NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Josh Gordon trade, Lindsay Rhodes TA Reads & Will Brinson Joins the Show

Episode Date: September 19, 2018

In a room partially filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling and Lindsay Rhodes – react to the Patriots acquiring Josh Gordon from the Browns (5:00), friction between Antonio Brown and the Steelers (11:00), Carson Wentz is cleared to play against the Colts (18:00), long live FITZMagic according to DeSean Jackson (20:00) and the ‘Kicker Apocalypse’ continues (25:15). Later, Lindsay reads some creative Total Access topicals (28:45) and CBS Sports’ Will Brinson joins the show to discuss ‘Things About 2018 That Are Way Different Than 2017’ (33:50).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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Wrangler, Real Comfortable Jeans. The Around the NFL podcast has the vapors. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined in a room filled with some heroes to my left. Chris Wessling to my right. Oh, my goodness. It's Lindsay Rhodes. What's up, people?

Hey, Dan. Hi, Dan. Hi. We were testing out some new communications right before the show. show. Holla. Lindsay's throughout Holla, which people know. I'm bringing the ER back.

Holler. I don't. That makes me feel like I'm in Kentucky and we're down in holler. Right. Holler at me after school. Through Hill and Gail. Wow. We, all right.

Some housekeeping here. If you watched the premiere of our Twitter show, which Lindsay obviously did. Obviously. A plus, A minus. Solid A, like where? Is there anything better than an A plus? like can I do A plus gold star B minus is all of the above yeah thank you you don't what are you saying the B minus huh B minus inside joke it doesn't matter okay it's a damn thing um thank you for watching

the Twitter show that will be every Tuesday at 1 30 Pacific 430 Eastern something something in the UK I believe that's 930 p.m. in the UK yeah so check that out uh Greg is with his baby girl in Disneyland right now, which is, okay, nice dad work, but at the same time. Say hello to Sidney Carlson for us. Yeah, La Cid, who is undoubtedly in Disneyland right now, as she always is. And yes, Mark Sessler, still not with us. Mr. Sessler over the weekend was not feeling well when he woke up Sunday morning, and it led to hospital visit, and Mark seems to be okay now,

and we're really happy about that. He's home, so everything is good. But we learned, loose cannon, that The Quiet Storm has an audio message for both the podcast and the listeners. That sounds good. Hey, guys, it's Mark. And perhaps you've noticed that I've not been on the show this week. Or perhaps you've not noticed. That would make sense, too.

Just a quick update on Sunday. went to the emergency room with pain in my chest, not sure what it was, and found out that it was a reoccurrence of blood clots in my lung, so not a total joyride, for the most part. We'll be out this week, but I'll be back soon. And I would be remiss if I did not remission a little game on the horizon come Thursday night.

the Browns hosting the New York Jets the Cleveland Browns who have not won a game in two or three million years planning on Thursday night to square up against the Jets look them in the eye and knock them down that's why I am going to lock it up Seacrest out

it's a very tough situation first of all First of all, it's very serious, and then he kind of called you to the carpet, didn't he? A little bit. But you know what? I've never been playing with more house money going into a game because I really do. Like Colleen was on our Twitter show and she was saying how it would be great because she's going to be on the set to be there when the streak ends, the winless streak. And now you've got the mark health crisis and the Browns really deserve a win.

Are you rooting for the Browns? I will never go that far to root against the Jets. But if there ever is a game where I'll take it, I'll wear it and not have. an issue with it, it's Thursday. What, though? You don't want to be the one team that loses the Browns. The Steelers should have done it already. The Saints should have done it.

There's no shame in losing to the Browns. I think they're a competitive team. Totally. If the Jets win, I'll be very happy because I'll be two and one and we're flying. If they lose, hey, it makes Mark stay better. You're a very good friend. I think I am. I think that's what we take out of this, right?

What's the word palliative? It can have a palliative effect on. Are you seriously going to go make, I'm going to go, I'm Googling palliative. Fine, I'll be the one. How does that effect on Mark's health. But Mark, we love you. Take as much time as you need. But, yeah, come back.

It's not the same without you. Yeah, that's scary. Take care of yourself. So get well soon. Mark, Will Brinson of CBS joining us a little bit later. But before that, let us do some news. All right, let's start with Josh Gordon. Mark's favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, finally decided,

and this broke on Saturday night that they, after, Josh Gordon showed up to a practice late, and they had some concerns, I think, about his sobriety or something. It was very kind of... Or something. Or something. There was something going on again. It seemed out of character or off in some way, according to the plain deal.

So they finally decide it's time to get rid of Josh Gordon. After years of working to see if they can make it work between player and team, they announced he's going to be waived, and then it becomes a situation where they're going to look to trade them. And what happens? On Monday, it's announced by the Browns that they trade the wide receiver and a conditional 2019 seventh round pick to the Patriots, the Patriots of all teams for a 2019 fifth rounder.

So we're a little late on this news, but we've got to touch on it. Lindsay, start. Well, wait, can we start with what this means for Mark? Oh, my God. I mean, it's already rough enough, right? and now he's going to have to drink bleach. That went viral. Mark saying he texted Saturday night and obviously a distressed state.

He texted that he would drink bleach if the Browns traded Josh Gordon to the Patriots. For some reason, to do the jets in there too, which felt like a shot at me. For like a year or two, right? Like, isn't it? I mean, there's like, yeah, there's a time frame. It's not just a one-time thing. And poor Mark, it ends up going viral. to the point where like clowns like Darren Ravel are quote retweeting

and it just becomes a whole thing. So what it means to be fair, like we did this to Demerius Randall with the whole Jersey thing in Cleveland. He could just go that route and say that he was kidding, obviously, because he's not interested in dying in the interest of the rounds. Sometimes I wonder. Yeah, maybe it's best just to get off Twitter, all of us. See, I don't have these complications with Twitter that you guys do.

