NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2021 Around the AFC in 48 Minutes

Episode Date: May 4, 2021

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Patrick Claybon go around the AFC in 48 minutes starting with the Buffalo Bills (8:05). The heroes dive deep into Sessler's sleeping habits and also add a new rule change to the game. Timeouts incoming! Huge stop down for some major Teddy Bridgewater debate (53:17).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. Bought too many NFTs. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a room filled with some heroes, Mark Zessler, Patrick Claibon, and Greg Rosenthal, NFTs.

I'm like, please. Nailed it. This is not a group I feel like that that's true about or is overly invested in the NFT market, I would say. Wait, is this call for another episode of Money on Money? Hit it, Ricky. No, I don't have it. Yeah. I think he would be the guy.

But as our capitalist class becomes more intrigued by the idea, I recognize that for fear of future consequences, is maybe I should keep my mouth shut regarding NFTs. Mark, Mark. Yes, this is the first post-draft edition of our show. Thank you for everybody who was loyal to the brand last week when we rolled out with five Eps in the biggest of all spots. And now we have Claibon back, which is great because Claibon is Claibon. But he's here for a specific reason because as per tradition, Greg, Rosenthal. This week is a good week to do a check-in on everybody, isn't it?

It is. We always do the around the AFC and NFC in 48 minutes, three minutes per team. At one point, we changed it to two and a half minutes per team. I think we forgot about that. I don't know where that stands. But Claibon's a veteran of this. I didn't even have to tell him the rules because he's been, he's done it many times for whatever reason. I just, yeah, I look forward to the opportunity. I got the text late night, well, late for me like as a watched parent of two from from dan and i was like okay i'm ready for this i mean i know that when i'm hoping to get late night texts surprise text what i wanted to be is you're on a show tomorrow it requires a ton of research get to bed wake up early and get your act together because we

air at 11 my favorite mark text are the one that come the ones that come at like 3 a m and it's a ural to a saint vincent song or something uh that's a real a woozy banger Three in the morning, that's a little aggressive. Or like four in the morning and it's like, why is this person tweeting this? Just mute them, Mark. You know, that you can save you. I don't have sleeping patterns that match up with, A, anyone in my house or most people that I know. But I try not to break code by hitting you with too many texts at four in the morning.

If that's happening too often, I need to check myself at the door. Where are we with your sleep cycle right now? because, as you're saying, that is an issue for you, unfortunately. How many hours of sleep would you estimate you get on average per night? A four. It's not great. It's not great, but you kind of get used to it. You know, it's like if it's six or something, you feel lucky, but about four.

But mixed with periods of sitting alone in the house in total, not alone, but total silence for another four. In between those four, it's not four in a row. So, oh, my God, could I be more productive during that time? Yes, I do nothing. It explains a lot. It explains a lot. I'm worried.

I'm actually concerned for you, Mark. That sucks. Well, that's just the beginning of the issues. All right. So, yes. I know we did drop down to two and a half, Greg, but that just doesn't have the same pop as three minutes. Three minutes is a nice way. That was like a preseason one or something.

Forget that nonsense. And what happens is, and it happens. every year we come out of our two draft shows and people get a little snippy that their team didn't get the love. Well, these next two shows, every team in the NFL gets their due. And by the way, one rule that's kind of was an unofficial type rule. It's like how they changed the rule with the official being able to help out the guys on the field, the guy in the eye in the sky. We're going to add three timeouts. If at any, and you have to be good with time management here, it's for the whole show. We all have to work together. If you have to stop the

clock for any reason, whether you need to share something unrelated to a team or if there's something that you really just need to get out there. Ricky, this involves you as well. Call time out. And then that stops the clock. I don't know if we have any Andy Reid time managers here. Like, who's the best at time management in the NFL, by the way? Who's the guy that's seen as the best? Is there somebody out there that's? Besides Greg Rosenthal. Yeah, I think certainly is up there. I think it's Belichick because he's kind of free from criticism. is like if Bill does mess something up then everybody's like oh he did that for a reason

right this wily man you know who's good harbaugh's good harba's good right wait we all we each have three timeouts or like suddenly greggs use burn two timeouts wait yeah we're sharing them as a team so someone someone could just jack up three timeouts

in the first like two minutes you're saying I'm gonna be honest I'm gonna be reluctant to use a timeout yeah one of you guys of it because I would like it to be one of the other ones fault if another person doesn't get a timeout we're in this together I will not use one. I will say that right now.

Mark, if there were 15 timeouts in this exercise, that would be potentially an issue. So we're just three total for the five of us. Think about it, but be smart. All right. Now, we're doing AFC today, Thursday, NFC, with another special guest. But right now, the only guest that matters is the great Patrick Clayvon. Not really a guest either. Kind of an unofficial hero.

Let's get to it, starting with the AFC East, Ricky, you know the rules. You've got to hold us to the clock. And nobody goes beyond the three minutes. There's an honor system here, okay? It's about honor. Let's start with the Buffalo Bills. Start the clock, Ricky, Mark Sessler.

You know, I think the journey of the bills is super fascinating. Like two years ago, we were wondering, when will they get past the New England Patriots? Bill Belichick and Versa Jean McDermott, when will they get over that? Last year, at this time, it was like, yeah, we like the bills, but half of us don't trust Josh Allen. like he's he can't get it all done he's an incomplete quarterback yeah yeah all right he basically answered all those questions last year the bills were 13 and 3 dominating everyone um i thought they had a good draft they left a few things out there maybe to do but for me these are one of these teams where i say i would just ticket them for the afc title game barring an unforeseen

disaster is it that easy or can you guys i'm looking to you guys to pick out something about the bills that still concerns you or are we just completely fine with the bills at this point I think the bills are locked and loaded here. I mean, they, they did, they did the move a similar mark to your brownies where they've built up such a strong roster that they were able to focus on a specific area in need. And for them, it was the pass rush. And they go and add Gregory Rousseau, excuse me, 30th overall, Carlos Basham Jr. at 61, which people really liked. They need those guys, though, to step up because Greg, pass rush was an issue. Yeah, they didn't have that great a front seven.

They need their recent draft picks at Oliver and Terrell Edmonds to show up and Tremaine Edmonds, rather, not his brother on the Steelers. They had to take those pastures because they haven't had any juice. It kind of made them look bad when you watch in the Super Bowl what the Bucks did to the Chiefs Offensive line and thought, like, in Sean McDermott's dreams, if he had the 2018 bills or the 2019 bills, perhaps their defense. wouldn't have gotten steamrolled and would have taken advantage. Yes, Eric Fisher was on the field for most of that game, but that's one guy. The Bucks defense dominated throughout up front, and the bills just didn't have that right now. I'm not ticketing them for the AFC championship because this is the NFL. It is the hardest thing to do in the NFL to back up elite seasons.

And I think that's where Josh Allen has to show that he's going to maintain his gains. When you jump that high in one season, I do want to see him do it like at that level again. I don't think we can just assume that. And I think we believe so much in the offense because of the playmakers, right? Josh Allen is a, he's a play waiting to happen every time. And him and Stefan Diggs, we saw, we believe in all that. But as you guys mentioned, it doesn't exist on the defense. And I think in Boogie Basham, right, you get a solid player.

You get that Sean McDermott type, you know, holdover from Carolina type player. He's going Boogie Basham officially, by the way. Like on NFL.com, that's the name that links up now is Boogie. So he's changing it from Carlos to Boogie. I love it. It's a good name. But I think Rousseau is right, the guy that you're looking for, the upside guy, to hopefully make a play. Because as Greg mentioned, like, if you don't have defensive playmakers, eventually you're just, like, nothing's going to happen.

You're just going to lose the game. Four, three, two, one. Bill's Mafias. Jump through the table. Patrick Claibund. The Miami Dolphins. All right. Let's do it.

