NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Hard Knocks New York Jets: Episode 3 Recap

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

On the NFL's Official Hard Knocks Podcast, Dan Hanzus and Colleen Wolfe recap the third episode of the "Hard Knocks Training Camp with the New York Jets". Dan and Colleen start the episode by discussing some things that stood out to them including Randall Cobb's relationship with Aaron Rodgers (04:55) and Breece Hall's first appearance on the show (12:55). After the break, Dan and Colleen cast their votes for this week's Hard Knocks MVP (24:40) and discuss what we may be able to expect in the final two episodes of the series (42:45). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. A competitor is someone who is internally motivated to be his best regardless, regardless of the situation. His place on the debt chart does not matter. Money does not matter. Fame does not matter. He is always trying to absolutely be his best. He can't be swayed because he's already maxing out his potential.

This fucking dude is trying to PR every day of life. He's got a championship mindset. And when you have a championship mindset, you embarrass the shitty ones and you make the great ones look normal. Final one is the commander. He basically has all the traits of a competitor with one exception.

He brings people with them. Which one are you? So from the Griss-Westling podcast studio. It's the Hard Knocks podcast. Training camp on the New York Jets. Episode three. Recap. My name is Dan Hansis. With me, my co-host, Colleen,

Wolf, Colleen, as Bob Sala said, head coach of New York Jets, four levels of competitors. And I know it's a little confusing because one of the levels of competitors is competitor. That one I have a little bit of an issue with, but that's fine.

I'd say we're both commanders. So let's go, yeah, because I was going to say, I would love to say we are. Because I feel like commander, competitor, contender, survivor, I feel like I've been all of those. Yes, okay.

Sometimes in the same day. Like for instance, Survivor is the bottom And the Survivor loves taking the easy way out And they're miserable And they pull everyone down with them They love taking you with them And then I'm thinking like Survivor Like Destiny's Child had a huge hit that was just saying

How awesome it is that I'm a survivor And this whole time Survivor sucks Oh, that's a great point I feel like it's a negative connotation here And Survivor, you know, if you're surviving and you're doing it right. So first we had Ulbrick, the D.C., getting after Belichick.

Now Sal is getting after Beyonce. Interesting. Contender, someone motivated by external factors like playing time, money, fame, opponent, definitely feel like that checks out. Competitor in the four levels of competitor, internally motivated regardless of situation, always trying to be his best or her best.

And I learned what PR is today, personal record, I'm not a Peloton girl. Not on the Peloton. Not motivated by MoneyFame or opponent. This fucking dude is trying to PR every day of his life. Maxing out his potential. Championship mindset.

And then Commander, all the traits of competitor with one more. He brings people with him. He's a leader. Robert Saul is a leader. I see my, I have a couple things here with this. The competitor, which you, as a level of competitors, it's just a little confusing. I probably would have picked a different term for it.

And then commanders, the highest of the levels, when the commanders are also a team in the league, I just maybe would have gone a different route there. But we have some notes as all. We'd like to make this better because we're competitors. Eric, can you get Robert Saul on the line? Maybe we could, you know, he could take another crack at it. Like the rookies had to take another shot at the talent show last week to this week.

it's just like you have and you have three of the levels that start with C I like alliteration commanders competitors contenders and then Survivor like maybe we go all one to really drive the point home you're right you're right yes episode three of Hard Knocks is you know you feel like this is like a little bit lived in now we know this team we know what their vibe is we know the energy around it we know the excitement and anticipation and we know this is Aaron Rogers's world and I think about what are people talking about coming out of this episode I think there's there was so much build up Connie to the pursuit of Rogers remember the infamous uh report that Rogers had a

a demands list or a hostage a ransom note sure what's what that's how how was it presented It was like Rogers' demand. He definitely had a list of things that he wanted. Right. And one of those things he wanted was to have Randall Copts still be a teammate. But in general, there's this idea, this undercurrent with Rogers, that he's so bigger than life and such the focus of the Jets universe, which he is, that it's like, how much power does he have?

Like, what are we seeing right now that shows how much power he has in this organization? What are we not seeing, which is we'll get into a little bit later what we're not seeing through three episodes of hard knocks. And one thing we know is that like you you got to be able to, you have to reach the level of competitor for Aaron Rogers for him to deem you worthy of being part of his world. Correct. You know who knows this? Randall Cobb knows this. Al Lizard knows this. Garrett Wilson and the other wide receivers are learning this.

