NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2017 NFL Playoff matchups we want to see

Episode Date: December 19, 2017

A room filled with some heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Colleen Wolfe- recap Monday night's matchup between the Falcons and Bucs (3:00); Diddy's interest in buying the "North" Carolina Panthers (12:00); A buff-looking Ezekiel Elliott is set to return to the Cowboys (19:00); Marc and Dan tell creepy ghost stories (19:00); Which playoff matchups does everyone want to see the most? (30:00); Which NFL player's number would you retire? (40:00); And much more!Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast loves animals. Oh, true. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by Head and Shoulders. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes Mark Sessler, Connie Fox, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, people? Hey. Why'd you close my computer?

Yeah, that was a... Now I got to log back in. It's a whole process. It was a hostile way to open the show. An act of aggression. Total active aggression. How are you feeling, Connie? I'm feeling not great.

Do you want to tell the audience how you spent your Monday night? I drank a bottle of wine and ate a bag of chocolate covered popcorn. That's doing some work on your insides on Tuesday morning. I don't feel great. How big of a bag? Well, the bag, it actually was caramel covered and chocolate covered. Good God. I know.

And if you're watching the room... I don't have self-control. If you're watching the around the NFL podcast video show, which airs 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. Colleen wearing a valour matching sweatsuit. It's not matching. It's not matching. I have jeans on. No, I have to prove this.

I have jeans on. It's from the... I can't even see this. There we go. It's from the Tanninbaum collection, I believe. It's Adidas. Everybody get off my back. It looks like it's from some medieval kingdom.

That's what Mark said. He's like, I thought it was like a medieval jacket. Okay, you add on. Is that what people wore during medieval times? Yes, absolutely. Adidas tracksuits. If you were in the red cast system, yes. Jam-packed show, people, coming up today.

It is the Tuesday show. We get Colleen for the next like 12 minutes or so. Awesome. So let's go through what we're going to talk about today. Monday night football, of course. We do that every Tuesday. NFC South Battle between the Falcons and Bucks. Atlanta is staying in the chase.

Also, you know, the playoffs less than a month away. Yeah, a couple weeks away. It's coming down to it. Two weeks. We're going to talk about the playoff matchups we'd like to see in January. And at the end of the show, have a little fun. Kobe, this is why Colleen deemed it necessary to get bombed on a Monday night and gorge herself on chocolate is because Kobe Bryant had his extravagant,

or the Lakers, I should say, had an extravagant Kobe Bryant, jersey numbers retirement ceremony. So we'll talk about some NFL jersey numbers. It's so over the top. All I'd say is had Kobe, had there been no Kobe related event, I still feel like Colleen would have gone down the same road attaching it to some other television show or something to watch. Yeah, Monday Night Football.

There you go. So that's our show today. And we're going to do some news as well. What's going on around the NFL? Do you see how it all ties together, Greg? Finally. The payoff. The payoff.

Brought it back. And if Colleen's Andrew Dice Clay matching sweatsuit is not enough to get you to check out the video show this week, Mark Sessler has broken out his Christmas brown sweater. The two of us next to each other. Yeah, I had my children laughing at me as I was exiting. You love this sweater. I mean, you know, it's fine. I will say I made a massive mistake because I already always feel hot in this studio.

And going sweater on top of long sleeve shirt, I've got the sleeves shirt. I've got the sleeves rolled up. I'm already feeling this was a horrible decision. We have like endless video things to do today. Those sweaters don't breathe very well. Not at all. They're really hot. Your collars kind of.

And they're an eyesore. This particular sweater, my friend is a cowboy's one. It couldn't look more fantastic. I got this. In the words of Keith Hansis, you look sharp. Well, thank you, Keith. I'm not sure Keith might be the second colorblind person in this podcast. Let's get into Monday Night Football.

With five seconds left, snap, spot. try his way by Murray and it is good no good missed it to the right looked like it had the distance and Murray misses at the horn Oh and the laugh at the end too

How to kill your radio audience Yeah the radio guy has to get that call right Plus it wasn't one of those ones where it was like surprising you could tell it was pushing right But maybe he didn't have was that Was that a Gene Deckerhoff special? It depends where he was Like in the stadium probably too

Hopefully in the announcer's booth, I would assume. Sometimes it's a tricky angle, right? Anyway, the box and Patrick Murray could not convert a 54-yard field goal as time expired to end the fourth quarter. The kick sailed wide right and the Atlanta Falcons escape with a 24 to 21 win over the Bucks on Monday Night Football at the old pirate ship. Correct. what's the name of that facility? Raymond James Stadium. I don't know if that's still.

It was that at least, if it's not still. How did the Falcons win? Well, they leaned on Devonta Freeman, who rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown. He was making plays all night. The Falcons had a 10-point lead and then almost let it slip away. But they hung on to win. Five wins and six games. They remained one game behind the Saints and Panthers in the division standings.

Greg Rosenthal. were you impressed with what you saw from the defending conference champs on Monday? No, but I'm not surprised. And I kind of, I don't throw away these division games, but I try not to just like grade that. It's not like figure skating where we're giving them a 7.4. Ultimately, they swept the Bucks over the last four weeks as bad teams go. The Bucks are a little feisty.

James Winston certainly played one of, if not his best game of the season last night. And in the end, the Falcons got the job done. My concerns with them have been over the course of the season, not so much this game. But I still think they have a chance to make some noise over the next two weeks in bigger division games. Well, yeah, I mean, had that kick been good and they somehow found a way to lose in overtime. It would have been a devastating loss for Atlanta. You now, you know, with one more win, you're in the playoffs. And that likely means we don't get the Lions or some lesser team that we don't want to watch.