I take it for what it is, but I understand why it gets annoying if you put something out there like that that people are going to seize on it. When Mark comes back, we'll have to have a conversation about his reaction to that. He could always blame it on the health issues, say something was clearly off. Smart. When Mark tweets that, he's tweeting it for his followers who know him and they know it's clearly a joke. And then like Black Sports Online and Dan Revelle get a hold of it. And they have no idea who Mark is and they see it as cherry picking for clicks. he was joking right of course he was joking good good good uh although i mean the colonel the story on

this podcast is this has been mark's nightmare for four years it has explain why he has said this over and over again anytime we've talked about josh gordon's in suspensions and the browns finally giving up on him his reservation every time is that josh gordon is going to get sober join the patriots become an all pro win the super bowl and become the toast of the league have the success that his Browns will never have. And that's what happened with Chris Carter years ago when he got to the Vikings from the Eagles. And we're all hoping that Josh Gordon is sober and stays sober.

But you can understand why Brown's friends would be frustrated, especially when there's no like proof necessarily or it's not out there that he actually did have any type of relapse. Did they just lose patience? And I think it's a great. I don't think a grown person can believe. that the Browns, after six years of patience, just said he hurt his hamstring in a weird way. We're just going to throw in the towel.

There has to be more to the story. Yeah, by the way, a hamstring that's now fully recovered and he's ready to play this week for the Patriots. But I kind of look at it from a different point of view. I think that some of the moves that we've seen made in Cleveland this year feel very different from moves that we've seen in Cleveland in years past. It feels like John Dorsey has a firm grasp on where he wants to. this team to go and that he's kind of a no-nonsense type of guy and that while Hugh wants to give

people second and third chances, as we saw on Hard Knocks, I feel like this might actually be a good sign for the future of the Cleveland Browns. And I understand why Browns fans would be completely afraid that he would be like the Super Bowl MVP at the end of this season. But I still think that this is a good move for that particular franchise, which at some point you have to draw a line in the sand and say, this does not fly here anymore, and you have to be... I get that. You have to have that rule hard and fast across the board for anyone to take you seriously. They showed a ton of patience, and I thought it was tailing on hard knocks when Josh Gordon

reappeared from another mysterious absence near the end of training camp. Hugh Jack's a big smile on his face kind of saddles up next to Todd Haley, the offensive coordinator. He's like, you know, something along the lines of he's back, he's back. And then Todd was like, well, you know, is he in shape? It seemed like Hugh was more excited about the specter of what Josh Gordon could be. And everybody else is kind of like, well, you know, we'll see. That was totally my takeaway, too, that Todd was completely nonplussed. Yeah, exactly.

So we'll see what happens. It's a high upside trade, I think, for the Patriots, if it all connects. And we don't know if it will. Can he grasp the playbook? Can he stay on the straight and arrow? But if it all does work out, he's exactly what that team seems to be missing on offense, right? Yeah, I'm sure. Bill Belichick watched the game Sunday night, the tape.

and he saw how creative the Jacksonville Jaguars were and taking out Rob Grancowski and how Tom Brady could not make them pay because Julian Edelman's suspended. Chris Hogan's not a number one receiver. Philip Dorset's not a number one receiver. These guys aren't drawing double coverage or beating extra coverage or even beating single coverage a lot of time.

They needed a guy like Josh Gordon. And what's the downside? The draft, I think we all know the draft is about four rounds deep every year. You can get lottery tickets in the fifth, six, and sevens round, but there's not many starters coming out of those rounds. So what do you give up? We'll see how it all plays out. Moving on, drama around the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Can you hit me up with like, you're a California born and bred woman? Yes. You hit me like almost like, I don't want to say Valley Girl. That's almost insulting to you. How about like the up talk? Yeah, give me a little up talk. Just give me something like drama, something like that. Like the recap up the story?

Yeah, just give it to me. I don't know what they're doing in Pittsburgh. You guys, things are out of control. Maybe I'm bounce shop. A, B's like, trade me. And Ben is like, no, no, no, guys, look at me. Let me say something to make you look at me. I'm hurt to.

My elbow hurts. Very good. Wow, that's impressive. Wow, I am impressed. That was, if they ever reboot, and I think SNL has to say goodbye to the Californians, But if they ever reboot it, however,

just the way they recap the way people talk about how they're getting to where they're going, I don't know that anyone outside of L.A. fully understands how genius that is. Yes, it is. So good. That came really naturally to you. It was very natural.

It's lurking within. It's like where I'm from the Northeast, certain people that are from, let's say, New England, they work that harsh New England accent out of their system through the years, but then after a couple drinks, all of a sudden, like, the R's disappear. I'm slowing right out. Yeah. Anyway, let's get Lindsay drunk, basically,

and just let her go all out with the old school accent. On the next around the NFL podcast. Antonio Brown, some troll, former team employee, kind of makes a comment. A.B. needs to thank his lucky stars because he was drafted by a team that had Ben, and Ben got A.B. paid. You know, darn well, he wouldn't put up those numbers for other teams.

That was a tweet from this former employee. you the team. Antonio Brown quote retweets, trade me, let's find out. That leads to more drama around the 0-1-1 Steelers who are already going through stuff. They couldn't beat the Browns. They don't have Lev Bell. And now to compound matters, Antonio Brown's not at the next team practice.

And this is what, Antonio, this is what Mike Tomlin had to say about that situation. I'm not going to openly talk about a lot of things that occur in social media. You could be chasing that all ways. I will say this. It's important that we understand our position, the light that shined on us and the responsibility that comes with it. It's been a couple of instances now where you've asked me about Antonio regarding some social media like things. I'll address that and address that very directly with him.

But I'll leave that between he and I. He was not. No, I'm looking forward to visiting with him today and discussing that and some other things. I'm not going to get into the details of why he wasn't here or whether he was excused and all of those things. I just assume leave those things in-house. And, of course, Mike Tomlin, you'll note there. He didn't say definitively that it was even an excused practice

for Antonio Brown, which further muddies the waters. I don't care what the agent says, Wes. It seems like there's a little smoke here. There is a lot of smoke. There's fire here. And to me, erase any connection to Levi-on-Bell. This is a separate story that goes back to last year and the year before. At the end of the 2016 season, do a Google search for Antonio Brown and pout or pouting.

