NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - MNF Recap &Life with Hott Butts

Episode Date: November 13, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap the crazy OT match between the now defeated (spoiler alert) 49ers and Seahawks. (7:01) The heroes take a look back at the "Hot Butt" index while reflecting on the trending topic #AndThenIwasfired with personal stories of when they have been fired themselves (26:03). We recap the show with a preview of the TNF game between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. (57:33)Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Be around the NFL podcast. shouldn't be running on sub-bar turf. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by the United States Marine Corps. My name is Dan Hansis joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. What's up, Mark?

Not too much. Feeling good. It's the middle of the week, almost. How are you? years guys together. This chemistry does not even almost does it just happen overnight listeners. I mean you can't teach this. We are entering

week 11 mark effective Thursday. Sure. Famously your view of what the NFL calendar is is different than some others do you feel that we're halfway through the season yet? I do. I also think that you know you it was

a narrative for many years that by now I'd basically given up on the sport and moved on to an off-season mentality. It's not true this time around. You feel good. You feel fresh. It wasn't true last year.

It just, I like to kill old narratives that aren't actually based in fact anymore. I'm enjoying the season the best I can. My team continues to be a hot mess on wheels, but that's been a consistent B-line through it all. Well, you know, it helps give you a little turbo boost. Your Super Bowl prediction, Seattle, Seahawks. That is on fire. In a classic, it's going to give you. It's like, you know, injecting.

one of those B-12s or whatever into your event. When you can revise your Super Bowl pick in early November and then sort of just ride that down the stretch. You tweeted that out like it was some great prediction. No one needs to know about the nuances involved. It just looks good right now. It does give me an idea that right after Super Bowl, or with like two minutes ago in the Super Bowl,

when the game's decided, I will manipulate a photo to make it seem like it was a post with those Super Bowl teams. And then the score off by like two points. So if it's 27-21, I'll have it 2823 and be like, oh, almost got it. Just missed it this year. It's an effective strategy. Employ it.

It gives me a chance to, you know, bring up the fact that I got the Ravens 49ers Super Bowl score. Correct when we did our podcast way back in the day. Or did we not have a podcast back then? Maybe that was just NFL.com. Nobody cares. I predicted the blackout, though, which is a different type of prediction to nail. Very good. I predicted the antler spray drama.

a whole other level. A whole other level. Wes? Wes wasn't nervous at that point. What was that road to? Wes was on a dock with a drink in his hand and a laptop. Not a pair. On a barrel.

Wes was in Los Angeles reporting during that Super Bowl. Footloose and fancy free. All right. Anyway, that's the past. That was then. This is now. And we have a lot to get to. I mentioned week 11.

We're going to preview that first game. It's the Steelers at the Browns. I think we already talked about the Broncos game being a dirt nap game for the Browns. But actually, after some teams lose and the Browns win, if they figure out a way to win that game, people in Cleveland are going to be excited. I'll tell you that. I don't know about you, Mark. People in Cleveland are going to be.

Yes. We will also, we're thinking about this with coaches and this will become a bigger and bigger storyline as we get closer. because now it's reached the stage in the NFL where a full quarter of the coaches get fired every year. I mean, that's crazy. One-fourth of the coaches go down. It's not like a rule from the competition committee. Not a rule.

Imagine if it was. Now, that would be kind of fun. I mean, not for everyone. But it would be intriguing. They wouldn't stick with the rule anyway. So I looked it up about three months ago, almost three months ago exactly. I wrote a column on this site about hot butts

and the hot butt rankings for head coaches. That's not the headline they ran, but that's what it was. So we could resurface that list and check in where those coaches are and see what we think about coaches as we enter kind of the home stretch of the regular season. And it also neatly ties in with, and we've been talking about this. We've been building this up for a week. Erica Tamposi, her seg for the round the NFL podcast. See, you took this, what I wanted to do and turn it into.

a little something different, which is cool because we like to create together, right? So you thought I was going to come out here and be all like, you know, bitchy, but I'm not. No, no, I would never say that and I would never feel that. Of course not. I am excited because Ricky brought up the idea,

well, if we're talking about hot butts, what about our own purse, our past? And some stories when our butts got so hot, we got kicked out of the chair. So we'll all share a little dismissal story from our youth. Downstairs the newsroom, Greg's like, oh, I'm so.

functional everywhere I go. I can't even think of a place. I didn't say that. I was a terrible waiter and waiter, but I'm not going to like make up a story. So you've never been fired, you're saying? Not fired.

