NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Latest news & 'What's More Likely?'

Episode Date: December 31, 2014

A room filled with heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- discuss the fall out of Black Monday, react to Ndamukong Suh's suspension being reversed and play a new round of "What's More Likely?" with Dave Dameshek.Learn 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. This is Dan. Before we get to the podcast, got to tell you about Fanduel. The NFL season isn't over yet. If your season-long fantasy football league just isn't cutting it, get your mojo back at Fanduel.com

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Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. All back together. Now it really feels like, I don't know. I was going to say it's 2015, but it's not yet. Yeah, we're not quite there. We're two days away.

We're going to do a couple shows leading up to the playoffs and then a big Sunday playoff spectacular show, recapping all the games. And yes, we will be talking about the Jets. I would love to run the Jets. I feel like that would be maybe a life's dream that would surely turn into a nightmare. Well, I think three months in, you'd find out that you have the entire state of New York

calling for your head, because when it comes to picking players and running a salary cap, you have no experience. There's very little reason to think Dan would be capable of running an NFL team. I bet he would make quicker decisions than John. I would act in a rash manner.

I would spend a lot of money. As I have said before on once a New York State mandated test in high school, I got a 40 out of 100 when I was 16. So I am the opposite of John Idzik. But isn't that a good thing? Yes. You would probably give Rex Ryan a lot of money, keep him around. Maybe.

If we went out for beers, he'd probably talk me into it for sure. Mark, you're wearing a new shirt. Mark, new shirt. It's beautiful. You got some new shirts for Christmas. I got three. And so... Dublin.

Well, it does. Because I had five. Of course. In theory, I have eight. But at least three of the five that I had need to be put into the circular file. They need to be put into the trash or turned into rags. I dubbed this one sweet Judy Blue Eyes. And in the Crosby Stills, Nathan Young's song?

I thought you would like that, Wes. I do. All right. So we got a big show today. This is TD. I call this. This is the Newsapalooza show. So much news.

I said Newsapalooza, TD. Usa Paloosa. Ow! New job, I needed a second to... Have you guys ever... Did any of you go to Lala Pluza ever in your life? I went to one. I went to one.

I've never been to a festival type thing. Really? I believe Hull was the headliner that year, but I really was going to see pavement was involved. That's good. Remember the Bostones were there, I think, on a side stage. It was exciting. In finding that guitar sound effect drop,

I realize there's a lot of YouTube videos on how to spill a guitar. Greg, do you know how to... Of course he does. What, play guitar? No, no, create the little squill. This guy was in Delaware, come on. Well, with the little thing. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know how to play guitar, though. Well, actually, my brother went to college for it, so I kind of... I've seen it, but I've... I was going to say that Greg, obviously, is a musician. What is it, a whammy bar or something? From Delaware, but then Delaware was really everything that was against that type of showy guitar work. Right. And the hair metal scene.

Right. He was an answer to that. He was post-punk underground gophe. He was more, he was like the dark poet of a band that maybe didn't even agree with instruments. Yes. So, like I said, today's show is all about Nusa Palooza. Thanks. TD, he was downstairs like 15 minutes getting this drop.

I keep on waiting for him to drop, but he won't do it on time. What is that, Eddie Van Halen or something? It's just some YouTube. It's Carl Van Halen. His brother that didn't make it. It's hard to find. So anyway, TD, so we're going to do that. We're going to do a lot of news, a lot of big news, obviously.

Just FYI, I was a violent type of brother, not a guitar, dude. I'm just letting you know. That's a sentence I've never heard before. I was a violin type of brother. That's how we sell this show. We're going to get to all the Black Monday moves and all the other news going on in the league right now. Of course, the playoff matchups.

We'll have a proper playoff, Saturday, Sunday, playoff preview in our second show of the week. This one will be covering a lot of the news, hence Newsapalooza. And we'll also do a little what's more likely with a special guest that we'll be calling from the newsroom to come upstairs and join us. But let's get into the news because there's so much of it. T.D., let's do it. You come at the cane, you best not miss. Mmm. The Wire and HD.

If you guys have been in social media all week, you know, all about it. And just shout out to Omar. Omar, of course. Omar, who is essentially, I don't know if Wes and Mark, I know Greg, you know the show. He was the Robin Hood of Baltimore.

Yep. And one of the great characters of all time in television. Good job, TD. All right, let's start, gentlemen, with something that just came over, Twitter, as we were talking at the top of the show, the Dominican Sue, who had been suspended

for stepping on Aaron Rogers, on Monday. We stepped on on Sunday, got suspended on Monday. He appealed it to play in the Sunday game against the Cowboys. And now that suspension has been rescinded. Instead, he'll get fined $70,000. So Sue is playing this weekend against the Cowboys. A big, big lift for the Detroit Lions, who for a while there looked like they might be without their best defensive players. Your thought, gentlemen. Well, you had a hot take on this from a league perspective. Oh, I think that they sent a message here with it. I think on some level this might have been the plan all along.

Let's scare the hell out of them and the lions and maybe a little shock and awe move. And if it gets overturned by Ted Cottrell, which is what ended up happening here, that's fine. But the NFL shows, We Mean Business, Nadamicon. Come on, nice name anyway, buddy. You can't do this kind of stuff. It's not often that you see this stuff get appealed like this and overturned. Ed Reed was the last one, also by Ted Cottrell. Ted Cottrell.

