Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Cleveland's in First Place, Pat Mahomes is a Wizard & Deshaun Watson Stays Late

Episode Date: October 1, 2019

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Today's episode of Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you is brought to you by game time. All right, Gabe, I'm gonna ask you a little question here. Do you think NFL tickets are cheaper three weeks or three hours before the game? Well, I often buy them with time in advance, but I bet you it's B. I bet you right before game time is the better time to buy. Well, you can find your answer, Gabe, with the game time app. The ticket buying app that proves patience is more than just a virtue. It can save you some serious cash on your favorite tickets.

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Huh? That was beautiful, man. Hey, the end result, though, that sucker's going to sell for a million dollars. From The Athletic, I'm Jeff Schwartz. The Browns are back, baby. Maybe a little premature on that, but also Pat Mahomes is clearly a quarterback savant, and replay is starting to ruin the product on the field. It's Tuesday, October 1st. This is Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you.

Welcome in everyone. Another wonderful weekend of football. You know how this works. Gabe Goodwin, producer extraordinaire. We'll fire hot takes at me that we hear about the games from this weekend. We'll talk Browns chiefs. We'll talk replay. We'll talk to Sean Watson.

We'll talk some college as well. A new bill passing in California that will allow college athletes in the state starting 2023 to get endorsements, to get money for likeness and image. So we'll do all that. Gabe, welcome in. Hello, sir. How are you? I am wonderful. I love doing the show on Tuesdays because there's just so much to react to from the weekend.

And as usual, people are out of their freaking minds on social media with some of their takes. So I know you have one, but you're ready to fire me. Well, I mean, it's not just me. It's the whole damn Internet, Jeff. And everyone's saying it. The Browns are back again. They are back. Baker didn't do a ton.

Odell did even less. But Freddie Kitchens has figured it out. He dialed up Nick Chubb. He smoked the Ravens with three touchdowns, did Chubb. They are suddenly tied atop the AFC North. Lamar Jackson's just some guy again. It's Super Bowl time in Cleveland, baby. Baker's heading to Miami.

Jeff, are you on board yet or not? You never seem to be on board. I'm going to jump off that train. And I will say this. As much as people think that I hate the Browns, right? I hate the Browns. A lot of people do think I hate the Browns. I do not.

I think the Browns will go 9-7 still. I picked them to win a wild card, to make the wild card, which I think they'll win the division most likely now because I don't trust the Steelers. Blah last night. I don't trust the Ravens as well. The Browns are the most talented team in the division. They played like it finally.

So we saw on offense, the biggest difference was a confident Baker Mayfield in the pocket, play calls that got guys open and made easy throws for Baker Mayfield, and creativity was back in the offense, something that lacked the first three games of the year. It also could just be they just have the Ravens number. Look at Baker Mayfield against the Ravens in his career. His third start, third start of all time, threw for 342 yards. In his last start last year, 376 yards.

In the start yesterday, or excuse me, Sunday. 342 yards. Those are three of his four highest passing total games were against Baltimore. They have their number. And they went back to rushing the football a little bit, which Chubb is really good. They had, obviously, the long run. But I don't know if you can rely on that because the offensive line is a little suspect.

But the thing I took away most from this game was the Browns played like we expected them to play all season. And the Ravens are now back down to earth after playing the two worst teams in the NFL the first two weeks of the year. And the Dolphins and the Cardinals, both winless now, right? They're 0-7-1 combined after four weeks. The Ravens have some real problems. And this is something that I harped on before the season game. I said the Ravens will be under eight and a half wins because they lost four defensive starters.

Their defense has struggled so far this season. They have a lot of yards, a lot of points. Earl Thomas has looked old. He pulled up on chasing Nick Chubb. He just gave up. And by the way, for a guy who talks so much shit about other teams, right? He was going to stop the Chiefs. He was going to stop the Browns. You can't give up on

a run because you expect to pull, you know, you're going to pull a hand like that. Like that's BS. If you're going to run your mouth, then you better back it up on the field. And he has not done that so far this season. Well, he did it. Yeah, get the Dolphins and the Cardinals. And the problem again with the Ravensins and the Cardinals. And the problem, again, with the Ravens' offense and Lamar Jackson

is they can only play from ahead. I've told you guys this for this entire time he's been a starting quarterback. When they're ahead, they're great, and he plays really well. When they're behind, he does not have the capability to lead a team back from a deficit. They played against five winning teams now in his career. Five winning teams. If you include the Browns at 500, include them or not,

but they'll be a winning team. Okay. Right? Five of them. The Chiefs twice, the Chargers twice, and now the Browns. Those are five of his worst games. This offense is only set up to play from ahead because he's not a pocket passer he's a guy that functions very well in the offense so offense is great when it's when it's

humming run the football well they play action pass but when you're behind you're not play action passing you're not running the football quite the same you cannot recover from deficits when your defense is not playing as well and that's my problem with the offense the whole time, Gabe, is it's very one-dimensional versus other offenses like the Browns that can pass the ball or run the ball. They meld depending on the situation during the game. All right, well, so you hit on a few things that I think people are talking about. One, I think the Ravens benefit from just being called the Ravens, so we give their defense the benefit of the doubt

when they probably haven't earned it. And now we're starting to see that they can't really stop anyone. Nick Chubb. So, by the way, Earl Thomas, he did seem like he gave up, but that was the fastest touchdown run by anyone all season in the NFL, 21.5 miles an hour. If you've ever been on a treadmill and turned it up to the highest number, that's like 12.5. Dude went 21.5. So Nick Chubb seems legit. I don't know if any defense could have stopped him

do you think as much as you've been sort of in the middle on on the Browns do you think that maybe Freddy Kitchens did figure something out here that he's heard people like you saying get away from Baker simplify some things have a run game I mean it's very possible that that he that he that he has thought that. But that was a logical conclusion, right? Like our pass game is not working very well, so let's run the ball more. We run the ball, we wear our opponent,

we keep our opponent off the field. And look, as much as people want to argue that running the ball doesn't help play action pass, it does. As an offensive line, when you run the football, you're able to wear down the opponent. When you sell run and you're pass blocking, you know, if a play action pass, defenders read run a lot easier when you're actually running the football very well.

