NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Latest news & 'Stick A Fork'

Episode Date: November 13, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- react to the lastest NFL news including Dez Bryant's contract situation and the crew plays "Stick a Fork In 'Em" eliminating 10 new teams from playoff contentionLearn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast puts up video game numbers. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansus, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Hey, Dan. I haven't even played a video game in probably 15 years.

Well, you could still put up video. game numbers not literally but just what that means is that you're excelling at such a high level that the only way that could ever happen is in a fake world right I mean oh that's what that means yes you shouldn't take all those

money tags literally I was most of them are complete nonsense she did not write murder you know what I mean like everyone is not official thank you for now I feel you know I've I've been taught a lesson and a good one I haven't played a video game in 15 years at least thank you

What else is going on with the 40-something side of the table today? Yeah, we got a... You kids with our video game systems. Welcome to another edition of the show. This is a Wednesday program. It's very exciting. We actually, just before we started taping, we did our NFL Now segment, a whole separate segment,

consider it like the around the NFL podcast bonus feature where we talked about five things we're excited about for week 11. so you can check that out over on NFL now. I want it now. Is that how it goes? I want the whole thing. Yeah, wait, we have our own folder there, though. Oh, yeah, we have our old folder.

That's the thing. It'll be in that folder. And if you guys just go to that folder and start clicking on the videos, and you don't need to watch them, frankly. Well, that was a step-by-step instruction on how to, you know. I'm just saying, don't worry about watching them. Just put one of them on and let it keep running into the next one. And if all of you do that at once, it'll show the power of around the NFL.

I read one of Mark's high-octane articles yesterday. He knows. And he linked to Scoutsai with Daniel Jeremiah. I spent the next seven hours watching NFL Now videos on my off day. That's not true. Good for you. You have a genuine issue. You don't know if that's true or not.

No one's going to. Anyway. Unless you weren't a liar. It's very credible that a person would spend that much time on NFL now. Yep. And also, of course, continue. Send your postcards people overseas to the commish at Park Avenue to get us to London next year. And also on iTunes, I guess TD, how are you doing, TD?

What's going on, fellas? How are you guys doing? What's up? I would guess that the best of 2014 awards could be handed out at any time. So I think one way to do it is maybe... Not any time. It's usually at the end of the year. Okay.

But go over, go to the iTunes page if you can. give us five stars, throw some comments up there in a positive situation. You know, just get the around the NFL podcast out there. Force their hand, basically. Basically. Put them in a spot where iTunes, they're not a big company. They can be intimidated easily. Put them in a spot where they feel like they need to support us.

We're an underdog too. We're the NFL. So it's like two underdogs battling. Stupid. So today's show is going to be a fun one. We're going to, we've gotten a lot. of input on Twitter people telling us when are you going to start sticking the fork in some teams well you ask for you got it we're going to be sticking a fork in count them 10 teams more

than that and what we well we've already done three oh okay and if people are not familiar with that when we stick a fork in a team we we are saying that they have no chance zero percent chance of making the postseason hence their season is effectively over get ready go on your vacations, start training, and get ready for 2015. So we're going to go through 10 new teams that are done. So we're telling like 40% of the listeners, you're done. It doesn't mean you should stop listening to the podcast, though, because you never know. That's not the angle we're trying to take.

People don't come here for football anyway. You sure about that for? Well, I think mostly football. And then a little mirth, a touch of mirth, probably. I think it's mostly the mirth. So, yeah, we'll do that. We're also going to, we're going to quickly, we're going to check in on the MVP. race, which is a very good one this year.

Last year, by this time, everybody knew Peyton Manning was going to walk away with that award for a fifth time. This year, Manning is definitely in the mix, but there are other players, other stars that you could make an equal case for, so we'll go around the horn real quick and see who thinks, who

make their picks. I can't speak anymore for the MVP so far or who they predict will by the end of the season. You understand what I'm trying to say. You just don't like how it's coming out of my mouth. I agree with you. What's going on out here? And we're also going to do our, what we do everyone said, Thursday night preview.

This is a good one between two AFC East teams, the Dolphins and the Bills, big showdown in the AFC wildcard playoff picture. Greg keeps on talking about the AFC East as a division that's wide open. That is not the case, obviously. The Patriots will win 12 games. But these teams have a chance to win the wild card. Are we still in the intro? I just wrote like a whole email while you were talking. So, oh, well, thank you for being plugged in on the last.

the show boss uh so let's now get into uh the news which we start every single well not every show but many shows t d how you doing buddy once again doing good glad to be back good yeah are you feeling better i am better and i wasn't like off work in a sunday you know i was still working i was still working i wasn't on the sideline i was in the press box let's put it that way okay you know you're not contagious or anything i am not okay good let's uh let's uh let's do some news Straight cash, homie. The immortal Randy Moss. That's how it is over here.