I can't imagine that the league office is happy that it's overturned. I think they were trying to send a statement, but this is why they have the appeals process in. And it's, you know, as a football fan, you better be sure that that was intentional, and it probably was. But I want to see him play in the playoff game. The Lions are only in the playoffs twice in the last 20 years or whatever.

Let's just put them in there. If I'm Ted Catrtle, I'm watching that, I have no confidence that that was intentional. How could you know? I mean the fact that he kind of stayed on it It was so intentional Think about who's doing it, who he did it to The fact that he didn't look back With that he backed up once and backed up again

And put all his weight on his leg Compared to Dominic Raola the week before Raola was obviously intentional This one, by looking at the video I could not tell that it was intentional I thought they were the same level personally Let me ask you something real quick Let's say, you know we were talking before

Let's say that when he did that step Whether was intentional or not That he shatters The lower leg of Aaron Rogers Then this doesn't get overturned, right? Sorry, I want to finish your point. No, that's my question. If he steps on the greatest NFL quarterback in the league right now,

he's suspended a year probably and breaks his leg. I mean. So part of it is that because Rogers is okay, they're going to be flexible with the punishment. That seems shaky to me too. I hate that. And I do think that happens a lot with these fines and suspensions and illegal hits that if the player gets up and he's fine,

it doesn't end up being as big a deal. So maybe, I think you have a good point there. I also want to see if Sue plays better this week. He has a really tough matchup. If you watch that Packers game, he was on the ground a lot. I mean, he had a really poor... Someone should have stepped on him while he was down there. He had a really tough time.

I mean, they were throwing him to the ground. He made a couple nice plays in the running game. But I've watched, I've only watched two of the last three weeks that they played. But his game against Minnesota and his game against Green Bay were two of the worst two games I've seen. He was invisible, got really dominated, and now he's going up against. an all-pro in Zach Martin and Travis Fedrick and that good Cowboys offensive line. So, Sue, he's got to show that he's that type of player

that's one of the best defensive players in the league. Maybe he's not playing well, but still, it's a huge lift. It's huge, and he's been great all year. I'm not saying he hasn't had a bad season. It's just a bad ending to the season for him. All right, so Sue playing on Sunday, big news for the Lions and the Cowboys, and we move on. Let's hit some Black Monday stuff, and we'll start with my beloved Jets,

who acted decisively Woody Johnson did on Monday morning, early Monday morning, firing both Rex Ryan and the glacier John Idzik. That era is over. Ryan, after six years, Idzik after just two years. And now the search begins to find and locate a new entire structure for this team. And this seems like the right move, right? Because they tried it with Rex.

They kept him and brought in a new GM, and that didn't really work out. So it would have been a bit of a strange move for Woody to keep Rex again and then hire GM, right? When do you think that Idzik will find out that he's fired? It did, I did, and I don't want to pile on the guy, but I will anyways. I did find it funny when he released the statement like six hours after he was fine. That really did happen. I'm not even sure if he knows he's the GM of the Jets yet. The danger here was, I mean, if you look back in time,

maybe they wouldn't have gone full on with this and they would have kept Idzik around, let him pick another coach and you're back in that cycle. good on Woody Johnson for I think sometimes with the Jets there's a little bit too much of what's happening with the public perception and how do we respond to that

but it was the right move to get Idzik out of there and start over but the question is if they're now interviewing and looking to interview coaches and they don't have a GM again that confuses me

like Dan does that concern you to go in that order? Yeah but I guess I don't think it's unusual what they're doing right now this happens a lot. It's a little unusual that they're interviewing

both at the same time and they're kind of figuring Well, which one are we going to get first? Now, that's what happened in Seattle. So typically, it's the GM search first. Yeah, the GM should pick the coach in theory. Sounds like Woody has more confidence in Charlie Cashley and Ron Wolf than any next GM that will have. See, I think they're playing, I think so far, and the Jets never ceased to amaze me with their ability to mess things up.

But I think so far, Woody, I think he acted wisely cleaning house. I thought he came off pretty well in that press conference, with the exception of sticking his foot in his mouth about Revis, saying that, you know, I'd love to have him back. He had to call Robert Krabb. Belichick twisted the knife a little bit, so hopefully they won't get hit. He also threw Izik under the bus. He made it clear that he wanted Revis,

Rex wanted Revis, and Idzik did not. Well, forget Revis. The point is, how about draft and groom young players? Stop chasing Derell Revis. Forget about that. I mean, it's like, it's, that's the issue. Well, they drafted players. That's the issue with the Jets and a lot of bad teams,

is though your draft picks that your high picks are not sticking, they're not turning into the players they should be. If they're interviewing Trent Kirchner, the Seahawks' Director of Pro Personnel, that's a great sign, right? Because they took Idzik out of Seattle when he was a bean counter. They had to fix their salary cap. That's fixed.

They have good salary cap situation right now. Now they need to find young players and Kirchner's. Who finds better late-round draft picks than the Seahawks? I just think it'd be weird if they hire, and some of the names we're seeing that they're interviewing as head coaches. Some have been around. some have it. It's weird if you hire kind of a low-level coach or a mid-level coach and then you hire the GM. It's just a strange way to do it.

Yeah. You know what? You never cease to amaze me, Greg, with your ability to find the thunder clouds over my jets. Oh, yeah. Oh, everything's great. Woody Johnson, what a track record of success. Has there been a worse owner in the last 15 years? It's not hard to. Yes, but we won't get into it. I mean, there has been, but he's among the worst. It's not hard to look up into the sky and say, hey, look, that black clouds following the jet. Well, wait, we don't know what they're going to do yet, though.

