Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - NFL Lab Testing Rings False Alarm

Episode Date: August 25, 2020

The NFL is dealing with a false positive COVID testing snafu, the Big Ten is as chaotic as ever, and Earl Thomas seems like he might actually be a Cowboy. All of that and more on Geoff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's tuesday august 25th the nfl is dealing with a false positive covid testing staff who the big 10 is as chaotic as ever erno thomas seems like he might finally be a dallas cowboy i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe gill and this is jeff schwartz is smarter than you welcome everyone i am so excited for today gabe i'm drinking a coffee as we record that means i'm extra fired up for today i have to be be, right? We had false positives, a crazy morning trying to figure out what's happening in the NFL. Ends up not being as big of a deal, but actually might be a big deal moving forward with how the NFL responds. And the best part about all this, Gabe, is NFL is coming up so, so soon.

How was your week? How are you doing? Are you ready for an hour of NFL talk? I'm very excited for an hour of NFL talk. My week is the same as every other week for the last 20. Thanks for asking, but we don't even need to ask anymore. And coffee this late in the day. We record this show pretty late, and I've seen you tweeting about what happens when you drink coffee.

You sure you're going to make it through an hour here and not need a break? Oh, yes. That's a morning coffee thing. I'll be fine. I'll be fine getting through the day. I'm excited for our show. I'm just excited for life, man. Football's coming back and I'm pumped for it. it we were told no false positives you mentioned it a second ago the vikings pats browns jets bears at least those teams all had positives that were quickly called false positives players were retested luckily it seems like everyone came up negative so this was some sort of screw up at the

lab where all of this was sent those teams all sent their tests to the same place in new jersey that meant okay good news except all of media, everyone we follow had one basic take, which was holy shit. What if this happens during the season? And that's where we're starting today is Jeff. I don't know if we're ready for this yet because we were all completely thrown off and this could, this could ruin weekends of the NFL season. If this happened again.

Okay. So to your point, it was one lab in New Jersey. They've come out and said they were some contamination and they do not believe it was contamination of the employees, right? Just was the tests were bad. It makes you wonder if this is happening nationally as well. That was kind of a thought of mine. We're not getting to that, but just makes you wonder, right?

How many, we can have so many false positives in one lab. Maybe this is happening around the country as well, but the NFL has the resources to retest all their players, and they did that. And look, they followed their protocol. We have said, and we have questioned the NFL a lot of times with their medical, right, the way they handle concussions, the way they handle player injuries. They followed their protocols here. They retested everyone, and they ended up finding out that these are all false positives. In fact, the NFL chief medical officer, Alan Sills,

he said from August 12th to August 20th, that was basically last week, the NFL administered 58,000 COVID tests to over 8,000 employees, 23,000 to players, 35,000 to personnel, zero confirmed positive test results among players, only six new ones among personnel. So bravo, guys. I mean, they're doing a great job of making sure that they're staying healthily as possible.

Now to your point, Gabe, what happens if this happens during the season? It's everything we've talked about, which is teams will have to play shorthanded and find a way to do so. And that means either calling up someone from your 16-person practice squad or that's forfeiting a game. We've talked ad nauseum about this idea that teams might have to forfeit a game. They might have to do it. If you lose an entire room, lose an entire quarterback room,

lose an entire offensive line room, you might have to sit out that week even as you're dealing with the false positive. Charles Robinson of Yahoo tweeted out today. I'm not sure this is his take or whether this is actually from the NFL. He's a very good NFL insider. He said, A fix for NFL's lab testing mess

with the 77 false positives. For pregame Saturday test samples, take an A, B, and C sample from every player. Send them to three different labs. If one lab returns an onslaught of positives and the other two don't you know a processing error and breakdown occur that believe is his personal take on how this should work that's a great idea right you sent to three different labs but to your point and the point everyone else is what if you don't get it back in time yeah because we know there's

processing errors and what happens if again you get a bunch of false positives? The answer is players are going to have to sit out. And that brings up a lot of interesting scenarios that NFL players and teams have talked about. One is this quarterback bubble situation, right? You have three quarterbacks on a team typically. So you remove one out of the facility, basically lives in a bubble at home, quarantine at home. And they do Zoom meetings at home and they work out presumably at some point i don't know and if you get your quarterback room infected hypothetically this zoom bubbled quarterback can just go in and play okay that's a that's a silly idea no that's

a good idea that's why there's there's got to be at least 26 mccown's out there who can fill that job that's a winning job nfl teams typically don't like paying for players that don't actually That's why there've got to be at least 26 McCown's out there who can fill that job. That's a winning job. NFL teams typically don't like paying for players that don't actually practice or play. And so just sitting at home doing zoom meetings, you can just sign them account off the street if that happens. But on a really, on a serious note, Gabe, the answer is, and I wish I could give you some great smarter answer is teams will have to forfeit games or they're going to have to put guys in different positions and there's certain positions you can't do that

offensive line you can't do that right defensive line you could theoretically put an offensive lineman there and just like clog up the middle like just like something right just take up room um you know at linebacker you put a safety down at linebacker or play some sort of nickel defense wide receiver you put you know you play a tight and heavy package for the week if you lose all your running backs you just pass the ball every point yeah everyone knows you're doing that but you can still kind of manage right a cornerback you move a safety over there right i mean like there's ways or even a wide receiver you move wide receiver over the corner you say hey man you just like you have the third of the field and And it's not going to be pretty.

It's not going to be ideal, but you make it work. But there's certain positions, offensive line and quarterback are the two that come to my opinion, where you just, there's no replacements. There's no replacement offensive linemen. I think teams, Gabe, are going to keep out of the large practice squad now. Typically, you keep 10 to 11 offensive linemen. So you could do two units during practice. They're going to keep, in my opinion, 11, 12, 13, 14 offensive linemen on a team.

So four or five practice squad guys to bring in those guys if you have to. Because that position, you can't play with any backups that aren't offensive linemen. Same with quarterback. You might keep four or five quarterbacks this year just to bring someone up to just get by if you have to play. Interesting. Well, I didn't if you have to play. Interesting. Well, I didn't expect you to take it quite there. So then my natural follow has nothing to do with offensive linemen. No offense.