And I thought one thing everybody's going to be talking about is this clip of Randall Cobb talking to his fellow wide receivers. practice about what you need to do to be on Aaron Rogers' good side. I was just talking to 12 or 8 and he was just telling me, you know, we had a lot of mistakes in our room today, just basic stuff, little things, right? Like, we can't have that and it's all cool right now but I'm telling you one day he's going to lose this is going to happen if it continues to go the way it's going right now because if you don't trust you, he's not going to throw you the ball, I can promise you that if he don't trust you he don't not like throwing interceptions.

So if he can't trust that you're going to run the right route, he's not going to throw it. It's just a matter of time. Continue to work and stay in your book and stay locked in so we can get to what we want to go. It's funny because even the wide receiver coach has to look like, oh, shit, we don't want to get mad at us. Well, so you can tell that Aaron Rogers has that

type of personality that he is like so chill, he's so cool, like he will deal with a lot of BS that comes his way, but when he gets pissed and the line is crossed, he will freak out and it's scary because it's like he is maybe suppressing a lot of that all the

time. And it seems like he's so even keeled. Even when all of the fights were breaking out in the joint practices and he goes over to, I think it was Devin White. And he's like, what the fuck are you doing, man? And he's like sort of laughing. And I'm like, ooh, that kind of was like a little spiralized. But I like it. I recognize myself in him in that moment. So it's coming. And I also like that Garrett Wilson talked about how you have Randall Cobb and Alan Lazard as translators for him. and the other wide receivers for Aaron Rogers.

Yeah. And it makes sense now as you hear an explanation like that from Cobb, why Rogers, even if some people like, oh, you need Randall Cobb on your football team in 2023 or Alan Lazard, wow, the Jets seemed to give him pretty good contract for, you know, what his production has been in the league. Whatever makes Aaron Rogers comfortable makes the team better will make the offense better. And the Jets, I think there's a very, there's a very fine line. from wisely working with someone like Aaron Rogers is bigger than life character to letting him run your organization

like what happened with Russell Wilson and our friend Nathaniel Hackett last year. And I think the Jets have been on the right side of the line. What I really, but that's from our vantage point. Right. I wonder what's really going on. On the around the NFL podcast this past Monday, we had talked about how the Jets offensive line

has continued to be a subject of consternation, if it's going to be good enough. And Rogers basically said in a presser, he's like, listen, I don't have control of, you know, who's playing where that's not a decision or conversations I'm privy to. And then you wonder like, A, is that true, actually? Or B, when does Aaron Rogers step into that room and say, this is who I want playing? Because I think if he wants to be that guy, he can be because he has that much sway,

which makes it's a tough, it's a tough thing for Robert. Sala, because everything is so great, because number eight, number 12, I mean, number eight is here until, you know, you get punched in the mouth and what version of Rogers is in that building at that point. Well, yeah. It's yet to be seen, obviously. If it continues to trend in that direction, that's going to be a major problem. Even Robert Sala, when he was talking about the different levels of competitors, at the end, he drove home the point that the defense, they were there the whole time. Like they showed up, they were competitive. It was the offense that needed the defense to really bring it out of them.

It wasn't like the offense showed up. And this is not a knock on Rogers. It's just the knock on the offensive line and just some things that were not in place yet. The offense did not show up with the same fire that the defense did, I guess, when camp started. And now he was thanking the defense for being like, thanks for bringing it out of the offense. And dog ass? That's right. And like, just to be clear, I don't even think.

Roger's stature and what we clearly see, the level of respect he engenders, not just from his own team, but everything around him. He is like one of those rare figures where it wouldn't make sense and the position he plays and what the quarterback means in the sport

to have hands everywhere. Like he would be a guy where it would make sense. Now does it happen at the expense of the head coach having any power, real power? That's when it would get a little dicey. Right. But Roger seems to be in the right mindset

because he's trying to win another word. World Series. Another Super Bowl here. It'd be cool if we won a World Series, too. That'd be wild. Can we also talk about the fact that we watched the first 11 minutes of this show without any of the narration? We were watching a raw cut of what Hard Knocks was.

And I'm watching it thinking, it seems like it's maybe moving a little slow. It's just like something amiss, and I couldn't quite figure it out. And then we realized we were not watching the final cut. So I'm really glad we figured that out. And, you know, credit to Liev Schreiber and credit, I looked it up. I wanted to mention it, okay? Not just credit to Leav Schreiber. Credit to Jerry, I hope I got this right, Riemel or Riemel, who it says writer in the credit.

So as Leav Schreiber had said in the first episode to Aaron. Ron Rogers, don't give me too much credit. I just read what's on the page. I think Jerry, Big G, Jerry with a G, is out there giving this content. I mean, I was going to do it a little bit of a day. It's a better show with Jerry. Getting need Jerry in the house. Yeah.

