Green Light with Chris Long - Chiefs Texans Recap. Thursday Time Machine. 2020 NFL Season Predictions. Fantasy Football. Macon is Back.

Episode Date: September 11, 2020

(0:56) - Open and Kansas City vs Houston Recap. (16:28) - Welcome Back Macon. (22:18) - Charlottesville Gentleman’s Fantasy Football League. (29:34) - Chris and Macon on Von Miller. (46:21) - Chris ...and Macon predict the 2020 NFL Season. (46:55) - AFC West. (50:49) - AFC East. (54:28) - AFC South. (1:01:35) - AFC North. (1:04:57) - AFC Wild Card Teams. (1:05:52) - NFC East. (1:16:27) - NFC South. (1:20:59) - NFC West. (1:29:52) - NFC Wild Card Teams. (1:30:15) - NFL Award Predictions. Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 What about the Death Star? Are you into it? I'm not, what is that a reference to in pop culture? Star Wars. So I think it looks like a very cool stadium. I'm not into Star Wars. Okay, let me hit you with some Star Wars trivia. Who's the protagonist? Luke Skywalker. Who's Darth Vader? The antagonist?
Starting point is 00:00:27 And what's their relation? Father's son You know the whole fucking movie Thursday was just the warm up Now's the time to get ready for Sunday's Full slate of action And there's no better place to get in the game than with Draft King's Sportsbook
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Starting point is 00:01:41 That's $1 to win $100 when you use promo code Greenlight during signup for a limited time only at Draft King Sportsbook. Must be 21 or older, New Jersey, Indiana, or Pennsylvania. only bonus comprised of a first deposit bonus and a first bet match each up to $500. Deposit bonus requires 25 times play through restrictions of life. See draft kings.com slash sportsbook for details. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or in Indiana, 1-800-9 with it. Happy Friday, everybody.
Starting point is 00:02:04 I'm your host, Chris Long and this is the Greenlight Pod. Got a pack pod for you today. Obviously, last night we had our first football game. It was awesome. Talk about that in a minute. Felt good, man. Felt real good. And big announcement is Greenlight Pod is back.
Starting point is 00:02:21 football form as you know it. Me and my co-host, Making Gunner, are reunited. The studio is back open. So I'll bring in Macon after this little Thursday night football wrap up. Right now, as I'm sitting here, it's almost, you know, it's 1230 in the morning, Friday morning. Good morning, everybody. And I am recapping the game for a little bit, but I will bring in, as I said, my old
Starting point is 00:02:45 co-host making Gunner. And we will hit Von Miller, let's skip Bayliss. we're going to pick division winners. Although we're kind of cheating now because we know the chiefs are 1 and 0 as if we thought anything else would happen tonight. We're going to do predictions on some awards and then we'll pick a very bold Super Bowl pick from your boy here. Nobody remembers that shit unless it hits.
Starting point is 00:03:08 So that's my whole logic here. But I really do believe that this is a possibility. So stick around for that. But yeah, football's back, man. It felt all right. It felt good like to just see it on TV to see the TV. you to see the TV glowing. The field looked pristine.
Starting point is 00:03:23 The stands filled with an unidentified number of racists who don't even like watered down social justice. Maybe you're not all like that. I know many, many great cheese fans. But that was a bad look, unless I got fake news there, but it didn't look like I did, as some of you would put it. JJ said that the booing during the moment of unity was unfortunate. I would say that's the case, JJ.
Starting point is 00:03:49 to say the least. And so it was never about the flag, just so we're getting that straight. Fucking A. Shocker. I am not going to spend a lot of time on that. I'm going to move on, talk about football. But the number one identifier that football is back is reading articles like this one, that a guy lost 100K in a bet tonight where he had the under.
Starting point is 00:04:11 The number was 53 and a half. Of course, the total ended up at 54, okay? and the way it got there was excruciating for this cat that lost a single family home on this bet, which I always wonder when you lose a bet like that, what's the process when it comes to sharing that with your significant other, your family, people that matter, you know? I guess it's all relative. Maybe this guy's got yacht money, but I feel bad. I especially feel bad for him because your boy had the first half under and a teaser
Starting point is 00:04:40 under 60 plus 15 for the Texans there. and it hit. So buddy that lost 100 grand, you know, like subscribe Greenlight Gambling Show, right? With Draft Kings here. Maybe you'll pick up a tip. I also don't want to twist the knife. Guy might fucking find me. He's probably not having a great night.
Starting point is 00:04:59 He's probably not having a great Friday. But it's fun for me keeping track of this stuff. I'm watching my bets quietly and, you know, I'm watching part of it with my four-year-old. He's always asking me, do I want the red team, the blue team, the white team? Sometimes it's not even a fucking blue team on the field, but do I want the blue team? He doesn't understand that if there's blue on Deshaun Watson's cleats, it's still the white team. I have to explain to him.
Starting point is 00:05:23 I don't want any team in particular. I just want a lot of the tackles. I just want everybody to get tackled. How do I explain that? But about the under that buddy lost big on, it hit on the nose at 54. So keep in mind, the Texans converted on a fourth and eight on a drive that led to 3113. There was a false start on that play.
Starting point is 00:05:46 So bad luck, number one. And then there's an onside kick. Kansas City doesn't just recover it, which is kind of irrelevant. Actually, you'd think Kansas City Chiefs would, you'd want them to recover it so they could milk the clock. But they don't fall in the football. They run it back to the 20-yard line to Houston's 20. So a score is imminent. And it ends up at 54 again, half point loss, 190K swing for some poor bastard.
Starting point is 00:06:13 That sucks, man. It was good on my end. I got to watch the game with my lovely wife. And I'm sitting there in the fourth quarter. And, you know, she's interested in the ball game too. But it's getting a little objectively, it's getting boring unless you have money on her. You're playing fantasy football. And I'm just thinking to myself quietly, I got a really good problem. Three months ago, I had killed for this problem. I'm sitting here watching a relatively meaningless primetime ball game at this juncture in the game. and I have to decide between Clyde Edwards Hilaire, who's on my fantasy team, running into the end zone for a touchdown, or patting my pockets and taking care of the under.
Starting point is 00:06:53 And of course, you line your pockets. You don't worry about fantasy football. We're talking about real football here. You're talking about, like, supporting the family. And I'm sitting there thinking to myself, like, this is a fun problem. I miss this. And as I'm getting the thought out,
Starting point is 00:07:08 I hear my wife utter. someone call this game boring but yet she's still there 10 minutes later arguing with me over uh you know is it a half sack or a full sack on the Chris Jones play in the second half with the Sean Watson which was hilarious to me
Starting point is 00:07:23 that she was justifying it being a full sack because Al Michael said it was a fucking full sack. I'm like babe, do you how many times I've done this? You know, like do you know how many times I have just as Chris Jones did like get the quarterback at the line of scrimmage, kind of like try to pull him backwards,
Starting point is 00:07:43 looking at the sticks to see if it's a sack, stared at the jumbo-tron. I saw all that stuff happening. At this point, he should have two sacks, in my opinion. It was his sack, but he had him in the grass, but let him go. And then Chris tackled him. Slow motion said that to be the case. Chris Jones is going to turn that sack in tomorrow, as I've done many times.
Starting point is 00:08:03 That's where you pull your buddy aside and you say, hey man like look at this play like I know you had a half sack I know we like huddled on the bus last night and there was there was a sheet of paper the stat sheet and you thought you had half sack but that's my that's like my sack all the way and are we good like I'm just warning you I'm going to turn it in usually it's like hey man I just want to give you a heads up because I'm a stand up guy that I'm about to turn this in and fuck you over but it's really like in a D-line room the code is if it's your sack you turn it in and the courtesy is to tell the guy who has half a sack for presumably a couple days until the NFL overturns it and gives you
Starting point is 00:08:43 the back half of the sack, presumably you give that guy a heads up. So that's the conversation that'll go on tomorrow because Chris Jones wants that sack. That's money for Chris Jones. He just made a lot of money. He could continue to make a lot of money because I think he's going to have a terrific year. The guy is so twitchy. And by the way, he missed the third sack. He almost had the hat trick. I've done that exact thing to Sean Watson. I missed the hat trick. And my last year, in Philly and me, Fletcher Cox, Michael Bennett, all missed the sack. The only difference was Deshawn watching gets up
Starting point is 00:09:14 and chucks the ball 70 yards deep in a key situation and converts on like a third down. And that's the worst feeling of football standing up hearing the crowd reaction to a miss sack and a long completion. I want to crawl in a hole. For Chris Jones, she's just playing with house money. But he's so good, he's so twitchy.
Starting point is 00:09:36 he doesn't look it like he wears those like baggy sleeves he's kind of built funny but my man gets off the fucking rock and that bull snatch where he gets into somebody's body makes him worried about you know his power so they drop their anchor and then he pulls them where they're trying to go and gets the edge that's that's a technical move from a big guy and you know also the forklift stuff he works people's forearms their hands could easily have three tonight hopefully ends up with two. That'll be up to the league. But hell of a player. That's how important he is, getting him locked up.
Starting point is 00:10:14 But it was weird. It was not bad. It was good enough. It felt like one of those like primetime games that's a blowout late in the game. And it was essentially that. But it felt like that the whole game because there was just that dull roar. Although I did see one silent count. But you had defoye in a coat because it's 55 degrees in Kansas City in September. and you had no Collinsworth slide, you had Andy Reid looking like a welder,
Starting point is 00:10:39 and you had the Lakers just beat the Rockets at Disney World to go up 3-1 in a playoff game. So typical 2020 sports. When we said new normal in sports, 2020 sports were not immune to that. And I don't think they will be in 2021 either. So you better get used to this. It started sloppy. He had a couple flags and Texans were up early. David Johnson, he looked good.
Starting point is 00:11:04 He looked more like the 2016 David Johnson, the one we've known in the past two years. And, you know, he made a great cut, touchdown, got some touches. Listen, maybe the trade won't be as abhorrent as people think. And I've always said it's been unfair to David Johnson because the shoes he's filling, you just can't. But for a little bit there, you're thinking, okay, Laramie Tunsell's doing a good job. David Johnson looks like he's going to be a great option. And one of the dudes in the clowny trade is getting pressure, things are not so bad. Maybe the problem is they're just playing greatest show on turf part two.
Starting point is 00:11:38 And that's the real story. Kansas City turning it on offensively, 31 unanswer points. We've seen that before against the Texans. A big run, obviously a little bit different setup. But they executed well, which is something that, you know, in my experience as an NFL player, you don't assume that the first dress rehearsal is going to go like that for an offense. And again, with no preseason, I took the first half under. especially, thank God and take the under for the full game.
Starting point is 00:12:08 But I thought it'd be a low-scoring ball game because offenses sputter out of the gate. In training camp, first preseason game, first time they get their reps, you know, we used to always kick the offense's ass. And, you know, even on good teams with good offenses, we would just kick their asses some days. A bunch of whistles for sacks, false starts, coaches yelling, us kicking up dust. Like, yeah, we're fucking good. But the truth is, we might have been good, but the offenses weren't good. at. And in St. Louis, a lot of times it was because the offenses were never going to be good.
