NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2021 Sandwich Props and Remembering Our Friend Tara Deeker

Episode Date: September 8, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler are back together, apart, again for the week 1 Thursday Night Football PREVIEW (8:01). The season is officially here! The heroes give their sandwich predictions for the upcoming season (25:13) and Dave Dameshek joins the show to remember our beloved friend, Tara Deeker (1:01:09).  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. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. The NFL machine doesn't stop. No, it does not welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hans. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes.

Greg Rosenthal's here. He's always here, though. You know who hasn't been here, but who's now back? You know who it is. He's the quiet stall. Mark Sessler. Hey, buddy. Welcome back.

Well, thank you. I was trying to think, like, you know, what happened to me. I don't think I've ever been away from the pod that long when the pod was going on. it was what two weeks i i honestly felt like i didn't work anywhere um i thought i didn't have a job it felt like i didn't have a job at all to some to some degree very strange isn't that your dream isn't that disappearing in theory i always thought it would be um it wasn't my dream to go through like two trips to the hospital but um yeah it was a bit of a bit of an odd couple couple days there i think there's nothing good that comes out of a hospital stay like that i

imagine and all the all the stuff that you had to deal with but i know from my mentions and elsewhere it must be nice to hear how many people were concerned for you and how many people missed you and how many people said you know the show's not the same without him which is very true um so that was nice i'm sure right one little uh silver lining yeah i don't recall hearing from anyone to be honest but no no i that we i do think that whenever we've gone through stuff on our show we have a different group of listeners, a different brand of loyalty. And I think they're more friends than they are anonymous to us. And so you're right. I mean, in my Instagram mentions and Twitter, thank you to everyone that reached out. I've written back to literally nobody yet.

But I plan to because, you know, I think like with other stuff that we've gone to as a group, like it's been proven over and over that like these guys are A plus. And so I appreciate the people that reached out for sure. Well, the listeners can't see you right now, but Mark's looking good. You sort of almost look like you were on a little tropical vacation. The buttons are unbuttoned. The beard's looking good. You look a little tan.

So, you know, hospital stays. Did you write, I guess. Yeah, I don't think I look too. I don't know what my message is here. But I did like the show starting with like, that's Mark Sessler. We should do that more, too. I don't think I looked quite as fresh inside the hospital. But, you know, it was a bit of a chore removing myself from all of Erica's Hawaii pictures

because that was sort of the second. part of the quick trip to Hawaii America. You mentioned tropical vacation Greg, you got to confuse with the other person on the show. That's Erica Tamposi who's looking tan and rested after her little sojourn. Erica,

it's really nice to have you back. I will say that Justin Graver, we call him the Grave Digger. Oh, yeah. Okay. He just did unbelievable work in your absence. Yeah, I mean, he's got his own drop now and so thank you to Just

and Erica, welcome back. Thank you. Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, Justin, Justin did a great job while I was gone. And you can have him full time. I'm happy to step away. I have a lot of other stuff going on that I would be, you know, I would love to take a step back if that's what you want. Are you mad at me, honestly, because it sounded like you were a little mad before the show started.

Like some of the comments I made and things of that nature about your absurd vacation, you were upset about that. Absurd vacation. We have been locked in the house, Justin, I'm taking you out for the second. We have been locked in the house for two years. I've lost two people very close to me who would have told me to, well, no, but I'm serious. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about in general.

Before the season starts, I finally decided to go and have some friend time and vacation, which we all desperately need. And yes, it's like, oh, I miss the cut down days. I don't care who made the 53 man roster. Like, good. Have a podcast. I live my life. You have to live. You have to live.

You're too short. Hey, Ricky, you deserve vacations and nobody works harder than you. I just wanted to let you know that Justin, he's got ambition and he's got talent. He does. And it doesn't mean that I want him to be our producer now, but I just want you to know that if that lights a fire under your heinie or not, that's not up to me to decide, but I'm just letting you know he did great work. Well, that's really great.

and the listeners loved it too. And he provided some people were even saying that Justin should be a fourth. I saw that flying around, which I think that would be really fantastic. That was Justin's mom who sent that tweet. But, you know. You know what?

No, Justin is awesome. And, you know, as his boss, I'll take that into consideration. Oh, you should fire Justin. No, I would never. Oh, that would be an awesome move. No, he's amazing. You're his boss?

That feels, I know, I'm definitely getting like Joe Flacco with Lamar Jackson vibes here. Like, there are like the Alex Smith types where like Patrick Wombs, his whole career will talk about Alex Smith. What a great mentor he was to me. And then there's other types of mentors. Someone tweeted at me. It was like, is Erica going to get Cam Newtoned like by Mac Jones?

And I was like, can I just like enjoy my Mai Tai and like. And enjoy your Cam Newton getting cut from your favorite team, which is something that you would hope. If you were reading the Reddit board or your mentions during your Hawaii chip, that's on you. Yeah, no, I turned them all off. But no, it was good. But it's good to see you guys and especially. Mark and be all together, and I'm really, you know, we'll get into it later. Obviously, it's been a really tough couple of days. But, you know, besides that vacation and feeling refreshed

and really, really kind of looking forward to the season and what's coming. I'm glad you got away. I think it's well deserved. Erica, I don't know what all the flack is. And this is your last chance to fire a graver on the podcast. Yeah, no, I would never. Justin's too great. Because we would then go and get them back. We'd appeal to upper manager. so he wouldn't actually lose his job. But if, like, if anybody ever, like, got fired on this podcast, that would be pretty cool. That's all.

No, I actually, you know, this is, I guess, from content standpoint. Yeah, I can't say it. But I, I had a big hand in making sure that Justin is here with us. Well, see. Well, you did say it. I mean, is that what you were not going to say? No, I mean, just, just say, like, I fought for him because he's, he's the best.

He really is. And you're the best, Ricky. And I will tell you that we missed you as well. Yeah. So this is very nice. And yes, this is once again trying times around NFL media. We lost our friend Tara Deeker and we're going to have Sheckon a little bit later to remember a great friend of all of ours. But just to have the four of us together as we now start a new season without Wes, of course.

But I'm glad and thankful that we're all together here. Nothing could be taken for granted that that much. uh is for damn sure coming up on today's show oh it's sandwich props go get my lunch you disaster is this the ninth annual sandwich props i don't even know i guess you could check on the website but this is our ninth season together so it's possible well one thing i love is just in fortier who has been running go get my lunch dot org for a decade now um you know he's been tracking this for so long that it takes like five minutes to scroll all the way through all the wagers mark to get through it so i mean we really are if nothing else building out a real

archive of content that people can go back to forever let's face it i mean honestly if it is nine years uh justin fortier could have been in like you know eighth grade when this started and now a college graduate i mean it's it's nick fortier nick fortier could yeah it would be help if i knew his name. I mean, he's, he does excellent work. You're so obsessed with Justin. Like, you're so obsessed with him. I just needed to get his name in one more time. He seems very driven. He's a hard worker. You know, I feel sad that I missed his time. Just give us the drop. One more time. No, I'm not hitting it. All right. Okay. So anyway, that's coming up. Can't wait for that. And I'll have to check in with

go get my lunch.org for any, like, outstanding profits that, um, that, um, we started a 2014 free agency, by the way, for, for those curious. But before that, yes, the season begins Tuesday. The defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcome the Dallas Cowboys to Raymond James Stadium. And we are going to now, it's time, boys, for our first game preview of 2021. Wow. Football is back.

It's officially back. Where's that Priyana Chopka song? Chopra. Priyanka, Chokra, Jonas. Jonas, excuse me. I just call her Miss Jonas now. Greg on the mean streets of West L.A. It's going on.

