NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Back in the U.S. & Not Too Early to Say That...

Episode Date: September 12, 2018

In a room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling – react to being back on home soil (:30)! The heroes discuss Bills’ rookie Josh Allen being named the Week 2 starter (8:50), Aaron Rodgers’ health (16:00), Corey Coleman signing with the Patriots (20:30), the implications of Hurricane Florence on NFL games (25:50) and Wess’s take on NFL Player of the Week honors (30:00). Following the news, the heroes delve into a new segment ‘Not Too Early to Say That…’(44:50), including – is this the start of a new era for the Jets (49:00) and the devastating Myles Garrett/Denzel Ward combo in Cleveland (57:00).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast will not be playing card games at Wes's Bachelor. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined in a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling,

and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Welcome back to America. I'm going crazy. I can. I can guarantee there will be no cards played at my bachelor party because if there are, it ceases to be a bachelor party. And it's just a bunch of men standing around wondering why West took an Uber all the way back to L.A.

There will be no cards at a bachelor party. Oh, yeah, 4,000 mile Uber. Whoa. I don't have planned to play cards at the bachelor's. I mean, my long-held stance on parlor games sides with this ideally and perfectly. There was a big, I know we've talked about this on the podcast, but since it's come up, now. I'm going to bring it up again. There was a craze in our country. Inexplicit. And it's back. We're back in our country, by the way. It was a great time in

England. But now we're back on the shores. The reason I said I'm going crazy is because I wake up at 4 a.m. every day. And that's not good for the soul. But in around 2002, 2002, 2003, poker on television was a big deal. And then if you had an aunt or a mother or a girlfriend, the whole thing was, oh, well, he's a 22-year-old guy. Let's get him a poker set. But no one ever asked anybody, do you actually play poker? Which I never did. But I ended up having, like, coming into three different poker sets over a three-year period

that are collecting dust in my parents' basement. It's also highly annoying because it became the super trendy thing for, like, a bunch of, like, bro actors to, like, play and hollowed out, like, Hollywood basements together. And it appeared in multiple films at that time where it's, like, Whoa, that guy from the 70 shows, a poker player? It was done best in Oceans 11. The Roto World when I first started there was essentially 20 employees in one or two rooms. I feel a massive humble brag coming here.

No. And 17 or 18 of them just putting copious amounts of money and addicted to online. And making lots of money, it seemed like, an online gambling poker at the time. What was your stance on gambling back then, Greg? I mean, I was for it, but I never played poker. So upset, I was not one of those people. Interesting. This is the Wednesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast.

We got back to the States on Monday evening, around 5.30 local time. So we are adjusting, but there is no rest for the weary because we are now in the middle of the ramp up to week two. In fact, we have games or a game tomorrow. What is the Thursday night game this week? See, I'm just getting caught up. Engels Ravens. Angles Raven. A.C. North Banger.

Kings of the North That's a whole thing now Everything's king of the north I'm pretty excited for this game That's a good game It is a good game It's one of like week two Thursday night It really depends you depend on what happens

Week 1 and the fact that those two Two teams look pretty spicy in week one Are we even going to talk about that game? Well we'll definitely Now that we're getting back into We can talk about it if we want today But now that we're getting back into our normal Schedule back from the UK

We will have our late Thursday night pod will go up late Thursday night. That makes sense. And that will have the recap of the Ravens and Bengals in addition to a full rundown preview of the week ahead on Sunday and Monday. And this is part of our new schedule. So let's just get a little housekeeping out of the way. No longer a Tuesday podcast, but don't get upset.

We have a Wednesday podcast. And filling that spot on Tuesday will be our brand new Twitter show, which we're really excited about that's going to launch next Tuesday ahead of week three. And what we can promise you is that it is worth checking out because it will be different than the podcast. It won't be a video version of what you hear three times a week around the NFL podcast.

We want it to be different. Now, fun, lots of games. Have we figured out what it is yet? No. In fact, we have a meeting coming up later today. We're going to start trying to put together what the show is. We know it's an hour. We know it's an hour.

We know you can get it on Twitter. So whether you're here in the States, or you're overseas. Everyone has access to it. In fact, we got a bunch of excited people in the UK that said, oh, this will land about 11 p.m. So it's kind of a late night show. So that starts next Tuesday.

So our new schedule is Sunday night flagship show, Tuesday live Twitter show at a time to be. Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday afternoon. In the West Coast, Tuesday evening on the East Coast. I have some news that it might be Tuesdays at 1 p.m. Pacific. Pacific. Okay. Wednesday, today, regular, our second show of the week,

and then the Thursday night, early Friday preview show. And we know that the Wednesday, it's a little bit of a gap between the podcast, so we're here in the morning. They'll be up a little earlier in the day on Wednesdays. By the way, if you're worth anything at all as an American living on the western half of the country, you stop down what you're doing at work, you angle out some time and make sure that you're watching this Twitter show live as it's happening so you can have that live experience.

yeah plus like Mark didn't go to the store and buy people in their offices that's simply like oh I'm going to schedule a meeting or do what I'm supposed to be doing at my job no no stop it's like Mark didn't go to the store and buy fancy new shirts for you not to see them on this Twitter show he's not going to put on makeup and have his hair all did every Tuesday for you to not see what he's doing because Mark's body's looking good he's going to look great and you got to see it it is not looking good right now we all still look absolutely torn down I got to be honest Yeah. Mark's like an out-of-place ingenue at this point. An out-of-place ingenue. All right. So today's show, let's get into it. So that's a little update on the season. So don't get mad that we're bumping the show from Tuesday and Wednesday. Be glad that now there's four shows a week. One of them, a new experience on Twitter. So that's to come next week. Now, today's show here back in America. week one, fully in the books now, including my New York Football Jets, which we're going to get to later,

and a new segment called, it's not too early to say that, ellipses. I like it. Erica, what is an ellipses? Dot, dot, dot. Yeah, it is. Now this is Culver City. Shouldn't they just call it dot, dot, dot by now?

I like ellipses. I like it, too, but I think it's more for like someone who's 75 years old, just like everyone that calls it, Call it whatever you want. I have used you use it correctly. I have heard some young people, of which I would consider Erica, you know, a member of this crew that are confused because olds like us often use ellipses while texting just kind of rant, you know, just randomly.

You just have the, and it confuses the younger generation who is not as big into the ellipses and they expect something to actually come after it. Whereas we use it where it's just like kind of trailing off. food for thought That means we're in trouble Like if Greg was like Hey I need to talk to you Dot dot dot dot then I'd be like Oh my God what what

But if it's just him being like hey Gotta talk to you at some point It communicates something different to a younger generation But I'm saying Wow Greg coming into grammatical rules from 20 years ago That's going to go well for you Really deep dive into that one

Longform material All right so you haven't heard from us And we haven't connected with you Since our Sunday Night flagship show At Sky Sports Manor So let's do some news and catch up. Let's go,

Luce Cannon. So we're going on this Jack the Ripper tour in a section of London. We're strangers to London, so unsure where of it. We're getting in the cab right now to go. And Dan is playing some Ava,

but I'll say this. My interest in Jack the Ripper goes back away. I wrote a paper when you're young, like the first reel. I'm Jack the Ripper. How did that not make the cut of the two-minute-long video?

that I think 12 people watched. A lot of fun happened in those cabs. A shout out to London cabs that have four seats two fold out. So you basically sit looking at each other. It's a communal experience. Maybe next year when we go to London, we could do like a cab podcast. Do we not miss? Cabcast.