I'm more curious actually about these versatile quarterbacks or these guys who get told you were a quarterback in college, but now you got to go play wide receiver in the NFL. Are those guys going to start to get a lot more valuable? Well, they're only valuable if it ends up happening. I mean, I, I, I know teams have talked about, Hey, you know, we're going to plan for option B, C, D and E and F. I mean, look, I'm a chiefs fan. I don't know the roster who like the, the, the wildcat quarterback is right.

I mean, Travis Kelsey has done a little bit of that as a, as a kind of a trick play stuff. I don't see him as being the emergency quarterback. And everyone sort of has that guy. Is it McCall Hardeman? It's probably not Tyreek Hill. Is it Sammy Watkins? You know, not every team has a Lynn Bowden Jr., who the Raiders have. Like, not everyone has a Julian Edelman, who I guess, in the pinch, could come in and play quarterback. Most teams don't have those guys. Look, like the Eagles, for example, Lane Johnson played quarterback in junior college. Lane Johnson's not playing quarterback now.

He did. He used to be like 180-pound quarterback. I don't know, man. He did. I'm being serious. He's not going to quarterback, right? No, I'm not believing the 180-pound part. Not the quarterback.

I think he was like a really thin, wiry quarterback. He's like a freshman in high school, junior college kid. But nonetheless, you know, you're not going to have those guys. You might have to go to a situation where you just can't throw the ball. Look, in college, I'll take you back to college. In 2007, Oregon was really good. And we lost Dennis Dixon, our starting quarterback. We lost our third-string quarterback, Nate Costa, to an ACL two weeks before Dennis.

So we went into a game against UCLA with Brady Leaf, Ryan's brother, as our starting quarterback. And really a red shirt or really a true freshman, I believe, a practice squad, a travels taxi squad guy, right? Scout team guy. And so Brady Leaf breaks his foot in the first quarter. So now we're down to a four-string quarterback, and we basically just ran a wildcat offense with the running back as long as we sort of could until the other kid had to play. It was like, okay, you have to pass the ball now.

We scored zero points that game. It didn't work. But we played the game. I mean, the goal was getting the game in, right? I think they don't want to forfeit the game. Yeah, right. And so you just – I mean, yeah, we had zero points. It wasn't ideal.

We even had a backup running back. I mean, Jonathan Stewart wasn't playing wildcat running back. It was like Andre, I think it was Andre, some Andre Crenshaw, something like that. Like a guy,

like a third string running back was playing quarterback. You just sort of have to make it work. Kentucky, I'll go back to Lynn Bowden, a great example of that. But that was an entire season, right? They built into that offense. We're talking about a one-game situation where you have to make it work.

It's not going to be pretty, Gabe, but if you have to just play the game, you could just throw someone back there and figure it out. Yeah, you know what scares me about this is this seems like all things to just work in the favor of people like Bill Belichick. Oh, of course. I mean, like you said, would they even be worse? is this seems like all things to just work in the favor of people like Bill Belichick. Oh, of course. I mean, like you said, would they even be worse? Julian Edelman might throw for 350 while playing, you know, nickel safety or something. The teams that are built around interchangeable parts

and they all believe that they're no more special than the next guy, those teams seem like they're going to succeed in that situation. Or you have a few freakish athletes. Now I hate to bring him up because it triggers you, you know, but is your boy taste some Hill that much more valuable this year because he's the Swiss army knife. Sure.

But they have to get, see if Jameis Winston has to get out to essentially, right? Like Drew Brees and Jameis Winston have got to be out before taste some Hill and his room room, put him in his room room and his, his 13 all time passing be out before it takes some hill. Maybe he'll take some hill in the Zoom room. Put him in the Zoom room. And his 13 all-time passing attempts in 17 years in the NFL, all of a sudden he's this disfranchised quarterback.

Yeah, I guess he becomes valuable, but not now. He would become valuable if you lost a bunch of players. Even now he's valuable in the sense of he plays multiple things around the field. But, no, I don't think that he is as valuable. You need him to be in that role. Yeah. All right. Well, I mean, there's a lot there that I didn't expect you to bring up.

I do want to ask you one, I guess, sort of related thing, just because it's about the NFL and it's COVID related. So we saw the Dolphins are planning to have 13,000 people wearing masks in the stadium week one against the Bills. Bills coach doesn't seem too happy about that, sort of implying like, well, wait a second. Like how come some home home teams are going to have one sort of setup and others will have another, what are the standards here? Um, is there anything really to be upset about like for a player or a coach to have some stadiums have fans and other stadiums don't, is this a thing? to have some stadiums have fans and other stadiums don't.

Is this a thing? Look, it's obviously not fair, okay? But I argue 2020 is not fair at all. So this is a year where things are not going to be normal and they're not going to be fair. And I get McDermott's point. So here's, I think, the gist of his point is that, look, 13,000 fans at Dolphin Game is not going to make or break our road cadence, OK?

But it does give the home team a little bit of juice to just have those fans in the stands. The Chiefs this weekend had two thousand fans at a scrimmage at Arrowhead Stadium. It gives the team a little bit of juice to have some fans in the crowd, just some. It gives you a sense of normalcy, right? You come out that tunnel and someone's cheering for you for once. It's been six months of no one cheering for anybody. And you run the field and they cheer for you. And so I understand McDermott's point about, hey, we're not going to get that feeling at home in New York. And the Dolphins will get that feeling.

But in the end, 13,000 fans is pretty negligible. Like it's not, it should not make or break the Bills week one. I think it's week two game in Miami. Or actually week three, right? Because the first two weeks are non-division games. So it'd a week two game in Miami. Or actually week three, right? Because the first two weeks are not division games. So it'd be week three. They said they would have fans week one. Then those two teams play each other.

Play week, yeah. But it's just like, it should be negligible to the actual outcome of the game. But I understand his point about maybe the players feeding off a little bit of energy in their home stadium. It's going to be weird to play a game in Buffalo where no one's in the crowd. It's going to be weird to play a game in Buffalo where no one's in the crowd.

It's going to be super awkward. I played some places where we've had minimal fans in games. You know, the old Stanford Stadium, the old big bowl they used to play in with the track around it. I mean, you know, there were games where 10,000, 12,000 fans. You could hear people talking in the stands. You could hear their personal conversations. Like, it was that quiet.