I had to go mute because the police were pulling up in front of his house. Hopefully not for Greg. Anyway, Thursday night football, Tom Brady brings back. We'll set it up this way, Mark. I'll tee you up since we've missed you so. Tom Brady is now 44. He's entering his, I believe, 20. second season in the NFL, and I personally, as listeners know and you know, waited 20 years

for Tom Brady to get old. Now, having a different perspective on things and Tom playing in a different place, I don't want him to get hold because I think like everyone else, we want to see how far Brady can take this thing, how far he could stretch the limits of athleticism and defying father time. But here's the thing that makes the buck special. The supporting cast around Tom Brady is so stellar that it's just a perfect spot for him. The Dallas Cowboys are a worthy opponent, but at the same time, you have to love Tampa's chances here at home with all the pomp and circumstance. I'm with you. I think that Tom Brady had a flock of teams he could have gone to. And the buck stood out as a team that had a lot

of talent, but always had issues at quarterback. And he's the perfect puzzle piece. They're the first Super Bowl winning team to return all their starters since the 77 Raiders, which tells you just how rare that is in terms of team building. I think that we have a Bruce Ariens at coach who is the fire is back. I mean, I know that for a number of years, I questioned if he seemed plugged in, but I mean, it's sort of the perfect soup. That's official now. It's official. He seems to be determined to win. I just look at, I look at this game particularly is when you don't have Zach Martin for the Cowboys at guard. I think that, you know, the last time we saw the Bucks, their defense was dominant against an offensive line that had issues. I don't like the way

the Cowboys looked when Martin wasn't on the field last year. The whole thing is, the whole thing is this, though, like for me, we talk about Tom Brady and the offense nonstop. I look at this buck's defense. The way they're built up the middle. They have the dominant can sue back. They're essentially healthy with everyone except Jordan Whitehead. I do think the Cowboys are a worthy opponent, but I'd struggle to see them hanging around with the Bucks in this one. The Bucks to me last year, and I think they are a team that you can say

they can pick up where they left off more so than other Super Bowl champs because so many pieces are intact. They seem to just get hotter and hotter as the season went on, and if you look what they did after their by week, that's sort of what that offense is and what it can be. And I don't see one reason why they should be stopped in this game. I'm not even certain it will be close. I don't think it'll be close.

I mean, they're a worthy opponent the Cowboys are because, like, they can serve up a, help the Bucks serve up a 40 burger. And who doesn't like that? Like, if they do not go above 35 points in this game, I'd be surprised. If they do not win by more than what they're saying in the desert, which is just outside of our lock zone, it's about, I think it's just over a touchdown. I'd be surprised. This is not a game you want to be trying out things. It's like the Cowboys don't have Neville Gallimore, their best defensive tackle.

So they're trying out, you know, Carlos Watkins is going to start a defensive tackle. They kind of like him. They have this rookie, Odigizawa, who they like. It's like, okay, we're trying that out. We got these new cornerbacks. It's like Nashon, right, like, oh, we'll try that out a little bit. Oh, we brought him KZ from Atlanta. He's going to be our safety.

Not sure about our, like, secondary depth. We'll try that out. It's like, good luck. This is the last team that you would want to play early in the season. I think the Bucks might not be that team in December, but right now they're healthy they're ready to go the preseason overly affected me watching their couple of quarters where they just look so on point they could beat the cowboys or at least put up 30 points i think with their backup skill players i think you take out evans and and godwin and you put

in brown miller you know and johnson there's if you take out their starting running backs and you put in geor bernard there's they take out um gronk and you put in o j howard they still put up 30 points. I do not think they're going to be competitive defensively. The question is, yeah, what does DAC look like going against that Bucks defense? Just in terms of buttoning this up, you mentioned, Mark, the 77 Raiders being the only other team or the most recent team to bring back all their starters on Bullside. That team, the 76 team went 13 and won the Super Bowl, obviously. 77 won 11 and 3, entered the playoffs as a wild card and made it to the conference championship. That's just a little history for you, Buffs. What am I looking for

from this game. I'm looking for Dak Prescott. Let's see where we're Dak's at after the mysterious shoulder injury that had the Cowboys contacting the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees saying, uh, what is this? Like, and then he took the time off and then by the end of camp and if you're

watching hard knocks, he's slinging it around and we're being told no restrictions. Okay, but now we're going to play. So we'll see what kind of DAC we get in this game. If it's vintage DAC, and by the way, let's not forget, he's coming back from a compound fracture of his ankle and a major surgery that went with that. Two surgeries, in fact.

So that's something to watch here. I'm excited to see Zeke Elliott. He's one guy on Dallas also. What is Zeke Elliott going to bring to the Cowboys this year? Because if he is the Zeke of old and not the Zeke of last year and DAC is healthy with those great wide receivers, this team's going to score close to 30 points a game. And that's going to win enough games probably to win your division. So I'm really interested in the offense and on the defense,

just I'm staying Dallas focused here. Micah Parsons, after a summer of breathless hype around the first round pick, this special type of modern day linebacker that can rush the quarterback, who could stop the run, who could cover a speedy tight end. Let's see if he develops into a star. Let's see if he gets his rookie season off to a great start in a showcase game on Thursday night in front of 100 million people. because Dallas does a nice job developing stars on offense.

They desperately need to develop a new star on the other side of the ball. And that could be Parsons. I would note that, you know, last year with DAC, and they put up huge numbers on offense, they put up 17 points, 40 points, 31 points, and 38 points over the first four games, and still went one in three. So there's a fair amount of pressure on Dan Quinn, the new defensive coordinator, to put this thing together

because I think Mike Nolan's experiment as a one-year coordinator last year was an absolute undoing of the Cowboys, a total disaster. I mean, players that looked good two years ago look disastrous in that scheme. The word out of Dallas, though, is that a lot of these guys are happy with Quinn's scheme, that it's more aggressive, it's more simple in nature, where I think last year's was overly complex during a COVID, you know, Zoom meeting type off season. It was harder to pick up.

So I do think that if someone like Micah Parsons can set off a defense and he fits in Quinn's scheme, that is your division winner right there because on offense, if they can do what they did last year when DAC was in the lineup, they're somewhat unstoppable on offense, especially if CD Lamb looks to be the way he's been. Amari Cooper has looked good in practice lately. He's healthy, so there's no question about the offense

in terms of the star power and what they can put up points wise. When they finally have a coach that'll just throw it every down if you need to. So that's part of it. Like if you have DAC in fantasy or you think the Cowboys will end up keeping this game close, it's like they could be down 20, halfway through the third quarter and it just wouldn't be surprising for them to put up three straight touchdowns. I don't think the bucks are that unstoppable that every single team the Cowboys

play, they have advantages out wide and they finally have a coach not Jason Garrett that will just like throw the ball every time they need to because what's the point of running the ball against the bucks? They are literally one of the greatest run defenses in NFL history. There's not a real reason to think that's going to change now. And so I don't think this is like a Zeke run the ball too much game. And you never know. Week one is so weird. Sometimes you do see teams like get tired, certain players get tired.

Like, I don't know which team that's going to affect more than another. But I do think you get some weird like end of games in week one. So I think if that, if you're a Cowboys fan, that's what you're hoping for. But the Bucks, I think are going to think the opposite. And I think they're going to go tempo a lot. And like that that's a type of thing where Brady wasn't that comfortable for most of last season. And now he's so comfortable in that system where they can speed it up. They can slow it down.

They can do whatever they want to you. And I just, I don't know. I'm thinking like 47-21. I don't know if we're, no, maybe 47-28. Let's give the Cowboys. And I want to tell you one thing. When we did our West Hollywood podcast, I attempted to bring this up. And it was railroaded because it was too serious of a point when we were trying to have more of a lighthearted time, apparently.

But, Gio Bernard, I think, is going to be a huge story for this team. It wasn't that it was a serious point. It was like, we were trying to, like, Take big swings on, like, meaty topics, and you were like, keep an eye on Gio Bernard. I'm telling you, he is going to be, he is, like, he is what they were missing last year. I think the kind of piece that Tom Brady, you know, probably personally requested the same way Aaron Rogers would want. I want this kind of James Whiteish character that come in. And he fits perfectly.

I think he's going to be a huge part of their offense, an increasing part of their offense as the year goes on. It's crazy. I do remember some of those Patriots teams that finished strong and won the Super Bowl. But they did, and this happens a lot with supero teams, they do come out gangbusters. They're like, they're confident, they're ready to go, everyone's back. Like they are going to be a few steps ahead, I think, of the rest of the league, especially the Cowboys. And there's no chance, Tom Brady's getting old this year, right? I did see the note.

Last year with a knee injury. I did see the note that he's more than four years older than anyone else in the NFL right now. That is crazy. I'm not doing the doubting anymore, but I just want to say he's, again, 44 and entering his 22nd NFL season. and this is not a kicker. I think in week one, I think that he's got to take some hits. I think it would have to be injury.