But you've got the Saints in New Orleans next week. and then you're home against Carolina. You're basically your playoff. It starts now. It starts right here. That was a huge game for them. I mean, they eliminated the Packers. Now they're done and they're out of it.

So we'll get to that in a second. But Devonta Freeman, what a game he had. The way that he ran in this game, it was amazing. I mean, he was, they do a segment on Good Morning Football with Angry Runs. Like, that was him all game. He was so aggressive. But the thing that I really took away from this game, you mentioned it, Greg. James Winston.

You know, he looked good. The offense looked good. But it was because the Falcon secondary, I don't know what's going on with them. They were getting picked apart. That's my concern watching them all season long. At no point has their defense looked better than a year ago, which I have a hard time figuring out because it's a young group. They look deep on paper.

It's a coaching staff that's had them for three years. And I was expecting their defense to get better. And that was what would make up for their offense falling off. And that just hasn't happened and you saw it again last night. And that's why I don't feel too good about the box. Well, and at no point has the offense been better than last year's offense outside of maybe a game here. And they're not better. I mean, it's, and we, this is one of the few offseason narratives that got hammered into the ground ridiculously with the Steve Sarkozyan replacing Kyle Shannon.

But it has played out because as Chris Wesley and our friend pointed out last night too, that these receivers are not seeing the open windows that they were with Kyle Shanahan. Against the Bucks team, not good on defense. He's seen some of their best players, many of their best players. It seems like we let him off the hook. But I don't think Matt Ryan, I know, I don't think he's having a good season. I don't think he had a great game yesterday either. I thought he makes plays every week, whether it's an ability to scan the field, find an open receiver, scramble when he has to move up in the pocket and deliver a pass. Like, oh, yeah, that's why he's an MVP in the past.

That's why he's regarded as one of the best quarterbacks. But all season, this guy misses throws, misses opportunities. to put a game away. He is not the same quarterback he was last year. And we saw it again last night. Did you know he hasn't had a game once all season where he's thrown three touchdowns in a game? He has never really had a dominant effort.

And his stat line yesterday, and I tweeted about it, he's at, and Greg, we talked about it because he was my fantasy quarterback before I went out in flames last week. So I tracked him extremely closely statistically. Every week, it's something like 17 of 28 for 190 to 220 yards and one or two touchdowns, maybe an interception. He's just had kind of a blah season. Yeah, the offense, too, I think for a while there, they weren't really incorporating the running backs as much as they were last year under

Shanahan, and now we're sort of seeing it a little bit more. But Taylor, Gabriel, where has he been? He was one of the guys last year that was a huge surprise for the offense, and you don't see him involved really at all now. Well, Ryan hasn't played well. The worst game of the season that he had was against New Orleans, which they won. And I would say the last three weeks after what I believe had been, a really good stretch of play, despite the numbers not being great.

I think he's played worse over the last three weeks. I mean, the most exciting thing that he did all last night, the most fiery thing we saw from the Falcons offense in what was kind of a dead stadium was his pre-snap yelling at his teammate. Let's listen to that. Gary in their win. Get the fucking set. Someone's not happy with the alignment.

I love that. You know, someone told me, a sparrow told me. The McDonough response is fantastic. He said it so commonly, Ryan not happy with the alignment. And he circled back to it too. He kind of said, you ever talk like that on the sideline, John? A sparrow told me, and this is not deep old Zeus or sourcing, just a sparrow that I was in conversation. An actual bird this time.

Yeah, it was a bird. No, not a wink creature, a human, told me that Matt Ryan, and maybe this would surprise you, is one of the nastiest people on the field in how he speaks. speaks to his teammates, how he speaks to the opponent. He has a, he has an intensity about him on the field, an edge that clearly, as soon as that happened, I was like, oh, okay. Here's a little peek behind the curtain. And it was kind of terrifying.

Like, I don't want to be Matt Ryan's dad. Like, imagine, like. You think he yells at his dad like that? Or his child, you mean? His child. I don't, like, what did I say? His dad. I mean, maybe he, you know, maybe he orders up.

Yeah. I don't want to be Matt Ryan's son, is what I'm saying. Clean the table. Because if you, like, break a window or, you know, put magic marker on the couch, what's Maddie Ryan going to do when you hear something like that? What it most of the new is, like, crying probably under the helmet. I would counter with this. You probably would grow up to be, like, six foot six and, like, be an incredible, you know, quarterback from age of 14 on.

Ask Todd Morinovich, you know. Oh, my God. That was a dad issue for sure, so fair point. Any other thoughts about this game before we move on? We have a lot to get to. James Winston did play great in this game. And yet it's ultimately, it's a nice little thing to put a ribbon on going into your off season

in which you're going to have a complete coaching overhaul and have to learn a new offense probably. I think the last thing I would say is how strange this game was because John Gruden was getting put into their ring of honor at halftime. The crowd has been chanting Gruden's name in recent weeks. There's rumors, as it seems like there always is, that Gruden's going to return there. He's announcing the game for the guy who's about to get fired.

Meanwhile, like, the Falcons have Bucks guys on their staff, Rahim Morris. The entire Bucstaff staff is a bunch of ex-Falcons guys, Mike Smith. It's like, leave each other alone Bucks and Falcons. It's like too much. It was very incestuous. I didn't like that whole thing. Yeah. Very true.