I mean, I've like stopped showing up or whatever. I have a story though. I've only been fired ones. Ricky, I want you to share a story too if you have one. Strawberry season just ends. Right,

that's the thing. You can't get fired from the strawberry job. But did they ask you back? Six weeks and out. When your contract came up, did they say, contract. Everything is highly illegal what they were doing. And I was not back in the West. That was the summer where I realized I'm never living in

Western Massachusetts ever again. And I haven't. I've stuck to that. I have multiple fire. As I see her rolls down, Deb Rosenthal's police. She got out as soon as, you know, not long after I did. She knew. Nothing wrong with Western Mass. Great place, but you don't got to go back. You forgot to mention, I mean, it had to do with the hashtag and then I was fired. See, Eric was trying to bring up a trending top. Yeah, that's great. You always mentioned, like, we ride the zeitgeist.

Yeah, ride that zeitgeist. We're like up with the times. So I sent a bunch of different ideas, and I think this is a good one. So, yes, there is a hashtag out there. The hashtag is, again, what? And then I was fired. So we're going to share that story and then talk about coaches who will be fired potentially. But before we do that, yes, one of the games of the year, certainly in the conversation,

Monday night football at the big bell bottom. Hit it, Rookie. Myers steps back. At the 45 waits for the snap. Michael Dixon puts it down. That kick is away. And that kick is good. The Seahawks win.

It's good. The Seahawks in overtime went for the second time in two weeks. And they beat the undefeated. Now once defeated, San Francisco 49ers, What a game on Monday night football. The Seahawks win in overtime, and Jason Myers does it. What a game. Oh, I love watch Ross and Pete Carroll run out to the middle of the field together.

Both yanking each other's sweatshirts. Oh. What a game. Steve Rable, Warren Moon Moon with the call. Jason Myers hits the first. field goal in the final play, the final seconds of overtime, lifting the Seahawks to a dramatic 27 to 24 win over the 49ers in Santa Clara, handing the Niners their first loss of the season, turning the NFC West into a wide open race between two teams that figured to make serious noise

in January. What a game. Chris Wessling, so many. storylines to hit here. The overtime alone you could write a book about. But what was your big takeaway as the Seahawks celebrated in the game that Russell Wilson called the craziest game he's ever been a part of? Yeah, I felt like the

broadcast booth was trying to make this the GMEG referendum game and I didn't see that. I saw this. I will always remember this as the Jedevi and Clowning imposing his will game. Brian Baldinger said it's the best game he's seen by a defensive lineman all year. And it ranks with

any game in J.J. Watts or Von Miller's career, according to Baldy. I don't know about that. I don't know how that's measured, but he was constantly in Jimmy G's grill. It was... Constantly. It was maybe the healthiest the San Francisco 49ers offensive line has been since September, and it was also their worst game of the year by far for that group up front. And it was mostly Jadevian Clowney with some help from Geron Reed, but Clowney just taking over. And he's sort of like the bizarro, Kirk Cousins? Hmm. He does most of his damage in nationally televised games against great team.

And they both, and Kirk Cousins got paid, as we know. So you can still do your damage when people aren't watching and get paid a ton of money as a quarterback. But when you do it in prime time and if you're a defender, Clowny and Greg, you remarked this on Twitter. It was one of the first things came to my mind is that game unfolded and he was making play after play living in the backfield, causing fumbles, scoring touchdowns. is going to be one of the highest paid football players in the league in a few months and a lot of

that will tie into what he did. It was almost like he finally, and I know football heads out there, well, if you really watch him week to week, he's a game record. But no, no, no. It's also, he hasn't ever quite lived up to what we expect. As a pass rusher. As a pass rusher, especially when he was held as an LT figure coming out of South Carolina. This was the game kind of people expected coming out of college and it couldn't have come in a bigger spot. Well, his, his, career has been defined by playing his very best in December and the playoffs. I was at, you know, the wild card game that he won where I think he was almost as impressive as this one. He had a game late last season. I think it was against the Eagles, which is very similar to this one.