And you'll see multiple stories that he was pouting because he wasn't getting the ball enough. He wasn't getting the ball on the right routes enough. So he started freelancing and doing his own route running. And if you'll remember after that season, there was trade talk, what the Steelers put up with him. And then last year, there's a disconnect between him and Big Ben. He was miffed about the way the national anthem controversy was held, that Big Ben in a team meeting did not want players kneeling,

and Antonio Brown wanted to kneel. These two have issues going back a couple of years, and I think it's totally separate from Levi-on-Bell. Well, and Mike Garofalo reporting yesterday that he's upset about the way in which he's been targeted on the field, like he's not being targeted on deep throws, yeah, but he's the most targeted receiver in the NFL. And at a certain point, you have to understand,

when you're the best receiver in the NFL, like a lot of people think that he is, that you're going to draw a lot of defenders and that's just going to be your job. And then that works for the offense. Sometimes your numbers are going to go down as a result because then Juju Smith-Schuster is going to be open. And, you know, Reggie Wayne told us yesterday on Total Access,

he dealt with that a lot when he was in Indianapolis. He played both roles. He was the guy who got the ball because Marvin was drawing defenders. And then later in his career, He was that guy who was the number one who drew defenders himself. So it kind of just goes with the territory. To me, all of this comes back to Mike Tomlin, though. Like, why do all of these stories continue to come out of Pittsburgh?

And I really like him. I mean, he's got a swag and he's got like a, he comes across as somebody who doesn't put up with any guff, but then his players continue to put themselves in positions where they don't seem to know where the line is. Discipline seems to be an issue. And I realize that New England is a, like they're a unicorn, right?

Like nobody else in the league operates this way, but you can't help but say like none of this would fly in New England. You just wouldn't happen. Do you know what? So why is it that it happens in a place like Pittsburgh? We all have to kind of look at that at some point. In this specific instance, I think he's enabled and allowed to do this

because he's more invested than the quarterback. And what I mean by invest is he works harder than any wide receiver in the league. He works harder maybe than any wide receiver in history outside of Jerry Rice. he's invested in being great maybe more than Big Ben is invested in being great and I think that's where the frustration with Antonio Brown lies doesn't mean he should pout and run the wrong routes and be this outspoken

but I think it's a natural frustration and maybe that's why and I don't know maybe Big Ben on the surface looks like he's not as invested maybe he's equally or more so but you wonder if that's how Antonio Brown feels why he's unable to keep himself from being triggered by a tweet like that when someone says Big Ben is

because he's never caught a touchdown from any Steelers' backup quarterback when Big Ben's missed time. His production is minuscule when Big Ben's out. So I think it does strike a nerve with him. And you know what cures everything, though? Guys. Winning? Winning. What's their schedule look like? They've got Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buccaneers this at Tampa, home Baltimore, home Atlanta, at Cincinnati. That is not an easy schedule, and they could be in a little bit of trouble. But they also could easily win all four of those games. Let's take a hot minute to appreciate the fact that we just read off. Tampa Bay as a team that they're facing and we went oh gosh that's a tough one I don't know

I don't know if they're going to win that moving on the defending champions have their quarterback back Carson Wentz cleared to return will start week three versus the Indianapolis Colts Doug Peterson said he's ready ready to take the reins and move forward problems solved Sunday will mark the first time whence seized the field since tearing his ACL and LCL in December of of last year, Nick Foles started the first two games, Lindsay Rhodes, and kind of looked like bad Nick Foles. Kind of.

And I wondered on this podcast last week, if the Eagles did not look good, would they be pressured to get Wence back in the field sooner than they maybe would like to? We don't know. They'll never tell you whether or not this has been something that was accelerated based on the first two weeks, but it doesn't matter anyway, Wence is back. Yeah, and I mean, who knows? Who knows what to expect? If he comes out and he's Carson Wince,

the guy that we saw when he left with his injury, then great. This is a great move. As soon as he's healthy, as soon as he can walk, I'd put him back out on the field. But, you know, I don't know. I haven't seen him in practice.

Wouldn't you be shocked if he's like MVP candidate, Carson Wince right off the bat? I don't know if that would shock me, but it wouldn't shock me if he wasn't. I mean, I'm to a degree I'm kind of expecting him to need to ease back in. I mean, he hasn't even been practicing fully.

He hasn't been cleared for contact until this past week. So now it's like, hey, you can hit him. Go, start. Play now. Yeah, not just because of the injuries, but they, their ground attack wasn't there last week. Sean Jeffrey's out. Mike Wallace got injured is on. I mean, Jordan Matthews is back.

So. Who's an entirely different receiver than the guy he's replacing. He's sort of like a bigger slot receiver. And Mike Wallace is a deep threat with speed. And they need that speed because they have very little playmaking ability right now. Jordan Matthew, by the way, his hamstring, which was a problem and the reason that New England let him go in August now fully healed miraculously also. It's funny how hamstrings, you know, get fixed. Is there a hamstring conspiracy?

Aren't they supposed to be lingering? I don't know. But Matthews is back. His career went off the rails as soon as he left Philly where he spent his first three seasons. So we'll see if getting back in Philly helps matters. A former Philly player, Deshaun Jackson, now making big plays in Tampa with those unstoppable. Bucks. Fitzmagic is back. And guess what? Dijax, who never did really connect, Wes, with James Winston and his first season with the Bucks, has connected in a big way with

Ryan Fitzpatrick. And he is now telling the press, you can't take the hot guy out. On and off the field. He's dressing Ryan Fitzpatrick after the games. And he's already gotten two games as many deep catches from Ryan Fitzpatrick as he had all of last year with James Winston. And to me, this is a no-brainer. It's like Dak Prescott playing over Tony Romo. Or, you know, we talked about this on the video show yesterday, the Twitter show. It's a 20-year anniversary of the 98 season, which saw Randall Cunningham, Vinny Test Verdi, and Doug Flutie come in as journeyman veterans and lead all three of those teams to the playoffs. Fitzpatrick can do that because this offense is loaded.