Doing that? Like getting your own car like today, the Uber here alone, it's like I kind of miss. We all drive our own cars. I'm not that poor. I am driven around town. I, not a shout out to the last London cab that. Wes and I took because I don't know if it was the cab driver's fault, but someone basically stole my credit card information immediately after using that cab

and spent a lot of money at the airport. Whoa! I'm glad I noticed when I got back. I guess I should check my statements then. Let's start with the Buffalo Bills, who are dealing with a little bit of an issue as the season just beginning. They get embarrassed on the road in week one, 47 to 3 to the Ravens, as bad as it gets.

Nathan Peterman. And we need to come up with a name, which is called a Peterman, a 0.0 passer rating in the game. And the bills traded away, A.J. McCarran, the only other in-house option that protected them from the kid. So the head coach, Sean McDermott, has no choice, essentially. He turns to Josh Allen to be the starter in the week two home opener against the Los Angeles Chargers. Wes will start with you on this. McDermott told reporters it's the right move for our team. and is it the right move for the bills?

Is it? I think it's a fair question. I mean, what's the plan here? I think when you look at that week one game, you see that Peterman is a backup quarterback in the NFL. You see that their offensive line isn't prepared to block anyone for any quarterback. The wide receivers aren't good. Whereas Carson Wentz entered a situation with Doug Peterson,

Frank Reich, and John D. Filippo, Josh Allen has Brian Daibel, who's floated around. college and pro football was bypassed for promotions in New England, and David Cully is his quarterback coach, a guy who's been a wide receivers coach his whole career. I think the question isn't, is this the right move for now? It's when can the bill's offense be good again? 2019, 2020?

I don't know. Yeah, I mean, if I live in Western New York, just put me into carbon freeze and wake me up next September because I think this is going to be a long, rough road. It's a lost year. It's kind of crazy because. I mean, you could enjoy your family or look for other, you know, I'm just saying if your life is,

If your life swirled entirely around the bills, judgmental, Greg, that's what I would do. I would get in carbon freeze and ignore the entire season. It's crazy that a year ago. Judgmental Greg. Sean McDermott was, huh? Well, when it's always like, well, if you like your family, maybe you can stay up and talk to your.

I wasn't talking about you. I'm just saying, like, get other interests other than the bills. I would get one really quick. I mean, this coaching situation, which a year ago, he looked like a coach of the year type candidate for what he did is now, I mean, you're in chaos again. in an ownership group that releases coaches every two seasons. I do actually want to give Sean McDermott and the bills

like a little bit of breathing room here. If they had a defining trait last year, it was that they responded very well to some of their lowest moments that he did do a good coaching job, coaching up the defense. They looked competent at points in the preseason. I don't expect them to be good at all. I'm just saying it's one game where they looked incredibly unprofessional

against a really good defense. And I want to like see- Personnel is even worse than it was. It's so much worse than it was. And there's not a lot of hope, but they showed enough, I think, as a coaching staff to just see how this plays out for five or six weeks. I do think, why wouldn't you play?

Do you worry about ruining this rookie quarterback? No, I never have bought into the David Carr idea, Tim Couch. He got hurt, Tim Couch, but that a quarterback that's meant to make it is going to be ruined psychologically by being in a bad situation. I think in any workplace, in any field, physically could be an issue absolutely. I mean, I totally disagree.

I buy into that if you're behind, if you're on a bad team, if you're a bad offensive line. And I don't think you're ever going to be that great. I disagree. You have a raw talent. Everyone said this kid can be very good, but he's going to need time.

And what they did to themselves here is that they gave themselves no option because they trusted Nathan Peterman. You brought up the low point, Greg. The low point was last year, Nathan Peterman when they talked themselves on him starting over to Rod Taylor and he threw five interceptions and a half.

So they didn't learn that maybe Peterman is not the guy and then they traded away the only other option. That is what's on my radar. We'd be killing them if they were starting Peterman. I'm saying McCarran should be starting because he should still be on the team. Things can conspire to make a person who is very tough-minded,

not so tough-minded, going forward. You are correct. You're right. We would be killing them if they start at Peterman, but both situations are bad. This is one of the Worst quarterback situations, this podcast. I just think of people like Alex Smith, who could not have been more embarrassed and more overwhelmed as a rookie. Or Eli Manning or Jim Plunkett. And all those guys, if they're made to be quality NFL starters, I think they find a way.

So it's like, do you have the stuff or not? Like, the stuff can be beaten out of you. The stuff can absolutely be beaten out of you. Let's move on. Nick Foles, we'll start in week two for the Philadelphia Eagles. We spent the whole summer wondering of Carson Wentz, who's coming back from Reconstructed Knee Surgery, be ready for week one.

Turned out he's not going to be ready for week two ever either. So Nick Foles, who was really not good against the Falcons, the Eagles are extremely fortunate to get a win at home in the Thursday night opener. How bad was Foles? He averaged 3.4 yards per attempt, and just 117 yards with an interception, no touchdown. But they won 18 to 12 in the game mark. So Nick Foles continues on.

who they got this week. The Bucks, he continues on, and they probably would really like to see Nick Foles start looking like end-of-season Nick Foles ASAP. I mean, if the Bucks play like they did last week, even to three-fourths degree, you're going to have to score a lot of points in this game. This just feels like almost not even a news update.

There was no reason to think that Wenz was going to play this week. And even if Foles stunkump up the joint and they lost to the Falcons, you cannot rush Carson Wenz back. And it's a dream matchup. I mean, the Bucks defense was. was the worst in the league last year, and they looked like one of the worst in the league in week one. And they lost Vernon Hargraves for the season. Not that he's a great player, but they're secondary who was already down Brent Grimes. This is a perfect opportunity for the

Eagles offense to start feeling a little better about themselves because they're going up such a bad secondary who does not match up very well with the Eagles. After listening to Mike Garifolo on this topic, it sounds like it starts from Jeff Lurie, the owner on down, that they believe they or a strong enough team, defense, running game, whatever, to keep winning, regardless of how well Nick Full's plays, that you might not see Carson Wentz for a few more weeks. And Garifola even said it would not surprise him if you don't see Wentz until after the buy in week nine.

Wow. He's not saying that's what will happen. He's just saying I wouldn't be surprised because from the owner on down, they believe the next decade is more important than this year. This is the anti-RG3 rushing him back out of the field. As they should. And in every win that they can steal with Foles and their defense,

and their defense is plenty capable of winning games on their own, like it's another week or two they can wait. What happens if they're two and four? I'm curious what happens if things go sideways here because they were very lucky to win that game. And if Foles is not better, they're going to start losing a game. But that was a playoff contender they were playing. Yeah.

I will say this. They have a stretch before the buy if that ever came to fruition. The Vikings, Giants, Panthers and Jaguars, Panthers defense looked Super Bowl level. We know about the Vikings and Jaguars. Moving on, Aaron Rogers, will he be available for week two against the Minnesota Vikings? Packers' head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters today that, or yesterday, that Rogers will work with other players rehabilitating injuries while emphasizing that Rogers did not suffer a setback to his injured knee. He's considered day-to-day, so they're going to probably take this one, you would think.