And if you look at his PFF score every year, September and October is kind of okay. And then you get to November and it's pretty good. And then it takes off and he's been money. It was one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen. How could it be better? They didn't touch. him. I thought the two tackles returning probably hurt them because they weren't ready to play. They couldn't get a hand on Clowny and the previous two tackles they had in there had been playing

pretty well. So many of those moves that he made, especially against Daley, but McGlenshey too, he just made a move before them and they literally didn't touch him. I mean, it was wild to see and he talked about it after the game, just the energy that that Seahawks team played with

from the first snap. Defense is a little different, where this has been a terrible Seahawks defense this year, but they were playing with their hair on fire from the very first snap. I thought it was the best game of the year by far. I don't think to me there was anything even close because it just felt like a playoff intensity. I'd want to go through it, but I mean, certainly with the setting

and the teams involved for sure. And like they added quandary digs. Whatever the reason is, they all just played much better as a group than they ever have. It was the kind of game that made me wish, although this would be a scheduling, absolute mega nightmare, that every game could be in prime time because there is undoubtedly this extra energy

that especially comes to a game like this pitting two rivals where they are, their place in the division is changing before our eyes and everyone shows up. And there are these contrarians out there that said it wasn't the game of the year. It's not even a great game because it's sloppy. There were turnovers.

Excuse me. Their take is sloppy. Well, by the way, most people that go watch football and want to just forget about their day-to-day lives, turnovers are exciting. Turnovers where the ball is bouncing around and then suddenly Jadavian Clowny rolls into the end zone and becomes this dominant force right there in the middle of the game.

That's enjoyable. It wasn't just Seattle because San Francisco's line gave Russell Wilson nightmares, five sacks of their own. There were seven turnovers in this game, five lost fumbles, two picks. It was chaotic and beautifully chaotic. Right. You saw when the 49ers were down 2110,

you thought the game was over. That was the first time they've been really like hitting the mouth all year. And they get a little break, but they made the play on that, you know, touchdown fumble return. And then they turned up, just the swings in it were, were amazing. And I think the two quarterbacks had each had their worst game of the year. Like, it was, you know, it was a defensive, it reminded me so much of 49ers, Seahawks in 2013, 14. I mean, that NFC championship game, if you go back to it, one of the great games of the last decade, I mean, you could call that sloppy too, because it was a lot of hard hitting and turnovers.

and big plays by defense. I noticed there were, a lot of the big plays are being made by new faces. You have Drake Greenlaw makes the interception in overtime, only playing because Kwan Alexander just got put on IR and is out for the year. Jacob Hollister has become one of the most important pieces in Russell Wilson's aerial attack. Two weeks in a row now. Well, the Seattle Patriots were won that game last night. Hollister and Josh Gordon.

Biggest third down of the game, Josh Gordon beats Richard Sherman. Chase McLaughlin just signed off the street in the limelight there. at the end you had Goodwin and Dante Pettis. You got those guys not a factor at all. They're two best receivers last year. You can't even count on them when Sanders and Kidler.

I think there is a temptation and I wrestled with this last night. It's like, oh, what should I do with the Niners because the power rankings were due? I kept them at one because I thought even though they lost, listen, their first loss of the season, also when you factor in their

opponent that was always going to be a dog fight you know i don't i don't think any any less of them now i know with jimmy g and one thing that on the esb on telecast booger was getting after jimmy g a little bit he was careless with the football he got away with some turnovers but you also need to factor in some things such as we talked about clowny and how it was a turnstile he was constantly had pressure in his face and then when you lose when you have george kittle up in the luxury suite um and you have have Emmanuel Sanders in the locker room and then on the bench with a rib injury. It did shine a light.

