular season. In the regular season. And then today go two minutes on his 401K.

I said, you know what? I'm going here. Yes, bro. The Packers, I get it. It was pre-Super Bowl era, but it's continuous. So that's 66-67 Packers team of Vince Lombardi also won it in 65. which was the championship. It wasn't the Super Bowl because the Super Bowl didn't exist.

But they are, I believe, the only team to ever win three straight championships. And then they also won it in 61, 62. They have five championships in a seven-year stretch. Lombardi have five championships and another appearance in the championship game in a nine-year stretch. So I actually moved them all the way up to where the Steelers are. and I make it the greatest dynasties, plural. Oh, that's nice. And it's close to the Super Bowl era, but it's, it continues, you know what I mean?

For whatever it's worth. I 100% agree with you if that was eligible. Sadly, he's going to have to, Vince is going to have to settle for the trophy being named after him because we are talking about it is as if football began with Super Bowl. There also was the same hubbub when he wasn't first bowled, Hall of Fame. I don't think so. Maybe who knows. KW.

I would like before I go on attack mode like a rabid dog, hear your rationale for why you split up the Patriots, which left the 07 Patriots off in the wind like they're a different team. No, it's not like they're a different team. It is because between from 2005 until the start of the next one, 2011, there were two teams in the NFL that were objectively more successful than the past. The Steelers he's talking about in their own conference and the Giants. And so you, I, it is definitive to me that you are in, that it is not a continuous one dynasty.

multiple teams in the midst of your dynasty have far more success than you did. From 2005 until 2014, the Patriots won zero Super Bowls, missed the playoffs once, had two other seasons in addition to when they missed the playoffs where they won zero playoff games and made two Super Bowls. And so winning neither. In that same stretch, the New York Giants went. two for two. The Pittsburgh Steelers went two for three. The New York Giants played the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Right. But we're getting the Patriots were much better than the Giants. We're

giving the bill. We're giving the bills credit and an 18 and one. What perhaps in this whole dynasty might be the best team. Oh, I didn't win. It's just out in the win. I believe the greatest team of all time is the 07 Patriots. But I believe the second greatest team of all time is the 85 bears who are also not represented anywhere. They didn't have a tail end of a run. Here's my argument. We could throw up like the Brady Belt. If you have continuity between coach and quarterback,

I think it counts as one dynasty. So when we don't start the Patriots talking about parcels. We don't or the old Bears, Bears Patriots, Raymond Berry. And if the Patriots won now, and one for the next three, I would say that would be separate. Different coach, different quarterback. Yeah, of course. But coach quarterback continuity, I think deserves one dynasty.

And granted, it's long, so it's going to be a little bit unconventional, but we've never seen a two-decade. So here would be my question. Like, and I mean, I ask this earnestly. If we are, God willing, still doing this show in, 2034. And in that time period, Lamar's won two Super Bowls

and Caleb won two Super Bowls. And in 2034, and the Chiefs have won none, by the way, and they obviously already missed the playoffs. Had a couple years where they liked this year or where they just make the playoffs don't want a playoff game. And in 2034, they win the Super Bowl. And I say, the Chiefs' diners.

is ongoing. You'll think that's true. You'll think that if between now and 2034, they don't win another Super Bowl and they win one then, that that is a continuation. They made enough, but do they make another? Yeah.

Over the next, over the next, over the next eight years, they lose two Super Bowls to Caleb and Lamar wins two with the Ravens. I wouldn't. And then the Chiefs in 2034. If Reed and Mahomes are there,

Reading Mahomes are there. The Chief's dynasty, in your guys' opinion, would have gone from 2018 to 2034. Because it to me. In that context? Because I don't think so. It would be Reed and Mahomes. It would be to read Mahomes. For instance, I consider the Spurs, Duncan Popovich, a dynasty.

From 1999 to 2014, I consider that a dynasty. Now, Shaq and Kobe. Even though there was a dynasty within there? Yes. Like, because it's, like you said, the coach and the main player are continuous. Do you agree with that? Yeah. So you think, so there was.

So I think the Patriots should be one. But I'm not looking at it as. So I could. By the numbers as you, I'm more of just like. We never would separate those two. Yeah. We never would separate. When you, when you, I don't know, it just doesn't feel like.

You're going to say to Mahomes breed era. No, the era. I totally agree on era. I totally agree on. era. I don't think it'd be the same dynasty. If the Chiefs win three more Super Bowls in 2034, 2036, and 2037, and I'm like, hey, the Chief's dynasty was 2018 to 2037, ignore the decade in the middle when they won nothing. But if they went to two other Super Bowls, I think that's what I think that's the season. I mean, they're still a great team. So, okay. Yeah, I mean, I just,

I could have. I don't know if there's other teams there that. like went to the Super Bowl that are are not are not being represented. I mean, I could, if it would make you feel better, we could change. Trying to think of the number on the Patriots, 01 to 07. That would make me feel better if you want to meet in the middle. If you want to say it's 0.1 to 07. And then dynasty gap year. And then the gap was 2008 when they missed the playoffs, 2009 when they lose a home

playoff game to Mark Sanchez and the Jets. and 2010 when they get just clocked by the Ravens, that that's their, that that was the reset. And then 2011 is the restart. I mean, I could adjust it. 0.1 to 07 makes it work, lessens the power of it. That's what I felt. I felt like 0.07.

4 years is more impressive. That's how I felt. I wasn't trying to short change it. I don't know if there's another team on there that has a Super Bowl appearance that is being left out. You count, we count the Eagles, Chiefs losing to the Eagles. 18 to 24. I just want to count those Patriots because it was continuing. Okay. So, all right, switch it. That's what makes it so impressive. But I still, but I actually thought I was doing you guys a favor.

But 0107 is what it could say. I'm fine with that, but I still view it as two separate things. But think about the power of a 17 year run. And here's the other thing, Kate of. Yeah. No one else on there has won starting two years before, three years before they win a Super Bowl. Like 11 to 18, y'all didn't win. until 14. I'm giving you credit for making the Super Bowl in 11. 12 and 13, you lost before the Super Bowl.

And then 14, you made it and won. So above, I'm starting you three years before you start winning. Okay, but you start at a Super Bowl appearance. Nope, but I'm saying nobody else did. Yeah, that's a good point. No, but everybody else started with a Super Bowl. The dolphins, I guess, they made the appearance

and then the next two years they made it. You see what I'm saying? Like, I'm trying to give you guys credit it for 11. I could 14 to 18 is when all the winning was done of the 2020s. You guys won in 14, 16 and 18 made it in 17 and 11. 12 and 13 were bad. Not bad, but I think we agree. Number one dynasty. Coming up next, LeBron going back to Cleveland and does Belichick deserve to be a first ballot hall of fame? Well, he's not. So there was that. Well, Cleveland.

The great American race, return. Returns back to back champion. William Byron, looking for the three Pete. Doesn't get any bigger than this. The 68th running of the Daytona 500, February 15th, weekend after the Super Bowl, only on Fox. Welcome back to first things first. Greg Jennings is here.