Todd Monkin is overseeing the play calling. There's a lot more spacing. Receivers are running wide open. I think Fitzpatrick keeps this job. all year. I certainly think that there's no question that he keeps it when James is eligible to come back. I mean, I think he'd have to fall off a cliff and it would take a few weeks of that in order for James. Like literally, to see the field again. That would be pretty big story. That morose with my story. But yeah, Ryan Fitzpatrick is he's a guy who has nothing to lose.

Right. And he's playing like that. So he can take those chances. He's playing loose. I loved the post game. The get up thing. I just loved it. I loved what it meant for the locker room. I loved the message that it sent from a leadership standpoint. I loved that it's a quarterback who's not so aloof and separating himself from the group. I mean, it just sent so many subtle messages to me about what's going on there in Tampa Bay right now. I would ride that horse.

You know what people like Ryan Fitzpatrick? Because he's fun. And during Fitzmagic in 2015 with the Jets, same thing. He gets hot. He's very good of the media with his teammates. and he always is kind of a step back and kind of laughs at it all a little bit. He doesn't take things too seriously.

It's almost like he views his entire career is just kind of like this funny thing that's happened to him that he never expected. So you kind of attach yourself to that because it is such a different vibe than you see in professional sports, not just football, the way he views things. I like that guy.

And Dirk Cutter, but oh, go ahead. And let's not forget. It's not like James Winston was on sure footing before Ryan Fitzpatrick started playing well. I mean, James, we talked a lot in the off season about whether or not they should definitely draft a quarterback this April, no matter what happens with James this season. Because it just doesn't look like he's making smart choices off the field

or on the field as a, you know, from a quarterback standpoint. So it's not like we're replacing, you know, it's not Drew Bledsoe and all of a sudden Tom Brady is playing well. I mean, you have a shaky quarterback situation as it is. It's a long season and slumps happen, but I don't think he's going to be benched until an extended slump happens. Yeah. Finally, the kicker apocalypse of Week 2 has cost people their jobs, as we imagined.

That would happen. The Vikings decided to move on from Daniel Carlson, their fifth round pick. Carlson took ownership of what was a miserable day against the Packers. He said, I let my team down. And this one surprised me a little bit. Here was Mike Zimmer when he was asked about the decision to cut ties with Carlson. Here's how he played it. What's the thinking of the move or what went into the decision today to let Daniel Carlson go?

Did you see the game? Was it an easy decision? No, pretty easy. Cold, cold, cold blood. Yeah. So cold-blooded, and it actually got on my radar, and I like Mike Zimmer a lot. But you would never say that about anybody else on the team. And it just shows that disconnect. And, you know, to be perfectly honest, like disrespect for a guy that's a professional

that's going through something that probably is really crappy. I didn't like that at all. Yeah, I agree with that. But on the other hand, Dan Bailey strikes a blow for kickers. I've never seen this before. A kicker holds out for more money. He's not going to just sign with anyone. He's out there on the kicker circuit.

And he demanded to get paid. He got $2 million. dollars they didn't give him like the league minimum he he held out for money good for him yeah no that's good you don't you don't see kickers ever with leverage so he used it absolutely the second most accurate kicker in history the um and he's on the streets it's on which is why you hold out for that two million dollars because man a kicker with leverage i just didn't like that i didn't like i am the kind of person so this uh i i i root for the kicker if it comes down to the i mean i don't have a I don't have a if it's my team like if it's USC then I'm not rooting for the kicker to beat them at the end of the game but every other game I'm rooting for and it doesn't matter what storyline I've been rooting for if it comes down to it I hate the idea that one guy is going to walk off the field after a 60 minute game in which so many things could have happened and so many people could have made plays to win it and everyone's going to say this person lost the game for us I hate that that's the narrative that takes over it just bugs me.

We hear all the time that it's unfair that a kicker who's not involved, who's on the field for about 60 seconds of real time during a game, gets to decide the fates of the other 52 players and the coaching staff. But it's also unfair how the position has evolved. Kicker was never meant to have, like within 1.3 seconds of a swing of his leg, have the entire game resting on his shoulders. In 1982, Mark Mosley won MVP because nobody expected kickers to reliably come through in the clutch. He was a towbanger at the time. Now they're all soccer star kickers making 90%

of their kicks. Tobanger, he says. I like that. It's just evolved in a way where you're expected to nail every kick and that was never the purpose of the kicker in football. In other news, the Browns, as expected, cut ties with Zane Gonzalez and signed a new kicker. Greg Joseph. Greg Joseph, who was on the in camp of the Dolvins, didn't make the team. So maybe things will go better for Greg than it did for poor Zane and the Rams also had to sign a kicker because their guy, Greg the leg, has an injury. Sam Fikin. Fikin. Fikin. Fikin. He is back in the league so he will take the place of Greg the leg temporarily as he recovers from a groin injury. They've got a new ficking kicker. New ficken kicker. And by the way, Hugh Jackson. Young Gizi and

that that thick and kicker yeah uh Hugh Jackson didn't uh know of a a groin injury that San Gonzalez might have had I don't know if that's the Brown's fault or or he hid the injury but just too many of these stories around the Browns I don't know why Josh Gordon actually started the game when he wasn't supposed to start right I didn't know the kicker was this I didn't know this I didn't know that Hugh come on that's a point and and finally in kicker news that's how they do things around there yeah finally in kicker news I did I do have a prop a sandwich which prop, Lindsay, with Greg Rosenthal, that my boy, Kai forbath, would get a job out of all this madness.

Kai's still on the couch. So, daddy's going to have to pay out a sandwich. And I ain't happy about it. Hey, there's still a few days. Someone can pull a hamstring. That's all I got now. I have a few days for someone to get hurt. And I'm not going to do that.