Even if they know ahead of time, they're going to play this thing out to keep the Vikings on their toes and expect him to play. either way, but the knee injury, of course, suffered early in the Sunday night game against the Raiders, Greg, what were your thoughts? Since we're here, we got back to the hotel after our Sky Sports event and our recording our podcast around 3 or 3.30 in the morning in London, enough time to watch the last two quarters of that game.

And it was one of the more memorable Sunday night games ever. Nick Shook and Jeremy Bergman did a great job recapping it for our show. our show. But what were our thoughts about what Rogers and company pulled off in that game? I just felt lucky because that's one of those moments I'll remember forever where I was where I watched that. Because of the unique circumstances, we're getting back after really memorable day for us and then see Aaron Rogers have one of the most memorable moments of his career at 4.30 in the morning in a London hotel room.

It's just like I love Aaron Rogers is one of the reasons why I love football so much. That was my thing. agree, and I think if you were smart, you were also packing while... I was not. I made a rookie mistake. Perfect packing situation. I made a mistake. I packed earlier in the morning, and you know what Daddy was doing.

Daddy was having an apple juice. I got... I got the great room service, great hotel. Mac and cheese? Once the game was heating up, I got some wings and just sat there on the bed at 3.30 in the morning and watched Aaron Rogers. I didn't even realize they served food at that time. I feel about calling yourself Daddy, like when you're a continent in a way.

You know what I mean? There's no wrong time. to call yourself daddy in my life. But same reason, Greg said, I will always remember sitting in that hotel room, eating badass wings, watching Aaron Rogers do Aaron Rogers things. There are some hot takesman about this week, wanting Randall Cobb to get more credit than Aaron Rogers. On that play that Cobb made, Aaron Rogers is dragging his leg around, compensating for it,

making subtle moves in the pocket to make sure he doesn't step on that leg or put weight on that leg and still makes the play. which tells me that this is an injury that's going to affect him. I can't imagine him missing this game the way he talked after the last season. Do you what Mike Zimmer said? He walks on water, so I'm sure he'll be out there this week. Well said.

Well said. Moving on, Martavis Bryant. This is a little weird. He was traded to the Raiders from the Steelers and then a word of more off-the-field issues, failure to comply with the drug plan agreement in the U.S. NFL led to the Raiders to release him or so we all thought the Raiders said no it was not it didn't

have anything to do with the looming suspension which will be probably another year of his career but now he's back with the Raiders they're closing in on a one-year deal um Tom Palisero reported yesterday Brian also expected to play this week in Denver against the Broncos so I mean somebody's got to help me out because this is a very strange story my head's on a swivel when I saw this email come through our work email with Tom Pelliserro's tweet on the subject, I assumed there was a mistake and it had to have been a tweet from like March. I was like, what do you mean he signed with the Raiders? So I think we can surmise his suspension is being held up by legal or just the normal

appeals process, that the Raiders cut him because they didn't want to have to pay his entire year's salary, that they probably have some information that this appeals process might take a minute, and they're happy to just pay them week by week right now. That is contract's not guaranteed. That would be my guess. Yeah, and we can surmise that they absolutely use a little speed at the wide receiver position. There was nothing going on in that first game against the Rams. And Amari Cooper, who Gruden chimed about all offseason,

were going to run the offense through him. Well, that did not look like that night. Did Derrick Carr try a vertical pass? I saw a lot of screens that got blown up right away by the Rams. I don't know if he even threw. one. So Bryant does add something to that offense that they need. Corey Coleman is back on a roster, and it's the Patriots. The Patriots need help at the position.

Julian Edelman suspended through week four, the group, Philip Dorset, Chris Hogan, Corderell Patterson, Coleman joins that group. He, of course, was a bust with the Browns, who traded him to the bills, who cut him before the start of the season, and now Coleman gets a chance to play with the Pats. I do not anticipate this becoming anything, but who the hell knows? I'll say this about the Patriots. It's pretty much an indictment when they signed Corey Coleman, Kenny Britt, trade for Danny Shelton, pick up Chris Hogan and Mike Gillisley. They look at the Browns and Bills and say these two teams do not know how to develop

players. We will take a chance on them. Although not many, so far out of that entire group, who's helped the Patriots other than Hogan? I would just say that they'd see, Corey Coleman, if there's one place that they can. He's worth a shot. Right. He's worth a shot. Not that they're going to be, like, you know, they're going to let him go if they can't get it done. He's worth a shot, but every time the Patriots have one of these signings, there's always those tweets that, like, fast forward to Cory Coleman having 120 yards in the AFC championship. It's like, no, most of them don't end up making it. Well, he will.

He will, but anyway. For our new listeners, for years, an ongoing subplot with Josh Gordon was Mark's eternal worry that he would end up in Pittsburgh or New England and tear up the league. that seemed to be offset a little bit by the Kenny Britt experience but I'll put in a What's More Likely Wow From Culver City, California

It's America's favorite game show What's More Likely? We've got the gold standard version there What's More Likely? Cory Coleman cut before the end of the month or making plays for the Patriots in January I'll go with cut before the end of the month I don't think the guy likes football that much.

A lot of people go to New England and decide, ooh, I can't hack it here. Look at Eric Decker, who I thought was going to have an impact, and that guy was kind of a gamer. I think Coleman will wash out within weeks. I'll go cut because weren't there issues with him learning Buffalo's playbook on a wide receiver-free offense, essentially? I mean, I don't know how he gets this thing done.

I'm going to go January plays just because I'm rooting for that to happen, so why not just root for myself to be happy? Greg will win this. I can feel it. Even veterans like Joey guys. Galloway and Chad Johnson had trouble gaining Tom Brady's trust, and they ostensibly knew what they were doing. Pats need a little juice, so it would be nice.

I'm going to go with Greg just to be an agent of chaos because I kind of want to see Corey Coleman doing good things in the NFL at some point. Bad news for the Atlanta Falcons, who will be without their leading tackler of a year ago for the rest of the season. The team announced Tuesday that Dionne Jones, their stud linebacker, placed on IR with a foot injury. Jones reported soreness in the foot after the game. They got the test back, and it turns out he needs a procedure on the foot that's serious enough to end his season.

Bad news for the Falcons, whose defense takes a hit. This is the top 10 defense last year, and it comes a couple days after safety, Ken O'Neill towards ACL. And he was done for the year. So the Falcons West take a couple pops here. Not good. In the second half of each of the last two seasons, we've been complimenting the Falcons young, speedy defense. and these two players are the beating heart of that defense. Uh-oh.

That scheme relies on their closing speed to stop running backs coming out of the backfield, to stop screen passes to wide receivers, to stop tight ends coming over the middle. They are set up to rely on that speed. So to me, the defense takes a step back to three years ago. Remember that Thomas Dimitrov is a Belichick guy, and Belichick's first ever draft as a head coach in Cleveland was Eric Turner. and he talked about, the analysts had talked to me, he said, I want to build my defense up the middle.

And now you've lost in the Atlanta Falcons, your safety and your middle linebacker. And it's going to change everything that the Falcons cannot do on defense. You're going to test their depth, too. Worth noting Dion Jones is expected to come back this season. So Dan Quinn mentioned... That would be like November. A boomerang action.

Dan Quinn mentioned they're pretty hopeful. Keanu's out for the year. Dion Jones, they hope maybe to have back for the stretch run. They do have some players. You know, they do have good depth. Duke Riley is a pretty high draft pick who's going to end up playing at safety Demonte KZ who's going to play. He was like one of my favorite players to see in the entire preseason and came in in week one and made a huge impact playing in place in Neal. So they do have some young players, but it's a bummer because Jones especially is kind of the key to that defense.

