NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - CMC Trade Reaction; Saints-Cardinals Recap with Rachel Bonnetta (Friday Fun Show!)

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

A virtual room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Rachel Bonnetta share their final thoughts before a weekend of football action. First, we react to the San Francisco 49ers trading for Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey. Then, Rachel joins the show to help recap the Saints-Cardinals Thursday night matchup (20:05). Marc takes over "It's About Me!" with haikus for all the heroes (32:00). We take feedback and questions from the live listeners, Gregg has a final injury update (41:40), and we hit the last nuts and bolts leading into Week 7 with predictions for this weekend (43:20). The Friday Fun Show airs live on YouTube at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm BST every Friday.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Welcome to the Friday fun show. Working title, Dan Hans us with Mark Sessler and Greg Rosenthal from across the Southland across America all the way to the Jersey Shore. Welcome to our live stream episode of the week as we get ready for week seven. We see the message board, the commenters already firing off getting pumped up. And we will be reaching out and connecting with the listeners early on Mark. I know this is your favorite show of the week for so many reasons, including this week. It's about me. It will be about you. And it is a

about you and you love that. I do. I like the spotlight focused directly on me at all times for both positive and negative news. I didn't know that this was a thing that Mark pretended that he didn't like the spotlight. This is like a new 2022 trend. I don't understand. I feel like this has been an important week.

Mark has often come at you and me, Greg, for saying we seek attention in the spotlight, but Mark's always been one of us. And now the monster within is coming above the surface of the water. Well, this is an absurd way to get into the show here. I have a question for you, Dan, because I'm tracking this heavily. What did your mother make you for breakfast? We got yesterday's eggs with onion and paprika, I think you said. That's very good.

What happened today? We have so much to get to, including a blockbuster trade, but this is important as well. Yesterday, yes, eggs, onions and eggs with some paprika. Today, we're down at the Jersey Shore. I went to the local coffee shop I love, Turnstile. I got a nice latte. I got an almond croissant. and I watched the Thursday night football game.

I was tied up with the Yankees failing in Houston last night. So I got caught up, prep for this show, and this is where we are. Very excited to get into today's show, boys, because we got so much going on. We have the Thursday night football recap between the cards and the saints. We have Rachel Benetta joining us in just a little bit, one of our favorites. We have it's about me with Mark Sessler. We have an injury update ahead of Sunday's games and some fearless predictions. But first, yes, the huge blockbuster.

trade that went down late at the end of Thursday night football kind of came out. The San Francisco 49ers sending second, third, and fourth round picks in 2023 and a fifth round pick in 2024 to the Panthers four-star running back. Christian McCaffrey, Adam Schaefter, broke it. It's official. It's a done deal. So McCaffrey, the former offensive player of the year, the former 1,000 receiving, 1,000 rushing running back now joins.

a San Francisco offense that obviously got a lot more dynamic with a big trade. Here is GM of the Panthers, Scott Fitterer, when asked by, well, actually, it's hold on Scott talking about what's going on with the Panthers. Let's focus starting, Greg, with the 49ers, a team that we were just talking about on Thursday show, is this offense explosive enough? Is Jimmy G. put a cap on what they can do? Well, you add a guy like McCaffrey, hmm, it just got a lot more feisty. Yeah, I mean, it's an all-in move.

And I think it's interesting in this season in context of the Rams and how well Jimmy Garapolo and their passing attack has been. In the past, we always think like, oh, the running game is kind of carrying the 49ers offense. Jimmy G's along for the ride. This year, they're seventh in passing DVOA. They're always solid. They're always efficient.

They're 26th and running. They haven't been able to get the running game going. Like Shanahan's lost his magic a little bit because of all the injuries and personnel and offensive line. And McCaffrey fixes all that. And I think they look at this. offense and they look at this defense if they can get healthy and they say like we're one of the Super Bowl contenders this year. And I think they look at it in the context of the Rams.

The moves that the Rams have made to try to push them over the top and they got their Super Bowl a year ago. And who was the other team in the mix? According to our friend Jordan Roderig of the athletic pushing hard for Christian McCaffrey. It was the Los Angeles Rams. And I think that's why they had to pay so much. Scott Fitter, you'll get to it, mentioned he thought this was equivalent of a first-round pick, getting a second and, what was it, two-thirds and a fourth, ultimately. Or a second-third and a fourth. He's right, that is equivalent to a first-round pick.

They got a totally fair value, a nice value for McCaffrey. It's a big risk for the 49ers, but no one's going to care if they make the Super Bowl. And that's kind of the bar now. If they don't make the Super Bowl, this was not in the next two years or win the Super Bowl. This is going to be a bust. I mean, I think if you look at what the Niners had, done over the last couple seasons. The move for Trey Lance, and it's not worked out to date, but had it. The way, the reason they did it was they viewed themselves back then as a player

away from being Super Bowl gold. I mean, they got to the Super Bowl with Jimmy G, but it's like a true quarterback would take us over the top. All right, they're going to sit with Jimmy G, but again, they say in this environment, in the NFC that we're in right now, where again, we've talked about this all day yesterday on our preview show, it's such a waterdown league right now. There's really very few dominant teams out there. And the Niners probably look at Chris McCaffrey and say once again, he's the guy that can put us over the top, especially when you think about how do you attack the teams we're going to face in January, the Eagles, a team like the Eagles that's stacked on defense. Chris McCaffrey is the guy that can change all that.