I'm not that guy. I don't root for that. So I'll just pay up the sandwich. I'll pay up and that will be it. That's what's happening in the news. All right. Okay, before we get to our boy, Will Brinson from CBS, we need, we have Lindsay here. So if you remember the last time Lindsay was here in the spring, we took advantage of her expert abilities to read Total Access, which is the flagship program of NFL Network, air six times a week at 7 p.m. Eastern.

That's right. I love that you're like, like, question mark. Lindsay hosts that program with Scott Hansen. So part of your gig, Lindsay, of course, is that you do the promos, or as you have taught me, topicals. Okay, yes, that's what we call them. So while we're using jargon, before we kiss you off, we need to, that's jargon. You're like a professional TV person now. Let's do some topicals, TA Topicals, from the future with Lindsay Rhodes.

And if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, this is what a topical sounds like just two days away from the first game of week three will it be win number one for cleveland we've got your thursday night look ahead straight ahead on the NFL total access all right so here's some topicals from the future some promos from the future i have in my hand this is what you read off sometimes or is it prompter what do you do that yeah no that yeah that card number one here we go wait for the music okay okay Tonight on NFL Total Access, the Cardinals and Bills decide to combine teams to feel the competitive single entity for a balance of the season. For the balance of the season, I'm a professional reader.

Sean McDermott and Steve Wilkes will fight to the death for the right to be head coach live on the Kyle Bram football experience. Plus, Matt Prater is in studio to explain why place kickers are the only real men left in this world. Tonight, 7 Eastern. All right, very good. A little beefy. Maybe I should have an edit. It's the music loops. Okay, we'll keep playing from the beginning again.

All right, let's try this one. This one's a little bit shorter and a decent read, but poor writing mostly. Go ahead. Tonight on NFL Total Access, the Browns make it official. The last 20 years have been an extended Truman show-style social experiment targeted at Los Angeles-based sports writer Mark Sessler. Gotcha, bud. Plus, Matt Prater is in studio to discuss why he prefers his jewel souveed to any other cooking product on the market right now. Tonight, 7 Eastern.

A lot of praetor love. We're just like, you know, the kickers are in the news. Let's just go with that. I mean, you got to get Prater. He's going to be an earring. Oh, Prater is in this one too. All right, last one. Tonight on NFL Total Access, dogs can walk now.

They're talking a little bit too. How will this news affect the Browns on Thursday night football against the Jets? Plus, Matt Prater in studio for a discussion on how the dog news changes the dynamic of the master pet relationship tonight, 70s turn. Do dogs not already walk? Upright. Upright. Yeah. Look at him.

Like looking at this critically. Yeah. I was like, when do dogs not walk? No, no, no. They can walk now. fine, Wes, then focus on the talking part of you. We'll edit the copy, Wes, walk on their hind legs. Dogs are now bipedal.

The live Twitter show, by the way, B-minus. I was lying. What a couple of me, thank you. Lindsay Rhodes, you've done it again. You came in here and you changed everything. Are you sweating? A little bit. He's like wiping his forehead as if.

Am I making you nervous? You make me nervous. She is the host. of Total Access. She is a stalwart around here. Monday through Friday, 7 Eastern. Monday through Friday. Tonight on NFL Total Access, 7 Eastern.

At Lindsay Rhodes on Twitter. And is that right? Is there a underscore? I think it's Lindsay underscore Rhodes. And the best damn valley girl accent in the game right now. Thanks, Dan. It's too real. You posted that photo on Instagram recently from your cheerleading day.

At Eltharo. And now I have the image of. what you looked like and what you sounded like. I did not sound like that. We didn't talk like that in Orange County. I think everybody to a degree was in California. Yeah, like in the late 80s. Yeah.

I'm like, where else are you going to go hang out? All right, Lindsay, thank you. Bye, guys. Bye, Lindsay. Let's take a moment to hear from our sponsor. You may or may not have heard, but Lowe's is the new home of craftsmen, which means that at Lowe's,

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And now we'll welcome in another wonderful human being. You know him from his noted Twitter feed. You know him from his writings on CBS Sports and his daily podcast, which is called The Pick Six podcast. The Pick Six podcast. I should have known it. I'm a bad host. It's Will Brinson. What's up, buddy? Welcome to the round of the NFL podcast. Well, I thought you were actually setting me up to dive in on it, Dan. It sounded like a good hosting job. You told on yourself there. I've had, I've got, I think I've got like three quarters of the heroes on so far West. We'll have to get you on to chat football.

And what does it, Shaq calls it, the game of life at some point? Oh, yeah, anytime. Sheck has one of my favorite Sheckisms. You're not just surviving. The goal is to live. L-I-V-I-N, baby. Very true. Will is a longtime friend of the show, and we thought, you know, it was time to have Will on.

It's just Wes and I. So it's just going to be a three-man weave here. And why not dig into, as we look ahead to Week 3, a segment we like to call, things about 2018 that are way different than 2017 pithy catchy it is what it is I mean it's a Wednesday seg yeah and we're doing our best will you are the guest so you will kick it off for us what is way different I'll tell you what the thing that struck me going back and watching some NFL game pass that that is yeah hey you know NFL dot com slash game That's free seven-day trial right now.

Actually, if you go to NFL.com, back to pick six, you get a free seven-day trial, too. This is some good stuff. There's some sad stuff, but I'm enjoying it. No, I was watching the Colts and Redskins game this morning because I was trying to figure out how in Hades, the Redskins just got their doors blown off from a, you know, basically got out manned by the Colts who were supposed to be this weak soft team. And I'll tell you what's different. The Colts aren't weak. The Colts are tough. The Colts are nasty.

And the Colts have talent or at least hustle and energy on both sides of the line and in the trenches. Quinn Nelson is a bad, bad man, guys. And I know Wes, I think we either tweeted or wrote about maybe Margus Hunt. They've been getting Matt Eberflis, the defensive coordinator, is getting maximum effort out of Marcus Hunt and Jabal Sheard. I think the Redskins have one of the best offensive lines of the league when they're healthy. And the Colts were getting consistent pressure on Alex Smith and getting a lot of push on the defensive side of the ball. And I was really, really surprised by the effort from the Colts on both sides. And I think that one of the things that we sort of sleep on when we cover the NFL is the upgrade, downgrade factor in coaching.