I think that's where he could get old if he gets hit and something happens and then you can't recover and stuff like that. And that could happen anytime, certainly. But at this point, I'm not thinking it. If he's playing with a sore shoulder in early October, that could recalibrate the NFC. His arm looks so strong in that preseason game. I was like, it is literally stronger right now than it was in 2003.

I'm not saying maybe, maybe not than like 11 and 10, maybe his peak, but it's stronger than it was at the beginning of his career. I mean, he's regenerating, basically. He's probably not growing old. Exactly. And I think he's exactly his age is exactly like the median point between me and Greg and Mark. So like it's somebody we could all like look to. You know, I'd have to look behind me.

But yes, I mean, he's, I passed him in that category. So you say a grisly blowout, Greg? I don't think so. Okay, 4731. I'm going to keep, or 4734. I was going to say because the Cowboys, and Dallas does not want to repeat the beginning of last season, and this is pre-DAC injury, which is, yes, they were throwing for like 500 yards a game, but they were down three touchdowns and end of the third quarter every week, so they were just slinging it. If it gets to that point, yeah, maybe it becomes like over, you know, 70 points total, but I think they'll keep it a little bit close just because there might be a little, everybody's got to iron out some things early season, so maybe the bucks don't come out humming like a total machine. I'll say 30, 23, a nice game, but the Bucks taking.

I will go Bucks 38, Cowboys, 26, but not as close as even that score would suggest. Okay. So across the board, the Bucks will start the season, 1 and 0. Looking forward to it, and we're going to watch it together at Lakeisha's house. We watched the kickoff game last year at Lakey's. and Wes is, and Wes was there with us. So we really do look forward to as bittersweet as it is to start a new season. Just being back in that house with Lakeisha and Link, that would be, that'll be in the year before.

And Deaker was there the year before if thinking about it. We watched the kick off the last couple of years. It's crazy. All right. So that's Thursday. And remember, we're now on the regular season schedule. So you got your Tuesday podcast today. Thursday, early, will record the full week to come preview, previewing every game,

and then either all of us or some combination of us will be back later that night to offer the brief recap of the TNF game. And then, of course, this Sunday, the flagship show. We're still remote right now, obviously, but that will be changing either next week or the week after. So we are off and running. And don't forget the broadcast. Yes. Do not forget the two-hour supersized edition of the Around the NFL broadcast on NFL Network premieres on Friday as well.

Do we have a time for that? I'm so bad at the time. I think we have our taping. I think it airs Saturday morning on the East Coast. It's a two-hour version. You know, the West Coast or UK, you're going to have to take it. I believe it's 7.30 a.m. All right.

Perfect time slot. You got to start somewhere. 7.30 East Coast? Why would it start on a half? half hour. Well, we're going to need to, I mean, people on the West Coast are going to need to set them. It doesn't make any sense.

I think it's a two-hour show, though. Eric, get back to us. Yeah, we know that. And I think it'll be good, though. We tried to marry up the podcast. It's going to be better for the podcast. Our Thursday podcast is going to be better. And our Friday TV show is going to be better that they're totally separated.

So you can just, like, eat us up in many different ways. And like, you know, BTW, it's more work for us to do this way. But, you know what we care about? The product. Very hard. 7 a.m. Eastern season premiere of around the NFL with Greg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzas, and Mark Sessler, breaking down the latest heading into each week of the NFL season. The two-hour show airs every Saturday at 7 a.m. Eastern. So we got that cushy 4 a.m. Pacific time slot.

You know, it's like, it's like the more people will see us there, though, than in the Friday afternoon, weirdly. It will be the best show on NFL network within a, uh, a year. year and it will find a cozier time slot one thing i'm it is two hours at least well so last year we used our thursday pod as both the pod and the television show on our work produced two hours of content for people we're now doing three hours we're doing literally 300% more work this time if i have my math correctly so yeah we're nailed that math that's right nailed it. I never get sick of hearing you talk though. I never get sick of hearing you talk, Mark. I just want to hear you just talk about Gio Bernard in like every possible format. I will nail that prediction. Hey, it's Ricky. Have you guys ever wondered how the NFL schedule is made or what exactly it is that an NFL playing field is made up of?

Answers to all these questions and more are available now on the NFL Explained podcast. Every Thursday, Adi Kinkabwala, and Mike Yam will be answering the burning questions you have about the game so you can dominate trivia or just be the smartest person at your next football watch party. This week, they're tackling how each NFL team got its name. You can listen to NFL Explained now. That's NFL Explained with a period at the end on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development

to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I'm Marcus Grant.

And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

All right, it is time now. It's a tradition on the podcast. Everybody could do their basic ass predictions. We do it too, but with a twist. Go get my sandwich. You monster. Oh yeah, Mark missed the basic-ass predictions last week, so he's not going to have to be tied down to anything.

It's very convenient. Mark, a free wild horse, a bucking bronco, just rumbling through open planes. Well, no, I've filed them with NFL.com, though, so that's true. They're there. That's true. Mark got cute like me. We were like, oh, let's pick a different team to win the Super Bowl

than what everyone else is picking, the 49ers. and then like five, five basic throws. I'll pick the 49ers. It's like they're practically the most popular team. Did you happen to catch that show when I picked the Browns for the playoffs and Greg and Claibon did not? No, I did not hear about that. Any thoughts on that?

Well, that's very loyal of you. Well, where are they in your power rankings? I believe number eight of 32. Well, that's a playoff team. So Claibon and Greg believe that they don't even reach the postseason. They don't play January football of any relevance, yeah. I've never had a take, I believe, in less than this. one but sometimes you want to like throw more teams into the playoffs that aren't going to get there so

i wanted to get the dolphins in want to get the uh broncos in and it's like only one only one team from the north made it no i don't believe this at all come on greg get off the fence can't go after mark it's true it's true like west west knew the one thing to really annoy me in the world was when he would say i didn't even believe in a take that i said and unfortunately this take this one is like the brown's not making the playoffs is not a take i i don't really believe in that i think they're like eighth or ninth but it's like uh just something will happen i want to get i want to get those broncos i want to sprinkle some other teams in there ridiculous concerning gregg got to have a code man i well i i did i didn't change the pick i almost changed the online and that was that was

that was what mark used to do he would like make one pick online and another on the podcast remember that we like we like made fun of them for not having the browns in the playoffs and a year ago and then he had them winning the Super Bowl he like totally flipped multiple outlets multiple predictions what is your Super Bowl prediction by the way Marcus we shared ours I picked the Niners to win because you had the same yeah I picked the niners to win over another team I don't even remember who the aFC team was I don't think it was the she was not the chiefs was it the was it the aFC team that hails from Cleveland no I did Cleveland gets knocked out in the playoffs in my in my um rock solid predictions all right

check those out if you can find them on nfl.com let's get into it again these are the rules of the sandwich game sanguages on the line you make a prediction the other two bozos get the opportunity to either agree with said prediction or say no no no no no i challenge the i go the opposite direction of your prediction with a sandwich on the line and it's all tracked at go get my lunch.org. The sandwiches aren't changing hands as much, but guess what? There's been a pandemic and it's so hard to see each other right now. That will be corrected in due time, but no, that's what's on the line

here as we go. Let's go around the horn three times. With the final prop you lay out, it's not a bet, your onion hanger. And that's when you really say, I know I'll probably lose it. I'll probably lose this, but I want to, I want to put it out there. I want to show you that I have some, some onions and sometimes you've got to hang them onions. I hope maybe, uh, you try these onions.

You'll like them. You're real sweet onion. Let's get it going. I will start things off. And, uh, Greg, uh, Mark, I don't know if you were here for this show at the, oh, you weren't. So at the end of the preseason, I noted the absurd, uh, breakdown of the win-loss records, uh, the standings of the preseason or the NFC.

had maybe like five wins in the entire preseason. It's filled with interconference games, obviously. And the AFC was like mostly undefeated across the board. And I questioned whether does that actually hold some water? I know they're not real games or anything. But at the same time, when you look at the state of the NFL, and by the way, you mentioned power rankings, which premiered with me and Matt Money Smith Tuesday at 3 p.m. Eastern on NFL network, check it out every week.

when you look at the top half of the power rankings, it's very AFC heavy because the AFC is a much stronger conference right now. With that said, I hit up L.A. researchers here at NFL network. We have a great research team. And I said, hey, what is the interconference? I think it's inter. Interconference record, AFC versus NFC. What is the AFC's winning percentage? Over the past five seasons, the AFCs is 156, 162, and two versus the NFC, that's a 491 winning percentage. Okay, so history tells us, and as Chris Wessling once said, history is instructive.