I played in those environments. It is very odd. It's very weird. You can hear their personal conversations. Like, it was that quiet. I play in those environments. It is very odd. It's very weird. You really don't get fired up. You know, the NFL and all, I mean, all contact sports are very emotional sports, right? And so you do feed off the emotion of a crowd. Good and bad, right? You're getting booed.

It feels great to be booed. You know, we're going to show them, guys. It feels great to be cheered. It fires you up. With none of that in the crowd, a lot of self-motivation is going to be a big part of this. And, you know, I'll take you back to basketball real quick. And, you know, the bubble's on right now. It's been great.

But how great would that step back by Luka have been if it had been at home? Right? Like, I feel bad for Mavs fans because that was game four. They would have been at home. I feel bad for Mavs fans because that was game four. They would have been at home. They missed out on a historic opportunity to watch their 21-year-old star go for 45, 15, and 10. I had more than that, but just, you know, no one had had a triple-double that big in the postseason before.

I think it was 14, 18, and 12, or 45, 18, and 12. It doesn't matter. But, like, a step back three to win the game, that place, I think it's American Airlines Arena or something like that, would have just, the roof would have exploded off that play. It would have been fantastic. Yeah. And we're going to miss that in, and I think it's actually noticeable a lot in the playoff bubble that there's no fans. We're going to miss that on the NFL side as well. The Bills have a big play, right?

Josh Allen, fourth quarter, he's run down the field, he makes a big play and just nothing. Nothing. Now they're going to have fake crowd noise. He makes a big play and just nothing, nothing. Now they're going to have fake crowd noise. I saw a video from the Panthers the other day. Yeah, okay, fine. It's not real. It's not real. Players know that.

Yeah. Well, I also think, not to tool on the Dolphins fans, but if you get about 13,000 people in a stadium in September in Miami, I'm going to estimate 9,000 to 10,000 of those people are rooting for the away team anyway, just if tradition holds. So, you know, I think more bills fans might turn up and coach can calm down about that one, but all points well taken last thing we've been watching hard knocks. We've all been remarking on our group thread about how Anthony Lynn,

especially seems to be saying, Hey, listen guys, if we do this well, if we do the COVID protocol, well, if we stay healthy, if we follow the rules, if we're prepared to play each week, that'll give us an advantage as much as our athleticism and our play calling that preparedness matters. Is he just saying that to keep his guys from getting in trouble or is that true? I think it's true, right? If you are the player and we saw this on the Cleveland Indians, right? We're, we're, we're Clevenger and, um, uh, who's the other guy that he went on some anti-mask rant on social media about it too. You know, if you get your players sick on your team,

you might not play that week. Right. Like that's a big deal. And I do think there's responsibility felt by the players to stay healthy. We've seen the results so far. The question becomes obviously when you're out of training camp, you they're they're at the facility now for 12 hours a day it's when you're out of training camp yeah what happens it's when it's when restrictions look i'll just talk about my state in in north carolina september 11th we're talking about going to phase three you

know bars open up more indoor restaurants gyms open up things like that because our numbers are getting better what happens when that happens? Like, if you're a player for the Panthers now, you cannot go out and get yourself in trouble. Bars are not open. Indoor movie theaters are not open. Bowling alleys aren't open. Obviously, you're not going to the gym.

Your spouse really can't do anything either. Your spouse is not going out and getting rowdy. But what happens when those restrictions are lifted in places of the country where COVID's better? Or in the South, it doesn't seem to care sometimes about these issues. So what happens then when you're out of training camp, when you have Tuesdays and off day, when you have Friday night off, when you have Saturday off? And look, they're not staying in hotels this year, I don't think, on Saturday night either for home teams.

So what happens when you have all this time off will you be responsible when that time comes also look kids go back to school maybe your kid brings into the house there's many variables here of course i'm not rooting against this i want football to be played but your point there are things that might change when camp is over that are obviously a little different now but i think the players, where I said at the beginning of the segment, bravo to them. They're doing a good job.

Personnel's doing a good job. Players are doing a good job. And I hope it continues. I think they're doing far better than we all expected, right? There's six guys right now on the COVID list. That's it, six. It's impressive.

No, it is. And kudos to them. I mean, guys, however they may feel privately, seem to be taking it seriously. At least the statistics say so. All right, let's shift gears to a guy who maybe isn't doing it quite right. I think people know the big picture headline here.

So the Ravens released Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas over the weekend after getting a fight with another safety. They got into it in practice when they blew coverage in a scrimmage. Earl started yelling. Punches were thrown. He went on social media to try to explain the whole thing. Anyway, team cut him, and now everyone assumes that he's going to get picked up somewhere.

I'm here in Dallas, but I could be hours late on the latest. So you tell me. Earl Thomas kind of blew it, or Earl Thomas just got himself to a better situation? What's happening here with Earl Thomas? Well, I don't know how you're better than the Ravens.s well you're the guy who's not sold on the Ravens so better than the Ravens so I I have been I have been more so than this year but there are little there's starting to be little cracks and you brought them up too right like wanting Antonio Brown wanting Des Bryant um obviously Earl Thomas

but then not wanting Earl Thomas. They want to bring in some other lunatics, but they don't want this lunatic, apparently. Very clearly, Earl Thomas has taken a turn into a heel, right? I mean, we saw him flip off Seattle's bench after he got hurt. He goes to Baltimore. You don't get released for one thing like this. If you saw he dropped through his helmet he was upset he blew

the coverage things are happening behind the scenes i don't know what they are they've not been reported i don't know all i know is i saw like like richard sherman come out and praise him jr ramsay could come out and praise him but he's now had two franchises that are model franchises the nfl seattle and pete carroll who usc put up with all sorts of characters he doesn't care about that no and look at harbaugh and i'm not sure he's put up with all sorts of characters he doesn't care about that no and look at Harbaugh and I'm not sure he's put up with quote-unquote characters but he's had big personalities right Ray Lewis was a big personality there and he had Steve Smith there for two or three years and Steve Smith worked out well there so he's had no problem with they both said see

you later Earl we're we're we're fine you. And I think the Ravens used this opportunity to obviously get out from a contract and they're going to try to get some of that money back. But something else is happening behind the scenes. And maybe Dallas is his destination. I thought he would have been signed by now, quite honestly, if it was Dallas. I think teams are trying to figure out

what exactly happened in Baltimore before they decide to sign Earl Thomas. Because look, I think there is some toxicity to him right now just to bring him into your roster. Because we've now seen two model franchises say, you know what, you're a Hall of Famer, dude, but we just can't have you on our team.

