Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Tough Luck in Indy, Kansas City's Backfield & Antonio Brown's Helmet

Episode Date: August 27, 2019

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from the athletic i'm jeff schwartz this is the jeff schwartz is smarter than you football podcast this show is your chance a couple times a week to correct the hot takes that fly around the internet i'm here to tell you what you need to know after six seasons in the nfl at the age of 29 andrew luck announced his retirement from the league i'll go over why that happened and the real reason why I think he retired. Also, Antonio Brown's agent says the wide receiver has multiple sponsorship offers for custom helmet and the Chiefs' mole a final decision on a crowded backfield. It's Tuesday, August 27th. The way the show is going to work, me and Jeff Schwartz will get one of our producers this week.

Today it's Gabe Goodwin. We'll fire the takes at me that we read on the internet, and I'll tell you why those are wrong, give you some perspective as a player, and I'll correct all that I think is wrong with the way we talk about football. All right, Gabe, take us away. Wow. Well, you already mentioned Andrew Luck. It was preseason week three, and everybody's fighting for a roster spot,

including the takemakers. My God, people were going crazy. The internet nearly collapsed under the weight of a few of these takes. I don't need to play them all for you. OJ Simpson was bummed out about drafting Andrew Luck in fantasy. A few other guys went in and called Andrew soft and a quitter and questioned sort of his whole approach to this. It was pretty nuts I think the thing that pissed people off the most though was seeing his hometown fans

booing him in Indianapolis as he walked off the field I know it was a big shock to them but it still felt really gross to hear these people boo a guy who gave them so much over the last few years and I think we can all agree that that was the worst take of all this weekend. Well, that wasn't the worst take of all. There were plenty of bad takes. I'll get into booing in just a second. That wasn't the worst take. I think the worst take about this whole situation is basically, A, calling Andrew Luck a quitter,

calling him soft, and questioning the timing of this. Let's talk about the timing of this, right? So entering the season, Andrew Luck was excited for the season, but he had this lingering calf and ankle issue. They don't even know what it is really. They haven't really announced what it is. No one's even leaked out what it is. I don't think they even really know what it is,

which is terrible because a player like Andrew Luck, who according to Peter King's research, 42 last 47 months has been hurt. He was looking forward to entering the season healthy because all he has known is pain and rehab and recovery. And he mentioned in his press conference, I'm not going to go through another season like I did with my shoulder where I'm in pain all year,

where I'm rehabbing another injury again and again and again. And this ankle injury was at the point where he was probably going to be put on injured reserve, at least for the first eight weeks of the year, and he just didn't want to go through that process again. And look, I am a player who has done the rehab process. I dislocated my big toe in August of 2014. I then rehabbed all the way back. I played a game.

My first game, ironically enough, was the Odell catch game. I was on the Giants. That was my first game. Then my second game, Jacksonville that year, I fractured dislocated my ankle that year, which would be that game, I should say. Then I'm rehabbing again. I just rehabbed all that time to get back on the field.

Now I'm doing it again. And then I play the following year, but I'm kind of hurt. I'm beat up. Played three games, not feeling my foot. I had a nerve issue. Get an injection. Come back. Play well for two weeks.

Then break my leg again. 364 days from when I did the first leg breaks. Now I'm rehabbing again. And I'm rehabbing again. And the pain and the mental gymnastics and the stress and anxiety and all of that just wears on a player. And the reason why it wears on a player is not really during the season. Like we understand during the season that we're going to have a physical and mental toll that's going to be placed upon us.

We are aware that that's going to happen. We are aware our bodies are going to be beat down. We are aware that we are going to get hurt. We are aware that we're going to deal with stress of playing the game, of anxiety, of nervousness, of the wins and losses, right? The emotional ups and downs week to week. We know we're going to have to be in the training. We know we're going to have to lift. We know all of that. But the one thing we know is that when the season is over, we will have time

to decompress. We know that let's say January 1st, let's say the hard date January 1st is the end of the season. We know that we get to now rest and recover physically, number one, but more importantly is mentally. We get to decompress. We get to see family and friends and travel because during the season, guys, and this is rightfully so, I think it should be this way. Our families on the back burner during the season. Everything we do is geared toward football, toward success in our jobs and our careers.