Jerry with a G. G. Dog. Since we're bringing up Leib Schreiber and how the show is not the same without him, it's not too early, is it, to play the Leif Schreiber quote of the week? Dan, it's never too early. There's a couple things here. I want everyone to know. Maybe it's your first time listening to the show.

Okay. welcome welcome lia fsreiber famous actor um incredible incredible incredible voice and a narrator of the show um we can't use it on this program legally yeah disqualified but we have a buddy named jay who sounds like him and this is really does too but this isn't just any other jesumalt read after what happened last week with the april it wasn't it wasn't great but he's he's coming back he's on the road to redemption we hope we think we hope uh let's play it the leev schreiber quote of the week the tampa bay buccaneers are in town for a game on saturday but today there's a joint practice the old joke is that new yorkers go to florida to die now's the chance to flip the script and bury the floridians oh he's back baby you did it that was man his voice is so good Very rich timber. It really is.

I love list. I could listen to Zami do Leav drops all day long. I could listen to Jay Zumwalt read the phone book. Wonderful. And that is true. I've heard that my whole life. New Yorkers go to Florida to die. Snowbirds, right?

They retire. Well, they don't come back. Well. There's the two times. There's the people that go to Florida for the winter and then come back. Oh, right. And then there's the people just go to Florida. or they don't come back.

It's a nice place to go and just and live out the twilight years. Beautiful. All right. And other episode news. That's good though. We finally got the Breece Hall. Of it all.

The Breece Hall of it all. It was right around the Breece Hall moment of the show where Colleen definitely mentioned, wait, there's no voiceover here. Well, because at one point there was a trainer like stretching Breece Hall and there was no music and there was no narration and it was just silence and we were like watching him kind of stretch out his groin and it just felt very off right right right right just like a few minutes

earlier there was one of the Jets coaches just going on the sideline to no one in particular competition competition competition and without Liev there you know a little dry but now we know we've learned in the future we're going to look for Liev immediately oh yeah we're moving forward Breeze Hall I've said this before on ATN I'll say it again it was awesome

that the Jets swept the offensive rookie of the year and defensive rookie of the year awards the craziest thing is even if Garrett Wilson didn't have that year if Breeze Hall

would have stayed healthy the Jets would have swept it with Hall and sauce Gardner the biggest competition was within their own locker room Breece Hall's second round pick in 2022 was looking like a monster, like a one of those running backs that hits the ground and is a superstar until week five in Denver earlier in the game. And they show that in this episode.

He has a 75-yard touchdown run. I think it was Bob Wusschusin, voice of the jets says, Breece Lightning. I love that's my favorite. Is this going to be the thing? Is this a thing? Can it be a thing? One drive later. I kid you not.

He gets hit. tears his ACL. Are we banning the nickname then because of that? Maybe curse nickname? Because I think it's a great nickname. It's pretty good. Anyway, so we get to C. Breece for the first time. And it's good because we learn more about his rehab.

And he says, he's talking about how, because we don't really see this as football fans. These guys, I think I said, like football is the worst, Connie. Yeah, the mental anguish that they're going through. Just how, there's no other sport where everything is taken away. from you so quickly. Now, there are freak injuries in every sport, but a football especially in a running back, and which is, and this is set against the backdrop of what's happening in the league right now, if running backs can't get paid and having panicked Zoom meetings together, trying to figure out what they could do about it. Like, Breeze Hall can go from the fastest man on

the planet and budding superstar as a rookie to an MRI machine learning that his knee is ripped up and he needs reconstructive surgery. And we, he talks a little bit about the process and the frustrations of it. I think it's noteworthy to, like, Jets beat reporters that are doing their write-ups about this episode. He says, obviously, I want to play the first week, but I got to keep doing what I got to do. Dalvin Cook's in the building. We see him sign with the Jets.

He signs for a pretty big penny as well, Connie. So Dalvin Cooke's in there. You see Breeze Hall practicing and looking good. He hits what? 21 miles an hour. That's the magic number. I don't think the Jets should. I think they should take every

caution that they can to make sure it's 100% before he plays. Everyone always circles week one. But with Dalvin Cook there, you don't need to do it necessarily. Not at all. Also, they have Michael Carter there too, right? Like they have options at the running back position. And if you have Dalvin Cook, I mean, I would assume that that is

a huge reason why they ended up signing him because they don't want to rush Brees Hall back because they know what a talent he is and they want to make a deep run. How much do we love Nate Hackett? Oh, my God. He's so funny. He you mentioned that he sort of

has a little Connor or him who is over at Sports Illustrated. Used to be part of the NFL media group and around the NFL. But Nathaniel Hackett just has this funny personality where he will go up to guys. I just want to fly around like a butterfly. And he's like

hey, hey, hi, I'm I'm your, I'm one of the coaches here. Nice to meet you. I think we have it actually. Here is, so we mentioned Breece Hall. So Breece Hall's back at practice. Nate Hackett was coaching with the Denver Broncos last year, not well. So he doesn't have any real connection to Breece Hall. They've obviously met already in some capacity, but here's Hackett with that sense of humor.