The Miami Dolphins, I hope. There's no trouble with using this particular audio. I'm sure my results have gone through a far amount of question answering this off season. I think we've seen what they prioritize. They get Will Fuller early autumn free agency. Jalen Waddle in the draft. So they're prioritizing speed. We saw them trade down.

So they believe in Tua. We see their whole draft strategy. But I think there's one thing that we haven't seen. And that's an answer to the question. And all this discussion about Tua and the weapons and the, offense, protection. We still don't know who's going to be calling the plays on offense in Miami. Like Studsville and Godsee are co-offensive coordinators. Flores has said they'll develop a plan during the week. But that kind of runs in contrast to like the league where it seems like

the entire plane is being built out of play callers. And it like dictates the entire direction of regimes around the league is being dictated by one man calling the play. So I wanted to ask you guys, Do you think a team can, without one firm voice ultimately making the decisions in play calling, do you think that can work? And do you think that's a solid strategy for a young quarterback? I would say this. Like, there's a reason that there's only one co-offensive coordinator set up in the NFL right now. You're in a division with Brian Daiball, Josh McDaniels, Mike LaFleur.

I mean, these are three premier play callers who have completely changed their teams and the quarterbacks around them. And you have more hope in someone like Zach Wilson because he's attached to a Michael Flore offense. So, yeah, with the Dolphins, I think that's sort of a burning question mark. I mean, I trust coaches to be able to organize during the week. But really, what separates some of these teams? Like, why do we love a Kyle Shanahan? Because they talk about being one of the best in-game play callers around.

It's like, do the Dolphins have that? Right now, we don't know. I'd veer towards no. Right. I mean, it's been done before by Flores' boss. And, you know, that's partly why I think. think he's not worrying about the titles there probably will be a guy i mean josh boyer who is with the dolphins was a co-offensive coordinator one of the greatest offenses of all time the 2010

patriots in terms of production they didn't have an offensive quarter but that's bellichick and that's tom brady like i i'm totally with you like this is a young quarterback who really is going to be asked to do a lot think about these receivers waddle parker fuller those are like bombs away receivers two was like a little hesitant to go down the field it's so many young players the offensive line's young. The receivers are young. Like, everyone's young on this team. And you're right. That's a major question, Marcus Flores has not found a coordinator he believes in because he changes it every year.

I'm not feeling this Brandelina set up to an offensive coordinator in Miami. And, yeah, I think you need to have real structure in place. And you've got to know who's the bottom line guy, who's in charge of this offense, especially with a young quarterback because this is not Tom Brady. But, yeah, I do like overall what the dolphins did on offense. They really did put to a in position here to take a jump. There's got to be structure. The New England Patriots with Greg Rosenthal.

Oh, yeah. I'm glad I get to talk about the Patriots. You know, what would a podcast be without the Patriots, Jets, and Browns? We guarantee they won't be on Thursday show. Well, we got three timeouts. It's true. I was, you know, taken by. the aggressiveness of the rest of the draft after Mac Jones.

I think that got slept on nationally that they take Christian Barmore. They trade up for him in the second round. A guy the PFF had in their top 15, but was kind of an inconsistent effort guy, yet absolutely took over in the playoffs, the national collegiate playoffs, and was probably the best player on the field defensively, you know, in the championship. And then with their next pick, Ronnie Perkins, a guy who was suspended, DJ had him in the top 50, but he falls to 96 maybe because of that suspension. And then in their next pick,

they take another guy who was suspended half the season, who was Ronnie Perkins' teammate. And it just gets me thinking this is very much like a DGAF offseason for Bill Belichick. He is taking swings. I think they needed it on defense. They've made so many changes on defense. They needed some guys that could potentially make a big difference. I think he feels confident in Barmer because, you know,

he talks to Nick Sabin about that. And they are definitely like, it's the biggest boomer bust draft to me in the league. And I think Mack Jones is boomer bust too. I know like some people think he's going to be like a safe, safe guy. I don't know. Like either he's not going to have the skill set to do it or you could see him being the top 10 quarterback. And to me, that that's boomer bus. It's a boomer bus off season.

I mean, listen, Trevor Lawrence is a safer prospect that's coming to the league in a decade. And he's on to a certain degree a boomer bus guy. All these guys can bust out. That's just, you look at the history of our league. league. I think the quarterback room is really interesting here. Jared Stidham is obviously an afterthought now. And what what a lot of wasted breath

last year talking about that guy. Best luck to him going forward. But Matt Joe, Mac Jones. Best of luck to the guy I just assassinated publicly. Hey, listen, they don't like him. Mac Jones. Well, those two minutes go fast. I'm sorry for honking so much. Oh, my God. Mac Jones

and Cam Newton. That feels like a great camp battle. I wonder if Jones is going to get a chance to win this thing in week one. It was interesting. I heard, like, Mike Lombardi say that Cam Newton is your week one starter and less Mac Jones to the visible to the eye of everyone on the Patriots roster, completely blew him away in camp. And I think that's just the way you go. But, you know, it's less boom or bust when you pick Mac Jones at 15 versus trading up for him. I mean, it took some of the heat off of that. And I don't agree with the DGAF aspect of Bill Belichick. I think he does GAA quite a bit.

Yeah. I mean, that's why they're doing all this. Yeah. If you're not in this to win it, right? not trying to win and making aggressive moves, then what's the point? And we've seen them kind of be able to rest on the fact that they had the greatest and the best quarterback of all time for so long. And they don't anymore. They went from one of the worst rosters in the league to now an average one, I think. I think that's what they did this off. I think Bill RG-A-Fs. He really gives up. Was that plural? Fs? The New York Jets. Okay. So everyone associated with the organization is super pumped up about Zach Wilson, the Mormon Mahomes, what have you, all that.

And maybe he'll be great or maybe he'll be better. We'll see. There's no sense really digging in whether you like or hate the pick or whatever. We're going to have to see. We'll see if he can play the guitar. But I do have one issue I'm concerned about. Now let's look at the five first round picks quickly, quarterbacks, okay? We just mentioned Mack Jones. Cam Newton's in the building there. Justin Fields, Andy Dalton's in that building. Trevor Lawrence, mean shoe is in that building. Zach Wilson, James Morgan and Mike White. Should the Jets have a little bit more thought to maybe we have a veteran guy in here and we could ease in Zach?

Or are they so excited about this guy's potential? Just throw him out there and let him learn on the fly. I kind of wouldn't mind if there was somebody with a little more experience in the depth chart. I don't know. Why? I'd throw him out there because, like, number two overall, I think he's got a much better investment. environment around him, then I understand maybe your Jets fan minor panic over the idea of that.

But this is a different situation than previous Jets quarterbacks. He's got a lot more help around him. I trust the coaching staff. I think it's one of these situations where you're going to put him on the bench behind like a Joe Flacco 3.0. I mean, they're going to want to see him by the end of the first game. Jets fans be going crazy. Everything's changed. I roll with them from day one. I haven't seen any evidence to the number of years that I've felt this way that somebody can get better by not doing something. Like, I just don't think that it works out. Perhaps, right, Jets faithful would lose faith in Zach Wilson if they see him play poorly. That doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the football player.

I think if you want him to be good at football, then he needs to play football. Let me give you an example. I'll give you an example last year. Tua was a little bit underwater. and the coaching staff said we have this backup Ryan Fitzpatrick that we like we're going to let this kid sit we're going to keep Fitzpatrick in the mix

give him a chance to play keep us in a season if they're contending and then Tua can learn and maybe grow from it that probably is not going to be the case here if Wilson struggles as a rookie and that can happen those guys aren't out there now so it's too late

I'm with you they could upgrade their backup quarterback position like it wouldn't hurt to sign Matt Barkley I was just looking at the free agent quarterback. Just like someone better than those two guys in case Zach Wilson gets injured and maybe can give them some pointers about, you know, which clubs to go to in New York or whatever. But that's about it.

