Green Light with Chris Long - Jadeveon Clowney Potential Teams. NFL Schedule Review and Protocols. Mailbag.

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

0:44 - open. 2:30 - Jadeveon Clowney Potential Teams. 5:38 - NFL Protocols. 12:10 - NFL Schedule Review. 46:24 - Mailbag. 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. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yeah, this is going to be a concise show, I think. I can tell you what I think about when schedules came out as a player. I'll go through my favorite games, games I'm looking forward to, some snippets from different teams. I'm also going to hit Clowny in Seattle. I'm going to talk about the NFL laying out some protocols as well, and we'll do a mailbag at the end. The show writes itself this week for the first time in a little while. I mean, we've been able to do last dance stuff. It's been pretty self-explanatory when we've had to do that.

But other than the draft, there's been no template, no blueprint to churning out the content. So when I found out that they would be doing a three-hour schedule presentation tonight, for a season that might not even happen, I thought to myself, well, this is some easy content, but it sucks. I have to stay up late. Do they really have to drag this thing out? I was worried that they might hold the schedules till the back end of the show. and they would just talk and talk for three hours.

And that would delay me talking and talking into a microphone in my home office. So that was not the case. Got the schedules. They all leaked in the hour or hours before. We've known the opponents for months now. So it is certainly nice to have some football, even if it's the illusion of football. As I mentioned, I'm not sure what's going to happen. I'm really not.

And it's funny to me how we're just going about our business and talking about this thing on TV. Like it's full speed ahead. The NFL is in denial. Either that or they're just selling a product of confidence, and I get it. I mean, they're the most powerful league. There's no domino effect with them.

They're not looking up in another league to see what they do. Basketball is certainly going to be an interesting thing to watch this summer and how that unfolds. But the season, not only the start of the season, how many fans can be in the stands, and then possibly withstanding, God forbid, a second surge, which I think is probably likely in some capacity.

I mean, that's all but been confirmed. So we'll see how severe that is, and we'll see what that looks like. First thing's first, Clowny and Seattle. So we've got John Snyder beginning to talk in the past tense again about Clowny. He's talking in terms of, hey, we made a good run at it. That sounds like he's over it.

Clowny doesn't seem to be a part of their equation. He wanted too much money early. You know, he was seeking like 21 mil. The asking price went down to 17 mil last month. The Hawks have some money in cap space, but they got Bruce Urban coming in, his contract. The Hawks didn't have anybody that really could rush the passer last year, save for Clowney, who was very disruptive. But again, nobody had over four sacks on their team.

They were 28th in the league as a group. And maybe they're just happy with the two edge guys they got. Maybe they're happy with the guys they got in the draft and Taylor and Robinson. I really like Taylor a lot. I think that Taylor's going to have north of Foressax this year alone. I don't think he's going to be as disruptive as a Judeavian Clowny. But if those are the numbers you're putting a premium on, I think Taylor's going to have a nice year if he can stay healthy.

I think he projects well to the next level. So Clowny, the options as it stands this week seem to be Cleveland, Tennessee. You know, I've heard about Philly. Can they get over the Carson thing there? And quite frankly, do they think they need him? Is there a spot on the field for him on third down? I would say, yes, if he showed up, somebody's got to move. Somebody's got to move inside.

Somebody's got to move over because Fletcher Cox and Judeavian Clowning on the same field would be terrifying. You know, I think the reason that 21 Mill is not being thrown at him is obviously production. But it's also the fact that he's on the back end of his 20s, and he's got an injury history, obviously the knee. He's got a core muscle surgery he's coming off of. And, you know, at that price, it's a big risk if you can't get a physical. And he says he wants to play for a contender. Well, that really narrows the list down, doesn't it?

That's why I ask the question here, what's wrong with Seattle? Seattle is going to be as good as anybody out there in that division. I don't expect San Francisco to be quite as good as they were last year, and I expect Seattle to be just as good and better. So I think if you're looking to play for contender, some familiarity for you, unless there's something I don't know about Clowny in Seattle, seems like just a fine fit. But I could see him in Cleveland opposite Miles Garrett.

I thought that Tennessee could really use some edge rush, and they didn't have it consistently. And he's a guy that you can move around. So the GM, Robinson, and Tennessee confirmed that two have been in contact. Again, he's looking at Tennessee and Cleveland. We'll see where Jadavian Clowny lands. Again, he wants to play for contender. The options are narrower when you say that.

We'll see if he means it. And we'll see how close he sticks to his guns on that 17 million number, because it doesn't seem like he's going to get that at this point. He also seems comfortable to sit and wait it out. NFL laying out some protocols this week. They sent out a memo that vaguely details a possible way back to NFL teams starting May 15th. So basically, facilities have been shut down since March, players and coaches doing virtual meetings and training. They want to be ready to implement that first phase, May 15th.

That's the goal. And at that point, the NFL can be advised on reopening. And in the memo, it's important to note that there's really no mention. of uniform action. So teams could stagger their phases, depending on where they are geographically, depending on what's going on locally in that state. And further discussions obviously going to take place

at the Digital League meeting, May 19th. The first phase, you know, May 15th, it sounds like it's about 50% of the staff at most. That's like 75 people a day, tops. Everybody socially distancing, obviously. and you'd be looking at the players who have been rehabbing injuries coming back first. So players that really need to get into building, players that haven't had the time to do that. And, you know, that's one of the hardest things.

If you're rehabbing on your own and I've done that in the NFL, it's really difficult. A lot of players do it because they trust their own guys, but to be held accountable to do the little things, the minutiae that you get in a training room where you have to show up at a certain time and they're watching you in person do it. You know, it's not the same thing. So players that can get back and they need. They need back, they want back. May 15th, that way would include those guys.

You know, some guidelines that would happen. And by the way, phase two has no timeline at this point. Guidelines for what phase one might include. You need to receive permission from state and local government. You need to receive sufficient cleaning supplies. Obviously, I don't know what that entails because there's a ton of cleaning supplies at NFL facilities anyways because of, you know, staff and that sort of thing. and flu outbreaks and that sort of thing in surfaces needing to stay clean.

