NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Crystal Balling The Offseasons Of Elminated Playoff Teams

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Colleen Wolfe and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news around the NFL including a possible Tony Romo offer from ESPN (4:35), the latest with the coaching hires (Bill Lazor!) (13:25) and Antonio Gates retiring (19:55). The heroes react to Browns new Head Coach Stefanski coldly reacting to a Marc Sessler tweet (30:19) before pulling out the magic crystal ball to determine what the future holds for the teams eliminated in the playoffs. (35:00)Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL. podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Colleen Wolf. Ow! Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys and girls?

Hey, Dan. Men and women. I'm back. You are back. It feels so good. It's so good to have you here in the Sessler chair. The history is very rich here. It's incredibly rich between Connie and the

the ATN podcast. Miami's. What? Where is that even from? Miami. Oh, God. I don't know. And sure enough, I don't know if...

Pretty good. I don't know if it's because you're back on the show for the first time in a while after another successful season on NFL Network for Colleen doing numerous big things. I'm finally doing this thing. But Mark Sessler, not here today with a mysterious ailment that we'll get into, I'm sure, on Thursday when he returns. so the chair is all yours. It's weird.

It's coincidental. It is. All of a sudden, Cessler wakes up with an ailment and I got a free spot. I like that wolf howl, though. You've been workshopping that like you started the show? That's something I will later regret.

I'm sure. Mark also not here the day after we got a several texts about his excitement over Kevin Stefanski physically. So another thing, you'll read into it if you want. And we're going to get to that a little later in the show. because it all got directed directly to Stefanski himself, Mark Sessler's thoughts about the new Browns head coach's physical looks.

You're shaking your head with. It's just hard to be Mark Sessler. The emotional roller coaster that that guy lives with on a daily basis to try to convince himself and the rest of us that he wasn't interested in the Browns a few days ago and wanted Josh McDaniels. And then to get a series of texts comparing his new coach to George Clooney

and how sexy he is. It's just, it's mind-boggling. Then again, I mean, he could be in a world where his thoughts about the Cluny's Defansky comparison don't get immediately relayed to Stifansky on national television.

We've made it a long way. I mean, we've come a long way. That is a sign. That is a sign of growth, for sure. All right. So, what do we got coming up today? Connie is with us. and we're going to do a segment

where we take out our crystal balls taking out the old CBs and we're going to look into the offseason ahead for each of the eliminated teams from the playoffs that we're up to eight now and make predictions what people will be talking about, what the teams plan to address

to keep from being eliminated next year. So since there's four of us, we each took two. Connie, you know, because she's a pro. You yesterday reached out, said, let me pick up. Going broke, buying hype, but I know what I like. Oh, no, Erica. To be that winning type.

It wins to. Just grab the credit and swipe. Go ahead. Turn up. Change the stereo. Hey, Dorsey, spinning it. Oh, my God. Make it end now.

Please, God. Make it stop. You, uh, you pick your, I'll get to take out Erica in the parking lot. You guys need to find a new producer. You picked your own two teams. including your favorite eagles, so I'm looking forward to your predictions there.

But before that, we're going to do a little bit of news. Let's get caught up. I got enough of my plate right now to worry about trying to get these browns back to where we want to be. I'm not going to compare myself to any actors. Oh, no. I mean, he wasn't thrilled. And we'll get to that at the end of the news. But before we do that, let's hit the rest of the news.

and we love talking broadcasting and the comings and goings and our feelings about various people in the booth calling these NFL games. Well, the number one guy in the game right now is Tony Romo and there's a report out there and I don't know about the source. So I just want to put that out there.

Front Office Sports, Michael McCarthy, and I'm not saying he's not a record. He's been, not plugged in on this. This is Mike Cole. He's been in the mix as a media reporter, I believe for some bigger entities. for a long time. Maybe even USA Today back in the day.

There you go. ESPN is preparing an offer for Tony Romo that would make the current CBS color analyst the highest paid sportscaster in TV history. The multi-year deal would pay between 10 and 14 million annually. McCarthy reports. Romo is a free agent, Connie. He is a phenom in this industry.

Let's face it, in terms of guys that landed and made a job. an instant impact and had everyone talking in universal praise. It's Tony Romo, which tells you why a guy that his last deal that he signed with CBS was reportedly three years, four million annually, and he has a chance to almost triple that. Is ESPN making a sound investment if this is indeed what's going on right now? It feels like a desperate move for them, but also one that I like because, listen, pay Tony Romo. He deserves all the money that he can get right now. The only thing that would make me really sad about this is that we wouldn't

get to see Tony Romo in the CBS Blazer anymore with the big CBS logo on it. And also I'd be really sad that if he wasn't with Jim Nance anymore. I feel like that's part of they make each other better. I think the two of them. And I don't know who ESPN would put with him in the booth. Right. Nance, I would imagine, will be a big reason for Tony Romo to stay if he chooses to. I mean, the, you know, just very existence of this report suggests, you know, it's negotiating time. Colleen's a bigwig. She knows how it works, you know. You get some interest from elsewhere.

You got your little sparrows dropping. It's all about that leverage. Yeah, you're dropping little breadcrumbs to McCarthy. Talk us through the process, Colleen. Yeah. I mean, McCarthy, you know, their pressure in CBS to fork over the money. I'm a little ambivalent on this one. I feel like ESPN could ruin him.

There will be contrived to like embrace debate takes in the middle of the broadcast. It'll be overproduced. We'll have to have hot takes from Romo instead of what he's good at. I don't know. But maybe he'll make Monday Night Football watchable again. So that would be good. The schedule's not as good. I guess I'll believe this one when I see it.

You've had some insider info, Dan. No, it sounds like it's a thing that could happen, hearing from someone that's a little plugged in on this, that CBS will have the chance to match it. but this is this could really, this is in the air. And I'm of two minds on it. For what you just said, Colleen, the games, if he indeed even, if he's Monday night football, which I assume that's where this would all be heading.

But the games are not as good as the top Sunday CBS AFC games typically. But Greg, you made the good point. That, you know, I watch Monday night football every week. It's like a standalone game. Whereas if it's Sunday afternoon, there's a billion different games going on. I don't see Romo every week. So selfishly, like,

That's the game I watch with my kids. I don't mind having a little extra Roma. CBS gets three playoff games. ESPN only gets one. And CBS is in the mix for the Super Bowl, too. And ESPN is not. Yes, you lose him for the Super Bowl. He was great on the Super Bowl.

And I have sympathy for Joe Tessitore and Bougar, who look like they are in trouble here. But it is also a reminder to Greg's point of what a big platform and stage it is. And people zone in on these primetime games in a way they don't on CBS, which is also part of the reason you might want to be calling these games. game so it is a great story to track are like way bigger on CBS also they took a chance on him and put him as a rookie in the number one chair and took phil sims out how about a little loyalty from roma does sims come out of break what do you mean give me give me a break they take a chance on

they're a capitalist enterprise that's trying to squeeze every employee to make every dollar they hit on it so he's going to do it could have put him in the fourth chair or the eighth chair they put him in the number one chair right away they were that is prescient and they should be rewarded for it. Well, they'll be a... I think if he could pick his partner, then follow the money. Greg likes rap. I feel like what you just said.

What was the comment you made? Capitalist Empire. Enterprise. That's a great album title for your first rap album. I think you'd do good. Just for context, John Gruden earned over $6 million a year from ESPN to call on Monday Night Football. In the early 90s, it's like almost 30 years ago now. John Madden made $8 million a year.