All the success we're getting. NFL now videos, straight cash, homie. Who's getting the cash? All the guys are it? All right. All the money is being funneled straight to TD. He's supposed to be like splitting it up. It's all going straight into his chase account.

More off days in his future. All right. So let's start the news in St. Louis where the Austin Day Davis era is over, at least now anyway. The quarterback that had been pumped up as potentially the next Kurt Warner cannot keep a job for more than a couple of months. He's now been benched in favor of Sean Hill, who of course started the season as the Rams starter before being injured in

week one. He had replaced Sam Bradford, who blew out his knee for his second time in his many years. Big old mess in St. Louis with the quarterback situation. So now they turn back to St. Louis. And gentlemen, this is the St. Louis Rams team that's been pretty good, just has not had good quarterback play. This is why if your team gets forked, you still listen to the,

around the NFL podcast. Because when everybody else was calling this guy, Tom Brady and Kurt Warner, we said he's the next Case Keenom. Well, I think he's a lot better than Case Keenom. A lot better. Yeah. Case Keenom is struggling to stay in the league. I might be, I'd be a little surprise of Keenoms in the league in two years.

Austin Davis, I think it's going to be a backup for a while and showed a lot of good things this year. I think it's a sign from the Rams that I don't think it really matters. You're flip-flopping between quarterbacks? No, I'm serious, because they are absolutely, at best, they re-sign Bradford at a different cost to come back into camp, but they're going to draft a quarterback. They have to reboot the machine entirely.

Austin Davis has probably proven enough to stick around in the system. Fisher likes them. But, I mean, the Rams, what are we expecting from the quarterback position from Sean Hill that we wouldn't have gotten from Austin Davis at this point? I think they have a chance to beat anyone. I mean, they're playing. They have beaten teams, but not because of the quarterback. quarterback right but that's why they're they were trying to hide davis the last few weeks he started

out pretty well and they really stayed away from him if they can get anything out of their quarterbacks i mean i think they're going to be one of the tougher teams to play down the stretch stop they're a bad team i mean their defense is but not because of the quarterback though that's right you can't win in the NFL without a quarterback right but you can't hide him that bad and john hill can give them even a little bit better at this point they weren't even running a passing offense and they're still beating teams like the Seahawks, like the 49ers, and almost pulling off a win over the Cardinals. There are only like eight or nine teams in the league you'd rather see on your schedule other than the

Rams. They're not that good. I disagree now. I would put them right in the middle. With Sean Hill as their quarterback. All right. So moving forward, the Miami Dolphins have made some strides on offense this season under new offensive coordinator Bill Laser, your boy, Sessler.

However. Wow, that was a surprise. I like that. We're keeping that in. Taking me some time to give me. What I meant to say was. All right. So, yeah, that's the laser sounds associated with Bill Laser.

But although there have been strides made on offense, NFL media's Jeff Darlington did some poking around down in Miami. And according to several Dolphins players he spoke to, Lasers, quote, abrasive tenor with several starters, has worn thin. and has led to a growing rift in the locker room. Also, there's another quote, an inconsistent identity on offenses internally magnifying the issue. Mark, I'll start with you because you spoke with Bill Lays before the season started.

You've been a supporter of him going back several months now. What do you make of this? I remember when we spoke, and it was only for 20 minutes or something, but when I brought up Brian Tanna Hill, he talked about how raw he was and just had to put him. push and push and push and he was going to be on him every single day. And I don't think, I would bet this is not coming from Tannahill, whatever Darlington's hearing this from certain players. I bet it's coming from some veterans that aren't used to being pushed this

way in a new scheme that's asking that all do something different. I think it's good for the dolphins. This is a team that last year absolutely stunk on offense. What do they average like 16.9 points per game? You can never count on the offense to do anything. This year they're showing some explosive nips and listen they're winning i mean i don't think it's i don't think it's something that you would look at laser and say he's the issue yeah it kind of reminds me of doshan jackson how all he can do this year is talk about how his bad experience was with chip kelly and he had his best year of his career with chip kelly so maybe you don't really like it but it's working mike wallace is definitely one of the unnamed players i wish i was in the room and mike wallace told jeff

Darlington that he didn't like his coach's abrasive tenor. Poor Mike Wallace. We have no evidence of this. It just feels like that because they still have not, they've never found a way to truly cash in on his talents in the two years he's been there. Well, but that's not Bill Lazer's fault. That's Ryan Tannehill being one of the worst vertical throwers in the NFL. I mean, they get them open once or twice a week going deep and they miss it every time.