Let's wait until they mess up, all right? Let's just wait. If you deserve the benefit, you'll get what you want. I'm just saying, so far to me, so good, but I will. Higher Tom Cable, that'll be great. I will, I will. What's up with that, by the way? That's not going to happen.

By the way, just get ready, Greg, because Billy Belichick, he's not getting any younger. Tommy Boy is edging up to 40. Oh, you're going back to the dark ages yourself. I've been saying that for years. I'm glad they keep stretching this out and being great. one spell check's gone it's over and whatever you'll probably pull a west i'll pull a west go agnostic look there's a lot of pain that went through that it's not that easy do you have a coach by the way that you would you would like to see especially out of this list that they've seen that they've

i like even though they failed with going to the seattle well last time with idzick i think if they go back to that well and then make the right decisions this time it could work uh you know the quinn i'm hearing good things about uh the who's the guy we're just talking about kersner don Kershner. Yeah, that's the front office. But why, I don't know, to me, why would it make sense to fire Rex Ryan who can develop better defensive game plans than anyone and then bring in a defensive head coach?

You already had that. Yeah, that's what Connor Orr tweeted this morning, too, is basically you're not going to go find a better defensive mind. Gary Kubiak. But we talked about. I could see that. No, no, I'm not joking. And I don't even think it's the worst I ever, but I could see that happening.

We had an organic email chain, Connor, Greg, and myself. I don't know why Wes and Mark were left out. a management decision by Greg. It was because we- earlier and Kevin Patcher as well. Well, we should have net because we started the idea yesterday. It was originally just going to be me and Connor,

but then Dan Waltzed in and I thought, well, it'd be weird for him to not be involved on a Jets debate, but then we got lazy and never really got to go yesterday. The point of matter is... Still doesn't answer my questions. We were talking about, you know, I think Connor made the point that you're not going to find a coach

that's going to be strong in all facets most likely, but maybe you can find a guy that has a little more balance than Rex did. And the way we go. I don't know. We'll see what happens. There's more firings to talk about. Mike Smith in Atlanta.

He gone. He's fired after. How long was he there? He was there a long time? Six years, I believe. Six years? Six years. Of course.

Seven years? Because he was coach of the year in 2008. He probably doesn't get fired, by the way, if they won against the Panthers on Sunday, but they get wiped out. Well, maybe they would have still been. But he did them a favor. Yeah. They have the eighth pick now.

Wow. That is such a big difference. They would have had the 20-something pick. Right, for a team that was going nowhere. So Mike Smith out, and the Falcons, to cite again that email chamber, we're talking about that is a nice job to want to get into it because you have a franchise quarterback in his prime right now in Matt Ryan. To me, it's all about the quarterback and the owner.

If you're a head coach, that's the first two places you want to look, and Falcons are easily the best job, I think. And I think they've got an embedded GM that he's – Two-time executive of the year. Fine, track record recently, though. We can't just glance over the fact that the Falcons are sort of a disaster in key areas, but they've got a quarterback. We have to assume he still has a job, too.

Thomas Dimitrov is most likely going to be there. Our guys have said that he's safe, but Arthur Blank wouldn't say he was safe at the press conference. He kind of made him squirm. He had Demetroff sitting there, and he said structural changes might be coming. So Demetroff might have a new boss, which would be interesting, but either way, that's a great job. They'll bring in some firm like Idecon to get.

Well, they brought in Corn Ferry. Whatever. Some people who know nothing about football are going to tell him to fire Thomas Dimitrov. I don't know about that. I don't like these search firms they hire. No, we did. Wes, it's about money. A lot of people get very rich and it doesn't affect the result.

Nobody is the worst. Search firm helped a lot of mansions, a lot of cars. You know how John Idzac got hired was a search firm? Yeah, how'd that work? Right, that's what I'm saying. Not well. I did do a ranking of the vacancies, and Falcons were number one in my rankings as well. What was last on your list?

I put the jets there. Oh, shocking. Stunner. Oh, like you would disagree. Stunner. Would you disagree? I would put the Raiders last by a lot. Stunner.

I'd take the quarterback just because he's there. Greg just love it. We don't know yet that he's an old pro. Since the Pats are in a bye week, Greg is spending this week just shooting all over the Jets for every possible chance to get. It's just like if you were a novelist and your book's been published, and you've got three months until it hits the stores. You're just hitting the bars and going wild.

What a bizarre outfay. All he did all season was, whoa is me. No one understands the paint of the Jets fan. We're so uniquely pants. And then, oh, now that the scene's over, and they're 4 and 12, and they have nothing that now that you're saying we should be slowing them up. Go back and read Greg's last five Jets-related posts and tell me if there's something there. That's what I'm going to say.

Moving on more firings. The Chicago Bears clean house, they fire both general manager, Bill Emery and Mark Tressman, and even a bigger issue, Grandma's pissed. Virginia McCasky, we were told during a press conference today, or on a Monday that she is I got to read this exact quote actually TD do we have this she's pissed off

I can't think of a 91 year old woman that that description would apply to but in this case I can't think of a more accurate description yeah George McCasky the line there seething if you watch that video by the way it's actually very yeah you should go and find the video on nfl.com because he's looking down, like, in some type of film,

and then he looks up and drops that hammer. Grandma is pissed? Is that a Tyler Perry movie? Forget that Kevin Costner movie. This should be the NFL movie. The bodyguard? No, whatever that Browns movie is. I've already forgotten it.