Yeah. I should mention also Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. So every one of these rookies coming in has an established guy. The Jets are an outlier. I don't like when the Jets are an outlier because usually that means they're doing something wrong. I don't think that if we're using the Tua example, that Tua is a better football player if he didn't play less. He might be better being around Fitzpatrick, though.

I do think there's something there. Like, Minchu's not helping out Trevor Lawrence in the same way that having a guy that's been around for so long does. The AFC North begins with Mark Sessler and the Cincinnati Bengals. All right, look, so a lot of people talk about you need to know who you are, we need to know who you are by year three of a program. And I'll just look at the inside the AFC North. Three years into his reign, Mike Tomlin had already wanted.

a Super Bowl, okay? John Harbaugh was 32 and 16 as Baltimore's coach. Kevin Stefansky, one year in, takes the Browns to the playoffs for the first time in like a thousand eons. So, I mean, you want to see results. It's not too much to ask. I look at Zach Taylor in Cincinnati. He had a tough situation out of the gate. I think the two years he's been there, they have been ravaged by injuries. You lost your quarterback. Everything goes south at that point. But right now, look at this offense. Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Tyler Boyd, On defense, DJ Reader, they're going to get a full season from him. Trey Hendrickson, this is a pretty interesting good roster that's just ticketed for fourth place because they're in the AFC North.

I look at this team and think if they were in the AFC South, you wonder if they could compete for a division title if Burrow is who you think he is. And we saw evidence of that. So what is an appropriate, when you look at Zach Taylor, an appropriate asked for this year? Can they go like a soft five and 12 and no one says anything? anything about it? I think it needs to be higher. We need to see results because, again, we're three years into this experiment with someone who was ticketed as someone to come in and be kind of a Sean McVeigh for the Bengals, not happen yet. Yeah, six or seven wins, I think is fair. I think if Joe Burrow is bawling out and the offense is good, that's all Zach Taylor

needs. The defense, they've been rolling out Lou honor on a roomo every year. No one even knows this guy, the defensive coordinator. It hasn't played well. They're okay. They've got a Albano, I believe. Right. They've got okay personnel. I wouldn't say their average even personnel. So I think Burroughs the biggest question. I think people are just expecting him.

It's like to make a leap when you're coming off a torn ACL. And he was a little up and down because the situation was tougher than I think people realized because he made a lot of splash plays and showed a lot of potential. That's not easy. He's coming off a torn ACL. And if he struggles a little bit, then the heat's going to go on Taylor. And I was one of the course of people that said, take the offense. of Lyme and take the Sewell, this Oregon stud and protect Joe Burrow.

But ultimately, how mad can you get if you end up with Jamar Chase, this LSU guy who could be a superstar and could put up video game numbers for 10 years? And by the way, to Greg's point, according to next-gen stats, Cincinnati had just 15 completions of 20 or more air yards last year that ranked 26 in the NFL. Burrow, of course, got hurt and missed the last five or so weeks. but they weren't lighting it up downfield with Burrow either. That's going to help. So this is a team, and I'm with you, Mark.

You're a big point, which is we need to see progress. Right. For this coaching regime. And there's questions, right, about that deep passing, whether that's Joe Burroughs arm or whether that's the offense or the circumstances. But I think, right, Greg mentioned Luana Rumo. They couldn't find anybody to be the defensive coordinator or just wound up being Luanarumo. It's been there for three years.

Yeah, and they've been terrible for three. Yeah. That speaks. to the idea of hiring a coach that has connections, which the Bengals coach did not. All right. Grow out a beard. Call time out. Grow out the beard.

I mean, if you want to be, if you really want to establish yourself, if you feel like you're a no name in the coordinator ranks, change your look. Right. And do the, if you kind of, your name sounds like Captain Lou Albano and most of America at this point is too young to know who he was, just steal Lou Albano's bit, rest in peace. grow out the beard, put a bunch of rubber bands and shit into it. And guess what? The camera's going to find you.

I think that was an appropriate use of a timeout because if Lou Anoramo slash Albano is watching or listening to this, you've changed the course of his career if he were to take your advice. It's the only way he moves out of total anonymity into someone that becomes sort of a cultural flashpoint. I thought Dan had pre-planned bits for the timeout, so I wasn't going to take them either. No, of course not. This is just flying.

I don't, Greg, I don't do pre-planned bits on this show, ever. Cindy Lopper, who was one of the biggest pop stars of the 80s, Captain Lou got into her video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun. We could get the Bengals, D.C. into like a Billy Ilish single video. If he plays this card, all right, just put some rubber bands. It's a very natural fit between that coach and that performer. I just see a lot of linkage. All right.

Time in. I love the investment in the timeout in Luana Murombe. That's incredible. Cleveland Browns, Patrick Claibon. Yes, the Browns, spectacular. I was honored to actually voice the weather warning videos for the NFL experience this year at the draft. So it was rewarding to know that the people of Cleveland, if they were to take shelter due to some sort of like lake effect calamity, it would be my voice leading them the way. There's other common voices.

Yeah, we had hurricanes, tornado, meteors, anyway. But there's like other calming voices in Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefansky, thanks in part, in part of the people in Cleveland are like, did, did Obama just tell us to seek shelter? Sech shelter, immediately. But yeah, like, thanks to some holdover picks from the previous regime, right, and these two men, like, they weren't even picking until 26 last week. And the picks were, the picks were universally appreciated, right? And so there's so much faith in the brain trust, but they just picked up the fifth year option for, Baker Mayfield, and we live in a world where people believe in this concept of quarterback wins. And I wonder, who's best for the long-term livelihood if you had to choose

of this Brown's rebirth, Baker Mayfield or the brain trust in Cleveland? Oh, wow. Mark? I mean, look, I think Baker Mayfield has been a good quarterback, but if you take away the brain trust and what Andrew Barry has done and Kevin Stefansky, I mean, you know, you bring up the Jets, Dan, and like concern about how to deal a young quarterback. I mean, Browns fans have watched terrible game day coaching for 20 plus years, and typically a coach that's like infighting with a general manager who also is not good at making picks on draft days. So, you know, I can see the tangible difference between what was and what is, and I would have to side with management. I would just because, like, to find a good coach

and general manager that get along, that's your ticket. That's invaluable. It's not a knock on Baker Mayfield, but if you're asking me to pick between one or the other, you're, you're You don't remove all that infrastructure. Can I throw something out just as random and dumb and fun? Packers asked for three first round picks and Baker for Aaron Rogers. Do you take it? T-minus one minute. Oh, my gosh, I would.

Aaron Rogers is so much better. And you just said you trust the management. The management's going to know how to use those picks. I think Patrick's got... Imagine this game with Aaron Rogers. Right, got to where we are with Paker Mayfield at this point in time. So it was a good way to get there, which is, you know, he maybe is more of a function of the offense and the management. Because most great quarterbacks, you would never say management, you know, you just wouldn't.

And for right now, because of what Stefansky did, I trust it, because Baker and this team thought they were hot stuff the last time they finished strong when they finished seven and eight. They did not handle that hype well. We'll see how they do it this time. I think because the Andrew Barry's there, you have more faith in it. I mean, maybe I would do that trade. It's just like I don't want everything to be turned into this, like, Baker Mayfield is the problem. He was actually quite good for them last year and deserved the fifth year option. Yes.

I'm with you. I think Browns are going to be awesome. It's going to be fun, Mark. We'll see. The Baltimore Ravens, Greg Roslopold. The Ravens are so good at, like, working their rookies and slowly, not needing them right away. And I don't know if they can afford to do that this year. They draft for Shah Bateman.

And I feel like he has to play right away. They drafted Odafei Owe, whose name was Jason. So if any confusion, they're the number 31 pick. And, like, they've been in the middle of the pack in terms of sacks and back-to-back years. They definitely haven't had juice on the outside. I'm not counting on Sammy Watkins to give Lamar kind of what he needs. So I, like, I feel like these guys got to play right away. They don't have many great-looking pass rushers.