After a while, I don't blame Laser for just calling those little dumps, dumpoffs. moving forward. So Des Brian, his contract is up after the season. There's been a lot of reports in the last couple days about maybe offers that the Cowboys have made that haven't had a lot of guaranteed money because the team perhaps has some concerns about how Brian might spend that money

or how he might act. The Ian Rappaport reported Sunday about some parties going on at his house that led to a baby being locked in a car. That was weird. He also had his house broken into, things of that nature. And on Tuesday, excuse me, on Wednesday, Des Bryant made it clear that he's not going to be taking any pay cuts

if he's going to stay in Dallas, and he's not going to take a sweetheart deal so he could wear the star. His quote, don't test my loyalty. Des Bryant playing hardball, as he should. Yeah, he should. I mean, what's this guy done? He stayed out past midnight on a Friday in London? Well, we have no idea, but to me, Jerry Jones has shown in the past in the 90s. He's going to play players that are great.

I mean, has Des Bryant done anything that the 90s Cowboys weren't doing, you know? Oh, forget about it. Those guys did way worse than Deb. That's all I'm saying. So if you're a great player, you're going to get paid. I bet Hollywood Henderson. Why don't we talk about him a little bit? Jerry Jones wasn't there for him.

I don't know about babies being locked in cars or whatever it was you just mentioned. That doesn't sound fantastic to me. And I'm not sure that's attributable to Des Bryant. But come on here. Of course they're going to pay Des Bryant. Here's the thing. Like the Cowboys were loyal to Des on some level when he was struggling in his younger years, but he's been a good soldier

for two years. Even that stuff was always overblown. Always overblown. He produces year after year. He stays on the field. He's a big time player for them. And if the Cowboys don't make him one of the top five, top three highest paid wide receivers in the league, some other team would love to do it. So Cowboys got to be carefully or don't get too cute

in the negotiation stage. Since Greg and I went to Orlando for the coach's meetings, and before that, they're going to pay him. They've never wavered off that. Yeah, but they've never shown him a realistic option. It's going to happen. You talk more with your actions. And so their actions this year, whereas let's see another year out of you. You're not getting a legitimate offer from what Ian Rappaport said. He was going

to get $10 million a year for the first six, which sounds great, but it's nowhere close to market value for Des Bryant. It's Brandon Marshall money, and he's going to be much higher in that. Is there, do you see any scenario where Des Bryant is on another team? No. By the way, we said the same exact thing about, I know it's different, but DeMarcus Ware on this very podcast. Yeah, but DeMarcus Ware was also in Jerry Jones' size, money-wise, at the end of his career. Well, I'm just saying, like, sometimes you don't imagine something can happen. That's fair.

They were in a money crunch beyond most any team's dreams. But they were talking about Des Brian who's in the peak of his career, not DeMarcusware. Well, DeMarco Murray is a free agent, too, and so there's only one franchise tag to go around. Transition tag. What, you could use one on each, maybe? So why not? It makes it a little tough on Des because he knows that they could just have. them.

Cowboys are just playing dirty hardball here. They're low-bowing him while trashing him to the media after the season, they'll up their offer. The part that I don't get about trashing to the media, though, is, okay, he wouldn't be responsible with $20 million, like $20 million guaranteed. That would be okay. He's not going to blow through that.

He'll be cool with that, but 40, then he'll get too crazy. You know what I mean? Like, that whole argument doesn't make any sense at all. If you're a multimillion error multiple times over, If you're going to be a bad guy about it, you're going to be a bad guy about it. Anyway. Three cash, homie. The Chicago Bears embarrassed themselves on Sunday.

We all know that. It led to, you see on Twitter, there was a ton of heat from Bears fans and Bears' media about, oh, heads are going to roll after this blowout loss to the Packers. It didn't happen that way, at least not immediately. And Mark Trussman said on Monday there would not be any changes, including to coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, who I can't imagine. slept very well after giving up 42 points in one half. On prime time, this is the quote from