Very true. All right. Let's move on to the news, guys. Greg is fired up. Gruden wants back in. You can tell. Okay, y'all, this is just in breaking news. The North Carolina Panthers, okay?

North Carolina Panthers are up for sale. There he is. Also, the South Carolina Panthers. The Carolina Panthers up for sale. That was Puff Daddy, of course, who's throwing his hat in the ring to be the owner of the next owner of the Carolina Panthers. and it was reported on Monday by our own Judy Patista

that Jerry Richardson is stepping aside from day-to-day control of the team effective immediately in order to focus on the team's sale, Tina Becker. Oh, Tina Becker, 20-year employee with the team will be the Panthers Chief Operating Officer with full control of the organization. The team announced this comes following the investigation that the NFL is running

into the affairs going on behind the scenes with Richardson and some allegations against him of impropriety. So that is the situation, Tina Becker in the big chair. I think it's kind of a cool story, actually. She's been with the team since she started as part of their cheerleading troupe and moved into the business side. Do they call it cheerleading troupe? I don't know.

They actually have an actual panther's cheerleading. The official name is the Top Cats. The Top Cats. She was a top cat. Top cat. She's had a number of different business roles. And now she's the top cat. I think she's seen how everything's worked.

And this is cool. I think we can close the show. Yes, Stan, it was a great joke. Not a joke? What do you mean joke, Mark? I don't know. She's the top cat. She is the top cat.

No, I mean, that's really awesome. Trying to give her some props. I think this is one of the more unusual ways to become an NFL owner. You don't see things happen this way to take control of a team. But I think it's pretty cool. too just because not an ideal way to take control of the team

but the way that she's grown with the franchise she's been involved in so many different facets of the business there and I think that that can only help

in any situation when you are like involved on so many different levels and so many different ways you really know the people and what's going on. Yeah most owners come in and it takes them

three or four years this was even true of the Patriots owner that glorious individual it takes a couple years to figure out what the heck the job is.

Right, but they're going to have a new owner very soon. They will. I'm just saying. Does this any of this matter that Peter's in charge? It's a strange time because you never know how long that process is going to take. There's already, you know, being some names leaked out, you know, in addition to Pete Eddie, you know, of who maybe will try to buy it. Former owner, you know, we'll see.

It's going to take a little while to play out, but it's a very strange situation because the Panthers with Cam Newton playing so well are very much in the Super Bowl hunt. Yeah. We can very much win that division. And if he plays the way he's been playing, they're going to keep playing. So it's just strange. I can't remember anything like it. Diddy?

Do we go, you dropped a P. Diddy? Is he still using P. Diddy or is it just Diddy now? Well, he was going to change his name to, like, Love Jones or something totally bizarre the other week. And I think it got so much blowback that he never even did. It was brother love. The reason why it was an issue is because there's already a brother love wrestler. Well, he was like the guy with the red face, right? He was like an announcer.

He was wrestler slash Val. LA slash manager. A real renaissance, man. Bruce Pritchard. He was, he's one of the best. He passed away recently. No, he didn't. No, he didn't.

I mean, I've never really. Lindsay, all plugged in. That's why she's our wrestling insider. I've never really forgiven, you know, Diddy, for rhyming late at night when we pray for you. Every day we pray for it in the, uh, biggie, you know, tribute song. Yeah. Come on, buddy. I, I will go with his greatest sin was, uh, using the Led Zeppelin,

Jimmy Plant riff for the Godzilla soundtrack. Come with me. I would imagine Gloria Stefan is irate that she has sort of been swept aside here as like the first musician attempting to take over a team. Well, every musician in popular culture owns the dolphins by percentage points. Anyway, in other Panthers news, they're not going to have Thomas Davis for the rest of the regular season. At least as things currently stand, the league announced Monday that Davis, their veteran

and linebacker will be suspended the final two games of the regular season for the helmet-to-helmet cheap shot on Devante Adams that left the Packers wide receiver with a concussion. Rap sheet reported Davis plans to appeal the ban and we'll see what happens if upheld he won't be eligible to return until January 1st, which would coincide with a potential playoff run for the Panthers. So we'll see if we see Thomas Davis. again, I would guess the way these things usually work is it will get knocked down to a game

and we'll see him in week 17. But who knows? It might do him a favor. Thomas Davis has not been the same player for the last month. He's been fighting through a hamstring injury. He was struggling. I would say he was borderline exposed in the Saints game. It might help him take a, I'm not saying he wants this, but he's an important player to their team who's clearly playing hurt and is not at his usual form. So maybe a week or two off. It brings back though, because this was big on Twitter yesterday, the concept that Grunk got one game for what he did, and this was a bad

hit, too. I mean, I have no problem with this getting two. Probably could get reduced to one. Because he's a repeat offender. It's because he's been suspended. He's been punished for this. That's fair, that's their reason. But that doesn't make what Gronk versus other suspensions we've seen makes zero sense. It is completely confused. The reason is, if it

was two games, Gronk wouldn't be available for the Steelers game. And what a difference you made. And the league is in cahoots, keep the Patriots at top for monetary. Well, you've You lifted the lid on that. I agree with your theory. Do you agree with that theory, Greg? Rosenthal?

No. I'm going to go with the prior. Prior. Greg sides with the man. And by the way, one last known on that, the league gets a ton of blowback about you guys don't do enough to protect the players. The players got to protect the players.