Bill Belchuk not going to the Hall of Fame. The sports world met this news with emotions ranging from disbelief to anger. Mahomes, LeBron, Dion, Aikman, Jimmy Johnson all shared their dismay. Another way to read this is they're all on my side. Summon on us. Yeah.

Some good names. We talked about this earlier. Greg, we haven't heard from you. Are you okay with Belichick being shut out? No, I'm on your side too. Thank you. Absolutely. Like, when you think of Bill Belichick, it's kind of like what we were just talking

about dynasties. The first thing that is the first thing that, that pops in your mind is Super Bowl wins, Super Bowl titles, wins as a coach. You don't even, you, I'm not going to dismiss what is out there in terms of SpyGate, because that is a real thing. But even as players, we don't look at Bill Belichick in that Patriots team and say, a bunch of cheaters. No, I think that's interesting.

We just don't. It's we recognize them for who they were. They dominated. They were a dynasty and he was the orchestrator of it all. So naturally, it's a no-brainer. Like, I don't care what took place. The guy still had to formulate a roster, build up who they were,

put together a plan, and they had to execute it. He did it. He won. He's the Zorro. deserving to be a first ballot. This is, this is, this is foolish. I agree with you on all of that.

It still took a lot of hard work, but apparently they did it with an advantage that the other teams didn't have, you know. And so I, look, I would have voted for him. I'm not like terribly bothered about spy gate, deflategate. But if the committee did keep him off for the spy gate, deflategate, the cheating, which is the only rational. reason to keep him off. I'm fine with it.

And I think Belichick stands toward this. He should just take his medicine, be humble, and go with it. When he's asked about it, look, I felt I built up a Hall of Fame resume. Apparently, the committee didn't think that. Hopefully I'll get in the next go round. Leave it at that. Don't go into it because it can get ugly and then maybe, you know, so just take your medicine. You did cheat.

Take your medicine. and you'll probably go in next year. Well, and if, now that he's not going to be first ballot, he is either, I would imagine, going to go in with Grunk or the following year with Brady. Now, again, the Hall of Fame still has the opportunity to take my idea,

which is have an All-Patriot class next year. Again, I'm big on passing rules that will only ever apply to one person. Sure. So, like, if they were like, hey, by the way, just added rule, if you have more than five Super Bowl rings, your

wait times four years. Just so, you know, just so everybody knows moving forward. Just like I said, if the NBA pass rule said, if you're the all-time leading score and an active player, you're automatically an All-Star. Like, it'll never apply to, it'll apply right now and never again. I like intentionally walking Otani. You can't, you can do that once.

Okay. And so what we, and I have tech, prior to all the Belichick stuff, I actually texted with Rob Grunkowski about this, and he loves this idea. Next year when Gronk's eligible. Move up Brady's eligibility. Make him eligible. Vinatari's was a finalist.

Richard Seymour was a finalist. Rodney Harrison was a finalist. Get all of them in and Belichick's a contributor and the greatest dynasty if it is that all-fame adjacent Julian element can be there. He can speak for him. But regardless, you have a whole Patriots class.

So I still think there's a way to turn this into something semi-positive or what whatever it is. And Belichick will eventually get in, and I think it'll be fine. Here is what I would ask you, because you're the one most upset. Because I want to echo what Bruce said.

I would have voted for him. I also don't find it outrageous that people, the Hall of Fame said, it seems like 11 of the 50, at least, maybe more, said, SpyGate was enough of an issue that we don't want to give you the extra designation of being first ballot. So here's what I would ask you.

If we assume, or we agree, pardon me, that there was some edge, that they weren't doing whatever they're doing in SpyGate for no reason whatsoever. Bill Belichick thought this gives us some edge. If someone had told him, hey, doing this is going to give you the best chance you have to win championships. And you're going to be able to do it for five, six, seven years at some point, It's going to be stopped. But just so you know, if you do it, you are not going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Would he still have pressed that button?

I think he would have. Yes. I think he would have said, no problem. Right. Who cares about it? And so, and so like there is, you know, I say this all the time. Everything has a cost. It seems like you think this cost is too severe.

I think the penalty has been paid. That's my position. that it was being relitigated. This happened in 2007. When we were talking about in the meeting, I'm like, hey, do we want to talk about it? I don't know. I've been talking about it for two decades. 2007 is the same year the iPhone came out.

So maybe the world would be different if he was just out there with his iPhone, because he had to have a big camera. It's a long time ago. The franchise paid the price. He took a reputational hit. Other players have taken reputational hits that have since been rehabilitated, and to me, it's water under the bridge.

So now that there's another body saying, you know what, let's just give this guy one more shot to the ribs. Just one more shot to the ribs, I think is mean-spirited and unwise. So why is it unwise? Because at the risk of being, a super downer, I don't think tomorrow is promised for anyone.

And the old lesson of, the old lesson of don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today, there's plenty of stories like call your best friend and call your uncle. Right, but on that, I just don't think like, yeah, stick it to this guy. See, so that's, so that, that's taking another direction, but that is the core of why I'm upset. I, and I hope the audience takes this for as sincere as I mean it to be. I've been working with you long enough and I know you well enough as a human being that I know know the 2 to 3% of time we're doing a show, and it represents more than just sports to you. We're like, I can see it in your eyes.

This really means something to you. So I'm trying to- No, but sometimes I'm like, oh, I got in down the ball, Kentucky. I'm trying to meet you where you're at because I think you deserve it. That exact same tomorrow isn't promised might be why he didn't get in. They might say, you know what? Some of those voters might say, you know what, all things considered, tomorrow isn't promised. And if I'm going to roll the dice that one of these guys who I think is eventually

going to get in is, you know, that might not be here next year, I'm voting for Kraft or I'm voting for Ken Anderson. I'm voting for a senior committee guy because they don't have, they haven't given me an objective reason that I think that they deserve to be penalized. And you, when you keep saying they, he already was penalized, he was penalized. He was penalized by a different body. The Hall of Fame never got to weigh in on SpyGate, ever. They never got to weigh in on that. And so it is, I'm mixing. Then if that's the case, A, if that's your principal stand, say, I didn't vote for Bill Belichick. Agree. B. Yeah, I agree with that. Sit down with an interview for someone and let's hear about SpyGate. Let's see how good your memory is on SpyGate.

Let's go through it a little bit. What was going on? How many games did it affect? Let's really do it because I think there's a lot of fuzzy stuff out there. It's like, ah, Spygate, I want to take one more shot at him. I do not believe that people are that principled about SpyGate. Maybe it's a little bit of personality. Maybe it's a little bit of jealousy. Look, you can be forgiven for something and have paid your penance, but the repercussions of what you did in the past can still follow you.

like there still can be an impact on what you did, which is what this is. But I'll say this and this is a good thing. I think in the end, like let's say next year Belichick's voted in, which we think is going to happen, it is going to be celebrated even more than it would have been had he gotten in this year. Because everybody that's been ripping the voters and like it's going to be much more celebrated and honored. and people are going to go crazy for him. That's how it's going to be. And so, you know, he'll get it.