With Bateman, you're the biggest Lamar fan in the room. Clay Bond. Like, do you think they give, they gave Lamar enough this offseason? That's true. Yeah. It's the fact that they get somebody who can track a ball in the air and make a play on it, I love that. I love that that's Lamar. We ran during some discussion because Bucky Brooks had brought up this absurd idea that the Ravens would give up on Lamar and, you know, go college plan for, for quarterbacks and just keep rotating them. And I pointed out that during the highlights, he's throwing to Des Bryant's corpse as well as like Brandon Boykin.

And so like if that's the, if that's the receiver highlights, then then perhaps, hey, good luck to whoever that up and coming quarterback is. But yeah, I mean, I know that hurt you to say, because you were a dead guy back in the day, too. Yeah, I mean, now he's dead. Rest in peace. But, but yeah, it's a, it, I wouldn't say that if he didn't have some, some horrible tweets here in the past few years. But, but honestly, like, it's, I believe in it because I believe in Lamar. And so give him somebody that can make a play on the football and run to it when it's in the air. And also snap Lamar the ball.

I think that would help. a lot. I think it's notable that Greg Roman was on record saying that with Bateman there and the other wideout they took, like, we can expand our passing game. Like that is, I, and I don't think you're going to get this Ravens team that changes drastically on offense. If you looked at who they drafted, I mean, it's more power, it's more run, it's all that stuff. But I mean, Roman at least understands that you can't do what happened last year over and over. They've got to expand the air attack. And I think Baton was a perfect pick for them. And they were repeatedly rebuffed in free agency and their attempts to upgrade at wide receiver.

So I like that they said, okay, we're going to take control of this process using the draft to do that. And we had Nate Tice on our show a couple weeks back. He was singing Rashad Bateman's praises, even though a lot of Mox didn't have him in the first round. The Ravens saw value there. And then Tylon Wallace in round four, he's in the mix there as well. It's unbelievable that they had 1,000. 729 yards on passes to wide receiver in 2020. That just got to be better.

I mean, I don't know if you can't win the Super Bowl unless you have questions. Sammy could help them. It's a big boomer bus. Bateman's such an important pick for them and it was such a no-brainer because you just can't trust Sammy Watkins. He just can't stay on the field. And Greg Roman bears some volume in this as well. I think he gets a universal credit for his other worldly talented quarterback.

But at some point, maybe it's you. Minder, we have two timeouts remaining. I think there's distinct pressure on the three of us who are not Dan to know when and how to use a timeout. Well, we're all working together here. All right. Up next. Greg Rosenthal. No, excuse me. Up next. The old Zeus, sir.

Oh, yeah. Pittsburgh Steelers. Okay. Bit of a high wire rack here in Pittsburgh, huh? I was saying that they should seriously consider getting in that. quarterback mix, which is not a quote unquote Steelers thing to do. And to type, they didn't do that. They go and get Najee Harris at running back and maybe he's a star and that would be good for the offense. But this just feels like the Steelers are a circus act on a high wire with a

old quarterback that showed signs of slippage slash falling off a cliff late last season. And then an offensive line that continues to loom as a question marks. They didn't hit that hard either. Are the Steelers the biggest boom or bust property in the AFC? I'll buy that because they're so thin at the like the premium positions. They are not an analytics type of team. You look at their tackles. It's Okorifor right now, Chiquay Okorifor and Zach Banner are their two tackles. Their cornerbacks, I would say, are the next thinnest position on their team. And like those are the premium positions. Those are the ones that's like, use your Jeff Capital on that and they don't have it right now. And they're putting a lot of

faith in those two tackles and probably a starting rookie center for a team that has not coached up the offensive line well since Mike Munchak left a couple years ago. I mean like an Alejandro Villanueva signed with the Ravens. And it's like their old tackle is going and filling holes for their biggest rival. So it's, you know, that's problematic. I think the boom or bust aspect too is like, was the Big Ben fall off a cliff act like something that was a bit of an aberration, you can still play and we're going to get a fresh version of him or not or does that decline continue um which means by week eight you're in hot

water i mean the one thing i would say that naji harris their scouts saying he is the most complete back they've had under mike tomlin and they and they said more than levi on bell so i get that you'd want to have the offensive lines stronger but like does anybody remember levi on bell at his peak was there a more complete back that they've seen in 20 years literally one of the i would put him in the top three running back to the last 20 years in terms of at his peak, Leviand, just saying. I'm with you. It's difficult to get that comp for Najee, right?

Because at 6-2, 6-3 at that size moving with his feet, right? Levion is the closest thing you can get to, right? In terms of a guy catching passes out of the backfield that can run in between the tackles. I think, like, maybe we're looking at this as the end of last season is heavily influencing the way we feel about Pittsburgh and not necessarily the start. for me, as much as I believe in guys coming back from injury and getting a full chance

to be healthy, it's hard to do that at 38 and 39 years old. And I can't see things getting any better. I mean, this is. But imagine if Joe Burrow had the weapons, Rathesburg had it. We've been talking up, like, how talented this group is. They have so many good players. Dengals are getting close, but yeah. Steelers feel like they're either going to be 11 and 6 or 6 and 11. I'll buy that. Super fair. We're going to between. All right. We are rolling, boys.

Halfway through, Mark, get us going with the Indianapolis Colts as we begin the AFC 7. All right. You know, I know like the Broncos are getting killed for not picking a quarterback, and we can get into that down the road. But I look at the cults, and I ask myself coming out of the draft, like, is this team better than they were a year ago? And like, are the cults being treated a little too lightly for, A, ignoring tackle in the draft? We're killing Pittsburgh for that. The Colts didn't fill that. They have a huge issue there, a burning need,

and also showing immense faith in Carson Wentz. I have to ask if this is quietly the riskiest maneuver by any team in the AFC this offseason. After what we saw from Carson Wentz last year, it's, oh, Frank Reich knows him, there's a good relationship. That's all nice in theory. But there's a lot of tape that suggests Carson Wentz

was a disturbed quarterback last year in a lot of ways. But do we have any Wence heads here that are saying, you shut up. I totally have faith in this. We're going to get the old version of Wens back in Indy. First of all, Carson Wins disturbed last year. I love that. Second of all, there's always been a little heat with Sessler and Carson Wens because it's a way back when with the draft and the Browns.

I've always enjoyed that. Third of all, all, all, I'll be a little bit of a Wencehead here. We have said for a couple years now that Frank Reich was this magical, figure in Philadelphia. And once he left, things changed. Well, now he's reunited with Frank Reich in Indianapolis. And Chris Ballard, the general manager, to me, has earned the benefit of the doubt. These two guys, Reich and Ballard, they've had this organization going in the right direction for years now. And that's why I don't see this going terribly. I think they're just too smart and they're just too locked in place as a football man for this thing to really go south. Does that

mean it won't no but it to me they get the benefit of the doubt you guys agree i i think mark you you hit it when you mentioned the risk but my question is who's taking the risk because in this quarterback centric world uh i don't think ballard suffers consequences if there's this winced explosion i don't think it's right as dan said like people believe in frank rike and the the reason they won the super bowl they kind of get a free experiment here the only person taking any risk is carson wince because if it doesn't work out then it's like ah well i guess he's he's done so You could also argue that Andrew Luck put them in this situation to some degree, too. But you're, I agree, but you're also potentially wasting a good roster.

I think it is the biggest risk any team took. I think it's the most confounding decision of the off season. Maybe they bring in Charles Leno, who just got cut by the bears. You know, their tackles might become available. You would think they're not going to go into the season with Sam Tebby. I'm much more concerned about Carson Wentz than I am about their left tackles. Man, does that nobody, Wentz was. good in 2019 is that that's just that's not even a factor here just one bad year i was good in

2019 but it's that's a long 2018 208 it's been a minute and what you didn't think car i think the upside i think the upside in the middle of the playoffs in 2019 am i am i getting my years confused there no you did he's fine he was fine all right i'm the wednesday let's move on the tennessee titans patrick clayvall They get arguably the best corner in the draft per Charlie Cass release polling from last fall, right, before Caleb Farley had the back surgery and the COVID and everything went bad for the draft. And I think you see why that they went corner. The defense was really bad. They had some departures as well.