Dang, that's a lot of guap for Johnny Madden in the early 90s. That brought up a stat I saw that at the time, John Madden made more than every player in the NFL. Wow. Which is amazing to think about. And that's why Tony Romo's worth it, too. I mean, uh, I agree. If Andy Dalton's making 16 or 17, why not give Roma 40s? Right.

I mean, that would be more than he ever made base salary with the Cowboys. Wow. If ESPN believes it has a problem with their Monday night telecast, that is the ultimate problem solver. That's like the Broncos signing Peyton Manning in free agency. Problem solved. All right. Let's move on. Coaching moves. A lot of guys moving around. Teams building up their staffs making changes. Let's start with the Los Angeles. Rams, this one, Greg, a little under the radar here because Wade Phillips, he goes out the door after most of three or four seasons. The three seasons with the team did a really nice job, but they decided to go in a different

directions, different direction. The Rams have named outside linebackers coach Brandon Staley as Philips replacement as the defensive coordinator. He's just 34 years old and kind of an unknown. So Phillips, perhaps the most well-known defensive coordinator in the league, is replaced by one of the least well-known. Right. He was the outside linebackers coach under Vic Fangio with the Bears.

As recently as three years ago, he was an assistant at John Kemp. Carroll University. So, I mean, this is a meteoric rise. John Carroll University. He was at James Madison. He was a coordinator at John Carroll. And McVeigh, I thought it was interesting to just bring up that he's, he is taking a big swing here. And some people think sort of like a defensive version of McVe, everywhere he's gone, everyone's just thought this guy is a future superstar and that he showed up and he impressed McVe and the Rams so much in the interview process that.

They just thought, maybe it was their idea all along. They'd heard some good things that we have to hire this guy, even though, you know, he's only run defenses, like I said, at John Carroll, James Madison, and now he's had a couple of years as a position coach. I trust John McVeigh's judgment, though. Don't sleep on John Carroll University as a coaching hotbed. It's right up there with Miami of Ohio as like the cradle of coaches in the NFL. Correction, he's 37, not 34.

34 is the age of the new offensive coordinator of the Rams, Kevin O'Connell, a former camp arm quarterback. He has just one year of coordinating experience. And he now takes a role that didn't exist previously under Sean McVeigh, offensive coordinator. Seems like he wanted to beef up maybe his staff, have another voice. People thought maybe McVeigh was too and too much. But also it gives him a chance to hire a guy he coached with,

Washington and is supposed to be a rising star. And, you know, he ended up as a camp arm, but he was the first guy that people got mad at the Patriots for trying to replace Tom Brady with. Not really replaced, but they used the third round pick on Kevin O'Connell back in the day. Why are you wasting? Why are you wasted a pick on Kevin O'Connell?

We got Brady. Give him some more weapons. Tommy deserves it. This was on Rams fans' radar. Kisha asked me like a month ago, should the Rams have an offensive coordinator? People were asking. People had asked the question.

Now it's been answered. Yes, they do. The Bears make a move at OC. And it's a good one. We're happy that he's back. Bill Laser! Shoot him off. Yes, I'm so excited about this.

Oh, man. You haven't heard that drop in a while because Billy Laser is out of the league in 2019 after serving as the Cincinnati coordinator in 17 and 18. And now he's back. He's with the Bears. And perhaps, I don't know,

it feels like a tricky job. to take on, Wes, because there's so much uncertainty. If they actually do go ahead and give Mitchell Trubisky another try, you're kind of tied to a guy that seems like a bust. But it could go the other direction. Maybe there's another quarterback that materializes, and you're the hero that saved them from last year. Like a Dalton-type figure.

This feels like a throwback to a more innocent time on our podcast. Bill Laser was a major part of our podcast for years. Just because of his last name. What I remember, he started out under Chip Kelly in the NFL, and then the first thing I thought of was before Ryan Tannenhill landed with the Titans, his best work came under Bill Laser with him throwing short passes, get the ball out quickly, and maybe that's sort of a solution for Trubisky. Let's try to minimize the damage he can do by getting it out of his hands quickly. I kind of like the idea of Andy Dalton going to

the Bears, and I'm sure Bears fans do not like that idea at all. Why not? You know, since he's going go with Joe Burrow. So, hey, why not have a, why not make a deal here and relieve like $17 million in salary cap space for the Bengals, go over to Chicago, and then you put a little heat on Trubisky and that's what happens. Oh, there's going to be some heat on Trubisky. That's a hot butt. Can I just point out that when Andy Dalton has been surrounded by good talent and the bears

do have some pretty good talent, he's won? And when he was surrounded by Bill Laser, he won. Trubisky was surrounded by good talent and did not win this year. And the thing I like about Laser, not just. You know, the sound effects. It's really good. Mostly. According to Google images,

he's never been seen without wraparound sunglasses on. So I like that. You know, they just make sure he's covered. I got one of those things this year. Like one of the things you attach to your sunglasses, then you can just wear it as like a necklace.

Are you 67 years old? It's amazing and I love it. And my final bit of insight and analysis is that, like Wes has said, and it's why he is the prime meridian of NFL quarterbacks. You surround Andy Dalton with, better talent. And you know what that right arm turns into? The red rifle? Oh. A laser. It's perfect. Moving on. John D. Filippo's gone in Jacksonville. It's funny how these

coordinators go from the hot guy on the market to cold as ice, foreigner style, because D. Filippo is the guy that everybody was into D. Filippo. I think Sessler was way into D. Filippo. Oh, yeah. He did like a long form on him one year. And it was, it was presented as a mutual party in the ways. But it appears that Jacksonville is looking for a fresh start there. Colleen, some people may be a little surprised that when Gardner Minshu was on the field, that offense was proficient, but apparently that wasn't enough to save DiFilippo. I feel like in a way somebody had to take the fall for Minchu outperforming Nick Foles after they paid him all of that money, and because Di Filippo was the quarterbacks coach

with Nick Foles when the Eagles won the Super Bowl in that year, that he looked really good. and Carson Wentz was, you know, having that MVP-like season before he got hurt. It just didn't translate. So I feel like that was, he was kind of the fall guy. Another tricky gig there, Greg, because Doug Marone, speaking of hot seats, I mean, he was somehow able to save his job this year. But results equal, no results equal firing next year. And then usually the coach gets swept out too. But, you know, still a good gig.

Pays well. Maybe he lines up in Cleveland. I mean, they've had, with Tifansky. They've had, I think Marones had, what, four different. or three different coordinators. They had Greg Olson back in the day. Maybe that was under the last coach. But Nathaniel Hackett, D. Filippo.

I'm always a little, like, depressed when I see that it says mutually agreed to part ways. Like, it makes me sad because they're, like, trying to do Di Filippo a favor. Like, they're trying not to hurt his career more than necessary. But it almost, like, I don't know. It almost points it out even more. How sad it? Like, we're trying not to hurt you, buddy. We're all professionals here.

These guys are pros. Didn't Doug Peterson fire his offensive coordinator? Yes. Mike Groh? Yeah, yeah. So there's an opening there? What if DeFilippo and Nick Fools end up in Philadelphia? Because after yet another Carson Wentz injury, people think they should have a better back up there.

I don't hate it. And it feels like something that could definitely happen in Philadelphia. One final bit of news, the Vikings fired defensive coordinator George Edwards. He had been there since 2014. So they're looking for a fresh spark on the defensive side of the ball. now with Kevin Stafansky, who, yes, we will get to in a moment, taking on the haunted chair in Cleveland. Mike Zimmer's got a lot of work to do. He's got to find a new OC and D.C.