This should be the movie. The pissed off grandma and kind of the feckless, 55-year-old guy trying to own the team, and he doesn't know what to do, and they rebuild themselves into a champion. I don't know. She's fed up with mediocrity, George said, seething, according to Mark Sessler. She feels that she embarrassed fans everywhere deserve better, which they do.

This organization is really spinning its wheels. They're not, you know, an embarrassment, but they're just kind of, they exist, and the Cutler move was just a disaster, and he's still involved. This is a tough situation. What kind of job is this, do you think, for a GM and coach? Is this a nice landing spot? Chicago is a great place to be a historic franchise, but there seems to be a lot of things up in the air. I debated putting this last on my list in terms of best jobs.

Really? Debated it. Because, well, with the Jets, ultimately. Yes. The Bears, what do the Bears have other than a history of being solid? They just fired their coach after two years for the first time since the 50s. They have a core of very interesting offensive talent. They have a good fantasy football team in Martellus Bennett, who's in knucklehead, Brandon Marshall, who's getting up there.

He's still a good guy to have, Alson Jeffrey, who's young, Matt Forty. That's a good fantasy team. Decent enough offensive line. Yeah, that's okay. You're walking into a defense in a quarterback situation. Yeah, you're walking into an absolute bees nest with the quarterback scenario. I wouldn't want to deal with it. Speaking of which, if we do this movie, can the outside Providence version of Alec Baldwin kind of down and out father play Jay Cutler?

You hit a pocked cop car. Great movie. I wonder if there. By the way, Tyler Perry was good and Gone Girl. You should see that. What's Gone Girl? Oh, my God. On Wes?

Is that a new one? I can't save you on this one. It's not a Crosby. Crosby still's a NASS song. He didn't have much to do with that movie, though. He was solid. He was great, though. It was a perfect role.

That was a good supporting role. Wes. Gone girl was like the biggest, one of the biggest novels in the past couple of years. And one of the biggest movies of the past year. Well, if I don't have television, where would I hear about this movie? Well, you're on the internet like nine or ten hours a day. Yeah, they're not talking about Gone Girl. Well, all right.

The Bears have requested to speak with Adam Gase, which makes a lot of Which makes me think, are they still going to look for the coach that can turn Jay Cutler around after he's gone through four offensive coordiners? I can't believe that their focus is let's turn Jay Cutler into a star. I think that you've got to find a way to get rid of this guy. Didn't Phil Emery get fired for giving too much money to Jay Cutler? Maybe, but they... Well, that contract has to be why he's gone. I think it was partly how they were losing games.

He'd been there three years. Dressman had only been there too. And there was some disagreement, dissension between the... two sides and maybe they just wanted a clean house. Cutler led to a lot of bloodletting and it's like you're going to want to get someone who's going to want to sign up for a quarterback that's gotten that many guys fired. I just, it's a, it's a danger zone. Tresman, we got to get him down with rec somewhere.

Maybe in Atlanta. He's going down to Jacksonville. That's the word on the street. All right, let's move on with some more newsapalooza. Wow. All right. Niners GM Trent Balke and CEO Jed York had a what was highly entertaining, I would say, and sometimes combative news conference on Monday talking about the fallout of firing,

or excuse me, officially partying ways mutually with Jim Harbaugh, who ended up landing with Michigan, where he's going to dominate in the college all over a few years, I would assume. But now the Niners are searching for a head coach, and Mark, we watch this together, and Greg, we were all watching it downstairs in the newsroom. This was an interesting presser with some San Francisco-based journalists really going after these two men for a move that doesn't seem like it's very popular. Well, I think these guys have spent, you know, four years dealing with Jim Harbaugh and answering and asking questions to him. And at one point, one local journalist went right at York and basically said, let me teach you a lesson about, was it integrity or dignity?

or something like that? He was referencing, I guess York at one point made a comment how we do things with integrity or class, and then this reporter got after York about his Thanksgiving night tweet, apologizing for the effort of the team after they got wiped out by the Seahawks. They went back and forth and it ended with York,

like, thanks for the life lesson, Daryl. I mean, how often does an NFL owner get taken to task by a writer that directly? You saw a lot of anger from the media towards York. It wasn't towards Balki. No. Balky showed well, I thought. Balky, who was somebody down in the newsroom, Mike Oppinger, Greg, made a good point that he sounds like... Funkhouser. Funkhouser from Curb Your Enthusiasm. That was the big takeaway.

The thing with this job, though, it's a great job, too. Usually these jobs don't come open with Kaepernick and a lot of talent there. And Atlanta's got Matt Ryan. I mean, Chicago at least, has been good over the years. These are pretty good. The San Francisco job is a good job. There's a lot of pressure to could crash in birds. follow, I think, after Harbaugh.

He put it, I thought Balke put it well. He said, this is not a rebuilding situation. This is a reload situations, in which, it seems like the pieces are there if the guys in defense come back healthy, and Alton Smith keeps his head on straight, and they get somebody in there that could work with Kaepernick and make him more consistent. This is a good job. TD didn't, didn't DJ have an interesting take on this one? Who is this DJ?

