NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Friday Fun Show: Bills-Rams Recap + Final Thoughts for Week 1

Episode Date: September 9, 2022

A virtual room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal are streaming LIVE for the Friday Fun Show! To start, we recap the Thursday Night Football match between the Bills and Rams (3:15). Then, the heroes share their final thoughts as we head into Week 1 (16:45), and we wrap up the show with a News Flash (28:40) and Heroes of the Week predictions (31:30). Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Hello and welcome. It's the Around the NFL Friday Fun Show working title. Consider this the football equivalent of a wobbly spiral that takes you to Sunday kickoff. I'm Dan Hansis, here with the heroes Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler. Here's a new thing, guys. This is special. I need new things in my life to make me feel alive. And then don't say wobbly. Like we're at Josh Allen heater down the sideline to Stefan Dick, ripping the hearts out of the defending chance. I don't need new things. I just need more of Greg

in my life. And so to add another show on Friday morning is exactly what my doctor ordered for me. like Greg's, you know, tight white t-shirt. I'm thinking James Dean and his prime. Well, you were like, hey, just like, where are you going to wear in real life? I love that voice. We are streaming live every Friday, 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific. Happy hour, 6 p.m. over in England and surrounding territories. And, you know, it's happy hour over there in the UK, but you guys seem to drink all the time, all day.

from our personal experience in the UK. But wherever you are, welcome. Excited to add this wrinkle to the ATN universe. Condolences, of course, to our UK listeners on the loss of Queen Elizabeth. Mark, no comments, please. I, you know, I won't make a comment. I actually, when I was a very young boy. Oh, here we go.

No, I'll tell you. Because I think something I said like months ago was taken a slightly out of context. but I participated in Jubilee Day and got a gigantic, very ornate mug with the Queen's face on it filled with candy. So from a very young age, I thought high thoughts of her and what she was bringing to the table for me.

All right, cool. Great. Good official comments. And yes, it's a live stream for the first time ever we're live streaming and we see it. It's already that it's going off on the side of the screen. And Justin Graver, the Grave Digger, we'll be tracking the comments from people watching along. This will also be a podcast later.

in the day. So coming up on today's show, we'll share our final thoughts ahead of week one done, of course, with the touch of mirth. We'll also check in on the latest injury news ahead of Sunday's action. And finally, we'll make a prediction on Hero of the Week. And like I said, Grave Digger is going to monitor that stream, be involved with this show. It's a different vibe. That's what we're going for. And before we get into any of the other shenanigans, let's talk about the week one game that was already played Thursday night opener, defending champion Rams, hosting the the AFC powerhouse bills, it got weird. Bill's hit their own 47.

He's in the gun, gets a snap, pocket collapsing, gets out of pressure, runs to his right, curls it downfield looking for Diggs. Dig stops and he makes the catch and he's in the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo, Stefan Diggs. John Murphy and Eric Wood with the call WGR 550, unbelievable. The Bills go to SoFi Stadium and behind three Josh Allen touchdowns blow out the defending Champions 31 to 10. Gregi, Mark, we were at this game and the bills just dominated and especially in the second

half. And you tell me, Greg, is this the sign of how good the bills are going to be or an early sign that the Rams are in for some type of post-super bowl letdown? I mean, yes, but I definitely, you know, leaning towards the first part of that equation. You can't remember the Packers losing, what, 31 to 3 in week one last week? I think the Rams will figure things out. They're good at football, but the bills don't need to figure anything out. They were already where they were in a divisional round of last year against Kansas City.

But the thing that struck me more than anything was Allen in this game that if he plays like this and you could really see it being there at the game. And if he makes decisions essentially before the snap is made, like what are you going to do? Because I got the binoculars on. I'm trying to go real journo this whole time. And I'm watching the interior defensive line for both teams. And one of them, the bills, just romped through the Rams every single play. And the other one, the Rams, including Aaron Donald, were often getting through very quickly.

But you know what? It didn't matter because Josh Allen could see what the Rams were trying to do. And on those third and sevens, third and eights, there was an early third and ten plus to digs where he put it on the back hip. He made his decision beforehand based on everything he saw pre-coverage. Those are not plays Josh Allen was making. even at the beginning of last year, I think he is taking like another step just in terms of the mental side of things.