Tressman. There will be, there will not be any changes at this time. I think we have excellent coaches here. Was the solution or is the solution for a shake-up in the middle of the season? Doesn't seem like Mel Tucker slept before the game. I mean, I think that, I think the Mel Tucker would have to be one of the, when the coach gets into the situation, you have to make some move that appeases everyone. But doesn't, the bears to me, look like a team that is not responding to coaching right now. We said Sunday that Mark Trespin isn't in jeopardy after the season. I don't know if I agree with that anymore. I think he could be in big trouble. Look what Phil Emery brought back the same offensive talent that was one of the best in the league last year. He went and overhauled the

defense bringing in a lot of new talent, and they're coming off the two most embarrassing the back-to-back games in the history of the NFL. Somebody's going to have to answer for that. This team's quitting on its coach. Well, Tucker is going to be gone. The question, I think, is just whether the coach could be or whether the GM... I never like it

in the middle of the season, though, what's the point? I agree about the middle of the season, but does this look like a team that's responding to whatever the head coach is doing? No. I will throw one thing out there

when Jim Caldwell took over his offense coordinator with Baltimore a couple years ago. I don't know how much of a role that played in their revitalization, but that's an example of a coaching change that maybe lines up

with the team going on the run. That's true. And then the next year, they were 32nd in the league in offense. Yeah, with Super Bowl rings on their fingers, though. So it's like not a bad. Here's one weird stat.

I saw Andrew Siciliano pulled it out of our research guide. So Andrew knew how to use that. As do I. Oh, I forgot, now that you mentioned, did you notice, Wes, that Ryan Tannahill fell to 0 and 4 in domes? I predicted it. Pulled that stat out. You doubted it, and what happened? You probably want to pull it back out next time he plays in the dome.

Oh, and 4. Anyway, Jay Cutler is on pace to set career highs in completion. percentage, touchdown passes, and passerating the season. So a little strange that his numbers would be better than ever, but the team has never been worse. Well, they're also been down by a hill of points in these games. That's part of it. And the other part is everyone just blames it on Cutler when he's basically been the

same guy that he's been for six years. I really don't think he's particularly different this year than he has been. And that's part of the problem, but that's just who he's been. The last two weeks, they had, what, 38 to 7 and 42 to nothing at halftime? that's on the offense too one question do you keep around the guy that a hired the coach that's struggling and gave jay cutler a contract that half the people in chicago thinks it thinks insane at this point phil emery keep get to pick coaches they thought it was insane when it happened a lot of people he wears cowboy boots that gives him an extra year job security i didn't know

wow is that true where did that come from how many other jams wear cowboys how come you don't wear cowboy boots then i'm not wait what are you trying to say about chris wessling's job security i don't raise the rope bronco That's why. Is it on the rocks? If I had such a strong opinion that cowboy boots immediately elongates my career, I'd just start wearing him. Why do you want to fire West, Greg? Answer the question.

Been a lot of whispers about this. All right about it after. We move on. Our halftime review is right after that. I'm not looking forward to that one. He is our boss. It is not a, it's not schick. Greg is our boss.

Half-time reviews today. Can't wait. We're going to, tomorrow show, we're going to go over what Greg said to you. Oftentimes menacing, too. I don't think the listeners often hear that very menacing and we'll drop an axe. He takes a couple shots of whiskey before he comes in and slams the door. All right, that's what's happening. And now we move on to a segment that waves goodbye to all the teams that weren't good enough.

Stick a fork in him. Yeah, so this is the stick a fork in him segment where we're, we say goodbye to the teams that will not make the playoffs. We have never been wrong. That's incorrect. We were wrong once about the Washington Redskins. Yeah, we were wrong twice. You're even wrong about what you're wrong

about. Who else were wrong about? The Vikings, the same year. Christian Fonder. And this was all around about... You guys never were the same again. Well, and last year's was dangerously conservative. Yeah, but we didn't get anything wrong. And of course, after the first year,

Greg makes sure we always know that he gave money to a charity, as was his promise if we got something wrong. Congratulations, Greg, for being such a great guy. I said it like twice, and you've brought it up 50 times a... Sizeable amount. Sizable amount. So now we've already in a show a few weeks back, probably last month now, the Jaguars, Raiders, and Titans were all sent packing.

