NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Aaron Rodgers Speaks and Creator of DVOA - Aaron Schatz

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal take you through all of the news but not without breaking down lil Romeo and where Gregg went wrong. Aaron Rodgers spoke out during his presser and addressed the elephant in the room (12:15). multiple teams are calling on Xavien Howard (29:25), and Sean Payton speaks on Michael Thomas surgery (33:46). Aaron Schatz stops by to talk some teams he's excited about in this upcoming season (45:05). 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.

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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. Once more preseason games. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes.

Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, boys. The week rolls on. Training camp's opening up. Looks like my boy, Zach Wilson, even signed a contract. I thankfully tried to steer myself out of all the mentions and the trolling going on in my direction about that. It was going to happen. Zach's in camp. Now the NFL season can start.

Yeah, Zach, yeah. I mean, I don't, rookie, like no, yeah, rookie holdouts, training camp holdouts, they're a thing of the past. There literally was not a training camp holdout. I guess Zach Wilson was it, but he doesn't, he wasn't under contracts. It doesn't even count. I'm pretty soft holdout. I mean, was there any drama that he was going to not show up for weeks? I mean, he was officious enough to get on a red-eye flight last night, then promised he would do something to stay.

I took one of those to the East Coast a couple weeks ago and was an absolute mess on the other side. So I don't know. We'll see how we progress. It's a sign he doesn't take football as seriously as like Mac Jones. Mac Jones is like a grinder. He told his agent just like, get me in there. Just I love ball.

I want to be out there competing with Cam Newton. I don't want Mike White or whoever's throwing passes, James Morgan for the jet. I don't want them ruining practice for a couple days. Like I love ball. But much like the Detroit, Lions a few years ago, Zach Wilson just shows up a few days late. Ricky, can you put some like echo on my voice?

I want to tell you about Mack Jones's inner monologue in his first pro training camp. He just threw a pass. Like, oh, damn it. Why am I not having fun? I thought I would get to the NFL and I'd be having the time of my life. Why is this? Oh, this coach is so mean. Where's the joy?

No one smiles up here. Everyone smiled at my old college. Oh, yeah, Nick Saban, there's a ball of laughs. And no one here. Who was that in my ear? Don't know. I want to go back to the way it was, or to another team. I guess I'll have to wait four to five years.

That's what's going on in his head right now. Nobody has fun up there. Well, that's shaky, too. That's very shaky if that's true. All right. Winning's fun. Winning's fun. That's what Patrick Chung responded when this, I do like this topic comes up a lot.

in New England, whether they're having fun or not. Somehow that's become important. Well, here's the problem. Here's the problem. You can run like a no-nonsense, no levity operation as long as you win a Super Bowl every other year. But what happens if you stop winning Super Bowls all the time is that act going to work as your coach gets older and older? Listen, I'm not saying gradual decline for Bill Belichick, but I am kind of saying it. I don't know if his game is going to work anymore.

I mean, it was a steep decline last year. So he's facing a big season. His defense, he's a defensive coach, stunk last year. You think there's any scenario. Forget even the Brady stuff. Like his defense stunk. He needs a bounce back. I think he'll get it to some degree on defense.

There's a little tease for our guests there, Aaron Schatz. He believes, or at least his numbers believe, that the Patriots are going to get it on defense. They have the Patriots looking like a Patriots team from two years ago. It's a little surprising. A little surprising. Is there any scenario that now? all the Patriots listeners going to get on Twitter and everywhere else and say what a asshole I am.

But is there any scenario where Bill Belichick is ever on the hot seat? Like, will Robert Kraft ever have to fire Bill Belichick? Well, Tom Landry got fired in Dallas. That was ownership change. Maybe it would have to be something like that. Otherwise, Bill can just ride this thing out however long you want you'd think. I think that's probably right. But I do think there is a scenario where Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft stopped getting

along for whatever reason and you would imagine it would have to do with losing and that to me could happen anytime uh because i i think there's always there's just like a little bit of a little bit attention there in terms of who's the boss and uh if things ever went south i think that's what would happen but ultimately it would probably be up to bill bellichick well bill bellichick will leave when he wants to i think the one thing that he's learned i mean if you read any of his sort of autobiographical you know books there's some great ones out there that what happened to him with Art Modell in Cleveland, made him realize that ownership is so important. So, Dan, the thing you're suggesting where, let's say a new owner comes in and wants to

sweep everything out, it's a Tom Landry-type figure, I think Belichick would be like, there's no way I'm signing up with a new owner. I mean, Kraft's not going anywhere. That thing is staying in there. He'll hand it off to the Kraft child and then that child's child. He famously went to New England because he wasn't comfortable with the ownership structure in coming with the Jets, which turned out to be. be a very smart move by Mr. Belichick.

All right. Enough of that. Yes, Aaron Chats is coming on. Aaron Chats is the godfather of DVOA. Or the father? I don't know. Because father is better than Godfather. Yeah, he helped to make it.

Godfather is like a title of respect. You're like the Don. Greg still hasn't seen the movie, so this is all going over his head. But when you're the actual father. Just putting me on blast there. Yeah, it's kind of embarrassing. When you're the father of something, you created. it and he did create DVOA. So Aaron Chats is on the show. His great football outsider's

almanac just dropped and we're going to dig into a few of his team projections that jumped out to us. But before we do that, let's hit the news. For 1989 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Lil Romeo is the son of music legends, rapper's Master P and Sonia C. signed at just five years old after he wrapped his dad, Lil Vermeor hit the big time in the early 2000s when his debut single went Platinum. All right. Greg, let me break this down. So Greg on the last show, we delved into a hip-hop conversation and at some point, whenever we start talking hip-hop, at some point Greg gets a little uncomfortable, says this is the whitest conversation ever. He's always right. He's always right.

But here's the thing for me. I depend on Greg to help. keep the ship afloat whenever possible. Greg does like rap famously. So we need Greg to be on point. Just like if we're having a conversation about mid-90s alternative rock, you can depend on me to make sure we're crossing the T's and doubting the eyes. Steve Winwood, Mark's got it. He's got it covered.

I've got you in that realm. Elvis Presley, Mark, right down the pipe. Absolutely not. He changed the face of American rock. You couldn't believe what it was like. Do not deflect, Greg. Anyway, my point is, you said that Master P's son is bow wow. Incorrect.