You know, every fall. We saw it last fall with teams, flu bugs going through and wiping out a bunch of players. You know, that's the way it is. It gets cold. Guys are in close contact all day. You know, a ton of surfaces from the cafeteria to the training room to cold tubs, the hot tubs.

And that's not taking into account the constant threat of MRSA and staff, which can be really scary too. provide COVID safety training for everyone return to the office and create an infection response team made up of doctors and players. Okay, well, that sounds good, but we're kind of trusting these people that we don't trust with our bodies, with our lives. Because a lot of times players talk about, okay, you know, a trainer rushing me back out on the field, you know, am I safe to go out yet? Do they have the team's best interest in mind? Do they have my best interest in mine. Now, I would assume that trainers will be extra vigilant about this thing because

this is life or death. This is not, you know, obviously not everybody gets sick, dies, but, you know, it's potentially life or death. This is not a situation where you're trusting somebody to read your MRI on your ankle. This is COVID. So, you know, that's a leap of faith trusting the folks that you say you don't trust with your body to say like these guys are the ones that are going to oversee my recovery if I get sick by testing watching my symptoms obviously with an ankle there's an incentive there to mask you know some of the symptoms some of the realities of a soft tissue injury is you work for the team get back out there you know you you got to take a chance you got to get out there and help the team see what you can do that sort of thing that doesn't serve trainers and

everybody else in the building as well, if you're talking about the coronavirus. There is a, you know, self-serving element to making sure people are not sick because you don't want that running through an entire facility. So although there will be concerns as there always are with players trusting in-house folks, they're going to have to because the reality is it's not really about team versus player here. It's about everybody staying safe. And that'll be interesting whenever that happens. You also need to designate an infection control officer to be the first point of contact for somebody infected. That's wild.

Just knowing you got to be that person. I don't know what that entails. Like you maybe have to get that person out of the facility. You go talk to them. You can be the only one that comes in close contact with them. I don't know what it entails, but it's crazy. Also, you know, another thing with this COVID thing that's been floating around this week in the NFL schedule and the protocols is the UK is out.

I mean, there's no trips to London this year. In 2006 was the last year the NFL didn't play in London. There have been 28 games played there since. It's supposed to be a mainstay for the NFL. Momentum's been building, or so they say, you know, the Jags. They're basically the London fucking Jaguars. It's crazy. I mean, it's crazy how many people love that team over there.

We played them when I was with Philly, and they've done a good job with implementing football as far as that market's concerned over there. It's ironic the culture clash between London and Jacksonville, but those are the satellite cities for the Jaguars franchise. And they were supposed to have a couple games over there. No, not a couple games over there. They were supposed to have one game over there. The league was supposed to have four games this year there. And the Jags have played there annually since 2013.

And they were supposed to have two this year. Okay, they were supposed to have two games there this year, which is insane. I mean, just to think about that. It's a long trip. It's a lot on your body. So I'm sure Jaguars, the players, the organization is probably psyched, you know, south of ownership that you don't have to go across the pond twice. It's a cool thing to do once, but I wouldn't want to do it every year. I certainly wouldn't want to do it twice in a year.

That's actually a win for the Jags and a loss for them getting Trevor Lawrence. Not that there's a home team truly over there. Both teams have to take the trip, but I'm just not excited. if I'm a player and, you know, I have to go across the pond once or twice in a year. If I've done it already, it's good enough for me. No Mexico City as well this year. So schedule came out tonight with those protocols in mind. This is always an interesting time for players because you do pay attention to stuff.

I mean, you know your opponents pretty early. And when I talk about the schedule, I'm talking about both processes. You know, first, seeing the opponents. then tonight, which they made into a primetime event here on Thursday night. They, and by the way, guys, so you're getting confused here. I'm recording late Thursday night. It's damn near Friday morning. I know I keep switching up the day.

Does it even fucking matter what day it is? Enjoy the pod. Hopefully I'm not fucking you up too much here. It's Friday morning when you're listening. It's late Thursday night when I'm recording. This Thursday night, it's been a primetime thing. You know, we already knew the opponents again so that there's no, and I wonder sometimes if they should reveal it all at once. I haven't really thought about that or gone down that road and thought about why they might not do that.

But if they could reveal the schedule all at once without it leaking, that would be crazy. That would be a crazy night. But they obviously don't do that. Tonight, you figure out the ordering of the schedule and we knew the opponents for a few months here. But as a player, I was really into figuring out, one, which tackles am I going to play? How do I match up with the guys that I'm going to play this year out of conference? How early and how late do I play against certain teams in conference? You know, when I was in St. Louis, we constantly played Seattle at Seattle, Week 17.

You knew it as certainly as you knew anything on your schedule, that you were going to Seattle, You're going to play in 48-degree rainy weather against Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson, that defense. We're going to make a play in the fourth quarter. Shit, yeah, bad memories. You guys get the idea. I did it a bunch. You know, you look at things like hot weather games, cold weather games. You look at things like, you know, how early in the season am I going to have to play some more hot?

If I got to go to Tampa for the opener like we did in Philly in 2018, that's going to be a motherfucker. Yes, camp has you in shape for the heat, but there is nothing like your first football game because you add the adrenaline in. Obviously, the physical exertion steps up from camp. There's no way you can go 100% in camp. 100% demands adrenaline and somebody you don't know in front of you. You can play damn near 100% in camp. Team periods, get it done. But there's nothing like that out of breath feeling, that first drive down in Tampa.

And they throw that ball to Deshaun Jackson and the pirate ship. you know, the cannons are going off. And shit has hit the fan. And your heart rate's at about 140. Like, those are the games I was looking at. And I was saying, man, I hope I don't have to play in one of those games every year. I'd rather play the hot game late in the year. That's what the Patriots do with the dolphins, it seems like, a lot.

We went down there late in the year. It's really nice. Rams, we used to do it with the Cardinals. We used to go to Arizona. Damn near Christmas. And it was really nice getting off that plane. It's 20 degrees in St. Louis, and it's damn near 80 degrees with no humidity when you land in Arizona. You love stuff like that.