Starting point is 00:12:39 So we took that in context. But, I mean, for them to come out there and execute like that and relatively simple game plan for them. I mean, there's the picks and rubs and that sort of thing. Kelsey had a huge day. But typical Kansas City stuff, nothing insane by their standards. And they ran it well. Offense would be bad tonight, I thought, again. That's why I took the under and Houston was pretty vanilla. Maybe Dell opened things up a little bit down the stretch. my big takeaway along with everybody Clyde Edwards Hilaire going to be really fun to see play. He's going to make the Chiefs
Starting point is 00:13:09 much better. But as May can put it tonight when he hit me up on FaceTime, he has a goal line problem. And as you all know, he's a member of my fantasy football team, the Liberty Cuckles. My man, Jerry Falwell, the owner will not be happy. He will not be happy.
Starting point is 00:13:25 Clyde Edwards-Hillair, 25 for 138 and a touchdown. Tackling this guy is just going to be a problem. He's one of the toughest, most unorthodox backs in the league already, I can tell. I mean, like, he's just going to be that type of guy. He's slippery, and he's built like a bowling ball.
Starting point is 00:13:50 And, you know, guys I think of in my career, Michael Turner, MJD, there were guys who made amazing running backs, but if you walked by him in the mall, you didn't know if they played football. And he was especially good against a light box. And I saw that on next-gen stats. And guess what? He's going to do that a lot this year. And Mahomes was good, three touchdowns, one sack. But I just want to say one thing.
Starting point is 00:14:15 And a game that was kind of unremarkable, I mean, you could take away from it that Kansas City is scary good this year because, listen, as we said, you don't expect the offense has come out like this. I also want to talk about that Honey Badger play that turned into the pick that led to 31-7 and effectively really ended the game. We've been talking a lot about Swiss Army knives in secondaries, and we've been talking about Buda Baker getting paid, and everybody knows how valuable Tyra Matthews that defense.
Starting point is 00:14:43 But we just had Ronde-Barber on last week, and we talked about, does he feel responsible for kind of being a trailblazer when it comes to these guys who do everything? And he said, yeah, when I see Honey Badger make a play, it's awesome, because these guys do everything. And it started with Ronday-Barber, but this dude does it all. And you saw him literally flash on the screen.
Starting point is 00:15:07 And I see somebody disrupt the throw. And I'm thinking to myself, it's probably Honey Badger. Like, let me see the replay. He didn't just add or run into an unoccupied gap. He literally beat a 280 pound tight end with a real pass rush move. And I'm like out of my fucking seat at this point. I'm like, yes. As a rusher, I love that because Malcolm Jenkins used to do this.
Starting point is 00:15:33 He used to come over to rush with the D-line in like individual period. And he used to work on his craft that way because he blitzes a lot and he wants to, it could be one, two plays a game, but they could be big money downs. He wants to be good blitzing. And so he'd work an extra five minutes a day on that sort of thing. Work on the bags with us just for five minutes. And you can tell Honey Badger does the same thing. he literally took a 280-pound man, went like long harm to jerk.
Starting point is 00:16:03 And I don't know if fells relaxed, but he beat him in one-on-one pass rush and causes a pick that leads to the game being over. So that's why that guy's so dynamic. And it's fun to see a defensive back that takes every part of his craft that's serious, especially when it's pass-rush. So without further ado, let's read. unite with making gunner. So he's back everybody. The great making gunter. The people have been asking. I've been getting tweets. I've been getting comments. I do read the comments. I've read a
Starting point is 00:16:41 couple one-star comments about talking too much politics. It's good to know you don't you don't hate the sports talk. We're nailing that. Sorry I talked about police brutality for 90 seconds last week. But making gunners back and we're giving the people what they want. Make, how you doing? Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years.
Starting point is 00:17:05 I'm rocking my peers, putting suckers in fear, making the tears rain down like a monsoon, listen to the bass go boom, explosions overpowering over the competition. I'm towering. You're towering?
Starting point is 00:17:21 That's Lady Love. Ladies Love Cool James, aka LL Cool J, aka James Todd Smith, and Mama Said Knock You Out. Thank you, Chris. It's a pleasure to be back. How does it feel to come back on the show after such a long absence and bite Jay Billis with just a different rapper? I'm going to ignore that.
Starting point is 00:17:43 Kind of nervy, actually. Yeah? The sweats are back from whenever the heck. What are we in now? September of 2020. Yeah, this year has been interesting. Yeah, yeah, it has. You know, what I don't understand is the people out there not wearing their masks.
Starting point is 00:18:01 Yeah, we're pro-mask here. Is that too political for your program? No, we're pro-mask. I never understood how keeping each other alive was a political issue. Yeah. But we are pro-mask here. We're also pro-Thursday Time Machine. And we're going to start off every show with,
Starting point is 00:18:22 this segment, which I am terrible at explaining, so I'll let my more academic-minded co-host run it down for you. I remember back when you started this program, we were really keen on trying to not fool the listener, but hey, when they're listening to this, let's have it be that day. And now what we're going to do is go behind the curtain. Yeah, we're taking you guys behind the curtain.
Starting point is 00:18:50 As I look at my machine, it's 519 and 48 seconds, PM Eastern Time on Thursday, September the 10th. Year of Our Lord, 2020. We're about to predict the score of the ballgame tonight. I got to stop with the program in the ballgame. Like, it's just too much at some point. No, it's not. No, it's not.
Starting point is 00:19:09 Okay, John. Now, the beginning of the show, you have recapped what the people just watched. Yeah. The Kansas City Chiefs defending world champions hosting the Houston Texans. But as we sit here today, we have no idea what that recap entails tonight. And you told me that you're going to recap five minutes. I guarantee you, the people, anyone else. It's going to be longer. It's going to be longer than five minutes. Because I love
Starting point is 00:19:36 football. Yeah. I put it at 12 minutes will be your recap. I'll take the under on that. Okay. Well, as you listen right now, you know how long it was. And what we're going to do on Thursday time machine is we're going to give you the listener on a Friday morning after the breakdown of the game is making mention our predictions for the game. So you're just going to see if we suck at this or not. Yeah, if we're on different sides, the winner wins. That's a point. That's easy. And then if we're closer to the spread, the people understand you get a point. Yeah, for sure, for sure. We'll make sure we don't tie. Yeah. And if you get the score exactly right, that's a three-pointer. So basically, we're going to let you the listener decide what's at stake for me in making a
Starting point is 00:20:19 at the end of the year. After all these Thursday night football games, will we make it through the season? Or if we don't make it through the season. Whenever the season stops, if it does stop, we hope it doesn't stop. Whoever is leading that tally will have to do something really stupid.
Starting point is 00:20:31 Here's the price of admission for throwing your suggestion in the hat. You have to go to Greenlight Pod on Spotify or Apple podcasts and rate us five stars. If you include your submission for the punishment of losing this Thursday time machine competition under your five star rating,
Starting point is 00:20:53 it goes in the hat. And next week we will decide what's at stake. Thank you, the listener. I mean, you're basically on the production team, so we appreciate you. Without further ado, let's kick this Thursday time machine thing off. What do you think the score is tonight, Thursday, September 10th, 2020? Chiefs 30, Texans, 14.
Starting point is 00:21:17 Ooh, I've got 30 to 19 Chiefs. Today, we're going to talk about making coming back. We're going to talk about our fantasy football teams. We're going to talk about Von Miller, the unfortunate news out of Denver, that he's probably going to be lost for the season. I can talk about Skip Bayliss, who might have to go on the TVIR for his take today.
Starting point is 00:21:41 And then we're going to go through division winners and sprinkle a few of our, award predictions, which I know you've not heard anywhere else in sports media this week. I mean, this is a totally unique pod. You can't get this anywhere else. You definitely can't get it on a Friday after the NFL season has started anywhere else. That's true. Yeah. So again, division winners, we're going to do awards and then pick our Super Bowl winner and the matchup. A couple bold predictions to finish this thing off. And we'll see you again on Monday.
Starting point is 00:22:19 How about your fantasy football team? How would you rate that? Because people love fantasy football. Let's run through our squads real quick before we get to real football. Again, we're in the Charlottesville Gentlemen's League. Shout out to those guys. Shout out to Matt Conrath, former NFLer,
Starting point is 00:22:35 who found a way to lose the entire thing last year and had to get dyed tips, had to get the guy Fierreys, came on the show, back when it was more of a TV program. How's that portrait coming? and we said we were going to commission a portrait. Yeah, it's not in existence yet, but we've used technology to sort of make it.
Starting point is 00:22:54 We have the picture of them, and then we put it into a, it looks like sort of a Van Gogh. We got to get that commission. We got to get that commission. This year, the loser of our league has to go on a billboard on 29 north. For those of y'all who live in central Virginia,
Starting point is 00:23:11 that's a heavily traffic corridor into our great city. Yeah. Yeah. Any Just thinking about Like it's going to be You're driving by the sheets Then it's Marks and Harrison
Starting point is 00:23:26 And then it's a fucking loser Of the fantasy football The Charlottesville gentleman's fantasy football league Yeah Right before you hit the Chevrolet Dealerhip Or dealership So what's somebody's mug
Starting point is 00:23:39 So who's gonna be on that sucker? I think it's gonna be frankly I think it's gonna be Tom Paul Kett I think it might be Kyle Long and I think it could be C-long Frank no it's not gonna be even my team looks great you're not saying that because my team well yeah I'm saying that because your team
Starting point is 00:23:54 you think my team sucks well let's pull your team up all I'm telling you is that the uh the ESPN flat platform platform uh will tell us where it projects us to be you're projected ninth
Starting point is 00:24:10 yeah I saw that but also why play the games if we're going to listen to a fucking computer I was projected ninth on draft I guess you like Madden simulations. Finish third. Tom Paul Katt, though, projected 10th, who I believe won the whole thing last year. Yeah, he did.
Starting point is 00:24:26 The Fluvanna Bell Hornets. Shout out to him. The name of his team is due to the fact that one day Bell Hornets took over his kitchen at five in the morning. He's got two small children, and he just attacked those suckers with raid. His wife comes down to find out,
Starting point is 00:24:42 his lovely wife comes down to find out that all the kids, bottles and different trinkets are covered in essentially pesticide. So that was a major fumble on his part, but last year he did not fumble in the fantasy football league. My team, the Liberty Cuckleds. Before you run through it, yeah, you want to explain your name. I don't think there's any explanation needed.
Starting point is 00:25:08 Why don't you just Google Liberty University and the story that follows with Jerry Falwell? I'm not into King Chambers. or like really not into king shaman or putting people's personal lives out there. But you kind of can't be both if you know what I mean. If you're Jerry Falwell. Amen. Nice. Before you run through the roster, I think it's interesting to note that you were,
Starting point is 00:25:34 you were in the seven hole overall. And I was in the eight, I think Jerry Falwell was in the seven hole too. Yeah, okay. The Liberty Cuckolds were picking seven. And I was picking eight. My team name is the houses this year. named after houses you'll see driving down the street that you've sold and well not not necessarily
Starting point is 00:25:55 I guess there is some career synergy yeah if I think about it nice sign on 250 west there oh thanks yeah yeah you like that well I think part of it's it's kind of like a little bland but you know it makes you think next sign yeah it makes me slow down and think like that's an ambiguous dull sign yeah but that guy's not into advertisement he's into execution that's what I'm thinking thank you Yep. At 7, you went Clyde, Edwards, Iler. Yeah. Are you an Eler or Halleer guy?