We weren't wrong about any of those, but let's be honest. That wasn't going out of a limb even in week five or whenever it was. But they're still gone. Feel good about those. And now 10 more. 10 more we've never done 10 so we're getting much more aggressive this year we're getting rid of 40% of the league so here here is the and we should treat this moment with songs like the undertaker's team we should treat the moment with

with the proper reverence because i don't think we've ever gotten this far into the song we should treat it with the proper reverence because these teams have feelings as do the fan bases The Atlanta Falcons, the Chicago Bears, the Minnesota Vikings, the New York Jets, the St. Louis Rams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Washington Redskins, the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers Those are the 10 teams What character or voice Do you describe that as You did the Buccaneers in an Irish brogue

And the Panthers in a redneck voice Kept changing Well I kind of just I left My body was gone I was gone from my body And someone else took over You went like full Meisner on us

Yeah I don't know what came out But all I can tell you is that Those teams are all gone Of that list gentlemen Greg, we'll start with you, the boss. Anybody that was tough to add to this list that you're a little nervous about, just a little bit. Well, we just handed the NFC South to the Saints,

and I'm not nervous about that in particular. I believe in it. I jumped on board, but, you know, the Saints are under 500, and we're only about halfway through the season, and we just eliminated the entire rest of the division. So considering that was somewhat bold, I mean, two teams only one game back.

I think to break down a little further, I think we've all kind of taken a step back in terms of viewing the Saints as a Super Bowl contender, but do we think they've come this far down where they're not even going to win a terrible division? I think we all feel confident that they're going to win eight or nine games that are going to be necessary to take that division.

The other teams in that division are fundamentally flawed. That's why we don't feel bad. I looked at Atlanta. Atlanta is the one team because they have a quarterback and they have a passing game. Offensive line looks a little bit there. If you could find, if you could look at the schedule and find a bunch of wins, but their schedule after this week when they play Carolina,

it's very difficult. It's hard to see them really making a run. I think we all felt like the Saints coming into the season would be a 12-win type of team this season. And it's the thing that concerns me a little bit, going beyond the fact that they are the best team, in my opinion, no question in that division, that if they are going to win at 8 and 8 or 9 and 7,

that means a lot of weird stuff still has to happen between now and then. We can sweat it out a little. I don't have a problem axing any of the others when I think about who they really are, though. How about how far the mighty have fallen? The Panthers went from the team of L, team of ATL, excuse me, to 12 wins and the division and a buy in the playoffs. By week 10, they're axed, they're out, the forks in the back. They're forked hard.

To a very strong 2-0 record where we were in here saying how important that lead they had built over the Saints was. I remember in our week two recap podcast, we're saying, you know, this is a serious whole thing for the Saints to get out. And I have a little problem with the Falcons, I have no problem forking the Panthers because their defense is one of the worst than the league, and their offense isn't that much better. And their coach keeps starting a running back who can't play better than the guy who's coming up from behind him on the bench. Who?

What? You're mad about Stewart and Williams, basically? Jonathan Stewart's playing great. and Daniel D'Angelo Williams is running into the back of his offensive line no whole time. I feel like they got to reboot that whole backfield that's, you know, move on from the Stewart-Williams era.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Can we add another team? Maybe. I mean, we've got to agree on it. I've forked the Bengals right now. No, I wouldn't fork the Bengals. Silly. Let's get bold.

I don't think it's that crazy. You're not fit for this because you want them to fail actively. So you're not thinking clearly. No. I wanted to fork the Texans. I wanted to fork half-to-es. these teams a month ago. We did fork the Texans. I wanted to fork the Rams a month ago.

Well, let's talk about the Texans for a second, because that's a four and five team right now. They just switched to Ryan Mallet. I guess I'm not making it. Yeah, you laugh at it. Yeah, there was a little hesitation when we brought up the Texans downstairs. Because they're only four and five. I was selling it hard. I was on board with West. But yeah, they're only four and five. So there is a little bit of a risk. I just don't see Houston as an abject disaster. Not at all. That's not what this is about. It's about will they make the playoffs or not. That's right. And I don't think they will.

And look at the rest of the AFC. Right, and then so they won't. All right, what about, I'll throw another team out there. The, I have one team that stuck out to me as the best team on this list that could make us sweat a little bit. I've been drumming this team's drumbeat. Banging the drums. No, not the Rams. The Minnesota Vikings.

Playing well. They play a good defense. They play the Bears, for instance, this week, another dead team. I'll take the Vikings over them. that gets them to 5 and 5. They're playing pretty good team ball. I don't necessarily think they're going to make the playoffs, but I think they could stay in the mix.

I think you're looking at an interesting 8-and-8 team. Sure. If they're lucky. So unless we want to talk about any of those teams anymore, there are a couple of teams I want to bring. We'll start with the Bengals. Teams that could be on the precipice of joining these other teams in the graveyard of life for the 2014 season.

We'll start with the Bengals because, Wes, you brought it up. They're 5-3-1. coming off the really bad loss to the Browns, and I'm just going to read off the rest of their schedule at three straight road games now, by the way. At Saints, at Texans, at Bucks. So two winnable games, the Saints are going to be very tough. And then they are home to Steelers at Browns,

home to Broncos, at Steelers. So that is not an easy schedule. I mean, if you want to make the case that they can miss the playoffs, you can make it. They probably 9, 6, and 1 could get them in. You would think? I don't think so this year. Not this year.