And that was a totally unnecessary shot against Adams who had a terrifying concussion a couple days, a couple weeks back, a month of back. And, you know, come on. He said three total. I mean, it's a shelf life with these concussions. You can't, you know. Des Bryant, excuse me.

Zekiel Elliott is back with the Dallas Cowboys. His suspension is over. And, Mark, you are going to Cabo after the season ends. And you will be alone, number one. Great. That's vacation one of seven in this office. Number two, you will have a drink in your hand. Number three.

What kind of drink? What kind of drink? I don't know. You seem to be the expert on... Why don't you suggest something for me? I'm trying to get the full picture. This is a raging mythology that not a single ounce of it is true or possible.

Let's say pinocalada. Okay. The cherry on top. Frozen pinacolada. Just soaking in the rays after a long, hard season of work. Well, Zeke Elliott also was in Cabo, but no pinocaladas.

A pina colata? It should be a... Yeah, there is a squig. A pina colata. Shout out to the Mexican listeners. Sounds gross, though. Pina colada sounds a little better. Yeah.

Anyway, Elliot was in Cabo. He was training, though, and you guys see the photos of Zeke on the beat? He's completely ripped right now. I actually went on my honeymoon to Cabo, and I did not come back looking like this. That's for sure. It would have been weird if you had. A lot of wine and chocolate nuts or whatever it was. What is happening?

A huge beard. What did you have that night? I don't know, Dan. Carmel. Chocolate covered popcorn. Oh, same. Close enough. Anyway, so Zeke Elliott is in great shape.

And Des Bryant, everyone's all excited to get him back and the Cowboys have a chance to make the playoffs. Isn't it kind of weird? Does anybody else think it's weird that Zeke reported to training camp at the start of the season and he was not in good shape? The last two years in a row. So then he gets suspended for off the field issues. And then he's like, I'm going to take this to be ripped up.

I don't know. Why not use that as motivation, though? I think it would point to maturity that maybe he wasn't taking his body and his conditionally as seriously, but he sees now that there are consequences and he's hungry to come back and drop a hammer. Well, it's not an excuse at all, but his legal situation was unfolding throughout the offseason in a different way, whereas now it's not part of his daily life. It's kind of settled. I think the bigger, if I was a Cowboys, I'd be more worried about Tyron Smith.

missing this game, then Zeke Elliott helps you go. I have observed this video show on the video show on our site a few times. You're the one. It's constantly, they have Greg and I, and I, I like it. It's a little bit. Christian, is it possible that Colleen and I could get a split- No, I think not actually possible. I think whoever who is making these decisions behind the glass

understands how ratings work, understands how viewer attraction works. That's true. What is wrong with our ratings then? It's not working. Our download numbers on the video show. How are they doing, by the way, Lizzie? How are we doing with people watching our show? Through the roof.

Through the roof. Where is it? Take that back. Through the roof. NFL.com slash ATN video. Oh, great. Okay, cool. Now I know where to find it, Greg.

You know what? While you're at it, get involved in a 1,000 foot by 1,000 foot shrubbery labyrinth and find like the jewel in the middle. That's how easy to find our video show on NFL.com. Moving on. Hey, Jeremy Curley was cut by the Jets. the veteran-wide receiver who was picked up

off waivers earlier in the season before he was cut on Wednesday he told reporters how did the drugs the illicit drugs get into his system

Curley responded I don't know according to north jersey.com there's a lot of ghosts around here ghost put it in there you know the ghost of Christmas past I don't know

whoa This is spooky, guys. Well, my question, this is... I'm starting to understand a little bit better why Curley's had trouble keeping a job the last couple of years. Why? Because he's haunted by ghosts. I don't know, just... He probably lives in Connor Orr's house.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, here's a very real question. And I know the answer. I know Greg's answer. But I'm curious, but... Well, start with Greg then. I mean, what?

Yeah. All right. Do you believe in ghosts? No. How about you guys? I believe in spiritual sort of entities. I don't think it's... like, oh, Mr. Jones died

and now there's the actual ghost of Mr. Jones. Old man Jones. Yeah, I don't know about that, but I absolutely think that we are using a small fraction of our brains and you can sit around thinking everything that you see with your little eyes is all that is real, but I think there's much more happening in our world. Our world is

very strange. I agree. I agree with that. I completely agree with that. I've never seen a ghost, but I'm always afraid of seeing a ghost. So, like, I used to always get really freaked out by the Unsolved Mystery shows. where there would be ghosts outside on the lake. Incredible accounts, incredible accounts out there of some stuff that has multiple people reporting similar visions and instances coming from all different parts of the world to certain spots.

So maybe it's all a sham, it's a highly organized sham. My Aunt Sheila was very, very staunch and serious about the fact that there was a woman named Farsetta who lived in the basement of their home. home. No. And I never saw Farsat, even though I spent a lot of time at their house. But then I lived in Hollywood about 10 years ago, and we had been told that a woman has music. We had been told that a woman, unfortunately, the previous woman, her husband had died, and then she was like a pack rat, and she collapsed in the house and got stuck in the house

and died in the house. And we used to hear weird things all the time. I like it. These are weird things all the time in that house. And then one night we're watching movies. And maybe we weren't, you know, at 0.08 or below when we were watching this movie one late night. I will never forget it. I saw someone peek around into the living room area where we're watching television.