And if he combines the mental side, you saw the physical side, it's like, what's he going to do? He's telling Sessie, if you want to be a top 10 analyst, put me at number one in the QB index pretty soon. Watch out. I don't think that's an impossible ask on any level. I mean, he's just operating somewhere completely different than any type other quarterback we've really ever seen.

I don't really have a comp for him. You could mix and match comps for him, but he's a completely unique individual to me. I do think that if you're Sean McVeigh, I mean, we got another one of those kind of like, I'm humbled, I'm going to go back to the drawing board, and Sean McVeigh puts it all on Sean McVeigh. And this was another Sean versus Sean.

We've seen this before with Sean Payton. But Sean McDermott, if you go back and track the time that these two coaches have faced each other, it's been twice with the Rams and Bills, but before that three other times when McVe was with Washington as their OC, and McDermott, was with the Panthers. McDermott has sort of owned Sean McVeigh.

He is coaxed in five of those meetings. 13 takeaways in those five contests. We saw it last night. And I just think that we came into this game thinking, can the Bill's young cornerbacks handle Matthew Stafford, Cooper Cuff, the whole rest of it. They were so well coached. This whole thing was just sort of a deep shell mixing in cover too.

You let Cooper Cup have his catches. But in general, you took away the big play. And we said it on Tuesday's show. you don't blitz Matthew Stafford. I want to get a commenter involved here. Angriest writes four out of the last six games, the bills haven't punted. Right. It's outrageous.

Good job, Angriest. You made history. Yeah, there you go. And it's, you know, Greg, like Mark and myself, we went to the game. We started in the press box. And because Mark and I are more like the working man, we're like the common type people. We say we need to get where the people are. So Greg's got his binoculars out and he's in his stuffy press box with all the

guys. We go down there. We feel the energy. We're in the heat. We're in the humidity. And it was very hot and very uncomfortable in that building. And it was interesting to me, the energy and flow of that game, how the Rams came out flat. The bills came out hot with the first touchdown. They get ahead by double digit points. And then because the bills shoot themselves in the foot with three first half turnovers, they let it get away. And you go to you go to halftime tied at 10. and you think to yourself, wow, this could be a huge missed opportunity for Buffalo because they had a chance to potentially run the Rams out of the building and be up 24-6 at the half, something like that. Instead, they let the Rams reset things. And usually when that happens,

the home team, a really great team, a defending champion, then makes you eat it in the second half because they do get the game script backed and they get to do what they want to do. But not this time. The bills instead regrouped. And it was the bills coming out of halftime whipping them 21 zip in the second half. So you never want to read too much into week one, especially the way Mark and Greg, the NFL is framed now where the preseason is a joke. None of these guys that are big time players really get to play real games until the game starts. So there's some kinks being worked out, but I thought it was crazy impressive how the bills took control the game, lost control, and then regained it. Well, think about this. I mean, if I told you before last night,

the bills are going to have five turnovers. And someone's going to win the game 31 to 10. It's like you would not think it was the bills. I mean, I would say again, like, why are you telling me this before the game in such a strange stilted way? You never do that. You never do that. I don't speak to you before games typically.

Greg is annoying in this format with your little canister of milk in your binoculars as well. Dan and I are out roaming among the real human beings. But honestly, like they overcame multiple turnovers and it didn't even matter. It's like if they had had a cleaner performance, they could have 50 points up on the Rams. They dominated them.

They made so many mistakes in the first half weirdly. It was bad luck, too, one of their turnovers, the first interception. They had a defensive holding, which hurt them. They put their kickoff out of bounds, set up the Rams. It was a whitewash. I mean, like, you mentioned normally in these situations, defending champ, good team at home, you know, are going to step up like that. But it wasn't a home game.

And I sort of overrated that, like, oh, yeah, the defending champs also do well in kickoff. But it was at least a 50-50. Bills crowd. No, that's press box guy again. The real commenters in the mix, they had a real, it was a vocal Rams crowd. I mean, I would say I had to put a number on it. If you looked up to the left, it was bills.

If you looked to the right, it was a lot of Rams. And I'm just saying, because the bills were so loud. It was a Rams crowd that came there to party and celebrate. And you had Odell Beckham. You had Odell Beckham lifting the Lombardi trophy. I wonder if that's a sign of things to come. And I thought that that was a crowd. It was a good Rams crowd.