It's Lil Romeo. That was from Lil Romeo's crib's kid edition on MTV about 20 years ago. And we just need you to be a little bit better and carry us in those moments. When it gets overly white and ignorant, we need you to jump in and get these things right. Otherwise, it makes us look that much worse. It was tough. You know, you get, I'm getting older. And I was just like a little brain fart there. I was there when, you know, I was in New Orleans. Little Romeo was on the radio and whatnot. If I, you know, once someone sent the first of, you know, roughly 174 tweets telling me I was wrong. I was like, oh, yeah, of course. How did I, how did I do that in the moment? But, you know, it's a live, it's a live thing. And my brain has been addled over the years for many reasons. And Lil Romeo also went on to get a D1 scholarship with USC to play basketball. I don't know where things went from there, but Greg does.

It's a good lesson. Like sometimes, like, what makes a good athlete, podcast, or whatever? It's like sometimes you're going to take massive L's and you just have to accept it and then come strong the next time. Like there was this top chef contestant on this last season. Dawn loved her. And she wouldn't get the last item of food on the plate. And that would be like her first course out of five. And she would respond.

And the next three courses would be great. That's what I'm going to try to do. She was a former Olympian. I'm like an Olympian in the podcast game. I mean, you've labeled yourself in the realm of great. I just thought that's the attitude I need to have to bounce back because it was a I totally glazed over there. It's like when Mark makes a Star Wars reference and I'm just, it's so foggy.

It's like driving on the Palisades Parkway near the George Washington Bridge on a really foggy day, like foggy night. Like that was what it was like just now for me. when you made a top chef reference. I don't know how that the, how that game works, but it sounds like the contestant struggled. Yeah, she struggled, but she would bounce back like a pro. That's what I'm hoping it did.

I mean, Dan, the self-enointed pop culture guy, like, has not, has no concept of one of the groupings of films that changed film forever. I find that to be an odd stance. No, I have a dark, I have a real blind spot with movies of the 70s and 80s that I've been open about that I've been trying to check boxes on that. And I know Star Wars is something I'm going to have to hit eventually because I don't want to deny my children if they get into it. I'm not that type of,

I'm not that type of guy or father. But it's not something that I'm looking forward to. But one little thing and then we'll move on, because you put me in a box for like I'm one of these like nerds. Like I would tell you that only three of like the 14 films they've done have any traction to me. The rest of it is like flotsome in states. We get this speech.

No, because I think the truth comes out at 1247 on a random Tuesday when you break down your frustrations and your rankings and you're doing it. It's okay. Like, you're just like a lot of Star Wars. You're into the whole thing. Even if you don't like some of it, you keep coming back strong. That's also incorrect. Also. We can tackle this another time.

That is just simply incorrect. We have. Why are you getting so defensive? Let's not tackle it another time. You love Star Wars. I was like, wow, we got into the news so quick. It was a real summer start to the show. No, you love Star Wars.

Yeah, I find a lot of it to be manufactured junk. You spend hours drawing pictures of Star Wars characters. That's all right. You know what's funny? It's funny because I think the way you are with Star Wars, Mark, is the way I am with what my favorite thing might be, which is the band you too. It's a band that gets a lot of criticism.

And I, to me, despite them being a global act, it's a very private experience for me like listening to my favorite band like most of the time that I've enjoyed my favorite thing it's alone so it's kind of it feels almost intrusive when all of a sudden you have to talk about this thing that you love so much privately. Star Wars on some level that to you you've enjoyed it hundreds and hundreds of hours of it alone like staring at Luke Skywalker and what's her name in the bikini with the big monster like and and you're saying come on don't bring me into this this is my little thing this is my little world stay out of my world all right i think that's well said job of the hut nailed it got it what a victory for you

what a victory for the green bay packers aaron rogers he is back with the team and he delivered a extended press conference with his media availability on wednesday talking about all the things, basically answering a lot of the questions that we've all had throughout the spring and summer. So let's start, let's let's let Roger speak a little bit here, starting with did he seriously consider retiring? He says he did. However, there's still a big competitive hole in my body that I need to fill. And as I got back into my workouts, I just realized that I know I can still play and I want to still play. And as long as I feel like I can give 100% to the team, then I should still.

play. And he also wanted to make it clear that this big to do around him, nobody should be feeling for Aaron Rogers. He gets it in the big picture. I'm not a victim here. I've made a ton of money here, and I've been really fortunate to play a long time and to play here. At the same time, I'm still competitive, and I still feel like I can play. I proved it last year. So, all right, so Mark, as we get into this, we had talked about it on Monday. You would mention that he was unhappy about a lack of say in personnel. And that is where the focus of his commentary was in this press conference. To me, it feels like it's a little deflecting because I think a guy as proud as in touchy as he is.

A lot of it really does go back to the simple first round pick of the kid last year. I still think that. But this probably is part of it. I don't think he's lying. But he cited examples and was very clear that if this is going to work going forward, it can't be the way it was in terms of freezing. me out of personnel matters. I think if anything, you know, after we spent so many months wondering, questioning, theorizing what it was that was at the heart of this, I do think that he was being pretty

honest. I mean, he made it clear to some degree. He said it multiple times. It was not about money. And I think if you look at the actual movement or non-movement of money, that stands to be true at this point. I do think it reminds me of someone who has been working, let's say, at a company for a really long time. There have been a lot of changes, a lot of transitions, but they've remained like

the biggest producer, the star. And there is to some degree, I think, a real sense of a lack of respect in the way that he's been treated to some degree. I would say this about Aaron Rogers. Like, I don't, I find him quirky. I don't know if, like, what happened yesterday is the way I'm a fan. I look at it. I can separate like the athlete and see how much of an accomplished person is but for me a lot of it is um and i don't you know we can get into it but like the naming of all these players that he felt that the organization disrespected while you while you were arguing also and part of his conversation was i want to say i want to seat at the table and in movements that we make other quarterbacks and certainly in other sports we see that and that's growing it's not

going away it's getting bigger and i think erin rogers sees you know someone like tom brady and other quarterbacks and says i want that too i've earned that and there's a reason to say you have that. But when I, what I think there's the disconnect where it starts to bug me a little bit is that the reparations are made where you mention all these guys that were at their, most of them at the end of their careers and a general manager, a lot of it, Ted Thompson, not Brian Goodacood's had to make tough decisions and move on from certain players. That's what a real GM does. When the Patriots cut a guy two years before his value is nothing, they're praised for it. But in this case, the front office took a bullet to the face,

which I just simply didn't agree with. And then the turnaround is, hey, we're going to, now, I have a say, we're going to go sign Randall Cobb. I just to me, it kind of, to me, was illustrative of why most players should not have a seat at the general manager's table. A little bit of influence, we want to listen to you, yes. But all this stuff that Aaron Rogers has been upset about does not make him qualified to do that job. No, but he made a pretty good argument.