It's like a warm blanket. Come on in. Get some of this warm. Get some of this sunshine. Go out there. Your joints feel good. Running around on grass that they've carted into the Cardinal Stadium that looks like a toaster. And it's a thing of beauty.

You're just happy as a clan because you feel good and you play good because your body hasn't felt. warm since damn September. And it's just great. So you look for hot games, you look for cold games, you look at long plane rides. That's a big one. Short weeks. You have to play on Thursday night. How many primetime games you have? Early in my career for eight years, I didn't even look at the time a day that we played. It didn't really matter because I just knew we were pretty much playing at noon. And in the Midwest, you play at noon. It sucks on central time. You have to wake up super early. You know, when you're on the East Coast, you get that one o'clock game. That was a new thing for me, obviously, late in my career.

But primetime games didn't really get used to them in St. Louis. You know, I wasn't a huge fan of them after the shock of, oh, my God, people care about the team I'm playing on, war off in New England, because it's just all day in the hotel. And you're just sitting there with your thoughts. You take a nap, you get grog. You got to wake yourself up. You know, you go down, down, down, get tired. and then you wake up and you're sleepy when you get to the stadium.

I got to chuck five coffees. I don't even drink coffee. It's like I'm on cocaine for three days off all that coffee just to get up for a night game. I don't love night games. So I look for the night games. Look at the playing rides, obviously. And that again, it depends on the coach you have. Some coaches are smart and it gets you out there two days early for West Coast trip.

I believe in that. A lot of players I know believe in that. you don't try to fly across the country in coach and these are big guys it's not about the luxury it's about the size of these cats you don't have brandon brooks sitting in coach that kind of sucks um you know we had some big guys in st louis as well um new england was very good about that again i mentioned that on ryan rsillo's ringer pod that bill winner of all these championships he sits back in coach and the players ride in the front if you're older if you're a vet or if you're starter, that sort of thing.

You get that big reclining seat because you deserve it. If any, you really want to look, look up there and see your five foot seven, you know, a linebacker coach or coordinator sitting up there who didn't play a lick of football and has not certainly played a lick of football this week. That's not sore and tired and doesn't have to go out there and play the next day. You're looking at him like he's on fucking, um, Royal Dutch Airlines up there, getting them orange juice and shit and peanuts. And you're back there and I'm like rubbing elbows with William Hayes.

And, you know, we're two to a row just stacked up like sardines. Like that's not what you want. So who's your coach? How many West Coast trips you have? How many East Coast trips do you have? Seattle's one that we'll talk about. They might look at that. That's the stuff you think about.

Also, I think about tackles. I mentioned that earlier. I think about quarterbacks. So it's one of the first things I think about, listen, my career, I got evaluated ultimately on how many sacks I had in the season. I mean, that's what people look at at the end of the day with defensive ends, you know. And so winning and beating a tackle is great. But if I was the Eagles, for instance, this year and I know I'm playing Lamar one week,

I'm like, damn it, dude. That's a week where you just try to run around as much as you can. It's a totally different system. And it's going to slow you down from a run game standpoint. And if you get there, you're going to. You're not going to tackle him at the same rate. You're going to be able to tackle a Tom Brady. So for rushers, you look at the quarterbacks you got.

If I have like Kirk Cousins, Tom Brady, you know, Drew Breeze, a bunch of those guys, I'm pretty cool with it. So, yeah, those are things you look at. Now, another thing that came out tonight was that there were a bunch of schedule cards. That was like that was a thing of beauty. I think people have been waiting to see something like a schedule card to at least confirm there's a chance we do this thing. So you're saying there's a chance. All the schedule cards kind of came out, trickled in as the night went on. And I could actually get my notes going as I'm watching.

Like right now I'm sitting here watching Darius Leonard get interviewed. It was nice to not have to wait through this whole show to get this team schedule and that team schedule. The schedule cards were out. Bears might have had one of the worst schedule cards. I feel old and totally out of touch. but they got this like, claymation people thing going on. And the bear's mascot looks claymation.

And there's all these terrified mascots looking up at the bear's mascot who's holding like a bus. And it's lyrical lemonade. Maybe Cowboy Reed, my producer knows exactly what that is and he's laughing at me. I have no fucking clue what that is.

Maybe I'm dating myself. Sinci, my dog, Sam Hubbard, on the fucking schedule card. You made it. WDE in the building. Sam Hubs, good dude and a good player. And he's on the schedule card. You know, anything can happen.

Anything is possible. Packers schedule card. Looks like it was made on Microsoft Paint. That thing is terrible. Shout out to Charles Barkley. It's terrible. The Rams also did not know that teams were sinking budgets into these schedule cards. The Rams schedule card is shameful as well.

When you have a stadium like SoFi, you can't like get your graphic team to work a little longer. You just are you tired from the new uniforms, from the new logo, from all, taking all the heat on Twitter. You got to come out with a competitive schedule card. I mean, the Bengals did it. They put my dog, Sam Hubbard, on the cover. The bears, you know, the bears, I don't like it, but they did something. The Rams didn't do anything on the schedule card. Saints also have a refrigerator looking ass schedule card from 2003. You know, know. If you're a college football fan and you live in a college town, you get like a magnet schedule card from a local bar and grill. That's what the Saints schedule card looks like.

So yeah, just be competitive with the schedule cards. The Saints maybe, I mean, like they know they're fucking good at football. They don't need the schedule card. Great job with the Eagles. Some really electric green in there, a cool logo outline. And Wentz, baby. Wentz on the schedule card. I think Jalen Hertz is probably back there in the background looming somewhere with Howie somewhere on that schedule card superimposed. I'll have to look closer. Kirk Cousins tonight was a star so far, at least on the season schedule reveal.

He was smiling for a three minute solid stretch on an interview. He did not stop smiling the whole time. I have no idea what he's so excited about. It might be what I'm just about to mention, which is what he was asked about, and that was the franchise tag as it pertains to Dak Prescott and the advice you would give somebody who gets the franchise tag. And Kirk Cousins, of course, has been broken the fuck off over his career.