And we always praise, you know, Belichick's Patriots and Days of Old for having such versatile players. I mean, if you think about McCaffrey and Debo, Samuel, I think they look at the two of them and say, there's no combination of players who can do slot, wide receiver, running back, they can do at all. Like those guys, you throw in Brandon Iuke, Kyle Eusecheck, George Kittle. And if Jimmy G keeps the mistakes down and you have a top three defense that gets healthier and the line gets healthier, the Niners have a right to view themselves as the team to beat in the NFC because the Rams have fallen off a cliff. And it really comes down to the Philadelphia Eagles, I think. Well, it's a double, it hits double hard for the Niners and their fans in terms of

celebration because you, you're in love with the upside of this trade. And you stick it to the Rams, who I think we're getting into this place where we are in the football world now where they're just, you're going to assume they're always going to be the team that pulls off the big deal. So you finally got a guy that the Rams wanted. And yeah, Debo, Dibeau, Iuk, Kittle, CMC, that's a great recipe for Kyle Shanahan to give us, go full Shanahan. Who was it that rushed for 200 yards and four touchdowns against the Packers in the NFC title game a couple years back. Was that Moester? That was Moestered, I believe. I mean, you now have the type of running backing McCaffrey. Who could deliver a game like that if the things are, the stars are aligned? And

you put the San Francisco offense in a place where, yes, there's still not going to be a deep strike, big play attack in a traditional sense because Jimmy G puts a cap on that somewhat. But if you trust Shanahan's ability to call plays and get the most out of a running back like CMC, this is exciting. Now, the reason why they had to give up so much in terms of draft capital is you are trading, A, for the idea of CMC from a couple of years ago. And also the idea this is not a rental. He's doing an outrageous amount of money next year that you would think there might be a restructure to make it all work for San Francisco's books. But I don't think they do this trade unless there's an understanding. And I know the McCaffrey's and the Shanahan's

go way back. So all of this makes sense. However, and it's a big how. However, it's a big one. McCaffrey can't stay healthy. And the San Francisco 49ers are a snake-fitten team with health. Now, I don't think it makes him more risky at risk for injury because now he's a 49er. That would be stupid. But at the same time, we need to see McCaffrey in this offense and stay healthy because if he gets hurt, they're kind of right back to where they started.

The one thing I'd say, though, I think one of the reasons the Rams were very into McCaffrey beyond just the idea of what he could do for their offense and would fill a void for them, they just played him and they just saw him and he looks like the old mcalfrey i mean i think he's he's also been healthy this season he's been great and so that's where that bidding war came from i think on one level was like they saw him up close and personal and thought this guy could change our offense so it is a huge win for the niners on that front and i would just say the only thing is like they've you know shanahan's never had a thousand-yard rusher in this niners offense which is kind of crazy because he's probably you know it's always been a committee and these

guys are getting hurt left and right um the only thing about it like that i kind of view as bit excessive, is that I don't know if Shanahan in most of his years needed McCaffrey to have a great running game. He hasn't. He's turned Jeff Wilson into that guy. So, I mean, it's a bit of a luxury, but I love the idea of like, if you're going to go for it, if this is your window, you're not going to have Jimmy G. next year. You don't know what Tray Lance is. Do it now. I like that. I like the risk-taking daring due element of the whole thing. I'm with you on that, too, Mark. I think it's a big swing for the fences by the Niners. Love the trade. On the Carolina side of things. Gregi, I know you love to nerd out on this stuff. It's interesting to me how we've

talked about how the Panthers have tried and tried and tried to make a big splash in recent years. And the fates have just not aligned. And I thought this is interesting. Even this trade, where they had this guy that was a generational talent at running back when healthy and a market with two Super Bowl contenders. And the two teams at the forefront were missing the one thing that the Panthers really wanted. Here's GM Scott Fitterer talking about the trade market and clearly referring to the 49ers, yes, but also the Rams. We talked to the teams.

You know, a couple of teams didn't have first round picks, you know, that we thought, you know, in that area was probably the right area for Christian regarding everything. So they complicated it, that there wasn't a first round pick to be had. So we had to figure out what's the equivalent of a first round pick if that's the case. Just great.

of a bummer for the panthers that yes the rams traded their first round pick as they always do so it wasn't there and tray lance that trade led to no first round pick for san francisco it is a bummer yet i i don't if i'm a panthers fan i'm pretty happy about this trade i'm not happy where the franchise is and i'm not happy the christian mcalfrey thing hasn't worked out but to to get off this contract and get three mid round picks and then another fifth feels good like he's gonna Before the season, Gregi, if you would have told Panthers fans, you're going to trade McCaffrey a week and a half before the deadline and you won't get a first round pick, they would not be happy with that. Well, that's that's totally fair because it would indicate that their season has gone totally haywire. But I think the trade compensation just in a vacuum was pretty good for a running back.

If anything, it makes the crazy contract that they gave Christian McCaffrey, which people were like, don't pay running backs like that feel a little better because you got all these picks back. I mean, ultimately, you did get something out of him. And one thing I do want to say just on the financial side, people have kind of looked at it like, oh, McCaffrey's worth so much. And Warren Sharp sent out a tweet that had all the cap numbers wrong because he put, like, the signing bonus into the cap numbers. And the Panthers already paid that signing bonus.

They're just eating that dead cap. He's under contract pretty cheaply, I think, fairly for the next three years. That 11, 12, and $12 million cap number. I don't think they have to change his contract at all. He's still one of the higher paid running back. in the league, but it's not outrageous. I don't think for a guy like McCaffrey, and they got these yak bros,

and I include McCaffrey in that mix, together for a while. So it's not just a one-year move. I think they should have Debo, Iyuk, who's on his rookie deal, Kiddell, who's under contract. That should be the pass-catching. I'm going to run for 50 yards

when Jimmy G. drops it off five yards, core for a little while, which is nice. I would also say, I mean, they, you can say you want multiple first-round picks. I want a lot of things. They were never getting that. I don't get everything I want, and neither were the Panthers going to get everything they wanted here. That was a pie in the sky.