In other injury news in the NFC South, Greg Olson, as we suspected and Panthers and their fans feared, did indeed refracture that right foot. this is becoming a chronic situation or is a chronic situation now for the star tight end. At this point, they're hoping to avoid surgery evaluated on a month-to-month basis, according to Mike Garifolo, who first reported the severity of the injury. But surgery, according to rap sheets, still on the table. If it doesn't go the direction they want, this looks like a situation where the Panthers will be lucky to get their tight end back by the end of the season. And finally,

well not finally but also in the news for the carolina panthers the team is mulling options in the face of hurricane florence uh oh hurricane florence this one is a big one it's barreling toward the atlantic coast uh tiffany blackman reported tuesday at the team is exploring three options possibly staying put finding a nearby university with an indoor facility or heading to atlanta early ahead of sunday's tilt with the falcons uh so they are not home and that is helpful obviously but Mark, you must be pinching yourself right now because this storm is coming down. Well, I know I put a sandwich up that Mother Nature would shift one of these games during the course of station. Congratulations. This one looks like a big one. I know, but I get in tweets about this like,

oh, you must be like sooks. I'm not actually rooting for houses to be flattened and people to be. I don't know. When I hear you in the newsroom talking, you seem to have a little bit of a... I have never mentioned. I mean, when you put this out there

into the atmosphere on some level, this is what you have. have to be rooting for. So if I have that kind of power, I'm going to be putting a lot of things into the atmosphere real soon. All of my... I do not have that power. All of my friends at Huckapoo's and living on Tibby are in my thoughts because, you know, when I lived there for eight years, we never evacuated for a hurricane once.

And it seems like it's an annual activity now. One of our listeners was there over the weekend and said he's getting out of there because of the hurricane. Yeah, good luck to everyone out there. Hopefully this was not a storm that hits too hard. And Mark, you'll see if you're fortunate enough to get some sandwiches out of this. In this case, you cannot, though, because they're already playing in Atlanta. Atlanta would have to move the game. You're the one tracking this.

I'm just saying, from a technicality angle, the storm would need to veer towards Atlanta and create. Well, cross your fingers, maybe. I'm not rooting for that. An abnormal amount of activity in the Caribbean right now, so this might not be the only week we have to worry about. There you go, buddy. I don't, I'll say it again.

One more quick nugget. No one celebrates hurricane season, quite like Marks. Yeah. The Quiet Storm. There's a reason behind that nickname. Two more things. One, the helmet rule penalty, which a lot of hand-wringing, both on this podcast and across the football world,

just one call in the 16 games that comprised week one. So that was when Cincinnati Bengals' safety, Sean Williams, was ejected. So it was a big one. It took him out of the game, and it was not a bad call at all, I didn't think. But you did not see the call in any of the other 15 games. So so far, this is not something that's going to ruin football as we know, which was something that a lot of people thought was, including myself,

a lot of concern early August. That's early August football. I mean, Greg and I don't always get along, but like credit to Greg. He basically said this three weeks ago. And we get along fine, I think. We do. I'm just saying we don't always get along. I don't always get along with anyone.

It's fine. Dare I credit the NFL a little bit for this? It was nice to watch players not trying to injure each other. Oh, you think it actually, the reason the flags weren't coming out because people were... I think they've already started to adjust. Well, I think the helmet... I hope to write. It surprised me, but...

Over the last few years, it's been an accumulation. You definitely see safeties in particular pulling off a little bit on those throws over the middle. I think the more objectionable rule, even back in August, and it remains the same today and confusing, is the putting your full body weight onto the quarterback rule. And I think that's a confusing one that they're going to, they're just going to have some growing pains and going to have to figure out. But that's the one that's a little more on my radar.

There's a lot of gray area there. It seems to be more gray area than the helmet rule. And I saw JJ Watt did a great job of letting up and not putting his body weight onto Tybee or onto Tom Brady. He sort of rolled off to the side. I mean, they both end with... They both start with tea and end with... Wes is already at Huckapoo's in the mind right now.

Tybee's always... What is probably the only man big enough to body slam... He could body slam Tybee. We called Tom Brady now. He'd have hurt Brady there and he didn't. That's fair. That was great. That just made my day.

They both start with tea and end with an E sound. It's true. Mixed them up. I conflated them. And Wes, because you're such a lovable guy. You're going to take the stage now for the final piece of news today. Week 1 handed out their Player of the Week awards and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes

took the AFC honor. He was a stud in the 3828 walloping of the chargers, 256 yards, four touchdowns, 21 yards on the ground, four carries. Over the defensive player of the week, T.J. Watt won that for the Steelers. He just killed the Browns. And then in the NFC fits magic, alive and well.

he had almost a perfect pass rating one of the games of the last 10 years at that position he was unbelievable in wiping out the Saints and then Harrison Smith got the defensive player of the week Greg the leg got special teams player of the week the reason we're even telling you this is because Wes has something to say well this is sort of a I don't know it's been a it's been an issue with me

like post cancer my personality has changed I believe I've been more deferential on this podcast like the rants have been fewer and far between things don't rile me up as much i think i'm a little more um interesting equanimity whatever that word is um get edited in post but but there's a rant coming on here because this is absurd why first of all why and angry west why is everyone protecting these selectors for player of the week there's no answers on google there's no answers on twitter there's no answers in this building did you say everybody there's no answers for mark why are you protecting these are the

shadowiest of shadowy league figures. Nobody knows who's making these picks. And you do not know anything about football or did not watch this game if you chose Patrick Mahomes over Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill climbing the ladder to get throws in traffic, sliding to corral low throws, taking short passes to the house through the heart of the defense. He looked like Steve Smith in 2005. The D had no answer for him. He was the story of the game. Patrick Mahomes, promising, sure. And maybe Tyreek Hill is a better suited guy for Patrick Mahomes skill set than Alex Smith. He's probably going to have a bigger

year because of the quarterback change. But that was absurd to not have Tyreek Hill as player of the week. He was the best player in football this week. Now, you did a little legwork trying to figure out, because we all got to page nine of the Google search, and there's no explanation. Emphasis on little, but yeah. A little work. Fair. You

emailed someone inside. With 15 minutes to go before the start of the show. Any answer to that? I tweeted at the NFL PR guy and got no answer. Well, why don't you send an email, send a polite email. I mean, it's 2018. I'm not really about emails. It's about me.

A dogged journal has sent it an email there was. In 1997, sure, I'll send out it. No, that's how you get. If you want the information, that's how they're going to give it to you. Hey, I've never claimed or wanted to be a dogged journal. But you said you don't want, you want to find out the answers. I do want to find out. Give them to me.

I just think a P. You want the truth was. I mean, if what you're trying to say is that the player of the weak selector is not combing through Game Pass to look for the subtleties of who was really worth or who really earned that box. You have one job. Find out who's the player of the week. That's your job. Find out the player

of the week. Do it right. Do your homework, Greg. Why are you letting people off the hook for not doing their job? It is attached to contracts and it's other stuff too. I mean, if you're just I'm not going to watch anything. I'm just going to guess at who's the player of the week. Why is that okay with you? Here's why.