Like, I, listening to him, this is what I want to have athletes, is for them to just be transparent in what they say or want. And he's obviously very intelligent. And so, like, I appreciated it. And the way he put it helped convince me, because you're right, Mark. Like, you look at all those moves. First of all, you're not going to get them all right. And when he's bringing up Jordy Nelson and, like, Cobb and Jake Coomber, I'm like,

you're not making the greatest point here, Rogers, because did those guys look like they had much left after they left Green Bay? No. I think Dan's right. It is a little all to the side of the fact that he, He wasn't involved in the decision to draft the guy who was to replace him. And that is what it's sort of all about. But I do think, like, the way he put that he just wanted to be involved in the conversation was pretty smart.

We have a good clip of it, Ricky, that I'd like to listen to now. Decisions like that that have happened over and over and over again that make me realize that the organization looks at me and my job is just to play. In my opinion, based on what I've accomplished in this league, the way I care about my team. mates, the way I show up in the locker, the way I lead, the way I conduct myself in the community, you should tie myself to a little bit more input. The rules, you know, are the same for most people, but every now and then there's some outliers, you know, guys who've been in an organization for 17 years and won a few MVPs where they can be in conversations at a different higher level.

I'm not asking for anything that other great quarterbacks across the last few decades have not gotten, you know, the opportunity to just be in conversation, you know, so if you're going to, you're going to cut a guy who, based on a meritocracy, was our second best receiver in training camp last year for the majority of camp, made me run by me, see what I feel. I'm not able to change your mind. You know what, Greg, he makes points, but I do, I understand what Mark's saying. It's a new boss syndrome, don't you think?

Like, his boss, Goudicunz is new. He's been there three or four years or whatever it's been, and Roger's been there 17, and That, to me, is like at the heart of it. To me, there's something unbecoming about the directness and the criticism of the organization and this press conference where he's sitting wearing the Packers hat and the shirt. I don't know. It's just like he's right in the sense that or he's picking up on what's happening, not just in football, but in professional sports.

And I'll cite the NBA specifically, but I'm sure you could find it all over the world in different sports. The players are having a greater voice in terms of the direction of an organization. It's not just in the case of football. football, purely from a playing standpoint, shut up and throw a spiral. It's about, it's about this guy saying, I should have a bigger voice. You should have me in the room. And that's, that's tricky because that can go either way.

But you understand where this is coming from because he's picking up on what's going on in the world. And he makes a good point. I just, I just think with him specifically citing who's the court, who's the wide receiver he's referring to there? I guess, Coomero, I'm guessing he means. It's like, what are we doing here? What he's trying to do is rubbing, he's trying to rub Goudicunz's nose in this stuff now.

And it's the same thing with the Randall Cobb move, which, Mark, you said he was signed. It was a trade to get him from the Texans. And guess what? Gutikuns, who let go and let Cobb go in a different direction, went to Dallas. And then he ended up in Houston on a bad contract that Bill O'Brien gave him, overpaid a player in decline. And now as a make-good to Aaron Rogers, Brian Gunacund says to publicly trade for this guy. and I don't know if they inherit all the salary. I don't know the specifics on that.

They don't. They're paying five out of $8.25 million. The Texans are thrilled. When you look at the market for slot receivers. The Texans are thrilled. Anyone took Randall Cobb off their team because I don't think he was even going to make the Texans. That is Aaron Rogers.

That's just the cowboy, the Packers getting down and genuine flecting in front of him and being like, okay, we'll give in this situation. But I'll tell you what, Aaron Rogers' play starts going downhill and the Packers are not going to forget any of this. I don't think this is very, I would imagine this is not a good luck behind the scenes. They're very upset the way he's handling, he's handled this entire saga right down to the press

conference. And they will kick his butt out the door as soon as they decide that he's not as valuable as the money that he's getting paid. I just, I don't like it. I just don't like it. He openly wants to be somewhere else next year. I don't care what they say. I mean, this is the final year. And I, you know, I've had Packer fans coming at me because, you know, when you critique this stuff. You don't get us. We're fine. We're happy to have Aaron Rogers for one more season. Okay, that's a subset of you. But I would also look at some players in the locker room. Like, here is a quarterback. As great as he is. This guy is, and I think players today understand the business side is the business side. You try to bury it. You move on. And I think that's

what they'll do. But there have got to be certain personality types in that locker room that say, this guy is telling everyone, I don't want to be here after this season. Because basically, Aaron Rogers did not win this. This is not why he went through all this. I don't I disagree with people that call this a big victory for Aaron Rogers to have to come back and play this season in Green Bay. I don't agree. I think this thing went sideways. He tried to pull an NBA-type power play, and it didn't work. It did not go perfectly to plan.

I think we should point out a couple of things. Just the specifics of what they did with the contract, they did take a year off the end of it. They also adjusted it in a way that in theory he could retire next year and they wouldn't take his money back, which isn't really. But it's not about money, right, Greg? That's what Aaron said. Right, but what that does, it allows him to control a trade process because he that way can essentially say, I won't go to the Panthers or I'll retire. And it just gives, and they know that too. They're not, it's not like they're surprised by this.

It just helps him to control a trade. But I do think we should say, like, he was not, he said, I am not closing the door on things, on things changing here and that I'm possibly here. So he knows, like, look, if they win the Super Bowl this year, he wins the MVP, it's like, he's probably going to be on the Packers again next year. He's not going to stamp his foot and they'll probably just change where they're at. Like that part of it, I appreciated that he said that. I think that was newsworthy. And all this only happened because the Packers mis-evaluated him.

That is the number one thing. They thought he was in decline and they made a decision to take love. They were making a calculated risk that Rogers is only going to be here two years. They thought he was in decline. His play last year was ultimately like the surprise. And now all this mess like happens. We sit all the time. It didn't all happen just because of Jordan Love.

It happened because the Packers tried to make a business decision and the quarterback, it wasn't enough of a W. If they thought he was going to play close to an MVP level, they wouldn't draft Jordan Love. Listen, I'm not saying the evaluation was right, but this happened, this entire mess this summer happened because it wasn't enough for the quarterback to win MVP and basically show everyone, hey, you messed up. He needed to take it that extra step. To me, that's ego. And that's what this has been about. I think that to me is why this happened. It's Aaron Rogers, more than the Packers.

I hear you, and I think that's fair, but I did find him credible. And the one thing he was probably more adamant about than anything was that those leaks weren't coming from me. You can say what you want about the drama that was happening this summer. I can, and he was saying, I can promise you that is not coming from me or my camp. And I believe him. Like, I believe him on that. You know what?