That might be why he can't stop smiling. His advice to Dak was that the franchise tag can be your friend, buddy. That is an easy thing to say right now when it's worked out for you. for DAC, I don't know, not so much. Although I do think DAC should come to terms with the Cowboys and get paid and just call it a day and get a security locked up. And oh my God, I mean, listen, I'm going to do it on this pod in a second here where I try to stretch some of these matchups into being interesting or noteworthy. They definitely were doing that with some of these matchups here tonight. I mean, fuck it.

I said fuck a lot this pod. screw it you know we we we got this thing for three hours guaranteed who knows when the next time we're going to have any football related you know live coverages uh let's do it now let's pump matchups like pete carroll visiting new england as a revenge reunion game you know like they literally put up a graphic of like reunion games does that i mean like i'm 35 and i barely remember Pete Carroll in New England. Like, barely. It's not a reunion game.

Bill's been there for 800 years. There's no term limit for Bill in New England. And, you know, they're pumping up games like that. You know, there's going to be a lot of storylines. We're going to stretch here. Okay. But here are some things I saw with the schedule. Just real quick.

Let's hit these team to team. Okay, everybody wants to talk about the Buccaneers. Man, you see how that happened? The Bucks. I don't know how many national windows they had last year. how many prime time games they had last year. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a lot. This is what a 43-year-old can do for you.

Five primetime games, nine national window games. The schedule as you look at it is good for them, especially late. They'll play at home a lot or versus dome teams. This is going to be a kind schedule to Tom's body. Tom has not traditionally, to my memory, played his best ball in the state of Florida, So the entire move, if you put it in that terms, is questionable. But listen, I think it had more to do with going down to Miami every late in the season for them, playing a team that always is up for them, that sort of thing.

I think the warm weather is going to help his body. I think he's going to be excited about playing down there late in the year. The coldest game on the schedule for them is week 10 in Charlotte. I mean, Brady takes all this shit into consideration. I guarantee you he saw that shit. And this is the craziest stat of them all when you look at the Bucks and Tom Brady. Tom has been favored in 74 consecutive regular season starts. Week one, they play New Orleans.

They are six and a half point dogs, which makes little sense to me other than, you know, the offseason and the concerns about getting on the same page. because he has more fucking towel in Tampa than he had in New England the past few years. And that defense is damn good. So it's wild that that street comes crashing down, not just, you know, in one week to the Saints, but they're damn near a touchdown dog. So that'll be interesting. That'll be a marquee matchup right off the bat. I think they're going to win a lot of games on the first half of that schedule.

I was looking at Ryan Clark. He had them going on a big winning streak as you looked at this thing tonight. But I agree with Ryan when he said that they're going to lose that first game against the Saints. Too much continuity there to walk into that situation, I think, and go toe to toe to with a team that's been doing the same thing for some time and a quarterback who at this stage in his career is an equal at the least. So I think they lose that game the first week and then they go on a run. The Pats, tough schedule.

lots of West Coast trips, West Coast teams, late trip to Miami. They have the toughest schedule in the league for the first time in Bill's history as head coach there for whatever that's worth. But the Miami trip late. Look at that one. They've struggled there, as I mentioned. It could be a sobering day for Pat's fans. And I'm not trying to write off Pat's fans. Listen, I know every year that's kind of thing.

Everybody's writing you off. You've got to create an underdog mentality a little bit if that's possible. I know. I know how that works. I know psychology and a little bit of psychology. 74 consecutive regular season starts, Tom Brady has been favored. Okay. So people are going to count you out this year because you have Jared Stidham as your quarterback. Okay. Are you ready for this? It's fair. It's okay that people are thinking you might not make the playoffs or that you might end up south of your nine win total. That doesn't mean that Bill's not the best coach of all time and that I don't love all the players and that, you know, they're not a terrific organization, but it's going to be

a long year. And when they play Miami late in the year, that's going to be a tough one because Miami by then, could they have Tua starting? Could they be jelling as a team? A lot of young players, a lot of draft picks late in the season. You know, if they play the Patsett second game, they could win that game again. They beat them this year, this past year, as things were. So that's what I'm going to look at, you know, snowbirds. They like to make the trip down there anyways. It's not going to stop any Pats fans. You know, but losing could be less irregular at that point in the season. You also have Jimmy G. October 15th. And the Pats get all the up and coming young quarterbacks. Last two MVP's, Watson, Murray, they've got a lot of young QBs to play against athletic

quarterbacks as well. San Francisco, all I care about with that, with that, with, with that team schedule is the week 15, Christmas week, Sunday night football showdown with Dallas. That just looks like 90s football. It looks nostalgic. Those uniforms, listen, if it gets there, I will be fucking ecstatic. I have a holiday Woody right now. I have a holiday boner. My holiday cheer is at 110 just thinking about, and I hate the Cowboys.

just thinking about watching the Cowboys play the Niners on a Sunday night, hung over from the night before because I was out with my friends at a bar, you know, hanging out with my family, my kids running around. There's a fire. I'm watching the Cowboys and the Niners, just like when I was a kid. And life is back to normal. Man, that pandemic, you remember that thing? Yeah, things are much better now.

Guess what? That's not how it's going to go down. There's probably going to be like no fans in the fucking, stands. I'm going to be zooming with my family on Christmas. That's the pessimistic outlook, positive outlook, is that this will be a great barometer for how well we've done, give ourselves a hand. We get to enjoy Niners, Cowboys, Sunday night football, Christmas week. That would be pretty cool. That'd be cool. We'll see. Kansas City, week four, things jumps out of me is they could really get after the Patriots.

And that's a game that every year you look at and you say when the two play, that the Patriots certainly have the Jedi mind advantage over, you know, Kansas City and even Andy Reid. That monkey is off Andy Reid's back after last year. This is a new era in both these teams' franchises and the matchups going to look totally different. They could kill them. I mean, they could.

I mean, that's a good defense on the other side. but if Jared Stidham goes to Kansas City, the Arrowhead and gets that win, his fourth week is a starter, presumably. I mean, put them in the Hall of Fame. Put them in the fucking Hall of Fame. Philly, that October really stands out to me. Okay, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New York.