But Derek Henry, the transcendent season, he's averaging almost five and a half yards per carry last year. Tanna Hill was good. A.J. Brown was good, right? So Art Smith goes to Atlanta. They don't take an offensive skill position into the fourth round. But on the defensive side of the ball, you know, Bud Dupree comes over. They've got all these guys they've drafted. And I've started to wonder again, as I look through year after year in the Vrable era,

the defense is worse than it was the previous year. When do we start to wonder if Mike Vrable is the problem with regards to the defense in Tennessee? Well, I don't think he has shown to be a very good defensive coach. The Texans also had one of the worst defenses in the NFL when he was their coordinator before he got the head coaching job. Like yet it's not about if it's not a it's not a his scheme isn't going to save you we've seen that maybe the talent hasn't been great either they're the team I hate to say it Titans fans like if I had to pick a playoff team from a year ago that would fall off a cliff here it is because I just don't see the position group on this team where I look at it and say there's our edge there's where is where is that for Tennessee other than Henry other than I think you're if you're todd downing the new play caller you're you're in a tough spot because you don't have the tools that Art Smith had. And, you know, I look at the wide receiver position. The tight end position is a total mess right now.

I would peg them as a team that maybe would go look at O.J. Howard and say, we need to find a more game-changing tight-end than this. But I like Vrable overall as head coach. I think he's given, we used to kill the Titans for having no identity. The Titans, we called them. They haven't been that under Vrable. There's something about his presence. I would never.

Well, okay, except for Greg, who. Greg's too classy. Please, the ultra-classy, Greg, refused to put that moniker on them. Braybill has given them an identity. Hey, USA Today wrote an article about that, Greg. It was legitimized. They did? USA Today.

Go ahead, Greg. A mark, sorry. No, I just thumbs up on Vrable because they've been a good team. But, you know, in terms of defensive difference maker, it's a fair point. That's fair. And I think what you're saying, too, Greg, is fair about the offense. does it take a step back? Do we, it's still a team with Derek Henry and A.J. Brown and Ryan Tannihill,

unless we buy into the theory, well, let's still not trust Tannahill because Arthur Smith's gone. Maybe he takes a step back. Because if he doesn't, I still feel like this team's going to score a lot of points. And if the defense gets even a tick better, I still see it as a double digit win team. I don't. And yeah, that's a fair point on Tano. Maybe that's where the edge is.

But he almost has to take a step back. Numbers, if you just look at the numbers, he's. He's been a top five quarterback the last two years. It's a lot to expect. Unless he actually was all along and he got gazed. I don't know. Adam Gase. Where are you, Adam Gase?

Time out. Time out. Where is Adam Gase? Do you think Adam Gase is even trying to get work right now? Do you think he's just like, I'm just... Well, he's getting Jets' money still, and it's significant. Why would he try to get him? at work. Like, what about

Adam Gase's recent career suggests he has to try to do anything? You think he can get a job? Yeah, he's just going to have to wait, sit around, and then eventually, Adam Gase will be back in this league and probably head coach of a football team. Whoa. Now that I would put sandwiches on. I've been watching

this planet for too long. I know that somethings are as certain as the tides in the moon. Clayvon's right in this area. And it's unfortunate, and it's an issue for the NFL. that some guys get chances over and over while other people don't get the opportunities they deserve.

But I would think a two-time, and this is a little harsh, but two-time loser in Miami and New York at a high level. I mean, imploding at a high level in his most recent stock, I don't think he gets another head coaching job. But he'll probably show up as like an offensive quality control guy in Jacksonville or something. Assistant to the head coach after he spends the offseason, you know, reading PFF and, you know, hanging out with other former fired coaches.

I mean, my one concern would be Connor Orr once painted very meticulously. The concept, you know, it's a bit of a conspiracy theory, but it starts to have legs that the Manning family has essentially run pro football for decades. And so who's Adam Gace's like best pal? Peyton Manning gets on the phone with some sort of new, weakish owner and just says, you're going to ha my friend. And then like suddenly Adam Gase has another head coach he got. That was my Peyton Manning voice.

One more time. You're going to hire my friend. Like, that's a Peyton Manning voice. Doesn't sound like him at all. It's like a, it's a very sassy Peyton Manning. Well, he's very agitated and annoyed. He doesn't like being attached to someone who's PR, you know, cue rating is not nosedive.

So he's, Peyton Manning needs to get him a job to help this whole thing. Was that Peyton Manning or Delta Burke? I think, I think back to the, a little bit of Delta Burke in there. The ESPN original film Junction Boys, where they took, they made the Bear Bryant a Kentucky movie and they hired a bunch of Australians to play football players and they did Southern

accents. That's what I heard there. It was spectacular. That's my Thespian capabilities. And before we come back from our timeout here, remember, I'm out of the time. I've used two timeouts. I won't use the third. But if you go into the tunnel without using all your timeouts, you're a joke.

Okay? Just keep that in mind. What fans have ever complained about coaches not using their timeouts? It's always a delight. I'm always like, I'm I'm always at the, when they get to an NBA game at the end, and there's like three timeouts left for each team, which never happens. But every once in a while, I'm like, thank you. And also, who are you pegging it on? There's four of us that could call a timeout outside of Dan.

So if one doesn't get called, I'll just deflect the criticism towards Greg, towards Claibon, probably towards Ricky, very effectively. How many times have you heard Chris Collinsworth or someone come after a coach? Oh, man, and they're unable to stop the clock, and they go into the tunnel with timeouts in their pocket. this is Delta Burke All right Let's time back in here And up next The Houston Texans

Greg Roosevelt I just want to point out How strange this team is There's been an understandable amount of focus On Deshawn Watson's situation In the front office And I'm not having a draft pick Till Davis Mills

I don't know if people know this Philip Lindsay is on this team Their backfield right now is David Johnson, Mark Ingram And Philip Lindsay that's weird uh the receivers brandon cooks randall cobb andre roberts did you guys know lovey smith is back in the NFL and he is the defensive coordinator of the texans i know this room knows this but i feel like the fans out there they don't know all these facts this is just a very strange

team we're going to be watching here in 2021 yeah you know what's interesting they they're famous for, you know, being asset poor and now talent efficient and the Deshaun Watson mess, which changes everything, I guess this makes sense if Watson doesn't end up playing for them one way or the other, to just go in the tank, right? And get back into positive draft standing. Like, I think they start getting first round picks back again next year, right? That the Tunsell deal finally tolls there. This feels like a team that is ready. to tear it all down. And that's tough for Houston fans

because you thought you were going in a certain direction with the Sean Watson, but it feels like it makes more sense now to strip the whole thing down. I mean, the unintentional tank, which is the normal way teams, quote-unquote, tank. They didn't mean to be the worst team in the league. They're just, that's how they got.

That's how they got. Even when they had Watson and JJ Watt, and, you know, they always felt a little top-heavy. I mean, how many years did we talk about them as a team that, you know, before the 17 games could have gone 5 and 11 or 11 and 5, and Watson made such a difference. it is an unintentional tank and like this you know this team looks absurd to me on paper but

I just wonder if you're the GM or the coach are you really glad you took this job that would be my question because I don't know from ownership on down where the support is here or the vision depends if ownership and we know there's some murky stuff going on with the preacher but if they let him truly cally build this team then that's that's good but think about it If you do trade Deshawn Watson, if that's how this ends, and again, it could go in a lot of different directions. Let's say you get a couple first round picks. Let's say you go one in 16. You get the first round pick.