And then like two weeks later we heard footsteps upstairs. No. And we were like, hey, Brian. Hey, Brian. And we heard like drawers opening closing. Brian, you want to come get lunch with us? We didn't hear it. We went up there.

Brian's not up there. That's freaky, dude. One thing, that's a crazy story. That's so weird. A lot of people that claim to see things, and they're immediately dismissed, are children. Also, animals have incredible sense to energy. But the thinking adult just says, I've closed all that down. So you're a child, you're speaking rubbish.

Go back to your room. Greg, have we changed your mind on ghosts? I mean, a lot of what Mark says, I totally agree with, that there's energy, that there's different things that we don't understand. And I don't think the, average adult does shut it down. I think actually the, I think the conventional wisdom is, is in favor of the ghosts, right? I mean, aren't most people at least believe on some level of different. I would agree that at some level, yes. Yeah. I'm always waiting for it to happen.

Yeah. I'm so desperate for it to not happen, but I will wake up in the middle of the night and I will be like, is there someone in the living room? That's me. That's how I wake up in the middle of the And now to bring it all the way around, did a spirit taint Jeremy Curley's paint? Absolutely. Okay. There you go. Hey, before. That's the spirits don't have anything better to do?

Before we move on, do you guys want to hear a little bit more from Puffy pitching his ownership pitch for the Carolina Panthers? I could be done with this. Okay. Let's hear it. Well, I need to send a message out to everybody in the beautiful. state of North Carolina I will be the best NFL owner

that you can imagine I'm listening I will immediately address the Colin Kaepernick situation and put him in the running for next year starting a quarterback it's just competition baby

it's just competition but also sorry Cam not a bad backup hey just competition I will have the best half time show The best selection of music And we will win That we will win Bad news for Derek Anderson

You know Mace Oh that would be great I mean Mace is available Let's put it that way If we can get Mace in there For eight home games A couple preseason games

Swiss beats maybe Playoff game Get Swiss beats in there Our younger listeners That means Alicia Keys They're married So Get 112 in there

Remember 112? 1112 yeah I would I think this would be, I think look at the way that the ownership group looks, needs to probably change fast. Not neat, probably does needs to. And why not open

this up to lots of different types of people with different ideas to change the NFL experience? It needs to be changed. They should trade back. They should trade back for Kelvin Benjamin with a tie in there. Like Benjamin's a lot of like, you know, you can like that. That's great.

As long as Buster Rhymes is somehow involved. You get Buss a Buss in there. How about the idea of Biggie Small's hologram, get Faith Evans, you get 112, and every halftime show just do, I'll be missing you. Oh, my God. That would be amazing.

Late at night when I pray for you every day. I pray for you. When an idea, when you can start to envision all sorts of aspects of it, it's a good idea. Latey night, I play for you every day. I pray for you. All right, that's what's happening in the news. All right, let's move on.

Next Seg. Yeah. A little industry talk. for you. Playoff matchups, we'd like to see the most. So the playoffs will begin. What is today?

Two and a half weeks. There we go. He just approximated. Greg's got the calculator out. 17 days. A fortnight plus some. Yes. I don't think that, yeah,

I don't think that's right, but. Yeah, who's going to check? Honestly. So at this point, let's, I don't want to say, I don't want to hold any back. If you want to get crazy and talk Super Bowl, you can talk Super Bowl. But just in general, maybe more in the coming weeks, what we could see. How about the playoff matchups we'd like to see

the most? Mark, get it going. I know that everyone wants to just catapult a couple teams in the AFC right back into a rematch in the AFC championship. But I... But you've been telling us all season. What? That's what's going to happen. Well, I picked a different team to go to the Super Bowl. It was the Chargers. And I understand that they kind of flopped big time against the Chiefs. But before that, they were the team in the AFC that I thought could beat anyone on the right day. And I don't think that the ingredients that made that true before the Chiefs game are necessarily untrue at this point. I think they can bounce back. They have games remaining against the Jets and Raiders. The doorway is there for them to get in. They're not in great position

after that chief's loss, but it can happen. And I would like to see the chargeers go into the playoffs and drop a massive hammer on the Steelers. And take the Steelers out of this thing because, A, I don't like the Steelers. Check out the sweater I'm wearing to start with. But secondly, enough. The Steelers had a chance to show us in their home field

that they could get out of their own way and seal up a big victory. And their DNA. And the catcher took it. don't simply blame the refs for that game. That's simple. That's the simple. It was the rule.

They absolutely had the DNA of a team that's going to flop in the AFC playoffs. I don't trust them. I want the Chargers to go deal with the Patriots. I think that's the team that has a chance to get New England out. Whoa. Well, let me just say, though, you are saying because the Steelers, quote, unquote, laid an egg or whatever at home against the Patriots in a game.

A lot of people thought they deserved to win. But at the same time, 24 hours earlier, the Chargers laid a six. stink bomb in a huge game. So you're going to give the Chargers a pass, but say that the Steelers were... All these teams are extremely flawed. These teams are very flawed. These aren't super power teams. And I'm tired of acting like we've got seven superpowers.

There's a lot of average teams out here. I'm just saying that. I'm just saying, like, half these teams making the playoffs are not playoff material. There's a long history of teams having big time stink bombs late in the season and going on a Super Bowl run. The Ravens lost four or five before doing it. The Cardinals got waxed a couple of times late in the season, and then they ended up going to the Super Bowl.