What? Daniel Jeremiah on the Move to Sticks podcast. Oh, what a show. The 49ers don't need a coach to fix Kaepernick. They need a coach to fix the system. About the system, guys. Which kind of echoes what a great tackle Anthony Davis was saying the other day, that Greg Roman got too cute during the offseason

and tried to out-trick everyone instead of playing 49ers football. Well, I'd be stunned if Roman was there next year. Even if they promoted Jim Tom Sula, who's their defensive line coach, which is a favorite for the job, I think they're going to change offensive systems. And if you look at who they're talking to, Gase from Denver, McDaniels, from New England,

Kyle Shanahan, also some defensive guys like Todd Bowles, but it seems like an offensive system sort of bent. And I was doing some reading from back in the day on the Niners a couple years ago when they were really a humming organization. Wes, you wrote, and I remember we talked about this, you called the Niners the Vanguard of the NFL,

which I thought was a nice phrase to use or a word to use to describe them. Have they gone and messed it up now? Are they going in the wrong direction as an organization? I think DJ's point is a pretty, solid one and that must be I'm guessing he's hearing that from other people around the league and probably some people in the 49ers organization that Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh went away from their strengths and actually changed the system tried to make Kaepernick more of a passer than a

reed option guy this is a fascinating team to watch all offseason though because they have a lot of tough decisions to make Frank Gore Michael Crabtree you got to wonder if you're going to keep I don't know that the Crabtree decision is going to be that hard right fine he's going elsewhere but you got to get Vernon Davis you got to get some speed at wide receiver Vernon Davis is under contract for a pretty low salary. He might be, yeah. Do you want a guy who can't get more than 10 yards a game? I don't think he was healthy.

Stevie Johnson, he's gone. Justin Smith, probably retiring. So it's just a team in transition. Well, you've got three of the best five inside linebackers in the NFL now, too. So how do you plan that out? Patrick Willis has owed a lot of money. Navarra Bowman has yet to prove he can play coming off of his knee injury. I still, it's intriguing.

But that's to me that this job is not nearly. as good as Atlanta because of the division, too. You've got to beat Pete Carroll. You've got to beat Bruce Ariens every year. And the one difference, Seattle also stressed they wanted to move towards more of a passing game for Russell Wilson earlier in the season and in the offseason. And when that didn't quite work out, they went back to what they were. Niners did not do that until way too late in the year.

Moving on, the Cleveland Browns, Mark. They enter the offseason at 7 and 9. Johnny Mansell spoke to the media on Monday from his locker. obviously a huge crowd around him and for all the wrong reasons after he had that not a party he wants everyone to know he did not have a party on Friday night. It was a get-together

with three friends from Texas that ended with him. I like this kind of party. The fans of Cleveland did not like it because it sounds like he had a fun old time probably got tanked and then slept through his iPhone alarm which sent Cleveland security personnel to his condo and what is going on in this world

and this was his quote, this is what he said to the media on Monday. Before, Potentially, we saw on Instagram going out for LeBron James' birthday, potentially. Here's what he said. There's nothing I could sit here and tell you. I can't sit here and talk to these mics or these cameras or anything that's going on to do any good. It's about actions. It's about being accountable and doing what I'm going to say instead of looking like a jackass.

And this is after, of course, Jimmy Haslam came out and basically dropped a hammer on Sunday night saying, I don't care when you were drafted. If you're irresponsible, we're going to get you out of town, more or less. He said, Mark, your takeaway and what's going on in Cleveland. I like how you say that they entered the offseason seven and nine. I view it as like a fiery meteor hitting earth. That's how the season ended. For a second, I thought you're going to go positive.

Be like they're now zero and zero because that's gone. But no, you're right. It couldn't have ended worse. I mean, you know, the thing is, I don't want us. I don't want to come off sounding like a curmudgeon because I think during the whole summer when all this stuff was happening with Manzell, he's floating on a swan with a bottle of champagne over purple waters like all those things we over and over said not a big deal not a big deal let him get on the field right and let him do

it was a throne of sleaze he was on it was many things i mean this to me though feels just wildly tone deaf because unless you're just a total con man two times in less than a week you've gone on this long soliloquy about how you've woken up and you understand what your career is about and you've grown up and it's time to start a new and then bang in theory according to this report he's down in south beach you know dancing with this this uh short-haired woman i don't know yeah you know what it sounds like to me it's like and i don't know who why the length of the hair was the same she had very she had very striking short hair among other she had other striking features it's kind of it reminds me of speaking to your kid brother and trying to give

him a pep talk and he says all the right things to you and you think like you're getting through to him and more importantly he it seems like he thinks he's getting through to himself but then when the time comes to act he can't do it because he doesn't have the maturity I have a different analogy okay every time I've put myself through a personal boot camp out of self-reflection I've had to have one last party before I get it out of my system oh you have to have one last shit I think he has a lot more parties to come he literally made a speech about how he has to take it more serious days before he got fined and helped you know Tuesday he said that Friday he went out all night people in Wes I've been to the

same thing people were never paying us millions of dollars oh no I totally agree you know I'm I'm glad I didn't know when I was sleeping one-off security didn't come pull me out of bed and when you listen to Mike Patton and Jim Jim Haslam talk you just wonder he's like it's not like he's going to have a long leash next year it's not like okay this is the starter until he messes up he who knows he might not play very much for the browns we don't know that's possible how could they believe that he's their starter i don't think they're right you have to target another quarter and all and downstairs people are saying you don't understand like tom brady brett farv all these guys Peyton manning when they were at 22 23 they partied like

crazy they also were fantastic on the field we've not seen that for manzell he's show no hint of that i think there'd be a total air of forgiveness if he were out he were six and one this season, and then he goes to South Beach, hell yeah, go do what you want to do. But instead, you put seven putrid quarters on tape, and then you continue to do this. You don't seem serious about your career. And I think for a fan base that, this is the thing, they're going to probably at some point part ways with Mansell and Josh Gordon. And then we're going to have to see a bunch of long, beautiful pieces about how Josh

Gordon revived his career in New England and has an 1800-yard campaign. Oh, and Mansell on his second chance. No, but that's how it's getting a little carried away. No, no, it is because bad teams are often, like, they draft these players, they go through their bumps there, and then they go succeed somewhere else. True. It's like Cleveland's running out of patience with Josh Gordon, but another team will pick them up. I'm wrong about that?