It is. Because I've never put any stock into this silly award. And then, number two, I just assume that it's whoever's job it is to do this, it's not their job. It's like the 35th most important part of their job, unfortunately. So it's like the only part of a $12 billion operation that isn't vetted? Translation, you're not even going to have to be good at it? Greg translation is I suppose to Greg for like 750 straight podcasts. Many of his responses boil down to, who cares?

Right. Yeah. Well, when it comes down to player of the week, you're right. Greg is all about FedEx ground and error. But wait, what? I do find it odd that someone who is not a football person would be picking this. It has to be someone in the league office. I'm curious to know.

It probably is a PR person. Like the guy who fills up the water tanks every week is to pick it? Is that what you're saying? I would guess. This is good. I totally agree with you that Tyree Kill was the best player in football. And I do think maybe part of this Twitter show should be a segment. Chris Wesleyan has something to say.

How about that? I love it. That's it. That's why you tune in to the Twitter show. By the way, if you want to check out Tyreek Hill's gangbusters performance against the Chargers, you could replay an entire NFL game in 45 minutes with condensed games from NFL game pass. It's every play back to back to back. Didn't you, the Kissing Cousins, you guys were on a quest to knock this down to the 30-minute mark?

Hold on. So 45 minutes, I would say a more inviting quick experience would be trimming the fat down to 31, 32 minutes, which is possible. Then it's you guys, and this was kind of unusual for the cousins. You guys went underground. You sent some emails. You met with some people trying to affect change. Where are you at right now? Because now the ad read is saying 45 minutes.

Well, so that was, I believe, two seasons ago or last season. But Matt Harmon and other guys were all over just being, you got to watch all these games. It's like, you know, Game of Thrones episodes trying to get through some of this stuff. It is. Watch some. It's like a lot of white men with curly hair. It's like keeping pests out of your garden.

You can keep them out. year with all these tricks and the next year they're back again and you got to go through the whole rig and roll again that's the thing because they around week eight they listened and suddenly all the games had trimmed every bit of nonsense off and now it's time for you guys to continue your well we're back email and PR people they're doing it maybe tweet about it that's what's happening in the news have you ever looked at your credit card statement and been shocked by the interest rate good rant by the way was oh thanks it's been a while I thought maybe I lost my touch turn back the clock moment show your face whoever's doing this especially when you turned your i are toward gregg which i didn't see coming but i quite well gregg's like oh whatever you know i'm just saying this is the first time the player of the week words come up in six years of the podcast it's not really moving the needle the lady who answers the phones also picks the player of the week and that's fine with gregg did you know you could actually roll all of your credit card debt into one mark pay attention to this you have a lot of financial issues into one monthly payment at a lower

fixed interest rate it's funny i mean i do coming off the london trip that's funny because it's true Lightstream offers credit card consolidation loans from 5.89% APR with auto pay. I don't know what any of this means. My wife handles all of my finances. If I end up in prison or if I end up in the poor house, it will be because I trusted too much. And you know what? I have no regrets. I love that one.

I love that development. They cannot arrest a husband and wife for the same crime. So I'm the only guy in the room that takes care of the finances in the house. Right. And she handles toolbox. Really playing a cultural statement. stereotypes here, but move on. That's lower than the average credit card interest rate of over 18% APR.

Get a loan from $5,000 to $100,000, and you can even get your funds as soon as the day you apply, because Lightstream believes that people with good credit deserve a good, great interest rate and no fees. This is where I would speak to my personal experience with Lightstream, but you'll have to connect with Emily and see if that's something that we use. And now my listeners can get our listeners. See, the copy says my. But you know what the copy is what the copy is. So guys, and now my listeners can get a special discount on top of lightstreams already lower rates. The only way to get this discount is to go to lightstream.com slash football. That's L-I-G-H-T-S-T-R-E-A-M dot com slash football.

Erica, what's going on with personalized offer codes? You know, I'm going to take it right up the chain. Subject to credit approval rate includes 0.50% auto-paid discount. terms and conditions apply and offers are subject to change without notice visit lightstream.com slash football for more information. Also, you may or may not have heard

but Lowe's is the new home of craftsman which means that at Lowe's you'll find an ever-growing selection of mechanics tools, tool storage, and more in store and online, ready to help tackle projects throughout your home. If one of those projects happens to be in a really tight space to get to,

then you definitely need to check out the Ratchet wrench. Very close. 122 thratchet. It has a three-degree arc swing, you guys. Don't you know what that does? No. A three-degree arc swing means you can loosen or tighten bolts with less movement

and those hard-to-reach spots that should make it easy to tackle any auto or DIY project on your list. Greg, what's that? I know you don't do it a lot, but you know what that means. Do it yourself. Nice. Plus, they come in a gunmetal chrome. That's masculine finished. That's not only sharp-looking, but it makes them corrosion resistant.

cool comma right question mark uh shop the new home of craftsman today at loz dot com slash around that's loz dot com slash around all right now mark here we are back in america i am so happy to be home and you could like two things you can be happy that you're home and also love where you were that's where i'm at i know some people in this room like uh screw america this place made a wrong turn and is going into oblivion i want to live somewhere else now good good luck to you guys when you do that. USA, I'm going to see this thing through. That doesn't describe my feelings on the matter.

I can't speak for the other two, gentlemen. That seems unfair. Was that unfair? Perfect encapsulation of how I feel. Okay, maybe that's Mark. But Mark, you're back in America as well and your thoughts upon a return. Well, my thing, I don't know,

it's like you ever go to a wedding and you meet all these, like, new people, and it's like a bunch of friends you know but other people and you're with each other for four days, and then you go home and you're kind of feeling like, ooh, this is, I kind of missed that group. That was kind of cool and everyone's never sees each other ever again. So with the seven of us, it was the four of us.

It was Lewis Cannon, Todd Metcalf, and a shadow league figure named Mark Brady. And Jet Lake Jackson. And Lakeisha as well. But I mean, I would say this. I really miss this crew doing what we're doing the cabs all hanging out going to dinner. So I mentioned a couple times, much to the dismay of Dan, that we would potentially be doing some reunion activities now that we're back in the States.

and so I came up with just a notification of the first event. Did you say to my dismay? I think you were maybe getting a little sick of us. I thought the trip was fine. Okay, so confirmed. But anyways, so please, these sessions are mandatory. So tonight, Wednesday, September 12th, we will gather together at Bonnie Sue's Kettle and Grill

in Encino, California from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. All right, then tomorrow on Thursday, September 13th, we're going to turn around and take a trio of company-paid cabs to Little Tokyo's Karayama at 5 p.m. for a five-hour dinner and drink set up. These are mandatory. I don't want to hear about, I'm back. I have all this responsibility. You got to watch game pass.

Please. On Friday. Well, there is Thursday night football and the podcast tomorrow night. Right, but this. No, that's Thursday. That starts at 5 p.m. Right after the pod, we'll get in these cars and go do this. We can watch Thursday night football while we're there.

It'll be on television somewhere. If it isn't, you can pick up and watch it later on. On Friday, we will keep the evening free. A lot of knowledge about Japan Town's TNF coverage. It is. It's vibrant. It's vibrant.