We both got to kick out of this. My name's Nathaniel Hackett. I'm one of the coaches here. Thanks. It's nice to see you out here. Nice. He walks away. Excuse me.

Cut too. Nathaniel, it's nice to see you. Nice to see you. Thanks, good. I feel like I need to defend Nathaniel Hackett. I'm a Hackett. Like, I love him. I think he's so funny.

His personality would fit in perfect with our whole friend group. It's the vibe. And it is fun, like, you get why Rogers is into him. And some guys, some guys hit a level where this is where they're supposed to be

and then they may get promoted one spot up and it's not for them. I don't know if this whole vibe, maybe make sense in a big chair. Right. Especially having the context of knowing what happened last year, now getting to know him a little bit this year. Uh-huh.

But in this OC perch with Aaron Rogers. It's not bad. Who loves him like a brother. Okay, you could see why he's feeling comfortable and good about himself. Yeah. He kind of reminds me of a boss that I used to have before I came to work at NFL media. He just like seems to always keep it light. And that no matter what just makes working with him.

and I'm sure it's the same with all the Jets players. Like, it just makes it easier. Obviously, that didn't happen in Denver. But when you're not the head coach, I guess it doesn't matter. You're right. All right. One more thing before we take a break

when we get to our MVP conversation for episode three. Woody Johnson, Jets owner, shows up again. Yes. And this is his, by far, his most memorable cameo on the show. And I count 2010. that season as well.

Woody, do you want to get into for those that might not be aware of Woody, the context of Woody's appearance? Yes, because I sort of grouped his appearance under a larger umbrella of cringy moments. There were quite a few in this episode. And he was one of them

because he addressed the team and he said that he had sort of like a surprise for them. And he unzipped his jacket. And underneath, he revealed an insanely, like, it just, it was almost gratuitous how many diamonds were on this chain. And it said Woody in like just all diamonds and let's go jets underneath. We think it says, yeah. We think we really tried to like pause it and take a closer look.

But that was- You viewer at home, by the way, you might have a higher definition television than we watch this on and if you could correct us if we have it wrong. But it definitely said Woody in all caps and then definitely said Jets and we think go. Uh-huh. So it was like that was his way of relating to everyone

in the audience there all of the players. It reminded me a little bit of Kirk Cousins dancing with the chains on the plane a bit. Had those vibes to it. So yeah, that's um, that that was one of the cringe moments. It got it got pop

from the players but then you know if you're boss comes in and does that. Of course the players are going to react in a certain way that's like, yeah. I don't know if like a rookie would have done the same thing. The crowd would have had the same reaction. But listen, he's the boss. I want a diamond count. I want to know how expensive that was. What he's going to do with it? Is he going to wear it more? Is he going to wear it if they're winning? Like what is what happens with the Woody chain? I don't know. How much do you think it cost? Do you think it was real? I don't even know how to ballpark something like that. I would have no concept. You think it was real? I mean, it's Woody Johnson. So is he getting a fake one?

I don't think so. It seems, maybe it's CZs. Maybe he just did it for show. Maybe he's a showman. Maybe that's what he did. Maybe. Are you saying he's a commander? Well, if he's made it this far in life and has the job that he does, I guess so.

You know what I want to watch? What? What happens when he walks out of that meeting room and he takes the necklace out? Does he throw it to an intern? And the intern's like, what do I do with it? And he's like, I don't care. Just get rid of it. Take it away.

Yeah. Or maybe does. Is it just throw it in a trash can? No, no. It goes in like a vault somewhere. I'm going to say that it's worth something, I think. Is it a $3 million chain? I have no idea.

I mean, I've never bought a diamond price. You have a lot of jewelry on my now. I don't buy diamonds for myself. Also, some of the other cringe moments, the rookie talent show, part two, the do-over, many, many. I mean, this poor rookie class. It's just not happening for this class. You know what?

football players and that's exactly the lane that they need to stay in and that's fine although Jake Jake Cap the tight end he had a nice performance doing an M&M bit you know who's really into it I felt

our producer Eric Roberts who's right in the age range where eight mile the film would affect him profoundly as a teenager I feel like you seem to really enjoy that what's that this is my third gues for loop second third grade maybe

I don't know exactly what year this came out. Let me check real quick. It came out and like 03, I want to say. Yeah, it sounds about right. I was graduated in 2010, so count backwards from there. It's about it sounds about right, second and third grade. Let's pause the show so you can count back. Yeah, so, but yeah, no, it's, you guys asked who it was.