The only thing that I would say that I'd be a little nervous about was the depth on their offensive playmaker side. Matt Breda left this game also an injury. Kendrick Bourne had a terrible drop. Debo Samuel went over 100 yards, but he had a drop that hurt him. They targeted Ross Dwelly a lot. These are guys that maybe aren't ready for prime time and you saw it. And I think that affected Garoppola's performance because there was this urge.

And like I said, Bougar said it. Oh, Jimmy G is not ready for this, but he can't do it alone. I don't think he's like that super duper star quarterback. And that explains some of the trouble. That bothers me. And I agree with West, the idea of pushing a referendum on Jimmy G. Who has started fewer games than at this point, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen. He has started the same amount of games as Sam Darnold.

And because he's been entrenched with the Niners with an injury loss season in the middle, you forget this guy's still learning the starter position. And he had everything thrown out. him last night and you saw the last two games his swings though i think it's fair though to also just point out it was his worst game of the year when he was predicted his location was off on so many throws even the interception that i think it was born dropped going high a lot a lot of the drops you know they weren't they were just he wasn't putting him on people he had open receivers and i did think you know they they talk about people talk about tom brady's quiet feet i mean his feet in the way he was

going through his progressions just felt very frenetic and it's natural that that that piled up over the game. But I also would say the first quarter was kind of a disaster for him. And so that wasn't necessarily just clowning. And yet, we say he looked maybe happy feet and the way that first overtime drive started was not great. But he had them in field goal position. And if Chase McLaughlin, that poor guy makes that kick, we're talking about a totally

different situation right now. And the Niners are 9-0. But the guy, poor guy yanked it into the tunnel. Kicking is a hard gig, man. and that changes everything around the Niners. So that was my thought in the sense that, yes, you want to win, especially at home against a division rival, but don't bury the Niners off one loss because it could have was a coin flip.

Well, people like Booger and other cognosente around the league. Nice hesitation there, too. I like it. What they want to see is they know that Jimmy Garoppos have probably the easiest quarterback job of anyone in the league this year, always playing with the lead, always having a great running attack, always having Kyle Shanahan scheming people open always having George Kittle as the best player on the field

and they want to see what happens when those things aren't there but then you tend to overlook things like his receivers dropping 10 passes like Jadavian Clowny being in his lap every time so it's not a referendum it's a one game thing it's a bad game and a lot of it wasn't on him but a lot of it was I think it was Russell Wilson's worst game too and that's the thing like I don't think you need to pretend that

I think Russell Wilson, if anything, it helped his MVP case. To me, I now am assigned to put it into the debrief every week. Ooh, it's a sponsor. Well, yeah, I guess it's some, it's a sponsor. And to me, Wilson's way ahead of the pack and last night. Way ahead. Yeah, I think so. I think Wilson's been so good every single week and makes his teammates so much better.

I look at it as like, what's your average game? And his average, like, he doesn't have any down weeks. But there's also seven weeks to go. which is in eternity. It's funny. He threw, he has the most famous interception, arguably in NFL history, Super Bowl 49. He threw just a crushing interception near in the red zone in overtime, that first possession where it looked like they might be going in.

Went three and out, the next drive too. When three and out. And yet, when he got the ball back again, and Greg, I'm sure you want to talk about Kyle Shannon's clock management as well, when he got the ball that last time, I still thought to myself, you know, there's no one else I want in the league. in this moment because he has such a steady hand and you just, he's a guy that even when he does occasionally make mistakes because he's human, you just trust him to not be ever overwhelmed by a moment. And sure enough, he just let him right down the field and got Jason Myers.