And the path for the Chargers is not too difficult. That's right, a split screen. It's not too difficult. All they need is the big thing is they need the Titans to lose both of their games. That would really help. But the Titans play the Rams and the Jags. They're not beating any quality opponents. Then the bills lose at New England, and the Chargers slip right in as a 60.

It's going to happen. I think it's happening. This gets Tennessee out of our world. That's fine. And I'd be happy about that. You know, I love that. I would love the Chargers. The Steelers to me are your Patriots.

You don't want to see the Patriots succeed, right? I am tired of the Steelers. And I have a much more strong opinion about the Steelers and the Patriots, to be honest. Well, that's clear. I understand that. I don't know how you're going to be tired of the Patriots, too. I'm not necessarily not tired of the Patriots, but the Steelers are ultra poison. I am a little tired of the Patriots.

I'm a little tired of both, but it's like I can't change anything about the Patriots. They're going to handle their own business. Pittsburgh, not so much. I want to see the chargers in the playoffs, but we already saw the Chargers going to charge her on Saturday. Am I totally confident they're not going to do it again now?

Because they looked a lot like the old poor chargers. Yeah, but listen. This is what I want. This is not what probably will happen. I don't often get what I want in the NFL to begin with, so let's start there. That was a very passionate, like. The Steelers get me to the brink.

They do. Is there what to do a split screen with Mark in both screens? I like that. Can you guys do that? Now we're actually, you know, we're giving the fans what they've been asking for for weeks. Wow. All right. Next time Mark talks, let's just get them in the double split.

This is the, if you've been, like, holding off and watching a video show, this is the show between the dice clay, velour suit, Mark's sweater, all the split screen stuff. Yeah. Let's see the split screen real quick. Special episode. Oh, that's cool. Wow. That's so awesome. That's so awesome.

That reminds me of like an Erica Temposi tweet. Yes, it does. She comes up much. Yeah, that is definitely. NFL.com slash ATN video. All right, Connie, what playoff matchup would you like to see? Mine is not nearly as passionate as Marks, but what I want to see is, I mean, come on, how am I going to follow that up? I would love to see the Eagles and the Vikings go up against each other in the backup bowl.

Backup quarterback bowl. Case Keenham, Nick Foles. Look, I don't think that, I mean, I think the Vikings are probably. the toughest opponent for the Eagles to face in terms of matchup-wise because of that defense, it's just so good. But I would love to see these two teams play, which I think we're probably going to. And that would mean they're in the NFC championship game. I don't know about probably.

Probably feel strong. You got the Rams. That means no Rams. You got the Saints. Yeah. I like, I kind of like the Rams. I really was very nervous now. The Nick Foles being more than competent makes me feel better about the Eagles.

but nothing it's just a split screen again look at that there's the sweatsuit which way do i have to turn that way um but i don't know do i think the eagles are going to make it to the nancy title game i think they got banged only gonna need one only gonna need to win one home game now they have clenched that this feels much more like an eagle's team that i can get used to your greatest fear has occurred and you can move on now yeah now now i feel like okay this is right it's true anything so the pressure is kind of off now yeah totally if they win one playoff game with Foles, ultimately you're like, wow, that that's pretty great. You just gave up almost 500 yards passing Eli Manning, going to need to work on that.

It was so bad. That was so bad. That was bad. Like 38-year-old Eli without O'Dell Beckham. I don't know what happened. I can't talk about it. All right. I will throw out, yes, somebody has to do it.

Steelers, Patriots, playoff rematch, but this is what I want. I now I'm living with it. It's not going to be in Pittsburgh, which is going to be a major bummer in terms of leveling the playing field but at least give me this football gods you were jerks again on Sunday you are the worst terrible you're terrible gods

your godless god well that's gonna that's gonna go over well up there you're threatening the gods whatever they do you got to bring a sacrifice you're this is my quarterback room Josh McCown broken left hand Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg bring it on guys they did you wrong anyway

give me Antonio Brown as Antonio Brown in that game. I don't know. You heard him fix him for that game. Give me Levyon Bell. I don't want him on the exercise bike in the second quarter. I want Levy on Bell. And I don't want Tom Brady getting injured either.

I don't want anything bad to happen to anybody. I just want both these teams at close to full strength. And I don't want the catch rule involved. Double screen. I don't want the catch rule. involved. I don't want any shenanigans. I don't want a folded index card. I just want these two beasts of the AFC to play a game where the best team wins, and we know definitively on a neutral field, it would be great.

On a Heinz field, it would be even better. Let's do it in Foxborough and let's fly. Just give me that football guys. That's what I want to say. If you wanted to be even greedier, you could ask for a Bill's win in Foxborough this weekend, and the Steelers still get home field advantage. And now I fully don't expect that to happen. I think there's a very, very small chance of that to happen. But it's football.

The dolphins waxed the Patriots two weeks ago. No one in this room would have even considered that as a possibility. I'm just saying they haven't clinched home field yet. There is a chance. I have an even better scenario. Yeah, I know where you're going. Football gods, you want them to finally smile on you? Yes.

That the Pats lose homefield advantage. Do it. To Todd Bulls and the Jets, baby. In Week 17. Forget the rules. That would be, you could dance around the newsroom. You'd be just stripping clothes off as you go. You'll have a great old time.

Trust me, that did. I was looking at the schedule. If that was at the Meadowlands, I'd be like, oh, maybe it gets a little weird. Even better in Foxborough. And there's a history of the Patriots doing that. They did it a couple of years ago, and that was why they were on the road in Denver. They totally blew home field advantage at the end of it. If Josh McCown is playing, I'd feel better about that.