Well, I think they're talking about the next D.C. is going to be Mike Zimmer's son, who had been the linebackers coach. And I think Edwards' contract was expiring, and they just decided they weren't bringing him back. It feels like nepotism. It does feel like that. Because it is. Oh, damn. Connie. Connie.

Speaking, well, not nepotism, but your father's on Instagram, which is this is, what a development. Speaking of nepotism, there has been a lot of talk. You know, it's tough for people to get on NFL network

and, oh, there's Ed Wolf, just every other week. He's a star. This guy's on more than Willie McGinnis on our air. He's on more than Keith Hansis is on this podcast. His username, too, is like EZE, EasyEDW. I mean, this guy.

He has no idea who easy. He apparently hasn't. He has no credentials talking football, according to you. He doesn't even follow the sport. He helped me make my pick a couple weeks ago at the bar. And he said, slam dunk, eagles, which is my favorite moment probably ever. That's awesome. He is a great man.

Ed Sessler, not a fan of NWA. Does he dislike Aaron Rogers? Ed Wolf. Ed Wolfe, because I'm in the Sessler. Yeah, Ed Wolfe, does Ed Wolfe dislike Aaron Rogers as much as Keith Hansis dislikes I don't think so. I don't think that anybody could, right? It would surprise me if Ed Wolf has a strong opinion on Aaron Rogers.

Yeah, I don't think he does. My mom is more of the person that has the hot takes. You guys heard what she thinks of Pete Carroll. Oh, yeah. So that was a rough playoff game for the Wolf family. Here was some, a few texts I got from my dad's Sunday night. Rogers got lucky. Hawks could not stop anyone on third down.

And then I replied, he made two huge throws when he needed it. Agreed. I was not rooting for him. I wrote ha ha and he wrote I told you that I don't like his face and attitude He doesn't like his face No way I don't like that guy's face

It's a take it's a take In retirement news Rivers throwing Into the end zone Touchdown Antonio Gates And here come the Chargers On to the field 112 career touchdown catches

That's the most By an NFL tight end All time. Antonio Gates calls it a career, the eight-time pro bowler who last played in 2018, made his retirement official on Tuesday, the 39-year-old. This one hurts because you always track this stuff, at least I do. Pro athletes born the same year as you, he's a 1980 baby. When they start retiring due to old age, and now he's like, you know, he's an older guy.

He's basically the last of the 1980s. So this one, this one hits me a little bit. Gates is the Chargers career leader in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdown catches. He finished with 116. This, Wes, this is a hall of famer we're talking about, right? I think he's a definite Hall of Famer, and I know this will upset Cowboys fans, but for most of his career was a better receiving tight end than Jason Witton. Maybe not a better all-around tight-end,

but he was right there with Tony Gonzalez going for the first team all pros early this century. And I think the legacy that I think of is jointly with. Tony Gonzalez, he caused everyone to look for the basketball, the power forward playing tight end. And Gonzalez was a pretty good role-playing power forward on some Cal teams, but Antonio Gates was a star basketball player averaging 20 points a game and Dragon Kent State. I didn't know he played basketball. I think he did.

I think Wes reminded me of that. He was much better than Jason Witten at their respective peaks. I mean, there's no question. I don't care about like all-around game. Antonio Gates was better than Tony Gonzalez. at the respective peak. Let's calm down. I'm not saying necessarily he had a better career, but when he was at his 04 to,

it was about 04 to 06 apex, he was as good a tight end as there's ever been. And he was first team all pro all three of those years while those other two guys were in the middle of their prime. So I don't think that's, it's a strong take. He's one of the great receivers at any position of the odds. And even though he didn't play in 2019,

I feel like I never actually thought this day would come. I never thought that he would really retire. He was waiting for that phone to ring, I would imagine, this year as well. Rivers, Philip Rivers and Gates combined for 89 touchdowns the most in NFL history by a tight-end quarterback tandem. There's always a what-if around those Chargers teams because, like we're saying, Gates was an unbelievable difference maker, stretch the field, kill you in the red zone type tight end.

And you had Ladani and Tomlinson, who is arguably the best running back of the last 25 years at his peak and a young Phil Rivers. and they had some of those huge regular scenes they never were able to put it all together and then with Gates, his feet started barking at him and he had those issues and, you know, Tomlinson got old, but yeah, an incredible career,

I think his first ballot to me. I mean, when I think of the best tight ends that I've watched since watching football, Gates will always be one of the guys that passed my mind first, right? Some big, I saw some big playoff performances and losses against the Jets in Tony Gates, which, you know, speaks.

There was a lot of Chargers playoff loss. is where Antonio Gates went 8 for 80 with a touchdown, and it was all for not. Connie, news for you. The Eagles will be featured on the new season of All or Nothing, the Amazon NFL Films joint. It's kind of like hard knocks if you blew it up over an entire season.

And Greg, this is one thing you and I have talked about. I feel like we talk about it every year. We're always trying to figure out when these things should be rolled out. One year they rolled it out, like as training camp was beginning. It was like, what are you doing? And one year they rolled it out the week of the NFL draft. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. You got to put it somewhere where it could actually.

A debt period. Yeah. How about the week after the Super Bowl, which is where it rolls out this year? I'll be watching it. And it's a good, I think it's a good season, a good team. It's all luck with all or nothing because they're embedded with these teams before the season begins. And you just hope it's an interesting one. And with all the injuries and their rise in December and then, of course, the playoffs.

And seeing how it went down potentially with Carson Wentz and the head injury, although, I mean, I would imagine. They might be careful about that. I'll be watching. I know you will, Connie. Yeah, there's so many storylines for them. It's just a matter of, it's almost like Hard Knocks, too. It's just a matter of what we will end up seeing

and what ends up ultimately just kind of being left in the edit bay. Because there are so many different things. Think about the Orlando Scandric drama that happened earlier in the season with Malcolm Jenkins and like the whole locker room splitting apart and that whole thing. And then, yeah, you have all of these practice squad guys stepping up and Josh McCown. I'm sure he's going to have. have obviously a huge part of it

with the playoffs. I mean, you have these guys that stepped up and pushed them ultimately into the playoffs. So it's just these teams, they don't volunteer for it. They get picked by the league. And so it's just I think they have to agree, don't they? For this the Eagles president, Don Smolensky

was talking about how it's like the schedule. It is what it is. You just deal with it. You make the best of it. And then the last time he was talking about it, he was like, it's just like us being on the road for three straight weeks in October. So that's what he equated it to. So I'm interested to see how much we actually get to see.

Right. Like the Cowboys year, because Jerry Jones just, you don't care. He's going to let all the info get out there, at least a lot of it, I think, was their best all or nothing season because he didn't seem to be too worried about making himself look great. Right. So it's good inside info. In other news, I just want to hit on this quickly. I don't care so much that Chad Johnson is looking to catch on with an excellent. NFL team is a kicker.

I just want to go on record while I can on this podcast that I cannot believe this XFL thing is happening. It is. I mean, Vince McMahon already tried this once about 20 years ago and it was a colossal failure other than the camera above the field. That was a cool little development, which was taken by the NFL. Then we since then, the arena football league folded. Last year, with NFL support, the Alliance of American Football, AAAF,

hold it after eight games. And that's when they were presenting themselves as a feeder system to the NFL. And the NFL even, they were like, all right, well, air some of your games. I don't think they paid the AAF for it, but they said,

well, air some of your games. And that league went under. We had like post-game show coverage, I believe. And then the NFL signed a bunch of those players, too. And it's like, the meteor, it's coming right at you, Vince, X-FL. There's no way this is going to work. Does anybody think this is going to work?