As history tells us, don't get sucked in here, if anything, believe in the NFC. I believe the AFC will better that percentage by 50 points. The AFC will post a 541 winning percentage

in interconference battles against the NFC in 2021. Who's coming with? me who's going against me 541 i mean it's like a it's a pretty small sample size so you probably a you know you only have to be a handful of games over 500 right to 491 in the last five years gregg well that's just say they were just six under over five years that's less than one game a year so it's basically 50 50 just um or one actually 49 51 about right just why but i wonder what it was last year you know isn't that

a little more instructive um i don't know i want to root for the a fc i don't like this stupid thing wait a minute it needs to be easy right it needs to be 541 on the nose or just above no no it just has to be anywhere above 541 well it needs to be of 541 i'll take you on that it's a very obscure it's a very strange um prop you could root for a fc teams uh gregg and still uh go against me on this I kind of do believe in the AFC this year I'm not going to take you on it You know everybody

If you're a real veteran of this game You know it's a win when someone doesn't take you Because you usually lose And that's one sandwich Okay I mean it's I'm glad you brought that up We are exactly tied Dan With a 52.1 percentage

We have almost the exact same record I'm 184 and 167 You have one less win and one less loss Mark you're going to have to go undefeated for the next 17 years to catch up. Even though you're like 47% played for so long. But I think I've thrown some things out of the gate. But I think I've thrown some things out there that you're swinging for the fences with a low percentage of success.

All right, Mark, why don't you go next? So I got one sandwich with Mark on that on the line. All right. I don't know how to top that, the obscurity of what you just came up with. But I'm going to go with this. Baker Mayfield will throw. more touchdowns than Aaron Rogers. Ooh, I'll take you on that.

That's good. Okay. So let's take a look at something here. Because there's going to be some regression, I think, for Aaron Rogers in terms of touchdowns thrown. Because all those advanced analytics tell you that things kind of all worked beautifully to get him to where he was. What was he? 46 touchdowns or something last year. Let's take a look here.

48. 48 touchdowns. That's an outrageous number. That's like top five all time. It's like Aaron Rogers, like he's got to get some weapons around him. I mean, although the 48 touchdowns, what are the two years to fire. He had 26 the year before that and 25 the year before that with full 16 games. Please set me up for success.

Fire the GM. I've only thrown 48 touchdowns this year. Baker through 26. So that's a 22 touchdown gap. That's a big gap to make up for. I will take you up on that. But I like where your head's at because I think that Brown's offense is going to be good. I think touchdowns are a little more random than some other stats.

So even if Rogers outplayed Baker, Baker could have more touchdowns. It's not too crazy. But as Marks want to do, it's an onion hanger right off the top. I mean, he doesn't wait for the third one. No. Yeah, I like that. Well, Baker, let's see. This is his age 26 season.

So obviously there's still room for growth. But after watching him for three years, I feel like I generally got a vibe of who he is and what a ceiling is. and that is of a the right side of the Dalton scale, but not too far. Like he's kind of, I think, like a Kirk Cousins type guy. Now, Kirk Cousins can throw 36, 37 touchdowns in a good season. So I'm going to put Baker's, like, sealing this year at about 35. Rogers will throw about 35.

So it's a good one. I'll take you up on it just for fun. But I bet they do finish within two or three of each other. I think that's how it's good. Because I do think Baker will play well in that offense. and I think Rogers will just kind of come back to the pack a little bit after last year's brilliance. I think realistically, you'd probably maybe need Rogers to miss a few games for it to happen. But I think one thing about Baker Mayfield, if you take out the 2019 season, which, you know, that is part of his career and he did not play well in 2019.

But the environment around him, if you just looked at, if you let's say his career had been 2018 and 2020, I think people would look at him so differently and they forget how chaotic 2019 was. I don't think it's impossible that he has a breakout type campaign with the parts that are around him. He was having it. He doesn't need to play any better than he did from week 12 on last year for them to win a Super Bowl. He really doesn't.

They could have won it last year the way he was playing. He was playing great. He just has to sustain that over the course of a season. There's not a lot of reasons on paper that they wouldn't. They have a top six, seven roster. It's just a lot of, any concern for me is there is the division. It's the conference, and it's the bad Browns mojo. He's a little streaky, too.

I think that's the other thing about the Baker experience. There's going to be some ups and downs. He's going to be 14th. I'm doing the QB Index once again. He is 14th. That's exactly where he should be. On the QB Index going in. Oh, you're back with the QB Index.

I'm back. I like that. Nice. Inheriting from the great late Chris Wessling. Okay. Who inherited it from you? What a history to the QB Index? Okay.

So we both take you up on that. Mark, I like when you get the brownies involved. Greg, you're up. All right, let's just go simple to start. It's one we already talked about last week. The Broncos are going to make the playoffs. You know, Dan wanted me to put sandwiches on the line that I would stand behind some tweet

that they're in the divisional round. And I was like, well, that's one step too far. You don't get to 52.1 percentage historically and go get my lunch, putting them in the division round. Let's just put this team that's been terrible the last two years into the playoffs that's good enough give me a break but you're doing it again i mean this one's not as egregious but you're saying something in one format and then when it's time to actually put up the money put your money where your mouth is i think that making the playoffs is realistic uh them

like winning a game possibly as a road team because you don't it's going to be tough to win the a fc west that's another i think winning the playoffs is realistic i think uh teddy bridgewater is going to play well i think the defense and everyone else will be even better and i think they can get, they can scrape out 11 wins. It's going to be tough to make the playoffs in the AFC. It might take 11 and 6. I'd almost think Vic Fangio could be out of there if they, if they don't make the playoffs because they've got the roster to do it. It really just centers around Teddy. I'll take you on it, but I'll, I say this, I think they're a playoff team too. But I'll do it just for sport. But then you're counting them. It's like the Chargers and

the Pats and the Steelers and Browns and Dolphins, like all these teams, Raiders, they all think they can make it. I'm looking for this tweet from Greg, but Greg is a surprisingly robust tweeter. Oh, I found it. August 25th. I will remember who jumped off the bandwagon when Teddy is starting a divisional round

game in January. That's so strong, Greg, that's a strong, that's what the kids call it fire. It's done with a touch of mirth. I mean, it's a, it's a tongue-in-cheek. Why can't that be your sandwich prop? I don't understand why you're making it. I'm disappointed. Hey, why can't I be six inches taller?

It's like, this is the life you're dealt, Dan. So you're going to have to make a choice. You know what? I abstain on this just because I have a fundamental disagreement with how you carry yourself in this game right now. Stupid. I don't know what this teddy bandwagon business either. That one's on that, Nick.

I abstain. It's ridiculous. All right. Up next, one of these teams will post a double-digit, lost season. Now remember 17 games. I don't want to, I'm not trying to rip anybody off here. So you have an extra week, essentially, to lose that 10th game.

Pittsburgh, Chicago, Nau Orleans, Indianapolis, all playoff teams a year ago. Oh, wait, none of them are, are just one of them. One of them will lose 10 games. Plus. Who wouldn't take you on this?

If you put this prop in Vegas, this is minus 350. This is like, of Of course, I don't know what that means. The odds are extremely strong that one of them would lose at least 10 games. Extremely strong. Extremely strong? Yes. First of all, that's like the Bears over under on its own.

The other, you know, Pittsburgh is looked at as like a 500 team. I think that's a little low for them. And then the New Orleans is a volatile team, certainly. And they're around a 500 team projected. It's like. So I have three teams. This is the smallest, this onion is still under. ground it's not even this is these are three teams with double-digit wins a year ago and a

chicago team that yes when eight and eight made the playoffs uh but has this exciting young talent waiting in the wings i i don't i hardly just said one of these team if you said three of these teams sure too right i i struggle to take this one because i think the saints definitely two two we got up to go up to two two i'll take you on saints or a team in total transition steeles chicago new orleans indy okay Because it's like the Bears, it's like, I'm penciling them in for 12. So that just felt like, what's the point? I don't think they're going to be good.