Of course, there's a bill side of it. But I go on finish your point, Greg, but I really did, it did take me back a little bit that that L.A. team and that L.A. crowds get a bad, bad, bad reputation. I think that building had a lot of excited loud fans and they just had nothing to cheer for after halftime. I get it, but it's still unique. A defending champ has never had at least 30,000 opposing fans that are extremely loud in terms of the Bills fans at their home game to start and that they're going on a silent count. It's a totally different vibe. wouldn't matter if the teams were even. Maybe the Rams crowd shows up, but they weren't even. I mean, it looked like a week one game that you would expect between the Bills and the Texans. I mean, you mentioned the turnovers, Mark, at halftime when it was 10-10 and when it got to later in the third quarter, at one point it was 330 yards to 130. And that was going into the fourth quarter. Josh Allen at that point, before that digs touchdown, had not thrown a pass over 20 yards. So

that speaks to my point that he was just doing it with dinks and dunks. He didn't, he had one ball, the ground, I believe, other than the interceptions for the entire game or at least until late in the game. And it was just like a mauling. And that was the offensive line in the bills. That's what those binoculars really showed me. Because even when Ed Oliver went out, who was killing them early, Tim Settle, Boogie Basham, Greg Rousseau. Yes, Von Miller had a monster game and that was like a big deal, but Jordan Phillips killed them. All of their defensive linemen were winning snap after snap. It was like the Eagles Super Bowl where they had eight or nine guys and every single one of them won every single snap and Stafford fritzed out because of it.

And you could have played that game. If they're winning like that, you could have played it 10 times and the Bills win 10 times. And let me give a little love to Bill's Mafia now because I don't want to make it sound like I'm too much in the other direction. My goal was maybe to try to sneak out of there and not get killed by traffic at the end of the game. But then when the Rams laid such an epic egg and then gave up that last digs touchdown, it was too late. So I was just like, you know what? I'm going to wait this thing out. And by the very end of the game,

and a game that was over with 12 minutes to go, all the Rams fans were history. And I thought it was notable that there were thousands of Bills fans that stayed to the very end. Maybe they had nowhere else to go, honestly, either. But remember how that season ended for Buffalo. That was one of the more bitter playoff losses in recent memory against the Chiefs at Arrowhead.

So this was such a great way to kick off the never. season. Sometimes when you go through a summer of hype, you come out and you feel the pressure. This felt like a team that had unfinished business. So I had the bills number one of the power rankings to start the season. The arrow cannot be more up on them. They are a badass squad. Well, that said, all three of us picked the Rams to win this game. Only calling to pick the bills. Well, that was this is disarming for our audio listeners. You know, now we're at home on Fridays. We're getting the comments and everything. But I'm seeing how. annoyed mark is like as I speak. So that's more disarming. Normally I'm kind of staring into the

sometimes it's in the corner of your eye. Now it's like facing forward. I don't even let the corner because I want to, you know, be focused and everything. But now I just see those eyes just when will this guy shut the F up? That's not what I think about you. By the way, Cooper Cup, even in a disastrous night overall for the Rams goes 13 for 128 and a touchdown of 15 targets. And you know, I'm watching, I'm keeping an eye on Alan Robinson, even in Garber. it has nothing to do with the fact that he's on my fantasy team and I'm like oh no this is not what we talked about all summer and we'll see this is a bad night he had one catch on two targets including the last throw of the game so he was completely invisible in the mix

freelance McCutcheon get Sean McVeigh's little pet project two to Atwell out of there get Brandon Powell I saw Cam Acres lining up at wide receiver on a crucial drive it's like they need some juice out there well Matthew Stratford has one itis he's focused on one receiver. It's, it's on Matthew Stafford to look around the field a little bit more. Uh, Booboo is wondering how much, how many more minutes until Mark logs off. He does have the option. And you could always just say, uh, bad connection. Sorry guys. I'll catch you next Friday. That's out there. Yeah, I'd like to blame it on a technical glitch and there's no way to prove it. All right. There you go. Thursday night football. Who do the Rams have next week, by the way?