Okay, that's a division game. They played, you know, Philly tough the past few years, including when I was there. So I know that well. That's not a week you can sleep on. That is a tough month. The only saving grace here is that the first 10 weeks of the season, Philly doesn't have to fly really anywhere, but that West Coast trip week four, and then across state trip to Pittsburgh, which is like a 40-minute flight, including taxiing, I bet. And I mentioned that on Twitter and people were like, well, you know, you can bus there at six hours.

And by the time you go through security and blah, blah, blah. Twitter knows no bounds, man. Just like, dude, you don't know it all. You don't go through security when you're an NFL player going to game. You just don't. You don't. You go pull up to the tarmac and you get on the plane. They give you a Chick-fil-A sandwich and they cram me and coach.

And you're in the metal tube for 20 minutes and you wake up from your snooze in Pittsburgh. That's how it goes. So you're not going to bus to Pittsburgh. Those are the two flights you've got. You've got San Francisco on the West Coast. You've got Pittsburgh across the state. Ten weeks of just bus trips to Washington, bus trips to like, I think Baltimore is at or maybe Baltimore's on the road.

But I looked at their schedule. They have two flights, the first 10 weeks. It's great. And I love bus trips. If you're a player, you get a chance to play somewhere where you do bus trips, it's the best thing in the world. Some guys don't like it. I love it.

Seattle, okay, we mentioned this. You know, East Coast trips. It's funny because as I gotten in this, I've realized that a lot of people had this thing. And by I got into this, I meant like got into the media. I did not know that it was a thing that Russell Wilson was supposed to be bad in like daytime or noon games or that he wasn't himself. And I bought into it for a second as a gambler and it didn't work out well this year. Five Eastern Standard Time games this year for them in 2020, they have killed it on the East Coast.

They're 19 and 6 on the road in the East Coast. That's the best in the league since Russ got in the league. So when we say daytime Russ or any of these little nicknames people have for Russ playing in noon games or whatever or 1 o'clock games, yeah, you might want to look twice at that. They got five of them this year. You're going to be a good football team. They're also a mature football team, a well-coached football team, depending on who you ask. I think it's a coach with experience that's going to know operationally how to take advantage of rest, recovery, and, you know, he's doing something right. He's a very forward-thinking progressive coach from a standpoint of players' bodies and that sort of thing.

So I'd be interesting to hear what they do that separates them other than having one of the winningest quarterbacks this millennium. Jets and dolphins. This is an interesting one. They played two weeks in a row with a bi-week sandwich in the middle. Very fucking weird. It is conceivable that you could suit up for the jets one week, get cut, and get. get picked up by the dolphins the next week, and you could play your old team a week later, who just played your new team.

I don't know if that's the first ever, if that happens, but players move, the waiver wires active all the time, especially in division. You pick up guys that know your opponent. You know, a lot of times you pick them up for a week or two, whatever. That would be interesting. I don't know if that's ever happened. Probably has. That thought just came to me.

could be just a worthless, worthless mental exercise. But maybe two weeks in a row, we could have that happen. MetLife will host six games through five weeks. That's pretty bizarre. And then the Rams are opening so far with the Cowboys in week one. That should be a no miss for them. If you're going to have fans in the stands,

I just wouldn't use it as a predictor of future outcomes, not in LA. I do think that teams going to struggle to sell tickets in that big, shining new building if it's not a big deal like opening week against Dallas. The games that I'm looking forward to a little bit here. Okay. Pats Chargers, two teams that lost their long time fixtures, a quarterback, the Pats have kind of tormented the Chargers.

The game I remember most recently is when they absolutely just ran the ball up their ass in the playoffs en route to their Super Bowl victory. two years ago. And how much better are the Chargers without Brady? That's what we're going to find out, because you could make a case. You can make a case that the Chargers might be even favored in that game. I don't know.

We'll see what happens. But anyways, it's going to be super weird. You'll be watching those two teams that have been set at quarterback for well over a decade apiece, two decades for the Patriots, and it's going to look different. It's going to look weird. It's going to look like preseason. You're going to have to get used to it. But two good defenses there.

Niners, Pats mentioned that, 28 to 3, Shanahan, you know, that sort of thing, the blown lead. And obviously, the lead here is Jimmy G. I mean, what if Kraft hasn't had enforced Bill's hand? Jimmy G is across the sideline. And San Francisco, imagine what Bill could do and Josh McDaniels could do. I mean, you know, Shanahan's maximizing the run game. but, you know, with that defense on the other side, with that coaching in New England, you'd have to imagine they'd be pretty competitive this year if they had a Jimmy G.

Okay, so when it comes to Joe Burrow, you've got two obvious games that you're looking at in the schedule and you're saying, oh my God, these could be it. You could see, you know, Miami, Cincinnati, you could see Tua, Cincinnati against the charges. You could see Herbert. You won't, though. These are two games we're going to drool over, but we will. end up seeing the bridge guys versus Burrough. Chargers, that defense will be a tough draw for Burrow week one. I think the last 12 quarterbacks who went first overall or winless in their first

career starts, that would be a huge win for Burrow if he did it on the road versus that defense. And even against Tyrod Taylor, who's an experienced player and they'll play complimentary football. the last guy that did it as far as first round pick quarterbacks no first overall quarterbacks to get that win their first start David Carr in 2002 so maybe Joe doesn't want to get that win I don't know maybe he just throws that game because he doesn't want to break the trend you've got also in Miami that possibility as I mentioned of Tua and Joe but I think there's a good chance you could see a lot of Fitzpatrick this year

you just could you might and we might be dissoned disappointed in those two games, which looked tantalizing on the schedule cards. Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, goodbye 2004 draft class. I kind of feel sad about that. I'm not going to lie. You've got Rivers. You've got Rathusberger. These are guys that grew up watching them played against, and I feel old as fuck and sad.

Nothing else I can say about that. But it'll be a good football game. And two teams in the AFC here that if the lead dogs in the AFC falter and take a step back. These two teams are going to be good. They're going to be good now. Houston, Kansas City rematch of the 24-point blown lead. Nothing more to say there. Deshaun, Pat, going to be fun. New Orleans at Philadelphia, we got Jank against the Eagles where he spent six years. And for a lot of people, they probably identify more with Jenkins as an eagle than a saint. And with good reason. I mean, you know, he was a huge part of everything in Philly, including that Super Bowl run,

and obviously got a ring in New Orleans as well, but it's been a while. And that was like the Jank with hair. I think Jank had hair back then, looked way different. I've never seen anybody look so much different through their career as Malcolm Jenkins. And I know that the Philly community loves him and he loves the Eagles. So that'll be an interesting game. Cleveland, New York, OBJ. I feel like he's going to be so weirdly well-behaved.