Like I think it's happening right now in Arizona. Steve Wilkes, a really good human being. They probably be a fine coach at some point. But a big downgrade right now from Bruce Ariens. the Colts coaching staff as a whole is a huge upgrade over what they had before. Yeah, you're talking about a Redskins team that bullied Arizona in week one. And then the Colts took it to him. Margus Hunt is throwing people around other human beings.

He's just picking them up and moving them. Darius Leonard had 18 tackles in that game. He's a beast. The Colts aren't what people think they are. And Margus Hunt, he joins Chris Hogan as maybe the, and I, let me know if I'm missing. anybody but guys that were set up on hard knocks to be kind of lovable underdogs or just kind of side characters that after kind of going underground for a couple of years have now emerged as actual players in the league like hunt is a difference maker yeah i mean look he's a what is he

is he latvian or estonian i can't remember he's not he's estonian the eastern block all the all those eastern uh europeans look the same to me uh the uh no i mean look he he won't He was. He was like this, like, oh, this big guy who's making a transition from, you know, some, like, discus throwing or something like that into actually being a football play. I don't think he actually was a disthrow, but shot putter, something. Shot putter, yeah, exactly. Right, right, right. Or like an extra on Game of Thrones or something.

And he comes in and now he's developed into this guy who has gotten technique to go along with a raw strength. He's throwing dudes around, like you pointed out. I think one of the guys, too, on that defense, who's not as physical per se, West, that we can end up seeing make a major impact this year if he stays healthy. is Malik Hooker. Even when you see like it was James and Crowder on an end around had a fumble and hooker just like he just he is he like is just attracted to the ball. Like he's just a ball hook, a guy who knows how to go get it and he immediately picks it up. He's running. It got overturned. But you can just see the instincts of him being able to make a difference. I think that this Colts team could, I mean, I don't know. If they can, if they can. I want to hear this. Go out on a limb.

Do it. Do it. Do it. I mean, I mean, I, I, I, they can. I don't know. I mean, I, I, I, they can win the division. Why not? They could win that. I don't think they will. They could finish, they could, they could definitely finish second in the division at this point and it would not surprise me at all. If Jacksonville were to suffer some injuries on defense, why not the Colts? Speaking of Frank Wright, give him credit for this. The Colts are number one in the NFL by a wide margin on third down offense. They've converted six more third downs than any other team and are easily the highest percentage of third downs. Andrew Luck's getting the ball out quickly make he's not being like is vulnerable under pressure because he's not doing those deep

dropbacks and they are moving the chains all right west what do you got what about 2008 has been way different than 2017 2017 when i say eight 2008 did i say just breeze past it yeah forget it 2018 but 2008 that was an interesting year you've got you've got maroon five on your mind slightly less interesting because of bernard pollard that year that is a year he took out tom brady But last year, defense has gained a slight toehold on offenses. The passer rating for the first time in years dropped. This year, quarterbacks have an average passer rating over 100. Over 100.

John Elway, one of the greatest quarterbacks in history, retired with a career passer rating of 79.9. This is how easy it is to throw the ball in the NFL this year. And it's not just the sacral, the putting your weight on a guy and pile driving them into the ground, that you're not allowed to do it. It's not just the helmet roll. Quarterbacks are healthy. You have Aaron Rogers, Deshawn Watson, Andrew Luck, who you didn't have last year,

and you've got guys like Patrick Mahomes. It feels like last year with Romo retiring, Kaepernick being, I guess, cast out of the league or whatever, a few other guys. The best quarterbacks in the world weren't running NFL teams, and this year they are.

Yeah, I think the opposite of what we saw from last year, like it's week three and Carson Winters. is coming back. You know, it was like week three last year. We're losing quarterbacks left and right. Guys are getting injured. Guys are dropping down. I know that Chase Stewart had tweeted out something about the pass rating. And I think too, like the other thing that's interesting about that, Wes, is we've now seen a proliferation of Andy Reed disciples sort of floating across the NFL, right? I mean, I know Frank Reich isn't one per se, but he came, you know, he was the O.C. under Doug Peterson, who was the O.C. under Reed. And then he had Matt

Nagy, even defensive guys like Sean McDermott and Ron Rivera, and Andy Reed has, you know, always operated the West Coast system. He sort of seems to be moving away from it this year a little bit, but I think that you have... It's sort of morphed into something else, right? Like, it's the West Coast plus college concepts.

Yeah, exactly. And it's, and I think that these college concepts that you talk about are designed to improve completion percentage, and that's why we sort of see in this spike. Like, it's a combination of the talent coming in with the quarterbacks and the schemes that these guys are running. Well, yeah, that's that's another new thing about 2018 how much running backs are being used in the passing game more than ever like there's guys like sayquan barkley getting 15 targets that's so unusual to see a running back use that much is it making the offense is better and like with the giants as an example he's getting 15 targets but averaging less than five yards of reception I guess it still have to use them in a way that makes the offense better right I think you have to take it on a case by case basis in the giants right now just have a check down office

Fykes. Speaking of offenses that don't get you excited, Wes, you and I think a lot of people saw the changing of the guard in the NFC occur on December 17th of 2017. That's when the Rams went to the clink and destroyed the Seahawks. So I think we've known for a while that maybe the Seahawks window closed as and it was open for a long time and almost incredibly they only got one ring out of it, and if you're a Seahawks fan, you're excited and you look back fondly and wistfully on that run, but also a little bit of what if that you never can get back. That sucks. However, what's different about 2018 to 2017, this time last year, and that's kind of how I looked at this segment, was early in 2017, the Seahawks were still had their core together.