And yes, there are times during the week where we get to see our family, but our family knows that daddy, husband, friend, brother, sister, whatever, that we are not in the picture, right? We're not in the picture. And our family knows that when January 1st comes, they get that person back. They're supposed to get that person back, right? They know that. The problem is when you're rehabbing every single offseason like Andrew Luck has been doing, well, that person's not back. That person's worried about rehabbing again. That person cannot move and cannot play with their kids, cannot travel with their wife, cannot go see friends.

They're often stuck in the city that they play in rehabbing every day. And that stress, that anxiety that's supposed to dissipate after the season is still there because while you're rehabbing, you're thinking about, well, will this body part get better? Because when you rehab, you make strides very slow. And then all of a sudden you have a big jump and then slow again, slow again, and then a big jump. But you're worried about, will I get back healthy? Will I be able to play this season?

Who's going to take my spot now? Someone has to fill my spot during practice. Are they going to bring in a veteran guy? Are they going to draft someone? Am I going to be cut? Are they going to ask me to restructure? And all these things take a toll. Andrew Luck got to a point where he said, look, I can't do it anymore.

And this is why a lot of NFL players have come out on his side and said, look, we get it, man. We understand because we've all been there. Some of us not to the extent Andrew Luck has, but I was not, I didn't, I didn't rupture a kidney or spleen, whatever he did. I didn't lacerate a rib and almost, I was injured, but not as bad as him. And he got to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.

So for the people that think that this is because he's soft or he's a millennial or he doesn't care anymore. And he doesn't know it's because he's mentally exhausted for having to do this. And a big component of this is his family that I think we often overlook in this situation. So this is the best way I can explain it. I think you'll agree with me listening to everything I said that this is more than football. And I think he does come back maybe eventually. But right now, this is the best decision for his football. And I think he does come back maybe eventually, but right now this was the best decision for his sanity

and I fully support it. Lastly, you mentioned the booing game. So we do this thing on social media where you have to comment on something right away. And I feel that I do a good job of not always doing that because I don't have an informed opinion about everything right away. I think it's kind of odd that you always would have an opinion on everything that happens in the moment

it happens. That's not always going to be the case. So when I saw the video of Andrew Luck being booed, I did not comment on the video. I thought to myself, you know what, I'm going to wait a day or two to see how I feel about this. I just want to think about it because I grew up, and I still am a diehard fan of sports. I grew up going to UCLA football games every single Saturday. And in front of the TV every single Saturday, I watched them play. Sunday was the 49ers. I was a Lakers fan. I was a Giants fan.

I get being a fan. I get how emotional being a fan is. I've stuck my middle finger up in football games before. I booed people. I get how it works as a fan. And if you're a fan in that stadium stadium and you get an alert on your phone, Andrew Luck is retiring, without any context whatsoever, I understand why you booed.

Do I think it's acceptable? No. But I understand. So I'm not going to go out there and tweet something right away that I'm not fully ready to give a take on. And so I think I'm the only athlete that's actually really said this. I get why they booed. Now, do I think it's acceptable?

No. And I think a lot of people athlete that's actually really said this. I get why they booed. Now, do I think it's acceptable? No. And I think a lot of people would now look at this and say, yeah, I probably should not have booed after I read why he is now retiring. And lastly, on this booing thing, the Colts should have pulled him off the field. I don't know why he was on the field still. I know he was waiting to announce it. Schefter announced it. We all know it was out there. Take him off the field.

Let him get composed and get ready to give his impromptu press conference. Okay, so there's a lot to unpack there. I want to go back to one thing about timing that I feel like you sort of breezed through this, and I want to make sure people understand. So Steve Berline, former NFL quarterback, now a CBS analyst, he, I think, found a way to thread the needle here where he didn't call Andrew out. He didn't question his motivations. He didn't call him soft or anything silly like that. he did say he he thinks maybe the timing was off that with two weeks until the

season starts it puts the team and his teammates in kind of a weird spot and Andrew himself in according to Berline may regret this choice one day he could have gone IR and come back to help them later in the season I wonder what you think of that idea that the timing here was a little strange. Well, the timing was strange. Yes. But I think there was a reason for that. I mentioned this at the beginning is that I think he was fully prepared to play this season. He was fully prepared to play this season, but his calf, his ankle, whatever you want to say, lower leg never responded. And I think he got word that, Hey man, this might be an injury where you're out eight weeks. You know, you're be an injury where you're out eight weeks.