That bad, huh? I mean, they could be better, but if I had to guess. Then I'm not really high on the Colts, and you just got to get one of those other two teams right. It's more reasonable. See how I'm not rigid, Greg? See how, like, I'm just, I'm going with the flow. You want to have.

You're very flexible. You're very nimble. Mine, I mean, mine is still, I was picking like an underdog. The Broncos making the playoffs is very much an underdog pick. You know, you were picking chalk. You deserve to be shamed. I think the Colts are going to be bad, too. I'm not even going to take it.

Bad. I don't know about bad, but, I mean, also, you can go 7 and 10. That's like an average team, so. So you're still not taking it, Greg? I'm still not taking it. This really goes against my... Wow. By the way, seven and 10 is an awful sounding record,

and so is, like, 5 and 12. I'm not into this. I'm with you. I feel like we're pounding the drum on this for mom. but it's going to take a while. The fact that there's no eight and eight teams anymore. No, it's absurd. I find that to be a real.

You happen to choose two of the teams I feel like I'm most down on in the NFL relative to average, which is the Colts and the Bears. And so then it's like, well, and one of those other teams could potentially mess up too. All right, Mark, you're up. All right. During the course of the season, it's not unusual for coaches to be fired during the season. In fact, it's happened. It seems to be more and more as teams get a start on.

finding their next coach, but something unusual will happen this year. It's not a firing. This happens very rarely, and I had to think back to Butch Davis, I think, is the last coach I remember that did this. Well, I'm just going to say that I'm worried about what's coming next. No, no, no. This is, it's pretty, it's pretty clear cut that a coach will resign during the season. Now, I, now out, this is out, that's the bet. That's the prop. So, but I, I just say that what I would add to it, not as a stipulation, Nick Fortier of the prop is that I think it will be scandalous.

I think it will be something that causes immense waves through the NFL and becomes a trenchant story that does not go away. But it will require the coach to resign. Can I tell you something that pops into my head? Two teams and they're both connected

by the same thing, which is a very toxic situation in our league right now. It's the Sean Watson. Yeah. Could be. David Cully resigned because of some ridiculous things going on behind the scenes and him realizing what am I doing here? Why am I being set up to fail? What is happening? How about Brian Flores,

Miami? What if they get off to a bad start and management pushes the Sean Watson into the building? And he says, wait a second, I love this kid, Tua. This is not fair and I'm not on board with this guy coming in here. Just random, obviously, conjecture, but it just flew into my mind when you said that. So I will not take you up. I will take you up on it, I will say, because I don't think think it will happen. But the Deshaun Watson situation and how volcanic that is sitting out there makes me wonder if that could lead to something crazy happening. Yeah, this is a massive onion hanger. When were the last resignings? I don't know the answer, but Bobby Petrino resigned. No, Petrino would be more recent than Butch Davis, but Davis had a mental breakdown.

Petrino just like left a note in everyone's locker. That was one of the more amazing moments. Is that one before after he got the road rash face when he was like with his mistress on a motorcycle or something? That was before that. That was, that was, that was, that was later. Yeah, I'm definitely going to take you up on this. And I'm happy that it wasn't too dark. For some reason, my mind immediately went to Gary Kubiak collapsing at half time during the game. No, no, I'm not, I just thought you were going to say, like, a coach can't continue the game.

Or he's like, you know, can't. So thank you. Thank you. But night, Gary Koviac took a stroke on Sunday night football. That was scary. Interesting, Mark. And by the way, since we're on the topic of coaches, you've been out for. the last few shows. And I wanted to talk to you about this. Remember last month when we were

like racking our brains trying to figure out who the one and done head coaches were? And the most recent guy was Freddie Kitchens. No, I got about 400 tweets. So can you just be, just be on, because we're all in a good place. We're happy to be back together, a new season. Did you knew, you knew Freddie Kitchens was on that list, but you just didn't want to surface it in that conversation? No, no, I'm old, and I completely forgot that the scenario occurred. Dan thought you were trying to protect like your mental health or something, or just like protect the bad name of the Browns being mentioned. And so you purposefully withheld it from us. This was his theory. Do you think that I care that much?

I mean, it's like, you know, it was evident that you did love Freddie. As a group, we completely just botched that conversation. That wasn't a great one. Okay. Good guest, though. We had Freddie on the show. I'll always remember that. Nice guy.

It's a good guy. And Nick Shook said it as well. One of the best guys you could ever hope to have a be belly up at the bar with at the road hotel ahead of a Sunday game. Maybe he should have been back in the hotel room prepping for said Sunday game, but he was drinking with Nick. And maybe that's why Nick doesn't work there anymore. Well, wait, there's a lot happening. There are many layers. Yeah, speaking of onions, we're peeling back the layer of that onion.

How did Nick Shook get from the Browns back to NFL? All right. Greg, your second. I feel like all my selections are intended for you both to take them. Mark's got the biggest onions, mine are medium. Dan's are the smallest onions so far. I'm still upset that I, on principle. So these two in a row that feel like 50.

This one's a little convoluted, but I'm going to say that Terry McLaurin, the Washington football team's receiver that I implored people to take in their fantasy drafts, will finish with a higher ranking in receiving yards than the Rams seed in the NFC this season. So the Rams will finish in X place in the NFC. You know, last year they would have been, what, fifth or something? Fifth or sixth. You know, when they won their division and they had to buy,

they were like the two seed. Terry McLaurin will finish in the NFL's receiving rankings. So basically counting on him to be a top five receiver this year at a higher seed or a higher number than the Rams playoff seeding. This is madness. Well, wait until you see my next one. I decided to get as convoluted as possible. I'm like mixing like different, you know, this way I'm like getting almost two predictions in one sort of. So if you have, if you're a division winner that puts you in a top four seed, you're a top four seed, seven teams make the playoffs.

It's pretty simple. And they do number everyone's seed. one through, uh, 14. So just in case they didn't, or 16, just in case they didn't make the playoffs, they, they would have like a ranking or a seed. I mean, you're the Niners winning the Super Bowl. Right. So I'm putting them down at like five or six. And McLaurin hasn't ranked, you know, that nearly that high yet, um, but I'm projecting. Are we talking catches or yardage? Because he was 13th. Receiving yards. Okay. He was 13th last year in yardage. Okay. He was 13th in yards. I'm, I'm projecting him, you know, to finish higher than the ram seed.

Wait, what if the Rams They have to stay healthy too They do rank them one through 16 You get a ranking in the NFC Whatever their NFC ranking is Because I think it's important to have Integrity and have it lined up with your predictions I have the Rams making it to the Super Bowl

And although I don't break it down Where they finish I saw them as a division winner And I'll just say Let's say they were the number two seats I'm just going to go with that So McLaren needs to finish first then

He needs to finish ahead of the seat. So, yes, I will take you on it. And I think McClorin could be a top 10 receiver. He could be number seven or eight and be a superstar this year. So it doesn't define failure if he can't out gain the Rams seed. Anyway, I'll take you on it. I like where you're going with this. I will take you to, I actually, a sandwich prop that I'm not using was that the Rams would miss the playoffs,

but the Chargers would make it. sending, you know, a lot of L.A.-based journos into a tizzy. But I, you know, I know that, you know, I'm trying to repair my relationship with the Rams, considering that we're moving into their house, like, in mere days. So it's not a Rams thing, except that I do believe in McLaurin, and I think that you're onto something. I can root for the Ram. I mean, my daughter is a Rams fan. You know, a five-seed's fine, or even a four-seat, and McLaren comes in first.

Either way, I'm fine. I think it's good, Mark, like, you want to be more a Cato-Kalin type. You want to be a nice house guest. You want to be non-offensive. You keep to yourself. If you hear a thump in the night, don't check it out. Like, just do what you got to do. Stay in the guest house.

And hopefully, a similar career path as him, if I am lucky enough. All right, last round. Now, here comes the onion. Good, Ellen, I show you a little bit of all growing huge onions. Okay. I got my boy, Zach Wilson, as the offensive rookie of the year. You guys can take the field. How's that, Greg?