It's, yeah, it's the climax of the episode, the battle wrap between B. Rabbit, Eminem's character, and I forget the other guy's name. But, yeah, it was a... The guy did it from all off the top of the head, and it was good. And it's most deaf. It shook ones because that's like throughout the episode. He's practicing in the mirror to it. It kind of reminded me the performance itself of it was a lesser version of when Max Crosby was on Hard Knocks with the Raiders and did Buy You a Drink by T. Payne, which will any time I see Max Crosby forever, when he's on the field, making plays, I still think about him singing that song.

This would likely get some pop on social media. I don't know if it will as much as Aidan Hutchinson last year because he. killed it. His performance was better. The lyricism. What do you do? Billy Jean? No, it was a Backstreet Boys in sync.

One of those two. We did get a Backstreet Boys thing in this episode as well. Yeah, I'll give it up to, I think he's Jerome Cap. Is that his name? Yes. That was tough. That was because they bombed so much in the first rookie show, they were out for blood, the veterans.

You see Aaron Rogers and some other players just actually had guns, not real guns, water guns. ready to attack and he held his own so good for him uh all right let's take a break when we get back we talk MVP who was the MVP of episode three and remember it's a vector vector voting vector voting system be right back What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, welcome back. Here we go. Now, the vector voting system is... tremendously important to us. Yeah, I mean, two people who are famously good at math. So this makes sense.

Six points, I believe, for a first place vote. Four points for a second place vote. Two points for third place vote. Cumulative. And at the end of the season, there's an MVP. So we're getting to the point now at the midpoint of the season where every vote counts. It always does. Really, if you want to get all mathy about it, it doesn't count any more or less because it's all the same.

but it just feels more important now because now we need to almost start to make decisions based on who we want to be MVP you know you try not to do that and not let your biases get away but you don't want to waste a vote at this stage put it that way that's fair that's fair but I don't like to look ahead like that I like to take it one episode at a time

oh you're that yeah so I uh I will not be planning ahead all right who is your third place vote then okay my third place is uh he's actually I think he was in our VP voting last week. He stole the show. And this week, he goes third cue ball, Quinn and Williams, because he had one of the best exchanges that made me laugh in the episode when they have joint practices with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And he takes exception to the fact that Mike Evans calls him fat. And I think we have this in a couple of parts. Which I can understand why that would bother him because Mike Evans isn't just a guy. This is a potential Hall of Famer. Not a JAG. And Quentin Williams is, he established himself as a star in the league, and he's got Evan just banging him like that in a big spot. All right, let's listen to it.

Mike Evans called me fat. He called me fat, bro. Oh. My game is. Bro, I lost weight this all season. I look fat. Now I'm self-conscious, bro. He seems legitimately hurt by this.

Well, then one of his teammates, Michael Clemens, you know, He chimes in. I would say, do you're not skinny. Damn, bro. Thick? I think you're fit for a non-skiny. Oh, you think I, rewind it. Do I look good to be 300 pounds?

Okay, cool. You proportionate. You're a fucking job. He says, I think you're fit for a non-skiny person. And then later in the practice, Quinn and Williams confronts Mike. about it and says you call me fat I lost weight this off season and then they start joking around about it but he just

goes to show you like how sensitive he is about that it makes me love him even more it makes them relatable and I've thought about that before like these guys are elite athletes but the D-Lyman and O-Lyman like yeah they don't their bodies

don't conform to like society in terms of what looks good and like DVs wide receivers they're all built Right. So Quinn and Williams, who is honestly, like, in terms of body, there are very few people on Earth that were gifted with a body as special as Quinnin Williams. It's just in a little bit of a different package. Yeah. I don't love Mike Evans calling him fat, to be honest.

I don't love it. No. I feel like it was in jest, but because they were laughing at the end, but still. A little bit. A little bit. And it was funny, John Franklin Myers coming in at the end. saying, you proportionate. That seemed to set off. Set off for Gwynnon.

Saying you're fit for a non-skiny person. All right. My third place vote. You know, I'm going to give it to the underdogs of episode three. We haven't seen. This is tough for your vector voting system. A lot of it. Yeah, it's kind of, I don't want to say it's thrown away a vote.