You're on short-term IR. You might have to get surgery. Or your Achilles, this is all speculation on the Achilles, but maybe they told him, hey, look, your Achilles is going to go next. And he didn't want to hit tears at Achilles. It's a terrible, terrible rehab. It's 12 weeks non-weight-bearing. And one of those scooters, I did 12 weeks non-weight-bearing,

really more like six and six. I got on crutches the last six dude it is miserable i was gabe i was crawling i had a master bedroom upstairs i was crawling up the stairs for six weeks to get to my bedroom crawling in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom i had to crutch and then get lightheaded and you're like it's it's the worst you can't and again like your family situation in this like my wife, even when you talk about his last night, cause I wrote an article about this and she said, yeah, I was the most upset I've ever been with you when you kept getting hurt because you couldn't be part of this family.

I know it was not your fault, but I was pissed. And I know she was, cause she told me, and I knew at the time she was upset about it because I could, we just had a young son. I couldn't be part of our family when I'm always hurt. And we're always focusing on, Hey, how is Jeff Schwartz's ankle today? Not, hey, how are you feeling today? How's my son doing today? Things like that.

So he didn't want to do that again, and that's why the timing was done now. I think he would have retired in March if he felt he needed to retire in March, but this is the time it was now. I think the Colts were fairly prepared to play without him, at least for the first eight weeks of the year, and that's why Jacoby is taking a lot of reps, and, of course, Luck wasn't healthy. I think the Colts, and we'll get to this a little bit later,

are going to be okay without Landry Luck. Now, are they Super Bowl contenders? Probably not, but Jacoby Brissett's a good player. I think I like the offense and the personnel they have on defense, but that's why the timing happened now, and I feel like we often can't think past what's on Twitter. Just think about that, man. He didn't come into camp thinking he was going to retire.

He wanted to play. His leg never got better. And I think there's other parts of this that we haven't heard about as far as what can happen maybe to his ankle if he kept playing. So this is why he did it now. are the colts happy about it of course not why do you like to play everything's set up for him it's ironic he retires when he finally has an offensive line and he finally has a bunch of weapons and a great defense um this is just what happened it's shocking um again i get the timing is a little bit off but this is the time that he

decided look my ankle's not recovering. I'm not doing this again. And as someone who has been in situation, there's plenty of players on social media who voiced their experience playing through pain and the suffering through that. Um, eventually get to a point where you just can't do it anymore. And you're done. Andrew Luck also guys kind of had leverage to do this. He's not, he's not an average dude.

He is the top five at the most important position in all sports, our favorite sport in America. He's got money. And he never, in my mind, he never identified himself as a football player. Now, you ask, well, how is that possible? I didn't identify myself as a football player. I love football. I love playing. Andrew Luck, I assume, loved playing football.

But he also is worldly. He likes to read, likes to travel. I never considered myself a football player. I don't know why that is. I thought of myself as a regular average person who was really good at football and was blessed with this body. And also didn't play football all through childhood.

A lot of players that are on the opposite end of that play football since they're five years old. And all they know is football. And they continue to play even when their bodies are shot and when their mind is not fully invested in football. That's when you get hurt more often. It's a terrible couple of years to end your career. You know, sort of not all in, but they don't know any better. And I think players, they're a little jealous Andrew Luck is allowed to do this. It doesn't mean they're upset about it or really jealous in a

negative way, but they're like, hats off. But I wish I could have done that in my career, just retired when I wanted to. But instead, I stuck it out. I had a couple of bad years. I got injured a bunch. And now I'm where I'm at. And Andrew Luck gets to walk away feeling relatively healthy. Yeah. So as a fan, and I think I'll probably speak for some of the listeners here, I see a lot of current athletes, NFL players, big name guys, applauding him, calling him brave. Maybe it's some of the emotion you just described, but it does seem strange to me

that we aren't hearing this story more often, that more guys who have a few million in the bank, who maybe do think of themselves as more than just a football player aren't saying thanks but no thanks you know Gronk made this decision for similar reasons just a few months ago and I don't think there was really any backlash to that uh I wonder why more guys aren't saying guys I'm done thank you this has been fun but I'm gonna go enjoy the rest of my life now why do you think that's the case?

Well, I mean, playing in the NFL is intoxicating, man. Like, you get the fan love, right? You have stadiums cheering for you. You have fans adoring you. I mentioned that already. You're playing on national television. You're getting paid a lot of money. You have endorsements.