I think you might need 11 wins this year in the AFC. You missed another opportunity to bring up Andrew Siciliano and the research book. He shouted out in the newsroom today. The Bengals have the highest margin in their losses. They have the highest average point differential of any team in the league. Well, I think that shows us that they're in offense because some of those, one of them was a shutout loss, 27-0 to the Colts. the Browns game 24 to 3 they had another one that was like Patriots they got blasted

right when they play the other AFC contenders they're not competitive right and their defense isn't the same group it was with Mike Zimmerman and you got a quarterback that goes completely catatonic into a nap right but he also is known to go into nice streaks too that's what he's been about so don't assume he'll be this guy forever I like that you haven't abandoned your project of defending and not totally because this is the time where you it's very easy to completely write him off And that could have been his butt fumble game. You're right, Wes. I don't know if he ever recovers from that bad and embarrassment.

But it's also football's weird. He could put together a couple of good weeks in a row. We're not even thinking about that game anymore. Football's weird. They could win in the Superdome this week. The Saints are a four and five team. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly.

I look at the schedule. Put your pick where your mouth is. I see a 9-6-and-one team. Now, whether that gets them in, maybe not this year. But I just think it's premature. The other two teams that you can make a case for, to me, The loser of Bill's Dolphins on Thursday night, I would say you could probably make a decent case at 5 and 5 at that point in that stack division.

I would look even at the loser's schedule compared to the winners to see what's happening down the stretch because that's a little bit early for me, but you're not far away. The dolphins, if they lose that game, I would feel comfortable forking them. I would too. They go to Denver after that. And no Brandon Albert. And they go to New England later. They'll have been swept by the Bills, which is a bad look and a bad tie break.

They really, really need to win that game. Both teams do. And then the other team, not as worried about them, but the Chargers, obviously, are on a three-game losing streak, five and four. They get the Raiders at home, so they're going to be six and four. Wow. No respect for Tony Sparano's troupe. Barade the balls.

So they're a team, though, to keep an eye on because you can't lose three games in a row. You're talking about forking the team of ATL? Give me a break. Yeah, I mean, let's be honest. Did we fork the Giants? We did. We forked the Giants. Yeah, they're gone.

There's a movement on Twitter to have us fork the Chargers as the team of ATL and adopt the Cardinals. What do you guys think? Well, that's what we were trying to do in August. No, thank you. They are fun. Maybe Carson Palmer I would have. I'm having a hard time picking that game this week Cardinals Lions. It's because I'm sick of rooting against the Cardinals.

They're a likable bunch. But you think the Lions are a doormat anyway, so just keep picking against them. I don't think they're a dormant. Tomato canning. You're a lot. The L.O.S. Stop fighting. This is uncomfortable.

Yeah. So we will check in again, the stick of for and some more teams as it comes along. Now that we've done about a third of the league, I'd say. We're in that realm a little bit more than that. Yeah, 13 teams are gone, so not that many left. What is 32 minus 13? 19.

Yeah. 19 teams have an opportunity to win the Super Bowl this year. Oh, yeah. Stay plugged into the podcast. Keep clicking like and download. Plus the two teams that we incorrectly forked. That was a long time again. Well, no, this year, so I'm sure there will be, too.

Oh, okay. All right, so let's move on. Before we get to the Thursday night preview, I'm just going to, the MVP race is great this year. It's pretty wide open. There are a lot of guys you can make a case for. Why do we go around the room? And I really want to start with Mark Sessler on this, and I don't know why. I want to start with Mark.

Tell me who is your pick as we enter Week 11 for MVP. This is one of the few categories where I can stick with what. what I said in the summertime. We've been wrong individually and as a group about so many things. It is sketchy. But I went with Aaron Rogers and I'm sticking with Aaron Rogers. I don't need to explain it why. No, you do need to explain it.

Three of us went with Aaron Rod. Yeah, I mean, a whole bunch of us said. For me, I think with Green Bay at this point to me also with the way their offense is operating, number one, he's got there, Jordy Nelson and Cobb at playing at a level with the way he's playing. that I'd look at the offense and say they could beat and drop a bomb on anyone week to week. They're my NFC team to beat at this point, and he's the reason why. Without him, they'd be what they were last year. His numbers are almost identically in terms of pace to his MVP season of a few years ago.