Maybe you come into next year with three first round picks or something like that. And then you can begin like, all right, let's try this again. But, I mean, what do you do with the hope and the promise that those picks bring? Like we saw, and this is before we knew about the circumstances surrounding Deshaun Watson and all of the accusers. And hopefully, like, somebody finds out what actually happens and we get. some form of justice through all of this. But it's what reason do we have to believe

that it's just not going to happen again, even if this even if Cassario and company do a symbol promising team, but the executive vice president of football operations doesn't like swing in there and say, yeah, execute order 66. Yeah, that's rough. I got you there, Patrick.

You could do a total reset. Yeah, I don't know. Total reset and then this brain trust can foul it all. Scary times is Texas. All right. Let's move on to the Jacksonville Jaguars. All right, the great late Chris Wessling, said it often. History is instructive.

Everyone says Trevor Lawrence is Andrew Luck level good. All right. So then he go back in the history books. Colts went 2 and 14 with Curtis Painter and Company in 2011. Luck comes in. They go 11 and 5. They're in the playoffs. The next year they win double digits again.

they win a playoff game and they're off and running as a AFC contender is root is is this a situation you see as as the possibility for the Jaguars this year because I was looking at it they had six games last year that they lost by one score or less and they went in the tank totally in the last month of the season but before that happened this team hung around in games so if you had a high level quarterback. Could they actually be a team playing for the postseason in December? I guess since Penny tried to answer your question prematurely, Dan, I'm going to say if I do believe it, and I'm probably 51-49 that I do believe it, that's going to be because of the

rest of the division. As we mentioned, the Texans could potentially be absolutely in the trough. The Titans defense couldn't stop anybody last year. And if there is, right, that little bit of boost that comes from a coach knowing what he wants to do and bringing in new people. people that he gets to choose with somebody else's holdovers that that they had some form of consistency we saw in Robinson right in the running game and some aspects of the defense last year yeah I think it could happen I think Trevor Lawrence does bring some some unique skills that that nobody else could bring in terms of the total package right the arm the ability to you know to make plays with his feet as well so so yeah why not I guess I'd like to see

because, you know, when's the last time Urban Meyer had a season where everything went wrong? I mean, it's just like, you know, 12, 13 win seasons and bowl games all left and right for like a thousand years in a row. I mean, if they get out to a really rough start for some reason, I just would like to observe how he handles that. It's a totally different situation than he's been in. And, you know, no matter who you are as a college coach, I mean, Nick Saban learned this, that the pro game is totally different. And, you know, Urban Myers talked about having to retrain. himself to even think about something like the NFL draft. But point being, I think that they've got if he works, an interesting coach, a great quarterback. And you're right, Dan, like they were

a tough out in games last year. They were not getting handled week after week. They were still a bad team. But they've transformed this roster, at least with a ton of bodies. There's a ton of new people here. And if Trevor Lawrence is Trevor Lawrence, good night. Like, they could easily win nine games. I'll tell you what. I'll set the over under here for wins for the 2021 Jaguars at eight and a half, I'm banging the over. I am too. What? I'm banging it, Greg. Why not? I love Claibound's point about the division they play in, too.

Yeah, that's fine, but then win the division with eight wins or seven wins. On a last play schedule for out of conference. I get it, but they also took a lot of risk in this draft, for instance. They take a guy in ATN, like they say is going to be their third round pick. They take my son's new favorite player Walker Little. He says he's rooting for the Jaguars now. He hasn't played in two

years they're moving Tyson Campbell at the top of the second round to Slot Corner. Never play that position took a guy who missed all the last season in the third round like I got to see it man low expectations Greg you also say that it's like not hard for teams to go seven and nine so it's like you can't have

six games everyone should be happy if they win six or seven games we wouldn't win. We don't know who the team of ATN will be but we know who the team of Aetian is the Jaguars that joke All right. Nailed. Final division. The Denver Broncos, Mark Sessler.

The team of Aetian. This is one of the tougher teams to evaluate right now because we just don't know where we're going to be down the road. Are they going to go get a quarterback? If they don't, if they don't get Aaron Rogers, then they're the team that is going to be tough press. Broncos fans, I lived in Denver, are super passionate, and they are on fire about the fact that you passed up

the chance to put Justin Fields into a really awesome looking offense. That right now, you're a front office that's basically saying And our, like, vision to battle Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert inside our O'Donel division is to roll out Drew Locke or Teddy Bridgewater. Patches, middle of the road guys, one of them who's proven nothing. So I just can't believe that that's how a front office actually thinks in 2021, especially with one attached to John Elway, always looking for quarterbacks. The way that they organized their draft, I like Patrick Certain, but the way they organize their draft makes me think that they think they can get Aaron Rogers.

And I don't think this story is over. I would just wonder, is this a bunch of hogwash? I know it's the most obvious question for the Broncos, but come September, is Rogers in Orange, or is that a pipe dream? And they're stuck with Drew or Teddy. I think it's a pipe dream because they think it's a pipe dream. I read that Mike Silver article about their draft,

and the second the Packers were like, we're not even going to listen. You know, they had to move on. What motivation to the Packers have to take anything before the start of this season, when the primary thing they can get is draft picks, which doesn't get next year? Like, unless you're sending me Bradley Chubb and Cortland Sutton,

what is going to help the Packers this year? And then that would ruin, you know, that would hurt the Broncos team. The most interesting thing in that article, I thought, was one line where it said Teddy Bridgewater is a presumptive starter. And Silver doesn't write that for nothing. That's what the front office thinks. That told me a lot.

I'm surprised. It's a great opportunity for Teddy Bridgewater. Certainly, I know we've been through this before, but wow, these weapons around him are incredible. I think they're thinking he can be our Alex Smith in Kansas City. Whether they're right or not, you know, the Panthers weren't right about it. But I think it's not Drew Locke. I think it's steady Bridgewater based on that one line.

I think, like, we heard from George Payton leading up to the draft just about how much they were looking at quarterbacks and how invested they were in the quarterback search. And like, oh, yeah, we believe in Drew Locke, too. And it's like, oh, both things can't be true. No, my dog. And so, like, Mark, to answer your question about, like, A, Raj, like, if they were, in pursuit of Aaron Rogers would taking Justin Fields could only help in that right they would have because we saw it with Chicago right they would have had Russell Wilson if

they had a quarterback to give to Seattle to say okay this is your future but they didn't have one so I think they're out honestly I think if if the move was to be made then they would have made it so it'll be next year maybe they're in next year but I don't see anyone that makes a lot of sense this year I just don't can't imagine they have no idea what to do with quarterback position. How do you come out of this with all the trade movement and the rookie prospects? And you realize Drew Locke's not the quarterback. Congratulations on that. That's easy. And then you come out and say Teddy Bridgewater is our backup plan? It's, it's unbelievable to me. Teddy comeback season, 2021. Yeah. It's not over. I can't believe he's getting a better.

You get a better chance. It is literally the most annoying thing on our podcast. It is literally the most annoying thing on our podcast. I mean, no, the you and Teddy thing, and like he's proving, he's proving your argument wrong year after year.

He really has, last year, he made major mistakes in crucial situations, which was red zone in fourth quarter, which is important. It was a pretty productive,

like, lower to middle of the road pastures. It just feels like an agenda because he's not being, like, let's great and for what he is. It's a totally middle of the path. It's the way Dan overrates the jet. every year like I like certain players that I root for them that's why am I catching sniper fire on

this why don't you if you're fighting with Mark yeah say something nasty about in Mark right it's not nasty I'm saying like of course there's players I root for he's a likable person who to me had had a had a had a more fun style than people think that I thought had a chance he he's obviously a middle of the road starting quarterback to factor in that he's a nice guy we all know Teddy's a great teammate a nice guy but it doesn't matter that doesn't affect how I root for him and he has been like significantly better than drew lock has ever been at multiple points in his career including when he was with george peyton that's true of almost every starter in the league though that isn't really an argument for teddy bridgewater is your answer that's all it's just an

argument sitting in their lap and they said we'd rather have teddy bridgewater and or drew lock i kill them i killed them for that i killed them for that all i'm saying is i'm recognizing the situation where they are right now and teddy is their best chance to start games and he is their best chance Like, whether you like it or not, he's going to be starting games this year. I guess my point is there were better options than Teddy to upgrade from Drew Locke. Maybe he's an upgrade over lock. But from what we've seen, is he going to be a huge upgrade? They didn't prioritize it.