You play with lower pad level, and you trust yourself a little bit more in those instances. Because play action pass, the defense is looking at the offensive line to the running back to the quarterback. So if the offensive line sells run, you're able to suck the defender, the linebacker most often typically, up into the box and you hit the guy behind him.

Well, if you're not really running the ball well and you're not a confident offensive line and you don't trust that your run action will sell the defender on a run, you're going to be a little bit more timid in the way that you go about that block. And if you're timid in the way that you go about a play-action pass block, because you're really run blocking, so you're taking two or three hard steps like a run, and you're vulnerable because if a defender decides to move really quickly or slant in one direction,

you might fall off your block and then, boom, the quarterback is sacked. But if you've been running the ball a lot in that game and you look like you're running the football one or two, three steps off the ball, then your defender's also going to think you're running the football. He'll latch up with you. He'll stop his feet, and then you can get into pass block mode. And if you're not running the football very well, or you're not very good at it, typically you're not as confident to make that block.

And so while the numbers might show, the analytics might show that running the football really has no, like rushing success, rushing attempts have no bearing on the way play action pass works, which again, that's a little flawed. I'm not going to get into all why I disagree with that sometimes. But I'm talking about just from an offensive lineman perspective, you sell the run better if you trust that you are running the football well and you trust that you can make that block and the defense will believe you're making that block.

So that's how play-action pass works, and you will sell the Browns are able to kind of do that well because they ran the ball better. But on the other side, the Ravens, when they're not rushing the ball very well and they're behind, you can't play-action pass as well. You can't sell that run as well. And so that's part of the problem

with the Ravens right now as well. I looked it up yesterday. We can get from Cleveland to Miami on January 31st. Stay the weekend. It'll cost us $221 for the flight. So Browns fans, you know, book now. Head your way to the Super Bowl. Or I have two things to throw at Jeff to worry you.

One, your upcoming schedule. Brutal. 49ers on Monday night. Home against the Seahawks at the Pats. So that's at Niners and at Pats in the next two out of the next three. Seahawks isn't an easy game. And also, and this is what I really want to hear from you, Jeff, Odell didn't do anything.

The only thing he did do is what everyone was talking about on Twitter, throw the ball about 100 yards. That tells me they're doing anything they can to keep that guy involved, even if it's not in any way relevant to what he's great at. And that worries me because if that dude isn't getting his touches and feeling the love, he can go crazy quick. Well, I was worried about this. You have so many mouths to feed in this offense, right?

You have Landry, Joku, who's in and out because of injury right now. You have Chubb as well. And trying to find enough targets for all these players is really tough. And you know that the wide receivers are going to be divas and they want their touches, right? They want the attention. They want the adulation.

And they're solely relying on the quarterback doing that and the offense of a play caller setting him up um and it just for whatever reason odell just has not outside of the game against the jets really has not been targeted as much as um he has been with the giants at certain times you know right now if you look at his targets he had 11 10 9 and 7 and look at his games you know even in new york uh look at his targets, he had 11, 10, 9, and 7. And look at his games, even in New York, most of the time you get 11, 11, 11, 10, 14, 11, 11, 10, 15, 15, 13, 20, 16. There are some single-digit games,

but 7 is pretty rare to have. Only two receptions as well. If you look at his game log, I think two receptions might be the lowest amount he's had uh you're getting choked up about it you're like really upset for your guy okay he had he had this is the lowest amount of receptions he's had in any game since his second game ever wow that's good nugget yeah yeah so that's something to worry about because you know listen as soon as things don't start going right for him, we're hearing about it.

And it's not like Baker to keep his mouth shut. So if Odell's upset and speaking, I wonder if Baker can hold back. I don't know. I just feel like that thing could spiral. Oh, you know Baker can't help himself. He's going to. Well, let's keep an eye on the next three. Because two and two on the top of the division now, they could easily be two and five.

Easily. But now you're on the bandwagon, so I'm feeling good about it. it i'm on the bandwagon i was on the bandwagon the whole time i people it's so funny man it's not actually funny it's the way social media is well you you can't it's hard to have nuanced takes on social media because there's obviously not a lot of characters to have that nuance with but you know i can be critical of the way baker mayfield behaves off the field which i think he shouldn't get into these tussles. He shouldn't go after people that really don't deserve his attention. He does anyways, right?