It's not good, Gabe. Yeah. Well, I want to ask you a quickie here, because Deshaun Watson is one of the players who immediately jumped in there. And for reasons that I can't quite understand, other than that, maybe they have a shared agent or they're just buddies. He starts chiming in with all of his respect and love for Earl Thomas, which almost seemed a little bit like he's trying to recruit him. We saw this with Jalen Ramsey last year where Jalen was making a scene and then Deshaun was praising him.

Do you think that's like makes any sense when these players start sort of complimenting the guy who's clearly kind of a knucklehead? Like what are, what are they going for in those situations? You know, I think players are going to always be pro player. And I think what, that's what sets me apart.

Sometimes I'm actually not all the time. I think that I have X players. I'm on the other side, almost where I'm not pro player and, and, and, you know,'m not pro player. And they're friends. And so they probably want him on their team too. Deshaun Watson probably wants him to sign him. That's probably why he

went on Twitter and made that stand for him. That's what they're doing it for. And the one thing I find fascinating with all this talk sometimes about some fisticuffs happening on NFL practice fields is they happen quite often.

And they're just almost, I think they're a little bit less now with, with the less contact, but when there's a physical training camp, guys fight each other. I'll give you a story. I'm not a fighter. Okay.

I, I've been in chosen two fights in high school in the football field. I was in two in college. I started in one of them in college. We football field. I was in two in college. I started one of them in college. We had a big brawl the other time. But in the NFL, so in my fourth year, I'm on the Panthers. We have a new coaching staff, brand new coaching staff.

And the offensive line coach, very much into like fighting. Like he wanted to fight every day. Old school offensive line coach. He wanted to fight every day. So I'm not playing very well. And I later find out my hip is, my labrum's torn and my other side was torn. But I didn't know that at the time. I'm not playing well.

I'm like, you know what? I'm going to start a fight today because this is going to get on the coach's good side. And again, I know how to fight. I just never was, I didn't start fights. For many reasons. One is that they're just tiring. I don't want to be tired. I can only be tired. They've just never was, I didn't start fights for many reasons. One is that they're just tiring. I don't want to be tired. I can only be tired. They're just annoying. So we have a play, I think nine on seven and I'm blocking Dan Conner, linebacker for Penn State. Dan and I are buddies. And so I'm blocking Dan and after a play, like I shove him really late after the play.

And then I turn to walk away. And then he comes from behind. He pushes me. And then we start fighting. At some point in the altercation, I got tackled from behind. My helmet popped off. I got punched right in the face. Split like my eye.

This eye right here. Kind of like split it low. Started bleeding everywhere. It was a good little fight. And then my coach kind of gave me like the wink, like the good job shorts. So, you know, I don't get to do nothing. I put my helmet back on but here's the kicker man and this is where like it's hoo boy so we get to a meeting we get to the meeting room we're watching the play they don't show the fight on the practice film they never do they always cut the film up before

the fight happens okay they don't want to promote the fighting. So they show me block Dan Conner. I kind of show him after the play. And I turn my back and I walk back to the huddle. And he, like I said, he walks over to me. He shoves me in the back. So the film stops after he shoves me in the back. My offensive line coach dog cussed me out for not fighting him. Like NF'd me in the meeting out for not fighting him. Like, MF'd me in the meeting room for not fighting him.

Like, to the point where I was almost, I was so angry I was almost in tears. Because he knew I fought him. He knew I fought him. There was no debate. We had a fight. It happened in practice. He gave me an attaboy on the field at practice.

And so afterwards, he's like, you know, he dismissed everyone. He's like, Schwartz, stay here. Stay here, Schwartz. Stay here, man. He pulls him off the side. He's like, you know, he dismisses everyone. He's like, Schwartz, stay here. Stay here, Schwartz. Stay here, man. He pulls him off the side. He's like, you know what? I just did that to, like, fire up the troops.

Like, I just, I need the troops to hear that, and I was like, all right, coach, and just left. Like, dude, I'm telling you, Gabe, I'd never been MF'd harder in my life except that moment you know what you should have done you should have punched him in the face stood up and punched him in the face yeah that would have won the whole damn room over and they'd be like how about no no no one was there was just me and him he had everyone he dismissed everyone when he when he when he mf'd in front of the group you should have stood up knocked him out

and then you know pick him up off the ground be like there you go coach that's what you're looking for it's um it's so interesting how coaches would tell you they don't want fights but they absolutely love them i'm in college too like offensive line coach no fighting no fighting and we started this huge fight after a one-on-one rep and he made us run to we were in the stadium in austin he made us run they all made us run to the top of the stadium and back you know there were spikes up the stairs and back then afterwards he kind of was like good job Schwartz like it's just it's like that you hate fighting but

but dude yeah this so I cut my eye open and my wife was all my wife got angry at Dan and I was like babe like it was Dan who hit you I don't know who hit me but I mean I was fighting with like we were fighting punch each other I got tackled helmet came off like i hit from behind tackle helmet came off i assume he punched me in the

face i think it was him i don't know but um and again no hard feelings i mean i was on the ground i mean i couldn't do anything about it and like i didn't care my wife was super angry she was pissed at him i'm like why are you why we're fine like we were in the locker room we're like we whatever that's the thing about fights too by the way and. And this is what's about Earl Thomas is interesting. It feels like the Earl Thomas fight carried over into the locker room. Like the animosity carried over. Most fights just end on the field. There's nothing like the locker room.

No one is talking. I mean, we might joke about it, but there's no animosity when you get into the locker room. That's what most fights are. Obviously there's, you know, I was thereve smith hit the guy in the face we saw you know cam noon fight josh norman one time i mean like they typically end right there now if you if you sucker punch someone in the face that doesn't end right there but you know that like they mostly end right when they happen and so um and sometimes and most times i say, you don't get dog cussed by

your coach, um, for doing something that he know you, he saw you do. I, I'm telling you, man, I couldn't believe it, dude. I just, I was, I I've been rightfully cussed out at times for doing stupid stuff on the field and making bad plays, but I did what he asked me to do. And I started to fight. But I did what he asked me to do, and I started to fight. He knows I did, and he still made a point to MF me and call me soft and call us all soft. It was bad, dude.