Great, can I ask you one other thing in a slightly different direction? Because I know these guys are going to jump all over me. But maybe since you and I have been in lockstep with the Patriots. Super Bowl coming up in next two Sundays from now. Easy schedule. You know, off Jarrett Stidham. Patriots have just been disrespected.

doubted, discredited. And Mike Rable played on those teams for Bill Belichick. Not saying it's a major factor. Not saying it's a minor factor. Not saying it's even a little factor. Not nothing. It's definitely not. A little bit of motivation against the Seahawks, true or false.

Any type of motivation advantage that you can get, especially when you're at this position to try to win this game, you're going to try to do whatever. you're going to fuel, throw all that fuel on it. It'll be in this pregame speech. It'll be, it'll definitely some of these, some of these conversations will definitely be in that highlight, that pre-highlight tape before the go. Yeah, I don't buy that piece of it.

That part right there is going to be in it. That's fine. I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't, I also, I don't think that this impacts the, this year's Super Bowl, as much as I think this impacts, this year's, the atmosphere around the Hall of Fame induction. And that, by the way, is the one point we haven't made yet that I'll make here. The casualty in this, right or wrong, is none of the guys who make the Hall of Fame this year are the Star of the Hall of Fame this year.

And that's a shame. The star is the guy who's, like the story is the guy who's not there. You know what, that's... And that is... Listen, I'm not saying that's a reason that should come into the math or whatever it is, but when you have this level of shock that someone didn't get in, it does overshadow a bit when Breeze does get in, when Fitz does get in. Whomever the senior candidate is, it probably makes it, if it is Robert Kraft,

among maybe others, like it could be more than one. it's a little their moment's not really their moment and that's not, they had nothing to do with the vote and they had nothing to do with that. So that's an unintentional consequence of it that I think is unfortunate. Okay, coming up next,

is LeBron going back to Cleveland? He's not a first ballot of Hall of Famer. Well, you never know. You had some traveling calls. He had some flops. He had a flop seven years ago. Saturday, Today, two powerhouses. Number two, Yukon.

Fox prime time hoops against Creighton. Coverage begins Saturday night, seven Eastern, four Pacific, only on Fox. I'm scared of Creighton. I've told you guys that. Yeah, I never like to do. Lakers in Cleveland tonight. Is this LeBron's last game in the land

or his last game in a Lakers uniform in the land or neither? Dave McMeneman writing, multiple team and league sources told the ESPN the Cavs would gladly welcome James back this summer. If you wanted to return, Brew. to Cleveland for his 24th NBA season and third stint with the team. That's from McMinneman.

Your reaction to this news. Well, look, I think there was a time over the last few years when the Cavaliers would not have gladly welcomed LeBron back, not because of any animosity or anything, but if I was Donovan Mitchell a few years ago and something, I'm like, I'm going to do this a lot. Right, right. I got this.

When LeBron comes in, he takes over, especially in Cleveland, we can do it, all right? But now after three, possibly four, I'll say probably four years where they have really good regular seasons, even this year in the great regular season. But it ends in disappointing fashion in the playoffs, then you should welcome LeBron. LeBron going there in the Eastern Conference, they would definitely have a shot. And I would say the greatest, the second greatest story, the second greatest way for LeBron to end his career would be going back to Cleveland

and helping them win another championship. Maybe some would say the greatest. I'm saying the greatest. Is he the next? No. That's a good one though, would be to go to Golden State. And he and Steph win a championship. Just quickly before you go.

Because that would be a, that would be a, circus throughout the whole season. Those two on tour? Note to self. Brew's top 10 greatest LeBron Final X. Oh, yeah. Power rank.

We could do that. I just love it all. Nix is a good one too. Yeah. Listen, the Warriors would that would, I don't,

it would feel like he is, and it wouldn't feel like he would be joining Steph's team. The thing is that I hear it quickly. I'll hear you on that. But Steph's team ain't no good. I mean, like, like, it'd be one thing if,

it'd be one thing if the warriors were rolling and close and with Steph and they don't need LeBron, they need, they would need a LeBron. Like, they're not a good team and he would be lifting. I mean, or Steph could join him in Cleveland. Steph's from Akron as well. Everybody forgets that. Born at the same hospital. Or are they neutral sight?

They could go to your team Charlotte. Where Steph's, like, there's, I've been saying that for, regardless. To stay here. here is the thing that is to me patently obvious about LeBron and I said it a year ago and I will say it again

he's just never going to be bad and I think where he's at right now is just his floor once he's in game shape. We saw his actual floor the first two weeks of the year and he's struggling to get 10 points

and I think folks understandably were like ooh like it took longer than it it's taken for anyone else but Father Time caught up with him and he said he was like no I just never have not had a training camp and this was my training camp

and now he's just 22, 7, and 6 which again that is not vintage LeBron but it is a super impactful, effective basketball player absolutely. The Lakers fit is awful

and that's I have been hard on Rob Blinkin the past, that is not anyone's fault. When you had him and Anthony, LeBron and Anthony Davis was a great fit. Trading Anthony Davis for Luca is a no-brainer you have to do it.

LeBron and Luca is an awkward fit that they did their best to make work. LeBron, Luca, and Austin Reeves when he comes back is a nonsensical fit. You have the oldest player in the league and then two guys who want the ball and don't, it can't or don't defend.

So it's just that that's not going to fit. So I don't think he's done playing. I don't think he's anywhere near the place where he can't be a very valuable piece on a championship team. I still think with the right team, brew, he can be the second best guy on a championship team. I don't think that's the way the Lakers are built. The Cavs, it's interesting. If Donovan's your best guy, if he's your second best guy, if you have those Mowgli and Jared Allen, defend what does that do and I would love to see him finish his career back out east

be it on the calves or the Knicks and I don't think he is going to demand I think for the calves he might do it for very little money that he would have to yeah well right that should yeah I mean the only reason this is a possibility is because he might contract expires on a free agent I'll sign for whatever. If he really want, like Cleveland makes a ton of sense, you know, you could go there, you're just there a year, you're at home.

I'm sure his family would stay in L.A., but, you know, you're at home, so maybe that's doable. And I don't, I would think LeBron's last act should not be based on money. I mean, obviously he's made, he's got a ton of money. If he wants to go there, you know,

and it means the veterans minimum or whatever it is, then he could do it, and it would be a fantastic last act. Are you ruling out the Wizards? I also don't think KW. His last act, though, should be based off the best possible place to get ring number five. I agree with that. I agree.

Like it either has to be going home to Cleveland, your story of where can me and Steph play together. I like that. Or, you know what, he's always talked about MS. And the Knicks also might have thought two years ago, no, we wouldn't want them. We're building this. Last year we're building this. Let's see how this year goes.

Mike Brown coached him. They had a lot of success in Cleveland. So Janus, Brunson, and LeBron? I don't think they're going to get Yonis. They traded all their picks away. They're not going to be able to get Yonis. But Yonis is making a request. I understand.