He loves doing it. He argued with AB last week and Rex Ryan. He owned Rex Ryan. Come on. He shouldn't do all this stuff, right? Like, he just shouldn't. But that doesn't change the way i feel about the team overall i mean i i this is already this is already like in the equation when i picked them to win nine games to make the playoffs i knew this is who he was so

um it's i know it's tough for people to understand that you can have multiple opinions on the same kind of subject but i i don't i'm not changing my opinion after a month okay well let's test that theory because i'm going to move to the Chiefs, a team that obviously you're close to and you have loved for seasons now. Pat Mahomes is a wizard. The Chiefs' offense is made up of magicians performing tricks on all of us. Pat scrambled for 15 on a fourth down in the final drive yesterday, or excuse me, Sunday.

He did that look back on a third down run, stared down the official. We don't know exactly why. I think he'll probably enlighten us. They had the hook and lateral with Kelsey and Shady. That looked awesome. I hear from Nate Burleson on a podcast called 17 Weeks that they're actually working on a behind-the-back pass in practice to insert in the offense.

I'd love to hear your take on that. All of it's clicking. Or, or, Jeff, they needed a 100-yard fumble recovery for a score and the refs to bail them out just to beat the freaking Lions. So it's one or the other, man. I don't know. They're either the best team in history or they got bailed the F out. I don't know which.

I'm going to start with the latter first. So, you know, there's often a discussion when a great team like the Chiefs, they're great for 2019, or the Patriots are great for the season. I mean, they're two favorites in the Super Bowl, I think, right now. When they don't play up to expectations, we automatically freak out about, oh my God, were the weaknesses exposed? Where is this the blueprint to beat them?

Well, they won both games, folks. Like, the great teams win games they shouldn't win about twice a year. And that's what makes them great because the reverse is true, right? The Lions and Bills would have won these games. We'd look at them in a whole different light, and we would look at them as playoff contenders,

which I think the Bills still are, but we would be heaping praise on the Bills, heaping praise on the Lions, talking about you know what, maybe they've taken the next step. Instead, the better team, the great team, won those games, and that's what teams do. And you heard Andy Reid after the game, talking about how Mozart didn't have

every painting quite perfect and not quite the reference that is acceptable but hilarious on the list. Not a classical music fan. That's okay. It was great, and it makes sense, right? Like, you're not going to have a perfect game. And the Chiefs did not outplay the Lions. The Lions outplayed them.

The Lions played better than them. They forced the turnovers. They held Pat Mahomes in check. But they had their own undoing, right? So they fumbled the ball with Matt Stafford. So they start the second half, 13-13, I believe. The ball is kicked off to the Chiefs, who immediately fumble on the kickoff. The Lions get the ball back.

Then Matt Stafford fumbles on third down. So would have had three points there. Terrible job. He's out of the pocket. Just lay down, buddy. You're not outrunning a defensive end. The Chiefs then fumble their next possession. The Lions take it back down to the one-yard line where they fumble.

And I wasn't quite sure the mechanism of this whole play. But the ball was out. The ball was not down. The ball was picked up and run back for a touchdown. They reviewed it. I thought the play was blown dead. I guess it wasn't. So 14-point swing right there.

Those two plays are where the Lions lost. Not because of the officials. Not because of a missed PI call. We're going gonna get to replay in a second no all that the chiefs in a moment in a game where they did not play well won the game that's what great teams do so i would say that we know the weaknesses are already there the run game i mean the run defense is a weakness for the chiefs and if you can kind of get pressure in pat's face just weakness for every quarterback he's just not going to be as good and Look, Patricia ran what the Patriots did. They doubled Travis Kelsey

instead of doubling Tyreek Hill in the championship game. I mean, the blueprint is out on how to do it. Now, to the Lions side, the Lions, better than we thought, I think, right, Gabe? I thought the Lions would cover. I didn't think they'd win, but they played better than we thought, I think. Right, Gabe? I thought the Lions would cover. I didn't think they'd win. But they played better than we thought. Right?

So even though they lost, they do get props in this game for being better than they think. You agree they're better than you thought they would? I mean, I guess if we just bet them to cover every week, we'll probably make a few bucks. But can I really take the Lions seriously? Like, the headlines are they prove they can hang with the good teams. I mean, come on you're in the nfl like and i think matt stafford's record now gets winning teams is like six and 58 yeah so crazy numbers i feel like too many shows are bending over backwards to try to hype up that

the lions don't stink well i'm i'm not i'm not doing that as far as pamela home is a genius so he um in on this he uh 1000 looked back at the referee to make sure there was no flag now i don't know what he would have done if there was a flag or i don't know if he would have just taken a knee like i don't know what he would definitely look back to see if the official um was going to throw a flag or not um which is next level thinking right because look why run a bunch of yards why sacrifice my body maybe for a first down that's not going to throw a flag or not, which is next level thinking, right? Because why run a bunch of yards? Why sacrifice my body maybe for a first down that's not going to count? I thought that was brilliant.

I'd like to know how, I mean, maybe somebody who listens can do this for us. I want to see that meme, you know, the meme where the boyfriend looks back. I want to see the Mahomes look turned into that meme and applied to some sort of football take by Jeff Schwartz. Somebody listening, figure that one out for us. I'm not great at Photoshop. Probably a Browns, Ravens fan. Yeah, see? Bills fan, something like that. Look at that. We're workshopping it live on the air. This is great.

They'll come get me. He really did do that for the reasons that people have talked about. That's a thing. Well, the reasons I talked about. Well, you're the guy, yes. I've been told that that was the case. So one thing that I've realized about my use of social media is that everyone reads my social media. Oh, excuse me.