You know what? Sounds like we need to get him on the show one day, and you guys can work this out together. There's some lingering feelings. I'm going to pass on that. Okay, fair enough. All right, I'm going to move things along to the college game where no fights, luckily, but a lot of messy stuff going on in the Big Ten.

So just a few weeks ago, we were praising the athletes, football players specifically, for speaking up for themselves, making demands of the schools and the conference that they play in, you know, asking for safety protocols and basically to fix the system they play under. Well, now their season is canceled as we know and some of their parents actually are protesting on their behalf they're at the commissioner's office even though he's not there he's working remotely they're pissed that there's no fall season even though they tried to get ready for it now there are reports that some of these big 10 schools actually want to try to play a schedule but outside of the big 10 not entirely

sure how that's going to work. And people are really pissed. The number one thing I'm seeing takes on is that they canceled the season in the Big Ten. But apparently, according to reports, all of the football programs, coaches, you know, big shots in these programs wanted to play. So there's no record of a vote. There's no clarity on how this decision was made and exactly what went into it. Other conferences have been a lot more transparent. So pretty much summary of all the takes, screw the Big Ten. They're a black box and they won't explain themselves and now we're pissed at them. Are people getting that right? Look, I've said this in the last episode about the difference between the Pac-12 and the Big Ten.

The Pac-12 was very transparent. They put a 12-page memo detailing exactly what they're doing. The Big Ten obviously did not. And it's very clear the Big Ten did not agree at the presidential level of what to do. They were not unified. Where the Pac-12 was very clearly was unified 12 to nothing in favor of cancelling the season. clearly was unified 12 to nothing in favor of canceling the season. The issue I have moving forward now is that Kevin Warren owes people an expulsion.

He's the big 10 commissioner, but he is like Goodell. He takes the shots for the league. He takes the shots for the president. Right. He alone did not make the decision. Now it was reported before they canceled the season that he preferred a spring season. He definitely had a preference on what he wanted to do.

But again, he doesn't make up the vote. He does not do that. They looked at the data. And Ohio State has a cardiologist of sports medicine who is writing a paper on the myocarditis, the heart inflammation. I butcher that name every time. But, you know, so they have people who were worried about this. Now, the question becomes obviously now that Kevin Warren, his son is playing Mississippi State.

Right. So how can you allow your son to play but be in favor of the conference, you know, basically moving? And so here's the best explanation I can think of, Gabe, is that, you know, you make different decisions for your family than you would for your business, right? So in his business, he's in charge of all these schools. And he looks at everything that's happening. He looks at the liability.

He looks at, you know, where each state is with their testing protocols. Can they test? Can they do this? And he decides, look, as a whole, this is not going to work. But individually, I'm okay with players playing. So he's fine with his son playing. Right.

But as a group, as the entire conference, he can't be behind his business moving forward as a group. Now, if everyone is individually, maybe they play, but that's obviously not ever going to happen. But as an entire group, he can't justify giving the go-ahead for that. He's responsible, remember, for the entire conference, not just his own son. And so while I'm sure he feels that individually,

he thinks each player should play, conference, not just his own son. And so while I'm sure he feels that individually, he would, he thinks each player should play as a whole, it can't be done. So that's why he was in favor of shutting that. Does that, does that make sense? Yes, I think it does. And also it's not just football. It's a lot of other programs and a lot of weighted concerns. And as we have been hearing for weeks now, you know, a lot of these campuses are closed or will have to close soon. You know, these... Today's even worse, man. Alabama, 500 test positive on campus. NC State, they shut down athletics for the next couple of days.

I mean, it's no surprise. It's everything we thought would happen. Right. But it's just accelerating, it feels like. So Commissioner Warren had a choice. He could look like a hypocrite for saying Big Ten kids couldn't play, but his kid could play in doing what felt like the right thing and speaking up for themselves in a very organized manner, taking to social media in a responsible way, that some of these players who had a pretty long list of demands for what they wanted from the conference and the NCAA, that maybe actually they made it sort of impossible to play. And that now when the adults in the room said, okay, guys, we can't meet those demands safely. So I guess we're not playing now. They're saying, Whoa, wait, we do want to play. We want to play. We'll take the risk. And it's too late. Is it possible? That's sort of what happened. Um, okay. So their, their demand letter covered a wide range of topics, right? Included obviously

health and safety for covid protocols and included hazard pay the big 10 one did include some other things as well do i think specifically the president said we cannot meet the player demands therefore we can't play no but do i think they realize as a whole they couldn't test quick enough like they couldn't put the protocols in place that would keep them safe. Yes. So do I think specifically the letter, like they thought to themselves, okay, oh my God, they laid out the reasons why we can't do this?

No. Because again, I think that any smart president or athletic director or commissioner realizes that they have a lot of leverage here, right? You need a mass amount of players to sit out. Like even if Justin Fields, Ohio State's quarterback, sat out to boycott the season, guess who would step in right away? Another five-star quarterback, right? It would have been Joe Burrow a couple of years ago.

Right, right. So it would take a large movement of players to make this happen. But I think we've seen the players lose a lot of their leverage through this process. So think we've seen the players lose a lot of their leverage through this process. So let's talk specifically the Big Ten. They said in their letter,

we want hazard pay or basically hazard benefits directly related to COVID, and we do not want to sign COVID liability waivers. Right. A mere 12 days later, 10 days later, 14 days later, nevermind. We'll sign the COVID waiver. We'll drop all the demands. We'll play. And again, it goes back to the leverage on the quote unquote ownership. We know the NFL ownership, or let's say the president's here on the athletic directors is so high because the sport is so volatile, right? You don't have a lot

of years to play the sport. There's a lot of injuries in the sport. There's a rush to get paid, especially in the college side, you know, to get to the NFL. And the leverage is not there for us. We don't have guaranteed contracts. We have 1,700 players in the NFL, 10,000 in Division I college football.