He could have slowed this down a long time. that like if you want to complain about Schefter having certain things or the way things like that I don't think that was coming from Aaron Rogers I think those everything that came out was because the Packers wanted it to come out on some level he did not have to wait till July 28th to put a stop to some of this madness that's the one thing I'd say I mean look at he said he spent the summer in introspective states working on his mental health that is good I think that's good for anyone but he could have he could have slowed down this drama wheel and frankly, I would think a lot, a way that a lot of the media bowed down to him yesterday,

I found that that got on my nerves. It's only drama for people like us who follow this this closely and hardcore fans. Like for 80% of America, like they knew that he was out and then he's back like by the time it matters and like nothing ultimately changed. We're more annoyed about it because we have to cover him. That also doesn't excuse it though. I don't know why we're continually making excuses for what happened here. Aaron Rogers walks into the middle of a dry forest and lights a match and sets the whole thing ablaze and then walks away.

And then the Packers, as the forward-facing franchise that is at the center of the ear that, uh, ire that Rogers has toward the team, they're getting on a daily basis barraged with information seekers and trying to handle the situation. Just because Rogers isn't the one leaking stories, he started it. Rogers would say Gudikun started it. by drafting love. I mean, it's true.

It's true. We mentioned the Houston Texans, and it's... We should mention, by the way, Devante Adams' press conference just quickly afterwards was to me almost a little more newsworthy that he said, of course, I'm not taking a dollar less to stay with Aaron Rogers. Basically said, you know, it'd be nice to play with Aaron Rogers, but I don't care where Aaron Rogers plays next year. That has no impact on my negotiations.

I am going to be the highest paid receiver in the league. because that's what I deserve, and they're not offering me that, and that's just my stance now. And I'm not accepting anything less from any team. And if you want to play me with, you know, Tim Boyle next year in Detroit, I'll do it if you make me the highest paid receiver in the league. I thought that was interesting because keeping the bold and stuff. I would hope he realizes he'll probably make more money

if he takes a big paycheck from a team that has a really good quarterback in place. But yes, he should not take any discount. Make them make your money when you can. And if the Packers won't do it, there are 10 other. right now it's a golden age for quarterbacks in our league there are eight other quarterbacks who might end up in the Hall of Fame go sign with one of those teams that I'm sure would happily pay you what you want all right Deshawn Watson listen we talked about it on on Monday we don't need to dive deep on some of the less savory aspects of what's going on

with his story right now but you should know that yes he is at training camp for the Texans as is contractually obligated for Watson to be but it doesn't sound like Texans head coach David Cully, who, again, feels like he's full on being asked to arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic here. A really tough situation for Cully right now. And Cully said, Watson is behind because he missed off-season workouts, needs as many reps as possible. And he's being used, Watson. This is an all-pro quarterback, an MVP-level player. As a fourth-string quarterback in practice, he also got some snaps at safety and running.

running back. It all plays out like forest right now, Mark Sessler. What's your read on this? Well, I think it is a farce. I don't know. I don't understand number one if you're the Texans. Why, as we mentioned last show, we're not going to find you, but we don't need you here because this just simply needs to be taken care of before we have this happening. It is the last kind of news story that should be occurring right now. And I would say one thing. I don't, again, we don't know where the NFL is on their investigation. They clearly haven't come to its conclusion. But someone like Ezekiel Elliott, who went through that whole suspension process a couple years ago, that happened without anything officially occurring legally outside.

The NFL came to a decision. And I don't know why we're in a place where anyone is saying it's a good idea to have Deshawn Watson out on the field in front of cameras, practicing right now with what's going on behind the scenes. What is the point? He's playing safety? What is happening? Are you kidding me? I don't know who to blame that I don't care of almost who to blame, but this isn't, it doesn't make any sense. And they don't want Deshaun Watson out there when, when tackling is starting in a couple days. This is coming to a head, and I think it's going to end with Deshaun Watson, no longer practicing

with the Texans. So what are we waiting for? I mean, he's out there playing safety. It's crazy. And a lot of, I think, listeners, because I've seen some tweets about it, are misunderstanding. There is a criminal investigation. Like, more women came forward this week. It's up to 10 women.

Some aren't involved, actually, in the civil investigation. So Houston police is doing their investigation. The civil case is over 20. And whether he's allowed, like, to play or not while that's going on, I guess there are reasonable ways that you could argue by that. But nothing's changed. Like, nothing's changed. The only thing I think that changed was I think the Texans,

and to a lesser degree, the NFL and Deshaun Watson thought, we can get away with this, that there isn't going to be, that it kind of quieted down. and that people aren't going to be upset. But, like, if the point is to, what I think the point is, is to show that he's out there, he's healthy, whatever, and he can be traded right now. Because I think it's been made clear that Texans want to trade him.

But I don't think they're getting offers. I don't think teams are interested in it right now. So it just seems like kind of a farce with no easy solution. It's crazy. And just in another sport right now, Major League Baseball, Trevor Bauer is an all-star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is right now involved in a criminal investigation for sexual assault for a situation that went down with a partner he had that he met online.

And MLB's response to that is like, we got to get this guy off the field. So they set a one week administrative leave, they called it. And they've extended it now, I believe, three weeks. And now it's extended through August 6th because, again, the wheels of justice turn much more slowly than a sports calendar. And it's like the NFL needs to do whatever that is. Is that the commissioner's exemptless?

I don't know, but you've got to get to Sean Watson out of the picture until we have more clarity. Hey, just come on, common sense, police. Come in. In other news, my goodness. Xavier Howard led the NFL in interceptions last year. He had 10, the most since, I believe, Thai law and the Jets back in 2007. Wow.

For a really bad Jets team, by the way. Anyway, rap sheet reports that multiple teams have called the dolphins inquiring about trading for the cornerback. he has requested a trade he went on instagram laid out all of his issues he doesn't like that the contract he signed two years ago is at of date and not in line with his level of play last season when he was an all pro he doesn't like that he's not even the highest paid player in his own secondary not even close he points out that's byron jones has that offer so gregg where do you come down on this first of all who cares he wants more money he's outplayed his contract

we can get bogged down in that conversation if we wish. More interesting to me is do the dolphins really trade a player at this level when they're trying to take the next step? And if they do, what kind of value do you think he could bring back in a trade? It sounds like they're listening. You know, they gave him that contract. He's under contract for four more years. In one of those two years, he missed a huge chunk of the season

and didn't play particularly well. He had the domestic violence arrest in between the seasons. and then he was out of this world. My issue is that arrest is not stopping him from playing football. No one is saying that. But it has to be mentioned in the context of the trade because I think it absolutely affects the negotiation that he's going to have in a new contract.