Even better in Foxborough, Bryce Petty, or even better, Christian Ackenberg. Crows four touchdowns and knocks out New England. One last thing to look forward to this jet season, but I'm not obviously putting a lot of hope in that. Greg. All right, since we're so close and now we can really picture the match. I gave my whole dream wild card round,

so I'm just going to roll through it quickly. This is the best possible entertainment for the wild card round. We got the Falcons at the Rams in Los Angeles. Love it. That's spicy. We got the Panthers and the Saints in New Orleans. The Chargers sneak in.

Ooh, this is a fun one. Chargers, Jaguars. There's just a lot to like there. Gus Bradley Revenge game. I kind of stuck the two teams that I'm not too excited about together. Ravens at the Chiefs just to kind of, okay, that's the bad game. That's the game that, you know, I'm not too. That looks with Joey Bosa, Melvin, Abrams coming on the edges.

That is your Blake Bordell's meltdown game. Chargers at Jacks. So that's my full weekend. And it's fairly real. We are looking at this. Greg sent this to the producers. They have it on screen in front of us. You nailed this.

That would be, because with that final match. Chiefs, Ravens, we don't want both of those moving on. One of them is knocking the other. Christian, give Greg the double screen. Give me the two screens. I want two. Double screen. Can you give them three?

Oh, my God. Give me three. All right, that's scary. Yeah, Greg, yeah. Great work. Our audio listeners, we're completely off the room. Drifting off by the minute. Oh, I got to go.

All right. Count of time. Hold on. That's it for me. I have a very important meeting to attend. scenario I cannot believe by the way you told me your power ranking show is going through the playoffs what are you going to talk about I don't know we're going to rank I mean everybody should watch it we're going to just keep on ranking do you rank the teams that are out of the playoffs

like if the Patriots lost in the first round can they still be ahead of like the jaguars it doesn't really make sense I don't because then it's like before the Super Bowl we're just ranking two teams I don't know I don't know I don't know I got to go so it's an hour long show yep all right Connie. Our long show, ranking two teams by the time you get to Super Bowl, that is, that feels. Well, if you ever need, you know, extra guests, Mark's got a great sweater. There you go. Dan and I can talk about teams.

See you later, Connie Fox. All right. Finally, last thing before we get out of here, yes, Kobe's number was retired. It really said Colleen for a loop last night. I did not catch the festivities, but if you know. anything about Kobe Byrne's career, you know that he had two numbers. He started his career as number eight and then about midway through, 24 he became. And they retired both those numbers, which seemed a little bit unnecessary.

But changing your number felt unnecessary. Whatever. Now, a little fun. Whose number would you retire? The NFL doesn't retire numbers like the NBA and certainly like baseball. They're a little bit. Some teams, for instance, the Dallas, Cowboys, no retire numbers.

Got a couple candidates there. So, but we are going to retire numbers. And it's not like, oh, well, I retire Emmett Smith. Let's dig a little deeper. We'll start with you, Mark. Whose number would you retire? It is offensive to me that when I have tried to sit through these Browns games each week, that a wide receiver who has already been, you know, in trouble this,

this year for staying out late and missing curfew and not really producing in his two seasons in the NFL. Corey Coleman is wearing number 19, which was once worn by the great, at least great in Cleveland, Bernie Cozhar. The last quarterback, this is the problem in Cleveland. People can't remember any good quarterback play since Bernie Cozor out there. That's the problem in Cleveland? Well, there are, that's, that is one of the problems. Oh, they've not found a quarterback. And it's true for a couple of these teams where, you know, outside of one year where Derek Anderson signed some sort of deal with the devil, Bernie Kozar has been the last guy you can look back on and say, hey, that was our guy. We'd go to the stadium. You knew this guy was going to produce 300 plus

yards, multiple touchdowns every game. There was one season in 89 where they simply relied on the deep ball almost exclusively. They couldn't run it all. He's been at three AFC championships. I'm not saying he's a Hall of Famer, but in Cleveland, he is still someone that's attached to the team. he's still in that town he's a hero in Cleveland you want to talk about a retiring a number number 19 is not someone you're going to give to a bunch of other quarterbacks and players anyway retire it now I mean it's it should have happened 15 years ago statistically maybe he doesn't rank with the all-time grades but he was an important player to fans of that franchise it's it's similar uh in some ways although maybe he had higher highs

in a different sport but don mattingly is a beloved figure in yankees history not a hall famer didn't have the longevity, but they retired his number without thinking twice because he was so important to the fans. Right. Cozar is a similar figure with Browns fans, correct? Get it right. That's fair. All right.

I will, I don't know. Like, do I think Wayne Krabetz is one of the great wide receivers of all time? Certainly not. But he's one of the great stories of all time. And he came around with the New York Jets at a time, a very highly impressionable time in my life. I think he was undrafted in 1995 at a Hofstra. The Jets used to train at Hofstra.

And part of the deal with that Long Island-based higher education institution was they would be able to essentially submit a player from their roster to get a tryout. And that's how Wayne Krivet got in the door with the Jets, a horrendous Jets team. This was the first year of Rich Cotite and Rich went three and 13. in year one, and then one in 15 in year two, fired after that. And Krabet was the one shining light of that 95 season. The Jets get the first overall pick in 96 and take Kishon Johnson. And one of the first things Kishan does after his rookie season is write a book,

infamously titled Throw Me the Damn Ball, in which he grouses that Wayne Krabet was getting prefferant, treatment and he labeled Kribet as a mascot for the team. And as you can imagine, Krabet, who is at this point now a young star on the team and Kishan, the number one pick in the same wide receiver room, a little bit awkward. But Krebbett always kind of was classy about it.