But there could be sparks. We'll see. Bucks, Vegas Raiders. Okay, I circled this one because it's Halloween week. You've got two franchises that every week fans come together to dress up as pirates. And it's fucking Halloween. And it's Vegas. Bucks fans are going to drive the prices down in Vegas.

They're going to be hanging out at Margaritaville and playing slots. That's it. There's not going to be any bottle service, expensive tables. Bucks fans, they're good, hearty budget Florida folks that are going to go to Vegas. They're going to live it up, but they're not going to spend crazy. That's just what I think about the Bucks fans. They are going to dress like pirates. So are the Vegas fans.

That shit is going to be a shit show if we have fans in stance. Philly, Cleveland. If Clowny signs with the Browns, wow, that's going to be a chippy game. It'll be a battle up front. You're going to have possibly the best O-Line in football, possibly, against the premier duo of edge rushers in that division, probably. I have to think, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, checking out, checking out, yep, that's checking out. One of the best duos in the league, if it was Miles Garrett and Judea being Clowny.

that is going to be a battle if that happens. Jets and Browns, the trilogy, it's developing. You don't know it's developing, but this Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, it's bird and magic. That's what it's going to be before it's all said and done. You know, they will have already played each other twice, the first one being Baker's, the first one being Baker's first appearance in the NFL. I remember where I was that night.

I mean, it was a Monday, I football game. we were all out as a defense eating in Philly at a nice steakhouse and watching the game. I just remember looking around the room and watching guys react to Baker Mayfield and saying, wow, this guy's got it. Holy shit, he's got it because the Jets blew a 14-0 lead in that game, and the Browns came back and got the W. Sam didn't play great. So the second time they played each other, the Jets and the Browns in the last couple years,

actually Darnel didn't play because Darno had mono. This was the last year. So technically they've only played each other. once. But, you know, the two teams, the two franchises, post-making those picks, which, you know, that's a huge impasse. I mean, the first two quarterbacks taken that year, I believe, yeah, well, Baker and Darnold, and we'll see how it works out for him down the line. This would be the third meeting of those teams. And it'll be interesting to see if those teams and those quarterbacks can take steps forward this year, especially I feel like the Browns, it's a make-or-break

year for them, which is a little bit unfair, new coach, who I think is going to do a good job. Baker, new system. I think people are very hard on Baker because he talks a lot and he's vocal. Sam, on the other hand, big market. People are going to be hoping he takes that next step, but you know with the Jets, they don't have the talent that Cleveland has. It's more of a building process for them. He always has a bit of an excuse this year when it comes to, like, listen, you know, the pieces are not fully in place. For Baker, if Baker fails, people are going to come down on him hard, and that game will be an interesting barometer.

Ravens Titans, you got a rematch. Enough said, that was an awesome playoff game. I mean, not awesome if you wanted a close game or if you were Ravens fan, but if you have money on the Titans, it was awesome. So it was awesome for me. Jason Garrett, he's going to get the Cowboys. Those handshakes are going to be something after the game. Kingsbury and Rule, okay?

obviously Arizona and Carolina. These are two college hot shots, very differently packaged. Okay, I don't think rule is living in a house like our boy, Kingsbury. He also isn't living the life after 10 p.m. that Kingsbury is, but otherwise, they come from high-powered offense schools in the Big 12, and they matriculated to the NFL in the past couple of years. Kingsbury has taken some shots since he's been in a league. I mean, he was definitely that coach that people kind of side-eyed getting a job so quickly and rule, you know, seem to jump to the front of list pretty quick as well.

So there are two coaches who were going to be under the microscope. When they met in the Big 12, Baylor lost the first one, 3824 in their first one in 11 year. And actually, they played really well. They kind of outplayed Texas Tech. They turned the ball over four times. Okay. The second time, they beat Texas Tech in 18, 35, 24. So that rule has kind of had the upper hand offensively the first two meetings.

We'll see how it translates, especially with a one-year jump. Can Kingsbury assert his dominance with a young Kyler Murray in that match up? I like the Cardinals this year. I really do. I think they're in a really tough division, but I would look for them to challenge the Rams even for that three or two spot in that division. The Chargers, they got to travel 10,000 miles more than the Chiefs. I'm sure it happens a lot with them geographically being on the West Coast,

but that's the biggest disparity between two teams and a division. Sleeper conflict here. One thing I noticed, talk to a TV friend. There's a Masters conflict. Masters, that Sunday, Jets, late game on CBS. CBS is going to lose their entire New York market to the Jets. That hurts. Who planned that?

Monday night football, kind of underwhelming, not my head. favorite slate. Week three, you got Chiefs and Ravens. That's what everybody's drooling over. That's a consensus favorite game here. Kind of a weak lineup as you look at it. You need the Rams to be good because you got them twice. You got them right in the media of the schedule. And you got them on the back end as well. So the Rams need to be good because you got them a few times. Holding your breath that the Pats are competitive week 16, play the bills late. You also hope they're competitive week nine. You got them there as well. And then good news, no Jags Titans on Thursday night.

So a lot to unpack. And, you know, I said that so casually. It's just people get tired of seeing Color Rush Jags Titans. It's just hideous. It's a hideous combination when the Jags do that gold thing. And Titans just do that blue thing. It just fucking sucks. I don't know how to describe it.

You've got that color. I don't know what color it is that the Jags wear, but it's hideous. and we don't have to see it juxtaposed to that, that powder blue, that Carolina blue. So that's good news. I didn't get a chance to look at the Thursday night and see what color rush matchups we have. Maybe we'll delve into that next week.