I think 44 touchdowns, six interceptions, that type of, you know, 1-12 passer rating, that type of dominance. So he's definitely put that up, put up the numbers so far. Wes. We talked about Phil Emory's cowboy boots earlier. Yeah. Aaron Rogers is a cowboy. they start out what oh and two he tells everyone relax puts it on his own shoulders walks through town

ghost town and says all right watch out i'm taking care of business five and one 37 points a game since he told everyone to relax that's an MVP move all right my pick i love there on rogers pick uh i think it's a it's a fair one mark it's the right one wait is this supposed to be a prediction or what has happened so far what's happened so far and now you have a chance on november 12 now to recalibrate your pick if you'd like stick with it you made originally um i am going to go with peyton manning i'm going to because this is the safe one this is the this is the easy money bet to me because when you look at it it's kind of gotten a little lost because it hasn't been at the same level as last year but i'm looking at his projected numbers uh 68% he's going to throw for

almost 5200 yards he's on pace for 52 touchdowns a pass reigning of 112 he remains uh the greatest the statistical quarterback every he's playing at that same level and i do believe that they're going to have the number one seed in the a fc which obviously matters a lot when you talk about the MVP uh now will voters are voters are voters there are two ways this go work two ways the voters will be border voting for peyton manning if there's other people that are at the same in the same stat level and team success or they can get behind this guy as a historic figure and give him number six i think they're more inclined to get behind peyton the legend and keep rolling with him if he puts up the numbers I mean, and they would realize, as I mentioned in the summer, that this is his final season.

There's another way to look at it, too, if you're a voter. Peyton Manning brings all these weapons every year, surrounded by so much talent, and then he gets his clock cleaned by the double MVP candidate, Tom Brady, Rob Gruncowski. Better MVP candidate than Peyton Manning. Can you do that, double? That's my pick thing. Well, I don't. Did you just step on Greg's choice?

I don't know. What was yours? He set it up. Well, I was going to switch it to Brady. Why not? I mean, Rogers. Well, Rogers was my pick, and so I don't like, you don't, you shouldn't be able to change your pick. But when you think about these awards.

That's what makes it so damn good. When you think about these awards, though, you do have to think what is the sort of easy to swallow, tired storyline that all the writers who are voting for can kind of swallow up and spoon out to the public. That's gross. Digestion and food products. They're going to swallow it before they spood it? Ew. My point,

sometimes it's about that word I hate now, narrative or whatever. And you know what? The narrative everyone's going to like. Tom Brady was counted out. I've heard so many times already this season. That's a great call. Everyone shut up with, oh, everyone was writing that the Tom Brady era was over, break up the dynasty after four weeks.

Everybody was right now. Show me all these articles where everyone is saying exactly. By the way, I hear a lot more people just saying that everyone was saying that. It was totally okay to be writing negatively about Tom Brady after that Chiefs game. That's the other thing. It's okay that people were being critical of him and the offense at that time. It's okay to be critical of a quarterback. It's not okay every time a quarterback is over 35 to write that he's finished.

Right. And he's done first through it. I want to see where all that was. I'll be happy to show it to you. But my point is that Brady's bounced back since then, as I think the best player in the league, since that point or so. Since about week five on, he's been the. MVP so once the season keeps stretching out if he keeps being the best player in the league

from week five to week 17 i think he wins he was he might not be the best player in his own team by the way that gregg well you know how this voting is is though with the mvp the quarterback always gets the benefit of the doubt he's got he nailed it on the narrative he has a decade of smelling success flowing from the new england part of the country that's true and he also you can take things from inside people's stomachs and then spoon them out at us just flick him right in our faces flick that narrative right in your face I'm going to be smelling it in Glendale. Patriots back for revenge.

Oh, wait, but the Giants won't be there because they've already been a fork. So maybe you can win this time. Patriots are going back to the Super Bowl. I've picked them to the Super Bowl every year for five years. Who are they playing against? Packers Patriots. We both have Packers pass. That's my preseason pick. I don't like that matchup for New England.

All right, let's move on to Thursday night football, a big game, almost an elimination game in the AFC East between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. This game will be played in Miami. Both teams coming off. Very difficult losses where they probably felt they should have won. Didn't work out that way. And now they are both five and four. Both need it in a very crowded AFC playoff picture.

I'll start with you, Chris Wessling. How are you looking at this game? The Dolphins are in trouble. Greg mentioned last Sunday how great the Bill's defensive line looked. One of the best performances he's seen all year. You've got a defensive line where Mario Williams might be the least effective player on the line. Marcel Darius has 10 sacks. I think Jerry Hughes has eight or nine sacks.