To trade them now when there's just this distinct need with a couple teams that thought he is the final piece, they got more than they would have gotten trying to trade him in the offseason. I just believe that. I think it would have been this is about as much as they could have asked for. They're in a tough position. Also, I think part of it is where are you going to be with Christian McCaffrey next season at this time or the year after? They're a rebuilding team that has no idea who their quarterback is. Chris McCaffrey does not fit into that offense right now.

All right. Let's check in with the listener streaming live on the Friday Fun Show, working title about this big trade. Let's check. What do you got? Where is Grave digger? Grave digger? Whoa.

Ah, everybody. Got it. Hey, how's it going? The soap bottles wants to know, will the Panthers go scorched earth and trade everything not nailed down now? Well, Fitterer was asked about that, and he said, this is not a rebuild. We're trying to win, but get out of here with that. I mean, that's absurd.

Sometimes you just wish that there would be just honesty from the GM that's like, listen, our plan, it has not worked out. We're trying to get this thing right, and we didn't want to trade CMC. He's a foundational piece, or we thought he was, but we've got to take a different approach here. And, yeah, we're building for tomorrow. Just say that. Why not? Yeah. It depends on the players, though.

You know, I think they're putting DJ Moore, for instance, in a different. bucket that like we still need to keep young players that we have under contract that are good they might not want to trade him if someone comes in over the top rope for brian burns and offers a first and to me he would probably have more value than christian mcalfrey i would think they would have to listen to that but i think they'll they'll play a little harder to get with the rest of their roster they have already picked up uh what four or five picks here between him and robbie anderson that's not bad yeah what else we got great digger all right i'm going to throw to it you you that are related. The first one, Eric Boogie, will CMC start and get a majority of the touches

for San Francisco at running back this week slash? Only one man has that answer. It's Mark Sessler. What's part two? I have both Debo and CMC, but as Niners on my team now, do I trade one or keep both? See, I also have Christian McCaffrey in a fantasy league. What's the heck do I do this week? Stack them. Yeah. I think we're going to see him this weekend. I don't think that it's not, you know, you're not asking to come in and play quarterback in a scheme he's never heard about. I mean, is a running back. I think they've already talked about Red Zone kind of thing. This was my lock, the Chiefs. I am

reserving the right to rethink that that lock because the elements have changed. The weather has changed. They said Red Zone, but I bet it's one of those things that he gets into the game a little bit and then they feel like they can't resist just playing him more and more. You definitely can't sit him in fantasy, by the way, Graver.

Even if he only played 25, 30 snaps, I feel like you've got to play Christian McCaffrey. Well, I can't now, because because I would have put DeAndre Hopkins in, but... I'm going to highlight this one. Aaron Castillo, sharp as attack, I think Dan essentially acted as Fitterer's puppet by stating exactly what Fitterer would say for him

without him having to do it. He got me. Fitterer got me. You put his hand right up me and turn me into a puppet. Oh, my goodness. Sorry, Aaron. Sorry, sorry I got played so hard then. By the way, Scott Fetterer probably not long for that job,

I suspect. Which is a weird thing. He's making these trades, and I kind of don't expect them to be there next year. That's a good point. And I did cross my mind as well this morning, Gregi. Like, you always run the risk of holding on to a guy too long, especially somebody like CMC who's struggling to say healthy.

But maybe that's a piece that the next guy gets. But, I mean, there's just so much stuff going on with this organization. Aaron Jaffe is CMC to the Niners the biggest running back trade of the decade? Huh. Well, I would say Trent Richardson got a first. Richardson was bigger. actually. I mean, he wasn't a bigger star, but it was it was more surprising and he got more. Of course, there was the Hershal Walker trade. Hershiel Walker famous now for other reasons,

but he used to be famous for setting up that Cowboys dynasty. I don't think this is going to set up a panther's dynasty. Now he's famous for having a clear-eyed look into the future of America. How about Marshawn Lynch? That was a big trade. Although at the time, people really thought he was used goods and that it wasn't that big of a deal. But they could. got a lot for him when they trade him from the bills to the Seahawks. The way the question is phrased, wouldn't it actually be just from 2020 to now? Yeah. So much, you're talking about 1989.

I got one for you. David Johnson for D'Andre Hopkins. Yeah. So I'm going to go ahead and say yes. This has been the biggest trade of the decade. One more. Then we're going to get Rachel in. Eric Boogie again.

The Boogie man is having a big Halloween season. He's got good questions. Are we entering a golden era for NFL trades? Oh, this has got Gregi written all over it. Why is trading so much more prevalent than it was just a few years ago? Well, I got to say the trade tsunami was slightly ahead of its time. But the trade tsunami I would predicted from a four or five years ago has hit. It's because it's easier to get people under the cap now.

Like the cap is so high. I think they structure these trades, these contracts in a way that just makes it easier for people to trade and move money into the future and people aren't that close to the cap all the time it's a beautiful thing it makes the NFL much more interesting you know what's a you know what else is a beautiful thing this world that we live in at NFL media where this woman now counts as a colleague joining us now she's got bangs rachel benetta uh let's let's not make a big thing about it okay you know to our you know our audio listeners head to our youtube mentally that's all you need to know okay is that a thing is there a correlation uh with

women getting bangs with some type of uh one thousand percent so I've gotten so many messages like are you doing okay I called my mom and she she just said oh sweetie well what is that shirt you're wearing rage right for you that's a beautiful throwback New York Jets green sweatsh shirt this is also a good luck charm my friend I wore I this right before I think they played the Browns or I bought this before they played the Browns beat them, no problem. Interesting. Change their problems on that one.