You know, the door opens for you at restaurants. You get seated. You get free tickets to this and that. You get to do cool things, be an athlete. And when you're done being that athlete, all that goes away. Unless you're top of the top and you have endorsements and you're a Super Bowl-winning four-time quarterback, most of the time all that stuff goes away, and it's hard for players to really uh move on from the sport

and like i mentioned earlier a couple minutes ago is that some guys have played forever man and all they know is playing football that's all they've wanted to look i grew up i wanted to play baseball as a kid i fell in the football i fell in love with it i became really good at it i've had my ups and downs of my career as well um but i always knew there'd be an end point and i put and i planned for the endpoint. A lot of players don't plan for the endpoint too. And so they just stick in there as long as they can. And I don't think this is going to become a trend.

I think this became news. You mentioned Gronk. Gronk's a tight end. This is a franchise quarterback where we have changed rules in the NFL to make life easier for franchise quarterbacks, really quarterbacks in general. to make life easier for franchise quarterbacks, really quarterbacks in general. And the idea that someone will retire in his prime,

like Andrew Luck, that's why this is so shocking. It's because we haven't seen this from a franchise quarterback really ever. We had Barry Sanders do it and Jim Brown and Calvin Johnson, and you can include Gronk in that as well. But we have not had a quarterback, a franchise quarterback make this decision before and I think there's a couple out there like a Cam Noon possibly that if he continues to get beat up we might see him do this but I don't think really anyone outside of maybe Cam who is really still

in his prime will retire early all right well we'll move to the next topic a guy who a few weeks ago it looked like maybe he'd be saying goodbye. But now, luckily, it appears that Antonio Brown's helmet gate has been resolved with just a couple weeks to spare before the regular season. Here's his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, talking about AB's second failed appeal to the league to get the helmet he wanted. Antonio will not be permitted to wear the helmet that he's worn the last nine years, which is called the shut air advantage. And we're going to move on. That door is closed.

On the bright side, as a result of all of the publicity that has accrued from our efforts to get him to wear that helmet, he has multiple offers on the table right now from various helmet companies to custom make a helmet for him and to pay him quite a bit of money. So we have found, without getting into specifics, we have found some very suitable alternatives. So Antonio will be wearing an approved helmet. He won't miss any time.

And he'll be getting paid a lot of money to do so. So it's sort of a happy ending, even though he won't be able to wear the old helmet anymore. Okay, so sort of a happy ending, even though he won't be able to wear the helmet that he insisted he had to wear. Forgive me for being a bit of a cynic here, but I think a lot of fans don't believe that this is really over. That what we really saw was the sign of a guy being a little bit crazy. And that just because now his agent thinks he can make a few extra bucks on a custom helmet, it doesn't mean the problem is resolved.

Should the Raiders feel like this is over? Should raiders feel like this is over should the fans feel like this is over should his teammates you've been a teammate with guys like this is it over i i i think it's over now just because the season's starting and you know this was all fun and cute um well you know in the first week we could you know first two weeks of the preseason when you you really, for a player like him, you don't have to be in training camp. Obviously, it's better if you are. But when you start preparing for week three of the preseason, when you start preparing for the regular season, as they're doing this week as they get into the fourth preseason game,

you want that guy to be there. And that's why Mike Mayotte called him out and said, Hey, dude, you got to be in. You're either in or out. I think that woke him up a little bit. He's now in. He knows he was never winning these grievances. He wasn't winning them.

Look, obviously, he's afforded the opportunity to do this, but the NFL was not going to let him wear any helmet that did not pass safety test. So now, obviously, they're talking about getting a custom helmet done for him and endorsement deals. And so, you know, there's's you know people people think well this was he did this on purpose not not a freaking chance he did this on purpose he didn't he's not an evil genius that acted this way because he wanted to get endorsement deal he has enough money obviously you can never have enough so good for him he's got endorsement this was not a mad genius thing

that he did he legit wanted to wear the helmet he's always worn. He now has endorsement deals for other helmets. Again, but Gabe, are you – I know your kids are little, so are mine, but are you going to go buy a helmet for your kid because Antonio Brown's face is on the side of this after Antonio Brown acted crazy for three weeks about his helmet? You're absolutely not. I don't get this endorsement. What is the company getting out of this endorsement with Antonio Brown acted crazy for three weeks about his helmet. You're absolutely not. I don't get this endorsement.