I think it also could affect the Dolphins' willingness to rip up a contract in good faith with four years left on it. And it's been left out. I've seen some long analyses about his, situation that literally don't mention it. And I'm not saying like that has to stop him from playing. The NFL is clearly not suspending him. Like, of course he still has value.

But I think that's going to change the value that the Dolphins see in him potentially and another team in season because he's a riskier pickup. He's still one of the top seven or eight cornerbacks in the league in terms of average value of his contract. So it's not like he's getting paid nothing. I think it makes it very tricky. If that wasn't an issue, I think he could maybe get a first. round pick. And considering Tyree Kill's contract and everything else, maybe it's not going to be an

issue for some team. But I think it probably is an issue for this Dolphins team in terms of being interested in ripping up his deal right now. I think that's perfectly said because it's like they know him. They know what they're dealing with. Obviously, you know, you could argue he's their best player. But this other side of it, the off the field stuff, that probably slowed the wheels on then wanting to listen to him. And I get that he's sitting in a, you know, a tape study room with Byron Jones, seeing Byron Jones, not do things he can do. And we talked about on the last show that, like, you're with a co-worker who you find out it's making a lot more money than you.

How does Byron Jones feel right now reading this Instagram post? Of course, of course. But I do think that, you know, not to be cynical, but there will always be another team that will look past the off-the-field stuff, trade form and give them a new contract. I just assume that's what will happen if Miami is unwilling to do so. two years ago the dolphins stuck in another squabble with a star member of the secondary traded mink of Fitzpatrick to the Steelers for the 18th overall pick in the next draft kind of feels like where this could be heading but we shall see in other there's more

COVID news by the way but I'm just I'm just pushing it back to the end of news I just don't want to talk about it okay so let's instead talk about how Michael Thomas my be a knucklehead and the Saints and the Starwide receiver probably headed for a divorce sooner rather than later. Speaking on Wednesday, Saints coach Sean Payton said that Michael Thomas should have undergone his ankle operation earlier and still waiting till summer. Here is a little bit from Peyton. Well, look, it appears we're going to have to spend some time without them. It's disappointing and we'll work through it with the other players that are here. But the surgery he took place and obviously

you know we would have liked that to have happened earlier than later and quite honestly it should have oh he ain't happy Greg I can see this saint season going a lot of ways Aaron Schatz who's going to be on later has the Saints pretty high the football

outsiders do in the first eight weeks of the season they play the Packers they're at New England England. They're at Seattle. Tampa's in there. That's not in a row, but those are some of the hardest games in the first eight. That's all before the trade deadline. I think one of the scenarios, at least for the Saints, is they do not have a winning record, you know, in those eight games. They have a losing record. And that Michael Thomas is taking up a lot of airtime on

Enneville Network in this podcast as a potential trade candidate. Yeah, I mean, you're looking at like Marquez Calloway now playing a major role. And we were kidding about little Jordan Humphrey last show, but he now is a factor. I mean, they sign Chris Hogan, who you're not in this day and age thinking is going to play a major role of your offense. He was playing pro lacrosse. He was literally playing pro lacrosse.

I don't know how good he was. Any starting wide receiver for the 2020 New York Jets you do not want on your roster. And they need help the wide receiver because, by the way, Saints wide receiver, Deonté Harris, he was arrested. It wasn't reported until this week. But on July 16th, he got himself popped on a DUI.

And that usually leads to a, of two games. So they might be without him as well. So again, we talked about a little bit on Monday. The Saints, big question mark around that team. I'm not doing the COVID story yet. And they got to play Aaron Rogers in week one. It's been a bad week for the Saints.

They go. That's the Fox 425 week one game. Troy, Joe, Settelin. Will we be at our new studio? We don't know. We don't know. It could be bore 25 by the end of the second quarter. Nailed it.

Washington football team re-signed defensive tackle Jonathan Allen to a four-year, $72 million contract extension. Mark, he got to love what the Washington football team is doing. They are getting nasty in those trenches and they think we got a good thing going on on both sides of the ball. Let's get Jonathan Allen under contract for a bunch more years. No-brainer to get the contract. He turns 30 at the end of it, so he'll probably get another contract.

I mean, Montez Sweat is going to get paid at some point. you're obviously going to keep Chase Young around for a long time. So I think, you know, when you watch Jonathan Allen, the one thing about him is he had the lowest percentage of any interior defender in the league of pressures created when he had multiple people on him. I mean, this guy is constantly getting double and triple-teamed and throwing people off left and right.

His tape is pretty fascinating. And I think he's the heart and soul of that interior line. I mean, they've got, they're nasty for a reason. If you want to look at the Washington team as a playoff team, It starts with that defensive front. Was Cessler breaking down some Jonathan Allen tape? I mean, when I, like, look at, I'm, I went out and watched some stuff. And, I mean, there's actually been a couple people that were crowing about him before the extension

where they put, like, one of these, like, 18 kind of clips in a row of what he did. And the guy is, like, just a, you look at a car standing up with arms, throwing people around. A sneaky amount of the best players on Washington were drafted in that, that, like, 18 months or two years that Scott McLuhan was there. Yeah. who before he left in an unfortunate circumstances. But a lot of those picks are the ones that are the highest paid players on Washington right now. Well, McLuhan also pushed for Baker-Mayfield to be picked by the Browns at number one. So he's got his fingerprints all over the place.

Dak Prescott underwent an MRI after leaving Wednesday's practice with arm soreness, diagnosed with a strain muscle in his throwing shoulder. Mike McCarthy said after the fact that the injury is, quote, minor. but it does appear that it will cost him some time. And then our own Jane Slater, friend of the show, tweeted out just a few minutes ago, in fact, that he is practicing Dak Prescott. However, he's acting as a running back for backups and individual drills.

He throws the ball back with his left non-throwing hand. Jane added he's out there with the quarterbacks as well, going through scramble drills, dropping back with feet, but not throwing the ball, while doing it, the crowd is seeing him happy birthday. Oh, that's nice. Happy birthday, Dak Prescott. Happy birthday.

I'm not, personally, I'm not worried about this. I'm a Cowboys fan. I'm not worried about it unless a week from now, he's still throwing it left-handed with the running backs. Well, that's the sound of it. It sounds like it's going to be two to three weeks. The local reporters believe that's how it's going to sit. Well, that's a little bit different.

And look, of course we hope, Dax's fine. More than likely, it's probably not a huge issue. But here's the thing. talk out of both sides of their mouth. Oh, this is not a big story. They also say how vital every one of these practices are, how important it is that Dax back out there, like how much he's gaining from it. You do not go get an MRI, and then you do not, after looking at that MRI, sit the guy for two to three weeks if there's no concern whatsoever. It's this weird time of year where it's always like, oh, everyone's going to be fine by week one. That's what they said about

Amari Cooper and DeMarcus Lawrence at one point. Oh, they're going to be fine by training camp. Well, it turns out they're going to miss the first three or four weeks after major surgery. They've been out for seven months. Like, at some point, it's fair to be skeptical. And I just don't think it means nothing. Like, it's a little bit of a concern to have a shoulder problem right off the bat. It's a throwing shoulder. I mean, of course, it's a concern.