We will keep the evening free on Friday. I do understand that we have families, but we will have a group breakfast at Fred Swanson's country griddle and Chula Vista. We'll then depart in shared cars at 6.8. And 6 a.m. we're going to leave on Friday to beat the crowds and leave after breakfast for three hours of day drinks at the purple

basement in nearby Glendale. Dan will be thoroughly sick of us by this stage. On Saturday, loose cannon will guide us through a pub crawl and late night club tour of West Hollywood's nightlife scene. that will give way to a rooftop breakfast at dawn. While you will be free to exit early before week two's action, we will be scheduling a group breakfast Sunday morning at Egg Slut in downtown Los Angeles

before catching 9.45 a.m. Did you say Egg slut? It's so good. It is so good. I think that's the first. That's a real place? Yeah. Right down it's in the downtown area, yeah.

You got to wait in line for too long. That seems like the only real establishment you've mentioned, or maybe they're all real. No, you doubt Bonnie Suz? Yeah, these are all real. But one note on that Sunday, I know the games I'd hear begin at 10. I don't see the purple basement anywhere, I'm just saying. Well, this is a secret. You know it's real, Tim Posey.

I got you. Thank you. So we'll leave at 945 before the game start at 10, by the way. Impossible to get this read out in this room. I will be releasing next week's hangout slash reunion schedule on Monday evening. Are you going to flip? No, that's it. We'll have a new schedule for next week on Monday.

We're going to stay in touch as a group. That sounds fun. The Sky Sports, our friends at Sky Sports, who we see. seem to have a great relationship. We'll be disappointed that we're skipping our pregame coverage on Sunday, but it's important to spend time together. Not all of them will be Sunday morning, but they'll have to understand after watching us as a group together

that we needed to do this. I can't believe egg slut is a thing. That is an awesome name. There's tons of photo ops. It's like, I went to egg slut, like, all around the building. It's so great. It's so great. I've refused it because any food,

you shouldn't have to wait half an hour for any egg, for any breakfast food. I don't care how good is. That's fair point. that's fair point liquid chicken in general i've reached the age i just don't i'm not waiting online to get into really anywhere unless i'm with it is a super good reason to do so there was oh we know yeah there was some club it was like uh during our our trip to england it was like eric was let's let's follow these people we walk across half of london and then there's a line of 200 people

i was like daddy next hotel next hotel back to the hotel even eric and i bailed on that we we attempt There were, like, a trio of, like, Cardassian times. I read it right. We waited for a little bit to just be like, oh, these guys don't like fun. Like, they left. And then Mark and I, after, like, a little while we were like. I can only imagine the commentary while we were in the family.

We actually waited about 30 minutes. We're the only ones that really get what it's like to be here in London. Well, that's true. That's when a random London stranger offered me cocaine. What? It is. He goes, are you American? And I was like, yeah.

And he went, you want cocaine? It said it like, like, cocaine. Like cookies? Cookies? No, the end of that story is Wes said, no, thank you. Yeah. I think my faith- Please chronicle the answer.

It was absolutely not. I do not want that. Similarly, I think my favorite story I heard secondhand was the one where a man at the hotel just shoved cookies into Dan's pocket. You had some cookies? There was a major D that was a little bit, a little bit of O-T-T, over the top. All right. Segment, it's not too early to say that.

That, ellipsies, that means something else is coming. What's coming? Something bad. Answers. No, not necessarily bad. Week ones in the books, people get too excited sometimes about week one. Surely I will when I get to my topic, which involves my favorite team. But after one game, we'll say what we're confident saying, that it's not too early to say that.

So we're getting on board a viewpoint on a team or a player or what have you. Greg, get us going. it's not too early to say that the Denver Broncos are a watchable, fun, dramatically different team. I don't know if they're going to be a playoff team or I really have no idea how good they're going to be or how good case game is going to be over the course season. But just turning on their game pass in the Seahawks game this weekend, I just couldn't believe that. Here's a team with some pass protection. Here's a team with a dynamic two, three-headed running game.

Here's a team that's flinging the ball down the field for good and bad. Case Keatim's just letting it fly. There are receivers open. This was just a team that looked so different week after week when I watched them a year ago. They were barely a professional offensive operation that seeing this on Sunday was a breath of fresh air. There's a lot of fun young players. Keenham, maybe he's not going to be the guy long term, but he's certainly going to make it a lot more fun to watch and follow the Broncos this season,

whether you're a Broncos fan or not. I don't think it's too early to say that. I know that. I'm head over heels for this team. As soon as I nominated the Ravens for Team of ATL, I was kicking myself for not nominating the Broncos because I love everything about this team. What a difference a year makes. You're absolutely right.

Philip Lindsay is legit. He's like a better version of Austin Echler or something. Like this guy is going to be part of this offense all year long. Royce Freeman's good. Both those veteran wide receivers are better this year. They're moving better. Emmanuel Sanders is 30 years old going back flips into the end zone.

There's tight ends involved with the passing game. There's just a lot of things that literally you never saw last year. That just didn't happen. Demarius Thomas shed weight, completely changed his diet and looks younger than ever. We killed Elway for his drafts, rightly so, in some past seasons. He's nailed this draft from what we can see. And we ticketed this division to the Chargers based on the Los Angeles talent level, But even in week one, you find out that some of the ghosts that haunt the Chargers organization are still imbued inside that franchise.

And I don't see any reason in this weird AFC West where the Raiders look like they could stink potentially, and the Chiefs will see. There's no reason to say Denver could not win this division depending on how this plays out. Yeah, West is more in on them being good, I think. And that's certainly possible. I'm just more in on, okay, this is going to be a fun team to watch. And they're just so. When last year's was impossible to watch. Right, that's what I mean.

And they'll be competitive. They're fun in the way, in the spirit of the original team of ATL. It's fair. Yeah. We'll see. You know, I never come out quickly. Dan's not in L.A. I'm not, if he's going to be throwing 35, 40 passes a game,

they're not going to win a lot of games in my opinion, but I could be obviously wrong. I also want to see, I guess I need to see a little bit more. They definitely were fun. They look good against the Seahawks. I don't know if the Seahawks are any good. If they beat up on a home team, on a crappy road team, is that a big deal? I don't know. One thing about quarterbacks and the way we,

appreciate them and evaluate them. I think we've learned over the years the best quarterbacks have this quality. Can he get out of trouble? Can he save the day? Can he get the girl in the end? He's the protagonist. In case Keenham has that,

it's just that he's also over-eager by a half. He's sort of got that Ryan Fitzpatrick Gunslinger thing, and he makes throws he shouldn't be making because he's not willing to take a checkdown, but those are the fun quarterbacks to watch. This does seem like if you're a Broncos fan, whether or not they are a nine or ten, win team or whatever they're going to be a lot more fun to watch because it was pretty bleak there

last year near the end of the season hard to be less fun yeah um all right we got to talk about the jets i i was all right what is it it's not too early to say that everything everything may be different for the new york jets now and i believe that i the i got we got off that plane and it was 10 hours 11 hours and i one of those guys i suck when it comes to trying to sleep on a plane. So I'm up for 11 straight hours on that plane. I watched Saving Private Ryan for the first time, which is probably something that no one's ever done, watched that movie for the first time 20 years after it came out. Quite enjoyed it, by the way. And got back to L.A., sunny L.A. and got a cab, got back to my house. I had a couple hours before the kids got home

from preschool, had the game DVR. So I was catching up. I was about two hours behind. And I'm watching this game and I'm wondering what's going to happen here and then the first play of the game Sam Darnold rolls to his right gets fooled by the safety and throws a blimp that gets picked off and run back and I mean every Jets fan was thinking the same exact thing oh my god this is not only is this a horrible start to your season this is such a fitting start if this guy ends up being a bus that everybody will be like we knew right away the first pass and then what happens he comes back, Darnold, and finishes the game 16 of 20, throws for almost 200 yards, two touchdowns.