You can't keep him down. I'm going to eat West's softball pants. If this league's, around in three years. I can't wait to the combine when you grill Evan Silva and the Roto World guys about how breathlessly they're going to cover the XFL this year. I would never do that. Evan, Evan's too smart to cover the XFL. I can tell you that. It was a tense moment when you brought up the AAF at St. Elmo's the Silver. I made an AIF joke. Is that last year? Yeah. Roto World was covering the A.A.F.

And I made a joke. For the three weeks they existed, RotoWil was all over it. Well, I get why. I don't get why. The XFL is leaning so hard into, you know, we're renegades. Like, we've got Connor Cook. First of all, don't lead with Connor Cook. They had a national ad and it, like, mentioned some of the players. And it started with Connor Cook. I was at that playoff game.

It was a rough one. I think a minor league professional football can work and would be super helpful and almost necessary for the idea of professional football. Totally agree. In the United States and North America, wherever, I don't think this is it. But I do want it. So I do want them to keep trying it. Who is the first overall pay?

I'm excited to see it, to just see how it goes. It doesn't make any sense that either you're going to make $2 million over a four-year contract or basically you make nothing. And that's like professional football. There should be some sort of in between where like people are working on their football skills and making, you know, whatever. whatever, a living wage. I could not agree more.

The NFL has long needed a developmental league. That doesn't mean I have to pay attention to it once the Super Bowl ends. The XFL, I'm not into that. Between February and July, I'm not watching football games. I'm sorry. Players slip through the cracks. I do believe that. A lot of players probably slip through the cracks and would have great NFL careers

if there was like a minor league. One thing working. You tell me people don't get better when they're 25, 26 years old. Right. Happens in every other sport. If you're practicing every day, you're going to get better at anything. I feel like there will be plenty of moments that we can watch that will be entertaining even if they are unintentionally so.

One thing that the NFL has improved upon the last 10 years is extending the NFL season and what people look forward to, what people watch. And that works against these type of lease. Because now, because of the popularity of the Combine and the draft and free agency, really things don't, and then even, voluntary camps, which people are way plugged into,

many camps before things go dark in June. That doesn't leave a big window. People are still focused on the NFL throughout the spring. And that's when these leagues just, I mean, it seems logical that it's not going to work. I agree. I mean, Vince has plenty of money. I'm saying he'll be able to survive this, but fool you once, right?

What is it, fool me once. Shame on you. We've seen this episode before. Can't get fooled again. Ow! All right. Finally, Kevin Stefanski was introduced as the latest head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He did the press conference.

I watched some of it. There was nothing really that jumped out in the press conference as newsworthy. It was no Joe Judge unveiling for the Giants. But afterward, Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network got a one-on-one with Stefan. who was asked by Siciliano his thoughts on a Mark Sessler tweet in which posted by Mark on Monday pointing out his feeling that Stefansky is a dead ringer for Hollywood star George Clooney and here was the coach's response our Mark Sessler Kevin I'm sorry who is a Browns fan much like I was as a kid as well put up on Twitter yesterday a bearded George Clooney say

that you bear or resemblance. Has anyone ever called you Clooney? Not until just this moment. How do you feel about that? I got enough of my plate right now to worry about trying to get these Browns back to where we want to be. I'm not going to compare myself to any actors, John, or Peter John.

I think I need to get a list of guys and then make sure that we're okay with that. But if it's George Clooney, that's what you guys say. God bless you. Okay, it was Mark Sussar. I'm going to pin it on it. I mean,

Oh, no. Cicilliano. I missed that one in the first story. Backtracking. Me too. Well, not so much backtracking is just, like, taking out a big shovel of dirt and pouring it on our guy. And poor Sessler's not even here right now.

So both times, not on the broadcast there, not here. Well, the thing I noticed immediately, and this had nothing to do with Andrew, was it's probably a bad sign during an interview when the head coach, name checks his PR director and looks at looks off the camera then looks over to the PR director whose name is Peter John

that was what he just said there and that to me was a signal like let's end this thing wow oh no threw him under the bus I don't think it was because of the question necessarily it was just a it was a really long interview and that was the end of it Cessler's not wrong okay I'm with Cessler

because he does bear a slight resemblance to him And that's not like a, it's a nice thing. So maybe you should take it as a compliment, Stefans. Well, I was going to say, and I will come to Mark's defense on this as well since Mark isn't here. Hey, Kev, well, this also is a shot at Mark. It gets confusing because he's the head coach of the Browns. Hey, Kev, lighten up a little bit.

You just got hired as a head coach. This is the life stream. Yeah, you haven't lost yet. Your press conference was like 45 minutes ago. You're on NFL network talking about the future. And you got to ask the playful question. Have some fun with it. Just have a little fun.

A little bit. There's an opening right there. Listen, you know what you need to be the head coach of the Cleveland Browns? A sense of humor. Mm-hmm. Uh-oh. Does this mean this is not going to bode well for them? I feel like Freddie.

This isn't a bad omen. I feel like Freddie Kitchens probably had the best sense of humor of any Browns coach in a while. Well, you don't need, it's not only a sense of humor. Great point. You need a lot of things, but you have to be able to laugh at life, is what I'm saying. Anyway, that's what's happening in the news. Wes. That was something.

I have a, that was wild. But it is, you know, that's pretty cool. It is cool. It does show, you know, how far we've come, at least in the eyes of Andrew Siciliano. Finally, he respects us. He knows our names. That's good.

Wes, we have a read-to-do connected to an event for the podcast coming up in a week or so. So I want you to read that, please. Well, you're just going to throw it out. Well, I hand it to him. Hey, y'all. What's the difference between Tive Island and our Miami Improv show? What the hell? Everything.

I didn't write this, by the way. But we will be in Miami talking Titans 49ers in the Super Bowl. Oops, did I just predict the future? Golly! Whoever your team is, come hang out with us in Miami. Tickets are going faster than when I used to deliver Christmas cards on my mail route. And little kids were outside waiting for cash from Grandma. Anywho, buy tickets now.

Yeho! Who wrote this? I'm guessing that was a Ricky Hollywood production. I didn't write that. That was Dan. That was Dan. write that this was not me trust me wow that was cool Miami Improv show guys tickets what day is Thursday are you going to come yeah I want to come okay cool well you must hear it here first

Colleen wolf I'm checking my schedule we'll be signing autographs and taking selfies it's what on our Twitter account it is it is at the top all right January 30th it's pinned it's pinned on the Twitter account oh good yeah around January 30 Thursday see us live we're going to have a lot of fun Let's get into it. It is time to take out our crystal balls. The crystal ball comes out. Do we all have our own? Or do we, are we passing around a ball?

Or do we each have our own crystal ball? I think there should be one special crystal ball, right? And you look into it. This feels like Snow Globe music. Just feels like somebody could cheat if they bring their own crystal ball in here. Yeah. It needs to be an approved crystal ball probably. Yeah.

Official. This is like the Edwards-Cissorhan snow falling music. I feel like we're in like a forest of some. Um, sort. There's, like, ferries flying around. There's fairies, definitely fairies. All right. Now, we go through each of the eight teams. It's like, shut up, guys.

predicting what is next? What will happen? I was just talking about it. The league year extends well beyond the Super Bowl with combine, free agency, draft. What are we going to be talking about these teams that have been ousted from the playoffs so far? There's eight of them. Kind of get us going. Pick a team.

Okay. I'm going to start with the Ravens here. So after Mark Ingram and Mark with a C return from another international getaway together, I think I see, is that Marquise Brown rolling up with his cousin and Antonio to the Ravens facility? No, it's not. It's not. I don't wear my class today. I got to go to the eye doctor. It's one of my New Year's resolutions. But they do need another wide receiver. That was obvious in the playoffs. There was a lot of drops. They couldn't get separation. That's going to be a situation.