All right, welcome back to bangs with Benetta. Thank you, Jason Joseph, for that. So, Rach, we're going to get into a bunch of things, but we're going to start now by transitioning to the Thursday night football recap. You ready to hit that hard? I'm ready to rock. Let's do it.

Ready to hit it at a mediocre pace. We'll be right back. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find

anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together, on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the

IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my.

We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Dalton's straight drop back, throws over the middle, and a one-handed interception by Isaiah Simmons in midfield, runs it back to the left of the 40, at the 30, at the 25, at the 20.

And Simmons in, back to back. Interception returns for touchdowns by the Cardinals at the end of the half. The third pick thrown by Andy Dolton and the Cardinals' defense with takeaways turning them directly into scores. How about that? As Mark exits the shot, tries to get back into the shot in time, but fails. Totally fails. Marco Wilson and Isaiah Simmons scored touchdowns on pick sixes

within a minute of each other late in the first half. And it was the driver for the Cardinals in a 42 to 34 win over the Saints. And the Saints, the Cardinals improved. a three and four. It's the first time they've won in their building in a year. Yuck. And for the Saints, we're going to get to the Saints because we've talked a lot about the Saints in the summer

and it's time to re-examine that situation. Rachel, let me start with you on this one because when you were kind enough to join us in London on stage to talk about the figures in the NFL that fascinate you, Kyler Murray was one of those figures.

And this was another spotlight game with people paying attention, not just to the game, but what's going on with the Arizona operation? And I think people will remember this game for two things. The double pick six by Dalton? Only one's his fault. And then the

Kyler Murray sideline, I don't know, altercation feels strong Cliff Kingsbury. But he ran up to his coast racially and said, calm down. What do you think about this game for the Cardinals? I think there was a few more words in that sentence, by the way. I don't think it was just calm down. There was a few more things.

And then he kept going. Your thoughts on the state of the Cardinals after that game. Just, if I'm D. Hopp and I'm coming back, I'm like, oh, God. Can I be Christian McCaffrey? Can I go somewhere else as well? Like, it's just, it's such a, it's such a mess. You can get excited about the Cardinals because of the two picks and them winning and

putting up a lot of scores on the board and DeAndre Hopkins being back. But then it's just that one moment that tells you so much more than the score does. And this team is a absolute mess. you've got Kyler who is seemingly very immature and to be honest I kind of thought I was putting all of the problems on Kyler and then you see him winging out over Cliff seemingly yelling and getting upset overly upset in his ear and I don't know if you guys heard his like the post game he was like Cliff was like it's just a bunch of Gen Z stuff they're like they care about what we look like on television like it's a mess it is a full blown mess and I like love it yeah

Michael Morgan chimes in with you think Kyler yells at this much at his COD friends online. He probably says that exact same sentence. That's why it came out of his mouth so easily is because he just yells that all the time. But I love how messy it is. It's just gross and I want it to keep on. I don't want Cliff to go anywhere. I want them to ride this out. D.

Hop was just like, I'm not married, but this like, you know, seems like what a marriage would be like. It's kind of right, by the way. Yeah. I wouldn't know. But what's that, what's that show, a marriage story? What's the one with Adam Driver and he's like, yeah, marriage story. This is marriage story NFL. And we know how that, how that movie ended.

We know Oscar's people. Right. It could have been called divorce story. And one of those guys makes a lot more than the other. And I don't know. He seems the one that would stick around more. It was kind of funny because as much as Kyler yelled at him to calm, you know, the F down.

then continued to scream at him for another 20 seconds. Cliff listened. He was kind of just sitting there being like, okay, thank you. And then Kyler just kept yelling and then walked away. And by the way, the score was 14 to 6 at that point. If that was Tom Brady doing that, maybe we'd give Tom Brady credit for inspiring the troops because they had their best 20 minutes of the season right after Kyler did that. I think it is like a marriage though, because I mean, Kyler and Cliff have known each other since Kyler Murray was in high school. It's been a long time. And it does remind you kind of like when you're in that breakup phase and you're getting like in fights at like a Chinese restaurant and out on the street. Like they're all over each other. It's been like weeks in a row

where Kyler Murray's sort of nonplussed with the way that Cliff Kingsbury comports himself on the sideline. And that Gen Z comment was like, I like to be emotional and he's coming in telling me to try to be the cool guy saying calm down, keep a chill. But they're in each other's ear and stuff. And it seems to just not quite be working in concert on any level. The Gen Z comment is condescending. He's calling him immature in that moment. Yeah, but getting upgraded by your player is condescending. I mean, that put Cliff in a tough spot. Yeah, that is, that jumps to mind. And I understand now that would never happen in the 80s or even the 90s or even the beginning of the new century where a player would do that.

the dynamic between players and coaches in general is a lot more chill and different than it was, like when Bill Parcells was, you know, ruling the world with an iron fist. But still, yeah, it is a, it's, it's pretty unusual for the quarterback to very publicly tell the head coach to pipe down in the middle of a prime time game. But, you know, on the other end of it, they moved the ball well for stretches of this game. They did a nice job essentially putting this game way in the second half and never letting New Orleans really get back into it. So I thought that was progress. And on the on the saint's side of the ball, Mark, you have you have a team that, and we talked about it in the summer.

We said this team probably has the highest ceiling potentially of these kind of fringy contender teams, but also a pretty low floor. And this is one of the most penalized teams in the league. They have the worst turnover differential in the NFL. The defense is underperformed. And all of a sudden, Andy Dalton now is looking like James Winston. And at that point, it's like, what's the point? Just play James Winston.