Starting point is 00:26:25 I'm a C.E.H guy. Right. You went CEH at 7, which, hey, that's probably the average draft position, but it's a gamble. Rookie running back. Yeah. Who knows? Andy Reid's had a PPR stud in almost every team he's trotted out at running back. I followed you with
Starting point is 00:26:48 Can't Guard Mike Michael Thomas at 8 and then I was on the board at 13 when Julio Jones I say his name wrong on purpose for the alliteration Julio Jones sounds so cool Yeah JJ
Starting point is 00:27:01 And then I'm only doing this for two rounds And then you went right behind me at 14 And when Chris God went So let's hear the cuckolds Let's hear who you got. Well the cuckolds that quarterback Who we got late is my man Matt Stafford
Starting point is 00:27:12 You'll hear more about why As we go through this show Clyde Edwards Hillair, C-E-H, Jonathan Taylor, who I hear is going to get a lot of the snaps in indie. Godwin, who, in my opinion, is going to get more balls than Mike Evans because of a few factors, which we can get into. Juju Smith's Schuster, they got more weapons up there. I think he's going to have a great year.
Starting point is 00:27:36 Zach Ertz, he's mad, can't get a contract right now. Carson's his best friend. Here, have a football. Have a lot of footballs. win it for the Liberty Cuckles. Calvin Ridley, DJ Shark, Chargers D special teams, Greg the Legatron, Zerline,
Starting point is 00:27:55 and I've got Devante Parker who's going to have a big year, James White, John Brown in Buffalo, Austin Hooper, and Joshua Kelly, who I hear is the sleeper
Starting point is 00:28:10 of the draft, and I happen to find him late. Diamond of the Rough. And then old man Larry Fitzgerald, who's going to go off as a number two in Arizona this year. The houses are going to rock with Kyler Murray and Matt Ryan at quarterback, James Connor and Chris Carson, running back Michael Thomas, Julio Jones, receiver, Hunter Henry, tight end, flex position, love scary Terry McLaurin. Love him. Melvin Gordon's on the roster. Cam Acres, L.A. Rams, Henry Ruggs, Vegas, a couple of rookies, Antonio Gibson, another rookie on the Washington. football team.
Starting point is 00:28:45 And we're hanging on to Devante Freeman to see if he signs a contract somewhere. The Gibson thing could be a huge upside. Talk about a guy that you barely seen play at the position you're going to play in the NFL. I mean, like what? Just a hiccup of running back experience at Memphis? Yeah, it's something like 30-some-odd carries. I think we've been reading the same stuff. That's wild.
Starting point is 00:29:10 I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Young Hokku is my kicker down there. there in Atlanta. Atlanta Falcons I have is a playoff team this year. Listen, don't hate that at all. Yeah. Atlanta, that's a good value at like around plus 800 to win that division. I mean, stranger shit has happened. Can we transition out of fantasy and get to real football?
Starting point is 00:29:36 Von Miller. Hard right turn here. I love Von Miller. Who doesn't love Von Miller? One of the most dynamic, exciting, explosive pass rushers we've ever seen in the game. Certainly in my tenure in the league is going to come off a down year this year and hopefully rebound with another double-digit sack year.
Starting point is 00:29:58 I mean, I was reading things about him where people said things like, he only had eight sacks. It's amazing how narratives happen and how expectations skew, you know, giving somebody props or not giving somebody props. He's still Vaughn Miller. but this is a big year for public perception and he's getting older and seeing him and Chubb would have been
Starting point is 00:30:23 amazing rushing together this year in Denver and I think they'd have more leads to play with but that all changed over the weekend I hear that he's feared to be out for the season I don't know if it's like confirmed confirmed at this point but I know he's not going to play football this year in my opinion
Starting point is 00:30:41 because I'm familiar with this injury It's a rare injury. It's so rare in fact that You know when I was reading articles about it there weren't a ton of comps for this injury It's the dislocation of the perineal tendons which are on the outside of your ankle and The retinaculum is like a belt that holds them in so like a sheath that you keep your little blade in you know if you're out hunting buffalo or something that sheath got torn and now you know
Starting point is 00:31:15 the tendons are flopping everywhere when I tore it it was the first game in St. Louis was the beginning of the end for me in St. Louis and it was my first experience on any kind of I R was the first game of the season I got rolled up on
Starting point is 00:31:30 Phil Loddholt I'm in a four eye I'm pushing him outside I'm actually doing a pretty good job and somebody falls I forget who because I don't want to blame anybody or hate anybody for life, but falls on my leg.
Starting point is 00:31:42 And immediately I just get this intense burn and I'm like another high ankle because I had one a few years ago. I know how bad those are. And that first thought, that hot flash after you get hurt, so many things run through your head. I get up after being tended to walk off the field and I'm thinking about trying to go back in there and play.
Starting point is 00:32:04 But the tendons on the outside of my ankle are like thick rubber bands. smacking like to the front of my foot and to the back. You know, every step you take, it's like a pop, pop, pop, pop, slap, slap. And at best, it was very uncomfortable and unstable. At worst, it was very painful. And at that point, they told me on the sideline, you probably maybe tore your perineal tendons.
Starting point is 00:32:30 You know, maybe you tore the sheath. Either way, it's a bad deal. The docs in real time are saying perineal tendons? they throw a couple things out there that it could be and if I remember correctly they were kind of on the nose I picture docs being like coaches like I need to look at the tape well a lot of times they do
Starting point is 00:32:51 but when you press a trainer who you've worked with for years like me and Reggie Scott in St. Louis like he's gonna give you a lean on what it is you're on the bench saying I think it might be the perineal tendons fuck my perineal tendons that's what I said
Starting point is 00:33:08 And it turned out to be that. And I read about the Von Miller thing today, quote, the soonest I've seen a pro athlete return from something like this is usually three months. And that's from Dr. Karim Sobke, who is an orthopedic surgeon at Ortho One in Denver. Well, Kareem,
Starting point is 00:33:28 I wish you were around to tell the trainers and the head coach in St. Louis that bit of news because I came back in nine games it was absolutely brutal. It was absolutely fucking brutal and I put out some bad tape, really bad tape.
Starting point is 00:33:45 That's the tape that got me cut in St. Louis, put me behind the eight ball for the next year. And I think for that reason, having been through it, having worked as hard as I possibly could to get back there, and I'm Novon Miller. I mean, this guy's superhuman.
Starting point is 00:33:58 Super human. He looked great coming into camp. Even for him, I think maybe he should put his pride aside and realize that, you know, as he's getting older, it's going to be important to take care of himself first.
Starting point is 00:34:10 He'll only feed like the whispers that is trending down for him if he comes back and looks like 70% of himself. When I tell you when I came out there playing, I was at 60%, maybe 60%. I came back for the Oakland game week 10. I tore him week one, got surgery with Bob Anderson the same place that I suspect Vaughn's going to get surgery.
Starting point is 00:34:31 If he's going up to Green Bay, which I've heard, that's where Bob works out of now, formerly of Charlotte. And it took me nine weeks. And to say 60% that sounds really bad, but it's worse than it sounds. It's one of the most painful games
Starting point is 00:34:48 and I've played through a lot of shit. I felt great after the season ended and I was able to give it the time I needed to heal, but he's gonna feel this a while. And I think he should be realistic about it. I hope that they're realistic about that and treat him good there as far as the expectations. Why did you come back so soon? Felt pressured. If I was Von Miller, maybe I wouldn't
Starting point is 00:35:13 have, but I had never missed a game in my career. So that meant a lot to me, the perception that, you know, you're, you're injury prone or that you're not trying to rush back. I had this, like, self, like, not a self-confidence issue, but kind of an issue of, I gave too much of a fuck of what other people thought. Like my pride was strong. And that's part of like the armor you put on being on a bad team, which we talk about a lot on this pod, because my NFL experience circles around that experience.
Starting point is 00:35:47 But like the minute I came in the next day, sometimes like I went down on the turf, I ran off. It didn't look like it might be a season ending injury because I walked it off or whatever. But like the next day I could see guys like, damn, it was serious. And they feel terrible for you. And you're walking around the facility
Starting point is 00:36:05 and I hate having that conversation. because like it's just at that point I'm like a captain and all this stuff but within five six weeks when the newspapers are saying Chris Long will be out six to eight weeks or eight to twelve weeks like that's the problem and that's what puts guys behind the eight ball a lot is the press clippings that come from a source or a doctor and when he goes to see Bob Anderson he says eight to 12 weeks or you hear three months that's three months until it's stable so a surgeon is going to tell you and the trainers eight to 12 weeks the trainers sometimes
Starting point is 00:36:36 turn a blind eye and go eight to 12 weeks till you play eight to 12 weeks till you're stable like that's the difference if I was a fucking recreational frisbee like ultimate frisbee player like they would tell me eight to 12 weeks till I can start walking around and it's stable like try playing football in the NFL under that timetable so that's why I worry about von and I think he's smart enough he's well established enough that he'll be careful and he'll trust himself I get trying to play hero but that didn't work out for me and he has way more leeway than i did he's a hall of famer but uh he hopefully gets a cut and when he gets out of this thing in the off season he feels better i know i felt better but even four months after uh i was just looking at a video the other day
Starting point is 00:37:22 because of von's injury and my pt took a video of me walking four months after in the off season and my left ankle is completely rolled outwards trying to walk in a show straight line that I didn't even notice like the inside of my foot wasn't touching the ground so it's gonna be a little bit of a process if you're a Denver Broncos fan you expect Varon to come back and be great this year listen he's a super human being like I've never seen anybody like him on a football field in my days of playing but it would be hard for even him so I I'm wishing him the best it's just gonna be a bitch of an injury. And he's two years older now than you were then. Wow. But even so,
Starting point is 00:38:10 adjusted for his athleticism, he's probably effectively five years younger than I was when I heard it. So there's hope for him, but it is a motherfucker to get back from that injury. And just to give people an idea of what that recovery looks like, you know, his Achilles is going to be tight coming out of it. It's going to be a long process. If you're a Broncos fan, just don't expect to see him back this year. And don't expect him to be Vaughn if he comes back. Clay Matthews
Starting point is 00:38:38 has been floated as a replacement. We'll see. Skip Bayliss. Did you see that? I did. Not so good. Skip. What the fuck is he doing?
Starting point is 00:38:54 I just don't get it. I know his job is to make headlines and more so lately to throw oops to Shannon. he's been more of the facilitator I know that like when he was with Stephen he kind of thrived off saying stuff like this but this is another level I'm not a consumer of his
Starting point is 00:39:15 I don't watch the show I've never watched the show but yes I think the objective is to I should set the backdrop for this basically Dak Prescott who lost his brother this offseason and the details were cloudy, understandably. It's a very private matter.