And I do see a big push to address the pass rush in the off season as well. Because after losing their top two guys last year, they did a good job manufacturing pressure. They blitzed more than any other team out there. But their top guy, Matthew Judon, he's about to hit free agency. So they need, if he does, they need at least two more guys if they don't resign him. So they need a wide receiver and a pass rusher. it's what I see. They're in a nice situation.

They are. It's really not that bad for them, yeah. I didn't even know they were cousins. Really? Really? Hollywood. I think they're in an amazing position. I know it's terrible.

It's terrible the loss they had. It's terrible. Brue of loss. Who knows? They might have lost to the Chiefs anyways. Think that was very strong possibility. Possible. Either way, it's painful.

But they turned over their entire D.E. defense last year. They changed their entire offensive system last year. They were in all sorts of cap problems last year. This next year, they've got all the cap room they should need. They've got a bunch of draft picks, compensatory picks coming back. And yeah, you need some pass rush and maybe some interior alignment. But they're in about as good a situation with Lamar on a rookie contract and a lot of their offense on rookie contracts. Mark Andrews, both tackles. Like, they are in a nice spot to push. To be aggressive, get a veteran-wide receiver, I think, would be something that they would

do, too. Do you think there's any chance that Bengals would let A.J. Green hit the market? Oh. Yeah. The Bengals seem like an operation to me that would place the franchise tag on A.J. Green. It seems like he might be more likely now, especially with this Joe Burrow kid coming off another incredible performance, and he seems to be the number one pick going to Cincinnati, that they might treat it green more like a Larry Fitzgerald guy that have him in the building

play out the rest of whatever's left of his prime and have him you know somebody the kid can count on it's a lot of common DNA between the Arizona Cardinals organization and Bengals as far as the way they run things and the way that you're saying the Ravens might go for him potentially I think that that would make sense to me that they need a bigger receiver final piece to the offense I like that it's been their MO they've never drafted receiver as well. Looks like they drafted a good one in Marquis Brown. DeCosta did, but they've always signed free agent receiver as well. Derek Mason and Steve Smith and Antoine Bolden. Do it. Also, what's more likely playing our old famous game? That Lamar Jackson is a 1,000-yard

rusher every year, and this is just who he is. And I'm not doubting him at this stage. He's an amazing player. Or that this is one of those insanely special years. And in reality, you're going to need probably more from your passing game because you're not going to run for 2,000 yards every year, unless it's just the beginning of a new era. It does feel like maybe the tight ends are great, and Brown was a major hit in the draft, but, God, AJ Green, that's a nice fit there. Yeah, they just need somebody, like a good route runner, like a veteran presence, just to have these young guys sort of develop.

But also, by the way, in the crystal ball. Let me get Robbie Anderson in there, change the group. That's true. The Crystal Ball is also showing me a lot of really angry Titans fans. Really? Oh. They're giving you a hard time. It's a very angry bunch, as it turns out.

Why? Listen, I pick against teams every week. I think it was the way you put it. Was it a good morning football? It was. What was it? And let me just say this. I almost picked the Titans.

I was like on the fence. Sliding doors. But then I went in. And it was like, all right. So I thanked the Titans for their service in dispatching your team, Greg, the Patriots. I said America thanks you for your service. And then the guy started clapping, and so I was like, oh, just continue this bit. Yes.

So I said, your service is no longer needed and enjoy the off season. And it's, um, Titans fans didn't like that. No, I mean, listen, I say disrespectful things every week on various shows. And I usually don't get an angry army of people that are now, like, threatening me. There's a lot of like, I got, uh, I got somebody telling me that I set women back in broadcasting 20 years. and I was like, damn, I didn't even know I had that much power.

That's crazy. A lot of low IQ type things. So, listen, I graduated Magna Cum Laude, almost summa cum laude. Oh, stop. Drop the headset. Listen, I just didn't think the Titans fans were going to be the sensitive.

And if anything, you're welcome for some bulletin board material. It does, you know, you don't deserve that and clean it up Titans fans. I know it's not all of you. I also took heat from a well-known columnist down. there, Paul Kaharski, who got all cranky because... I read a lot of his pieces, actually, yeah, reported from the Tennessee and interviewed me about the whole Titans thing, and Kaharski was not about it. He saw it as a sign of the decline of journalism, and there's some, come on, clean up.

We are never allowed to analyze the Titans again on this podcast because we've never been in their locker room. Got to be in the locker room. Got to be in the locker room else you don't know anything about people. I don't need these national media types with their shiny cars coming down to my place. The Titans are really fun this year. They're a great team to cover. We've been into it. We've been into them.

I don't think it was too crazy to pick against the greatest regular season team of the last decade. You know, to pick the Baltimore race. And always, let me remind other Titans fans again, and I feel like I have to do this on a weekly basis. Every time your team wins a playoff game and in my mentions is, are they still the Titans? No. And they haven't been the Titans since you got rid of the bum quarterback that you thought. I thought was a superstar for five years. You know, I'm not...

Listen, I suggested that they bench Marioada on Thursday night football, and I got crushed by everybody at the day. It's funny. I've actually thought you haven't deserved enough, gotten enough credit for the Titans turnaround this season. Starting with you. So, you're welcome, everybody out there and tighten up. So you, Titans fans, you came to where I was.

I didn't have to come to you. You're on my corner. Put it up. Fans in general, who cares if somebody picks against your team? It's just a game pick. You know what? Enjoy this. This is incredible.

This is an incredible run by a really fun team. And I think we all enjoy watching the Titans. And I would love Ryan Tannahill to play a Super Bowl in Miami in front of like the Dolphins fans, right in the Dolphins backyard. That is something that I've been talking about all season long. Miami. I would love it. All right.

Up next is Chris Wesley. I'm looking into my crystal ball for the Vikings. And to borrow a Dan Hans' phrase, it's a tough sitch here for the Vikings. Tough situation. Tough situation when you, they remind me so much of the Alex Smith cheese. You're just good enough to get beat early in the playoffs all the time because you're not good enough to go far in the playoffs. And your formula isn't working.

You've got a team that is, most of the team has been there together with Mike Zimmer for like six years now. And it's not good enough. So what do you do when you've got 30? 30-year-olds on defense, Everson Griffin, Linvall, Joseph, Xavier Rhodes, all have salary-cap figures, 12 million or more, 30-year-olds on offense like Riley Reid,

Kyle Rudolph, Kirk Cousins making big money. You're not getting any younger. What do you do with this roster? And I think there's going to be some tough cuts this year. Mike Zimmer said, you know, when I look at the roster, at the end of the day, it ends up being a young man's game. I can see Xavier Rhodes being gone.

He's definitely gone. That was a rough year for him. Big off season of change for the vice. Vikings. I think, I don't know if they'll blow it up and start over, but I think they're going to have to make some tough cuts. They need, if you're going to go with this formula where it's play action passing based on the run, and as soon as you can't run the ball, your entire offense collapsed because your quarterback checks down instead of letting his receivers go for a contested catch ever, that formula, it proved this year does not work because every time they faced a good

defense got shut down. They only beat bad defenses. They're higher over the salary cap than any team in the NFL. They got some tough cuts to make. Lynn Bell Joseph, maybe, Rudolph. The bigger issue is their best player in the secondary. Anthony Harris is a free agent. Trey Waynes and McKenzie Alexander, who also play in their secondary free agent.