Gordon I buy, but tell me all those Great Brown's quarterbacks that succeeded after they left Cleveland. I mean, they just stunk to begin. I'm not talking about Great Brown's quarterback. And I have a Sizzler and a not, or a Sessler and one I don't get. excited about. But I think Josh Gordon is a chronic knucklehead. I think he'll end up parting ways of Cleveland, but I see him out of the league in a couple years. He doesn't seem like he gets it at all.

We've drafted like multiple offspring of Ryan Leaf here, basically. All right, finally. One more bit of news. Tom Coughlin will be back with the Giants. He got the official word from management, Giants management, this after season, in which the Giants finished 6 and 10. First time they've had

back-to-back losing records since Kaufflin came aboard in 2004. he's going to be 69 by the time the 2015 season starts, but the Giants still think he's the guy to lead the team. I think it's the right move. I think he still has the respect to the players, and I don't think they're far away from contending, especially with Wes's boy.

Really, the guy he has the Penn House suite and Wes's boy, stable of boys, O'Dell Beckham, transcending over everything. O'Dell Beckham's just giving everybody new life in New York. Coughlin, Jerry Reese. that draft class looks like the best in the NFL right now because of him. I have no problem with them keeping him. I think it's refreshing to go for continuity.

With that said, they've made the playoffs once in how many years? Six? Once out of six, they want the Super Bowl one year. They're a mediocre franchise. I mean, they're going to hire Mike Shanahan's son to turn around? I mean, no, no, no. No, I agree. That's what I said.

I think it's good that they kept them because they have a chance to turn it around. But Coughlin's track record for six years, that's not a small sample size. That's Rex Ryan's entire tenure. that's, you know, a little less than Mike Smith's tenure in Atlanta has been mediocre. One of those is a Super Bowl, though. Big fat title in the middle, so that helps. Yeah. Very, yeah, that's the thing.

I mean, the two titles game, road. I remember back in, like, 2006, listening to Sports Talk Radio in New York and them talking about is he still the answer. Then they win the title, and then he has, you know, after the last title, it gives you more rope. The titles, they mean so much in terms of continuity with coaching. In other towns, I don't think they would. I don't think there's many organizations that would stick with their coach after three straight non-winning seasons, right? Weren't they eight and eight three years ago

and then two losing seasons in a row? Yeah, I think it's a, well, I think the Giants up top, the organization is more patient than some. That's been the case for almost a century now. Yeah, and a Super Bowl will buy you a lot of rope, I think. All right, and that is it, gentlemen, for Nusa Paloza. Hey, I'm Russell Wilson. Oh, my God.

T.D. What a mess. After, by the way, after the show, T.D. is going to be like, oh, we'll edit that out. No, that's staying in as a testament. Oh, he was dealing with other things at the time. I actually set him up that time. You are a factory of sadness. What's wrong with you? All right.

So now that's the news. That's what's happening. and now we're going to play our game that we love it's a game that also has a sound drop in case TD was aware it's called What's More Likely All right

And this is the game where I present two different options And then we choose which one we'd rather do And as I promised earlier We will have a special guest for this segment He came down series He was working down in the newsroom You know dropping funny bits Very funny man

famed comedy writer and his name is Dave Damacheck. What's up with that? Of the Dave Damashick football program and other assorted programs. Dave, welcome to be on the other comedy. Don't patronize me.

I'm stuck here on the dirty side of the glass with black tie. Don't you know how uncomfortable this is for me? All these producer people, all these below the liners have, there's a hard and fast rule that they're not to talk to me. Now I'm 18, 20 inches away from them.

Z drizzle is shooting you daggers right now, by the way. It is a little weird. Can't we get a fifth microphone in here by now? He can't talk. He doesn't have a microphone now. He gave it to Dave. All right.

The podcast is taking a turn upwards now. No more black tie on the mic. All right, Damasek. So you, I invited you. We would love to, we'd love having you in the studio or close to the studio. You know the rules of what's more likely? I do. Okay.

That's good. You can figure it out. They're very complicated. I bet you're going to give me two items. Potentially. I'm going to have to guess which is more likely. Stay on your toes. Is that true?

Keeping you on your toes. But you're right. You're right on it. So let's go on. I've not heard this podcast, but I think it's terrific. It's still going. All right, here we go. Let's do it.

First one. What's more likely? The Steelers beat the Ravens without Levion Bell or the Bengals beat the Colts without A.J. Green. And let's start with our guest, Dave Damashik. Well, I'll start by saying your pronunciations of things. As somebody who is ridiculed myself or the way I pronounce things, Bengals.

This isn't the late 80s, early 90s, Shibop group. We've been down this road. I can either say it, how I say it, how I was raised to say, the Bengals, or the Bengals. Those are the two choices. And that's the cheerleading troop. Don't even get him started on Indomicon. The correct answer is the Pittsburgh Steelers because they're playing at Hinesfield. Both games should be very close.