Starting point is 00:39:36 It's not our right to know what happened. Evidently, it was a suicide, which should be handled with even more care than any other sudden death. And he came out recently about being depressed and it being debilitating early in COVID and how it stopped him from working out. It stopped him from being able to function.
Starting point is 00:40:02 And we're not talking about training camp. So the guy somehow put on a brave face and showed up to camp in a pandemic and is trying to leave that football team. And you've got Skip Bayless showing us who he really is, you know, with that take today, which is essentially, I just don't like it. You know, like I just don't like a guy telling me he's depressed when he's the face of America's team.
Starting point is 00:40:32 And he's responsible. Skip, you've never been on an organized, sports team from what I can tell. You know what players like, they like authenticity and vulnerability. And that would be a relevant conversation if it even fucking mattered what his teammates liked in this situation.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Here's what matters. The guy lost his brother suddenly and he's got to go out there and put his body and his life effectively on the line and playing a very physical football game in the age of COVID. and put that behind him somehow. And you're shouting him down. Not shouting him down, but you're just...
Starting point is 00:41:14 I want to know who signs off on that take because that show... So people out there know how this stuff works. They have production meetings. They probably talk in the morning. What's your take on this? It's going to be like Dak coming out and talking about that stuff, America's team.
Starting point is 00:41:27 All you talk about on that show is the NBA, social justice, and the cowboys. Like, that's it. So this was discussed in the fucking morning. who told him this was a good idea? Who sat there? You had to either sit there and say, I don't like my co-host.
Starting point is 00:41:45 Let's get him fired. I'm not going to say anything in this production meeting. Let that take fly. Or you agree with it. Now, I didn't see what Shannon said afterwards, and I love Shannon. But I just want to know who let Skip get up there and say this. And maybe he has free reign.
Starting point is 00:42:01 Hey, I want to discuss Dak in his comments. And maybe he doesn't spell out that I'm going to say, and this is a quote, no sympathy for Dak Prescott sharing his struggles with depression. No sympathy. Yeah, dude, that's your favorite team. Imagine if LeBron lost somebody, God forbid. I mean, that's your stick.
Starting point is 00:42:23 I mean, like you basically just shit on LeBron all day. Some of the brightest, most intelligent men I know have played in the NFL. And I just think reinforcing these stereotypes, you know, do a lot to harm the community and like reinforcing a stereotype that we just have to put on a brave face all the time doesn't just hurt football players it hurts men like this hurts men i'm a real fucking man i don't avoid like qualifying myself as a real man because that's like toxic to say you know this is what a man is this manhood like i believe there's something to being a real man but being a real man is not the stereotype that we understood in the 50s like being a real man is being a real man is
Starting point is 00:43:04 being vulnerable, authentic, telling the truth. And we have a league that's been plagued with issues like mental health, like America, like society. And so what you've done with this stereotype and bringing that back into the forefront, Skip, is you fed the lowest common denominator of fan. That alpha male, macho, the totally ironic man up guy, like man up, the guy on his couch who has an exercise in fucking six months and whines about everything, it'd be better if Skip Bayliss just didn't do that. And I think the Cowboys are lucky to have a guy of Dax caliber.
Starting point is 00:43:47 I know that I'm an Eagles guy, but I just want to say this. I party with Dack. I've played against Dak. He has high character. I get on this show. I make fun of the Cowboys. I say I like Carson better than Dack. As a football player, I'd rather take him. But like, we're talking about talking about life right now. And if he's a Cowboys fan, he should just be thankful he has a guy of Dax Calibur leading that team and the character that he possesses and the intestinal fortitude that he possesses.
Starting point is 00:44:16 If they don't win this year, it won't be because of what's in between Dack Prescott's ears at all. So talking about mental health is what we should be doing, and mental health has taken so many of our former players. And so to get up there and say that is really irresponsible, and people need to be adults and consider where they're getting their takes from and their sports news. So maybe don't look for Skip to do anything, but the LeBron sucks tweets. And in reality, DAC probably helped a few people struggling with the same thing.
Starting point is 00:44:48 Exactly. And that's awesome. And that's the entire point. And it's not going to affect, as you said, his ability to read a defense come Sunday. So let me spin this the right way. Thank you, Dak Prescott. Right. You know, I hate the fact that Skip, and that's another thing, if you thought this was
Starting point is 00:45:06 authentically a good take and you really felt that way, you're way off. And I hope somebody talks to Skip. He's probably already been talked to. And you're entitled to your shitty opinions. Like, I'm not a cancel culture guy. Keep rolling the ball out there. But if you're saying that to be sensational, it's almost worse. Because what you're doing is saying, DAC is coming out as one of the most famous athletes in the NFL in the sports world period right now because the star on his helmet and he's using that platform
Starting point is 00:45:38 to shed light on something that's very authentic and makes him very vulnerable and you're trying to cut to the front of the line to get in front of that headline. I've heard more about, and I'm falling victim to that as a host of this podcast. I'm sitting here talking about Skip's reaction to Dak's sharing
Starting point is 00:45:54 rather than what Dak shared. right if DAC only shares is it being discussed it's it's the outrage to Skip's response which is justified by you and and by countless others so kudos to dac praying for you thinking about you and i i hope the eagles win the division but i think a lot of you is a dude i really do and dac dac is first class so uh let's get to division winners huh okay let's rifle through the these bad boys. I'll give my winners and
Starting point is 00:46:32 make you can follow up with yours. We're trying to make this not to... I'll be hell of impressed if this comes out entertaining. Anything but yeah. Fuck you. Here you go listener. You come up with who you think is going to win the division. And then we'll
Starting point is 00:46:49 do it. And then you're going to hear us say what we think. Uh-huh. And that'll be a nice little... And we'll rotate back and forth. Okay. How about a division winner you're most confident in the AFC? How about that? Okay.
Starting point is 00:47:04 I would say the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah, that's a layup. I would say the Kansas City Chiefs in that AFC West, especially now with Devon News. Maybe the Broncos could have been frisky. I think they'll be fun no matter what. Yeah, fun. Vegas, synonymous with fun, huh?
Starting point is 00:47:25 Yeah. Here's a hot take. Josh Jacobs. your 2020 rushing champ. Ooh. Yeah. I like that. Yeah, thanks. Chargers, tie rod, his mama calls them to Rod, do what you like. I think the chiefs are a layup in the West.
Starting point is 00:47:42 Yeah, this is, we don't have to spend too much time on this one. Kansas City, in my opinion, I guess the hot take would be is that they're going to get, they're going to be better than they were in the regular season last year. I think the interesting part about they're going to win the division. I don't think there's another playoff team in here. there's reasons to watch all these teams respectively. But the question is, in the playoffs last year,
Starting point is 00:48:03 did you ever know that Kansas City was a shoe in to win the whole thing? It feels like they could get better and not win the Super Bowl, if that makes sense. Because last year, if you remember where they were during the season, and I'm talking about the regular season,
Starting point is 00:48:17 they were in a shootout with Detroit, they won 34 to 30 early in the year. You had the Mahomes injury. You had the defense getting shredded. The linebackers looked awful. people were questioning that team. They'll be better right out of the gate, and they'll probably win something like 13 games.
Starting point is 00:48:32 They'll win the division. Denver, watch Brad Chubb. You know, let's see what he can do without Vaughn, Drew Locke, the young receivers, you've heard all about it. Minacom's made a great point the other day. Last year, competition wasn't great with Drew Locke. I learned that he's probably a good leader. He's got some shit to him.
Starting point is 00:48:50 He knows the words of Young Jeezie songs, which I guess is a positive. And he's got a bunch of fun receivers now. So Oakland's going to be fun, but it's going to be chaos. I think they're going to get out of the gate really bad. You look at their schedule the first few games. You got to put a dollar in the jar. You said Oakland is Las Vegas.
Starting point is 00:49:08 Las Vegas. That's right. And I have written down here, San Diego in my notes as well. $2. $2. $2. A, Chargers will win the jersey contest. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Starting point is 00:49:22 Threads are going to look great. They're going to look great, but can you unseat? the goats Oakland yeah yeah yeah the fact that the raiders bounce around so much
Starting point is 00:49:34 it's good that they never put the city on the laundry you're right how about they too they can't stay they can't stay in one place
Starting point is 00:49:43 what about the Death Star are you into it? I'm not what is that a reference to in pop culture Star Wars so I think it looks like a very cool stadium
Starting point is 00:49:56 I'm not into Star Wars. Okay, let me hit you with some Star Wars trivia. Who's the protagonist? Luke Skywalker. Who's Darth Vader? The antagonist? And what's their relation? Father's son.
Starting point is 00:50:14 You know the whole fucking movie. Wow. And all of the movies. Wow. And the Death Star is a bad place. Okay. But I love the look of that stadium. Love the look of that stadium.
Starting point is 00:50:24 Might be a little dated in 10 years. It's a big, chance to take, but I love it. I love it. And I love Max Crosby. We talked about that. I think, let me say this right now. The Edwards kid out of South Carolina, I've been trying to put my stamp on that just in case. The way this works is it's just like Super Bowl winners. Nobody's going to remember I said he's going to ball out this year unless he does. So there you have it. L.A., it's going to be more about when does Herbert enter the building. We might have more on that later, who are you second most confident in the AFC to win it?
Starting point is 00:50:57 I'm going to say the Buffalo Bills in the East. I think their defense is outstanding. I think they added pieces on the other side of the ball. And I do think you see some regression from the Pats, which I know is going to be a welcome site for many. Yeah, but it's like all of a sudden it's a fun team to root for because... Oh, totally agree. It's funny.
Starting point is 00:51:18 I think a lot of the Pats haters will find this year as a way to properly appreciate Bill Belichick's kind of resourcefulness because this is not a better team than they were last year. This is the thing that like, when New England came out of the gates
Starting point is 00:51:35 this off season, everybody was like, they're tanking. Tanking for Trevor. No, they signed Cam Newton. Then it was like not a hot take anymore that they win the division. Everybody's been doing that hot take thing
Starting point is 00:51:45 like whispers on Twitter like ducks, as they say, New England's, it's not a fucking hot take. that there's no hot take in that division unless you say the dolphins win it. I agree with you. I like Buffalo. And dudes opted out on that, New England defense. That's the big deal, dude.
Starting point is 00:52:01 So if you look at both those games last year, Buffalo was not afraid of New England. New England had trouble scoring on them. And I worry about the patsholes defensively more than anything. Everybody's focused on Cam. Oh, God, who do they have to throw to? Oh, God, Scar retired, which is a big deal. Skarnacki, who's one of the
Starting point is 00:52:20 legendary all-time offensive line coaches and Marcus Cannon ops out for good reason. But I'm not worried about what Josh McDaniels and Cam Newton are going to figure out what to do. And I think if Cam Newton gets hurt, Jared Stedham can win him a game. In fact, I think at some point along the season, he might have to win them a big game. And he might be successful in doing that.