Milwaukee's got to do what's best for them. Try to do it best for both. They gave you 13 years. Let's get right you guys a championship. Live from New York City, it's first thing's first overtime. Today, is there a justification for the snub of Bill Belichick? Danny has some interesting insight that he just discovered, so I'm looking forward to that. Meanwhile, the coolest stats known to man.

Christina said we go from the gridiron to the hardwood. A little football, little basketball? That's right. I'm excited about this. And finally, Big Ben joins the show. A little bit of a victory lap for calling McCarthy Aaron Rogers reunion. Classic one from Big Ben. Wasn't expecting that.

Alongside Krisy Sart, Kevin Wilde. Nick Wright. Danny, did you see the intro to the dynasty tiers? Yeah, but I already forgot about it. I was making fun of Nick for telling you to go out and shovel that person's car. Oh, okay. Because he couldn't do it because he had his nice shoes.

Danny was wearing what he normally wears to work, which is pajamas. And I, I, for comfort, not style. And I told him, I put a real financial bounty on him helping that lady, not so much because I thought she needed the help, but because I thought he might pass out from his own. Yeah.

And then you mocked my back ailments and my laziness. Yeah. I didn't take you up. I think he's allowed to, first of all, the back ailments thing, don't do that. The laziness, however. Yeah. We're talking about it. He mocked my lazy.

Right. That's a secret. That's an admirable. But right now, we're starting with the greatest coach of all time. One of the greatest snubs of all time, not going to All of Fame. Needed 40 or 50 votes. He came up short. For a while, I was like 11 voters.

I don't know, maybe it was 30 voters. He knows. First and wins, appearances, playoff wins. Count of his rings. He's got eight total. Six has a head coach, two with the Giants. Before we get your reaction, Parkins, here's Tom Brady's reaction. Take a listen.

I don't understand it. I mean, I was with them every day. If he's not a first bout Hall of Famer, there's really no coach that should ever be a first bout of hallfamer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it. And he's, he's incredible. There's no coach I'd ever want to play, I'd rather play for it. If I'm picking one coach to go out there to win a Super Bowl, give me one season. I'm taking Bill Belichick.

Heck, yeah. All time coaching ranks, Danny. It speaks for itself. It's pretty good. First and playoff wins. Total wins, 33. Second. Okay, so your reaction to this news.

My reaction was, it was absurd. I mean, we were on when it broke yesterday. Like, I just, my thought was pretty simple. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is supposed to be based on merit. It's the toughest Hall of Fame to get into. There's only 50 voters, very exclusive class, and there are no guiding principles. Like the baseball hall of fame has a morality clause written into it.

Well, if Bill Belichick was up for the baseball Hall of Fame, I don't think he'd make it. I don't think he'd make it either. Hit me home runs. Yeah, yeah. Not a five-to-a-player player. But like, the SpyGate stuff would feel a lot more relevant to me personally if it was the baseball Hall of Fame than the Football Hall of Fame.

Football Hall of Fame is judge your candidacy. Is it? That's how it's always been. I mean, you said there's no criteria. I'm just saying that's how it's always been. There's no official, you know what I mean? So some voters do take character and things like that in the consideration. Certainly.

It is not a directive of the Hall of Fame to take character, integrity of the game, like it is. It is spelled out in baseball. It is not spelled out in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So for a individual voter, maybe, but I have a hard time believing that all of these people came to the same conclusion without there being some politicking, which is why I thought what Bill Polion said was ridiculous. when he was like, I don't remember who I voted for. It has to be taken seriously.

Yeah, I want to believe that, but if he holds 2% of the vote in that room and he has sway and he has done, he clearly, I mean, Tony Dungey is in that room. I imagine him, and he has respect for Bill Polion. Like, Bill Polion is a voice that carries some weight, and really good journalists said that he carried weight on that issue. So I personally thought it was ridiculous,

and I'm going to get to what I just read here, a little bit, but first, just because I heard you guys talking about Spygate earlier, if you just take that and say everything Bill Belichick did before it was nullified because he got penalized for the video. I love this. This is like the Barry Bonds. Yeah. If you said everything up through 2007, let's remove it, and then let's start Bill Pelichick's career in 2008 and go forward.

This is what Bill Belichick's resume would be post-Spigate. Three Super Bowls, five AFC titles. 16 playoff wins, and about 100 games over 500. To be fair, we were messing with the comms though in Foxborough. Yeah, okay. But then if you then take just that post-Spigate resume and compare it to the coaches that are in the Hall of Fame, instead of being first in Super Bowls, he is now second.

Instead of being first in conference titles, he is now second. And instead of being first in playoff wins, he is now fourth. post spy gate he is a Hall of Famer. But there's also, and Nick and I both said, the cheating isn't that big of a deal to us. But if voters took that in a consideration and that's why they didn't put him in, I am not against that because he did break the rules.

And it's not just spy gate. It's also deflate gate. And so you have to weigh that in as well. I mean, I don't want to get into that, but he was not involved in that. Right. So I'm going to stay focused. the official findings of the Flakey.

I'm going to stay focused on Spygate because whether, where I disagree with something KW said earlier is like we're all fuzzy on what that was. For the purposes of this discussion, especially because I'm on the record, I'd have voted for him. I actually don't care. I do know and I do care about what Spygate was,

but we can just say, I don't know what it was and I don't care. What we know definitively is the only, governing body that had an opportunity to levy a penalty for SpyGate levied the harshest penalty they have ever levied for that type of malfeasance as far as the most they are allowed by contract to find a coach he got fined they took a first round pick which up to that point was unprecedented for this type of thing so they the judgment came in on that and the reason why I'm leaving the flight gate out of is Belichick they didn't do anything to him on that so

And where I will just be adamant on, I do not view it as they are, that he's being double penalized. I view it as, again, mixed metaphors a bit. If voters said the Pro Football Hall of Fame is not giving you the desert, or I am not giving you my vote for being a first ballot Hall of Fame or because of that, I find that no different than if after the show, if one of the days you make for. front of the committee. I just can't take it anymore and I punch you dead in the face if I get arrested for it and then also you sue me. It's like okay, there is a criminal

proceeding and they are going to do it but then there is also a civil proceeding. I view it as the NFL levied a punishment and the pro football hall of fame had no say on that up until this moment and if the voters are saying, and I'm not sure

this is what all the voters are saying that he does, he is not going to get the best distinction one can get because I am bothered by that more than Nick or Brew or you or Danny are. I don't find that illegitimate. I understand it. So most voters have not put their name on it yet for not voting for it. But one has right before I came on the air. I just read his column. Buddy of mine, I'm sure you know him also. Vahe Gregorian writes for the Kansas City star, longtime sports writer used to work in St. Louis for Kansas City. Got the Hall of Fame.

vote when the late great Therz Pailor passed away a few years ago. He is the opposite of a hot take artist. He is a 30 plus year sports writer, has that vote. He wrote a column saying, Bill Belichick deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Here's why I did not vote for him. And he said that it had nothing to do with the cheating, nothing to do with it. He said the Hall of Fame needs to change its voting process because the coaching eligibility candidate, Bill Belichick, the contributor candidate, Robert Kraft, and the senior committee candidates, there's five guys and they're all competing against each other. You can only vote for, at most, three people of those five, the contributor, the coach, and the senior committee.