He shows mobility, he shows accuracy. He obviously shows himself as an unflappable 21-year-old because that plays, Ford Field, was going nuts after the pick six. And ESPN, with their obtrusive cameras on the sideline, had the camera right up in Darnold's face after the pick six to the point where an offensive lineman for the jet got in the guy's mug and pushed the camera away. This guy knew everyone was talking about him, and he went out there,

and he played great, great football for the rest of that game. The entire Jets effort was otherworldly, which, and the Lions looked as bad as can be. So I don't want to say the Jets are now this team to look out for this season. You need more evidence. But the one thing I do know is that Darnold looks different than every other, quote, unquote, savior, including Mark Sanchez, including Chad Pennington. And I don't really have anybody else to even throw out there, including Gino Smith, Greg. that this guy looks like he's going to be a star,

and every jet fan is pinching themselves right now. Pocket movement, poise under pressure, the ability to move the chains, accuracy plus touch. Those are the things I've noticed about Darnold since August, and I thought at first he wasn't ready. I think I was really impressed with that performance. It was hard not to text you.

I knew that you were on it. I didn't know where you were. We were all a hot mess that night. I was struggling to stay awake, but I knew you were on tape delays, so I didn't want to spoil anything. Right. And I think a lot of people, I got this question at our meetups, too.

It's like, will you be mad if the Jets are good and the Browns stay crappy or your quarterback versus his quarterback? Well, ideally, it would be better for Dan and I if both teams were good because I think it could turn total villain move here otherwise. But I will say this. I genuinely enjoyed watching the Jets perform the way they did. And it goes beyond even Darnold because Todd Bowles has made his bread and butter before coming to the Jets crafting secondaries.

and defenses, but especially secondaries that can create and change games. And the Jets have that too right now. It is always a weird game when suddenly you score 31 points and it's off of turnovers and returns. But you can't just say that didn't happen and that's not to the Jets credit. They're creating these plays. They didn't have a return game for so long. They didn't have a secondary that picked the ball off and cause nightmare scenarios for

quarterbacks. It's not just Donald, but it's so great that he is the most exciting element of this for a team that since we were born, outside of maybe Kenny O'Brien for a season or two, has had nothing under center. And Dan's dad has not seen a good quarterback in four plus five decades. It is time for this to happen. I'm excited for you. Dan's dad.

Let's check in with Keith. His name is Keith. He's Dan's dad. No doubt about it. He's a big Jets fan. What is he going to say about the game today? What is he? going to say about the game today what a great victory by the new york jets on monday night that was

what i think jet fans have been waiting for particularly me i can tell you for a long time we've had some suffering seasons of late but to open up on the road in hostile territory and putting up that many points setting their own personal record from points on a road uh and the the play of sam donald was absolutely spectacular to come back from that interception he threw on the first pass. So go Jets. J-E-T-S. Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets. Keith is all in. Jets fans are all in. Has he ever sounded like that before? Not on this podcast.

We started the show talking about how Josh Allen has no support around him, and that's what stuck out to me was that how little Darnold had to do. He may have to make three or four really good plays, and he's looked the part, He's looked mature, but he got protected well. He had a running game. Dan, you tweeted about the receivers are definitely solid. I thought that was a good point. The secondary can give this team a little bit of an identity.

Some of those interceptions happened because Henry Anderson, a late pickup, which I think is going to prove to be a savvy one, had pressure on Stafford. So he was supported really well, and that's what you want to see out of a rookie quarterback. The schedule's not bad for the AOC East in general and the Jets. And so I think if Darnel can get that kind of support, then they can be a team that's absolutely in the mix.

There's one team. There's one team in the AFC in the wildcard mix that's going to have a chance to sneak in like the bills did last year. Why not the Jets? Why can't they be in the mix? We all underrated their wide receivers coming into this year because Curse and Robbie Anderson were an above average duo last year and now they add a Nunewa and Terrell Prior.

They're better. This is a good wide receiver. I am curious to see how bad is the line's defense because it was the worst defense in the league in August. We talked about this is a nice first week matchup. That was as bad as it can be for a team. It was actually the Jets defense, and maybe special teams, we'll see about that. But it was actually the Jets defense that really got me thinking,

okay, if they can, this is a defensive-minded coach with a nice secondary. If he can cook up a really competitive defense week after week, then this team really could be tough. I think the Jets absolutely have a chance in an A.S. that we're looking at right now to grab a wildcard spot. I do. I mean, why not? But also, like, it is disturbing if you're a Lions fan

because I think you thought you get Matt Patricia, you're getting this Brainiac who's going to translate change right away. And instead we get Mike Garifolo reporting that players all summer have not been buying in. Now, part of it was they didn't want to, they thought they're having to work too hard. It looks like a team that could use some hard work now. By the way, we mocked that columnist about a month and a half ago for his column about he was working too hard with a condition. but now that's it's one week though it's one week and people are really going into the belichick

you know idea what's so great about these lions veterans anyway all i mean is people were that excited in the opposite way about josh macdainiels after five weeks so i just like kind of want to see this play out a little bit i want to i want to see a play what have they accomplished in detroit that they can't take hard coaching oh right it's not on patricia i agree with you it's like maybe it's hard to change that team patricia didn't really wasn't pass in the look test i just got to say Did anybody even see him talk to anyone on the sideline the entire game? He just seemed like a man on an island that was in shock. That game went from 1717 to 4817 to the Jets,

the Jets of all teams kneeling on the goal line showing mercy in the fourth quarter to keep it from being a 50-burger. That is as bad as a first game as a coach can have. Crazy. All right, Wes, you're up. When I looked at the Browns going into the season, I saw a flawed but undaunted quarterback, a pretty good backfield

and a defense that has a couple of blue chippers in Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward, but the coaching staff is a liability and they need a ghostbuster. After one week, I'm going to say it's not too early to say that. You can take your clock-killing offense and stick it where the sun don't shine

when you come into Cleveland. When you have the game on the line, you have to account for Miles Garrett on every play. The opposing fan base, the opposing quarterback, the opposing play caller has to account for Miles Garrett on every play. You are not just going to saddle up your workhorse back, run out the clock with the game on the line. It's a new feeling for Browns fans.

It's a new feeling for opponents, and they better get used to it because Denzel Ward and Miles Garrett are for real. Even the uniforms look badass in the rain and filth in this game. You can take all of that, your clock-killing notions, and put them on ice. Miles Garrett is a difference maker And so is Denzel Ward These guys are blue chippers This is how you eradicate ghost through talent Bizarre game

Like we talked about on Sunday Plus five they finished in the turnover battle The Browns And yet they needed 14 points in the second half To wipe out a big deficit And then they should have lost an overtime And a field goal And then they should have won an overtime on a field goal

It seemed like that team was a little to me Mark Tell me if you agree A little scared of its shadow after that interception and a game that should have stole at the end. But that should not take away that how close this team might actually be to forget about like, oh, are they ever going to win again? But we just talk about the Jets. That team that can, there's going to be a team that's in the mix in December

that's going to surprise everybody. The Browns could be that team too. The Browns and Steelers are old foes obviously dating back to the very beginning of everything. And they remind me in the post-1999 era of two. boxers that just constantly spar against each other, but one always loses, and then you lose the ability to even know how to win. And I think Cleveland, this Brown's team, prior to this year's thing, completely lost any knowledge of how to deal with Pittsburgh as a team, because they were running the ball.