So it's like they got a lot of spots to just fill. And that's kind of what Zimmer does is the defensive backfield. And it's going to be a big turnover, I think. I wonder, too, like if that weirdness between Kirk Cousins and Stefan Diggs ever really went away. That was a storyline at one point during the year. I could see Diggs getting traded. He feels very tradable if they wanted to cut salary. Whoa.

We figured it out. It could get a lot for Stefan Diggs in his prime. But I remember that Thursday night game, we did the Vikings won, and we had Kirk Cousins and Stefan Diggs on the set, and it was like a couple weeks after that whole controversy. And there was still like residual weirdness. I remember that. I watched that.

Yeah. And it was. They, like, should have been very... They were kind of icy towards each other. They should have been very happy after a big win, and they were just like, yeah, we've moved on past that, and it was just weird. Yeah.

You'd get rid of Diggs instead of Cousins? I wouldn't get rid of either. It just seems totally counterproductive to get rid of either of your best players, and I'd have no interest in getting rid of Diggs. But the way Zimmers talked about Diggs over the last three or four years, there's been a lot of dramas.

It just wouldn't shock me if that's something they looked in. And I see that crystal ball second west? Because I see something else in the Vikings future. Yes, there it is. Kirk Cousins, very quietly entering a contract year. Oh, yeah. Three year fully guaranteed contract signed before the 2018 season. He will make, damn, almost 30 million this year,

which is, according to over the cap.com, 15 and a half percent of their entire cap right now. And they will have to decide what to do. And is that a storyline? and they want a lame duck quarterback in 2020. In the summer, I think it will be. Once the free agency dies down, then it's like, sorry, you're going to extend Kirk or not?

Yeah. I mean, if you said two years ago when he signed, hey, after his first two seasons, he's going to have a passer rating of about 105, you would be blown away if there was an idea that maybe he's part of the problem there. But he has been part of the problem. All right.

Let's move on to another team eliminated. I will go with the Seattle Seahawks. All right. We're looking to this ball. It's cloudy. Beautiful light, shimmering. Oh, there it is. The Legion of Boom.

Remember that? Yeah. Now this is the Legion of Bust. What? It doesn't even run. Workshopping now? No, boom bust. Boom bust.

Oh, okay. Gotcha. No, I want to talk about the defense. All right. It was nice. It was a nice little season on Seahawks Corner. I enjoyed it. But this was a limited team this year.

And a lot of that problem was the defense. And looking ahead, that's what this offseason is going to be about. I think they like what they have, obviously. At quarterback, they like running back when healthy. They have pieces, I think they're into a wide receiver. They found something in Metcalf. Lockett's a nice guy. They even, you know, even a tight end, Will Dissley before he got hurt.

was a revelation. I think their line is not something that's, there's going to be a major overhaul in the offensive end. But in defense, they have a lot to do. Pete Carroll hinted

in his end-of-season press conference that they could be looking to make a scheme shift, but personnel-wise, they got to get better. And they have to get better in the secondary.

Speaking of the Legion of Bus, Trey Flowers just got, it was like a horror show. Double it down in the Legion of Bus. Yeah, it was a horror show. The music go, it's like intermission at the nutcracker. The terrorized

by Devante Adams, not all his fault. But, and then they struggle to get to the quarterback, which leads us to Davey and Clowny, speaking of big decisions to make, he is a free agent. He's out there saying, I want to play for a contender. I like it here in Seattle. Pete Carroll wants him back. But are you going to pay him superstar money to be the anchor of that front seven with Bobby Wagner?

Big decision for Johnny Schneider. I've enjoyed this continuing Seahawks, Twitter. and Seahawks fan trend of what is Pete Carroll really doing for us? Not like I'm enjoying their... Are they okay boomering him? Misery or anything? It's more that I just think it's an interesting question.

You know, which they are asking. Is he holding Russell Wilson back while not really bringing much to the table on defense? Which for the last three years, I think you could argue that. Three years is not an insignificant stretch in the NFL. If Mark were here, he would argue that... would point out again that you never miss an opportunity to come after Pete Carroll. I like

Pete Carroll. You say that, but you don't. I liked him when he was coaching. You're skeptical about everything about him. I loved him all throughout. I couldn't have been more impressed. Like when he took over the Seahawks, he coached the greatest defense of the last 40 years, I would say. But now that it's not there anymore. How would he be holding? I don't like, I don't like that there. Russell Wilson back, though. By running too much on first and second down by having Brian Schottenheimer be as, I mean, I don't know. Wouldn't you like to see Russell Wilson in one of these wide open offense. I like to see him have more time. I think Russell Wilson's going to get

double-digit wins with no matter what coach you put in Seattle. That's sort of my point. But I still feel like Pete Carroll's valuable for the infrastructure he has in place there. I think they're lucky to have Pete Carroll there. I understand why you, it's been a while now since they've really seriously contended for the Super Bowl that maybe it's time to freshen things up

behind the scenes. But to me, the Schottinheimer jumps out more than Carol. You wouldn't really get rid of You would never get rid of Carol. But their defense, which you mentioned, has its issues. Clowny, Geron Reed's a free agent, Zygianza, who didn't do anything. Quentin Jefferson, who is maybe their best pass rusher. This year is also a free agent. I mean, they...

If Chris Carson and Ashad Penny stayed healthy, I don't think we'd even be having this conversation. All right, Greg, you're up. All right, I'm looking into the future, and I'm looking into Buffalo. The Great Northeast. That's what they call it. The Empire State. Western New York, they call it. Waiting for the music there.

Western New York. And I see in a crystal ball... It's a joke. That's Nova Scotian. It's a joke. You know it's a joke, Legion of a bust. That's a joke. That's a good joke.

I see a lot of people picking the Buffalo Bills to go very far in the 2020 season. After Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott have some fun this offseason, they push their chips into the table. They've built up this roster pretty nicely. They've got all sorts of cap room and not a lot of huge pressing needs unless you ignore that quarterback. And you can get a wide receiver. You can get an interior alignment. You can get some players for your front seven, which I think you definitely need.

And I think they showed it last season. They're not going to be afraid. They know this is all on a limited timeline. And I think they are going to be among the most aggressive teams in free age. You know what spooks me? Your line, unless you ignore that quarterback. Well, I'm not into it. I'm not into the Josh Allen.

You've been on record on that. You've been strong on that. And Bill's Mafia, I could, you know, I could see that in the crystal ball. A lot of Bill's Mafia just, you know, coming after anyone that comes, you know, criticizes Josh Allen or questions him. But I think they're in a great spot in terms of just like getting that offseason buzz. I'm still, I think I said it after the season ended. Bill's Mafia doesn't want to hear this either, but this is Mitch Trubisky all over again.

the team that had the rookie that flashed, a quarterback that flashed. Second year, the team made the jump and made the playoffs. And now third year, there's going to be higher expectations. Does Josh Allen have what it takes? And I guess one of the things I would look to do if I were the bills is if this is really our big year to see if we're totally in on Allen,

let's give him the best possible weapons around him to make it happen. I would like to see them be active weather. This is supposed to be a great wide receiver draft. Maybe they bring in another guy with John Brown. I don't know. There's a lot of, you know, decent names on the free agent market. They have more cap space than they're going to be able to spend. They have $90 million in cap space.

And they have a lot of players coming back. They don't have a lot of, like, big issues to solve. So whether it's, you know, a Yonikin Gakwe or Leonard Williams, like Bud Dupree up front, they certainly could use a pass pressure, whether it's Emmanuel Sanders or Robbie Andrew, you know, whatever it is, like I could just see the bills go. going in hard. The playoffs are just way more fun. They're committed to Josh Allen.