But there wasn't a cleared three to me. So I want to go to Tanzal Smart. a journeyman, defensive lineman, who's been bouncing around the league for three years. It did. I thought initially that he was like 22 or something. I didn't realize until this episode. And that's why I was really confused last week when we saw after the Panthers game, who was it, Johnny Hacker? The punter goes up to smart and makes the joke about, you know, what he's known for is smart in this season.

I want to go to a Broadway show. I want to eat a Corkoochee board. And I was like, how does, not to put like punters in a box, but how does Johnny Hecker know this young kid? Like, did he have to have someone like find out what his name and his number was? And he sought him out. No, but that Smart came up with the Rams when Hecker was the punter of the Rams. So they knew each other previously.

Okay, figure that out. That all checks out. And I like, I like Smart being focused on because he, He's trying to make this roster. He's trying to keep his NFL career alive. A lot of times in the show, the focus is on when we do the quote unquote underdog portion of these seasons. It's about either undrafted rookies or a late round draft pick. Smart is in a different category, a guy who's seen it, been through it, has never broke through, but is still in the mix.

And you see him making some plays both in practice and in the preseason. So shout out to Tanzel Smart. I hope he finds a home on this team. and then the rookie running back on the other side of that, the more customary underdog on this show, Izzy A Bonaconda, who, that was tough. I got to say, this is more I feel bad for Izzy. The joke, the joke that he made in front of the team or no?

What was the joke again? He made a joke about, like, someone not getting in trouble because of their first name was Justice. Oh. That was also in my cringe category. That was cringy as hell. I know. No, but they have the whole thing where he's from Brooklyn,

originally so he's a hometown kid you have all of his family uncomfortably sitting in the stadium with the camera right on and that's a tough that's a tough one i get the way they were and then izzie gets hurt and gets helped off the field luckily it wasn't a season ending injury but it's going to cost him a couple of weeks so that does present actually the hard knocks team with a bit of a conundrum because he was supposed to fill that void uh as the rookie is he going to find a place on this roster and a very as you mentioned very crowded running back room with Michael Carter there, Brees Hall, and Dalvin Cook. He's out for at least two weeks, two weeks, according to reports out there.

So I'm going to give it to the underdogs, one, the journeyman, won the rookie, give him a little bit of love. Who's your second place for? Okay. Second place goes to head coach Robert Sala. All right. We already went through the four levels of competitors, but. What did we decide we were?

What did we decide we were of those commanders, obviously, at least. I mean, we're at least, I guess, competitors on the competitor scale. Eric, when you see us, the two of us talking on this show, do you think to yourself, and there's Parker Fenton behind the glass, too, does great job on the video side. He's trying to set you up to tell me that I'm a survivor. No, like, oh my God, I would follow these people to hell. Like, do you get that vibe when we're... Of course.

Yeah, of course. I think Robert Sala mentions that. That's why Quinn and Williams got paid all that money. You know, you guys are the leaders. You follow you in. Parker, you could just yell so the mic picks it up. Would you follow us to hell? Yeah, since you remembered my name.

I was going to say Parker was pretty hesitant there. You just forgot her name moments ago. Did double down on the full name. Parker. Follow her on Instagram. But had a lovely journey conversation afterwards. So I feel like you guys have vended your way. Yes, the classic American rock band.

Yes. I feel like that got me back in the Good Graces. She's wearing a journey t-shirt today. See how I clocked that as well? Yeah, good job. Great job. I'm out of it. I'm out of the doghouse, baby.

Oh, my God. Okay, so anyway, Robert Sala, maybe we'll come up with, like, some suggestions for the new levels. Maybe I'll do that on my red eye home tonight because I'm going to be just crushing time. I thought you're going to be listening to Journey on the way home. That and also maybe watching eight miles.

I have a lot of things on the to-do list. I don't know if I'm going to have enough time. Five-hour flight. But for real, the reason he gets the second spot here is because he did an hour on the steps. Can we talk about that? Not just any steps. Like the stadium steps? The stadiums.

Are you an hour? Sixty minutes? There's no way I would have died after one minute. And here's the thing. That's just his cardio. Look, the guy is cut out of marble. He looks, they showed him at one point on the sideline. I was watching

some of the preseason game. I think he looks younger. Like he, it looks like he It looks like he could play. I don't know what he's doing. So he's working out all the time. He is the head coach. He has seven kids learned.

He must have more hours in the day than us normals. Good one. He deserves that. My second place vote, you know, this one is not just this episode. Ostensibly it is this episode. But I'm going to give him a little love it. I think this season's better because Zach Wilson's involved with it. Okay.