There's so many things, so many guys have their agenda that they weren't ever going to sit out. And so, but in my opinion, playing through a pandemic and getting nothing you asked for makes it much tougher to go back to the table next year and be like, hey, we want all these things. Well, hey, you didn't sit out last year and it was a pandemic. Look, I know this is maybe not proper to say, you know, but I think college players have

used COVID, some of the top prospects to kind of get out of but I think college players have used COVID, some of the top prospects to kind of get out of playing their senior season or their junior year. Right. We've always talked about what would happen if the top pass rusher, the kid from Miami, who's really good. You know, he probably,

and if you were to ask him, be honest, Hey man, would you rather sit out this year and get ready for the NFL draft or play this season? And if you sat out, there are no repercussions, nothing, nothing whatsoever. No one will look at you sideways. He would say, I'll sit out for the NFL draft or play this season. And if you sat out, there were no repercussions, nothing, nothing whatsoever.

No one would look at you sideways. He would say, I'll sit out for the year. He had 15 and a half sacks last year. He didn't need to play this season. Well, COVID gave him that cover. He dropped out. Oh, I'm worried about COVID. I can't do this, right?

COVID gave the players an opportunity to make a stand here, right? And they tried to use it. And I appreciate that they have tried to use their voice. But I think demanding to play on the Big Ten side, even though they're not going to play, weakens their position moving forward. Am I off base in saying that? Because my co-host on my radio show did not agree with me on that, per se.

And even our boy Dan Rubenstein, who we interviewed on the show today, said he didn't agree with that as well. But I think it weakens their position moving forward. Well, I don't know about the weakening position part moving forward because that's a lot of levers to pull on in a negotiation. But I am interested in this point you're making about guys who know, no matter what happens this year, they're first or second round guys, but they either couldn't go into the draft last year

or wouldn't have been first and second round guys, maybe their third or fourth round guys where the money isn't as good, that those guys are not incentivized to play this year and would just as soon sit out if everyone is. They don't have FOMO, and the money will be better, and there's no injury risk. That's an interesting theory, and I hadn't really considered it. Well, I mean, like I said, it's more of the top guys.

Like I said, the kid from Miami that's a quarterback from Virginia Tech. There's players sitting out. There's an Ole Miss center, I believe, is one of the top centers. Do I think if you were to list the reasons why they sit out, worried about COVID is not high on that list. No, I agree. They have an opportunity to sit out and not explain themselves. And so they are, and it's likely just a business decision about their future in the NFL, which is a whole other issue of why do they even have to go through

this charade in the first place? And why aren't they making money in college ball? But we don't have time for all that again today. Let me throw two more things at you quickly, and we'll move the line after. Okay. Just give me your latest thoughts on the likelihood of spring ball in the Big Ten and the likelihood of spring ball in the big 10

and the likelihood of anyone in the big 10 playing another schedule or other opponents elsewhere in the country there's zero chance that the big 10 plays this season um zero there's none it's not happening kevin warren came out said it's not happening so we're not there's no chance we see ohio state show up at clemson or. No. And it's kind of funny you mention that. Today it was announced North Dakota State, who has Trey Lance, the greatest quarterback in the game of all time. That's right. A top prospect for the NFL draft.

They're playing one game this year. All right. Against Central Arkansas. Undefeated. One. One game. And, I mean, could I see Ohio ohio state doing this i mean the whole conference is out i don't like like like north dakota state their conference allowed them to do this you have

to ask the big 10 and they the big 10s like we're either all in or all out so i would say not going to happen okay and spring ball still not not gonna happen even david David Shaw said on our radio program that he is in favor of a winter schedule, like a December, January, you know, December, January,

February type thing. Okay. But once it gets past that, it's just too dangerous to play those two seasons in one calendar year. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I thought. All right.

Um, I think we got smarter in the first part. It's time to get a little dumber here. Let's move the line. This is our over-under segment. Some of these things you can sort of bet on. Some of them are just total nonsense. Here goes.

I want to know Chiefs repeat odds as of today, 75% chance over-under. I mean, it's under. That's high. Those are extremely high odds. I feel very good about them. They're screwing around in practice. Oh, yeah. You saw the hook and lateral play with Pat.

They're just – they're basically done with house money right now. It's looking good. Even though that was a very much – a play that would never run in the regular season, it makes defenses have to at least be like – remember that play we saw in film, that little hook and ladder? And there's many reasons why they would never run it. But just the thought of that being a thing

might make defenses just an extra second at practice. Hey guys, remember we saw that thing they did that one time on film? And they very much knew that this was going to, you know, fans were in the crowd recording this. They knew what was happening. It's funny that

they did that. Oh, 75% feels very high in the NFL when we haven't had a repeat champion since, what, 03, 04, Pats? Yeah, that sounds right. We've had teams go back to the Super Bowl, but the Cowboys did it earlier. Yeah, but that repeat champion is hard.

I mean, the Pats won the three and five years, but they won every other year. Right. Um, it's hard to win back-to-back titles in any sport, let alone the NFL and the Chiefs while positioned to do so. I agree with you. That's a high odds in a game. That's so violent. Well, you know, I set the odds around here and you're saying under 75%. I just, my feeling is from the things you've told me over the last several weeks, and then watching this fun video of the hook and lateral play, which, yep, you're right. I'm sure they did it just so that someone would film it just so that a few teams would go, Oh shit. What if they do? It sounds like Pat just made it up as he went. Like he just went over to

kid and mic'd up and he's just like, Hey man, you want to do this? I'm sure they all thought it was fun. He knows he's not getting hit. So why not try it? But it seems to me like they're the, the team now at a, in a poker tournament and they got the big stack. Right. And they're they're now able to like sort of play hands that they shouldn't be in. Right. So they're calling, they're checking, they're staying in everything because why not? They're way ahead. Like you've told me, they've got the coach, they've got the scheme, they've got young guys, they've got star players who know the system. Yeah. They're why not? So they should just push the gas pedal on everybody and force everybody's hand.

It just seems like I haven't seen a team more primed for repeat in a very long time. Well, outside the Patriots, but yes. Well, I hate, see, I have like a blind spot for them.

I try not to ignore. No, look, they're, they're primed. Um, but I think the, you know, I think that the Ravens are good and the Steelers are good. And I mean, they're look they're primed um but i think the you know i think that the ravens are good and the sealers are good and i mean they're just you know but yes they're they're

they should be the favorite for a reason i'm with you there but 700 feels high still okay fair enough um nfl snaps colin kaepernick takes this season 0.5 over under it's still zero yeah um you know what i'm referencing right you saw what Goodell admitted to. Yeah. Emmanuel Ocho, who's doing a fantastic job. We were broadcast boot camp partners all the way back at broadcast boot camp. Now he's doing some great things on Speak for Yourself and obviously his Uncomfortable Conversations with the Black Man. He's got a book coming out.