Yeah. And so they're going to try to, and they know he has limitations. So they're going to try to make the team around him as amazing as it could be. And they've kind of set themselves up in a nice, steady way. It's a better postseason with the bills in it. It's way more exciting. It's way more fun. And who knows what's going on in the AFC East now.

So, yeah, this is their time. If they're going to do something, then step up now. We'll see if that philosophy works, though, the idea of build up a the quarterback to try to hide his limitations. Does that ultimately work in our league? Have we just reached the point where we're ever going to let quarterbacks develop? We're never going to let quarterback develop. He can keep developing.

You're a bust. No, I'm not saying he's a bust. To me, he's a big year for him, though. He's going to be, he's somewhere closer to the, to the Dalton scale, but just getting there in a strange way. And I worry that that's his kind of, you know, destiny. But they had a great free agency last year. I mean, they get signed John Brown, Cole Beasley, and Mitch Morris,

who all ended up being, you know, A-minus-type signings for them. And I just think they'll continue it. We've seen flashes, too, of him and the Bills play really well, obviously, this entire season. That game on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys. The first half against the Texans was under real. And then all of a sudden, like, when they hit the two-minute warning in that playoff game against the Texans, it was just like Josh Allen was like on a bender. I felt like he was just out of control.

I see where you're coming, Dan, with the Trubisky comparison. and this team feasted on an easy schedule. They lost when they played against good teams for the most part. I could see them being a much, much better team next year and having a similar record or even a worse record just because of the schedule and the way randomness works in the NFL. All right, let's go one more time around the horn. The Eagles, Connie Fox.

Okay, so Dan wanted me to do like a real look ahead to the offseason, so be like serious here. So based on everything I know about the Eagles in Philadelphia, this is the most real thing I could think of. Okay. Nelson Agalore's drops will inspire more heroes to catch more babies from more burning buildings across the city of Philadelphia, thereby saving more lives and prompting Mayor Jim Kenney

to recognize Nelson Agallor with a key to the city for his organic grassroots humanitarian effort. Then the Eagles let him walk in free agency. How do you not already have the key to the city and catch a baby? in a big spot? In a big spot. Right. Well, he helped the guy, the unlike Agalore guy, catch the baby.

I thought Al-Gallor caught the baby. No, he didn't. No. It was all about the guy caught the baby from the burning building. Unlike Aguilar. Yeah, he caught it unlike Aguilor because Aguilar dropping the ball. Then he made the comment about Al-Galore.

It's been a long season. You know, it's been a long season, and some of these stories they just kind of melt into. Right. But that is to say that this team desperately needs an infusion of young talent. There were just so many injuries this year. There were so many times that they looked so sluggish.

I almost thought that Josh McCown was going to get out there and start catching passes at one point. They had so many guys from the practice squad out there. They had tight ends running wide receiver routes. All Sean Jeffrey. I mean, he might miss the beginning of the season with that Liz Frank injury. How much can you actually rely on Deshawn Jackson at this point? I mean, I guess the silver lining of this entire season is that you found guys.

like Greg Ward to play in the slot and Boston Scott, who can give you what he gave you this year. But they still need to see what they have in JJ Arthago Whiteside, who was taken, like, before D.K. Metcalf, really? So this is a team that really needs speed and youth at the wide receiver position and across the board. I feel like it would be a mistake if they took the tact or took the viewpoint of let's just get healthy

and things will be better because I don't know if the offense is good enough even when they had their guys. They weren't good at that point. And they're, I think thankfully for Eagles fans, the last team, I think that would go that route. They are thrilled that for the first time in a couple years, they're not, you know, dealing with kind of cap issues. They traded away all their picks for a few years. Now they've got their picks back again. Like they, Howie's ready to party.

I think he's going to go wild. I mean, he, he loved, they love trading. They love being active. They're getting rid of a lot of their older players. McLeod is a free agent. Jason Peters is a free agent Aguilar, Ronald Darby, Jalen Mills, Vinnie Curry, Timmy Jernigan,

Jordan Howard. It's a lot of guys. So you're going to have to fill in some gaps along with injured players coming back, but I think they're ready. They're excited to do that. Wes. I'm looking into the Saints Crystal Ball, and what I see is we're going to run it back.

We know we were right there with the 49ers is the best team in the NFC all year and especially in December. We didn't play well against the Vikings. but we're going to run it back. We're going to re-sign Breeze. We might even resign Bridgewater, too, and we're going to bring back restrictive free agent,

Taysam Hill, and use him more on offense to compensate for Drew Breeze's limitations, which were apparent in the Vikings game. I think that they will probably use their draft picks to get a legitimate number two receiver, or go free agency there, but they're going to upgrade at number two receiver. I think Andrews Pete, their starting left guard,

has been banged up and not very good lately. Free agent, he might be gone, and maybe they'll upgrade the interior there, which was a problem in the playoff game against the Vikings. But I think they bring the defense back. That makes sense to me. And how sick do you think the Saints were watching the Vikings get just taken apart by the Niners? I mean, I just think if they, I don't want to take anything away from Minnesota

because that was a nice job by them going on the road and winning that game. But it just made me think, you know, Minnesota's seven first downs this past weekend. If the Saints got nine more cracks against the Vikings, they would win a large majority of those games out of 10 games. I bet they win eight or nine. Did you see Cam Jordan's tweet?

No. Afterwards, he, after the Vikings lost, he sent out this tweet, and it's just him, and he's barely in the frame, but he's got a huge Grinch-like smile on his face, and he's just pointing to an open seat on the couch, like his hand is. Like, come join me on the couch.

couch. It was fantastic. The Saints going down, and this is all, I agree, I kind of feel they were going to do the same thing, West, which is not go crazy here. The Saints getting eliminated by the Vikings was a bigger shock to me than the Ravens getting knocked down by the time. Really?

I still can't believe the Saints went one and done in the wild card round. I can't believe it. They were such a good team. You really think Teddy Bridgewater will resign there? I saw one of the beatwriters or somebody in New Orleans. That was his prediction that he's got, He loves the city. He's found a home there.

He loves the team. They like him as the backup. You never know when Breeze's arm is just going to reach the point where, right now it's a 30-yard arm. What happens if it's a 20-yard arm? I'm also going to get Teddy's starting job. Yeah. Yeah, you also don't know, yeah,

what starting jobs could be out there for him, especially in a year where Rivers, Tanna Hill, Breeze, in theory, but Breeze is in Canada. Brady, I mean, there's a lot of quarterbacks available, Jamis, maybe, that are ahead of Teddy probably in the line. All right, I will take the ball from you, Wes, and good job handling it. Thank you. Very smooth.

Oh. No, that was coming. The Texans. Oh, yeah. This one, ooh, it's very foggy in Houston. Hey, nice job, Astros, by the way. Clowns. Cheating clowns.

Cheating clowns. You're a state. forever. All playoff losses are not created equal. And the one that the Texans suffered on Sunday was just grisly. I mean, 24-0-0, lose 51 to 31. And I think it was the type of earthquake that rattled the foundation, maybe behind the scenes in Houston.

Because Bill O'Brien is not a popular guy. People don't seem to like Bill O'Brien. I'm not just talking about in this podcast studio where we've had a lot of conversations about him, but I wonder they've been very loyal and they've stayed with Bill O'Brien and with good reason because he's delivered results,

at least in the regular season. But I wonder if this makes his seat a little hotter, just the nature of that loss. That, wow, look how far behind we actually are. And remember, this was a all-in year for the Texans who really try to make this. a championship season in a very aggressive way and you look ahead to what they have here.