Another tough night for the Saints and what's been a tough season. Yeah, they're disorganized. They're a mess. And when we talked about the floor before the season, we're seeing the floor because what I thought they would have before they traded away Gardner Johnson was one of the nastiest secondaries in the league. Well, they don't. And their defense in general is simply not the Saints defense that we grew accustomed to

over the last couple seasons. And the quarterback situation, I mean, they went into the season with two veteran quarterbacks with overt issues and limitations. And so that's what we're getting now, a dueling banjo job between two quarterbacks with overt situations that are problematic. And Andy Dalton to me, I mean, that Marco Wilson flip behind him as he's walking away, dishevelled. It's essentially his Zerpreter film. Right. When he goes into the hall of fame of like mezzanine level quarterbacks, that that will exist at some point.

That will be the tape they show when he's inducted because it was one of the greatest things I've ever seen in slow motion in my entire life. That's two weeks in a row. Do you guys, what was it, what was the cam? Was it the Giants cam that went kind of crazy last week and like, it was like inception and like turned on an angle? Then we had this shot this week. You know how like at the end of the year, National Geographic will put together like the greatest moments in photography over the past?

That's got to be in there. And I am voting for it. Dang it. Do you have a vote? Are you on the committee? I feel like that will live on. I think I should be. Let's start a petition.

Now you do with the banks. It's like, it deserves something. It'll live on for years. I don't know. It's Andy Dalton's career in a nutshell because I don't know one wants to hear it but Dalton played pretty well last night he had one really bad throw

in the red zone where they lost four points out of it you forced it in there one of the pick sixes was a drop right it was a perfect pass that was just dropped wide open the other pick the other one he got hit as he throw as he threw which you know you got to be aware of the pressure but he got hit as he

throw and the other guy makes an insane one-handed catch and whether a ball is returned on a like for an interception or not is just completely luck. Whether a guy makes like a one-handed catch is completely luck. And he threw it well basically for the rest of the night. They moved the ball. They had 500 yards.

My point is more that quarterback. He was great, Greg. He was absolutely stunning to observe. Carry that water, Gregie. Just stick with them. For real, though, which part of that argument do you disagree with? I mean, I don't know what, yeah. He's going to cost you, he's going to cost you points of turnovers.

They were missing their what, the two of it, their top four. cornerbacks in this game. They missed seven starters. And Dennis Allen afterwards had such a bad quote saying like, what's your biggest concern for this team? And he was just like, well, just that my players aren't healthy. And it's just like Dennis Allen to me as a head coach is just uninspiring. They're so sloppy. You mentioned the penalties and the turnovers and the excuse. And he's right. Like they are one of the most devastatingly injured teams. And it is worth mentioning. They also lost Bradley Roeby in that game. They were down their top two wide receivers and their top three cornerbacks and a couple other starters.

Like that is significant. But Allen's reasons and like even after halftime, they asked, all right, what did Annie Dalton need to do different? And I know I just, you know, it said how two of those were basically just bad luck. One has not on him at all. And the other one happens. And he was just like, oh, he doesn't have to do anything different. Just keep doing the same thing.

Listen, that was always a thing with Dennis Allen. This was something that I feel was overlooked consistently this summer that Allen would be a huge downgrade from Sean Payton. I think you're seeing that in both the discipline of the team and the bottom line record. I don't feel like going back and forth with you on this one, Greg, but I don't know why you're making excuses for Dalton here. I'm just saying he threw dime after dime. The reason he threw some beautiful passes. He threw an end zone interception. The Isaiah Simmons play was a great play by a former first round pick, but also that ball was fired right in the orbit of a linebacker.

I get it, but he was like hit in the side as he was throwing it. So you have to admit there's a lot of luck going on. But you're, I mean, I don't know, to use your logic, if Sam Darnold does the same thing, you're not making excuses for Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold would not have thrown like 361 and four touchdowns and like graded very well. I'm just saying like Dalton. Oh, he graded well. Okay, now this is adding up.

He graded well. He did. He did grade well. I think we need to appreciate the quarterbacks. He graded well. Everything's fine. I think we need to appreciate it more. of like the Jamis Winston's that throw like hella touchdowns and hella picks because that if

you are not invested in those teams that's fun football both of those picks last night we were screaming about all of the touchdowns we were screaming about unless you're boring and like defense which I feel like is I don't know Mark's vibe I like this kind of football it is fine it is chaotic it's exciting and I want to watch more of it you know what I noticed on this show a couple times when Rachel's appeared. It was like if you get caught, if you get into a jam, just send a flaming arrow into Mark's head. That's how you get out of the corner. It's like that's going to not, that's going to stop working at some point? Mark, is that Rachel on the sixth floor of the Texas book depository? I believe it is. She's not, she's not stacking school books either. I can tell you

that's kind of Dan and I's move over the years too. So yes it is. It's like to be a co-host. I just slipped right in. Um, all right. Any other thoughts on the game? D-Hop does make the entire difference. I don't think there was anything different in this Cardinals' offense other than D'Andrey Hopkins was there. That was it. And I think Kyler's willingness to run the last two weeks, he picked up some really key first downs early in the game

because he's willing to run again, and that's what kept them in it early. But there was really nothing different. It's just like, oh, you got new Copkins back, and that totally changes your offense, which was nice. When do we get the hard knocks out? Because I am watching the crap out of that. Oh, good call.