He's doing a great job. He was meant for this like this is his this is his this is his he's great avenue he's just great and i've worked with him a tiny bit and gotten to know him a little bit and like he's an easy person to root for so yes on his show goodell said quote i wish we had listened earlier cap to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to it's not about the flag the message here what our players are doing is being mischaracterized. And he goes on, and he basically says, like,

I was wrong, almost to the degree that he knew he was wrong all along. So I'm just wondering if this will... Well, I think he knew he was wrong all along, but he answers to the owners. And at the time, the ownership wanted nothing to do with this. And look, I think the NFL, the NBA, major baseball has figured out that NASCAR as well. I mean, that there's money to be had being on the side of social justice and being united with your players in their causes off the field.

And there is money to be had in supporting Colin Kaepernick. Look, Nike, right, did a deal with Colin Kaepernick look Nike right did a deal with Colin Kaepernick and everyone on the right oh their stock's gonna tank it's gonna tank and guess what they made a ton of money right there's money to be had and this sounds crass but it's true there's money to be had being on the side of social justice right now and being on the side for Colin Kaepernick's fight for and I don't know how you watched that video that we saw on the last night or two days. I was horrified to watch that video of that young man being shot the other day. I don't know how you watched that video. I don't watch them anymore. I can't. And I should have not watched it.

And how you don't have a visceral reaction and you go on the side of what these players are fighting for, right? What the communities are fighting for. And so Goodell is doing the right thing now. But in 2016, 2017, there wasn't this push to be, now there was, but not as strongly as it is, it feels like a larger community of people pushing towards one goal right it wasn't like that in 2016 and 17 i mean look you go back to drew breeze like it took true breeze a a mental gaffe to understand what everyone was fighting for like it's it's it's

just people just had have not caught on yet until now. And Goodell understands that. And I, I credit Goodell for doing it. He will never admit he's wrong because they sued the NFL. And that's part of it too, is that when you're suing the NFL, like Kaepernick was,

you can't come out and admit you were wrong before the lawsuit's over. Right. So, you know, Goodell's doing this now. And again, I understand people saying, Hey,

look, man, he, um, it's too late. It's too little too late. I'm on board with that. I get it. But I'm glad he's at least admitting he was wrong, NFL was wrong, and that they need to join forces with the

players now in the initiatives that they feel need to happen in the community. All right, fair enough. Well, I'll tie it together with the topic from earlier and just say that there are going to be a lot of teams that need quarterbacks, and if he is in shape and the money is not going to be, he's not going to be able to command starting money anymore.

If he's truly interested in playing football and the commissioner has basically come as close legally as he can to saying, I'm sorry, we screwed up, giving air coverage to any owner who wants it to sign this guy i i would take the over here i would say he will play at some point but i would say no it's a no you've been very clear about it i'm not going to debate you you know more than me but i i think now the door is open um all right let me let me move along here to aaron rogers um who also had some scrimmages

and was given out the old suck it chant, uh, chop to, uh, after throwing a nice pass. I think the old Aaron, the chip on the shoulder, Aaron, uh, I think it's back. I think, uh, you know, he's been relaxing and drip, you know, drinking 28 year old scotches for the last few years, but I think he finally wants to prove something. I think drafting a quarterback pissed him off. year old scotches for the last few years but i think he finally wants to prove something i think drafting a quarterback pissed him off so i'm gonna go ahead and ask you aaron rogers mvp voting finish over or under 3.5 finish is he gonna be in the top three or not do you have mahomes yeah we're gonna have drew breeze breeze really ahead of aaron rogers

i'm just thinking a lot of who you're going to have in the conversation. I don't think Lamar will be in that conversation again this year. He has to do something that's extraordinary to be back there. Needless shade thrown at Lamar, but okay. No. Russell Wilson. You always love to talk about him. What am I getting on the juice on these picks right here?

Like are you shading this to the over or the under? Well, I think most people don't think Aaron Rodgers is going to be in the top three of MVP voting this year. Okay. So if I get a little plus money to go over, I would go over. Under. You always get confused on these. You want plus money to be in the top three. Yes. yes i would take that i would take that bet yeah because i think that we're we're gonna see like a 13 and 3 14 and 2 type season and i don't think he's gonna throw for

44 touchdowns but i think we're gonna see 35 with five picks and i think he's gonna have weapons again i think he figured out his running back i think he's got his receiver i think he's going to have weapons again. I think he figured out his running back. I think he's got his receiver. I think he's got something to prove with a quarterback sitting there behind him. I don't think there's anyone that special in his division like Vikings. I mean, I would take the plus money a little bit here. Okay. I'm just going to keep bringing up Aaron Rodgers because I feel like

we somehow overlook him too often on this show all right uh the similar to the um chief's question earlier lakers championship odds as of today we do not know how game four will resolve so people will hear this and and know that they're either up 3-1 or it's 2-2 so i'm asking you odds the championship goes to the lakers 50-50. Oh, man. This is interesting. I'm a Lakers fan. I would have to take under because they're shooting. I know that their defense has been really good in this Portland series.

But this is a shooter's game now. And they don't have guys you can rely on every night. LeBron has looked. I know he played really well in game three, but, you know, there's been times he's looked his age like the last three games.

Yep. And I don't think they can rely on him to go for 35, 15, and 10 every night. Like, he went for, what, 37, 38, and 12 the other night?