They didn't because even them, they're paying them. How do you not prioritize the corner acquisition in the NFL? We were the better options right now. Well, now the horse's out of the barring. I think that's ultimately Greg's point, right? It's got to be Teddy. And we saw a new offense, right? a first team, a first year for that offense in Teddy Bridgewater in his first year in that

offense. He's not going to get like a sustained chance to be somewhere for long, but I would like to see Teddy Bridgewater to have an opportunity to grow in an offense. The Packers were bailing on Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers is going to the Hall of Fame, right? Well, it's bailing on Aaron Rogers after the first year in a new offense. Here's a bug me, the timing of it. Okay, look, you could have traded for Teddy Bridgewater after you didn't get the quarterback in the draft. If you're You're trying to tell me that the way to galvanize your fan base and your own offense is to say that it's smarter to trade for Teddy Bridgewater days before the draft and then pass on Justin Fields who lands in our lap who is undoubtedly, I think, to the common eye or the analytical eye, more exciting. We all wanted that. We all, I wanted that. There's no defending the Broncos. They totally botched this. Claibon, to your point, the Panthers wanted Teddy Bridgewater to have an extended stay in Carolina. Look at the contract.

gave him. They set him up with a great offensive head coach and Matt Ruhl. They didn't like what he brought to the table and they said we were getting rid of him. He had a chance there. He moved the ball very well and was a disaster in high leverage situations in the red zone in the fourth quarter.

You say that as if it's a positive when you're analyzing the game. Let's put it this way. If Teddy Bridgewater even gave them the offense passing wise that the Panthers had last year, last year's bet Broncos would have gone to the playoffs. They were like 18th, 19. and DVOA in terms of passing. The Broncos were 30th.

And that's sort of the thing they're hoping for is to be middle of the road. Teddy's good theater on this podcast. The Panthers chose Sam, right? Matt Ruhl has had like big, bejeweled eyes for Sam, like floating in the air, wafting after Sam since the initial flirtation

with the Jets. I think that was... They were done with Teddy regardless, though, to be fair. They, they... The way the season ended with him playing his worst in December, they decided... And I think they're making a mistake, by the way, picking up Darnold's contract, you know, for 2022.

Like, why make a two-year commitment when you just made a huge unforced error? No one was giving Teddy Bridgewater two years big money guaranteed. No one. And they just gave the second year for no reason. And they're doing the exact same thing with Darnold. No one was giving Darnold this kind of contract with two years guaranteed and they're doing it again. Hey, by the way, watch out, Greg. You got the Cessler eyes came out there for you at one point when you were wax and poetic.

I get it. He doesn't like Teddy. I enjoy watching football by having a fairly inflated that I root for. Enough with inflating Teddy. No one, no one was saying anything. Greg was making you feel better. Greg was proven wrong once about Teddy Bridgewater. It will happen once again in 2021.

We'll see. Now I got to have to rally the troops. Teddy Nation coming back strong. All right. Time in. The Los Angeles superchargers, Patrick Clayvon. All right. So Hope always seems to come back.

with regards to fan bases and beliefs to this quarterback thing. And from what we saw in 2020, there's a lot of reason to feel great about it. Like we had people describing Trevor Lawrence as Justin Herbert plus. And I think, you know, as much as that could be a slight to Justin Herbert, seeing as he did it at a professional level, I think it speaks to how people feel about him.

And, you know, if prioritizing continuity for an offense and a quarterback that seemed promising is a way to go, it seems weird that the people behind that progress are now elsewhere in Los Angeles, or not in Los Angeles, they're just elsewhere in general. But anyway, my question surrounds the head coach, right? And the man that its own players have classified as a genius. So he's got two players in Los Angeles, who I would argue were singularly talented with regards to the rest of the league that was the foundation of a defense. And one of them, I think, is going to the Hall of Fame in Aaron Donald. And then

there's Jalen Ramsey. So now, can he do something? similar things on this defense using Derwin James perhaps and Joey Bosa or does he need that high level talent to be successful? Well, those are two potential Hall of Famers too. I know it's a long, long, long way to go and Derwin James has to stay healthy. That's like the

key to this team to me. But those are two of the very best at what they do. The hype is back. I'm buying in the first two picks the Chargers had filled huge needs with their tackle and then Asante Samuel in the second round. I'm buying in because I would take Justin Herbert over Trevor Lawrence in a second. I would take Justin

Herbert over every single young quarterback in the league not named Patrick Mahomes. I mean, to me, that's where Justin Herbert is. And it's not a hard decision for me. So the hype should be huge. Everything that I've read about Brandon Staley, everything I've seen. I mean, this is my version of Greg's Teddy Bridgewater. This happens to me with coaches where he's not coached a game, and I couldn't be more excited about the head coach there.

I think it changes a lot. And a lot of the issues with the Chargers have been these bizarre sort of like anti-milgeal mystical end-of-game meltdowns with time and kickers missing field goals, all this stuff. I think Brandon Staley is the kind of guy who is like bathed in details. I think that stuff's going to go away. I just do. And I think you're going to see him be able to coach up that defense in a way he did with the Rams. And I think Derwin James, if he had been healthy this whole time, would be viewed as like a top five player in the league.

But he's just, his career has gone south. It's unfortunate and it's, you know, Greg, you mentioned Hall of Fame. Yes, that was a rookie season at all Hall of Fame level. but he hasn't he hasn't played in what two years basically now so they need him to come back and you just have to hope with the injuries that he suffered that he doesn't come back and he's a compromised version of what we saw back in 2018 but he does seem like a linchprint mark i know is brandon staley has he toppled matt rule and your head coach crush power rings i feel like matt's going to start getting jealous a little bit here no i've got a lot of crushes i mean it's

shanahan it's cool it's staley and they're vying for my affections it's their job not mine four three I like the idea of the image of them all standing in line

to talk to with flowers chocolate well the one time we spoke with Matt Rule Greg buried we're out of timeouts

well that was a good story but I'll say it it's been told on the podcast like five times I'll tell five more

the Las Vegas Raiders Greg Rosenthal see that's where I'm using my time that's where the animosity might come from with Teddy

It was a sore spot here because, you know, I made Mark look back. This is a little bit of cheating. I'm worried about the Raiders because I think a strong case could be made that the two most important people in their organization this year are Gus Bradley and Tom Cable. They're putting a lot of faith in those two guys because otherwise I don't see it. Like you're counting on Tom Cable to coach up this offensive line. There's only one new starter. I mean, the two guys that are elevating, like they know those two, Denzel Good.

I forget the other one off the top of my head, but like they've been there. There's only one guy that wasn't with the team. And then they've poured all these draft picks and all this free agent money into the defense. But ultimately, it's like Gus Bradley just has to be way better than what they were doing before or else there's not much reason to think this team will be any better. I mean, Gus Bradley needs to be better than Gus Bradley. That's sort of the problem. He's not, you know, he keeps getting to keep getting jobs, but like his defenses have not been marvelous by any stretch.

I mean, the players. And he's a DC, there's only so much you could do. Like sometimes I wonder with these DCs and even the coordinators, most of them anyway. It's like they, if you don't give them the guys to play with, if you don't give them the chess pieces, there's only so much you could do. And a lot of that, I think, goes back to this front office. And the draft stuff gets a little annoying to me. And I did power rankings this week. So I do a lot of reading and trying to learn about some different things.