I got a call from an NFL GM this offseason about something I said about one of his players. something I said about it, one of his players. Even articles, like I said that the, I said a team this week, they used an offensive line technique that was lazy. And one of the players found the article and blasted me on Instagram about it. Like, I see all these guys, I had a coach come into his offseason

at an event it's like i read your article about this and that you did a great job they read all this shit man like they read all of it or they're it's brought to them it's crazy and so um i 100 for a fact that he uh he did look back and look the travis kelsey play where he just that was just it's just backyard football. That was not planned. But maybe it'll be a play now. I think you've got to put that one in the playbook. What about this behind-the-back idea, and then we'll move to the next topic? Is that real?

I've heard from real sources that is a thing. They are working on him flipping the ball in some sort of reverse, or what do you call it, a banana? There's some funny term for it. I have not asked my source that okay chiefs i i actually um mitch and i don't talk often about like chief stuff like we talk about him but you know like after the game we just like discuss like you know his game sure but i don't actually like how much he misses cleveland things like that i don't i don't often talk to him about

like chief stuff just because i want to have my own opinion about the chiefs first of all and i just put them in a weird situation right where so i actually i don't like i'm i guess i could ask him but i'm probably not okay i'm just like i don't like if it happens it happens but if it doesn't whatever like i'm not gonna get i'm not gonna break it i'm not gonna scoop me like yo guys i found it. Because if I obviously tweet that out, then people know my brother has told me. Whole league's looking. All right, let's move to another story that blew up in social.

One of our colleagues here, Aaron Rice at The Athletic, asked a question to Deshaun Watson in postgame after the Texans lost to the Panthers. You know, he didn't phrase it maybe It may be exactly the way he intended, but he brought out a terrific answer from Deshaun means he did his job. But people went crazy about the response that Deshaun Watson gave to this question. Take a listen. The coverage they're playing. Is there anything you guys can do as an offense to manufacture more

opportunities for you to try to try them downfield? Or was that kind of the only two or three opportunities you had in the game? I mean, you know what coverage they were playing? Well, you said earlier. I'm just asking. I'm not. No, no, no. I want to.

It's cover four. Yeah. So what the Stakes are doing, they're playing deep, and they're guarding number two. Corner sink, and they trap two. And so what they're doing is keeping everything in front. The linebackers are playing anything that costs. Kiki is playing the middle. He stops everything that crosses the middle.

He jumps everything in that. And the safeties are charging on number two. So if the safeties are playing low, then we can't take that. We have to hit double moves. We did the post because Reed stepped up on two with an out over the top. I didn't hit it. Same thing with Hop. In route, safety jumped up. over the top. I didn't hit it. Same thing with Hop. In route, safety jumped up.

He went vertical. I didn't hit it. That was the only two. After that, they played back. Curve of two, six, buzz, which is safety. Reed comes in between Keeley, the outside linebacker. He plays deep. I got to get rid of the ball.

Wow. Okay, so that sort of sounded like me asking you things on this show where you just explain it in way more detail than I ever expected. I gotta get rid of the ball. just said but what what I really wanted to bring up though was a video that happened just after that where Deshaun was found to be on the field throwing balls around with a coach seemingly working on some technique with a literally entirely empty stadium and empty field just him and a guy throwing it around after the loss to the Panthers presumably you know no days off no minutes off even hours after a game uh and I loved that and I think anyone who saw it will love that about Deshaun I just wanted you to tell me how great that was let's start with I want some of that quote first that he had after the press

it's really interesting because the people that don't like the media were like Deshaun Watson owned that guy right Deshaun Watson one reporter guy, right? Deshaun Watson, one reporter, nothing. I saw that going around Twitter. I was like, why? You got a great answer from Deshaun Watson. And Deshaun, I think, originally was a little peeved by having to explain it, but then really, I think, got into explaining it.

He didn't do it disrespectfully. So he got a great answer. I loved it. And I know that, you know, for fans loved it as well. But yeah, it's a very simple football. I mean, it's kind of funny if you look at most NFLers on Twitter were like, yeah, it's a very simple football. I mean, it's kind of funny if you look at most NFLers on Twitter who are like, yeah, like that's the most basic thing you know

as a quarterback. Like it's like the most. Yeah. And you can actually throw deep against cover four. There's ways to do it. But nonetheless, I'm glad he gave a great explanation. I think it was fabulous. As far as the stuff on the field, like, dude, I'm like,

I think I'm probably in the minority in this, and I was going to tweet this out, but I get for sure ratioed. Like, I just, that is nothing for me. You don't like seeing him out there on the field? I would have liked if he did better on Sunday. I feel like throwing a ball half speed to a coach after a game to recount your errors, I mean, it's great and all, and obviously he cares about his craft,

which I think I already knew. That doesn't change my opinion on him as a quarterback and as an athlete. Just go home and go rest. I don't... But I'm okay. But, you know, he will. I just think, like, I don't know.

I know he didn't do it for attention, which actually makes me like it more. Because if this was, like, a guy who, you know, like J.J. Wada Hard Knocks, who's just, like, out at 11 p.m. with the cameras, like, hitting a blocking sled for attention. Like, that to me is a little different. He didn't do this with the antenna being filmed. I think Jalen Hurts put out something like that this week. Yeah, he was doing ball slams. He said starving. starving i was like why don't you eat some food yeah you

just played a game i mean he's just his team just blasted someone he's gonna win a heisman like yeah go go chill out and play i just look i i'm like i'm i'm more indifferent to this like i'm like oh all right like i i wish you would have done that in the game like hit the guys in the game like i don't know what working after the game is going to do for next week. All right. But I like his attitude of obviously feeling that he let the team down and wanted to work on his craft. But I don't see things.