I think it was 38, 12, and 8. My buddies, I'm going to, a buddy of mine, I'm on this text chain with three of my friends who are lakers fans out of the blue in the first quarter the other night my buddy just texted me kobe would have scored 100 in the bubble i was like what what he goes yeah he just would have been so focused

he would have scored 100 i was like what are you talking about because well and then it goes on about like lebron doesn't have it and after he was like lebron doesn't have it he went 38 12 and eight last night what are you talking about he doesn't have it. And after he was like, LeBron doesn't have it. He went 38, 12 and eight last night. What are you talking about? He doesn't have it. Cause either of their minds, Kobe would go for a hundred. Um, I,

uh, I think it would take under just because a D is still, he's been up and down, right? Really good game to game three. Couldn't make any foul shots. Um, but the shooting worries me,

man. They just, they can't shoot. Yeah. I'm, I think we are a couple games away from lebron going earl thomas on uh on some of these guys because he'll he'll draw three defenders take a huge shot to the chest still find a way to deliver it to somebody to take an open three

and they miss who's just bricks it yeah bricks it or or cobalt pulp bricks it um i with the but i'll tell you what the clippers if they lose to the Mavs, that opens up the West easily, opens up the West. I feel better about that if that were to happen. I think that the Lakers would beat the Bucs. I just don't trust Giannis. I mean, we saw last year how you can defend Giannis and kind of force him out of the middle.

Who did they lose to last year? The Raptors. They forced him out of the middle. Who did they lose to last year? The Raptors. They forced him out of the middle, basically. And the Lakers have the bodies to do that. They're big. I'm not worried about them facing the Bucs. But the Clippers would be issues. They'd have issues with the Clippers.

I just think it'd be interesting to see the Lakers go with their biggest possible lineup. I mean, they could put out a lineup with essentially three seven-footers and then Kuzma and LeBron kind of in the backcourt. And it wouldn't be totally ridiculous. No, because AD would play the three, I guess. LeBron would play the two.

Or one. LeBron would play the one. Kuzma would play the two. LeBron would hold the ball. You'd have some sort of weird JaVale, Dwight, AD kind of front line. Dwight is annoying, man. He's annoying me. He's always bitching and moaning about everything. I'm like, oh God.

I've been saying since when they signed him that if he'll accept himself as the Dennis Rodman role, just this weirdo who plays defense and rebounds and every now and then dunks it. I mean, he kind of does do that. I

don't know. He just is annoying sometimes. Okay. Well, you know how you manage to deal with being annoyed sometimes? You crack open a Bud Light seltzer. So here's what I want to know. On Friday night, I have my fantasy football draft. We're going into, I think this is year 19 of the same league.

So I'm going to ask you to guess Bud Light Seltzer's I Drink during this fantasy draft over under 9.5. This is an especially frustrating fantasy draft this year. Nobody can get together. It's going to last a long time over Zoom. I got a lot of sorrow to drown here. We're going to be definitely over um over thank you i mean you i mean you drank a beer the other day while we were recording that's how that's how

your day was going it was not going um you know i'm in the fantasy league this you know second year in a row we're doing keepers this year i have no idea what that means so good luck to me what do you mean you don't know what that means so just keep anyone i want on my previous team depends on how your league is set up. Like, we don't allow keepers from anyone prior to the eighth round. So you can't keep Christian McCaffrey. That's ridiculous. But you could keep a guy you – like, I'll probably keep DJ Chark.

I'm fairly certain I get to keep two players of any round. Two players of anywhere in – So, look, I have a third pick this year. I have Saquon on my team from last year. Okay. I don't think he's going to have the best season, but I have to keep him because everyone else is going to keep their running backs too.

Yeah, that's not it. If you're allowed to keep Saquon Barkley, you're keeping Saquon Barkley. That's not a debate. Correct. So, I think I'm just going to keep. Who else do you have? Yeah.

I don't know. Who knows? I was one in 13 last year. Well, then you should have been playing the whole back half of the season just for the keepers. Here's what I need to know from you. No, no, no, no, no.

We just, we just, we just initiated the keeper rule last week. What kind of FACACTA league is this? Who's running this league? Well, I like,

I like the Yiddish. Good Yiddish. Appreciate it. You can't decide that after the season ended. The guy who decided that obviously has Pat and Lamar. That's nonsense. McCaffrey and Lamar, yeah. Let me ask you this.

Give me some inside info. Obviously, he just had a minor hamstring thing. We're not expecting Tyreek Hill to actually be injured, but I got me Cole Hardman, and I kept him all year last year because I thought he might get the job and be the guy going into this year that's not how it worked out they still got Sammy Watkins they still got Tyree Kill is there any reason that I should hope that Mikko hardman gets real run this year i don't get points for punt returns or whatever uh i mean he's he kind of plays that tyreek hill position yeah so until tyreek's gone he's kind of yeah that's right yeah probably yeah and is that that tweak that tyreek had is just one of

these i yeah i mean i would worry about lamar jackson suppose he has a tweak too i mean these are more worrisome this year you know hamstrings and groins don't really heal but i don't i don't know what are you giving up for him like can you keep him i can keep him in the like i don't know some late round oh i'd keep him then just to have him on your bench him or dj chuck dude i'm not a fancy person i would tell you i would keep him because dj chark is playing on the Jacksonville Jaguars. They're going to win two games. Dude, you are so useless. I don't give a shit how many games they win or lose. If they're hucking the ball up, down three scores,

spending the whole second half bombing it. This isn't Jeff Schwartz's smarter than you fantasy edition. Apparently not. I'm not a fantasy guy. I'm going to fade your fantasy picks. I'm going to take all your betting picks. By the way, you had a great year last year. Over 60% bet in the NFL last year.

Pac-12. In the Pac-12 specifically? Pac-12, yes. Okay. NFL was a weird year. Pac-12, over 60%. Okay, sorry. Obviously, no Pac-12 this year, so I'm not going to have that option.

So sad about that still, man. Don't worry. Don't worry don't worry we'll be back to normal eventually jeff we're we're rounding out an hour here and i feel like you gave us extra special smarts on that very first topic i i did not consider all the things you mentioned about sort of rosters and and teams moving players around uh gave me a lot to think about i think you made us a lot smarter today well i'm glad to do that there's a lot to think about. I think you made us a lot smarter today. Well, I'm glad to do that. There's a lot to talk about. And we're getting closer to this. I know.

Fingers crossed. Before we get out of here, one last thing, too. Like, I am, normally I get, like, over-excited for football to start. But this year I'm still kind of like, just like, I hope it starts. Like, I can't get, like, fully into it until I see the Chiefs and Texans take the field on September 10th. I feel the same way. It's not real until we're actually there. I agree.

All right, everyone. Appreciate you listening. Please rate, review, subscribe as usual. We'll be back on Thursday with over-unders, NFC West, AFC West. A couple props. Really appreciate you joining us. Have a great week. Talk to you guys on Thursday.