I absolutely could see both road teams winning these games, but since you're saying what's more likely, give me the team in the black jerseys playing at home. Stunner. Greg. I don't think this is tough. The Steelers are way more likely. I mean, part of me has a hard time thinking, is this the Ravens team that I really thought was great for about 11 or 12 weeks?

Or is it the Ravens team over the last month, which doesn't look like even a below or an above average team? they can't move the ball at all on offense anymore. I think they get blown out, with or without Bell. Any answer that includes the Bengals winning a playoff game is a sign of dementia and should be excluded. The Bengals don't win games in January. They cannot have nice things.

It's much more likely that Steelers win without their best player. I picked the Steelers to go to the Super Bowl, so I have to go Pittsburgh here. And Big Ben just beat Cincinnati with a massive wild case of the runs. So this feels obvious to me. NBC actually at one point followed Ben down off the sideline to the tunnel

and then it looked like they were going to follow him down the steps and to the bathroom stall. You don't want to go there. Hey, Al, Chris, let's pan out. Get out of there. And bed and bathroom stalls is not really something I contend that I would rather, now listen, I've never had a leg injury

and tried to do anything athletic with it, but I've had a bad thing. belly before and the thought of trying to play football with it is is terrified. I think I'd rather go strain calf than the stomach flu on national TV. Yeah, I'm with Dave. No way. You can't play with a string calf. Well, Aaron Rogers did.

You know what? Adam Rank said this on my podcast and he's absolutely right. When you hear the name Donovan McNabb, now McNabb didn't win any Super Bowls, but of course had a nice career, the first thing you think about is him puking on the field. That's nothing compared to what could. to happen to big ben out there imagine if he messes himself there's there's no coming back you never come back from that you not you may be retire right then and there and and and become a jd sallinger for the 21st century that's it goodbye dan let's hear from the pro dalton camp on this one yes what's

your choice i forgot what it was again what are we talking about who's more likely to win the steelers of the bangles dan needs a comeback after a clean sweep here he wants more disagreement I mean, the Steelers. I love Big Ben in the playoffs. I'm not going against them. But, you know, I don't know. Let's move on. What's more likely?

Speaking of Andy Dalton, Andy Dalton goes on a Joe Flacco-like postseason run, or Aaron Rogers has three turnovers and a one-and-done loss in the divisional playoffs. Aaron Rogers has three turnovers. Yeah, I got less. I could see it happening against the Panthers with a banged-up cast. The Panthers, a team who just had two pick-sixes last week. For that to happen, you need the Lions to win in Dallas, the Panthers to win this week,

and then the Panthers to force three turnovers against Rogers. Not all that unlikely. I'm not going down the Panthers Avenue, but I go Rogers because this has happened to the Green Bay Packers before. They've stumbled after a 15-1 season. They got blown out in one game. Yeah, but that wasn't Aaron Rogers' fault. That was his past catchers or alleged past catchers.

Interceptions might not be Aaron Rogers' fault. Well, Aaron Rogers has not thrown an interception in Lambo since 2012, the likelihood of him throwing three in one game against a mediocre Panthers team or anyone else. The opposite is against Earth's rules, though, which was Dalton going onto a Super Bowl run? Yeah, well, you call it a Flacco-like run, which is why I think you have to go with Rogers, because the Flack-o-like run not only means the team wins the Super Bowl, I think that could happen. That's more likely than Dalton going on a run where he looks like the best quarterback in the league,

because that's what Flacco did for four weeks. Yeah, but that was shocking when that. Right, it was. It was, but I think Dalton would be even more shocking. Hey, here's your path to the Bengals doing that and what makes it seem a little more realistic. The Bengals go into Indianapolis, who clearly is a soft team.

It's a good matchup. It takes care of business there. Move on. Now, the Ravens, here's the requirement. The Ravens then need to beat Pittsburgh. If they do, they go to Foxborough the next week. We know that Tom Brady's Cryptonite in the postseason has been Flacko's Ravens. They knock off the Patriots in the divisional round while the Bengals go into Denver,

who they just beat two weeks ago. It sounds like an NFL. Listen to what I'm telling you. Don't interrupt me. Now listen, they take care of the Broncos. Then it's Broncos v. I mean, I'm sorry. Then it's Ravens v. Bengals or Bengals.

In Kentucky for the championship game. They walk like an Egyptian all the way to Glendale, Arizona. It's basically Kentucky. It's a Bengals reference. Northwestern. Walk like an Egyptian. Thank you. No one's even listening. I like that.

The difference between Shaq's podcast and ours is I guess Dan can interrupt you on this podcast. We saw what happened when I did. You saw the fire in Dave's eyes. How dare you? By the one thing to keep an eye on with Aaron Rogers and he was on ESPN Milwaukee today, it sounds like that calf is messed up. The injury that he suffered, first of all, he thought he blew his Achilles when he dropped to the turf initially. That's how serious he thought

it was. He said that the injury is in a different spot on the calf than it was the initial one. And it was bad against the bucks. Yeah. And he said that it's still pretty, you know, it's a little bit better, he said. Obviously, the buy is a huge advantage for getting healthy, but that's a messed up wheel

as we enter the playoffs. That's a big situation to watch. He's not going to play a good defense until the title game. Because even if Dallas goes in there, they're not picking them off three times. I'm not buying the Panthers. Their defense is about where they were last year right now. What's more likely?

Indomicon Sue's double step on Aaron Rogers was accidental, or Justin Bieber wins a humanitarian award for his work to eradicate Ebola epidemic in West Africa. What's more likely? I think it's more likely that Sue's step was accidental. I can buy that. I mean, it's probably not likely, but it's more likely. West, Justin Bieber is a pop star.