That's fine. I'll take it. That's good. That's a nice onion hanger. Get in the field. Just because there's a lot of good options this year. I can't remember. I guess it makes sense. There are so many offensive players taking it at the top of this draft. This quarterback class looks amazing. I can't remember there being this much excitement over 10 to 15 rookies. So absolutely, I'll take you. I love it. I'll take you too. I don't know if he's in the best roster scenario for that to happen for the number. to be there, but I think you've got, you've found your quarterback from what we've seen so far. Rookie of the year would be the biggest Jets story in two decades. Right. I mean, Sam Bradford won offensive rookie of the year.

I think just because like he successfully walked from the bus to the field every game without falling. Like that was the level of rookie quarterback play back then. He was, it was not good. He was like the 28th quarterback in the league. Zach Wilson is going to have to be good to win this award because there's just too many other good good options at receiver and quarterback. The one thing, though, like, let's say that Trey Lance, for some reason, is splitting snaps with Jimmy G

till the middle of the year. Justin Fields continues to be put through the ringer in an absurd scenario in Chicago, and they don't play, and they continue Andy Dalton. That gives Wilson a jump. I mean, they have literally no other quarterback. Yes. I'm Mack Jones. Mack Jones has a chance. I wonder where Zach Wilson

ranks in, like, the predictions that are out there right now. Trevor Lawrence is first tied with Mac Jones, surprisingly. Field, second, Lance, and Zach Wilson next. I think there's a lot of banking there on like your team needs to win games, which makes sense. You know who I think Tony Romo picked. Zach Wilson. Zach Wilson. Let's listen to what Tony had to say about the Jets rookie.

It's rare for me to say someone has the ability to get in the stratosphere of a Mojoms, but I think this kid actually has that ability. So when you have a quarterback like that, I think, there's no telling how good you can be. He can make up for a lot of weaknesses and a lot of areas for a football team. I think Zach Wilson is going to be in discussion as one of the top three to five quarterbacks

very quickly within the next couple of years. I think you're going to see him rise and just, I think he's unbelievable. His ceiling is so high. Mara own. Now, Tony Romo likes Sam Darnal too. That should be stated. But that just, I mean,

if that doesn't get you pumped up as a Jets fan, I don't know what will. I think you should have that like, Tattooed on your back, that entire statement from Romo. If I will, if Zach Wilson wins an MVP or a Super Bowl in the next three years, I will do that. The whole statement, you'll have, well, I hope we can all come watch. I'll affleck my back. I'll affleck it.

What size font, though? I mean, it can't be, we need to be a very noticeable font. I'll do the wacky 90s one. What is it? The Comic Sans font. You can't, I mean, it's going to have to be small because there's a lot of words. All right, three years. So that's the 21, 22, and 23 season.

And I'm looking forward to tracking this one as the Jets, like, marched through the 20, 23 playoffs. And Dan starts, like, having mixed feelings about it. And if they three-peat over the next three years, I'll get it done in all different parts of my body. Oh, I'm rooting for this. Back front, buttocks. Buttocks. This is what it took for me to become a Jets fan, but I'm finally here. It's a big treat for Emily, your wife.

She's going to have, it's going to be a lot to discover. All right. Let's keep rolling here. Mark, yours. All right. I feel very strongly about this. I'll take it. I will take your onion hangers. Okay. I think you're going to want to. But again, I want to say that this is not a gag. This is something I feel very dug in about. That there will be a major, we will look back and

you can try to not, you can try to spin it and say that you don't agree that it was what I'm about to say. That it is a top, it is the number two news story in the NFL outside of the coach resigning that it is so it will at least be one or two biggest story in the NFL will involve something to do with an NFL cheerleader there will be a story involving an NFL cheerleader that will be considered a um and sort of an earth shattering type uh breaking news scenario he did mark eventually got to an uncomfortable place uh Greg it just took one more question no I don't think it's it doesn't see you're that's where your mind goes I mean she could be involved in a bank robbery I don't know it could

be any sort of thing. She could steal a horse. That's uncomfortable for the people in the bank, you know? Well, that would be. That would be. But it doesn't suggest that, it's bad news for the cheerleader, basically, you're saying? It's a, like, a scandal of situation. It's just, like, all, there would be no question that the cheerleader is a pivotal, um, centerpiece, a core centerpiece of the story. I don't, I'm not trying to, a Patty Hurst type thing. All right. Like, I know, but then if I say that, if like O.J. Howard marries a cheerleader, that doesn't qualify. You just, I'm going to try to help you out. You said this would be one of the two biggest stories of the year, which I don't even know how you would rank that.

Like, we should, we should try to make it like, you know, this is a seismic story, including a cheerleader happening. So like the cheerleader, okay. How about kidnaps the vice president? Like, that's a huge story. Like, are we talking like that level news story? I'm saying it will be, because I've already talked about the resignation of the coach, um, sending, you know, shock waves through the league.

So I can't, I don't know if it's going to top that when you look, when you do your like a year in review this cheerleader story will be a devastating all right one of the biggest stories of the year you know involves a cheerleader yes let's keep it right there doesn't sound good whatever it is it just doesn't sound good for the cheerleader it's not it's not a player it's not a player marrying a cheerleader that that's that's not a huge story yeah that's one there's no news value to that and it you you can think it's bad but maybe it would be something like the cheerleader goes to space or something sure it could be trans well i don't know i that to me feels like blasey news to that's pretty big story I guess it's big.

I don't know. Like the head cheerleader of the dolphins blasted off with SpaceX or something. That would get a lot of play in the national news cycle. I don't know if it's the biggest story, second biggest story of the year, but... Well, I think we've removed second biggest story because it's too hard for us to... And you'll just claim that it's not, so we're taking that out of it. All right, Greg, we got you, and then we got our annual Ricky prop. So, Greg, close us out.

Here we go. I don't know if the onion's any bigger than the first two, but it is more convoluted even. All right, three teams from the AFC East will have more victories than the amount of consecutive pictures. What is happening with you? You stopped me. Now, all right, three teams from the AFC East will have more wins this season than the amount of consecutive pictures, Mark Sessler, once posted on Instagram of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. You are not allowed to go look at the Instagram and see how many. Mark probably knows.

I do you know, Greg, do you know the number? Well, I went to check. Did you do your research? Yeah. So you know. I went to check. And Mark probably knows. I do.

I remember that day. That was an infamous day. It was many days. It was more than one day. A couple weeks. For sure. Many consecutive pictures. Three teams from the AFCs will have more victories than that number.

Three teams. So I know what the numbers. Yeah, you know what the number is. You could help out, Dan, if you really want. You know the number. I thought the mystery was kind of part of the fun, but, you know, you can do it every day. The number is nine. It was a solid 333 Instagram.

I shouldn't have allowed that. Now, the pats or the dolphins will bust out and under, and they were underachieve. So I do not think three teams will do it, so I'll take you up on it. But that was an amazing show run on Instagram. but you can't know the info if I don't know it I guess in my mind in my mind I thought it was possibly 15 and someone would think that too that it was just like an impossible number at a top because I was guessing well going into it I thought it that's got to be double digits it turned out to be nine well I was going to continue on with it um what happened I'll tell you real quick was that my wife went on a like one of these girls trips with her friends and they were sort of saying why is your husband posting endless Leonardo DiCaprio Kate Winslet photos so I got a talking to we're like it's a little too weird please stop doing that and so then the air kind of got let out um nine wins i got a question about it at one point just someone was like what's up with mark's uh like is it for simone is it any worse than when you like pick

uh post pictures of your 1992 girlfriend from uh you know lake happiness or whatever i am not because i'm not doing that that's not something that i'm doing so lake happiness all right okay okay um all right i will i will take you on it just because i'll do everything thank you all right good all right rickie you had one i do okay so we know that there's been a little bit of trouble in paradise with michael thomas and now he's on the pup list till that puts him after they're by right so marquez calloway totally exploded in the preseason so what i am predicting is that not only is he going to be the wide receiver one, especially with James Winston for the Saints,

but he is going to make it questionable to the point where Michael Thomas, even when he's back, is going to be, you know, I guess lose the starting spot. He'll be a number two, not the number one. How do we quantify that? He's not a starter? Yeah, maybe he doesn't even play. I think that Marcus Calloway is going to.