He trusts himself. I mean, I can't, like, I know that Russell Wilson is a magnet for criticism because he's a bit robotic and a bit athlete robot minded and that's easy to poke fun at. But at quarterback, the way that he operates, week after week, they seem to, he's the opposite of Jimmy G, where it seems like you're always watching the Seahawks have to mount a comeback down 13 or 17 points with 12 minutes to go. And it's like, I was watching that. And it was a tough game in our house because Simone is a suddenly revived and all plugged in Niners fan. She's not alone. A lot of Niners are all back in. Our seven-year-old Colton. The big bell bottom was rocking. Our seven-year-old Colton, this was the game where he was rooting so hard for the Niners that when they

lost, it was like, Mom, that was worse than me losing on my video game in the garage. It hurt him, but I tried to tell him the Niners are not, this is not the end, because it's what's happening around Jimmy G, and they're very consistent, and what they've done so far is not fluky, and they have an awesome coach. Yeah, I'm not too worried about them. I still think they have the inside path, even though they lost this game at home. I noticed, Greg, you are usually on these things. You did not criticize Kyle Shanahan for not getting closer on the field goal attempt.

I don't think, I think you, I did tweet one little thing about, it, but I think he probably regrets his play calls on second and two setting up the missed field goal. Are you talking about regulation when they hit it? I'm talking about overtime. I think he probably regrets that more than the clock management, which we'll get to, and I think he should regret. Second and two and third and one, running the ball with the best running team in the league, I don't think they just won. You know, it wasn't the play calling. You got to get two yards. Both teams had a chance to end the game. Seattle should have won the game in regulation, but they couldn't pick up a yard with Chris Carson.

That ended up giving the 49ers a chance back. The 49ers second in two with this running attack, you figure two runs, whatever he chose, I'm sure he maybe would like to choose a different run, but you figure you can pick that up against Seattle. And Puna Ford was pretty great all night too, and they just stuffed them. You've got to give them the credit.

And Shanahan did catch heat because there was a position after the Seahawks go three and out, the Niners get the ball back at three or four minutes to play. And they, no, 1.45 to play. Russell Wilson went three and out and they punted under two minutes left with no timeouts left. So 1.45. And if you just, if you play it, well, I guess the way to play it is do something safe and keep the clock moving early in the down and distance. And then put it in a situation where you either tie or you win. But I got no time for that. And I hate that. That's not the way to look at it, though.

What is the, what was the criticism? Here's what I would say. the same as at the end of the half. It's the same as the end of regulation. You have 1.45 in a timeout. That is eternity. That's not going to burn any of your time. Whether you want to call a run or a very safe pass, it's not that you're playing for overtime. You're just trying to not leave them any time to go win the game. We're talking about in overtime. In overtime, it's not like you're playing for the tie, rather, is what I meant to say. You just don't want to leave them anytime. There's a million screen passes or a run or whatever you want to do. It's not

like they would have run out of time. They had all the time in the world. That's just obvious and good coaching. You do the same thing at the end of the first half in that situation. You do the same thing at the end of regulation and you don't let them have the ball. It's also a failure and we were talking about the possession on Sunday. There's also some accountability. It's a failure of execution. They had three chances to have a complete pass and they go 0 for 3. Right. And That stops the clock. Like the great, the great, there were so many great plays in this game, but the, you know, the Shaq Griffin. Great play.

You know, Shaquille. What a game by him. Not Shaquim. Good year. Shaquim played quite a bit over Ziggy Ansah. First defensive snaps, I think, since his like week one of last year, Shakeem Griffin in that game. But Shaquille Griffin, that knock away in overtime. I mean, that was an underthrown ball by Jimmy G.

You can't kill him for it. But I'm sure when he's watching that film, he wishes, I wish I got that out there for him. We might have won the game, you know? All right, and finally, Greg, I mean, you've vindictively locked against them in this game, which caused you. When it was 2110, you know, I got a little trolley on Twitter, and I came after you a little bit about your, how you were reflecting and in pain for leaving Seahawks Corner. And I think this is this game, more than any game that we've seen in some time is such a reminder why you never leave Seahawks Corner because it's just fun. It is fun. And it usually, like I said the other week, it usually works out for the best on Seahawks Corner.

corner. Right, they're seven in O. I'm not counting that Saints, you know, game where they scored a touchdown on the last play. They're seven and O and one score games. Oh, they saw in a horse shoe. It is outrageous. But I enjoy, like, I love watching them, so I don't know. I can't have you back, though. Like, I don't need to be on the corner. Mark took your room. I did. Like a game like this, I'm not giving it up. Like, the game like this, I enjoy it so much. And I enjoy this 49ers team a ton, too. I enjoy both these teams. But you like every team, Greg. So in terms of relative No, they're fun to watch. I don't like the Jets.