What is the company getting out of this endorsement with Antonio Brown? I mean, absolutely nothing. There's no way I'm buying any product that he says makes him feel healthier and safer. I question his judgment on everything. But I guess what I'm most curious about, since you've had the perspective of being a teammate, you're one of 53 with with guys like him in your career like can guys look past this this feels like a pretty big moment he hadn't even really met the team we saw in hard knocks like he's still getting to know these guys and they

don't know if they can trust him we already know he had issues in pittsburgh or he'd still be in pittsburgh there's plenty of rumors out there about how this guy approaches life. Like, will people move past this on his team? Yeah, because if you win football games, you'll move past this. I mean, that's always the easy answer, because it really is true. If you win football games, everything will be forgotten. If you lose football games because you don't play well, everyone will remember this. But again, until you start hurting your team preparing for the season, it was never a big deal in the locker room. And I think now he's back, fixed his helmet, whatever he's wearing, some sort of helmet.

I saw a photo of him, I think, at practice yesterday where he's actually not wearing a helmet. So I don't know what's happening. But if it starts hurting the team preparing for the season, that's when it becomes a big problem in the locker room. And so far it hasn't. And and look he's an exceptional talent and we know that i'm sure he showed some of that practice we've seen some clips on hard knocks um which will be again out tonight and that that to me is the biggest thing is if he still helps them win games the locker

room doesn't care yeah okay well let's watch because the first time that he and Carr fail to sync up on a little slant or he doesn't run the route just right, you know that's all that's going to get talked about. And people in the locker room read the same things we do. So it seems like he's setting up a narrative. It'll combust fast. I mean, this is a problem in the NFL with guys who talk a lot and make a lot of noise. It's typically, you know, people talk a lot, obviously, when things are going well. Now, they haven't gone terribly well here.

But guys who talk a lot when they're going well continue to talk when it's going bad and often doesn't do any good. They don't know when to shut up. And when you start losing, that's when it becomes a really big issue. And there's a little bit of this in Cleveland with Baker. Oh, boy. I knew you were going to bring up Baker. You knew I was going i was gonna get there you knew it and we'll get to baker in a second um but that it can bust and there's examples of this all over the nfl so it's great now but i'm

a little bit with you if things go sideways it it has an amazing way to collapse very fast in oakland um and uh look i'm in my position in the media, and I'm a Chiefs fan because my brother plays there. I'm all for a combustible situation in Oakland. It's great for a business. All right, you mentioned the Chiefs. Let's talk about something that really matters, which is my fantasy team.

Okay, I don't know who to draft. I know probably a guy named Dee Williams. I don't know who to draft. Uh, I know probably a guy named D Williams. I don't know which D Williams I should get. If I read Twitter and I do, it's a little unclear which of four running backs is going to be the guy. I'm starting to think it doesn't make any difference because the run game doesn't matter in the NFL anymore.

Oh, you're one of that guy. It's not gay. Well, the run game doesn't matter anymore in the NFL. I mean, on that offense um look the so if you follow me on Twitter at Jeff Schwartz you know that I constantly get into it with quote-unquote analytical people about the run game

and look I actually appreciate a lot of them I communicate with a lot of them behind the scenes they're great uh there are a lot of them who actually are not very great and they're hard-headed and they just disregard everything that I did as a player and that I know as football. Look, rushing the football is still important, all right? It sets up many things in your offense, specifically play action pass, which, hey, analytics people have told us, and it's true, play action pass is fantastic.

It works all the time. Everyone should do more of it. That's why I like the Vikings this year, by the way. They've talked openly about, hey, Cousins is very good at play action pass. We didn It works all the time. Everyone should do more of it. That's why I like the Vikings this year, by the way. They've talked openly about, hey, Cousins is very good at play action pass. We didn't do enough last year. We're going to do more this year. Duh, it's a great thing to do. Guess what you have to do?

You have to run the ball. And I understand that analytics say, well, running the ball doesn't matter. It does. It's reputation. It's setting up formations and things to happen to influence eyes, to give eye violations to defenders later in the game. And you're obviously for tempo, and people hate the term establishing the run

and just establishing like body blows. But as an offensive lineman, I'm telling you, it does matter. You can't measure it. But I'm telling you, pounding on guys early in the game makes them pass rush a little bit less. You can talk to defenders about it. They'll tell you the same thing. Now, should you run the ball 45 times a game?

Probably not. But there's value in the rushing game. Of course there's value in the rushing game. And now I say all that to say that I'm not sure there's value in having a specific rusher. I'm not sure there's value in paying a guy $15 million a year to rush the football for you. I think you can find plenty of guys that do just as good a job, and we'll find this year with possibly four Chiefs running backs that will do the job that one elite running back can do.