I find Zach Wilson, and we've talked about this, to be compelling because of where he came from, which is second overall pick, face of the franchisor, that was the hope, falls on his face in just brutal manner last season and loses his job to his childhood idol. And I just feel like Wilson is someone that's in a good place right now.

And there will be a time in his career where he probably is under the, harsh spotlight again. I think that's technically the plan and the Jets like big picture pie in the sky that Rogers makes them a beast the next two years, at least two to three years. And maybe they get that Super Bowl. And then when it's all over, he hands the reins to Wilson who now in this planet that the Jets occupy has buried all that bad football earlier in his career.

Now he's learned from the great Rogers. and he could tap into his natural. That's the plan. Uh-huh. Now, it might sound ridiculous. And even as I'm saying it, this all sounds like a movie. I actually wrote down in my notes when we were watching. I wanted to ask you if it gave you any more confidence thinking about the future of Zach Wilson

that he could actually learn from Aaron Rogers and take over and be successful eventually. Well, they, no. Because you did just start talking about the plan. That's the plan. you could see it as you watch as you watch this whole episode here's what i know here's what we know about zach wilson he is physically talented okay that's how he became a number two pick even though he was dominating uh you know not big time programs when he was at b yu but he has talent if he was ever able to figure out the mental side of the game yeah maybe there is a good quarterback in the

NFL in there does he have the leadership skills to make it happen is he have the durability is he a commander is he a commander or is he a survivor that's the question and right now he's in survivor mode which is just like and not maybe in the way rogers or sol is saying it like he's just resetting his life right now and we're kind of long for the ride for that it happened again where someone came up to him and it was saying like yeah how are things going man and he's like you know what it's just been good this year like everybody knows he's put kind of took the the ship into the bay and just docked it in neutral and it's just trying to get things under control And we've been able to see that over the last couple of weeks.

And any Rogers-Wilson conversation, I just enjoy because it is like an uncle talking to his nephew. Totally. But like an uncle and nephew that have affection for each other, you can see that because you could see how Wilson will bust Rogers' like balls on things. And Rogers will just kind of laugh it off. It was Kyle Trask, their conversation, the latest Wilson conversation with someone else. And he said, you know, just does, every conversation he's having is about how the last two years were rough, but this is good. Yeah. It almost, all of those conversations remind me of, like, two people just sitting at a park, like skipping, skipping rocks, skipping stones in the lake just kind of hanging out.

It does have that, like, uncle and nephew vibe to it. But Zach Wilson just seems overall so relaxed. And, like, he's so fresh-faced. he's so green he's so wide-eyed but he does just have this you can tell that having the ability to be behind Aaron Rogers and not have all that pressure on him it seems like he's just more at ease too in general yeah um your first place first place goes to Randall Cobb wow okay yes so in this one we get a look at Randall Cobb's personal life a little bit Had we heard from him at all, really, in the first episodes? No, because this was the first episode where we all talked about his eyes being so piercing.

So I think that that was the first time it was like really on our radar. Big green eyes. Just for this season. But we get a chance to meet his wife. We see his kids. And also we get the news that there's another baby on the way as well. And this really made me laugh. There's going to be another hand in the cop mob.

Cobbob What you keep asking me for In my belly A baby A baby Guess what You do have a baby Mama I have a baby

In my tummy too I don't know why I found that That is So adorable So funny That's such second child energy By the way by the kid Because he's already worried that he's going to be

Displaced Pushed out His favorite, yes, by this new child. It was that. And then I also really got a kick out of Randall Cobb going around to the different Jets players and telling them to clock Thomas Morstedt running off the field, telling everyone that he basically sprints when he's finished. And it kind of reminded me, do you remember that Reds pitcher who used to sprint from the bullpen to the mound? I think it was Jared Hughes, maybe.

But it was this like all out spring and he looked insane doing it. And that's sort of what Thomas Morsted did. And they had this whole funny montage where they were like spot shadowing him, just going out of frames and stuff. It was great. Yeah, I likened him to like a soccer dad who's trying to chase down the garbage truck with his trash can and he got out just a little bit too late. Yeah, so when he's finished punting, you guys must watch him to see him sprint off the film.

And his explanation was, I felt seen as a 43-year-old dad. His explanation was he has to do it. It's not because he's like a psycho or anything. It's because he's getting a little older. He tightens up. He's got to feel loose. So he does his little power sprints to loosen up the old limb so there's a pop a hammie. So good.