Falcons. Because we remember we were sitting right next to that Falcon scout in the press box. he was noticing that Matt Gay was good from 65 with room to spare in the precincts. See, these are the sort of nuggets you can get in the press box. Good note. I don't think you're supposed to share that, Greg. That's private falcons information. I mean, it's public. He's out there kicking the ball in the middle of the field.

I was sitting next to a scout as well initially, and I will not reveal who the team is. Well, you're a professional. That's sort of what's happening here. That's a journalism degree speaking. It was the Titans. It's because the next opponent is always there in the press box. Greg, we understand the scouting. You can look at the schedule.

That's Greg. the bad boy of NFL media. All right, there you go. That is Thursday night football. And again, the rest of the recaps will follow on the flagship program on Sunday night. So make sure you come back and, you know, check out all the content. And we really thank everybody that's live. We got a lot of people, Grave Digger.

It seems like we've got a very active right bar here on the live stream. So that's a good start to things. Where is Grave Digger? Let's take a question. Yeah. Whoa, excuse me. Yeah, we have a ton of. commenters in here um i can't believe how many people are watching the first live stream i guess i

should believe it but well let me ask you a question gravedigger because you just became unable to speak for a moment there are you a little dehydrated because i know yesika was out of town and then she came back last one of the commenters is saying we want to see yesica and we've heard that she's watching the show in a room next door so a different apartment unfortunately but um here's a here's a question for you guys to totally dodge what dan just asked me Grape digger. Oh, here's King's Lord, Bill's defense to break any sack records this season. Yeah, we should throw out that Von Miller instantly made himself valuable with a couple

sacks in this game. And they just destroyed the Rams at the line of scrimmage. So it was a perfect game for Buffalo, really. I mean, take out the three turnovers. They just absolutely kick the defending Super Bowl champions ass. Seven, seven sacks. And they are playing the Jets, Dolphins, and Patriots, who all have offensive line questions six times.

so watch out sounds great all right let's take a break we'll be right back all right now with that business done let's let's now as we again we're here kind of Greg says it's a tight spiral I like that maybe it's like a Kurt Warner spiral to Sunday where it doesn't necessarily look beautiful but it gets right where it needs to go we're going to take you to Sunday now with some kind of final thoughts about where we're at and let me let me start here And I want to say that I can't help but scratch my head sometimes because only my team, the Jets, can win the spring and forget about the fall and winter, lose the summer. And it's been a really bad summer now for the Jets and Mackay Bechton injury.

You have, of course, the Zach Wilson injury. And now you have Dwayne Brown signed to replace McKay Bechton. He has a shoulder issue. He's not going to play in week one. might be heading to injured reserve, and I just want to say, I wish I could get to a place. Hmm. I wish I could get to a place where things are more, like, innocent. Get to that place where I've always wanted to be.

I don't even know if it is a real place. Maybe it's more of an idea. Camp happiness. Take me to Camp happiness. I thought that's Mark's place. I don't know what it is. I know that's the play. For Mark, it was the place where he could, you know, take a bunch of pictures and look like he was

Brandon Walsh and Brenda Walsh from 90210. That was, that's his version of Camp Happiness. It's a 1992 flannel fest with poofy hair. A lot of whites by the water. For me, I think about when was I last happy as a Jets? fan in a situation like this. And you know what? I think about Joe Flacco playing on Sunday against the Ravens, a 35, 37-year-old former first-round

pick. And then I think, where does Dan's camp happiness as a Jets fan? What do I long for? 1998. I was 18. I didn't have a girlfriend, but I did have Vinnie Testa Verdi, a 35-year-old former first-round pick who replaced Glenn Foley and became a star, one of the best jet seasons ever by a quarterback. And during this time where the present feels too hard and it's better to have a couple

glasses of Vino, you know what I'm saying, Mark, and just remember a different time in life. I wonder, wouldn't it be nice if I could return to Camp Happiness? And Joe Flacco could be Vinnie Testaverity in 2022. Wouldn't that be nice? that I see for you, Dan. This angst is generating incredible segments like this and incredible monologues and soliloquies, which we enjoy.

So if suddenly they became, if they were thriving and you're just sort of sitting back in your chair, you know, slapping yourself on the back, we lose all that. So, well, give me the chance. Give me the chance to react to the success.

