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)
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?
And what's their relation?
Father's son
You know the whole fucking movie
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Happy Friday, everybody.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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,
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
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
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
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
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.
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,
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.
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,
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
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?
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
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
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
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.
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,
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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,
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
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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?
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.
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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?
And what's their relation?
Father's son.
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.
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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,
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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
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,
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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,
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
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
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,
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.
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.
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?
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
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
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
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,
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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,
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
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.
Press conference, wizard.
Leon Lett, assistant D-Line.
and coach, awesome.
The personalities in that.
And Al Harris.
D. Bax.
My guy.
Awesome.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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,
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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
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
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
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.
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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,
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.
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,
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
You ready?
James Robinson.
True.
That's right.
Chris Conley.
Why don't know?
Dakota Hamilton.
True.
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.
Colin Johnson.
Fuck, I don't know, dude.
Real.
Chris Thompson.
Yes.
Yeah.
You went about 500.
Point being.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