The Steelers are better. They were in control at halftime. They were control halfway through the fourth quarter. They dominated this game, and there were multiple opportunities for the Browns to quit. And coming out at halftime, Tyrod Taylor and Jarvis Landry would not let them quit. That attitude is infectious. They could have quit again in the fourth quarter. The same two players would not let them quit, Landry and Tyrod,

which benefit to them. But Miles Garrett is the difference. And they have playmakers on defense, and Greg Williams takes a lot of heat, but Greg Williams consistently has turnover heavy defenses. That's what he does. They have Ogun Joby had a really good game, I thought. And they have playmakers at every level.

Jamie Collins looks a little better, healthier this year, too. So they're a defense, I think, that's got. to be able to win the turnover. I love Baker Mayfield, but I think it's fair to question what would have happened in that game if there was a rookie quarterback. Would they have had the mental fortitude to come back? Is it too soon, West, for the desert people to, if you're in the desert, if you had to get behind a player to win certain awards that honor players for their defensive greatness

above all other defensive players at the defensive end for the rounds? I feel like that's a bridge too far. Like, let's aim for Pro Bowl, then all pro, then defensive player of the year, especially when Von Miller's doing what he's doing. Do you hear that, correct? Khalil Mack. Not yet. Yeah, I think.

He was my NFL.com, defensive player of the year pick. Well, the key is, you know, you want to see those odds. It's all about value. I mean, if everyone's sleeping on Garrett, then take a shot. Greg's on the phone with his bookie right now. Finally. Bookies don't really exist anymore. You can have your awards.

You can have your awards. You can call them whatever you want. But the fact is, when the game's on the line, you have to account for this guy, and that says everything you need to know about him. He's a badass. Mark Sessler. All right. One week in, it's not too early for a little conspiracy theory,

and it's not too early to say that New England's covert Trojan horse operation, aka Project Pink Pony, continues to work wonders. This is the other side of the page for before about there. Right, it is. In place since 2003, Project Pink Pony, which is harder to say than I realized, I don't know why I called it this, is a Bill Belichick-led plot to send his minions throughout the league to take over and neutralize opposing teams.

logic would suggest Pink Pony backfired with first-year Lions coach Matt Patricia laying an egg against the Jets, a division opponent, but it worked to perfection in Sunday's Patriots Texans tussle where we saw a vintage Tom Brady before the half. Leading 14 to 6 with 139 left before the break, the Patriots called timeout before a Texans punt. New England partially blocked the kick before taking over at their own 22. Brady and Friends all implanted with behavior-controlling data chips upon signing with the team March down the field like Belichikian controlled Autobots going 78 yards over eight plays for the easy touchdown. A pair of ex-Patriots employees, Texans coach Bill O'Brien, and Houston Defense Coordinator Romeo Cornell,

registered 1,000-yard stairs as guys like Cordellarral Patterson and Philip Dorset doubled as streaming all-stars. Project Pink Pony has taken out the Texans, while the Titans with Mike Rabel, Dionne Lewis, and Malcolm Butler on board will be the next to go. assured with ex-patriots front office man John Robinson overseeing the entire operation. Pink Pony's rich history of sabotage has many roots, notably creating hell for Mark and Dan when Eric Mangini was sent out like an imperial probe droid to kill from inside the Jets and Browns. This on the heels of Romeo Cronel doing the same in Cleveland before man genius, not really even a man, but a Foxborough created syntho man arrived to spin Bill's web. Don't even get me started on Josh McDaniel scattering the Broncos with a somewhat unoriginal spy taping scandal

and looking like a Manchurian candidate while running the Rams offense under Jeff Fisher before creating in-house chaos for the cults after bouncing as their head coach. With Pink Pony still thriving and undetected by Rog, it's not too early to promise you the Patriots will go 13 and 3 all over again. Seacrest out. Why Pink Pony is the name? It's a playoff Trojan horse. You can't call it Operation Trojan Horse.

I feel like in the future. sure Mark will just have like pre-recorded reads that he sends in two days in advance and won't have to come up to the podcast anymore. I'll just sit home for the rest of it. I mean, I'm just on a new shift anyway, so I'm just going to send in these audio files. I give the Pink Pony operation a lot of credit for for SpyGate. I mean, the fact that they went that far to really throw people off the Senate in terms of Eric Mangini, no one's going to suspect that.

Well, once it gets found out, though, that's when people get really upset. when Bill Belichick pulls one over on the league and the other coaches and owners, there's suspensions and fines coming for pink. And I appreciate Thomas Dimitraf's commitment to it to build up that 28 to 3 lead in the Super Bowl before that Pink Pony apparition. What are you yelling about back then?

It's just like, what are you guys talking about? Like, it's ridiculous. It is not ridiculous. It's so ridiculous. I think you're... Well, she's right, actually. Being so dismissive of Mark's... I would say this, that any really great CIA plot

must make the... The plotters themselves look bad at times. So you can say, oh, but no, I can't do this. And it is ridiculous. Yeah. They can both be. It's interesting, though, that the producer of the Jesselnick and Rosenthal Vanity Project. Yeah, I really got in here.

Who had bragged to the host of that, Anthony Jessnick, that she has an improv background, wanted to throw that in. Wouldn't understand kind of the idea to kind of play along and support the bit here. What are you talking about? What are you talking? Support the bit. Is that true? It's not true. I didn't I know.

Wow. No. Hey, Anthony, nice to meet you. I've got a background and improv so you know. I mean, what? That kind of checks out, Erica. I mean, like, yeah, I took one class in high school, but I'm not talking about it. I don't know.

Greg's story is starting to bear weight. And if you're a fan of 90s alternative rock, there's the throwback podcast. That's what I'm saying. Bring it all out. Let's just start our own show. New podcast. New podcast. No, Wes said, every week.

West said on one of our Piccadilly Circus, Q&A's, that he's starting a Cincinnati Reds podcast. I didn't say I would. I said, if I was to ever do it, that would be it. We're changing gears. I do have a side pod, which we cooked up a little bit on our trip, which I will be announcing not through these channels. I know what you're talking about.

That's going to do. I want to know. All right. That's God damn right. I'm going to bring it up, Dan. Today's show. Kids got to go to school someday, and we're hoping. I didn't say that.

We're hoping for a season, too. We're hoping for a season two, so let's... I didn't say you should have bring it up. Oh, no, I know. I think you should have held the show. One thing, I think you should have held your ground and kept it RJVP. That's basic branding, bro. I think it's a fun plotline.

I swear it was actually the plan from the beginning. There's season arcs. It was always going to change season two. Is season three going to be the Tamposi Rosenthal? We'll lose complete control of her. Insert herself into the show. Eventually. All right.

We'll be back on late Thursday with a recap of the Thursday night football game between the Ravens and Bengals and then a preview of all the week two games to come on Sunday and Monday. So make sure you're back for that. And a reminder, yes, next Tuesday, the launch of our Twitter show. Follow us on

our various social media handles for the link and more info on that. All right, that's it. This is Dan Hansa signing up. For the Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss and the loose cannon behind the glass. She's going to get in on that. show. She's going to get in on it till Friday. This is an I-Heart podcast.