Let's get to a mailbag, shall we? From J. Mart Jamboree. And I have to compliment J.Mart Jamboree. The new protocol on our pod is to compliment for at least a minute the cat that authors the best question of the week and john martin is our guy he's a uk alumnus he likes the drums he likes hiking he's a kentucky fan from start to finish and he lives in lexington and he has a profile picture that is just tremendous he is in some sort of a mountain pass uh hiking he's got gloves on

kentucky uh pull over we get it you like kentucky no salt bro kentucky's a fine program um Also, great header. Great header. My man's got that same mountain pass picture. Likes hiking, likes Kentucky. He's good with me, minus the Kentucky. Sub that for Virginia, we're basically the same guy. I don't know if that's a good thing to you, John Martin.

But great question. Your question is, what is one song that instantly transports you to a cherished memory of a person-place adventure or all three? It's a great fucking question. I could do a whole pot on this. I just ran through some songs. I threw my thing on shuffle for a couple of minutes as I wrapped the pod prep. And a few songs came up for sure. There's, I mean, like, I'm really big about this.

I really believe that music can trigger memories as well as almost anything. I could look at a picture of something and that's fine. But I could hear a song that reminds me of a time period and I can see it, feel it, hear it, that whole thing. Immortality by Pearl Jam. I've talked about this before, but this was one of the first songs on Shuffle. This reminds me of both Super Bowls, but especially the Patriots Super Bowl, because it was just the thought, and Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands. This might be my favorite Pearl Jam song.

It's just one of those things that, you know, when you win that trophy, you are truly immortal. And for me, waiting on that first wing season, waiting on that first Super Bowl, it was just such a long time coming. It was a, you know, I daydreamed about it all year, listening to that song, daydreamed about it, listen to it on the stadium. I can feel the bus ride to Energy Stadium in Houston, driving to Houston. I remember vividly in that whole week's a blur,

which is listening to that song on my pregame. And then getting ready to go out to play in the, I believe it was our first playoff game in Philly. And we practiced at the stadium. It was a very cold day. And me and Lagarete Blunt, as we usually are, one of the last ones out to practice because we're old

and we're getting ready. and we're walking through the stadium. And this was an uncertain time where you weren't sure how good we were going to be with Nick Foles, a lot of unknowns. You know, it was a bit of a deflating time with Carson's injury. And I just remember I was walking through the bowels of Lincoln Financial Field. And they got the radio on. It's rock radio.

I've never heard the song, Immortality, on the fucking radio before. Never. And it's on all loudspeakers. It's just, it just, I round the corner and it's on. And I'm walking there with Ligarton. We're the two guys from New England. And we're walking out to take this, the field to do our first playoff practice in Philly. And I'm saying to myself, is this fucking omen or is this an omen?

And I turned and said something to LG. And of course, he just laughed. Like, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. I don't know who these people are, who's Pearl Jam. But I'll always remember that. And that song for me is linked to those super bowl. runs for me. I'll give you a retirement one for me. What is almost Independence Day, Van Morrison's probably my favorite Van Morrison song as well. But, you know, I listened to it a lot leading up to

retirement. I did think of retirement as like independence for me because I've daydreamed about retiring for a long time and being out of football and being kind of unburdened with it. And I know some people are like, well, football is not a burden. It's the greatest job in the world. But sometimes you just want to be free from it. If all you've known your entire adult, life was being under the gun and the pressure of football, you don't really know who you are. So, you know, there's a lot, you know, to be desired and breaking away from it and seeing, you know, what you're really like minus the structure of being a professional athlete. And I was listening to that kind of all week.

I remember it was the night before I was supposed to retire. I was just listening to it in the room, you know, kind of hanging out and it was a thunderstorm. I swear to God, this shit, it just sounds too cool, but it was true. It was like I was just sitting there and thinking to myself, like, okay, it's on. Like tomorrow, I got to do it. And in fact, when I retired, I invited a bunch of people over to have a little retirement drinking party because one, I needed to get a buzz before I retired because

that's a big leap of faith. And two, once you invite people over, you can't like when you tell them it's a retirement party, don't tell anybody, but it's a retirement party, they show up. You can't like change your mind and let the party down. Yeah, I was thinking ahead. So almost Independence Day, Van Morrison. cataracts. Cataracts by Freddie Gibbs

reminds me of last year. I was living with my parents, because we were moving in town into a new house. And I was living with my parents, feeling cooped up. My parents are great hosts. But, you know,

two young kids in a guest room with another guest room and like a bathroom. It was really nice. Great, great setup. Thanks, mom and dad. But I needed some fucking air a lot. Freddie Gibbs had just dropped

his new album Bandana, which is a classic already, and I just would get in the car, and I would just drive and listen to cataracts. I was listening to the album, and I would probably drive faster than I was supposed to, but cataracts will make you do that. And I love the song.

That reminds me the last summer, my first summer out of football, and I'm spending it in my parents' house. It's like just super weird. Okay, the entire Bruce Springsteen Tunnel of Love album, my dad's boat in the summer growing up. Great Memoir. memories. He had like two tapes. That was one of them. That motherfucker was staying in that boat all

summer. And I'm glad because it is a great album. Very underrated Bruce Springsteen album. Okay, say it ain't so, Weezer. This is a weird one. But I was listening to Weezer on my disc man. I remember this very vividly sitting at the lunch table in fourth grade. And I was friends with these three people. Okay. So there's two dudes and a girl. We all used to sit at the same table. I'm not going to name the girl because this day she tapped me on the shoulder. I took off my walkman and say it ain't so was playing and obviously it was on that blue Weezer album. And she shared with me that she had just had her period that day for the first time ever. And I said, what is a period? Like no idea. And then vividly described to me what that was

in fourth grade. And come to think of it, that was pretty fucking early. But I'll always remember when I hear that album, that day, just the shock of learning what that was. And probably the only time I'll speak freely about that phenomenon on this podcast in general. Spaceship, Kanye West, okay, that was freshman year of college. So was Last Call, which was on that album. Spaceship was the training camp song. Literally, you felt like you were on a space. ship and you hadn't made shit like you were obviously a scholarship athlete but you were in the