He was a local guy from Garfield, New Jersey, exit 157 off the Garden State Parkway. And so it was just good to see him have a really nice extended career. He had a huge catch in the Monday Night Miracle game. in that great comeback against the Dolphins. And later on, when Kishon barked his way out of New York and went to the Bucks, he talked trash on Wayne Krabet one more time. I think he had some – Krobet had a unfortunate nickname like The Green Lantern, I think it was. And Kishan made some type of negative comment.

And Curtis Martin on a halfback toss throw beat the buck. in Tampa on a throw to Krivet to beat Kishan in their first matchup. That was really nice. So Wayne Krabet was a great jet on Heralded Jet and a real underdog for the agent. And incredibly reliable. Three seasons with eight plus touchdowns, a thousand yard a year. And honestly, he was always the Jets guy. I get with Kishan Martin and he was a good player.

But Wayne Krabet was just so much more likable. I loved watching those Jets teams with Kribet. My favorite third down receiver in Jets history as well. The guy was nails. Greg? I think there is something about the slot, the small slot receiver that people just end up liking. And that's my choice to retire a number in New England. Let's retire Troy Brown's number 80. Because who is more of a Patriots player and more of the symbol of what happened to really turn around the franchise in the beginning part of the last decade?

Then Troy Brown, the first championship, I think, for a franchise is always going to be the most. special and his performance in the AFC championship game, which was an even bigger upset than the Super Bowl to follow in terms of the point spread and everything in Pittsburgh. It's a one-lost Steelers team where he returns, I think, what was his third kick of the year for

a touchdown. He also picks up a block punt and laterals it, and that goes for a touchdown. One of the great special teams players made a great defensive play when he forced a fumble after an interception in San Diego, and those were the types of plays that

Troy Brown would make year after year in 2004. He famously played cornerback for much of the year when they were short on injuries. And to me, he is Mr. Patriot, especially early 2000s Mr. Patriots. And I'd love to see him recognized. Pre-thrown-of-ease. Oh, yes. This is one of the Patriots weren't a team that a lot of people despised and hated to see win all the time. So Troy Brown was kind of plucky and like Corvette on some of an underdog guy that was easy to root for.

And he was on the team for four or five years, five, six-year special team or before he really ended up doing something. People remember him as a thousand-yard receiver, but that took a long time before that ever. 193 to 2007. And, you know, he's one of the first guys where you started seeing these think pieces in long forms about Belichick liking a player that you could use in so many different ways. And there have been so many iterations of Troy Brown since. Yet he's the one that we can all get behind because it's a time when I was rooting for those Patriots to beat the Rams. And I was rooting for them to beat those Steelers, Drew Bledsoe coming in for Tom Brady and that AFC championship.

All those men we've just mentioned, Bernie, Wayne, and Troy had shoulders of greatness presented by head and shoulders. We gave that little shampoo company more than they were bargaining. I got it in there. Speaking of former Patriots, I wanted to get this in on Sunday show, but we didn't. Did track down the Zolak call. Apparently his head did not explode the WBZ color man who last time we heard him on this podcast, he was. was celebrating gronk, giving another man a brain injury, class act all the way, that Scotty Zolak.

But now we assume, and we all remember his call after the Patriots defeated the Falcons and overtime of the playoffs, that was a man in ecstasy. I would think Big Ben's pick would probably get Scotty fired up, right? Scotty too hotty. Thirding goal to go from the six. Rafflesberger undercutter draft back. He pupsy, pupsy, pups, throws him in the middle.

It's back and complete. Intercepted by Harmon. He's going to flutgeon to Harmon. In the interception of the outside, the Patriots are going to win in Pittsburgh. I mean, I don't know what to say anymore. I really don't. I really don't. You and me both, buddy.

I guess part of the agreement, if you're the play-by-play guy attached to Scott Zolak, is that every time I have a game-altering massive call, you're going to just talk over me in drunken shouts and make sure that your message supersedes mine entirely. Scotty too Hottie Zolak with the call. All right. That's it. That's it for today's show.

We will be back on Thursday. Oh, a little program note. Our Sunday flagship show, because it falls on Christmas, messes things up. So there are 14 games on Christmas Eve. We are not going to do a show Christmas Eve night. We have families. You know, what are we doing? This is football, ultimately.

So we're going to go see our family. and then there's Is Daddy ever coming back? Also, we attempted this show in the past and the ratings were awful. Not great. We did it last. So then there's two games on Christmas Day, of course.

You will hear our flagship show where we go over Week 16. That will be Tuesday morning. That way we get the Christmas game. Get all the games in there and hopefully everyone will be not so busy with the holidays and I think it will work out for everybody.

So it's going to be a little AB test, if you will. to see how you listeners respond to it. But yes, if this does poorly, we will be working on Christmas Eve next year. The calendar works out in our favor for the next four or five years. Yeah, we have a solid four or five year break till... Thank you, Earth Calendar. It's back.

But the next time you'll hear from us is the regularly scheduled time Thursday, where we will preview all the week's 16 games. Until then, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for Quiet Storm. Connie Fox. Yo, boss. You don't mess with a Fulton and Christian Anderson behind the glass. Tell Thursday.