We've had enough, we've seen a little bit when they've been good. I got enough of that on the show. Right. I'm now a Jets fan. We've done, like, We talked about new experiences on this show. I need a new experience of Dan not being miserable.

We haven't even gotten to week one. Things are so sideways. What is happening? That's what I'm talking about. The beautiful Dan part of the season where I admire how just like fresh as a daisy. He shows up to camp. He's just like the little camper. And, you know, even though all the kids were mean to him a year ago, he's just like,

this will be the year. I make a lot of friends. Ah, but it's too much. I don't know about testaverti, How about give us a little 2015 Ryan Fitzpatrick? I take that. Just be in the mix. And let's say this because we talked about it on Thursday.

And then I want to throw it to you, Greg, for your big picture thought. But the fact that Robert Solomon Jets strangely gave a now four-week timetable into the regular season, you don't think if Joe Flacco plays well in these first three weeks, he might not hold on to that job. That is just enough runway to establish success and keep Zach Wilson on the bench. So keep an eye on that. The most important thing is Flacko has to play well. And now he has a rookie right tackle. And poor George fan has flopped back to left tackle.

It's a mess. Good luck to you, Joe Flacko. It would be a lot of fun. We're overdue for a return to camp happiness. Greg, you're up. Yeah. I mean, you're looking for a return to a happy place. And I really am too.

And I look toward the Pacific Northwest. And I think of the last few seasons of a one, proud franchise and I see a lot of storm clouds. I see a lot of tension. I see a lot of angst between the most powerful men in the organization who can't figure things out, money, ego, dark clouds rolling in. And then in the distance, I see clear skies. I see a horizon of beating expectations, of a weight being lifted. And I see on Monday, night football, a cleansing. A rain is going to come down on Seattle and it's going to be brought down by a man named Gino Smith who's going to bring that six and a half point spread down.

Like, I don't even know. Talk about a disrespectful situation, Mark. Six and a half points. If you want to sprinkle a little rain on them to win the game, look, I'm not going to stop you to do that either, but six and a half in a game that Gino Smith. and this defensive line's going to eat, they know where the bodies are buried in Russell Wilson's mind, Pete Carroll, and they're going to find it. They're going to dig it out. So 15 minutes of talk on Gino yesterday wasn't enough.

I don't even need to talk about Gino. You could talk about their defensive line, who to me has a little bills quality. They're not nearly as good, but they're about six or seven deep against a bad offensive line. I think they've got some playmakers in the secondary. I think they slow them down. I hate this line because to me,

every Seahawks game is going to be 18 to 17. I'm not sure who's going to win each week, but every single game this season, 18 to 17, six and a half points is a joke. J.D. Silva thinks that you have dipped into Mark's mushroom stash, Greg. Months ago. Of course. I mean, we've got Chris Pye 1525 saying,

am I taking Gino Smith against the spread? I think you went three and O against the spread guys last year, including one of the best statistical games of the year, completion percentage over expected. You've lost your damn mind. And I'm loving the Seahawks, by the way, are going to run like crazy. Pete Carroll is going to be really liberated to do whatever the hell he wants, and it's against a bad run defense in Denver.

It's going to be glorious. That's all. Greg is like that friend who's just gone through a terrible breakup, and for the next, like, 86 times you talk about him, it's all he'll discuss with you. And then you start to find ways to evade, to disappear, to vanish, to not be available, to not be around. It's like John Farrow in. Swinger. Is it just like, dude, can we please? Mark, you're up, baby. All right. I titled this

comment, this thought, stuck in Arizona without a personal vehicle. I just want to let you know, it's a little biographical, okay? I've talked to you before. Can I just say this is one of my favorite all-time Sessler like life moments when you got parked in a cul-de-sac of life? Just go head this is yeah well it's post camp happiness which was not that's not the name of that speaking of hearing our friends repeating stories okay let's go all right Greg if you could be quiet for three minutes I think it would be an incredible service to the show I just want to let you know this was around more at March 2003 I was living in Boulder Colorado with a very different girl than that camp happiness girl was um a little bit more of an

edgier she was a woman it was an edgier individual and we decided I decided that I did not want to live in Colorado anymore I wanted to move to Los Angeles and be in the movie industry because it's that simple to get into the movie industry i can tell you that um from experience nothing more is needed so anyways we sold um in a totally foolhardy move sold all of our possessions um i turned my lease car in she sold her car we bought a vw camper van pop top one of those like 60s deals were like you can sleep up top of it if you want to um the vehicle was shaky which we learned the minute we got on the road to drive from colorado to los angeles uh and it became shakier when it's broke down in Tucson, Arizona in the early spring.