Oh, I got it. Ricky, what if we say whenever Michael Thomas returns from that point onward, whoever has more targets between the two guys? How about that? So you say Calloway will have more targets than Mike. Dan is helping you out because your first two things you threw out there, we could have been mean and been like, yeah, there's no chance he's getting benched. Yeah, but what if he does, like he's, there's been trouble in Paradise with him there

without Drew Brees too? Like it could happen. Caliway targets Thomas. Okay, I could buy a trade. I thought that's where you were going. Well, maybe I'm just saying, I don't, I think, if he's there, he's not sitting. He's going to dethrone Michael Thomas. I'll take you up on it.

But that's not, it's not crazy. Because Calloway will out target Thomas if he's traded before Halloween also. So, yeah, these things are. But you're, to clear it, you know, to make it clear for Nick, out target him from the moment that Thomas returned to the field. Right, yeah. I'll take you up on it. I love it, because I think that you're on to something. That, you know, even if Sean Payton says that, you know, he's sort of back in a good place with Michael Thomas, this has been going on for over a year.

This isn't the guy that they thought he was a while back. I mean, I do think he's uber talented. So if he's healthy and they need him, I don't think you're going to win this. But I think it's possible that he's traded. All right. If he gets traded, what, so if he gets traded, you win? Or is it just the target? I think you definitely win.

They don't want Michael Thomas. They want Marcus Calloway. Also, Thomas could also come back and not be healthy because he hasn't been healthy since this time. last year all right that's good there you go close up the books nick four tier go get my lunch dot org uh please uh check him out give them a follow on twitter too or go get my lunch on twitter and we will of course as we always do we will cycle back and uh take a look circle back i should say and take a look at these props come the end of the regular season okay without further ado let's welcome in whoa there he is the legend he's doing the thing by the way this is a thing

the kids are doing and check is too where it's thicker mustache the beard comes in you see iron rogers is doing it as well but this is a look and check has it what's up dave damask check it's looking good what what's the poop fellas can you hear me okay i don't know my connection here and lake happiness is coming through i i you know what i'm sure you guys have first-rate equipment we can hear rosenthal up there on mount pious so that's fine you guys are what what what what pious is going on i don't know your ease of throne or whatever the hell else you guys talk about you guys are still doing the show good for you um i'm happy to i'm happy to see that that you guys continue to press on um

i i would love in on some of these uh some of these wagers like for instance you know that the los angeles chargers are in fact going to win the a fc west we we we know we'll let you if that want if you want that to be your sandwich prop yeah okay well i'll take you up on that. Can we, can we throw Damashik and Chargers win the division? That sounds like three delicious Promancy brothers. I'll take you too, but I think you're right though. I think you're right. Wait a second. So the Chargers finish with a better record than the Chiefs? Win the division. Whoa. Or when I'm in the division. That's pretty wild. I like that. It's not that wild. I mean, is the Chargers defense markedly better than the Chiefs? Yes. Is the Chargers' offense

markedly worse than the chiefs? No, ergo, I'll take Staley's company. Dan's not used to onions this big. He's been tending this little tiny onion garden. Who hurt you, Greg? Oh, I did when I had a stand on principle with some of your nonsense earlier. I feel a little bit bad.

I really do feel a little bit bad for Hans-Zus in this one here because, you know, Rosendahl, yeah, okay, one-year bliped Tom Brady dumped him and Belichick and everybody else, but I suspect Belichick will rise back up here. It's possible. And, you know, Sessler, you know, let me be the first. And if I'm not, I want to get in on it.

Here we go. You've already done this, actually, on this show. Well, I want to do it again because I'm a man of the highest integrity and I'm a class act. That's what I, you know, that's how I view myself. And I think we all agree on that. And I want to say, listen, Cleveland Browns, everybody agrees universally. brilliant front of office you know head coach comes in what's he do first year coach of the year best roster in the aFC maybe all a pro football one two punch at running back best in the

biz fancy pass catchers one handed or otherwise and best news of all the first overall pick just a few years ago at not just this sports but all of sports most important position bake what possibly go wrong i wouldn't to say congratulations Browns fans go wild this is your year no this is another attempt at psych warfare psychological warfare which you know it's been a long off season for you um you're used to talk about thrown of ease it's just been one division title after the next for the steelers big ben is your quarterback you're now being chased and dogged by questions of when he's going to fall off a shelf um if the team is you know psychologically ready to pick up the ball again after getting smushed by

Cleveland in January, which, you know, I know, Dave, that was that, quietly, that injured you, that it lifted me up. I was humiliated. It was a humiliating defeat. Nothing's quietly with Dave. Yeah, we heard about it. Darkest loss in Steelers history. And that's not high.

Wow. I'm not being, which is just another way to throw shade at the Browns. We, I see what you're doing, Dave. And I appreciate it. No, I think, I think in hindsight, I think the pain will, will, will go away when I realized that that was just uh that you know that heralded the rise of the cleveland browns and you know we were their first real big victim as uh they took over all appropriate can you can you guys take this to the minus three podcast i mean okay i don't know what you talk about it's an exciting

story it's an exciting time for everybody accountant for taste minus three pod the extra points pod dave's a thunder get caught up on that back back catalog with uh your buddy feeney um Haven't Dave on because, yes, we lost Tara Deeker this weekend to cancer, which is just outrageous and tragic. We lost West the day before the Super Bowl in February. We lose Deeker right on the eve of the start of the season, two of the best people that any of us knew. And I just want to say, having Sheck on the show is important because Deeker's introduction to our audience and Sheck's audience was really through the pie. more than anything else. And I think it was so cool that she was so passionate,

and such a great fun woman that she had that spotlight that Dave, you allowed her that opportunity. And she made some great pies. And we're all going to miss her a lot. And we just wanted to just talk about Deeker and how much we're going to miss her. And what does she mean to you, Sheck, and your time at NFL media and beyond? Yeah, you know, heartbreaking beyond, you know, our ability to sort of, especially you mentioned Wes there.

And I texted Dekard, I think right around a year or so ago, just checking in with her knowing that, you know, she was going through her health stuff. And I caught her, or in fact, she called me back. And she was on the way to pick up Wes for his chemo treatment. And that is who she was doing the tough stuff, the heavy lifting of friendship. And she did it to everybody, you know, that was, she did it for everybody.

And as I just keep saying, that's how she made everybody feel like a million bucks. And yet she still had a deep enough well that if any of our kids came around, then we were yesterday's news. And they were the focus. And from the moment she met them for the rest of the time you would ever interact with Deeker, if it was every day, every week, or if you didn't talk to her for three months, it was always first, and by their nicknames, where I was concerned by my little, and, you know, I have somewhere between three and 17 children, whatever it is.

She knew all their nicknames, always ask questions, you know, and that was her way with everybody who she dealt with. And I was talking to our mutual pal and producer over there, Drew Christensen, he had the bad statitude and a close friend, course, as we all were with Deeker. And he said, you know, that's something I thought was poignant, that it always felt as though she never, it was her, in any circumstance, she devoted herself to not being the center of attention, and yet she was always the center of attention.

And that was no small feat, that's no small feat in any workspace and any gaggle of friends or otherwise. But think about the big personalities that, you know, that we've worked with over the years, pro football players and Greg Rosenthal and people like that, you know, and my kid, but, you know, she was that way with every single person, the Hall of Fame, whatever football guy, or, you know, somebody who was one of the security guards, she was that way with everybody. And I feel like, you know, I feel like in the movie, as good as it gets, Nicholson gives that great speech to Helen Hunt about Helen Hunt and her greatness. And I was worried, I don't love taking to social media to, you know, to lament something like this happening. It feels, it doesn't feel quite right to me.

It didn't feel quite right to me. but it occurred to me that she made everybody feel so good that I want the world to know. This was a great soul, a special soul. And the speech Nicholson gives is if you'll remember that he goes to see her and she's a waitress in the movie. And he tells her, I feel special because I see it with you, Helen Hunt. And I felt like in talking to Drew Christensen a little bit and to other people, you know, I feel special because I I know Deaker, know her, period, but know her greatness. And we're all lucky to have known her.