Now, obviously, if you have a Zeke Elliott, he's able to take a short gain to a long gain and break down the screen game and things like that. It's all good and fine. But again, is that worth paying someone all that much money? a short gain to a long gain and break down the screen game and things like that that makes it's all good and fine but again is that is that worth paying someone all that much money so back to the chiefs who have two williams on the on the roster which is just chiefs just just be better okay like you gotta find a way to like differentiate someone's gotta change their name all right so you gotta talk to one of these guys and be like, hey, Damien, just change your name for me. So unfair.

Tell Mitch to bring this up. See how that goes over. Yeah, I'm sure it would go over very well. Look, they have they drafted Derwin Thompson this year as well from Utah State. He's going to get some run. They have Carlos Hyde there as well. So they have Darrell Williams, Damien Williams, Darwin Thompson, Carlos Hyde will be

probably their four running backs. Now, Hyde might not make the roster. We'll find out. But to your exact point about the Chiefs, I don't think it matters really because of Pat Mahomes and Andy Reid and the guys they have on that offense. I don't think they need a specific running back to be good. But running the ball still has a lot of value. Sean McVay even mentioned as such in an article on ESPN. He said that fundamentally, football comes down to running the football well,

being able to protect up front, and spacing and timing and rhythm in the pass game. So running the football is still valuable. All right. You've made me a lot smarter, but we now need to get into some other business. So take us through some things that people can listen to on The Athletic, and we'll come back on the other end and play a little game. All right. Sounds good, buddy.

Good buddy of the show, Dave Damoshek has a brand new podcast, Football Fact Check. Easiest place to find it will be The Athletic app or theathletic.com. It'll be fantastic. So make sure you all subscribe. There are over 40 new college football NFL shows available as well. The fastest way to find your favorite team is to check the athletic website and the athletic app. All right, folks, back to the show. All right, guys, we're back on Tuesdays. We like to play some fun games to make you guys a smarter football fan.

Today we're going to do over-unders. I love gambling. We'll have a lot of that on our Thursday episode. We'll go over some fun over-unders now not all these related to sports so we'll have a little bit of fun outside of of the nfl all right gabe the first over-under for me okay this one is a literal number you can get in vegas the line on the colts went from nine and a half win total to six and a half win total when we learned of luck leaving so i want to know are you over under six and a half win total when we learned of luck leaving so i want to know are you over under six and a half wins for the colts this regular season with jacoby brissett i am over

six and a half i actually might go bet this right now because of how great i feel about this being something that's going to happen look the colts still have a very talented roster right they have an upgrade offense line we talked about everyone loves their offensive line. They have Eric Ebron. They have T.Y. Hilton. They got Funches. I think they have a good year. Defensively, they're long.

They're fast. They're physical. They're still going to be good football teams. Are they going to be a Super Bowl contender? No. But they're going to win more than six games. It's like a slap in the face. Jacoby Brissett is playing with an offensive mind who is brilliant.

Frank Reck has a good coach. We saw last year. We saw how well he did as the quarterback coach in Philadelphia as well, with OC, I should say there. They're going to be fine. Far, far worse quarterbacks have played in a great offense and done well. So I think over six and a half wins is totally the way to go here. I'm shocked.

This dropped three full games. I was also kind of surprised to see it drop that much, but it makes me a little nervous. The backup quarterback. All right. Number two. And I mean to trigger you on this one. So is the Cleveland Browns brand new weapon Baker Mayfield's receiver of

choice. Odell Beckham jr. We are betting his over under on yards 1275.5 are you over or under obj yards this season 1275.5 so if you look at his career his first three years he had over that number then he got hurt in year four in year five five last year, in 12 games, he had 1,052 yards. Look, I think the answer is over in this. I feel much more comfortable taking the over here. And the one reason I would not is he is a little beat up right now.

I think he plays week one, but he's got a little hip. And that always worries me, little preseason nagging injuries. But secondly, there's a lot of mouths to feed in that offense, right? You have Jarvis Landry. You have Najoku. You have the running back situation as well. You have Jarvis Landry, you have Najoku, you have the running back situation as well. And so I think that I feel best betting the over.

It would not surprise me if it went under, but I think the over here is a smart play. Odell is a fabulous wide receiver. He is a competitor. He loves to win, obviously. And I think that everything is healthy, and I just feel more comfortable comfortable taking uh the over in the situation okay you played with him is he a good or bad influence on your boy baker mayfield do they get along i think baker mayfield needs to uh doesn't need any influences to act the way he does so um i think that it doesn't matter i think odell's fine the locker room he's he's very well-liked. He practices his butt off.