I don't question any of this with Deshaun Watson. I didn't need this video to think like, oh, man, now he's working real hard. I assume he's working hard during the week anyways. okay so to take a real point here then um we don't need proof that he cares right this is a dude who rode a bus so that he could still play in a game where he had a punctured lung because on the plane he would have had a problem with the air pressure like we're not questioning whether deshaun wants and wants it I guess the question is, is this even the extra half an hour in sweatpants tossing the ball around after the beating you take in a football game? Is it a bad idea to do that?

So we all love him and we all give him credit. Yeah, I mean, I would argue that, yes, you should go rest. You should get off your feet. But look, I don't know. I didn't see much of that game. I don't know how much of a beating he took in that game. But I would generally say, yeah, it's probably best you just, like, go rest and get ready for next week.

But, again, he didn't do this for attention, which I applaud him. He just did it to get better. And, you know, this guy filming from, like, the very top of the rafters. So I understand that, you know, he wasn't doing it for attention, which I appreciate. And I appreciate his, you know, his want to be better. But I don't – I'm just, like, indifferent to it for attention, which I appreciate. And I appreciate his want to be better. But I'm just like indifferent to it. Whatever, dude.

Yeah, I guess. I mean, led the league in sacks last year. Second only behind Kyler Murray this year. Oh, he's been getting crushed. I get that. I think maybe if there's something you can work on in sweatpants after the game, it's how not to get tackled. I'm not trying to be a wiseass.

I like the guy too. His pocket presence is poor atled. I'm not trying to be a wise ass. Like I like the guy too, but his pocket presence is poor at times. I don't think that that, this was helping that. No. And then, and then the Jalen Hurst thing that felt way more produced. All right,

let's, uh, let's close out with, uh, more production talk. Actually, it's another segue. Um,

so replay stinks, Jeff, I'm just going to say it. I'm saying it for everybody. Cowboy Sunday Night Football was just way too slow in the final minutes. NBC team itself seemed clearly confused by what's going on. Nobody likes the slowdowns. Nobody understands the reasons for going to New York. Nobody gets the standards that are being applied or skipped over. It's a mess.

Tim Kalashaw, you see him on Around the Horn, said, watching Chiefs-Lions only confirms what I have said for a year. NFL should get back to football, be less about forensic evidence, get rid of replay. Getting calls, quote-unquote, right, which doesn't really happen at the expense of passion of the game, is worthless. It's not just Cowlishaw,

it's also my friend Noah. In his words to an angry text to me, every single bit of replay needs to go away. So you're the football genius. Tell us why replay even exists. It's the worst. I'm actually a proponent of replay. I have been, but I can see where people are coming from. It's starting to really kind of slow the product down, right? I mean, you mentioned it with the Lions game, with the Cowboys game. First and foremost, let's start with this.

The pass interference replay review has been an utter disaster and has to go. I think it's a one and done thing. It's going to be done. That's why judgment calls have never been able to be challenged because they are judgment calls. And look, the NFL, I think, has done a good job

in making sure that they only overturn the egregious ones. And this is the problem, is that what's the definition of egregious, right? So the replay review, in my opinion, for every sport, just like in baseball, I think that reviewing whether or not the second baseman briefly touched second base turning two is not the spirit of the replay review. review right if a if a if a um if a hitter is sliding home and their foot is one centilla centimeter off home plate like hovering above home plate right and like they get tagged even though they've already crossed the plate hopefully you get that visual baseball fans they call him out like he's he's he's he beat the throw home he's safe. That type of stuff to me is not the essence of replay.

Getting back to football, the essence of the pass interference replay was to fix egregious errors like the end of the Saints game. Yeah. The problem is we're having coaches review things that are not egregious, and then they look like pass inferences, but they're not called because they're not reviewing plays that are not egregious. They're not overturning them, I should say. But now we're getting to the point where it's wishy-washy, and we don't know. And look, the slow motion has made replay really tough for officials

because the game is not played in slow motion. So you might see, there was one, I think, in the, was it Thursday Night Football when, was it Packers wide receiver went up in the air and the Eagles guy hit his hand and he hit it right before the ball got there in a real time he couldn't even tell that that that's what happened and then in the replay review it was very clear he hit his hand and and they kept the call in the field as an incomplete pass like I'm fine with that but people are like by the letter of the law pass interference but it's not the point of the replay so pass interference to But that's not the point of the replay. So pass interference to me, the replay review is killing the game.

It's killing it. It's got to go. And I was a big fan of this actually happening. But I've changed my mind after four weeks. Other stuff, though, I don't really mind it. Ball marks and, like, all this stuff. It's just brutal, man. But those are, like, those aren't judgment calls.

Like, if a guy fumbled or not, it's not a judgment call. judgment calls like if a guy fumbled or not it's not a judgment call if a guy made a first down or not it's not a judgment call if you just actual evidence of that happening or not happening so i'm fine with those still being replay reviewed now they still screw up at times because they're humans um but i'm fine with like did he fumble or did he not fumble being a replay review i i just think that the human error is part of the game. And, you know, you used baseball. I will too. Like everyone knows catchers do a good job of working umps.