And you see all these grades and they're all over the map. But there are certain teams that every analyst feels safe just banging with an F. And that's where the Raiders are right now, that everything they do is viewed as bad. But until some of these like unorthodox picks hits, you understand why they're not being given the benefit of the doubt. And I think I remember back to there was an old clip of the Seahawks drafting James Carpenter in the first round. And there was a shot of Nick Saban in the crowd going, James Carpenter got drafted in the first round. And that was kind of everybody's reaction to Alex Leatherwood, who can be a solid player, right? he started a lot of games for a team that when he was there and won a couple of national

championships. But it's a question of value at some point, right? As Dan, you mentioned, the personnel and whether it's a coordinator, whether it's personnel, it's just not working. And so they're going to need to stop somebody. But they took one of their greatest strengths in their offensive line and decimated it to the point where they needed to draft an offensive lineman in the first round. And then they reached the one.

The Raiders scout, it feels like they got worse. this off season, doesn't it? Yeah. They were the seventh best passing attack a year ago, but that also requires, you know, Carr to be protected. When we've seen Carr, when he's not protected, well, it's a whole different situation. And I don't know what you look at that team and say the strength is, they're out-of-the-box thinkers, but there's too many out-of-the-box picks that have not worked. That's why people attack it. If you have a track record of thinking differently and it works, everyone's like, well, these guys are just smarter. That's not how they're viewed right now.

So the PR fight is legit. Two, one. We close with the defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs couldn't protect Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl, and they got their heinies whipped as a result. And I just have so much respect for Brett Beach and that organization, a little bit jealous, that they said, this is a need. And we could have waited, because part of the reason they got destroyed,

the Super Bowls. They weren't healthy on the offensive line. It wasn't just that these guys going to play. They were missing their tackles. And it was just everything was, they were missing some interior guys. It was just kind of patchwork. So they could have said, let's get healthy. Let's bring back our guys, get healthy and go for it again. So I respect that they just said, no, we want to make this a team strength again. Orlando Brown, Joe Tooney. You bring Kyle Long out of retirement. We'll see how that goes. But in theory, it makes sense. Creed Humphrey, they took with the 63rd overall pick. Everybody's saying he's going to be awesome. in the pivot um so i look at this team they took this week this turned it into a strength

uh and i look at a 17 game season how are they not a 13 plus win team and how is anyone else going to contend for that top seat in the a fc i just think they're the heavy favorite in the a fc after what they've done i mean let's not forget they put up 38 points weeks earlier against the bills it was that the super bowl was it couldn't have gone better for the bucks who were a worthy Super Bowl champion, but there was an obvious Achilles heel to what Kansas City wanted to do with their protection not there, not on the field. It's kind of funny because I look back on all the Super Bowl preview coverage, not just our show, but everyone's show. And it's just like not enough. I don't remember anyone being like the chiefs are screwed because they have both of their

tackles out. It was just like Tyreek Hill, you know, Travis Kelsey, Patrick Mahomes. And it's like, it doesn't work with three linemen. And they totally patched. I think Orlando Brown was an awesome signing by, or an awesome trade by them. I mean, it just, again, it turned it into a strength, like you said. And remember, their offseason began being rebuffed to get Trent Williams. So it wasn't like everything fell into place. They had to regroup after that and they still managed to get the job done. I think, I'm with you that they're the favorites.

To me, they're always going to be the favorites unless things go really poorly, building their roster. But they didn't have their right tackle all last season, and they were still the best, or one of the best offenses in the league. So that, that position is kind of the same. The offensive line has to come together. I always say this, but they're like, it's like a bullpen. It's really hard to predict what's going to be good or not,

especially if the guys have not played together. They put every ounce of investment. They're a little thinner at the skill groups now. Like they rely on Kelsey and Tyree Kill so much. They're a little thinner now than they are in years past. So that's just something to watch if either one of those guys got hurt. I think they're banking, obviously, on Mahomes' greatness covering up that law. And they should because he's great.

But I think back to a Panthers team, right, that started Mike Remmer's in the Super Bowl and then he just got undressed by Von Miller, which Von Miller undresses a lot of people. But then Mike Remer started 16 games the next year. And it's just like you address, right? Well, you know who the Chiefs' Right tackle is right now? It doesn't happen.

Put it on together. It's Mike Rubber. But my thinking is it's not going to be the whole season, right? Remdog. They saw a problem and I think they addressed it. And that's what you want for a team that has a really good quarterback. We just went around. the AFC in exactly 48 minutes and don't don't even bother doing the math yourself.

Just assume that's what happened. Trust us. Just trust us with the clock. We know we've nailed that. I feel like we made our listeners smarter today. I think they're going to really take this information and sitting around a fire pit or socially distance at their favorite pub. They're going to hit their friends with a little bit of knowledge on the,

some of these teams and the friends are going to be like wow this guy's cool and then a girl's going to hear it be like whoa i want to bed that man right his knowledge i feel like that's what's happening here coming out of today's what a service that we're offering the listener if all those things do happen yeah we've created humans today uh just just in that in linking up those two people and we also use the timeouts well i got to say you know that the teddy timeout um well you know, well-earned and well-used, definitely better than the Panthers were in the fourth quarters last year. Just close, strong. Mark, I'll give you a final thought on the Teddy situation. Well, that's the great thing about football is that, you know, I just assume Teddy

Bridgewater is listening to this episode. I just assume that. And he's going to say, the one guy always seems to be sticking up for me, partly because I'm nice. And the other guy seems to always be getting on my case. It's like I have a chip on my shoulder, as they say now, to like go prove to that one mouthy negative guy that I can play. So, you know, we've done a service for him too. You are like the Brian. You're the Brian Goudicunt to Teddy's Aaron Rogers this year. And there is incorrect parallel. And there is the background there is that Matt Rule was on our show at the height of Mark's crust for Rule. And then he believes that Greg kind of threw him under the bus a little bit about Teddy Bridgewater, and I think there's a lot of that is based in. It's not that I believe

that. That's exactly what, that's factually what happened. Greg. So has that made you concerned about your boys, you know, talent evaluation? Because otherwise you have like sort of beliefs that are clashing here. They were stuck. I think that, you know, like they showed us, they showed us. They were stuck. They were just stuck. But Matt Rule, it started, the crush started because he came up to me, Dan, that wonderful night at the combine in the snow. And we walked into a wonderful hotel tavern, and he walked right up and just said, good to meet you on Matt Rule. And I was like, that's all it takes. I am absolutely in love with this person from now until the end of time.

So his decisions are honorable and correct every time. To anybody who's a fan of verbal discussions, I hope they noticed the way that Greg took that criticism and then turned it into a mirror and tried to redirect it at Mark, as if to absolve himself of any particular wrongdoing. Well, welcome to every episode. It's just artful All right We'll be back Thursday Patrick, thank you As always you've said it all

And you've done it all And we appreciate your help On Thursday Steve Weish will join us To break down the NFC In 48 minutes And we thank you Ricky you have anything you wanted to add

Yeah just before we go To the listeners Especially the males It's not going to get a girl In bed with you If you're just like mansplaining football at her. That's like the worst thing you can do.

No, no, no, no. Just want to say that. Time out. Time out because I know where you're trying to go with this. I wasn't saying that he was mansplaining to the woman. And then she was so taken aback. She's like, where's your apartment? We got to go. I was saying he was in conversation with his buddies. And then she was at the next table over. And she was so impressed by this information. She's like, oh. She knew a lot too. She's like, oh, he knows his stuff. Exactly. She's okay. Women can know just as much about football as men. Got you. Turn that mirror around, baby.

Yep. And I've learned, yeah. Like displaying sports knowledge, nothing gets the opposite sex more excited about than that. All right. Greg needs to get out more. It does work. All right.

We'll be back Thursday, as I said, with Steve Weish, breaking down the NFC. Until then, the Stan Hansa, signing off for Patrick Claibon, the Quiet Storm, the old boss, Ricky Hollywood. Until then, heed the call. We're going to be able to be. This is an eye heart podcast.