Starting point is 00:52:40 The big deal here is all the opt-outs. Think about who they lost. This is not a better team than they were last year. And that's okay. I still think they might make the playoffs. I still think they're competitive. I think it's a relatively competitive division, but I think Buffalo wins 11 plus games and wins the race.
Starting point is 00:52:58 New England's losing Van Nuoy, Collins, Shelton, Harmon, Chung, Hightower. I mean, you lose the receiver you just traded for last year. They're gonna be good. They may be better than the bills come January because they morph into whatever they need to morph into to win this year, but not weeks one through 16. So give me
Starting point is 00:53:20 give me the bills. And one thing to look at here is the swing games being the ones that are off the grid. New England has Houston and Baltimore. By off the grid, I mean not in division games, not your AFC North, NFC West pairings or whatever. You know in football, as most of you all know,
Starting point is 00:53:36 it's like you get two divisions out of your division that you play. New England swing games are Houston and Baltimore. They both lost, or they lost to both those teams in 19. Buffalo's got Tennessee and Pittsburgh, and those aren't cakewalks, but that is a physical,
Starting point is 00:53:52 that's a physical threesome right there. Yeah. Yeah. So. I assume most would say that they are pretty darn confident in the Baltimore Ravens in the north. I shy away just because,
Starting point is 00:54:06 you know, you think defenses catch up to, it's too cruel to say, gimmicky, but it was a different sort of read option offense that you think of when you think college ball. And Lamar is just so, exposed.
Starting point is 00:54:21 Yeah. I mean, and if he were to not be able to play a full season, it's needless to say, a very different looking football team. Yeah, I'm, I actually think the South is my third most confident. Yeah, I agree with you one and two. It goes Chiefs, then Bill's for me. And then the South for me, I think Indy wins that thing, and it might be a bigger gap between them in Tennessee than we know.
Starting point is 00:54:48 I was Mr. Titans bandwagon guy last year. I fucking booked that bandwagon. I called the limo company all aboard that motherfucker. Won a lot of money off those cats. Love them. Still love them this year.
Starting point is 00:55:04 But I love Frank Wright. I love Frank Wright, and I love Philip Rivers, and you can call me a sucker, but two years ago, we didn't have the same narrative about Phil. He looked totally different than he did last year, and the offensive line was terrible. I think Indigo's 11 wins plus, Tennessee's closer to 9 and 7, which makes sense because that's where they've been mostly in recent history.
Starting point is 00:55:26 They maxed out at running back. They maxed out at quarterback. I'm not saying they couldn't get close to duplicating that, but it would be really hard to duplicate everything you got out of Derek Henry and Tannihill last year. That was just not an expectation. And I worry about a team who's so dependent on one big back. And it's the same thing in the NFC North with Minnesota as well with Dalvin Cook. but I think the one wild card in this division could be Houston. They could win four games.
Starting point is 00:55:52 They could win 10 games. If Fuller's healthy, that wide receiver core is better than you think. You've got Cooks, Cobb, Stills, and then add David Johnson there. Cobb, as in Randall? Yeah. I mean, he's deep.
Starting point is 00:56:04 We're talking about... Stills. It's no New Koppkins. No, no, it's not. No, not at all. Not at all. And another, I mean, a lukewarm take, which I'm not really taking a stand here,
Starting point is 00:56:15 but I think that if David Johnson is a little bit rejuvenated. Deshawn Watson needs to work on getting the ball out of his hands, getting out of trouble. You get that big back who can catch the football out of the backfield and make some plays with you in broken play situations. Like David Johnson could be very, very important to them. And if that's the case and they win 10 games, I don't think anybody's batting an eye at the trade anymore. I mean, you know, Hop could go, and I love D. Hop, but he could go have a fine year and the Cardinals not improve. The point is trying to win football game. So
Starting point is 00:56:48 I'm not saying I ever would have made the trade. We did this thing with Khalil Mack in Chicago, which are different scenarios. We had our torches and pitchforks out immediately for the Raiders. And I think looking back, Kalil Back didn't and Kalil Mack's been again a 10 out of
Starting point is 00:57:05 10 in Chicago. Kalil Mac didn't get him over the hump. There were other problems on that team. So if you're going to sell the house to win, you have to win. I think sometimes we're so reactionary to trades. I am not saying it was a good trade. Wouldn't have made it. But I think David Johnson could help. And the defense is really bad. Deshaun has to get the ball out. But I'm happy he got paid. What a great dude. Jacksonville is obviously four, but the fun thing there is going to be,
Starting point is 00:57:29 will Minchu trick this thing off and completely change his trajectory of where maybe a generational talent goes in Trevor Lawrence? If Minchew and those wide receivers, fuck around and win four games, you might see Trevor Lawrence somewhere else. you might see Trevor Lawrence with New York G-Men. That'd be fine. I think you're wrong on that though. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:53 The G-Men are, well, G-men are 6 and 10. Okay. I mean, I tend to agree with you, and I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to throw Dwayne Haskins under the bus
Starting point is 00:58:05 because he improved, and he's in a tough situation with this off-season, but say he goes out there in bombs, like, and they win two games in Jacksonville, Minchu selfishly wins four. It's going to be a lot of... Well, that's what we saw last year in week 17, I think it was.
Starting point is 00:58:24 Washington and New York for the right to pick Chase Young, essentially. And the Giants won a meaningless game. Think with your head, guys. Indy is going to win the division. Strengths are O-line, running back, linebacker, two studs at the second level. They had Buckner and Day. Chris Ballard says three texts are what drives this defense.
Starting point is 00:58:42 So I think the defense gets better, even with the weaknesses at corner and safety more so. The question is, can Xavier Rhodes rebound? It's a different defense. He's not playing so much, man. The biggest swing player to me, though, in the division maybe, is Pittman. If you pair him with a healthy T.Y, that's going to unlock this team's potential in a big way. I look back, Cowboy Reed looked back for me.
Starting point is 00:59:14 I said, read, tell me the last time Philip Rivers had this bear of a cupboard skill-wise, offensively. Now, forget about the running backs. They're pretty good. I'm talking about it on the outside. 2013, he had Michael Floyd, who's never had a thousand-yard year at that point, and an aging Hall of Famer in Antonio Gates, which is nothing to scoff at. And they had this young rookie named Keenan Allen, who you didn't know what to make of, injury history, that sort of thing. Philip Rivers had a really good year.
Starting point is 00:59:52 32 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 5,000 yards. Who was his quarterback coach, right in the room with him? Frank Wright. Next two years, he's the O.C. as he transitioned to OC, the run game kind of suck, but not here. They got a massive O-line, and they're going to be able to run the football
Starting point is 01:00:11 with those two backs in the backfield. So can Pittman be Keenan Allen? Can he go for a thousand? And can Taylor make them really scary in the backfield? I think any wins the division, but I think the Tennessee games are going to be tight. You know, they added Clowney to counter Indy's strength, strength for strength,
Starting point is 01:00:29 Karea, Beasley's the Wildcard. and Simmons got better down the stretch up front in Tennessee. So they'll give them fits. Smith, A.J. Brown are going to give them fits outside. Johnny Smith, the tight end, who now everybody's catching up to
Starting point is 01:00:45 being a pretty good football player. He's out of the shadow of Delaney Walker. The toughest stretch for Tennessee that's going to either solidify them being out of the race or in the race is going to be indie, Baltimore, indie. Right in the middle of the season, you get your biggest division rival
Starting point is 01:00:59 and a pissed off Baltimore team that you beat less than a calendar year ago. Can't start slow for your Tennessee, two and two last two years to start out. Give me Indy in the south. Up north, you seem to be going there. Who you got winning it? I'm going to take the Baltimore Ravens,
Starting point is 01:01:17 but not with the high confidence score. And I like those Cleveland Browns to make the playoffs. I love that. I mean, right? Because everybody last year was high on the train. Yeah. And now it's kind of like they forgot.
Starting point is 01:01:31 about them, but they actually got better. Right. I actually have them as one of my wildcard teams here. Yeah. That's a good pick. In the north, this is my least confident division winner pick, but I'm going to go Pittsburgh. Two of the best football teams in league are going to be in this division. Not out of the question that you see a wildcard team win like 12 games, you know, and that could be Baltimore.
Starting point is 01:01:57 Pittsburgh could go like 13 and 3. Baltimore go like 12 and 4. Pittsburgh could go 13 and 3. Huh? Dude. How many quarterbacks could you have put on that team last year? Everything hinges on Ben's health. Okay?
Starting point is 01:02:10 We're talking about a healthy Ben. Okay, take the possibility of him slipping in the shower or dinging his thumb on Miles Garrett's helmet. I didn't mean to make him a helmet, Miles Garrett helmet joke. He's just the most dominant player
Starting point is 01:02:25 that came to mind. Yeah. That was unfortunate. That was unfortunate. 1999 Titans go 13 and 3 and they're the wildcard team I think we'd see like a miniature version of that
Starting point is 01:02:38 it's not out of the question that Baltimore makes a run I just think a healthy Pittsburgh goes the distance and Baltimore's got a lot working for them easiest schedule least travel in the league how do you go from last year to having the easiest schedule
Starting point is 01:02:51 least amount of travel in league they get more pieces on defense Queen Campbell Wolf possibly addition by subtraction with Earl and they also lose the most home field advantage in the league. If you look at it, one of the most, the biggest home field advantages in the league,
Starting point is 01:03:07 third best the last 10 years, surprisingly to me. And what does Marshall Yonda's loss do? I mean, people, it was like a big deal the day he retired and I understand guards not an important position, but that guy's important. What does that loss do? I think we'll find out pretty early.
Starting point is 01:03:25 And does Lamar take the next step? It'd help if the receiving court wasn't pedestrian, but he's gotta throw the ball outside the hash and down the field at different points in the year to win. Pittsburgh, everything dependent on Big Ben's health. Elbows pain free for the first time since he threw for 5,000 yards. You got Claypool, you got Ebron to help in the Red Zone. They were bad there last year.
Starting point is 01:03:43 Go figure. Duck Dynasty and that whole deal. Yeah, they're experienced continuity. You got the same kind of experience and continuity in Baltimore, but a little bit more up in Pittsburgh. And you're running back survived cancer. do you think if you share a locker room with somebody who's high risk that you're going to be fucking around with this thing?
Starting point is 01:04:06 I certainly hope not. And I think that they have the authority up top with Mike to get this thing done right. They had no opt-outs. The games will be fun. Hell of a defense. Hell of a defense. Patrick Queen and Devin Bush is going to be fun.
Starting point is 01:04:25 Yeah. I got Patrick Queen as D-R-O-Y. Well, no spoilers here. I look ahead. I love Bush. Great player. Great player. And the big swing is obviously going to be Ben's health.
Starting point is 01:04:44 You okay? Yeah. It's a physical, physical, physical division. And James Conner's health. He got dinged last year and they got worse. Yeah. But if Bush shows up, it's going to be a good year. Let's pick the wild cards.