And it's the kind of thing that can, you know, it could nag. It could go on. But I would say this. Like, I think the real acid test would be if this happened in week two, how quickly would he practice or play? I mean, there is logic to just saying, see you later. We don't need you on the field on any level until the, games matter. Especially when your backup's still Cooper Rush. What are we doing here? We just went through a whole season, Cowboys, and your backup is like, what? And I think that if I, I think they came in and

through five interceptions as a trio, the backup quarterbacks today, which I get it. It's a practice, but still it was like they were dominated by the Cowboys defense. So if one of those guys are seeing live bullets, El Problemo. Isn't it cute when your kids say something and it's so cute that you can't even correct them? My son, Harry, today, said he's possessed by a video, and he meant obsessed, but I just couldn't correct him. It was too cute. And my eldest son, Jack, about three years ago or four years ago, doing various like Batman and Joker things. He was like, oh, he got dropped into the acid instead of acid.

And I've never corrected him, and now he's almost seven years old, and he still says acid. But I just, I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose that. You can't step in. culture refers to girls as goyles goyles he's like I like do you like

do you talk to girls in your class along with boys he goes I don't talk to the goyles I'm just going to let you roll with that I think that sounds very papayish my grandfather Keith Hanses' dad Paul we knew him as Baba

pronounced the girls as goyles till the very end he lived till he was 91 so if you don't get a handle of it that's where it's heading. Well, you're right. But I found it to be endearing, but just a heads up. It might not correct itself.

It might, you know, like a lot of things get, like, made fun out of you. Sometimes in middle school, that's like the time or maybe early high school. Sometimes if a kid starts pointing that out. But it could go the other way. People could find it totally charming. It could sweep the greater Los Angeles area. Well, it's his journey. Baba drove a bus in New York City.

and he called everybody Sam. Big, oh, Sam, best part of driving a bus of the Goyles, you pick them up. Best part. All right, finally in the news, ESPN's Adam Schaefter reported that Lamar Jackson not participating in Ravens Training Camp due to a, quote, COVID-related case.

The league is still trying to process. Mike Garifolo, Followed up that report, said it's unclear how long Jackson will be out. And Jackson missed time last year after testing positive for COVID-19. There were a bunch of outbreaks on the Ravens last year. So you got Trace McSorley and Tyler Huntley taking snaps at Ravens Camp. And if you're wondering, of course, everyone is, is Lamar Jackson vaccinated? He's gotten sick twice now.

It's private. We don't know. he uh he yeah he that's how he answered the question back in june uh that he wasn't going to answer it they have clarified though uh for for the listeners he did test positive for covid you know they announced that and a lot of players are gus edwards did i was surprised i think the other day 14 positive tests because they are clarifying now who's testing positive there's almost no players missing time for being a close contact and there's been double digits uh double digit players testing positive before COVID multiple days.

And we'll kind of know, Dan, probably, whether he was vaccinated or not, because the rule is if you aren't vaccinated, you are out minimum 10 days. And then after that, you have to pass tests. If you are vaccinated, you can come back quicker if you start testing negative sooner than that. So for some reason, he came back sooner, we would know. But that's a pretty big chunk of training camp after it took him out in the middle of the playoff race last year.

The thing that stands out to me also, Trace McSorley, Tyler Huntley. You lost Lamar Jackson a year ago for a game. He's the kind of quarterback that, you know, he's been lucky injury-wise, but he's the kind of quarterback that could, you know, at some point, take the type of hit that takes him out for a bit.

This team has not done enough at backup quarterback because the way they looked, even with RG3 in there a year ago, one of the worst offenses in the league without Lamar Jackson in there. Do you think anybody that's answering its private to the COVID vaccine question actually got the vaccine?

And they're choosing to be private about it? I think that seems to be the lingo. It's a code for we haven't gotten it. The only thing is some players, a lot of players in mid-June had not been vaccinated. The league rate was under 50 at that point. Now it's, I think they said it's 90 or close to 90 league-wide. Like, Darnold, for instance, was pretty vocal about that he didn't want to get it. And then in the meantime he has.

So we don't know if Lamar did in the meantime, but yeah, usually I do think that we should start waltzing around. Because we have been, but let's start telling people it's private. Now, we did it, but you're going to think something about me, but it's not going to be true. I've tricked you. I like that. I don't know what you get out of it ultimately in terms of positive. I get nothing. I get literally nothing.

In fact, I will probably be shunned. But it's not a mystery, because we've already now deduced that you're telling everyone you haven't got. But still, why not, Mark? That's fair. That's what's happening in the news. 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. 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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

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,

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Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right. Coming up next. Oh, this is good. This is good, boys. You got to get the tastemakers, the intellectual tastemakers of the football cognizante. involved with this program, okay?

And here's one of them. Our next guest is the creator of football outsiders. He also, he's the guy behind most of their original statistical methods in terms of NFL analysis. And then he's the lead writer. He's the editor. He's the statistician on that book series, Football Outsiders Almanac, which is the Bible. It's out now. Get it.

Do you want to get caught up to where things are in the NFL right now? dive into it. Here he is, Aaron Shats. Welcome to the Around the NFL. Thank you so much for having me on the show. I really appreciate it. It's great to be on with you guys. Oh, it is great to have you, Aaron. And, you know, and again, check it out because it's not just, he doesn't, Aaron and his team don't just pick out certain teams. Everybody gets the deep dive. They get what I like to call and something we like to do on the show, the inside the NFL and the 80s treatment. Everybody gets their time. And if you dive in, you'll see a wind projection. And there's a lot of math involved and study and analytical deep diving. So we're going to point out some of these that really jumped out to us. And Mark, I want you to get us going because one team that's near and dear to your heart is not as high in the world of football outsiders as it is elsewhere. Yeah, I would just want to say, first of all, that anyone who has never really read one of these epics that come out, the minute they come out, I know my summer's over. and a lot as a tornado is approaching.

So there's like a harbinger of doom, Shaft? The what? Is there a negative connotation to what it does? No, no, no. It's kind of, to me, it's sort of a, it's a bookend on the season beginning. But there's some really wonderful writing, too. I think that what you guys do, it's not just data. It is some really incredible descriptions, and there's a lot of humor in there.