Kyle Williams is playing at an all-pro level. And then you look at the Dolphins. They're without Brandon Albert. They have only one touchdown last week, and it was off a blocked field goal that was set them up on the three-yard line. Against the best defense in the league. But this is another one of the best. I think the Dolphins are in trouble.

This matchup is not good for them. Dolphins are winning this game. And what I love about Miami is that, well, no, does it make sense? As with a lot of these Thursdays, night games. Number one, I'll always tilt towards the home team. And what I love about Miami is that you've got a head coach that most people think will be fired at the end of the season. Yeah, love that. Well, you've got an offensive coordinator that reports come out today that the players don't like him. He's too hard on them. He's driving them too tough. Got to love that. So, well,

the point being, they keep getting better on offense. They have a flatline in a few games, but they're starting to play better. And I understand the Buffalo's defensive match. If that's about as nasty as one as they've seen all season, but at home Thursday night for a chance to take over second place in this division, they're going to do it. They've been better all year. Overall, their defense.

So when you're looking at the two matchups, which defense is better, I'll take Miami because I like them better in the back end with Brent Grimes and Rashad Jones, and they have a linebacker Jolani Jenkins, which is playing well, and their front four is just as big a problem for Buffalo, who hasn't been that great this year.

It's not as big of a problem. problem i think i think it could be this week when you're going against cameron wake and dion jordan's starting to make some plays and olivier vernon we've seen ryan tan hill behind a bad offensive line now you switch a rookie right tackle who got worked over last week over to left tackle he played great when he when he moved him to left tackle i watched that game yesterday i was i decided when i was he gave up five hurries last week i think they're going to move him to the blind side and we've seen tannhill behind a bad offensive line it's not pretty i think one thing i'm thinking i think the Dolphins are a better team, and they're at home, and I trust their quarterback a little bit more.

So I think I'm leaning toward the dolphins. And the only thing I'll say about the line, because it is a major issue and a major problem, their ability to block here. But I do trust Laser as well, even though he had some bad press today, to work up a scheme that keeps in mind the fact that they're going to have some issues with the passers, getting the ball out quickly. I think they're going to scheme with that in mind, and I think that will help them. I think the one big X factor here, too, is we've seen Sammy Watkins in a couple games, even in, terms of yardage he should have had, had he made one catch or been closer, like, monstrous performances. And it's, he's shown that he can have that kind of breakout game. He wasn't healthy last week. We'll have to find out how healthy is this week. And also that, you know, they don't,

Fred Jackson, where's he going to be? We don't know if he's going to play or not. They've not been able to run the ball well. I really liked the way Bryce Brown looked last week. He had a bad fumble that might have cost him the game, but he was explosive. And they weirdly didn't give them the ball much. I mean, they threw it 48 times. And that, that's why I'm taking, that's part of the reason I'm taking the Dolphins. I trust their offense more. I trust Tannahill. They have been getting rid of the ball quickly, like Dan said. Even in the Detroit game, I mean, they drove the ball at the end of the game. They've been better overall over the course of the season, their offense and the bills. Two of you now have said you trust Tannahill. That's not a word I would

ever use for Ryan Tannhill. I guess throughout his career. I guess I trust him a little more than Kyle Orton. I don't. I also, I kind of agree with what Greg was saying on Sunday after Sunday's games that maybe the Kyle Orton magic is about to run out. I kind of smell a stinker coming from him on the road in prime time. So that's where I'm coming from. So it sounds like, Wes, you might be in a spot for a hero pick here with the Buffalo bills pending what Kevin Patrick says. The three of us all have the dolphins.

It sounds like. For now. So, Wes, you could be on Hero Boulevard. And you need it to come back in the standings. I used a little strategy with my picks this week. I expect a few heroes. All right. That's it for Wednesday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast.

We will be back, of course, on Thursday night where we recap the Thursday game and then we look ahead to all of Sunday's action and the Monday night football, of course, that is our big week 11 is it? Yes. Super show, preview show. Man, it's already week 11.

So we will get into that, so make sure you check in. Thank you, as always, for listening. Now, Wes and Mark and I, it's time for us to go downstairs. The boss is rubbing his hands together. It is our half-time review within the corporate structure of NFL media where he tells us everything that makes us not good enough. It's been nice knowing you guys.

This is Dan Hansis signing off for the Sizzler. Maybe for the last time. Yeah, for the last time. The mailman, the boss, who really had a great show today, by the way, boss. Thanks, thank you, Dan. And TD, behind the glass. Until Thursday. This is an IHeart podcast.