They have no first round pick in April as part of the Tunsell Stills trade and they have no first or second round pick in 2021. So building up this roster is not going to be something they can do as easily through the draft. So they're a bit of a tough spot and this is the price, Greg, that you pay when you go all in and you don't go all the way.

Right. with a team that never made sense as a Super Bowl contender. But also, I don't believe in all-in. I don't think that's like a thing. I think teams are all in every year or else they're doing it wrong. But they leverage their draft assets to win. You can approach it in different ways. And some teams, you know, kind of really don't worry about the future as much.

But they've got like a lot of teams, they've got more cap space than they can spend on. So if O'Brien has taken the tack that, like, I'm spending it, on these trades and like they have said what are they going to do with all this cap space every team has too much cap space and there's only going to be so many free agents out there they have to resign what a DJ reader but for the most part they have most of their team back I think their offense is young and good and they'll be in the mix they'll be another bill o'brien like 10 and six I'll throw one way out one personnel will fuller with all the leg injuries and o'brien even expressed real frustration and disappointment after the

final groin injury, making, you know, kind of saying, like, it's hard to really count on this guy because you just can't stay on the field. They're a terrible defense. I mean, that's my takeaway, is that they, everything about their defense almost needs to be improved upon. And he said Romeo Cornell's going to be back, or that's the plan. We'll see if that happens. Sometimes these guys changed their mind.

Doug Peterson said Mike Groh was going to be back and fired him literally the next day. Terrible. It doesn't really mad. To a hell of a pickle to be in where you can't trust Will Fuller. to be there, but when he's not there, you can't trust your offense to score 25 points. Really, if Will Fuller disappears and they go in the tank. I mean, well, we brought up Robbie Anderson again. He makes sense there potentially.

Everyone wants Robbie. It's going to be a lot of big pieces about him. Come on. You'd rather much better Will Fuller than Robbie Anderson. Well, yeah, but it's like what happens when the Fuller is not playing. What happens when Robbie Anderson gets arrested and he can't have him in a playoffs? This is where you need your draft pick, to be fair, to what your question before, Dan. I mean, they need some draft.

because they need defense. I mean, they're front seven. You have a lot of money in Mercilus, so they just gave more money to and Watt, and that's fine. I don't think they're like a part of the problem, but they need more. All right, close us out, Greg.

All right. I was going to do this whole thing where I didn't even talk about Tom Brady, but now that feels like a cop out. It sure does. The Patriots. Can't avoid it, man. Well, because we're going to be talking about them every day,

but I'm looking into my crystal ball. And I see a Patriots team that couldn't be any more different. six months from now except for at quarterback I think Bill Belichick blows up this roster because it's a perfect time to do it.

Devin McCordy, Joe Tuny, Kyle Van Nuoy, Jamie Collins, Matthew Slater, all free agents, Patrick Chung, Stephen Gaskowski, maybe even Dante Outtower as cap cuts and I don't know what the plan is after that because I'm not Bill Belichick but I think this is just like

a logic. It's like a lodger It's a logical time to make a big-time turnover. Crescendo. I knew once I asked that, that's what he was going. Totally up to Craig's dramatic conclusion. But ultimately, Tom Brady and the Patriots mean more to each other than he would mean to any other team. Tom Brady Vice President with Joe Biden, leading the ticket.

No, I don't know. I don't think Tom's on that side of the aisle. That might be a problem. Yeah. Based on his hatwear. Yeah, I agree. I think Brady's back. And I think you nailed this one, Greg.

I think Bill is going to take this. I have no confidence in this one at all. I don't think anyone could. I don't think Tom Brady or Bill Belichick know at all right now. This is the start, I think, of a new, like, they're not going to bring back much of the same team and think it's going to work better. Wasn't it made very clear over the course of the second half of the season that they needed to improve this roster? Sure, on offense.

I mean, not on defense. This is the best defense. Bill Belichick has coached since 2004. Is that defense as good as it was kind of presented? Obviously, in the first half it was talked about it was good enough. At all-time defense. Is it a great defense? It was better than three defenses they won their Super Bowls with.

So the defense, you know, was not. You named some pretty big guys on that defense that could go out the door. Yep. And I think because of their age, maybe McCordy's back, but McCordy, Van Nuoy, Collins, like, that's a chunk, maybe Hightower. They're not all going to be back. This is an old team. It just feels so weird to think about Tom Brady potentially wearing a different uniform.

I can't imagine. But this year's been such a weird crazy year, so maybe. It's been such a long, you know, stretch to get to this point. And there's so many factors involved that it's really hard to figure out. because I think Belichick would be totally fine just moving on. I kind of just want to know because it's sort of already exhausting. Yeah. I kind of, I, I think Belichick's probably ready to move on.

And Tom Brady will kind of have to eat the poop, as you say, Dan, to come back. But I think he just might because, you know, does he really want to go play somewhere else? I don't know how much Tom Brady gets paid also. If it does, no matter where he goes, but if the, does he, he, you know, is he making less than Kirk Cousins makes him? Is he making $30? I mean, he has. I mean, to be fair, he's made less than Kirk Cousins is made for the last five years.

Right. And that included an MVP award. But he might be looking for a make good now, you know? It's a complicated issue. You're right. All right. Good stuff. Connie.

I mean, it's so good to have you back. It was, this is great. And this is day five of not drinking. Very rich here. So I feel like a different person. You're not drinking. Day five. Day five.

And also you're cutting out major. aspects of your diet as well. Yeah, you know, I went a little wild during the holidays, and I realized that it was time to really rain things back in for like, I've never in my life restricted myself from anything. So you're going for it. This is the first time, and I hate it. What do you miss the most? Beer, IPAs, a nice, in a nice, like, cold, frosted glass.

Hey, I'm just a Philly girl. Give me a Brewsy. That's all I want. And cookies. You try January? started in mid-January? Yeah, because I got my birthday. I got a lot of other stuff going on.

Yeah, these parameters don't need to be like written in ink anyway. Right. So I did like two straight days and then not one. How long is the plant? Is it planning? You did two straight days? It hasn't been five consecutive days. All right.

It's like five out of six. You're doing what I'm doing. It's a moist January. Not a dry January. Yeah, I don't really like that word. Oh. Moist. Yeah.

You know. A moist. January. Well, it's like there's a few days on the calendar that I'm making exceptions for, but the other days, like, I'm mostly dry. Okay. Yeah. Like, there was one day where I had a beer and chips and guacamole and a piece of bread,

so that day was kind of ruined. But beyond that, that's good. I still don't understand dry January. Somebody's going to have to explain to me how it works. Because I've seen a lot of people do it on Tybee, and then the other 11 months of the year, they just go back to being luscious. Football's the only good thing about January. Yeah, I'm only doing this because the Super Bowl's in Miami.

The month is just... Colleen's birthday. Colleen's birthday. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you, Connie. The Around the NFL broadcast returns. It's the finale of the trilogy, our NFL Network trilogy, on Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.

And then it re-airs early Saturday. And so make sure you check it out because we're having fun doing it. And, Connie, where can we see you? I'll be back tomorrow on Total Access, filling in for Lindsay Roads. Yes, and then good morning football weekend on Saturday, and then I'll be in Kansas City on Sunday for game day morning. Look at you. Yeah.

That's a superstar. Getting the miles in. Oh, yeah. Getting that quop too. Getting that working. All right, let's go. Ricky, where are you going to be? Right here, cranking.

Yeah. Keep pounding. Keep pounding me. Dan Hans is signing off for Connie Fox, the mailman, the old boss. Rick Hollywood behind the glass. Until Thursday. You know, Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here.

And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it.

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