And we needed to be parked out of us, Sears Garage, waiting for parts for this. I was going to say, I'm not speaking negative of you. I'm picturing you, you know, under the hood, just trying to crank out. What's wrong with this carburetor? Let me, let me get my elbows in on this. That was not my skill set, you can imagine. And, no, I was like in the top of the pop top, just reading novels. But anyways, in the middle of this, we finally got the car fixed.

And we moved to Phoenix where she had four. some female friend who was, like, cohabitating with a guy. And she basically came to the conclusion about a fortnight later. She told me one night, I'm a desert person. I just feel at home in the desert. I was like, what are we doing here? Like the whole plan, we sold all our possessions. The whole plan was to get to Los Angeles.

So because also she was an expensive girlfriend and I was a dumb 20-something-year-old, I was about 10 grand in debt. So I basically just moved to my own apartment along the highway in Phoenix, had no personal vehicle, no car, very little clothing. This is about week one, right? Yes, it is about week one. I'm going to get there real soon. But anyways, I got a job at a Wells Fargo call center up the street

where I could walk to every day and ground my way out of debt for the next seven or eight months, then got a rental car and just moved to L.A. Because I wanted to change my life and get where I needed to go. And this makes me think in a weird way about what they have done to Kyler Murray this offseason. Now I get it. He got paid.

And so it's like everything's, fine. But all they've done to Kyler Murray is say, you have a passion, but you must fulfill our job's passion. You must do what we want, but you must shut down what it is you truly want to do. Justin, let's show what we'd like to show here if we can, Gravedigger. This is Justin, this is Kyler Murray and his actual true. What's happening here? This is Faze Clan. This is an audio podcast too, Mark, if you want to. This is a union audio podcast.

Kyle Murray with a bunch of his gaming bros, he joined up with this thing, Phase Clan, and he's on Twitch. I now follow him on Twitch to see how often he logs on to game, and it's never anymore. He never does anymore because his true passion has been taken away from. So what I would like to see, for a number of reasons, football reasons, number one, after all this drama,

you're playing the Chiefs, get into a high-octeem shootout with Patrick Mahomes. Unfurl six touchdowns, take the Cardinals to 1-0, and then at that point, you're in your good place, and then tell them, I'm going to take Monday to do what I want to do. I'm going to game and I'm going to do the stuff on the field because I'm allowed to be an adult, I'm allowed to follow my passion and not be ordered around by anyone ever again. I get the sense Mark looks at these times where he was like floating very fondly.

You know what I mean? You almost miss being lost in the wilderness. That was quite a journey to the football point. So basically don't be mean to Kyle. I mean, they gave him like a $200 million contract. I get that. And so that, that, that essentially nullifies the argument because now that you're under. That's a good point you made, Mark.

Yeah, that's a great point, Mark. That's a good point, Mark. I'll take it. Well, you're top 10 insider. All right. Well, yeah, Kyler, ball out. Criticism will mount. Will mount.

And we're going to, speaking of the Cardinals. Put on a show. Put on a show. Let's hit a news flash here. Kyler versus Mahomes. Let's hit a news flash here. And might as well start right there with the Cardinals. I talked about it.

on the show that I'm a little worried that Kyler has not been set up for success, especially with DeAndre Hopkins out. Rondell Moore, the idea was that he was going to be a contributor in year two and a guy that could maybe light up the scoreboard for Kyler. He has a hamstring injury, and Greg, it might not be good. No, when you leave a practice and they say you're immediately going for an MRI and then you miss the following practice, hamstrings are usually multiple weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on IR.

And this is after they spent the offseason, Alan Robinson, like, hyping up Rondale Moore as kind of the answer to their missing receiver room. They got issues. I'm feeling good about my chiefs lock, put it that way. What is the over-under on wins for the Cardinals in 2022? I think it's high. I think it's like eight and a half or something.