cavalier inn which is a since defunct big hotel on the corner of ivy and umit in charlottesville and this thing was it just i'm thinking about it right now the smell of it the sight of it those those those hallways that like they they had cheap glass windows where the were the outside of the hallways it was kind of indoor outdoor hallway the whole team was staying there for training camp it's 100 degrees you'd walk out of your room in the morning at like 5 a.m. That cheap door would close behind you and you just feel the humidity just hit you in the face you think about Algrove who used to coach for the Jets and you know one of my my dear friends he's like a family member to me but he was a bad motherfucker he was a tough coach we used to do his drill called two spot you go down the

bowl at the bottom of of our practice field and anybody that played football knows the lower you go the more humid it is and it was humid down there we just do oklahoma for like three hours straight i've talked about this before we had a coach that was like getting on a guy for getting for getting cramps he was yelling at him standing over him fucking coach dropped with cramps those two ended up on the same table in the training room that's how hot it was there in charlotte's florida Virginia, circa like 0405. That was when that album was hot. And I used to listen to Spaceship at night and just think, holy shit.

It's like Groundhog Day every day. And then honestly, at the end of that training camp, they played blinded by the light, the last practice. Any football player, whether your college football player, pro football player, knows the last practice in training camp, you feel like your whole life is ahead of you. You're like, I get to go home and, like, sit on my couch and not be up till 10.30 a night at meetings and then up the next morning at six, like, I don't have to hit anybody every day. Like, oh, my God, we're going to be in just shoulder pads tomorrow. That is a great feeling. We played Blinded by the Light a lot. Then last call off that album was, like, the last call song at the bar back then.

And we'd be at the Biltmore for Charlottesville people that know the Biltmore, which is an iconic bar. if you walk up the stairs on the left side of the Biltmore towards the upstairs bar, this is the outside stairway. Okay, so you walk in, you walk to the left, you make your way to the upstairs bar to the left. There is a little roof on the right hand side right before you walk back into the bar. And that little roof was my perch. That's where I used to sit with my college first year bus. which is an all-time great buzz because drinking hasn't gotten old.

You're still not technically allowed to be drinking. So there's something to that. And you just, you feel good. You got energy. And I used to sit up on that perch and just listen to the last call when they shut the bar down. Of course, they didn't kick us out right on time, but to Biltmore. That's what reminds me of training camp to Biltmore. And that was college dropout.

Deer Tick, if you're familiar with Deer Tick, they have an album called Black Dirt Sessions that took me back to the height of my drinking dark liquor and in excess. That was in the early part of this last decade. The drunkest I have ever been was at a Deer Tick concert. It was at the Thunderbird in St. Louis. There's a drummer for that band, big imposing guy. I met him at a bar after the show and we didn't say a lot of words.

All I remember was just shoveling Jack Daniel's shots. And I don't remember anything else. My buddy Ben James, who was living out in St. Louis at the time, shout out to Ben James. One of my best friends. I was 275 pounds of time. He had to drag me into the condo to make sure I got to physically pull me. I mean, that should be like a strong man compliment.

competition. You know, back then, my lovely wife, we didn't have kids back then. She used to wake up a lot to me coming home and making too much noise at two, three in the morning. So God bless her. Man, what a, what a, what a time period. We used to run hard in the early 2010s. And Deer Tick was, was a night.

Wow, was it a night? Drunkest I've ever been, for sure. Shout out to that drummer. Don't know your name. I don't know if you remember that, but I know I had to be just a sight to see that night. Philly, I mean, obviously Meek Mill is always going to be a big part of that. There was, there's that, that NFC championship pregame video that, uh,

it's one of my favorite pieces of video that I've ever seen because I was there and I feel it every time I watch it. And as I, I've always said, like anybody could get it that night. And, uh, when that meet came on, like you could just tell we were not to be fucked with. And then blue notes for me was big. So like blue notes is a more chill song. But I used to listen to it at night in training camp. And I used to look out my window because my window had a view.

And we'd stay at the one down in the Navy yard, that little whatever it is, holiday in. And my window had a view of the stadium. And the stadium would be lit up at night like a Christmas tree. And I was just so excited to play there. Not just the first year, but like especially the second year when I had come back and thought I was done. come back. And, you know, I used to listen to Blue Notes at night, and that stadium would just glow. And I would just get so excited. And I was just really feeling the whole, the whole meek movement that was happening as our team came together and, uh, and kind of took over the city. So,

uh, and then my last year in Philly, I listened to a lot of in the light, uh, 10 years gone. Physical graffiti for me was, was a big, you know, this is an album that I wouldn't account it as my favorite album until Philly and then like it was just a special year or two and I used to just listen to that album nonstop. So yeah, I mean anything Kendrick, Money Trees for me was like 2012. It was just being on that St. Louis Rams team, which was a lot of fun. We had a fun D-line, fun defense. We had fun West Coast trips. That was as much fun as I've ever had playing football. I know that's not popular to say because we weren't that good, but our defense was damn good. I was proud to come to work every day. And the Kendrick,

Good Kid Mad City was the soundtrack to that year. We had a lot of fucking fun together on the road. And Money Trees brings me right back. Makes me feel 26 years old or whatever I was. I was probably a little bit older than that. I'm really dating myself. But I felt kind of invincible when Money Trees came on. So that's a few of them. I could do a whole pot on that. It's a great question. J. Mart Jamboree. It's damn near a segment. You launched a segment. So shout out to J-Mart Jamboree, follow him. I'll be back Monday.

Obviously, we have a lot to talk about next week. I'll take some more notes on this schedule, and I've got some good guests lined up for you, too. We got Last Dance coming up Sunday night. That'll be fun, and it's going to be even more depressing when that thing ends. It's going to feel like when all you have is baseball at that time period in the summer when the NBA Finals is over and the Stanley Cup is over. It's just baseball.

This is going to be even worse. You're going to have no baseball, no basketball, well, maybe basketball. We'll see. But the last dance is going to end. It's been fun. We'll talk about it Monday morning. We'll talk more about the schedule. And like I said, good guest.

I haven't wanted to say who it is, but this guy, he's big time. He says, yeah, I'll be on. He says this week, next week. You know how that thing goes? I'm going to get them on eventually. Mystery guests. Looking forward to next week. Y'all take care.