He works hard. He's not controversial in the locker room. I know that people get upset when he lifts his leg and pretends to pee in a kicking net or whatever. Whatever he did that or proposed to a kicking net. It's a little odd behavior, but in the locker room, he's fine. Okay. All right. That's good for people to know.

Let's move to college football. You watch a lot of college football. Clemson over under 11.5 regular season wins. I'm basically asking, are they going undefeated? Oh, they are. Yeah, the answer here is over. I mean, look at their schedule, all right? So they're not going to have one game where they are double-digit,

I mean, excuse me, not double-digit favorites. So they have Georgia Tech, A&M at home. They go to Syracuse. Now, I meanuse the Carrier Dome is not easy to play in but Syracuse is breaking a new quarterback then they play Charlotte, University of Charlotte then they play North Carolina in Chapel Hill they'll be favored by 10 at least in that game

Florida State at home maybe maybe the last game at south carolina maybe the rivalry game it's in columbia maybe late in the year at in raleigh against uh nc state remember if dj lawrence gets hurt they have backups like they have guys you saw last year well yeah dj lawrence i mean uh excuse me trevor lawrence yeah they had two quarterbacks last year. Well, yeah. DJ Lawrence. I mean, uh, uh, excuse me, Trevor Lawrence.

They had two quarterbacks last year hurt against Syracuse. And guess what? They still won the game with their third string quarterback. Like they, like they can still, they'll be fine. They're so talented. So I think the easy call here,

not easy, but it's, it's over. Okay. Uh, you go in national championship too. Are we seeing another? I think they are. I think it's Alabama Clemson meeting for national championship too are we seeing another i think they are i think it's alabama clemson meeting for the fifth year in the playoff and this year in the final as well

no matter what lee corso is smoking and putting utah beating clubs and that's you know he did it on saturday what yeah he on game day he picked uh his uh his playoff and he had utah uh beating clemson in the uh the Utah mascot head like especially funny or something. Well, I just think he I thought he assumed that Clemson's first string lineup had like dysentery was out for the game because I don't understand how else and I'm Pac-12

guy that he could think that Utah was beating Clemson. All right, Jeff you watch a lot of football. You also watch a lot of TV or Netflix big news big news in my world. We'll see if you agree El Camino All right, Jeff, you watch a lot of football. You also watch a lot of TV or Netflix. Big news. Big news in my world. We'll see if you agree. El Camino, the story of Jesse Pinkman after Breaking Bad,

is coming out on Netflix October 11th. I want to know, over under.5 days, how long it takes you to watch. Are you going to watch this the first day it comes out? What day of the week is October 11th? This is a big part of this. If October 11th is is a weekend the answer is no because i'm watching football um i also will have to know october 11th is a friday you could be i mean depending on the game i think you could do it but friday though is like is typically the day of the week where i get like an afternoon off from work uh-huh so i think friday yeah i's going to happen. I think we say under,

I think I'm going to nail this first day comes out. That's obviously if I see it, um, I will, I will watch it. I would, I would bet on myself now, obviously when you bet on yourself,

you win a lot of money if you follow through. So I'm going with the under here. I'll watch it that day. Okay. Uh, I don't know if you've kept up with this, but, um,

Popeye's, uh, chicken sandwiches are all the rage on Twitter. I have not sampled myself yet they're hard to find most people are not able to get one i want to know if you find yourself at a popeyes and have the ability to order are you over under 4.5 chicken sandwiches in your order oh i'm under i i really yeah i'm not eating that i don't eat that much anymore not like that i've eaten with you you do eat a lot you ate with me a few months ago you you eat regularly you ate on

your way to a meal jeff i i've done that in the past yes uh four and a half feels like a lot um how big are they i don't know but i i need to find a popeyes we have plenty here in the south their food is delicious i unfortunately for food scene for food scene-wise, I grew up in Los Angeles. And not like, you know, in going to hipster, you know, hipster dives and gastropubs that weren't around. But what I wanted, when I wanted chicken, fried chicken, we went to KFC. So I grew up thinking that KFC was fried chicken.

I mean, it used to technically is fried chicken. But then I moved to the South, where I'm in Charlotte now. And let me tell you, Popeyes, churches, there's a local place here called Price of Chicken Coop. Dude, unreal. I'm going to find myself a Popeye's and have to give us a taste, you know, but like, dude, we have people like cussing out Popeye's employees for not getting them or sandwiches quick enough. People calm down. It's a sandwich. You'll be fine if it takes an extra minute to get to get in your belly.