November 7. or eighth or something like that. Oh, God. They're sneaky a perfect team for this. I am going to watch. Absolutely perfect. And it's coming at the right time. Like when they always start to fill out,

I don't think that they'd be starting to film yet. But like, who we got this game on episode one? Come on. In season, hard knocks isn't typically my jam. But if this season really did devolve into petty soap opera drama between the head coach and quarterback, I'm all in. If I'm, if I'm like part of the Cardinals, though, I'm panicking that they're like, we agreed to this because we thought we were going to be good and D. Hop's coming back and everything's like all hunky dory. And it's not. I'm panicking. I'm calling Mr. HBO himself and asking, can we not do this? Who is Mr. HBO? Do we know? I think it's where you're calling their team owner who's always just like, oh yeah, sure, we'll do it. How many different like hard knocks and all or nothings have they done? Oh, it's that time on the Friday fun show, working title, where one human gets the floor.

And this week it's Mark Sessler. It's about me. I, uh, this is my time to make it about me, but I am going to make it a little bit about, um, everyone. Uh, it is, uh, this week I did a QB index that essentially just had a haiku for all 32 starting quarterbacks. Um, but I wanted to, it was a good hook. I mean, I'm not sure the editors agreed with that, but, um, apparently some readers potentially did. I want to expand that out to make some high coos about some of the people that star on this show. Um, and so here we go. Wait, before you do that, was there actual pushback from the edit desk?

I would rather not dig too deep into that, but there was, there were, I think there was some hesitation about what might, the final product might look like. Well, we also had a couple podcast exclusives, Dan, because there were haikus too hot for NFL.com that we just read on the podcast. Some had to be re- reworked. Let's put it that way. Probably true of these as well. All right, we're going to start with a haiku for, for Dan. Okay. We're going to put these up on screen. Mealing down to pull a stray leaf from his swimming pool. Old tugboat tugs. I want to keep that benign, because if I lose Dan early in this,

we're going to be in hot water, so I just wanted to keep that sort of the nice side to Dan. He's home at his house. Let's go to Greg. Don't forget those line breaks we heard from the listener. Well, they can read it on screen here, too, but I will. Greg Rosenthal's. Hit the trifecta at Belmont while dressed up.

up in women's tennis gear. Beautiful. I love that. And I do love a nice woman's tennis hoodie. And the tugboat does tuck. No doubt about that. That's right. Gravedigger.

It wouldn't be so fun to be a real grave digger. Dead bods in Hot June. That's true. All right. Do they put the bods in? Yeah, I was going to say, like, in the, Maybe in like the 1600s you're just tossing in an old corpse, but usually they're sealed in a cat. But you're right.

Who knows? Not everyone can afford it like a $4,000 casket, I would imagine. Right. Some people are just putting an old mom in the backyard, you know. Right. Right, exactly. Now we're going to do. We got Rachel because she's our guest today, so we have one for Rachel.

Scared. A new sun rises, a new me, smoking tree with mooch before game day. Do you do drugs with Steve Mariucci? I don't smoke trees with Steve Marriucci. Well, not yet. And our last one. This is for Grave Diggers's sidepiece, Yessica. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

She's not a sidepiece. I mean, it's not a sidepiece. She literally came to London with us. All right. His live-in mate, Yessica, from the East I hail. Poor Justin has no clue. I'm Russian Mafia. All right, that's it.

I'm into that. Very good. Yeah, Mark's long-term plan to break up Yessica and Justin adds another element. Yeah, we see that. And you guys have in-season hard knocks? I'm interested in following this storyline. That's not my plan.

We see the long game you're playing with Yessica. It's weird. We don't approve of it. We've really developed a strong relationship with Justin. He's a great producer. And you have to understand there's a responsibility that comes with your role. To get involved and set the, marginalize their relationship, for starters. It's just the red flag.

Subscribe. I mean, I would, I would suggest that you reroute that the whole theory there. If anything, Justin had a chance to knock that down. He willingly published it because I think if anything, the two, Two of them enjoy as much attention as they can possibly get. You know, I do love, you know what's going to happen. A grave, they're suspiciously silent right now. They do curl up on like a Friday night after the Friday fun show.

After everything's been put to bed and they're planting their own trees, they go and sit in front of the fireplace and they'll listen to the show and just like look at each other and give a little like knowing smirks and like snuggle in front of a hot fire. Is that accurate answer for yourself, Grave Digger? We need you here. 100% accurate. You have a fireplace? I do have a fireplace.

Yeah. Okay, brag. All right. Good job, Mark. You nailed it. Let's check back in with the listeners slash viewers on the Friday Fun Show, working title. Mika Labano over here. Would you rather be a Packers or Broncos fan over the next 10 years?

Oh, wow, that's a big one. Packers, history, fun. Go to Lambo, but it's tough. It's a toughie. You're making a face, Rachel. Yeah. Well, I guess I just don't know. I feel like the Packers' future is more unclear than the Broncos, I guess.

I mean, how many more years does Aaron Rogers have a year? Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know if I like the clarity that is Russell Wilson guaranteed money the next three or four years. I'd go to Packers just because he's. yet you mentioned Lambo, but also the history. Like there's this idea that the Broncos are this like super well-run organization. But they've had their ups, they've had their downs. It's a new ownership.

You have to deal with that. It could be coaches, GMs change. The Packers always seem like they know what they're doing. They'll find a way. I'm going hard to pass on the cheese head in London. And those things really retain like sweat. It was soaking wet. And I can't go back to that.

I can't go back to that. So you're saying Soss Gardner might have. like caught some disease from the Packers fanning took. And then he kind of like started to like calm down and look around and I think that that was the moment that he was like this is soaked. And that's going from a sweaty man.

What else we got? He was panic. Digger. Ronald Boddenham. Oh, Roland. Roland Hortonham. Favorite Benetta impression Cooper Cup or Mike McDaniel as Napoleon Dynamite.