They establish a strike zone over the course of a career, frankly, but a game, you know, and that's how you get the extra half inch and that's how you get the call you need. I would assume that coaches and key players on the field you know have techniques for similar and taking that part of the strategy out because you have 17 cameras pointed at a ball like it just feels like it you used sort of the the spirit of the the rule it feels like it takes the spirit out of the purpose um it does i mean baseball feels like the great example of how you manipulate umpires and officials.

It's tougher in football, but I'll give you a couple examples. So, you know, Paul LaDuca, who's a buddy of ours, he mentioned that story one time about he was catching Billy Wagner. And Joe West, Cowboy Joe, was the umpire. And Cowboy and Paul, like, didn't get along. And Billy told Paulie to set up, like, an inch off the plate. And Paulie was like, he's not going to call this a strike. And he goes, no, I got it. And threw the ball three times there.

It called three strikes and the game was over. And he asked him how he did it. And he said that every time that Joe West comes to town, Billy Wagner lends him like his 54 Chevy. That's how he gets, right? I mean, that's an amazing story. And on the flip side, as players, as an offensive lineman, I'd go talk to the umpire.

I'd make sure I have his name, introduce myself, the referee as well. Because I think it matters. I think it matters that if they have a relationship with you, they might give you a warning on a holding and not call it right away. And they might hook you up with a little bit of freedom and hands to the face. And they might do little things like, hey, Schwartz, I saw you do that. Just don't do it again, type of thing right and then you wait two quarters you do it again they don't call it okay so that's very important in in how this is in how you work the human part of this as well but I again Gabe I'm fine with human error being part of the way we view sports

I think it's it's an important part of it it's's obviously great for our jobs, right, to have human error so we can talk about human error. But if such things like a fumble review where, in my opinion, they get them mostly right, that's important. Those are things you can actually see. They're not a judgment. The ball come out, did it not? Is it knee down, is it not down? A touchdown, is a foot in or is a foot out?

It's easy to see. Is the first down or not a first down? There's replay to review that. Is it a touchdown or is a foot out? It's easy to see. Is the first down or not a first down? There's replay to review that. Is the touchdown or not a touchdown? Replay to review. I'm fine with that being replayed. They might be able to speed up the process, but that to me is fine. The judgment stuff has got to go.

You can't have that anymore. All right. Well, I'd like it to be like tennis. We know instantly. The computer kicks in. Boom. Point. In.

That needs to happen in the NFL. If tennis can have that technology, we can have that in the NFL for first downs. Yeah. It's the NFL. I mean, come on. You're better at everything than tennis is. Figure it out, NFL. In the words of Don Essig, it never rains in Autzen Stadium.

And every Monday and Friday, it never rains. The podcast hosted by Tyson Alger and Aaron Fentress discuss the latest in my Oregon Ducks football and recruiting. With nearly two decades of combined experience, they'll take you behind the scenes of a program striving to return to the college football playoff under second-year coach Meyer Christobal. Discover and subscribe on the Athletic Podcast Network. Jeff, it's Tuesday. It's time to play Move the Line.

This is where we play a little over-under game. Some of these are real, mostly though I make them up. All right, this one's pretty real. Saints wins over-under 9.5. Where are you coming down on the Saints right now at 3-1? I'd say over. Even if they just hold on the next couple of weeks at Jacksonville, at the Bears. Let's say they beat the Bucs this weekend at home,

and they lose to Jacksonville and the Bears. They have the Cardinals left. They have the Falcons still twice, I believe, as well. The Bucs again. They've got the Panthers still. And Drew Brees will be back. And if Bridgewater can just do this, I go over 9.5. Yeah, I was thinking about this. And tell me if this is a weird way to look at it,

but if they can hang around and win a few more games than they lose with whatever they have to do Bridgewater for, they will have gotten to the playoffs with Drew Brees not taking hits for half the season. And the hand injury, I mean, I'm sure it's going to be a pain to rehab, but it's not like it's beating up his body you know assuming he can grip the ball he's going to be drew breeze when he comes back but he'll play i've only played half a season that's that's amazing yeah i i agree with that i heard someone talking about that too it might have even been your tweet um um that's it's it's a valuable point when you're talking about drew breeze it

might help his arm and we saw last year his arm strength diminished as the season went on. So I think that's a great point. Wow. No further comment. No telling me where I'm stupid. You're not smarter than me on this one. I just nailed it. I'm not.

You nailed this one. Oh, wow. Okay. All right, number two. Vontaze Burfecht. Games played the rest of the season. Point five. I think what I want to know is any shot he gets an appeal,

any shot this thing resolves itself with him playing again. I think he will get an appeal. I think he'll play again this year. Now, the question is will the Raiders play him? I definitely think that they gave him a year to get it reduced down to like 10 games. It feels like a year is a lot now. I think he should never play again. I think he's a dirty player. Same player was at arizona state um but i think this

gets reduced i would say over a over one and a half over half a game i should say you think he'll play now it's interesting though because we we got to see how they handled antonio brown it was bungled initially but eventually they said enough's enough and moved on from a guy because that there was something not right so do you think Mayock and Gruden can say, yeah, he's a good player, but we don't want a guy like this around? He was voted team captain. Okay, well, I'm one for two. One for two on my comments here about football.

Team captain? I don't know how I didn't know. So the guys who play with him love him. It's just everyone who plays against him that hates him? Yes. Man. Because people were calling for his head, man. He had a lot of heat coming at him yesterday.