Starting point is 01:05:02 I got Baltimore, New England, and Cleveland. and the reason the reason I like Cleveland is what you said everybody was paying too much attention to them last year they're not paying enough attention to them this year I think Baker's matured I love Kevin Stefansky I have so been all in on this hire and they've done nothing but get better
Starting point is 01:05:23 on paper they're one of the most talented teams in the league so watch out Tennessee it's going to be one of Tennessee and or New England but Tennessee and Cleveland are going to play 126 in Nashville. That's going to be a all-day sucker. Yeah, Tennessee's out of my playoffs. I was with you on Indy, just I think deep at a lot of positions. They were my division winner.
Starting point is 01:05:51 So I went New England, Cleveland, Pittsburgh as my wild card. So, boom. Not a lot of deviation there. Boom. Who's your most confident NFC pick? The Dallas Cowboys. Ooh, that hurts. Dallas Cowboys, I think they are head and shoulders above the rest in that division.
Starting point is 01:06:09 I think we'll learn a lot week one at Rams, Sunday night football, which is in the future as opposed to Thursday night game, which is in the past. Time machine. It was currently in the future. Yeah. Dak, Zeke, weapons on the outside. A good old line, no Lyle Collins. Yeah. Yeah, this is a big deal.
Starting point is 01:06:33 People aren't making a big deal about that. That's especially some of the teams that they could see relatively early on if they don't get him back fully healthy. I'm with you. The Cowboys are the team to beat on paper. And, you know, I'm pulling for the Eagles. I think the Eagles still win the playoffs. Spoiler alert, they're going to be in the playoffs as a wild card.
Starting point is 01:06:55 I think, you know, the Cowboys could be a 12-win team. They're going to, the Eagles, they're going to come out of the gate a little bit. a little bit awkward this year. And I think they finished strong. They finish maybe a game and a half, two games behind. The division's tighter than you might think, but, you know, it's the Cowboys to lose. Here's why.
Starting point is 01:07:19 Like, the Eagles are getting healthy already. Like, they have to get healthy already. And that's been a theme, again, reshuffling their defensive secondary, schedule is really tough the first half. they got to be 500 and Eagles fans might say fuck 4 and 4 sounds terrible
Starting point is 01:07:37 but the teams you're playing the 8 ball you're behind with some of the injuries the reshuffling of the O line the secondary is going to learn each other 500 will keep you in it one positive for them interestingly as I pointed out during the schedule release show that we did which seemed like two years ago
Starting point is 01:07:53 one positive is that before a week 11 when they see Cleveland they'll take a plane ride out to San Francisco that's it out of state for them that you'd be, because when you go to Washington and New York, you ride a bus. I mean, that's a big deal, and it's a big deal for a team dealing with a lot of,
Starting point is 01:08:09 just like everybody else in the league, a lot of variables. I think Dallas is going to start hot. They play two playoff teams from last year in their first eight games. They play five the second half of the season. So if the Eagles want to make a move, make it in the second half of the season, Eagles have historically had trouble with Dallas
Starting point is 01:08:24 in recent history. They've been playing kind of chess in the off seasons, and forgive me, I'm going a little long on this division because I know people love to hear us talk about the NFC East. Darius Slay is a trade that was made for a three and a five just to play Dallas. I mean, it helps when you play other people
Starting point is 01:08:44 and you've got a corner who's bona fide, but Dallas has this arms race at wide receiver that everybody knows about at this point. The Eagles are one in five versus a healthy Zique. So Dallas has kind of owned that, including when I was there, Dallas, even the Super Bowl year, we went and beat them there.
Starting point is 01:09:05 We didn't beat Zeke. So I think two surprising losses, respectively for these teams early, could be the Rams week two for Philly and Cleveland for Dallas. I think Cleveland matches up really well against Dallas. The Cowboys are strong up front, both sides of the ball.
Starting point is 01:09:22 They invested in D-line, and a huge swing would be finding an opposite bookend to Marcus Lawrence. Smith, and just because you bring up, Donald and Smith and Randy Gregory in their names and that sort of thing like you have to consider they could hit on either of them.
Starting point is 01:09:38 It's kind of like a high risk, high reward thing and certainly you could hit on both of them, but you might miss on both. Smith's been out four years, Gregory 28 games, Zeke is Zeke, the wide receiver court we talked about that. The question mark for me is their usual strength and I could say this about both teams. How off kilter will they be with the loss
Starting point is 01:09:55 to Travis Frederick? You know, he retired. Big deal, that's a big deal. Same thing as Yonda, I think we're just like overlooking that. The injury to Collins, You know, we talked about that. They're objectively weak in the secondary.
Starting point is 01:10:06 Corner by committee, safety's a weakness. They cut Dix in camp, you know. I can't with you. I'm good. You're good now. Jarwin would be a huge swing. If they get something out of their tight end position, there's no scarier prospect
Starting point is 01:10:23 than seeing Dallas with a good tight end this year with what they have. They haven't been able to find a swing tackle. They've historically struggled with that. You remember Adrian Claiborne? had five sacks in the game, that was Dallas. Like, we've seen that movie in different forms. And the Eagles are a new team in a bunch of different ways.
Starting point is 01:10:40 Their strengths have been up front the same way. Like Dallas, they have questions there. Peter's restructured today. Johnson, you know, one of the best tackles in football. But you can't have interior pressure around Carson's legs. We talk about his health. You can't have guys rolling up on him and falling on his ankles. So Isaac and Pryor have to do really good at guard.
Starting point is 01:11:00 The D-line is scary. Philly, Healthy Jackson, Hargrave, gives them what they've been won. They've been wanting that first, second, and third down presence inside, since I was there, that can play every down and get your pass rush on third down. That's Malik Jackson. He's effectively a new player. They didn't have him at all last year, and Hargrave is going to be a beast. Josh Schwett.
Starting point is 01:11:24 If Josh Swett can come on, they're going to be scary up front. I think they got a better D-Line than Washington. Derek Barnett, love him. He's played his ass off. Nobody plays harder. I think he's an 8 to 10 sack gear guy if he's healthy, but we don't know about either Josh or him when it comes to health. Gro's gone.
Starting point is 01:11:46 Scangarello is in. Morning wig is there? Is the offensive consultant? What's that look like? I hear more play action. I hear more kind of carrying out your fakes, Denverish stuff, Shanahan stuff. I also hear packages
Starting point is 01:12:01 Lamar-like packages for Jalen Hertz which doesn't roll off the tongue as much but we'll see what that means everything hinges on wide out we talked about that a bunch and you know I told you Rager was the most important player on that team
Starting point is 01:12:18 before he got hurt he's hurt already Goodwin opted out those are two guys you brought in to stretch the field and you're not going to have them the first month of the season maybe Deshawn Jackson hasn't played a full 16 in years. I hear Jaws had a good camp for the Philly contingency.
Starting point is 01:12:37 Don't give up on him. Miles Sanders. I don't know about his health right now. Dallas Goddard, Zach Ertz, that's a three-headed monster underneath. But if you can't recapture the Tory Smith factor that they've been missing for years, you're throwing that 6.5 yards per attempt to wide receivers again, which was the worst in the league last year. And the difference between 32 and 31,
Starting point is 01:12:58 was the same between 31 and 21 in the league last year. How about that? Do you, so do you, I sense that you support receiver at Pick 21 in the draft, maybe not Rager, we didn't know he'd be hurt. Justin Jefferson was there, T. Higgins, Michael Pittman, running back, he had Clyde Edwards, Hilaire. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:13:17 Well, you already have a Miles Sanders, who in my opinion is going to be a household name very soon. Okay. Now, the depth of running back. You had the defensive rookie of the year, Patrick Queen sitting there. Listen, there's a Jim Schwartz doesn't value backers. It's like they've just said, they're kind of doing this positionless thing. It's the same thing with the secondary.
Starting point is 01:13:35 I've heard the word positionless, which is kind of scary. Slale help. I think Jalen Mills is tough. He can play box safety. Maddox goes outside, but the only guy who returns from his nickel position in 19 is Roddy McLeod. Captain. Yeah, how about him?
Starting point is 01:13:49 Congratulations. The biggest swing on defense is Roby Coleman. That Patrick Robinson factor has been missing at Nicky McLeod. Jones and Douglas are gone now. But I agree with you. There's nobody that's gonna be watching a Jumbo Tron harder during games than Howie Roseman as he looks up to try to squint and see what's going on in Minnesota.
Starting point is 01:14:09 Oh no, is it Justin Jefferson with another touchdown? And he's gonna have a full month before we see Jalen Rager for the first time. So the worst possible scenario would be that the Eagles stumble out of the gate because they can't stretch the field and Justin Jefferson's balling out in Minnesota. That will get things hot in Philly. But I like the Cowboys, yeah. Quickly, back to Dallas.
Starting point is 01:14:33 You've been in a spot where a new coaching staff has come in. Yeah. Does a new coaching staff immediately have your attention because you're trying to impress? Well, I talked about that with Stephen Jackson the other day. It was really interesting because Stephen said, and here's a guy who, in my opinion, should be a Hall of Famer based on production. He's like the alpha in the building, and I didn't realize this subconsciously, having seven coaches or whatever we had or five coaches,
Starting point is 01:14:59 you're constantly trying to reprove yourself and at times strain to reinvent yourself because of what they want and the expectations, that wakes people up. But when you're on a bad football team and you're in that washing machine cycle of another coach, another coach, another coach, you never work on one thing,
Starting point is 01:15:13 you never become one thing. And I think that's why players with continuity, and I'm not just bitching about my situation, like they have a better shot because you're going to be able to work on one craft, one defense for six, seven years. And you know who you are, what the coach expects of you every year when they come in, it's a big deal.
Starting point is 01:15:33 But McCarthy is a guy who's joining a good, talented football team, right? So... Right. I gotta list you four names on the defensive coaching staff for the Cowboys. Mike Nolan's a coordinator, known of course, for wearing a coat and tie as he coached the Niners. Yes, that was something. Jim Tom Sula, defensive line.
Starting point is 01:15:51 Press conference, wizard. Leon Lett, assistant D-Line. and coach, awesome. The personalities in that. And Al Harris. D. Bax. My guy. Awesome.
Starting point is 01:16:02 Al Harris. Awesome names on that stuff. Man, when Al Harris cut his dreads, I was at midfield, getting ready to play Kansas City. And I'm just walking around warming up and he walked up to me. I played with Al Harris. I didn't even recognize him. It was unbelievable. Al Harris is one of the best teammates I ever had.
Starting point is 01:16:21 Great vet. He's going to be a great, great force down there. How long has he been? down there. I would assume this is year one. Yeah, yeah, good for them. I mean, that's going to be a good presence to have in that room. Second most confident in the NFC,
Starting point is 01:16:35 I'm going to say I'm going to stay away from the north. That's my fourth most confident pick for the division. I'm going to say that in the south, I feel pretty confident that the Saints win it. Okay, I thought you were going west, but I'll let you save that one.
Starting point is 01:16:53 Yeah. How about those Atlanta Falcons? For the division. I'm just bringing them up. No, how about them? You know, I love them. We liked the way they closed out the year last year. I mean, they went something like six and two.