And he thought that Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, and R.C. Greenwood, the three. Elsie Greenwood, excuse me, I can't even remember. my own handwriting. All three senior candidates deserved his vote and that they had been waiting the longest to get in. And so he placed a vote there for like their last shot at eligibility. Were they going to, for lack of measure, age out of like their school like in baseball? Exactly. There will be other senior committee. This was their last chance. I don't know if definitively this was their last chance. Because I think, I think, Just like I think for senior committee candidates, it could be a new batch every year or they could be back on it.

And so that you don't know that it's not like. There will be new guys who didn't get in in the normal voting process who then become eligible for the senior committee. But also, if you've been so. This bothers you more and this one you're okay with. Well, if you waited. Because it feels they're on the senior committee for a reason. And I'm not the guy that's always, you're either a Hall of Famer or you're not.

If when I first hear your name, I don't think Hall of Famer you're not in. I'm not that guy. But if you've waited this long and you haven't made it and now you're on to the senior committee, it's like there's a reason like you might not be a Hall of Famer.

Good chance you're not. Bill Belichick, the only justification to me. I agree with you. Is the cheating. Any other reason I'm sorry. Like, I don't. don't even think there should be a vote

on a guy like Belichick because he's done so much he should just be in. If you take away, you and I agree. But I do think the cheating is a legitimate reason to be like in this case, no. But any other reason is

I don't think there's any way you can justify not putting him in for football reasons. The weird part about this is I think we've had a good spirited argument about this. But if all of a sudden it's like, guys, we're doing her, we have to do a redo. There was like, we've lost track.

And I saw, I know you guys were, understood the reason why we didn't get Belichick in or I watched first things first. You guys would vote him in. I said that from the beginning because I think we all, so it feels like it's a little bit of. No, but anyone thinks he should be in. I just understand. Yeah. Yeah. I would say, you know what he did.

I would have been too. I should have a vote. So I would vote him in, but my, this is maybe, I guess, a little kind of sports media on budsman encroaching in here. My reaction is I find the, I can't believe it. This is an outrage off in that. Because I think, now, Vahey's column is interesting. I didn't see that one coming.

That's like, you know what? Belichick, Elsie Greenwood. Like I didn't see that argument. Just posted. I didn't see that argument coming down the tracks. But I, it is, it is understandable and, and this is the part that I think is unfair. Yeah. But probably accurate that certain guys, because of their personalities and relationships, people

decide to look past the hole on the resume or the one, you know, blemish, and folks and other folks want to focus on it. That's fair. And so this, and that part I don't think should be a factor. Right. But I do think that because Belichick never cared about curing favor or friends, that win, whether it was Bill Pollian or not, and I understand Bill Pollian, cannot. remember his vote from two weeks ago.

That's a tough one. Also, if you don't remember your vote for two weeks ago, you should be stripped to your vote. Three, right? Right. What, you said? You vote for three. Yeah, you should be stripped of your vote. Absolutely.

And so, but I could see a scenario where that he is making that case and people are more easily swayed because they didn't like him. And I don't like, I don't like that that is the case, but I think. that does happen, unfortunately. Christine, I don't know if you have, and if you don't have, we got to get to cool stats, but I just want to bring up these tweets real quick. The immediate outpouring from superstars slash legends around the sports world makes me think, like, you know, when I talk about pro patriots, I'm like, man, am I just like wearing my New England glasses?

Patrick Mahomes, insane. Troy, disappointing day. Coach Prime, disrespectful. LeBron, egregious and disrespectful. Jimmy Johnson was on fire on Twitter. And on Colin today was furious. So it's a little bit like you would, I haven't seen a great all-time player. And Greg was saying like, you know, you still have to line up and play the games.

It reminded me what Greg was saying, that it echoes how it doesn't feel like baseball players are as upset with Barry Bonds. You still have to hit that ball out of the stadium. Then media are upset with Barry Bonds, that there is some sort of line in the sand. But the guys who lace them up are like, no, this guy is wondering. I do think that everyone, it would be helpful for the media members that have a vote if they followed Vahey's lead. Yes. If they said, hey, right or wrong. I know the Hall of Fame asked you not to.

This seems like insinuating circumstance. Right or wrong. here's, I'm going to stand by what I did or didn't do, and here's why. I think that's smart. Buckle up. You're in for a real treat now. It's one of the highlights of the week. You know, a lot of times people are like, stats.

Are they cool? Well, let me tell you, coming up. We got cool stats on the Steelers, a cool stat on that guy, Matthew Stafford, and a little cross-sport action, a cool stat about Janus. It's another edition of the coolest statistical. segment in all sports, packed stats, and yet again, the gloves are just a little bit of a... I like the audience to see me put on the gloves. Exactly.

He had them in plenty of time. Plenty of time. It's the last piece to let everyone know. You guys know what else is cool? What? Thanks for asking. Memes. Meme.

Wow. They are. This is the biggest meme on the internet. The Spider-Man meme. Oh, which is there any difference? There's no difference between Mike McCarthy and Mike Tomlin. The Steelers just replaced one guy's problem with another. Mike McCarthy since winning his Super Bowl.

His record is 6 and 9. That's the second worst of any coach with at least 10 plus playoff games. You see it in parentheses there, but spoiler alert. Second two, Mike Tomlin. Same first name too. Same first name, another similarity. It's fascinating. But it's why I can't stand this higher.

Yeah, good job. You will coach in playoff games, ultimately losing them. High floor, low ceiling. We'll ask Ben Ronsberger about it in a little bit. But is there any difference? Mike McCarthy is offensive Mike Tomlin. Yeah. The Spider-Man meme of coaching hires.

So is there no, do you not have any pause in your just evisceration of this hire when part of the analysis? And again, I don't like it either. Okay. But part of the analysis is, I wish they would have hired a coach that would give them a better chance of going three and 14. No, because if they went three and 14, get your next quarterback. Last time the Steelers had a losing record, they drafted Ben Rafflesberger the year after that. 1969, they went one and 13, drafted Terry Bradshaw the year after that.

It seems to work out pretty well. How would you have felt about a Brian Flores higher? 20 years younger. I think that would have been a good hire, but they wouldn't have won three or three. four games. They probably win as many as they win. Listen, I don't think you hire a coach to, like with the hope that he's awful so that you lose games to get a quarterback. But this is just such a known commodity that I would be, I am more willing to strike out for the chance at hitting a home run. And I just think Mike McCarthy's a solid single up. I mean, I do agree

with you on that. He's a good coach. I think they could win 10 games, but no chance of getting to the Super Bowl, none. Okay. Running in place. Flores, one of the issues with him in Miami was like, I'm not losing. I am going

to win these games. And he would win. You know what we should have on? Andrew Philipone. The pony. He was in New York City this weekend. I do not think the Steelers are gunning for Super Bowls.