Yes. So that's my number. What about you? My number one is Quinn and Williams. Oh. I think Quinn and Williams has been a real true. because even as a Jets fan I didn't really know much about him

or felt like I knew like what his personality was and that's like when this show is at its best you learn more about these guys as people and you see he's just like a fun loving guy and like I honestly think with that we played it earlier with his Mike Evans exchange

I think that was real I think he's kind of a sensitive guy I think he's but he's also kind of kidding on the square because he knows how good he is he's confident in his abilities but also like it seems like someone very easy to talk to

so it's good to have somebody and you can see the way Sala talks about him that they have this rare guy that's hugely talented that they felt comfortable investing a ton of money in because they know the money's not going to make him a worse guy it's just going to amplify what makes

him a good teammate maybe now is he a commander he said he's a commander he seems almost too nice like Aaron Rogers i could see as a commander because you kind of got to be like the way Cobb explained rogers like you guys things are right now but you don't want to mess with him because he will light your ass up if you keep messing up like this big cue does he well have that in him i don't know if he does but he doesn't need it i don't know necessarily to be he's so lovable i talked to him at the combine years ago and he was the exact same way and he had his braces at that

point and a huge smile and he was just so happy to be there and so easy to talk to and was offering up all sorts of fun stories and I remember after he walked away from that interview everyone that was on the set with us we were all like I don't care of where he goes we will be fans of his front of he had braces yeah he was like a teenager um yeah there you go all right good and the and the vector voting system only two episodes left now so every vote counts. That's it. Wow, yeah. Big app for Quinn and Williams

in the MVP race, who I think has now announced himself as a real player as Hard Knocks. MVP, what's coming next before we sign off? You know, one thing I want to say so much hand-wringing about the Jets and not wanted to do the show and then

the idea that what kind of access did we get, will we get, we have gotten a lot of great access. We've learned a lot about the players. We've learned you know good practice access you know fun sideline stuff during these games are we going to get Connie in any of these last three episodes is we get closer to cut down day like the old model was actually better for hard knocks where cuts kind of were broken down into

phases instead of all in one shot instead of all in one shot so that that built up some of the drama narrative wise for the show that's gone but I wonder are we going to see conversations behind the scene between coaches the coaches room's talking about let's use as an example Connie the running back conversation correct where they have four guys that they like but really probably only room for three of them um in old in prior seasons of hard knocks we've seen the running back coach pounding the table for a guy he loves we've seen it do staley we saw last year in Detroit with the Lions that's how we met so many of the coaches that's how we fell in love with so many of the coaches, I want to see the deliberations. I want to see guys getting

into arguments about why their guys should make the team. And also, I like, I always love in the background, you kind of see the board, but you can't make out the names. I just want to see the whole setup of what they're dealing with up there. And I was like, I'm thinking even not that long ago, the Browns Hard Knocks, Greg Williams, the DC publicly, or not privately, I should say, privately challenging Hugh Jackson, the head coach with Hugh right there. That was spicy And Hugh In a

You know Self-defensive way Saying I'm driving this bus Like real tension In that room Now every I know At least from where we're standing

Everything is great And hunky dory Around the Jets right now But there's got to be These are all guys that are competing And as coaches They all have strong opinions Maybe we'll get some more of that

In the last two ups We don't know Let's see some drama We're here for the drama The gossip Let's see it all Mm-hmm. All right. Connie, you've said it all. I have. All gas, no break.

You're off to Philadelphia. Hopefully there will be breaks for the plane. God, yeah, I hope so. That's where you went. Let's do the math here. What? Yeah, I hope there's landing gear, too. We have eight miles about probably two and a half hours. A Best of Journey playlist. Yep. maybe I'll you want to like a 10 track best of journey I would love that I'll shoot you a little link of that so that'll be an hour so that takes you to three and a half hours what is it five hours to Philly yeah about that all right what was the other thing you were going to do there was something else and I already forgot it because I didn't write it down I do have a bag of meatballs though

Bag of meatballs, you're going to scarf those down. They're going to be smelly, and the person next to you is going to be pissed off. It's going to be great. Bag on meatballs, it's going to, surprisingly, it takes a long time to eat the meatballs, 20 minutes. Yeah. So now we're at three hours, almost four hours. And hopefully I can remember what the other thing was. Oh, I remembered it.

I was going to come up with new categories for Robert Sala for the four levels of competitors. That will take you easily an hour and you're touching down at the Philadelphia International Airport. Straight to the Phillies game. And away we go. Go see them fills playing great baseball. Yeah. The second one. All right.

More than I could say for my Yankees. Aaron Rogers, go win a World Series for the Yankees. We could use you. We could use you. All right, that's it. Until next Tuesday, thank you to everybody for following along. And, of course, check out around the NFL as well for more football takes. Until next week, heed the call.

This is an Ihaired Pardt podcast. Thank you.