He does. Yeah. All right. Let's talk Kyler Murray. People wanted him to be the rookie of the year. I guess he's still in the conversation. But he is on pace right now to do something nobody has ever done before. He is on pace right now to do something nobody has ever done before. So I'm going to say over under sacks this season, 79.5.

He's on pace for 80 right now. The all-time record is 76 set by David Carr famously in 2002. So over under 79.5. I would say most likely under. I think that's typically a lot of these paces slow down throughout the year. You know, you have a game where you just happen to not get hit very much, and there's always injuries involved in this situation. I would say I'd lean under.

I think that feels very high to me. But just because a correction is the mean, you don't think he's going to do something better or the line's going to get better? I think it's regression to the mean. That's typically what happens in situations. If you have one year where you turn the ball over a bunch, the next year you don't.

I just feel like that's – even Pat Mahomes. Pat Mahomes was on pace for 65 touchdowns in a week where he doesn't have any touchdowns. You eventually kind of come back to me in a little bit. I looked at the sack leaders, the guys who were getting beat up the most. So the top five guys, Kyler, Deshaun, Marcus Mariota, Baker, Russell Wilson. So all the most athletic quarterbacks we can think of for the most part. A couple guys missing there.

But all athletic guys who run around, so they take some sacks. Then the next few are just a bunch of stiffs, guys who get hit because they can't get away, right? Jameis, Rivers, Ryan, Dalton, Flacco, Rosen. And then the last three, the guys who get sacked the least, are your MVPs, Mahomes, Dak, and Brady. That's a pretty telling sort of bunch of categories there, right? Like, that's not a coincidence.

Because they throw the ball. They're in rhythm. They're in rhythm. They're in time. And they throw the ball. That's why those guys are great quarterbacks, also why they're able to kid in his first year. All right, moving on. Cam Newton, animal protein ounces eaten this season. Point five. Is he going to break from veganism, Jeff? I would say no. I think he's very much into veganism. I'm excited to actually see his new like vlog is coming out today. I can't believe I actually said those words. and i'm excited to see uh his new uh his new uh vlog come out and talk about i feel like dirty saying that word um and see if he's changed but i would say under i don't think he's gonna have any i don't think okay so the reason i bring it up though is he's lost

weight there are real nutritionists and doctors and it's a really interesting piece uh i think it was the charlotte observer check it out. It was, yes. Really interesting piece. Not criticizing Cam, but just saying, like, maybe this isn't a good idea for a guy who is recovering from injuries. You need animal protein to repair muscle, to grow muscle, and right now he's losing weight that is deteriorating his muscle tissue. So I'm no doctor, but, you know, you've obviously made choices like this your whole career, and you've played played with cam are you sure he's making the right choice here just for his body and this is always a tough call because i feel like a lot of people um get very passionate

about this and i did accuse you of being a vegan by the way you did you came after me with some la takes it was very unfair you were very very upset um okay, though. You can be upset about it. I personally think that the protein missed and the vitamins missed and not eating some of these things does lead to a tougher road to recovery. And we've seen a long list of vegan NFL players who eventually had to stop doing it. Tony Gonzalez has quoted an article. He goes, I did it for two months and I lost all my strength. Joe McCoy, his teammate, did the same thing as well, lost all his strength.

So you might feel great, but I do think you need some of those ingredients, those proteins and some of the other things involved in animal products to help you recover. And I don't know if that's the reason to blame. It's not the reason he got hurt, but it might be the reason why it's taken so long to get back. Yeah. I mean, listen, if you want to be a vegan, be a vegan, Cam, and lose a few pounds and feel better, walk around at a more comfortable weight.

But again, it goes back to, but then just say goodbye to football. You know, like I don't understand. If you want your body to feel good, why are you letting 250-pound dudes hit you all day long? Well, I think he's going to retire, though, this season. I've said that for a while now. All right, well, maybe we'll all get together and have some beans. Alright, last one. I want to

know how many guys named Shaq will make the NFL playoffs this season. I am arbitrarily setting the number at 2.5. We have done some half-assed research and we think there are seven guys named Shaq currently on rosters in the NFL

let's go through them and decide if we're going to get more than two and a half checks in the playoffs so there are seven variations of Shaq uh first names in the NFL there's Shaquille Barrett who's leading the NFL right now in sacks great player uh with with nine sacks uh the Bucs there is Shaq Calhoun who is a guard for the Miami Dolphins who I think still play football. Not sure. There's two brothers on the Seahawks. Shaquem Griffin Shaquille Griffin. There's a Shaq

Lawson on the Bills. There's Shaq Mason a really good guard for the Patriots and a Shaq Thompson of the Panthers. I'm going to go over here because two and a half with seven Shaqs. I feel like I have the chance to get over here with the Bills, the Seahawks, and the Patriots. Yeah, you get a two-for-one up in Seattle. The Pats you can pretty much guarantee.

So you're probably already there, assuming everyone stays on the roster. Then, yeah, if you get the Bills in or the Panthers in, I just really love the fact that there are this many guys. This proves how sort of the age we're in, that we're about to hit peak people being named Shaq. You know, this is a name that probably didn't exist. And then Shaquille O'Neal happens in the 90s. And now. How many people? So how many?