I don't. I think they are They are successful franchise. They got their little niche. We make the playoff. We're consistently excellent. Consistently good. Solid. I'm going to ask Ben Rothesberger about that coming up.

Excellent. In about 10 minutes. You guys know what else is cool? What else is cool? Thanks for asking. Aging. Wow. I didn't see that one.

I agree. No, Wiles, you would know. Yeah, Brew, you definitely. I agree with that. Wow. Shots fire. Aging. There's no reason to believe Matt Stafford is going to regress.

If you throw for 4,000, yards or more and 30 or more touchdowns as a 37-year-old, those numbers below are the average of what the only other six guys in NFL history did in their age 38 season. So that takes a second to process, I understand it. But the list is Aaron Rogers, Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, and now Matt Stafford, guys who hit that 4,000 yard 30 touchdown plateau at age 37. They all came back, and everybody except Kurt Warner was over 4,000 yards, and the 30 touchdowns, and he was at 3,700 yards, only 26 touchdowns. Yeah, I mean, does anybody here think that if Stafford runs it back, he's not going to be awesome again? No, he's... Like, I expect him to be awesome again.

Is there any way he retires when he just led the league in passing and led the league in touchouts? Like, I understand the only reason we debated is because he himself, talked about retirement before last year. But when you come back and have that season, you have that coach, you have those receivers, and you've got that close to the Super Bowl, I see it as inevitable. This is as close to walking out on top as you can, like short of winning a Super Bowl. It's going to be the MVP of the league. I mean, the only way it would be is if he and his wife decided they want to.

I think he obviously can still play, but I don't think it's as guaranteed as you just because he has been thinking about it. He has been talking about it. I were in his shoes. And if he wants to just walk away, he's done fine. He's played, what, 17 years? But I would try to maximize this window. It's unfortunate I had to play 12 years in a dysfunctional franchise or whatever. But now I'm here.

I got great people around me, players, coaches. I want to get another ring. I want to maximize this little six, seven year window. Has anyone ever retired after an MVP? It's got to be no, right? No way to tell. Probably not. Maybe Jim Brown.

Maybe that's because he wanted to go make the dirty dozen. Like, for real, I'm not sure. We'll fact check it. You guys know what else is cool? What else is cool? Moving. Moving around or? No, like moving.

No, that's like the least cool. Hard disagree. Relocation. Relocation. Relocation budget. A lot of different hometowns. Now, listen, I want Yonis to stay. Do you?

Listen, I, bucks guy. You're a box guy? You really want him to stay? stay there. I think there's something cool to Kobe, Dirk, Duncan, one franchise, the whole thing. But I understand the rationale, and here's the, here it is. He is on a very exclusive list, guys with multiple MVP's and seven or more first team all NBAs.

It's a club of 10 people in NBA history who have accomplished it. Who's who of NBA grades. And if we put it in order of playoff games played, he's, down their way at the bottom. Come and Bob Petit. And they didn't play as many. Right, right. I know I had the finals.

Right. But everybody else is a hundred and sixty playoff games minimum. And I, Dane got hurt, Middleton got hurt, Drew got hurt, like in playoff, Yannis got hurt in a first round playoff series against the heat. So they have had really bad injury luck in terms of timing in Milwaukee. He definitely feels like he should have had more runs.

in Milwaukee, but if he wants to move on, that right there is the reason. Yeah, I mean, I think that's perfectly put. It's not his fault, but he hasn't played in enough big games. We have seen Janus in one NBA finals. We have seen Janus in one other conference finals. Everybody else on that list lived in the final round of the playoffs or the second, the last round of the playoffs. And so that I totally get it

because it just doesn't seem fair to his talent or to fans of basketball that want to see him playing in the biggest game. He's giving the bucks everything he could. I think he's played there almost twice as long as Karim Abdul-Jabbar did, Lou Al-Sinder at that time. And so he gave him a championship. Like, yeah, it's time.

And I actually think it's best for the bucks, too. At this point, they're not, they've had Janus for several years now. since the championship and are not when they've tried bringing dame try this try that bring in doc rivers nothing has worked go ahead and start your rebuild get as much as you can for 84 playoff games of 12 years so we so that's seven playoff games one round a year but that's not enough it's not enough jim brown and norm van brockland norm van brockland is another guy that comes up on the show but jim brown was one of them yeah i win trivia today you don't i win trivia today because of nailing

Objectively you don't. Cool segment. Thank you, Danny. Coming up next. Thank you. Ben Rothelberger joins the show. Should I keep this on? Interview Big Ben?

At least the sunglasses in the glove. I'll give you $10,000 today. Joining us now on the O.T. We're thrilled to be joined by a two-time Super Bowl champion. The all-time leading passer in Steelers history, the host of footballing with Ben Rothlesslberger, but maybe most notably, a longtime teammate of Willie Colon. Ben Rothlisberger with us on the O.T. What's up, Ben?

Hey, guys. How you doing? That's my brother right there. Ben, let's get right to it. Obviously, the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy. How do you feel about the future of the Steelers under his leadership? I like it. I'm excited for it.

You know, I think you get this group of people, the fans that are kind of mixed the motions on, right? I think there are a lot of people that wanted to wipe the slate clean. Let's start over. Let's get a new young gun, maybe first. time head coach type, you know, a coordinator type that would move up. And, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I also, I like the fact, a couple things quickly. I mentioned this last night on my show is I love the offensive minded coordinator, right, or a head coach. It's been defense and Pittsburgh will always roll around defensive running the

ball. So to have an offensive minded guy come in, I think that's great because, let's be honest, Pittsburgh fans can't be happy with six points in a playoff game, right? Like, let's get a guy in there that wants to do something. I think there's something to be said about him being a Pittsburgh guy. You know, is that going to bring more wins? You know, listen, that's not going to translate necessarily, but there's something about that guy, that coach that, I know he's coached elsewhere, but deep down inside, you're telling me that he didn't have a little black and gold always brewing down there.

And to be here, like, this is kind of a dream job. If anyone wants to bring a Super Bowl here, it's this guy. And so I'm excited. Plus, you look at the ability of him to have a coaching tree. He's going to bring in coaches, young coaches and people that are going to be able, that are going to satisfy, I think, the urge of the fan base to have a young coach. But I'm really excited about where I think this could go. Ben, I'll follow up with an Aaron Rogers question.

Obviously, conversations being had, chatters being out there about Aaron Rogers, possibly reuniting with Mike McCarthy. I'm curious to know your sentiments about that and how you feel about that based on what you were able to see out of the offense and out of specifically Aaron Rogers at this stage in his career. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, obviously only Aaron knows what Aaron's going to do, right? And he'll keep us guessing until the 11th hour, most likely. But I think if there was ever an option or a realistic chance for him to come back,

back to Pittsburgh, it just happened, right? I mean, I don't know that Aaron would want to go learn a brand new offense at this point in his career. We know how cerebral he is. We know that he could do it, but does he really want to at this point? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. But to be able to come back here where I think he really enjoyed the city. You know, it's no secret that Mike Toml was one of the reasons he came here. Well, if there was another coach for him to play for, I would assume it's Mike that he would want to play for. I assume it's Mike McCarthy. You know, there's been some what's been made of their relationship.