So it's a fun read. All right, yes, so let's get to it. My team, the Cleveland Browns, you know, you put them at an 8.6. win estimation. Now that has them as the eighth team in the AFC and out of the playoffs. Now, here's a thing. I am someone who already is inside thinking when the entire nation is jumping on Cleveland, which happens like maybe once every 14 years, only bad things can happen. But when it comes from you guys, I start to get a little concerned because I trust where you're coming from with this. What is happening with the Cleveland Browns? Why are you

zigging when so many other people are zagging? Yeah, I know it's tough because it's such a an analytically oriented organization, like we want to root for them. We want them to do well. But the problem is the Browns were not as good as their record last year overall. First of all, they were, I think, 17th in our DVOA rankings despite being 11 and 5. DVOA is the main statistic that we use at Football Outsiders. They also, they were outscored by their opponents despite being 11 and 5. If you look at projecting teams based solely on points scored in allowed what they call the Pythagorean Win theorem. The Browns were one of the 10 biggest overachievers since the merger.

So a lot of last year's sort of mediocre performance is tied up with two games when they got completely blown out by the Steelers and the Ravens early in the season. And you also have to kind of throw out the game against the Jets where they didn't have any wide receivers available. But even if you take those games out of the projection, when we look at. at the numbers from last year that we use in our projection. Their projection only improves a little bit. Their offense is good but not great. I think we have projected something like eighth in the league, which is around where it was last year. And their defense is just like they

added some guys, but they also lost a lot of guys. Like there's no Ogunjobie anymore. There's no Sheldon Richardson. There's no Olivier Vernon. They added secondary guys and they lost defensive line. But is there any thought in terms of the projections of like second year offenses? Like there was such an improvement on their offenses or is that more working against them that like there was that big of a jump last year in terms of what they did offensively in their offensive line and that maybe that's going to be harder to keep up

than people think. Yeah. It's sort of a balance between those two ideas. Like normally in your first year with new coordinators and a new system. All of the things being equal, you take a little bit of a step back. Obviously, Cleveland did not, right? They got a lot better on offense. So the fact that they're likely to get a little bit even better than that in their second year is offset by the fact that they already jumped so much last year that you see, you know, teams that normally jump a lot on one

side of the ball tend to come back to the pack a little bit the following year. So the projection sort of balances those two things out. I think it's fair. I mean, it's, you know, and Aaron, so, and a lot of the hype around the, and it's kind of, you're on an island a little bit industry wise, because you kind of see a lot of people seeing the Browns as not just potentially an AFC North favorite, but a Super Bowl contender. And perhaps they will be. We will find out. And then maybe you'll have to write a Mia Coppah next year. We'll, we'll find out in time. But a lot of people point to the Browns, and I'll use them as an example to get into the next team here. The moves they made in free agency and the draft to fortify. the middle of their defense, they're secondary. And when you add in a healthy Jadavian or a healthy Jadavian Clowny, Miles Garrett, of course, now at full health post-COVID, they'll make the leap. It's all projection, though.

The Chicago Bears, with that said, a team eight and eight last year, they played like an eight and eight team. They finished eight and eight. They snuck in the playoffs, got beat. You have them projected in 2021 at 7.3 wins. And I'm curious how, with what you do, Because Justin Fields, what he brought to this organization, at least at the start, is hope. They're in the hope game again because of Justin Fields.

But for you and your job, how do you come down at they're actually not going to be better? They'll take a step back despite having this dynamic young player that we've never seen at this level. The fact is, dynamic young quarterbacks don't tend to play well in their rookie years. Like, for example, a lot of people feel like Miami should have already moved on from Tua, based on how he played last year. Do you know that Tua Tago Viloa had an above average year for a first round quarterback? Going back how far? Going back to 1983, but that's normalized for, you know, our stats normalized,

so we know that passing stats are way bigger now than they were 30 years ago. So that's accounted for. He had an above average year when you compare him to, he was below average for the league, but for a first round quarterback, he was above average. And people don't, a lot of people don't even think of him as a promising young quarterback anymore. The fact is, we want to believe that these guys are all going to come in and be like what Justin Herbert was last year.

But a lot of them don't. And you don't know who's going to be that guy who performs in his rookie year until you see him actually do it. So you have to kind of go into the year expecting that rookie quarterbacks are going to struggle, even first round picks. Like, do you feel like you have to be stronger, like, as an individual to be such a wet blanket over all this hope? Aaron, like, Mark's depressed right now. No, no, no.

You've crushed his dreams. There's Bears fans listening. You've crushed their dreams. Like, how do you hold up with that? Oh, I'm here for all of the Vikings fans and the teams where we're higher on them than. Okay. Yeah. You pick a team or two that you think people aren't.

As high on as they should be. Before we get to that, because it connects to what we just said with Justin Fields and rookie quarterbacks. I see you got the Jacksonville Jaguars peg for 7.1, I believe. So is this because Lawrence is a true outlier or is this one of those teams where people kind of got fogged over a little bit because of the one in 15 and how it closed out, but there's actually more talent on this? Like, what are the factors that contribute to this team potentially jumping into near

contention in the playoff? race. Yeah, I think it's more the idea that there's probably more talent on this team than people thought there was last year despite having the worst record. They weren't our worst team despite having the worst record. The Jets were. And there's just a lot of regression, you know, the general statistical idea that teams tend to regress towards the means so bad teams get better. There is, you know, adding the number one pick is good in that we think that Lawrence is better than Gardner Minshue. but it's again like we're not projecting Lawrence to have it above average year because you just can't project a rookie quarterback to be above average but I think their defense is better than people

give them credit for there's a lot of talent young talent on that defense Henderson only played eight games last year Josh Allen only played eight games last year and as we know all Josh Allen's in their third years get much much better than they were before so I'm expecting Josh Allen the defensive end to have like 46 sacks this year I got to admit, I think I made some, like, they've got the better Josh Allen jokes, like when he was playing well as a rookie. Oh, I made those jokes. Like all of my Josh Allen, Bill's references from the first two seasons of his career, I look like an idiot right now. Although, I mean, the analytics world looks more like an idiot than anybody else. So, I mean, listen, I feel like Josh Allen is really the outlier. Like, you cannot expect quarterbacks with his kind of college accuracy to suddenly transform in the NFL the way.