So there are seven of these. How many of these seven you think have some sort of connection to the parents like the name Shaq? Seven for seven. They all like Shaquille O'Neal. No question. And I would bet every one of these kids is born right after Shaquille O'Neal becomes the coolest person on earth. I'd be stunned if any of them, Zuri will have to research this and we'll have to come back to it after social. But if any of these dudes were born after Shaquille O'Neal were drafted in the NBA, I would be blown away.

No chance. Well, they're all, I mean, they're all, yeah, they're all like after 92 probably. Yeah. All right, let's wrap up the game and head over to social here. We like to track the things that people are tweeting at you, and this time we have one that's from a colleague, a famous person, Doug Gottlieb over at Fox Sports, Fox Sports Radio.

You and he got into it over this new law being signed by the California governor, Gavin Newsom, basically allows NCAA athletes to make money from their name and likeness once this goes into effect in 2023. This does not mean that colleges can now pay athletes. It's not as simple as that. It just means that guys can profit off their own talent and being well-known athletes in colleges in California. This creates all kinds of complications for the business model of the NCAA, which leads to lots and lots of strong opinions. And I will read you one of the tweets between you and Doug that I think is a jump off for you to explain your feelings on this. So Doug tweeted the reasons he doesn't like this.

One, the unintended consequences are massive and threaten the entire industry. Two, it creates entitlement for kids. Three, makes them professionals, which is not nor should it be the intent. And four, it is pay for play shielded in a lie of quote unquote name and likeness. So that was just part of your back and forth. But he is strongly against this law and what it could do to college sports. What do you think? So there are many things to discuss here, and this is really probably not the end of the podcast to do it. It's going to be an hour long podcast. The most basic concept in here is free market,

correct? Is that we're allowing NCAA athletes of all football, basketball, baseball, softball, tennis, soccer, water polo to be allowed to make money off their name and likeness and also get endorsements. And this is really the sticking point when people don't like this as an endorsement part of this. So we're allowing this to happen, which is the way that any free market works right because they're not limited to this um i have a general sense that people are way or have way overreacted on the scope of what this actually means and the way i think about this is that you know there are not stars on every team and so every team is not going to have 25 dudes getting hooked up for endorsements and for name and likeness. I think where this generally manifests itself, while guys are on the team, is, you know, your hometown, you know, has a touchdown club and they want you to go speak at a touchdown club for $1,000, right?

On campus, you know, you're a football player, you're a backup backup linebacker and you can get a free burrito somewhere right and like little things that that used to be um things that were illegal are now legal now what people are worried about is boosters buying players through endorsements right the jeff schwartz car dealership and gabe goodwin is a booster at usc and gabe goodwin gives me a million dollars and I give the million dollar endorsement to a player a five-star recruit and modern day to go to USC that's all possible um but again if if Gabe Goodwin is the million is the millionaire who has is a smart businessman is he gonna spend millions of dollars on 18 year olds who don't even who don't always pan out right i mean use use use usc for example because i know you're in la and you're unfortunately

a usc homer all right um jt daniels the quarterback five-star quarterback was the most hyped quarterback they've had in a long time do you agree as a recruit i mean they mean that he i mean they fast-paced him through high school just to get in there. And they put out, like, in May, before he even enrolled, USC put out a highlight video of him. Like, they digitally made him a USC football player. He would have been worth a lot of money on the open market. He is never playing for USC again. He got hurt, and Keaton Slovis, a freshman, came in and has played well.

Right, so he's never playing again. So your investment in that player is not going to pay off. More often than not, that's what happens to a lot of five-star recruits. Now, a lot of guys do hit as well, but I'd say half of them don't hit at all. And you're wasting money to not be very good. And businessmen don't like to waste money. And so I think we're not going to see this to the extent that people think it's going to happen. Well, you mentioned that there's a timeline here. So I think the expectation and Gavin Newsom, governor of California, implied that he suspects that there'll be an ongoing conversation and that this will evolve. And it sounds like he hopes that this forces the hands of some other states and that eventually the NCAA won't just kick USC and UCLA and all the other schools out here. They're not just going to kick them out of tournament play or not schedule them. There's going to be a compromise position here. And, you know, I think a lot of people,

including the most famous athlete in the world right now, LeBron James, feel that this is the right direction. So I tend to just side with the guys like LeBron James and look for progress and see if, yeah, there are going to be some hiccups. I think Doug probably identified a few of the issues that need to be worked out. I don't think he's crazy here. I don't agree to the extreme that he is opposed, but there are questions to be asked, and slippery slope can be real. So I think it was an interesting topic. People should go in and click through the thread you've had with him.

Anytime you engage with another person in the media, i learned something so that's a good one for people to read anything else you want to add before we end the show today uh no it was a good passionate show i like having different topics to discuss and obviously nfl this college football stuff is pretty fascinating as well just seeing where this is going because that's obviously a big sport and you know seeing where where this new uh this new law takes us. I like discussion, and I like that we can do it cordially at times. Even though I might disagree with Doug, they never get contentious. So I like those type of discussions on social media. So I appreciate everyone tuning in today.

This is our Tuesday free episode on iTunes. It's on Google Podcasts. It's on Spotify. It's on the Athletic Podcast Network as well. Thursday's episode, as usual, will be just for Athletic subscribers. Go ahead and subscribe. Appreciate that. Appreciate you listening.

Please let me know what you think about the podcast via Twitter, at Jeff Schwartz, or you can always rate, review, and subscribe, especially to get the next episode when it comes out. Have a good couple days, and talk to you guys on Thursday.