I don't like the Browns right now because they're tough to watch. I like good football. Wow. It's like, it's like what's like a game like this is so much fun. It makes me worried about why I put so much like emotional enjoyment and energy into like a sporting event. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? I'm concerned about you too.

It's like the same thing. I was like, why do I cry at like the finale of Top Chef or any, any movie that happens. So sensitive. But like, you never would cry in like normal life. You know, I think I cried. I couldn't go to sleep. And I wasn't rooting or really cared who won too much.

And I couldn't go to sleep for like for this game because I was thinking about it. Do a job you love and never work a day in your life. Is that what they say? Something like that. Something like that. What we could do, Mark, is hollow out one of those hutches, one of those eaves maybe and take our ski equipment out of there and turn it into a room that maybe Greg could come back into but I don't think it's I don't think it needs to be that easy the room is by three feet by three feet it's going to be a little tight they're too good they're too good right now you know

I liked them when they were just a spark a spunky nine and seven uh team they might go in they might go when in 1988 they got good pretty quickly last year I mean oh anyway you were going to say something less about emotions yeah I almost cried in that Cardinals bucks games over the week and that game might have pulled me out of the midseason doldrums right like what hole in the rest of my life is my enjoyment for this I'm a all in on Kyler Murray now and I might be

all in on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a fun as a fun team to watch. This is great. We're seeing Devin White with

flashes just running through people like they don't like they're not even there. I love it. Not that it's been a bad season or anything

but we needed a game like this. That was good. A perfect time for a great game. All right. All right. Let's do it.

Let's do it. Forget the news. I don't want to talk about the news. We're not doing the news because we've got to get right to it. Ricky.

as promised the segment the hashtag that all the kids all the millennials all the Gen Zs out there are talking about was when I was fired and then I was fired

okay boomer and then I was fired and then I was fired hashtag and then I was fired Ricky why don't you get us going I'm curious your seg Your rules. Okay.

Well, I mean, originally I thought we were going to only antiquate this to football news because sort of like Greg, I've never really had, I've never been fired. I do such a good job in all of my jobs. But there was one time where I wasn't asked back. And I was a production assistant on a reality TV show in Rhode Island. They were filming for the day. A lot of red flags. Yeah.

Well, I was trying to get my start. I was in college. like skipping school to work for minimum wage like once in a while to get on a TV show to try to you know work my way up into directing and whatever and this was for the TV show dance moms and the woman is now in jail be me so she got fired by society in a way right but so did I because I you know to be a PA you got to just put the blinders on and get through the couple of years of getting beaten you know you're the first one there you're the last one off you can't you can't say anything to anyone if you get someone's coffee wrong it's

the end of the world i mean that that that is gone bye so one of my jobs was to clean out abby lee miller's trailer in between two of her like scenes and it's reality tv so it's like her driving around and the amount of like chocolate wrapper candy bars and everything all over the place was so like i was cleaning this up and i literally was like this is it was out of a movie like that should have been the reality TV show of what was in this trailer so I was cleaning this up and she is known on TV for screaming at people so I'm like okay it's fake or whatever no she's like that in real life like she is a word that I wouldn't even say it is so she is such a miserable person but another PA this other little girl who and we

were like 18 so she goes out and she comes back and she was like I wanted ocean spray um Not cranberry juice, but like pineapple, like specific brand. And the girl comes back. She's like sweating and she's like, um, Miss, Miss, like I went to the store and and I got all these different kinds of pineapple juice, but unfortunately, like, there wasn't the Ocean Spray brand. Uh-oh. And this chick takes the, all the pineapple juice and dumps it out in front of her and was like,

don't bother coming back to set then. And through all the empty bottles that I had just picked up of all of the trash. And I was like, hey, like, I wasn't my place to say this, but I was like, hey, like, I don't think we should be, like, throwing bottles at 18-year-olds, like, empty bottles. And she was like, and you just lost your ticket, too, honey. And then I. That's a firing. I wasn't asked back the next day. That's a firing.