Starting point is 01:17:10 They reshuffled their coaches. That was a big deal. And Matt Ryan's still Matt Ryan, okay? They have real weaknesses that they have to worry about on defense. They're going to have to score a lot to win, but they could be exciting. They could find their way to win the division. I still like the Saints. I think the Bucks followed them.
Starting point is 01:17:28 Listen, the Saints have all the continuity again. And they got better in the offseason, in my opinion. And everybody was shocked they lost to the Vikings last year. I think the Vikings were like 10 point dogs on the road and the Saints just laid an egg. The Saints, though, put up 34 late in the season against the Bucks defense that had rounded into form. That's the same Bucs defense that we're so excited about.
Starting point is 01:17:54 I just like the Saints. And we'll find out it could be another one of those situations where maybe Brady and the Bucks are better than the Saints come January, but during the regular season, what it's going to take to win this division? And what does it even mean to win the division? You only have one buy secured in each conference respectively. What does it mean to have home field advantage this year? So it's kind of a hollow exercise, but it's not.
Starting point is 01:18:18 I got the Saints. The Bucks are going to be good. They could be, you know, they could, they could be they could find themselves in a situation at some point where people are questioning them they become the new first take team what's wrong with the bucks because the goats down there they've assembled this this dream team they've got this dream team vibe going on down there lately which i don't love kind of like that l a lakeers dream team of steve nash and joy howard yeah oh that one too yeah oh yeah yeah there've been a couple iterations that didn't work yeah and i listen i think it works i think they're tremendously successful i think they probably win a playoff game at least um i think they're a wildcard team just because of where they are. They got to go to QB, but he's 43. You just don't know. You got a new running back who we called a bust a week ago.
Starting point is 01:19:02 Now, you know, he's a Hall of Famer because he's in Tampa. Like, I don't think he's a bust. I don't think he's a Hall of Famer. I think he's a good player who's going to help them. But maybe it's a little early to do the Photoshop of all the figures walking into Fight Night. Did you see this picture? You saw the picture that Fournette put out. I also think RB1 is Ronald Jones.
Starting point is 01:19:23 I do, too, Ronald Jones. In part because Coach Ariens has told us that Ronald Jones is RB1. Oh, well, I didn't hear that. Yeah. Well, here was the funniest part in part because of that. The funniest part was Leonard put himself right next to Tom. Right. You know, Mike Evans is in the back. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:39 You know, so I think he's going to have a good year. It's again, it's like we got Gronk. Madden put Gronk is like a 98 overall. Like, Bronx's been out of football for a year and a half. These things don't just come together that easy. And I love the Bucks. I love their defense. You paid a guy who was amazing one year rushing.
Starting point is 01:19:57 Like amazing year. I never had a year like that. This guy could do 15 again. He had 19 last year. But you just don't know. And can the offensive line keep Brady upright? That's a big question as well. I mean, it's kind of important.
Starting point is 01:20:15 And New Orleans got better. They added Sanders, which was a big deal. They added Jenkins and Jenkins, the law firm on the back end, Janorson, Malcolm Jenkins. That's a big deal. Jenkins at number two, I hear he's doing really well opposite Lattimore, and he adds an element for them. That's another leader on a team with a ton of leaders.
Starting point is 01:20:33 And Drew Brees and then they weathered that storm earlier, and they're probably still dealing with it a little bit with Drew's comments. But it's training camp. By training camp, guys hunker down and get together, and I think that team's going to be tight for everything they've been through for the way those losses happened the last few years to everything this off season
Starting point is 01:20:55 I like him to win the division and I've got a dark horse MVP candidate for you in this division his name is Alvin Camara third most confident I'm gonna go Seahawks this is Russell's year he's gonna win the MVP you've got weapons outside
Starting point is 01:21:11 they've yeah they've never really needed a good O line to win you know so I'm not gonna worry about that I also think the Niners take a step back. The Niners' Eagles metaphor, my Eagles team, last year's Niners team,
Starting point is 01:21:27 that steep ascension followed by you know, maybe a coming back down to Earth. That doesn't mean they're going to be a bad football team. I think they're a playoff team, but it's going to be tough. L.A. can't figure it out, in my opinion. I got them figuring it out.
Starting point is 01:21:42 You got them figure it out when the division? Nah. I like Seattle, but L.A. making the playoffs. Listen, I talked to somebody in L.A. They say they look really good. Acres looks really good. I saw last year they went to more 12 personnel. They got a new D-Corpsinator. McVeigh, I'm not betting against them
Starting point is 01:21:57 as far as maximizing what they have, but what do you have? I mean, who are you? The O line, they haven't really addressed that and everything was predicated again in 2018. Or was it, yeah, 18 on, was it 17? No, 18, that they were really good.
Starting point is 01:22:15 Yeah, 2018, everything was predicated on Todd Gurley. and that O-line and running that zone scheme. The questions defensively for Seattle are exaggerated, I guess I would ask you, coverage or rush, how are you building your football team? Rush. It's funny, I said coverage. Every day of the week, rush.
Starting point is 01:22:33 But that's because I saw the New York Giants win two Super Bowls because of it. Yeah, well, it's kind of a thing called a different era, too. That's true, that's for sure. And listen, right now you would not be in the minority when it comes to building a team with pass rush. I just think what, listen, look no further in New England
Starting point is 01:22:50 a couple years ago. You had guys on that defense that hadn't one on one on one all year. They had 50-something sacks on the year. Not to say every team has a Stefan Gilmore or that secondary, but this secondary is very good. They add Adams, obviously, you know, let's not forget, I think there's so many good defensive players in this division that you forget about, you know, Bobby Wagner.
Starting point is 01:23:14 And, you know, they draft the kid who kind of pissed analytics, Seahawks fans off out of Texas Tech because they're going to run so much base, but guess what? That's kind of what they do. And you complain about Clowny's sack numbers, and comes Bruce Irvin, who objectively is not the football
Starting point is 01:23:30 player Clowny is, but if you want to get home, he did it to the tune of eight and a half sacks last year in Carolina. You'd kill for that production. And he's now the OG, as he put it up in Seattle. Great linebacker core. We talked about that. Niners are going to struggle with the losses of two players, obviously.
Starting point is 01:23:45 Emmanuel Sanders, but maybe even more. Moore Buckner, who was kind of the X factor along with Bosa last year. I don't think people realized how important he was. I understand you couldn't pay him. You had to pick Armstead, but that's a big loss. And every team, needless to say, is going to want to get off to a good start. Niners have a pesky Arizona team week one. Who's not afraid of them.
Starting point is 01:24:08 And the wide receiver core, including Debo Samuel and the rookie Ayuk. Banged up. banged up. So you're looking at Kendrick Bourne, Dante Pettis, and I'm with you. I think I'm a step back for the Niners. I think that's going to be a tight ball game on Sunday, honestly. You might want to, I haven't looked at that line. I'm sure it's relatively large, but you might want to take a hard look at the Cardinals. Bottom line, Seattle is not scared, okay? And they sweep them last year, if not for that botched week 17 situation. So Niners are seven point favorite over Arizona.
Starting point is 01:24:46 seven point favorite. I kind of like the cards there. I do too. In that spot. And another thing, Seattle, for all their successes last year, trailed in,
Starting point is 01:24:57 I think 10 of 12 games last year, and that's not supposed to be what happens. You're not supposed to go 10 and 2 over that span. They'll be better there. And last year, they found stupid ways to overcome their own mistakes.
Starting point is 01:25:12 I mean, they gave up touchdowns on offense like in many. games and won them. That's not supposed to happen in the NFL. Russell Wilson's a magician. He's going to win MVP this year, and I might have him going kind of far. Let's go to the north to finish out the NFC, and then we can rifle through these predictions. Your pick's going to be stranger than mine, but I feel like mine is strange in and of itself in picking the Green Bay Packers, who went 13 and 3 last year. Everybody seems to think
Starting point is 01:25:42 it was fluky. No, they got their butts handed to them when they went and played the Niners in the playoffs. I like the pack to repeat. Aaron Rogers, fire under his butt, Aaron Joe, I just like
Starting point is 01:25:58 the scheme. I like the first scheme. Yeah, you want to see them run the rock. Wahoo Petton there, manning the defense. In a division, you're going to blow some folks away. I mean, the vikes are good. The
Starting point is 01:26:16 bears, I think, going to be frisky. Lions clearly out of the picture. You tell me who you like in the north. The ghost in the darkness. Detroit Basketball. Yeah, Detroit Lions. Give me the Lions.
Starting point is 01:26:33 This is the I want to whisper this segment just in case they don't win, so maybe people won't remember it. But if they win, I'm going to make some fucking money here. Okay. Stafford was on an MVP tear last year. Okay, he's never had a run game. They add Swift, who has been hurt,
Starting point is 01:26:51 but they're excited about. They add AP. Come now. How old is he? Man, he's gotta be 35. He raised 35. Yeah, let me try to guess his birthday, November 17th. March 21st.
Starting point is 01:27:10 Dude, he's right there with me. He's in Ares. Yeah, good, yeah. all the good ones are AP's reuniting with Darrell Bevel yeah he's giving me you ain't no AP we know right okay we know
Starting point is 01:27:25 AP and Darrell Bevel are back together and they added more New England pieces Harman's Shelton Collins Flowers they say Nick Williams is going to be a big deal they blew those two games out of the gate last year
Starting point is 01:27:42 they tied the The Cardinals in the opener, which I watched from an Atlantic City hotel room, dark times, my first game out of football. I'm like watching in a dimly lit Atlantic City hotel room. And I had money on the Lions and they, I'm like, welcome to retirement. They also got jobbed in Green Bay on that Trey Flowers face mask. So those were two games that they could have easily been four and one or so out of the gate. They can't do that this year.
Starting point is 01:28:15 They've got a real shot to win this division. And I'm only saying that because I cannot pick the Vikings. Last year I hitched my wagon to them as well. They look like the team on paper. You know, I hear Dancers look better than Gladney. Corners a big question. I still worry about the physicality, getting pounded up front. You know, you made a great trade for pass rush in Yonik,
Starting point is 01:28:35 but what if a team just hunkers down and says, we're going to run the ball down your throat like San Francisco did? I worry about Dalvin's health. another thing about putting all the eggs in one basket with the running back. I worry about Jefferson. I worry that he can't do what Diggs did. I think he could be a really good player, but maybe there's an adjustment there.
Starting point is 01:28:54 And I worry about COVID-Kirk. If he dies, he dies. Fearless. He's fearless. Yonik and Gokwey over there now. Yeah, one of the only terrapins I like. And Green Bay was never a 13 and 3 team. I hate this for Aaron,
Starting point is 01:29:12 but I may as well pull for the whole thing to blow up. so maybe we can see him scorched earth fun somewhere, like maybe down in Chicago or in San Francisco or something back in the Bay. Chicago's going to be fun watching Quinn and Mack. I think it's the best duo pass-freshwise in the division, and obviously the big swing, the big one is going to be if Nick Foles gets involved. You know it's big when Nick Foles gets involved. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:29:41 Huge. It'd be huge if he played. Large. He'd be in charge. but not so much when he's holding clipboard on the sideline. He still plays a big role in the locker room. Massive. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:29:58 Anyways, wildcard teams, I think, I like the bucks, the Eagles, and the Niners, and the one to watch for, as you said, is Atlanta. Yeah, I'll go Atlanta, Bucks, Rams as my wild cards. Damn. So one of my former teams is going to miss the playoffs, according to you, says you. That's right. All right. Let's rifle through awards. Let's do this fast because everybody else has fucking done it and you guys are all tired of this shit. Coach of the year, who you got?