he did. If you can, if all that mechanical stuff that Jordan Palmer does with him and that they had videos released, if that stuff really works, it totally changes the way you draft quarterbacks. But I'd need to see it work with someone else before I'm going to go drafting guys who are under 60% in college. Greg, read T Aaron, because I liked where you were going with that. Yeah, like instead of the doom and gloom here, are there teams that your projection system loves this year more than more than probably most analysts and that you believe in too because I do see the thing you do sometimes or it's in the writing but or when you're talking it's like well the projections like them a lot I like that surprises me I'm not sure but which ones you know

are you guys high on that you that you believe in sure I'll give you two teams that we're really high on that other people are not quite as high as we are one is Minnesota Vikings there are a lot of reasons to believe last year they were sort of playoff contenders kind of you know but it was really a rebuilding year and there's a lot of ways in which they were particularly outliers in stats that tend to regress to the mean much stronger like their special teams were terrible and they were like most of their sacks they took on third down and there was a huge difference between their offense on first and second down and their offense on third down and that you know your offense on third down tends to come

change to, like, meet what your offense is overall. Schedule strength is another one, although we have Minnesota projected with a hard schedule again. We have the whole NFC North projected with hard schedules. But we just think that that's a team that's going to be in playoff contention. I mean, they would have been the division favorite if Aaron Rogers had been traded, but now everybody's making nice in Green Bay. So you can probably throw that out the window.

But I think they're going to definitely be in playoff contention. The other is the New England Patriots. So we have this variable in the defensive projections that based on personnel, right? Like how much personnel do you lose? And last year, the Patriots lost more personnel than any team we had tracked in this variable on defense since 2003. And that was before the COVID opt-outs. And then the COVID opt-outs just took that to a ridiculous level. This year, the Patriots are adding on net more defensive talent than any team we've tracked since

2003 when you include High Tower returning and then all those guys they signed in free agency like Godshaw and Judon and Jalen Mills and even to Harvey Langy like just a ton of guys they have a bunch of added defensive talent and so we really like the Patriots to return to the playoffs this year even though we don't think their offense is going to be above average how many people are just hitting you that you're just a homer though because you are a Patriots fan I will say I am a Patriots fan and I admit it, and I will say Denver is fifth in that same stat where the Patriots are first. So we also like Denver. So there's a non-Homer pick for you if you think the Patriots are a homer pick.

There you go. Aaron Schatz, you've said it all. Follow them on Twitter at F-O-U-U-S-C-H-A-S-C-H-A-T-Z and go over to football outsiders.com. If you want to get your hands on this almanac, which, again, whether you're just want to bone up for the season, You're a fantasy head. There's a lot to find there as well. Aaron, thank you very much. And I'm sorry that you are connected to doom and gloom for Mark Sessler and his personal life, but that's not your fault.

That's not your fault. It's just the way life is. It's just the way the numbers roll out of the computer, man. I've got nothing against Cleveland. I would love for those fans to have a winner. And I know people in the front office, so I'm rooting for them. It hurt when they got rid of Sasi. It hurt you more than most.

It hurt when they got rid of Sashi. But our man, Andrew Healy, is still in the front office. so we're doing good with Cleveland. All right. There he goes. Aaron shots. Thank you very, very much. All right.

Good stuff. Good show. We're rolling. The season's coming like a freight train. Come tomorrow. Little pat type, little unbiased. A little bit. I don't know what I think about this.

What a weird team they are. I think they are a clear bounceback team. Defense feels a little overplayed. But I don't know. still think they have too many questions on offense, but I'm also, if Aaron Chats is a Pats lover, you know, you know, why I am. So I trust his computer. I, the Pats to me strike me as a your classic 9 and 18. Sounds about right. But I mean, he has them at 9.8 wins. So right. That's right. Seven and seven. But, uh, all right, good stuff. One little item before

we go. Yes. Yes. We have a real friend of the show who we met on our first trip. to London. Tracy Crouch used to work in the House of Commons. I have received word. Greg and Eric and I were lucky to go on a tour of the House of Commons with her and another friend Tim Shipman. And we saw like the Queens, Greg, do you remember this? We saw the Queen's toilet, which most people are not allowed to see. We were actually responsible for Brexit. We got that going. We did. Very popular. Anyways, Tracy Crouch, it was her birthday last week. And she has just, we have just, we have just heard that her partner, Steve, proposed to her to be married. So that is a huge congratulations from our show.

Congratulations. Love it. I, you know, if I had watched the Crown before we had gone to London, I would have went with you that day. But as I recall, both Wes and myself said, no, we're just going to lay in our hotel rooms, respective hotel rooms for six hours. I mean, this doesn't happen in the U.S., like multiple dignitaries don't reach out to us to be like, hey, let's, let's give you a private tour of Congress or whatnot. But when we're over

there, it's just like, roll out the red carpet. It happened. Serious respect, Dan. I know you're all about respect. That's, I am all about respect. I would like to go to, like, invite us to the San Bernardino town council meeting. We'll be there. You ever been to San Bernardino? I don't think you want to go there. Government. We're just into it. All right. We drove to Big Bear a few years back. It was me, Mark, and Wes. And Mark kept on talking up this bar in San Bernardino. We got to stop at this bar in San Bernardino.

And so we sure enough, we said, okay, Mark, we'll stop there. We pull into this place. And if you've ever seen the movie, Quentin Tarantito wrote it. I think Robert Rodriguez directed it from dusk till dawn when George Clooney and Tarantino in an acting role get locked into a bar that actually is a van. vampire hangout and they just devour all truckers and anyone that's a living soul. Great movie, very violent, very, just fun. Check it out. Dust till Dawn. That's where Mark took us in San Bernardino. I'll never forget that bar, just the sense of darkness that hung over it. Well, all right. So the first time I had gone, it had a little bit of a different vibe, but you are correct. That was the vibe that day.

And I don't even think we stayed for more than five minutes. I think we hauled it out of there. Oh, no, we stayed. We stayed for a couple rounds. Because we kept on waiting, Wes and I. I was like, what, what is the magic of this place that Mark hyped up so much? And the magic never came. Yikes. Ownership change. Anyway, always good to reminisce about the good old days. Yes, Friday, tomorrow, around the NFL broadcast. We're making some changes to that show. And we're working on it. And we're looking forward to unveiling the broadcast 2.0 come week one. But we still have great stuff. stuff coming up for you on Friday on the TV side, and then we'll be back Monday with another

edition of this fair podcast. Thank you to everybody. Thank you to Lil Romeo for understanding that a mistake was made, and Greg was a class act all the way owning up to it. Does he understand? I mean, this is more pop than Little Romeo's had in a minute. Yeah, you always got to get that dig in. Why are you digging a new hole? Yeah. All right. Dan has the signing off for. What do we decide? A little 60 A little

I don't know Little G Lil G The old Well the old Well The Sizzler Quiet storm

And Ricky Hollywood Behind the virtual glass Till Monday He'd the call Until Monday he'd the call I'm going to be able to be. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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