All right. I'm glad you're calling for calm around the chicken sandwich community. Let's go through some social stuff. We're going to try to do this when we can get some people's takes into the show. So we got a few for you. Just fire away as quick as you can as we go through them. This one's from Ryan Mills. He says, athletes at this point have a God complex. If you weren't one of them them you couldn't understand or you're

jealous they sacrifice so much for the people get over yourself everyone works hard everyone is in pain once they hit their 30s what do you have to say to ryan well and it looks 29 um so that kind of takes out that last sentence look we do not we i don't do this thing but we do, not we, I don't do this thing, but we do this thing where we compare regular people and football players. Again, we're not regular people. I am aware. I'm not a regular person. Gabe, you've seen me.

I'm not regular. I'm ginormous. You're huge. I'm not regular. And you have to accept, everybody, that Andrew Luck is not a regular person. He has options in his life that you and I don't have. And, Ryan, if you were able to quit at 29, you would quit at 29 also.

So it'd be better when you talk about NFL players, and really athletes in general, if you just don't think they're average because they're not. Now, I think a lot of us act like average people. We're not stuck up about things. We lot of us act like average people we have you know we're not stuck up about things we go about things like an average person would do but we are not average we're not average at all and angel looks on average so um that's why he's able to make this decision he's made a lot of money he is beat up and he walked away from football end of story i

don't think it's that big of a deal all right uh another tweet from jordan ramirez says might be recency bias but this chapelle special was the best of the netflix batch by far dude it is unreal i watched it yesterday um and then i re and then i made my wife watch it again with me in the bed last night for a couple of minutes before I went to sleep. Yeah, that's that really, that really set the mood. I'll tell you what, if you are easily offended or offended at all, this is not the standup for you, but I won't spoil anything.

I would, I wouldn't even be able to talk about the kill all his jokes. I were to tell him, but it is outstanding. It is far from politically correct. I think he talks a lot about things that we might all think a little bit sometimes, but don't say out loud. And I was at the gym watching some of it. I was laughing out loud on the elliptical machine. I watched a little bit yesterday at home. Then again, I watched a

little bit last night. Fantastic. I just hope that some of our listeners are able to spot you on an elliptical laughing to yourself and get a picture or video of that. I'd love to see it. So if you're in the Charlotte area, look out for a big man on an elliptical laughing his ass off. At the local JCC. You'll find me there. All right. Last one.

This is from LJ Santa Maria. He's at LJ Santa. He's going right to your alma mater. Oregon O-line versus that Auburn D-line. Going to be great. Who has the edge in your opinion? So this weekend, my alma mater, University of Oregon, plays the Auburn Tigers in Dallas.

Huge game, biggest game of the weekend. Tone setting for our program, all of that. But to Jordan's point, not Jordan's point, to LJ's point, I should say, they, they as Oregon, their offensive line is fantastic. And their offensive line is returning 153 starts. They are really good. And if they win this game, it's going to be because of that offensive line. Auburn's defensive line depends on who you subscribe to.

Phil Steele has them second best, and other people have them first best. They're very good. And Oregon doesn't see that type of defensive line, obviously. We don't play in the SEC. So I think the first quarter will be our offensive line figuring it out a little bit, and then I think the second half we really get into rhythm. Our left tackle, Panay Sewell, will be a top-five draft pick, not this year, the year afterwards, as a true junior.

Mark that down. You can write it down. You can add old takes exposed. It's going to happen. Their left guard and their right tackle will be fringe first-rounders this year. Their center will be a mid-round pick. Their right guard is still up in the air situationally. Who's going to be that guy this year?

They're fantastic. I cannot wait for this. It's a great test for Oregon Offensive Line. Saturday, 7.30 p.m. You cannot care sooner than that. Okay. Jeff, we've not care soon enough. Okay. Jeff, we've pretty much done it. Any closing thoughts

on your first show here? Oh, it's fantastic. I'm glad I was able to bring you my thoughts on the NFL. They're going to be a little different than what you hear

on social media. You can get this every Tuesday on your favorite podcast app, Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts. Then we have a bonus weekly episode every Thursdays.

You can find it on the Athletic app or theathletic.com. And if you rate, review, subscribe, leave a comment, we'll be able to use that in our social segments on Tuesdays. Hope you guys enjoyed this podcast. Looking forward to talking to you guys again on Thursday.