They got off to a one-and-one start, and you weren't sure what team they would be, but you kind of thought they were going to figure it out and again be a team in the NFC to be reckoned with at the start of 2018 two weeks in I don't think there's any question that the Seahawks are an also ran that the Seahawks are a rebuild and you see it on both sides of the ball I was borderline depressed watching Monday night football because it gave me like an acid flashback of watching Brian Schottenheimer's offenses with the Jets in the turn of this decade when this was you know uh 2,000. 12 jets, Mark Sanchez, three and outs that happen in 35 seconds. You go to get a beer, you get back to the living room, and they're already punting the ball.

There's just, it just seems there's no, there's no imagination to that offense. And I know that it's not just about that. I know that they might not have the skill players, the offensive line, and the defense is clearly in transition at this stage. But you put the whole thing together. It's like the Seahawks don't matter right now. And that's a big change from what we've gotten used to over the last five or six years. I think you put it well that they don't matter.

They're no longer a glamour franchise. And when you look at that game Monday night without Bobby Wagner, without KJ Wright, without Doug Baldwin, this is a bottom three NFL roster with the Bills and the Cardinals, I think. The Seahawks are that bad without that trio. I would say I did a piece on 0 and 2 teams for CBS Sports.com this past week. And I was just sort of digging into that. Yeah, I mean, that's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, do it.

Yeah, of course. Educating America. But, you know, I thought it was really interesting because, you know, we had this stretch in like the mid-2000s where there were a bunch of these teams that came back from O&2 and made the playoffs. And then there was a three or four-year stretch where it didn't happen. And we've had one team every single year since 2013 do it. The Panthers did it in 2013.

I didn't, I obviously don't remember the piece well enough to name every team. Saints did it last year, but looking at it, the common concepts of these teams were that they had a good quarterback most of the time. I think Ryan Tano was the only exception with that Dolphins team. Dolphins fans are going to be up in your mentions. Well, I mean, mostly it's like Cam Newton, Andrew Locke, Russell Wilson. Oh, no, I know. Sorry, the only exception was Brian Hoyer, the Texans did it as well. And then that mallet, when they benched mallet after his alarm clock incident.

But the, but they also had veteran coaching. and if you looked at their first two games, they ended up playing teams that were better than we thought they were, or at least ended up being pretty good and sort of maybe the team. I guess my point here is with the Seahawks. I wonder if it's possible that the Broncos and Bears,

both of whom the Seahawks had to play on the road, might end up having top 10 or top five defenses, and we look back on this Seahawks team and say, all right, they did end up making run. I'm not saying they're good. I just feel like Russell, Wilson and Pete Carroll, If I were picking out of the teams that are currently 0 and 2, I think you would either have to pick the Seahawks or the Texans as a team to make a playoff run.

That's fair. That's fair. Those defense both can have being the stories of the season or big storylines in the season. All right. Let's go one more time. Will, then West. Brinson, hit us with a Brin bomb. Well, so the biggest revelation of 2018 for me versus 2017 is that I'm off this Chargers

bandwagon and, man, does it feel so freaking blood? I wish Craig was here for this. No, yeah, I said that I was, I was like, I was saying I was renouncing my Chargers pick after the, I think it was the Jason Verrett, ACL Ter. It's just, it's not worked anymore. Like, I'm, maybe it's, maybe it's my bad juju or like, maybe it's me and Philip Rivers, you know, both were at NC State at the same time. That's probably what it is. It probably is the bad juju that's coming from Insig State. Like, it's totally possible.

And so I decided to renounce my Chargers pick. I ended up, well, I guess you can't say this because it's an NFL. dot com podcast but like i have a friend give it a show i had a friend who went and and wagered on the chiefs to win the division out in las vegas uh and on the chiefs over and so i'm rooting for my friend to win and so so therefore i'm i'm inherently rooting for the chiefs and i pick the chiefs to go to the super bowl and it feels so much better like it's it's like if i were to teach my four-year-old son to be a um to like to be a a carolina basketball fan instead of an nc state basketball

fan like he just just doesn't know anything but winning like that's just and it's and it's and it's just the chiefs are just better coached i don't have to worry about these stupid chargers losses uh every september i know they beat the i know they beat the the bills this past week but they're going to you know get run over by the rams and and i got to tell you i'm on board of this chief's idea and it's it's fun to be ahead of the curve on the patrick mahomes bandwagon easily um one of the two or three best stories of the first two weeks christ corciani and rodney monroe called you're out of the club, your persona non grata. Courts is my boy.

Is he? Yeah, I love watching him. I think it's a smart move. Because I don't think there's a, I don't think there's a reality where the Chargers stick it to you and win a Super Bowl. The Chargers are always going to charge her. And you just don't want to be involved with that. Why should you be? Right.

Exactly. Look, I'm here for Philip Rivers winning a Super Bowl. It would be awesome. You know, it would, it would be a highlight. Like, he's one of my. five favorite athletes to ever watch up there with, you know, other notable, like Phil Mickelson and John Smoltz and Greg Maddox. I mean, but like Rivers is right.

Yeah, but other bunch of white dudes. Yeah, right, exactly. And it would be awesome to watch. Let's stick into that. Yeah. Can we unpack that? Sure. All right.

So, Greg. I like O'Don Nixon, too. There you go. You're covered. That's all you needed to do, Will. how you're good. Otis Nixon. Greg's still driving that bandwagon.

And I'm like just in the passenger seat deciding whether to open the door and roll out. But so far, I'm all, I'm along for the ride. We'll see what happens. But I think they're a playoff team still. Wes, I'm sorry. Well, say it. I do too. I do too.

I think they need to get Joey Bosa back in a big way. I agree with you on the Derwin James hype there, West. This guy is, he's so special. Watching him as a, as a freshman at Florida State. He can play like eight out of 11 positions. Wow. And he's a freaking safety. So I'm excited for that.

Take us home, Wes. The catch rule's fixed. That's different. Or we just not had the controversial play yet that exposes it. It makes sense. It's just that all of the confusion that went into that labyrinthine role that nobody could figure out and there was no clarity. That's now the you can't sack a quarterback role. that's what's changed to me about 2018

and I'm a little miffed about it that you have rules and nobody the catch rule always bothered me because it's not just the fans who don't understand the players and coaches don't understand what the rule is and now this rule the Clay Matthews hit I didn't watch it when we talked about it Sunday

during the after the game I'm really miffed about this I have no idea what a defender's supposed to do so you either have to change the rule and make quarterbacks off limits like kickers and puns hunters after they throw the ball. You just can't hit them.