Only they know. You know, sometimes people put on a great front. Oh, no, we're great. We have all these great things. Only they know. So if he doesn't come back, maybe there's something more there that we didn't know about. But for him to come back and know this offense, I assume it's something that he could just snap right back into.

And I could see him wanting to come back. But if he doesn't, you know what? Mike McCarthy's got some, you know, young guys here and Will Howard that I'm excited for whenever that time comes that Mike McCarthy can I think get ready to play. Ben, you kind of alluded to it a little bit earlier. Some people wanted the full reset and Mike McCarthy obviously brings with him. You know what you're going to get. He can do the job. It's a high floor. Aaron Rogers, again, obviously he can do the job. I've made the argument and Willie Hay to the idea. The last time they had a losing season in Pittsburgh,

they drafted you. You go six and ten. You get Ben Rothelisberger, 15 wins, and a Super Bowl. You go one in 13 in Pittsburgh. You get Terry Bradshaw. You know, you win four Super Bowls. Do you think the Steelers organization has the appetite for the full rebuild, for taking a step back to eventually take a big step forward?

You know, I think rebuild is like this big word in Pittsburgh. You don't use that word rebuild. Well, then let's use a different word. Let's just call it. Let's start building. I mean, listen, I think the other thing to think about, too, is people say that the Steelers roster is an old roster. And I think that's said because the kind of the leaders or the stars are older, right? Cam Hayward, T.J. Watt, Aaron Rogers, you know, kind of Alex Bosworth, things like that.

But the rest of the guys around it, you start looking at guys like Jack Sawyer, Nick Herbig, some of the line. They've got a good young line that I kind of like right now that I would still, I would really add a few pieces. to that. Like, I still think you can never have enough depth at line. I would add pieces to that, but I think that you've got some, you know, Jamesy, right? You've got guys in there that are veterans. But if you look at this roster, there's like a really good group of that year two to five that that I think is really important. And I know so many teams, and I've said this a bunch of times now that teams, I think nowadays they want to get a quarterback and then they want to build around that quarterback. I think it should be the other way around. I think you should build a team

to plug a quarterback into because then you can you know you can see how works that's what happened to me listen when i got the pittsburgh there was veteran guys there was a great offensive line great defense the team was ready and and no you know and the only reason i played was because tommy maddox got hurt and there's nothing against Tommy um you know they they had a good quarterback too and the Tommy gun and all that kind of thing but i was able to get thrown into a to an offense and a full team that was ready to go so why not do that right now let's build this team up with a again i know will howard six round people are like oh what do you get in the six round well you get tom brady you can get brock purdy you can get some players um why not give

him a shot and what what's the worst case scenario you're building a team without paying a quarterback all that money so you can build this big team around him plug him in if it doesn't work you're going to get a higher draft pick you know two three four years from now seven mike t decided to step away do you see him ever coaching again he's still young man i don't i mean i can see him getting to the booth, not the booth, but, you know, maybe the pregame shows. I can't, I can't see him calling games, but maybe the pregame shows. And I think his love, as you know, his love for football is, it burns bright. And I could see him getting back into it.

I know I made some waves earlier this year when I talked about him taking the Penn State job. But, you know, it's just, he's such a, as you know, Willie, he's such a, you know, he's a recruiter, right? He can go into it all. Could you see him going into a house and recruiting the mom, the grandma, the dad? I mean, he's going to be so good at that. And he's done it. He's won a Super Bowl here. He's never had a losing season in the NFL unless it's a really good, like it.

I can see him coming back if the team was like ready to go. Just need that one more step to get to a Super Bowl or something like that. Because honestly, when you've had, was 18 or 19 winning seasons in a row, where is there really to go? You know, and I don't think he'll come back to like to a. a new rebuild or a new team. So I can see him either coming back to a team that's, you know, just needs that, that little push over the edge or going to a big time college program

and showing what he can do down there and trying to win a national championship. Maybe Hofstra. Oh, wait. Oh, okay. We try to be nice here. You just had to throw that one out there. You guys can use them.

Oh, man. Good hire. Ben, and by the way, our jobs are easy. You know it now with the podcast. Mike Tom would be pretty good on TV. He'd be pretty good. He'd be great. He would be.

Wanted to ask you about the news of the day. Your candidacy is up obviously next year, but it's been reported that Bill Belichick, not a first ballot Hall of Famer. You're shaking your head. What'd you make when you saw the story? I mean, what are we talking about? I mean, if I don't even know how to respond to it.

Like, is there a, like, did they come, do they have to give a reason? Like, what, because he's still coached? It makes no sense to me. If you, if that, if Bill Belichick is not a first ballot Hall of Fame coach, what, what is? Like, are you going to tell me Tom Brady's not going to, like that'd be like saying, okay, Tom's not a first ballot guy too. Like, I just don't, I don't, there's got to be something.

They miscount it or it's like an election fraud or something. I don't get it. That's stupid. It's ridiculous. What do you need? What's the requirements? You don't think the most Super Bowls and most playoff wins ever was enough? You don't think that was enough?

I mean, goodness gracious. Whatever. Well, sticking with those Patriots, you won a Super Bowling year two. Drake May has the opportunity to potentially do that. What advice, if any, would you give to a guy like Drake May in this position that you've kind of already experienced? Yeah, I think he's got a chance to break my youngest quarterback record has been running for a long, long time now, which I'm rooting for it. I'm rooting for him, but, yeah, I'm not rooting for the Patriots because then they pass the Steelers on. the list of most Super Bowl.

So I'm kind of torn there. But, you know, I think the advice that I would give him is just let the game come to you. You know, if you try and do too much, you can really get yourself in a pickle. And I think he's such, he's been playing so well right now. And he utilizing his legs. And I think that's where he can kind of shine. It's like, listen, if it's not there, take off and let your legs be the catalyst to get you, you know, that first down or whatever.

And as the game kind of comes to him, he just seems to keep playing better and better. So it would be exciting to see what he has to bring and I guess the really good defense in Seattle, obviously. Seven, I got to ask, man, this has been the year the resurgence of old quarterbacks. If Mike McCarthy called, could Big Ben Ruffisberger said, hey, you know what, Coach, if you need me, I'll pull up for you.

You got one more in you? You mean to, like, watch a practice or something? Information. Could you go out there and sling it? Oh, yeah, my arm could work all day. I could throw the ball over the field. but I can't move. So as long as I don't have to move, I'm good.

Right. Did it amaze you? I mean, like, Rivers, Rogers, these are your contemporaries, man. Does it amaze you? It is. You know, Philip really kind of surprised me. I mean, I know Philip's like a year. We're the same draft class, but he's a year older.