But now I've come to realize, and I've seen the posts, and it's the same recurring themes. It's about that she was a light and she was a delight and she was so kind to everybody. And now I realize that I don't have to have that concern, at least. Everybody got it. Everybody got it. You know, so we were all lucky, and I think we all get that we were lucky to know her. I feel bad for the people who didn't know her, but I feel that I feel like, boy, her time was well spent because there's not anybody who knew her, and she knew a ton of people, and everybody seems to have landed on the same stuff.

She was, you know, we can wax poetic about it and otherwise, plain and simply, she was the best. it what more can you say we should all be like that she um she was like a like if you think of the NFL as like a like a locker room and i don't think of the NFL network is like being amazing in terms of team camarader she was like the ultimate glue glue person like she had a meaningful relationship like you were talking about with everyone at the company from like the part-time people who are cycling in and out for seven months that she would make them feel great to the highest executives at the company to the to the biggest named talent you know at the company everyone almost had a relationship because she didn't give you

an option to or not and if and if you didn't like something was wrong with you like if you couldn't go along with it because you're right like in a in a place of like big personality she was still the loudest. Like, she was the most, she was the most bombastic. And, and there's just something about her that, like, you couldn't put her in a box and that you just, you loved every, every minute of it. I was, I'm, I totally agree with you, Dave, about, like, the, how you feel about posting and everything. But it did feel good to hear all the stories of everyone else's kids and realize, like, oh, wow, everyone had those experiences. She would invite, you know, me and my kids over to this place she housed at and she had a pool at and she'd,

you know, have desserts ready for them and have things to play. And it'd be like a beautiful afternoon that she just wanted to like set up for the kids. And this is during the pandemic and during her fighting cancer. And she, she was just such a good friend to everyone. It really, it's, it's been a brutal, it's been a tough weekend. We're like depressed, angry, mad. but also, like, hearing this stuff, she was one of a kind. Yeah, I think we've lost like two incredible lights over the, over during this offseason.

And it's been, this, this, the timing of this was very rapid towards the end, too. It completely threw me off. And it kind of just reminded me of, you know, maybe I could have texted her one more time, called her one more time. But I also look back on her and I like what you guys said because I think we did have, in a way all very similar relationships with her because she had a special talent of making you feel when she'd be hanging out with you like you were the best friend she had. And it was genuine too because she would just pour herself out and pay attention to you and listen. I remember one Thanksgiving when I was working in the newsroom and there's like, you know, two people in there. And she

brought over this huge plate of food from like the real talent spread of food, not the kind of thing they threw in the lunchroom. I mean, it was like little things like that. do that for us on Thursday night. Yeah. Very early on, 2013, 2014, she would like, she would sneak us over so we could get better food on Thursday nights because she didn't think it was fair. How about the drink tickets? Yeah, the drink tickets at the holiday party.

She always had the, she was the source. Right. That dates back to when, you know, we just started here as a group and, you know, there was no one person more important than the other. And, you know, one special memory of how I have of her is that she called me up one day and she's like, dude, you know, was when once upon a time in Hollywood came out. She's like, I have tickets, one ticket, guest ticket to like the media premiere. And it was on this like 70 millimeter perfect screen.

And it was like all journalists. And she brought me to it. And we drove up into the depths of Hollywood. And the thing I remember is not so much the movie, but the drive up. She was just unveiling things about her life previous to the NFL. She's friends with like Nev Campbell. She knows like tons of celebrities. She was in that industry.

She hung out with Quentin Tarantino. And she dropped that bomb on me as we were. driving up. She just was a person, a multifaceted person that you talk about how she was able to get along and show her heart and be loved by so many different types of people at the NFL. I think that's just who she was with everyone in her life. And I'm still figuring out how to even respond to this. She's a really special person. And I'm with you, Dave, that I feel lucky to have been her friend. And she made me feel like a real friend. Well, I mean, she was prison loyal. you know what I mean like and for a vain guy like me it was it was striking to realize like

oh you're that way with everybody I feel a little let down I thought I was special oh no you're that you do that with everybody and if I if I take a step in the wrong direction about another one of the people who you're that loyal with you'll let me know about it and she was like even like that with everyone but Henry had like a little he was like a little a little bit more I do agree with that. I do agree with handsome Hank and their special relationship. But it engendered, but her loyalty engendered that. I mean, people would, and it would play as half funny with the aforementioned pie-offs,

she would go around and she would, you know, she did guerrilla sales. She went around to everybody, taste this pie. She would prepare for months on end trying to unseat the Mighty Hansus Corp. And it's stranglehold on the pie off. and she would solicit the opinions of everybody and when she lost Willie McGinnis and Ike Taylor and I don't know who else came and I was like, are you kidding? No, they weren't kidding. They were angry four deep. How dare you not give her the pie off? They gave me a wedgy, I remember. That was unfortunate. You don't have to embarrass me. But okay, that's what happened. But yeah, that's kind of what

she did. But the other thing, and when you mentioned handsome, I feel required to point out because we had the same conversation, sadly, too recently about Wes, you're inclined in situations like this to, you know, sand off any rough edges and just, you know, put the, put the halo on her and Wes and obviously stand out human beings and everything. But, you know, let's be very clear. She was five foot nothing, brassy broad, who gave it as well as she took it. And there was nothing better than going too far with her and get, Dave, come on. You can't do that. You can't do that.

And the text exchanges with her and handsome Hank and how bawdy and all that stuff it was. She was above or at least as important as anything else I might point out about her. She was goddamn hysterical. I always think about like, you know, she's, she's this Korean girl who was adopted and grew up in like this white family in the Midwest where, you know, she is as strongly political as anyone I knew. Like she would send you like flyers of giving you advice of how to vote and stuff. And I always think of like she was herself in that situation where, you know, her family and she loved her family so much, you know, like much different political stripes and stuff. and like she almost that is just to me like the sign of this unbreakable spirit that she she grew up standing out like her she stood out in her in her own house and never changed her if anything it just like made her stronger she was so like herself i don't know there's nothing more you can you can ask for a person we would always are like laugh argue about golf and how she loved tweeting about golf and watching golf and i would always say what's more boring than golf and she'd roll her eyes and say what and i would say watching it on TV and You know, I would just say that over and over again,

and one time, pretty recently, actually, she's always been trying to get me into a golf podcast. And I was like, okay, well, what's more boring than watching golf on TV is listening to a podcast about it? But one day, it was pretty recently, she was like, she was like, Erica, you need to listen to this minute mark or whatever. And it was this golf podcast about the host, or maybe he was a golfer or something.

Around the PGA. Yeah, in the shower, you know, celebrating a win. and hyper extended his knee doing some act in the shower alone. And she was like, if you're going to listen, like, she was so laughing. And she had to call me after I listened to it to be like, I knew this clip would get you into this golf podcast. And it's just like the conversations that I've had with her over, you know, she's been such a staple in my career with my choices.

And she would be that person that you could really go to for honest. advice and you know Dave you and I and Emma were texting this weekend about it and Emma got to see Deaker like you a lot of you did at Dad Summit and Emma was like you know deker hugged me for literally 60 seconds like people started taking pictures of it because it was just such a long hug and it's I just can't find the words to to say to even memorialize her because she is just such a love and we're all so, so worse off

for not having her around. She's going to be missed and I and I'll just wrap it up this way and check. Thanks for coming on because she loved you. And when I think about Deeker and I think about the NFL like you're right there too.

Just, you know, we're learning the hard way about, you know, the passage of time and things that, things change as time goes along. And I, it's not so long ago that I remember being at the Shield and having our Thursday night softball games. And we'd play the game and usually we'd win. And then afterwards, we'd all be sitting on the grass together, drinking some beers. And I'm picturing West there with Lakeisha and their newfound love.

And I'm picturing Deeker there because she came to all the games just to watch it and socialize. And just knowing that that stuff is gone and it's not coming back. And that sucks. But it's just it's great that we had these people in our life. So Deeker, we love you, and I don't think we need to say anything really else or sign out music or anything. Just we're thinking about your, Deeker, and you'll be missed forever. We'll be back on Thursday. And in every single thought that you have and how you say what you mean and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good.

I think most people miss that about you And I watch them wondering how they can watch you bring their food And clear their tables and never get that they just met the greatest woman alive And the fact that I get it makes me feel good About me I Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Fiorio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

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