Starting point is 01:30:29 Stifansky. He's my sleeper. Expectations now lower in Cleveland. He's got a lot of weapons at his disposal. Stifansky. Give me Bill Belichick again. I don't think until now we're going to realize how resourceful he is, truly. They're going to improve all year, and they're going to be fun.
Starting point is 01:30:48 Win totals from Vegas, Pat's at nine, Cleveland Browns at eight and a half. I'm much more confident in the year. Well, I'd have to look at the schedules. I think New England could be right on the button at nine. Okay, but I think Cleveland could be 10. But Bill's not winning coach of the year if they go nine and seven. If they go nine and seven to make the playoffs, and you could be looking at, I mean, like, just consider, it's like a lifetime achievement award.
Starting point is 01:31:13 could you get you wouldn't give it to him if you made the playoffs with this squad the squad that they said was going to be tanking i just think there there's going to be somebody else making a better case like tomlin 10 and six okay you want to take you want to take a hot like uh kind of a a sexy pick that that's more mainstream mike tomlin sleeper would be kevin stefansky i agree with you there offensive player a year christian mcalfrey in obscurity Patrick Mahomes. I don't know if you're familiar with this work. Defensive play.
Starting point is 01:31:48 A year I'm going Miles Garrett. Water boy captain. He's donating a bunch of money every sack he gets this year. I think it's a big gear for him for a lot of reasons. I know he wants to rectify what happened last year. And listen, he was on a tear last season. The guy can play the run, disruptive, obviously run the rush the passer. Closest comp I have for him is Julius Peppers.
Starting point is 01:32:13 Yeah. I'm going splashy, contrarian, off the wall, Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams. Yeah, I'm just like, I'm hoping he spreads the wealth to my guy. It'd be good for Waterboys this year. Offensive rookie the year, I'm going to go J.K. Dobbins. Over E.H and over Edwards out in Oakland would be my deep sleeper. But J.K. Dobbins.
Starting point is 01:32:37 Put a dollar in the thing. $3. Who's Edwards in Oakland? The guy from South Carolina. Brian Edwards. Right, right, right, right. He's not their splash pick, because obviously Ruggs was,
Starting point is 01:32:51 but the kid is so fucking smooth. He had injuries in college, so kind of docked him. Okay. Dobbins is going to run for a lot of yardage this year. Okay. I'm pulling up Baltimore Ravens' depth chart. Yeah, he's going to have some company
Starting point is 01:33:09 with Mark Enger and Gus Edwards. But I'm reading the T-Leaves and the comments out of there from players are just like, you know, you can tell when they're talking about a rookie that they're excited about, I think he could end up being a thousand-yard rusher. Okay.
Starting point is 01:33:26 I'll say the same, but for Camakers. Nice. Okay. Defense of rookie of the year, I mean, it's so chalky, but I'll go Chase Young, and here's why. If he were in Detroit or somewhere else that was bad and didn't have like a great market, like the misnomer or the assumption that's not true, about Washington is that just because they suck doesn't mean they don't have eyes on them.
Starting point is 01:33:48 Chase Young could have eight sacks. He'll be right around that Vegas total of eight and a half. And I think just the wow factor will give him the nod. I'm going to make a terrible pick that's guaranteed not to come through. But I just like the guy so much. Patrick Queen, not going to put up numbers. No. Well, just tackle everybody. And well, yes, that's true. I just love that pick at the end of the first round comeback player of the year
Starting point is 01:34:15 is it too chalky to say Cam I like Cam in this spot and his shoulder was his was screwed up yeah yeah I like Cam you could say would you give it to an Alex Smith if he plays a snap yeah maybe so you know just as like a wild
Starting point is 01:34:31 and it's unbelievable a nod yeah nod I'm gonna go Miles Garrett there in that spot oh nice nice a lot of adversity put a bow on it. And yeah, I think he does big things as well. Breakout player, Miles Sanders, Waller in Oakland, but I'm going to stick with the hometown with Miles Sanders. Miles could be a 2,000 yard all-purpose guy in the near future. I'm such a big fan of what he does and how he works, and I think he's going to be a big option for them. Breakout, scary Terry McLaurin. I think the
Starting point is 01:35:03 Washington football team will be down a lot, throwing a lot. He's got a connection with Dwayne Haskins. I think he becomes an elite pass catcher. And I'll also say Kyler Murray proves a lot of people right and takes the next step. Nice. Worst team and record. Are we both Jags on this one? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:35:24 Yeah. What's the record? Three and 13. Oh, I'm going to take the under on that. I'm going to go to one and a half and 14.5. Offensive players. You tell me if these are real names or fake names. Jacksonville Jaguars.
Starting point is 01:35:38 You ready? James Robinson. True. That's right. Chris Conley. Why don't know? Dakota Hamilton. True.
Starting point is 01:35:53 Eh. C.J. Johnson. True. James O. Henry. No. That's correct. There's a guy who they're fucking James O'Henly. No, there's James O'Shaughnessy, so you were right on there.
Starting point is 01:36:04 Colin Johnson. Fuck, I don't know, dude. Real. Chris Thompson. Yes. Yeah. You went about 500. Point being.
Starting point is 01:36:13 Those are, those are skill guys on the Jacksonville Jaguars. But they're excited about their skills. Roster. I mean, you do have some good chart. I can only prepare for so many teams in the offseason. We left the Jags off. You'll probably cut that. That's fine.
Starting point is 01:36:28 That's fine. Just a fun little game. Jacksonville Jaguar trivia. I'm going to go two wins. I think they got a shot at beat in Chicago and the Chargers. And the MVP for me, Russell Wilson finally Long overdue
Starting point is 01:36:46 Okay I'll go Ezekiel Elliot And do I wish I had said Ezekiel more clearly I do But I've said it and it's out there Can't get it Zeke
Starting point is 01:36:56 Can't get the stain off Zeke for MVP Super Bowl matchup winner and score And score Because if we hit this right They're going to give us any job on TV we want Yeah Can you imagine if we got the score
Starting point is 01:37:10 right of the Super Bowl and two right teams. Right. It's worth fucking scratching a number. Okay. The Dallas Cowboys handle fairly easily the upstart Cleveland Browns. Yikes.
Starting point is 01:37:26 2816 and Super Bowl 50, whatever. That's what they call throwing some shit on the wall. Yeah, I mean, I hate it, but why we're an hour deep. Yeah, yeah. It's September. Yeah, you're right. I'm going to go a rematch of the Detroit Super Bowl back when we were in college. That was Pittsburgh prevailing over Seattle.
Starting point is 01:37:51 Wow. And the same thing is going to happen, only this time Big Ben plays well. Bro, when I picture Big Ben now, he's just stuck in the pocket, like looking at his feet. He can't move. He's just trying to find out where he's going to fall down.
Starting point is 01:38:06 Tort all is a hell of a drug. Okay. And he knows it is, should or get off the pot time. If I was to give up a backup Super Bowl matchup. I think it's going to be 2724 Pittsburgh over Seattle down in Pirateshipland. But my bold prediction for the year is that they're going to have to bubble for the playoffs. I don't know how bold that prediction is, bubble for the playoffs. I also think if I had to throw another bold one out there that if I hit it a game,
Starting point is 01:38:37 exactly. I'll get famous and get Skip Bayliss's job and turn it down because I don't want to be on TV every day. I just want to get paid millions of dollars to do this podcast right here from the studio, Greenlight Studios. Justin Herbert starts week six. Week six. Yeah, week six. They, I believe, have New Orleans and Tampa Bay and like four and five and then they're going to go on this run where they have to play. I believe the Jets and somebody else, sorry, maybe Jacksonville Jaguars. Jets, Dolphins. The Reds Jaguar stretch. Yeah, that's the stretch right there for Justin Herbert.
Starting point is 01:39:12 I mean, Tyrod Taylor, Tarrad is our guy for a hokey. Really love him, but it's gonna be tough sledding. I also don't think we see Tua all year long. That's another bold prediction for me. We're gonna have some really bad blown calls. I think you have to brace for referees getting quarantine. I'm not saying we're gonna have like the Seattle Green Bay thing from 2012 or whatever that was.
Starting point is 01:39:37 but we're going to have a bad call or two. Officiating is going to be an issue. That's not a bold prediction in the NFL anymore. And then I think we'll have a player suspended over audio caught on mic. I like that. That's my big one. I think that the access this year unprecedented, the quiet at times and other pumping crowd noise in,
Starting point is 01:39:58 but it's going to be dead silent out there. You're going to hear some things that you've never heard before, and I think one player becomes a casualty made to be an example. I like that. Okay, I'll go team fine for decibel, decibel level um, fraud.
Starting point is 01:40:17 Nice. Hey, no, we were at whatever it is. Nah, we had the guy out with the thing. The thing, yeah, the thing that goes left to right. That's right. And when they tell you to cheer, you look at it.
Starting point is 01:40:28 That's right. I also think the Jacksonville Jaguars could be the first team to have to forfeit a game this season because I could see them getting, like bad bad off the bat Vegas is also a candidate for this too places that I don't think are going to deal real well with COVID and teams that are not
Starting point is 01:40:47 going to be real great out of the gate and guys are like hmm do I stay home so you said playoff so you're saying 17 weeks playoff Super Bowl it all happens is that another of your bold predictions I don't season I think the I think the season happens with a bubbled a bubbled postseason and I think that we have to take
Starting point is 01:41:06 break at some point. Okay. Because the NFL is not, the NFL is just saying effectively, we're going to get this thing done, in my opinion. The NFL doesn't start things if they can't finish it, if they're not willing to finish it, because they feel like they're the most powerful organization in the world in the country. So, yeah, I think we might have to pause, but I think we get a bubbled playoff. I'm still going to hold on to hope that if Ireland's numbers stay low enough, we get a St. Paddy's day Super Bowl. And, you know, we take that show on the road. Well, we're done for the day, and we'll see you on Monday.
Starting point is 01:41:49 Y'all take care. Hey, hey, hey, listen, y'all take care of yourselves, and we mean that now more than ever. Yeah, seriously, wear a mask. I mean, don't anybody shit on you, okay? That's bad. It's bad normally. I'm not kink shaming.
Starting point is 01:42:06 Yeah, you are. No, I'm not. But like definitely no lame by shit on you in a pandemic. It can be. You can. It does. There's COVID in the poop. There is.
Starting point is 01:42:20 Don't do that. Have a nice weekend. See you Monday. Macon's back. Appreciate all you guys begging me and my fucking mentions to have him back. Here he is. Y'all take care.

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