Or you have to allow them to hit them in the midsection. And I don't know what's going on. So to me, all of the confusion was on the catch rule. This rule is now equally as confusing. It's just a different rule. That's different. Isn't that annoying, though? It's just like you close one door.

Yes. Or like the, what's the thing where the, one of those stupid things in the ground, the animals? The whackamol. The whack-a-mole situation. Why do we have to have a whack-a-mole scenario? You know what really gets a man. It's whack-a-rule. Yeah, exactly.

You know what really? Wack-a-rule. I like that. What really annoys me is not only did the Clay Matthews penalty, should that have never happened, instead of the NFL owning it and being like, listen, we're trying to teach these guys not to go for the head, do not go for the quarterback's knees and their legs.

And then you flag a guy for taking a guy down in the midsection area, and then you stand behind it and double down and say, this is what we're going to use as a teaching tool, this play, you know, for future seasons. That to me just makes it all the more frustrating. Like, how do you not see that that is not a way to enforce rules? I don't get it. There's an extra layer of frustration for me because following sports for the last 30 years,

the NFL was always at the vanguard of positive change to make the game more entertaining, to advance the game. And just over the last five years, the rule changes have made the game worse, I think. And I get the safety rules. You're always going to have to do that. But either make him off limits or. don't, but there has to be clarity and rules. Your thoughts, Will.

Well, I got two thoughts on it. One, why did you wait until week three to, or like week two to issue this teaching tape? This was something, you have seven friggin months of the off season to let these guys know. You have all these, we have got to these owners meetings, like seven times a year. The owners have to fly in private jets to go meet together, talk about the rules and debate the rules and debate, you know, national anthem policies. and we can't sit down and have the competition committee hammer out what is going to be roughing the pastoral and what isn't. So that way, you know, at practice and at, you know, training camp, they can train and practice these techniques and get them instituted amongst the teams. And to slide this Aaron Rogers thing at the last second without really talking about it after they slid the helmet rule in under the veil of darkness.

And then to drop this, this bomb on everybody and say, no, this is this perfectly formed tackle is going to be illegal on, you know, in the, in between, week two and three is very discouraging. I will say, I had Von Miller on my podcast on Wednesday, the PXX podcast. Yeah, I heard about that. That's a good get, Will. Well, yeah, he was promoting Old Spice. It's fine.

Wait, did you get the Old Spice plug in at the top, or did you wait till the bottom until he got really antsy whether or not it was going to come? Oh, no, I always wait to the end. I like it. Toying with the PR people. Yes, well done. The worst is when they jump in.

They're like, excuse me, we need to get the It's like, hey, pal, I'm a pro too. Let me run the show. Get back in the cabin. But, yeah, but Vaughn pointed out, I thought this is fascinating. He said that he has taught himself or his goal when he gets into the pocket to go to the quarterback is to focus on the ball. So like in the situation with Cousins, he wouldn't have gone low at Cousins.

He would have gone high after the ball trying to knock it down. And I think that you can even though, like if Clay Matthews had like launched his helmet at high and it hit Kurt Cousins or something, it would have gone south and he would have gotten flagged for it. But if he'd thrown his arms up and dove at Kurt Cousin's arm while the ball was still there, I bet he doesn't get flag. So I disagree with the rule, but I thought that Vaughn made an interesting point

that if you were constantly seeking out the ball as a defender, you're probably not likely to get a flag. Well, kudos to the Pick Six podcast on this one, because that is an interesting point. And maybe we will see, because you put this out there with Von Miller, maybe other defenders will hear this and start altering their sack style. Chris Wessling, will you write an NFL.com post about the Pick Six podcast interview with Von Miller?

I'm a signing work. I've already got 17 jobs. I don't need an 18th. Will, you're delightful. We love you. And it's not just because you can hang with us when we belly up to the bar at these various league events. In fact, Will is a leader at these events. He's the guy that like...

He's like the Pied Piper. You can count on Will. This is the thing I love about Will, despite his excellent football knowledge. He's one of those studs that at these league events that it does involve, there's a social aspect to it. And people go out and they'll tie one on and have a good time. Will's that guy when you get to Radio Row the next morning and you're feeling not too well. Will is wearing his Oxford shirt and he looks, his hair is fine. And he's doing a live hit for CBS.

And Will's the guy that like, it doesn't matter how hard he goes the night before. that guy's locked in the next morning. And I always respected that about you, Will. Thanks. I went huge last night, if you guys have. I've seen Will doubled over and laughter at some of Sessler's bits when it gets wound up. So, go ahead. Well, no, the last time we hung out, it was in Orlando at the owner's meetings.

We've talked about this incident, but it was, Dan, it was me, Dan, and Mark, like, hanging late at the bar. I mean, you guys are flying up the next morning. Oh, that was rough. it's when Mark slid into that little the group with it was like Doug Moran and Sean Payton and Sessler

I don't know I was just watching for Disney like Mark what are you doing he just had his hands up with a big smile yeah it's incredible All right Will Brinson

follow him on on Twitter at Will Brinson a great follow he's a senior NFL writer for CBS Sports and yes the pick six pod which is a daily NFL podcast So subscribe to that iTunes or wherever you get your podcast.

Thank you, Will. You're the man. Thanks, Will. See you guys. And there he goes. Will Brinson. Love that guy. That's awesome.

We have come to the end of another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We will be back tomorrow, late tomorrow night, with a recap of Browns and Jets. And then a preview of all of the week three games as we. are want to do so uh that's it they get well soon to mark sessler uh and uh let us go this is dan hans signing up for the mailman lindsay rose kardashian accent the brinbaum and the loose cannon behind the glass still thursday This is an I-heart podcast.