Mike McDaniel was just layered. I had so many influences. Napoleon Dynamite being one of them, Mark Sessler being another. I'm like Mike McDaniel. Plus Mike McDaniel, now when I watch him talk, I just kind of hear him as Napoleon Dynamite, and there's a lot in there.

So I'm going to go. I couldn't believe that nobody else saw that before. Like, it's just... You opened our eyes. That's your skill. That's your talent, the way that you channeled that character. Because I just think that was more like the method. And it was like you had studied the essence of Cooper Cup

and gotten every inflection. Yeah, he's got a little bit of a fun twang to him, and he's got all the facial hair. All right, one more. Zach Clegg, with all these Jets wins, how come we haven't heard from Keith at all? Well, last week, today's Keith's birthday, actually. Happy birthday, Keith. So my old man has been busy, hung out with his brother, Ed, Uncle Ed, last Sunday and watched the Giants game. Uncle Ed's a big Giants fan.

So he had DVR the Jets game. he wasn't able to give any reaction to the Green Bay game in real time. So, Dad, are you here? Here he comes. Dad. Daddy. Papa. Come over here, Dad.

People want to say hello to you. You can't really hear him, but I just want to see you on the... He's also been on a wild bender warning. We can hear you, though. We can hear you. Happy birthday. Keith. They said happy birthday, Keith.

Oh, thank you very much. This is a great day with Daddy coming here to New York, you know, and going to the Yankee game tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. I always like seeing everybody here, you know. That's Rachel. You haven't met Rachel. Oh, Rachel. Hi, Rachel.

Nice to meet you. What are you working on outside, dad, right now? Dad's always working in the front and the backyard. Just picking up a few things. Just cut the grass this morning. And, you know, that's what I do on my birthday, you know. See, I got a Super Bowl shirt on. There you go.

Super Bowl 49. That was one of the Jets. Like my dad. Jets. Yeah. Yeah, look at this. All right. Hey, I like it.

that Rachel. I like that. I like that. All right, Papa. Okay. Let's see you in a little bit, right? That's my dad. Exactly same hair. Look at that. Exact same hair. Like my dad, he only wears free merch from the NFL now. That's exclusively my dad's wardrobe. Um, all right. So, there you go, a little drop in from Keith. So there he is. You're making your dad do yard work on his birthday. Why wouldn't you have said, let me do that for you. I absolutely would have. And I always do when I come home, take care of the lawn. But I was preparing for this show being a pro, unfortunately. My dad's retired.

You know, he has more time than I do right now, you know? Interesting. I don't know. Let's move to, oh, I always love this part of the show. It is time now for the Greg Rosenthal, week seven injury minute, presented by AccroShore, a milkshake for old lady bones. P.J. Walker's back. Sorry. He's starting for the Panthers again. No Darnold or Mayfield this week. Mark Andrews returned to practice. Bad news for Mark Sessler's Browns. So it looks like he will play.

Denzo Ward will not play for the Browns. Neither will Wyatt Teller. Janavian Clowny did return to practice. It looks like he probably will play. J.K. Dobbins will be out for the Ravens on the other hand. Kenny Pickett looks like he's starting. That's not announced at quarterback, but he's cleared the concussion protocol. Also as Pat Friermuth, Logan Wilson, the Good Bengals, linebacker is out. Shaq Leonard will not return for the Colts this week, which is bad news. Jonathan Taylor will play. Kristen Watson is out another week for the Packers. We'll see if Sammy Watkins plays.

He might come on, come off IR for that game. And that was the Greg Rosenthal Injury Minute presented by Accresure. What is it again? You guys aren't. It's milkshake. for old lady bones. They do sponsor us. Nobody knows for sure.

All right. Time now before we say goodbye. Week seven predictions. Let's go over the week six predictions first. Mark, non-QB will score five TDs. Also, separate wager, Titans players, or prediction, get into a whole bunch of trouble over biweek. That's a double X, I believe.

Yeah, there's no evidence of the Titans players getting in trouble. We don't know for sure. But nothing to suggest. So you get 0 for 2. He gets 0 for 2. And moving right along from double X to triple X, my prediction was that Mark celebrates in a unique Cislerian way for his birthday. And, you know, we don't have confirmation on this,

but I got a feeling Mark had a good time last weekend. I'd give you at least half a win on that, if not a full win. I'll take the full win. Okay. Thanks. You left it open and I'll take it. Greg, the Eagles D ends the Cooper Rush hype with two turnovers. Ooh, they got it.

Did you, though? I said two or more. Cooper Rush turns the ball over twice, and the hype train ends. The Eagles defense ends it with a thud with a couple turnovers. We got to give you the X because he turned it over three times. Sorry, buddy. I mean, I think anyone listening can know where to get their accurate predictions from. Mark, go ahead, Mark.

You decide on that one. Is that an X or a check mark? That's an X. Yeah, big time. All right. And finally, Claiband said the Browns win, and Chubb has three T-Ds. And we know right now with the Browns, that ain't happened. All right.

Now on to the week seven predictions. Do you want to get us going on this one? Benetta. Hmm. My week seven bold prediction. The first one would be if I threw a party and invited all three of you guys, none of you would show up. That's my first one.

I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Rachel, you know, as a family man on the other side of the city, that was a big ask. And I made that clear to you. It's fine. Michael Irvin showed up. I went out of my way to tell you. I was literally, literally out of town.