I think Aaron's a year younger. And I'm just like, man, there's no way. Like, I love the game, but I love my family too much to get back out there. Like, like, that's why, you know, people are, why don't you go into coaching? Because I love my family and I want to be with my family. And that's just, it's too much time, one, and two, that you can't tell me that at some point, Philip wasn't like, man, this hurts. Like, you guys, you guys know, like, the body hurts when you get done.

And at 40, it takes longer to, oh, it takes longer to, like, get right. Like, it's already sometimes, you know, you're into Friday before you're, like, kind of back on board. Like, man, I don't know. Even like my wife, because they joked obviously when Bo and Nix got hurt, there were a lot of people talking about Denver. My wife's like, could you do one game? And I'm like, no.

I don't even think I can give you one. It hurts to watch. Hey, Ben, I don't know how you got anything done with Willie Cologne as a teammate. And you did a lot of winning. You got a best Willie story that's safe for TV? Nope. I was going to say, not for TV. No, no, that's my brother.

I love that guy. more than anything. There's few guys that you that you come across that, and I was blessed to have a bunch of them. But Willie Colon and Marquis Pouncy I put kind of in a special category of guys that I love and that

and please Willie take this with all, like with so much love because I say all the time, right? I'll take alignment with less talent and more heart than more talent, less heart. Really had more heart than anybody I know. And he would, he would go to battle

for you. I always knew that I could start any fight I wanted because Willie was right there to finish the fight for me if I had to, a little push and shove. And so that's my guy. I love the death and I'd do anything for him. Love it too, brother. Keep working on that muffin top, brother. Ben, thank you so much for joining us here on the overtime. Thank you, sir. Anything for Billy. Thanks, seven. See you guys. Welcome back to the OT. The Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. It took

them a whole seven years to get back. Not that long of a wait. Some credit the MVP quarterback play, some of the defense, some of the luck of a soft schedule, and the injury to Bo Nix. Mike Rable and the team is hearing the disrespect, but they're not really caring about it. Willie, I'll start with you here. Patriots lucky to be in the Super Bowl. I think it's fair. I don't think it's lucky. I also think it's tired. If I'm going into this game, this would be one of those bulletin board materials that I'm kind of stamping to kind of prove that we belong here. I mean, they went through three top five defenses to get here. You know what I mean? Like that's not luck. They had to show up and I think they're

peaking at the right time, especially defensively. I mean, defensively, they only allow 26 points through three games in the playoffs. And I think for right now, you have to be happy with the way Drake May has developed and continues to develop. You have to be happy with the defense. And you have to, you have to be happy that this team has embodied the patriot way and embody their head coach and Mike Vrable as far as being tough. discipline and scrappy. So for me, that would fire me up, honestly, going into this game. I would be very honorary with any time that type of narrative came around me. What about you, Greg?

Yeah, you don't fall into the Super Bowl by look, by chance. You know what? It just happened. We just got here. No, you earned the right to play in that game, and that's what they did. Going through the regular season, the narrative was their schedule. Oh, they haven't played anybody. Then we wanted to see how they fared. with the best. The best seven teams make it on both sides. They've gotten through the three. And now they're the final one standing.

So, and to your point, the defenses that they played, that was of question that we had. Well, they haven't faced any of these defenses. The Chargers. And then it was like, well, they haven't faced any defenses like the Houston Texans. They executed. And then we start to pick and prod at the, idea of what didn't happen on the other teams and it's like we're not we're

discrediting what they were defensively and what they turned and evolved into like give the team credit they've earned the right to play in this Super Bowl they understand that but to your point Willie yeah man we're gonna put this on this

we're going to remind ourselves this is how they feel about us we don't deserve to be here we know differently because we're in the locker room but yeah they've earned the right to play in the Super Bowl so you can make the argument that Seattle was lucky because San Francisco was injured. Right? And so everyone has circumstances here. What I will say is if the Patriots get blown out in the Super Bowl to Seattle, retroactively, there will be an argument of how good were they if they beat that easy of a schedule

and in the AFC championship game got the fortune of playing a backup quarterback? But if they win the Super Bowl, history won't remember it. They'll just be champions. Right. In the moment as I sit here, right, Drake May has six fumbles in the playoffs. They've lost three. They've recovered three. That doesn't scream luck to me.

It's like, that's just, that's what it is. It's about what it's supposed to be. But playing a backup quarterback in the AFC title game is lucky. Playing the easiest schedule of any playoff team in 25 years, that is lucky. That doesn't mean that they are lucky to be in the Super Bowl, but they have had an easier path than many teams before them. Is that fair? You can't choreograph your circumstances.

It is what it is. That's one, too. They also didn't star hot. This team was one or two. They lost to the Steelers, right? And so there was questions coming out of that game. Right. There was questions coming out of that game if Drake May is legit.

If this defense is ever going to arrive, did Mike Grable becoming the head coach? Is this too much of a task? They answered all of that. The one lucky thing they did were able to kind of avoid was a catastrophic. injury like what happened to Joe Burrow when he was his bank. Outside of that, they earned it all. I'm changing a rule next. Time now for first things last. The NFC championship game was almost marred by the worst penalty in professional sports. Taunting. Pro athletes should not be penalized for taunting, talking trash, or showing up their opponent. That's right. I have the audacity to say

taunting should be legal in pro sports. To be clear, because people have a spectre. spectacular ability to miss the point. Given that I am not in charge of everything, and taunting is against the rules, Tariq Wollin deserved to be penalized. The ref did everything in his power not to throw the flag, given the enormity of the moment. He gave him a warning.

He gave him time. Wollin kept going at the Rams sideline, so the ref had to throw the flag. He should just never be in that position. Now allow me to address some of the inevitable responses. So you're excusing everything? Of course not. Punching your opponent, spitting on your opponent,

rather egregious acts are what unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are for, and those of course should exist. And guess what? If celebrations get so excessive that they delay the next play from occurring, good news. We have delay of game penalties for that. Now you'll say, what happened to Barry Sanders scoring a touchdown and graciously handing the ball to the ref? Good for Barry Sanders. You can prefer that, just like I can prefer, waiting to see what Terrell Owens was going to do next. We should have less hate in the world and more hate in sports. Crash talk is good for the game. It builds rivalries and generates interest.

Ben Johnson disliking Matt LaFleur and saying so is good for the Bears Packers rivalry. It deserves applause, not pearl clutching. And finally, my favorite, the classic, oh, won't someone please think of the children. It is not the job of pro athletes to raise our kids. I'm a father of two young boys. It is my job to teach my sons that if they bat flip in Little League, there might be consequences. It is my job to teach my sons to play by the rules, to shake the other team's hand. And if they want to taunt and talk trash, they can do that when they get paid millions

of dollars to play the game on TV. But until then, to just play with good sportsmanship and have fun. Pro sports is professional entertainment, where the only goal should be to win the game. If you don't want a cornerback like Tarek Wollin to taunt you, then there is a very simple solution. Catch the ball. That's all I've got. Thank you so much for hanging out with us on the O. Thanks to Ben Rothesberger for joining. We're back tomorrow.