Bang the under, if you can. Lamar Jackson turned down the Ravens' offers for a contract extension is now betting on himself this season. We'll see how it goes, Mark. Eric DeCosta released a statement, despite best efforts on both sides. We're unable to do it. We're looking ahead to the season.

It's all in front of Lamar. If he has a huge season, he becomes the highest paid player in NFL history. Yep. Maybe they can also just franchise tag him. I mean, I feel like if they really, really wanted him, and I think they do to a certain extent, they would have gotten this done.

I mean, he's representing himself, which I always find that to be a little bit weird. But I don't mind at this point shooting this one. into the sun until next off season. We don't need to deal with it right now. In other news, Simzi Koeif on the stream tells us that we started our live stream at the same time that King Charles has ascended to the throne in England. So I feel like that could hit and hurt our streaming numbers.

Greg. It looks pretty good in terms of the numbers. In fairness, we had, you know, carved out this time. I would think. Right. I'm not saying they would be aware of that, but we had set the time first. That's all. But maybe they should have been aware.

And finally, George Kittle, again banged up. Greg, what are you hearing on this one? Well, he's likely to miss this game. I think they can survive without him this week. I got my guy Ayuk. I know you draft. Didn't you draft him in fantasy? I think he's going to go crazy. Yeah. But I already started out in Robinson, so great job. George what? Mark? More like George Brittle. Yeah, more like George. Little hope of playing 17 games ever. It is sad that he never does play the whole thing.

All right. That's that's the news flash. All right, before we say goodbye. Tells us that we're cutting into their audience, but I don't think that's, I don't think that's true. I do appreciate the Serbian listener from the banks of the Danube that said they're watching from there. So anyone can check us out on YouTube after the fact too or, of course, in any audio podcast.

Let's, before we sign off and throw you into Sunday, tight spiral. Hero of the week picks. Greg, start us. Okay, I'm going to go with Jamar Chase. I look at the Steelers secondary. I look at the cornerbacks that almost no one has talked about this offseason. And I see a major problem. And I see a rookie who did things we haven't seen any rookie do.

And I feel like maybe the Bengals losing will keep them hungry. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see the small state championship trophy. Massachusetts state champion 1996, Minichag Regional High School. But before we were able to overcome the vaunted kids at Newton South, you know, we had to lose in a big spot the year before. But we came back and we were better than ever the year before. That's going to be Jamar Chase and the Bengals this year. That's a sad looking trophy for a champion. It is very small, yeah, but we got something.

How about you, Mark, your hero the weak prediction? So there is no George Kittle in San Francisco. I know they have tons of other weapons. Trey Lance is beginning his career as a starter, as a full-fledged starter. How about the guy that he hooked up with over and over on the field in the preseason, Danny Gray, who is incredibly faster playing a bear's defense that has been stripped of parts. They're rebuilding that team. The secondary is vulnerable.

Maybe a couple of big plays to get Trey Lance comfortable. I just like the idea of picking someone that probably won't be the hero of the week. Sassy fantasy pickup, though, like deep leagues, that's pretty good. Enjoyable player. And I will close it with my prediction. Greg, you said that you're like a Jets fan now earlier in the show. You were rooting for the Jets? How about this? My Hero of the Week prediction, Bill Belichick. Just watch. Just watch that Patriots defense. I know they're missing parts now and they're vulnerable.

But watch them shut down to a, and Tyreek Hill disappears. And the offense does enough. Mack Jones makes a late touchdown pass. And all of a sudden, the Patriots win 1714. And everyone's talking about how Bill really threw Mike McDaniel, the young genius, off his game. And everyone will again be throwing roses at the feet of Bill Belichick when he shuts down the explosive, quote-unquote, Dolphins offense. One item amid reports from beatwriters covering the Patriots that they are ready to scrap their entire offensive reinvention. It's a great idea. It's a great idea.

Our listeners are suggesting this whole pro-Patriots pro-Belichick thing is just some BS jinks from Dan. I wouldn't say that. Well, you guys know me. I would never do something like that. That's what the commentaries are. Thank you for everybody for the live stream. Thank you to everybody that's listening and following all the things we do.

We appreciate you. We'll be back next Friday with another stream and podcast. Until then, enjoy all the damn football. It's happening. Enjoy the weekend. Go Falcons. This is an I-Heart podcast.