So I think my excuse is the best. I will continue to invite you guys to things. And it's okay if you guys get in. I don't know what Mark was doing, but I was in San Diego. I mean, that was a whole. Greg, that is unnecessary like to just the way Greg operates in general is unnecessary. Rachel, she just wanted to pay you guys a lot. Happy birthday to you as well, Rachel.

Yay. Thank you. My week seven bold prediction, maybe this is a little bit lame, but I know that going into this week, everyone's like, oh, these games. I actually think this is going to be one of the more exciting weekends. And I was saying this even before Christian McCaffrey joined the 49ers. We got Chiefs 49ers, which is interesting.

Chargers, Seahawks, I find interesting. The Seahawks have been putting up points. Gino, their defense is awful. I feel like that's going to be a second. Swingfest. Colts Titans, shout out Graver. I feel like that might be fun. And I think that next week we're going to be like 49ers, Jimmy G. Okay. You love Jimmy G. Spice and sausage. I feel like that's your team. Those are my predictions. This week's going to be good.

It's going to be fun. All right, Gregie. Yeah. It was as if Andy Dalton like heard a message from the league office. Increased points. And he's just a good company man. That's what he did. It's coming week seven. My prediction is that Bill Belichick will break out a play a play or a move, something directly inspired by George Hallis in this win over the Bears. Most likely, it'll be like running a T formation, like the 1930s offense that George Hallis broke out to help change the NFL. But he'll do something as a historical nod to George Hallis during this game as he passes him because that's just the type of guy.

I like that. Bill Belichick. And you know what? When it's 30 to 6 in the third quarter, he'll have, you know, some wiggle room to play with on that way. Right. It's like that drop quick kick he had Doug Flutie do in Doug Flutie's last game, I believe it was like 15 years ago. He'll do something fun. How about you, Markey? All right. It's a two-parter. Why? Both of these things have happened. We each have one. We each have one.

We each have one. Well, because I am telling you, I have two visions, two locks. These are absolute locks. Both of the things have occurred in NFL history. We were at a game where this occurred. A, a wide-ranging power outage occurs at one NFL stadium and causes a massive disruption. Delay slash delay. All right? We solved the Super Bowl. It can happen again. Part B or number two. A player is involved in a major mishap involving the team bus. That again causes like issues where like will player X be there by kickoff? Like he gets run over by the bus? No, I would say more like there was, I think it was Adrian Peterson, like a decade plus ago, like missed the team bus.

And they were unsure if he'd get there by kickoff. And it caused all these like pregame, you know, issues and consternation. So something of that nature, I guarantee will occur. But why do you want chaos and pain and these things to happen? Why do you want to root for it? Why is that always what comes up? I don't think anyone is getting, there's no pain. No one's getting hurt here.

Like a power outage could be peaceful. It was at the Super Bowl. And the player just simply, there's a mishap involving the bus. I can answer that question, Greg. Like Alfred said in the dark night, Some people just want to watch the world burn. My prediction is, and Rachel is already hinting at it, although I did not know what athletic wear she would have on today.

Rachel on Bench with Benetta, her podcast, which everybody should check out, has been searching for a new team. She settled on the Chargers, and I stressed settled. And I told her, after I pitched the Jets to her in April, you got to give the Jets a look. They are the team to get behind. They are building a new core. There's a lot of excitement. This could be the team. She laughed at me.

She eliminated the Jets in August. And I told Rachel on her show this week and a message, no hard feelings. the door's still open, and after the Jets pants, the Broncos, I'm predicting Rachel on her podcast this week's, she does it. She announces that the Jets are a new favorite team. I'm fully jumping ship. Wow. That is bold.

Wow. So you're predicting she announces her Jets fandom. Maybe even bolder than a mishap on a bus. Right. Are you at all worried, Dan, Elijah Moore, who's now going to be inactive for this game because he requested a trade is the thing that turns this into a Jets. season um you could stop with that negative energy patriots fan but i'm not happy with the situation i have to tell you like elijah moore's got to pipe down a little bit there it's everything's

going well for the team and they're still transitioning with zach wilson after all the issues like waded out um and and kind of be a pro but i understand the frustration but i i don't like that it's come to this in a trade demand for a second year player hopefully cooler heads prevail and i like at this point the way the jets have handled it which is they sent them home they said you're not playing this week, but we don't want to trade you and we're not going to trade you. And I hope cooler heads prevail. But no, Greg, I didn't like that. That's been, it could be a big Keith hands this weekend because Denzel Mims steps in

for the malcontent. Well, that would be a big Bob Bates, DDS weekend. Oh, that's right. I'm mixing up dads. The bailer, man. All right. Good stuff. Rachel, you've said it all.

I had that Frank Sinatra poster in my apartment in Hobart. in New Jersey back in the mid-aughts. It's a beautiful one. He looks hot in that photo. Let's be honest here. He really does. He really does. Anything you want to say, Rach, before we say goodbye.

Um, Taylor Swift is not that interesting. Whoa. The trailer thing they showed during Thursday night football was such a bummer. That was such a letdown. What even was that? It was not what I was expecting more. What a bomb. What a bomb from Veneta. She's not bad. I love it. Interesting.

I heartily disagree and I'd love to maybe come on your podcast to discuss it. Are you going to listen to the album? Did it come out last night? It came out today. It came out at midnight, Rach. It's called Midnight. Adoy. What were you and Keith up at midnight listening to it? Yeah, you know it. Sitting in front of the fire like Gravedigger and Yves. And Yessica, yes. All right, that's enough. we've had our fun and now the fun has ended everyone thanks for having me guys it's over great weekend rachel please throw another party when the season's over and i promise i'll be lucky and thank you to everybody for watching along and listening and enjoy the

football on sunday and we'll see you come the flagship show heed the call This is an I-Heart podcast.