He's not a good person. I know who Justin Bieber is. I'll go with the Beaver philanthropic scenario. You know, first of all, I know this is something that a lot of people like to point out. But for the record, Indomacan Sue and any other 21st century NFL player must, his head must be spinning right now as he watches NFL network and sees a football life honoring Mien Joe Green and Dick Buccas and Deacon Jones. And Lila Alvado, the dirtiest player ever.

It's loco, but, you know, but then we have to ring our hands. What, this poor young man, I mean, he's got to get his head on straight. I don't know what he's doing. Right. We got, Heath Miller, being like, there's no place in the game for this type of behavior. There's a place in the Hall of Fame, though. A Pittsburgh Steeler, a legend, by the way, too, doing it. But, yeah, I think Sue, you know, he should be more aware, obviously, times have changed.

Just like Cecil was saying about Johnny football, times have changed. their cell phones around capturing your nefarious deeds. All that said, when you watch the replay, I kind of buy that maybe the lineman did kind of have a hold of sue, and he was trying to get his balance and did accidentally step back into Rogers a second time. I mean, if I had the wager all my money, if I had to bet all $387 I have, I would say that he did it on purpose, but it's not impossible that that was an accident. Greg?

I'd go Bieber. I mean, I believe in redemption stories and I think this kid can turn it around. I like that. What's more likely? Speaking of Beaver, the NFL's Beaver, Johnny Mansell. He starts a postseason game with the Browns at any point in his career or Peyton Manning beats Tom Brady in Foxborough next month.

Oh, this is easy. Really? Well, number one, we're talking about two teams that are in bi-week scenarios already in the playoffs. I like the idea of Manning. beating Brady and Foxborough than the concept of Mansell going to the postseason with the Browns, which sounds like utter lunacy. Manning not playing well the last few weeks.

It is Brady. All right, that's fair. But when is Manning ever won a big game in Foxborough? They've got to take care of one of these AFC wildcard teams. I don't think that's going to be too much money. And the Browns is 9 and 7 next year, and they sneak in the playoffs and get bombed out with Manzell. There's a lot of assumptions going on right there. How is Manning going to win in New England if he never plays another game past next week,

as you have posited on this very you said before the season even started right and I believe that I'm hedging my bets one of these two will be correct the correct answer is Johnny football starting a game for Cleveland I like Mike Patton nay I love him if I'm a Browns fan I like the way he's

comported himself throughout a rugged 2014 a lot of guys in their rookie coaching season wouldn't have handled things the way he did so successfully I know that you can shoot some holes in things have happened in the last couple weeks. I like that team. I like the defense.

I like their ability to run the ball. I think that they could rise all the way to the top of the division next year. Meantime, it's an impossibility that Peyton is going to beat Tom Brady. The only way to phrase that correctly is C.J. Anderson in the running game is going to beat them. Okay. It's definitely Manning. It's not Peyton Manning's not going to beat them by slinging the ball around in late January. Has anyone watched Mansell play in this room?

I think people are sleeping on the Broncos a little. bit as that team that to me it wouldn't surprise me at all if they win the Super Bowl but everyone's kind of discounting them because they have a bad December which happens every year because when you look at that team I think they can be one of the best three or four defenses in the league manning's maybe never had that good a defense you have a great running game he can play well enough it I mean it wouldn't surprise me if they win mark did you have a what's more likely before we go I do have one I do have one more more likely okay Mark Tressman leaves football to author a novel on nautical ponies

or Chris Wesleyan lures fevered man crush Odell Beckham away from the Giants for a 19-month trip to Eurasia where the two will live in youth hostels walk sunflower seeds and read from the journals of Jewel, the Van Living Songstress.

Definitely anything West Beckham loved life related. That's where I went. Well, the Jewel thing really clinched it because you know if Wes is going on a trip he's not leaving without a little jewel well i'm picking mark trussman aquatic ponies route because i just like to watch odell beckham on game rew and i don't want to hang out with that guy oh really i can't picture hanging out with a 22 year old he's got a lot of money oh i think i think someone protests a little

too much i am gonna you know i'm not going to let west off the hook i know what his heart wants It's O'Dell Beckham. On the Greek islands. The Greek islands. That jewel book of poetry, I'll always remember she did an interview with Kurt Loder, then with MTV, where Loder called her out from making up a word. And she, like, gave him a dirty look and, like, cut the interview short. She's very serious about her production on the page. Well, I always thought that Loder guy was a d'I.

He was a little smarmy. Let's be real about that. I know, but he was like... He's like the Jim Gray of... rock music. I was going to say that Tom Brokaw of MTV. Yeah, look what he did for Tab of the Soren's career. Good guy. It's Chris Connolly up here

and everyone else way below. We're dating ourselves here. Yeah, exactly. I like Kennedy. Let's talk Ariana Grande quickly to get the youth back in our corner for this podcast. All right, that's it. That's it for the show. Dave. Dave, you, uh, thank you for stopping by.

And sorry for interrupting you. That's fine. Just like Murta says towards the end of lethal weapon, go spit. We will be back 24 hours from now. We're coming back. We're coming right back to you. We're going to preview all of the games

Saturday and Sunday, Wild Card Weekend, as we do every year on this podcast. So thank you for listening. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, The Mailman, the Boss. TD behind the glass. And thank you to Mr. Damasek. Till Wednesday.

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