But you did the right thing. Wow. B. Miller, who pleaded guilty to felony bankruptcy fraud and was. sentence in May 2017 to one year and one day in federal prison. She has since been released. Oh, nice. Good thing is, I mean, she sounds

very drunk with power. Would not be the case of anyone attached to this show. Right. In terms of, you know, your future employment. She does have an event coming up in Guadalajara. The A. B. B.S. Company, Miracles. Stay there, honey.

13. I don't know what 13 is. Yeah, she's really, she, I really cried hard that day. not for me for that poor girl like how could someone someone like that's messed up people are bad sometimes all right so we're gonna we'll pepper in this personal stories but yes as I said back on August 16th

which is almost three months ago now time flies three months ago wrote the NFL hot coach head coach job security rankings who safe question mark on hot seat question mark no no they didn't give me the headline wanted. The hot butt rankings. So let's just cycle through this list and we'll see what's

changed and what hasn't changed since August. All right. So I'm going to go quickly through some of these. Belichick, McVe, Sean Payton, John Gruden, and Doug Peterson in the top five. All safe right now. All good. Except I think Gruden was there because of the huge contract attached to him and there was a lot of people I thought this season could be. disaster, and he'd still be safe because it was the Raiders, but I think he's safe now because he's doing a great job this year. He's doubly safe.

He's doubly safe. Andy Reed, Frank Reich, Pete Carroll at 8, and then Matt Nagy, he's the final one in Tier 2. That one is Matt Nage? He's probably okay, right? This has been a bad year so far, but is there any scenario where his butt

gets hot? I don't think so. Because are they going to flush out the and Nagy and start all over again. They've tended to not make quick choices. Oh, my mic's on. Someone from behind the scenes just came in, and I said, yo. Oh, hey.

But keep going. It's not really possible for him to have a worse year than he's had. Yeah. Like, they have their worst running attack, I think, since 1980. Their tight ends are non-existent. The quarterback took many steps back in his development. And they have the same personnel as last year just about. You would like to see him with a different quarterback.

You would think that Trubisky will be the scapegoat and they will find someone else to be that quarterback. And if we have more problems next year, Nagy would be in a lot. I feel like it's a fair scapegoat. I mean, he won coach of the year last year. Sometimes a scapegoating is earned. I mean, it's not totally out of the wilderness. Dick Geron wants one coach of the year as a coach of the Chicago Bears as well.

And then went four and 12 the next year. Mark, tell us when you were fired. Well, there have been multiple times, like I said, but I'm just going to dug into the drag back here. I'll pick one of the many. I'll pick one of the many. And these mostly all happened. Wait, how many times do you've been fired?

There was a period. I got Cannes from a job at age 16, but I will put it this way. I did a route 100 temp jobs. And sometimes you land and they just think that you're the perfect fit. And other times you're not. And there were many times I was not. This is one of those jobs,

a temp job that was, if you work, we'll keep you around for a while. And I really wowed them with my Excel skills in a company called Cash Now, which there's a lot of places called Cash Now at this point. Hey, Excel Skills in, what year was this? This is 2001. Oh, yeah, that were handy in 2000. Absolutely. Wait, were you like a bail bondsman or something? So it was Cash Now places typically are like a storefront where people down on the luck for the most part might have gotten some sort of work or even an unemployment check and you come in and give them cash for 60% of the check and keep the rest. Very nefarious and I did not, it was a family run business. I was not part of the family. They brought me in to do this Excel business. I will make the story quick to say

that fate intervened that, you know, I had just moved to Denver and I was living with this couple, a friend, very good friends named Kiwi and Leslie. They're a married couple and so I'm like in this spare bedroom just trying to pay rent. So I took this cash now job. Weeks, excuse me, Kiwi? His name is John, but he's from New Zealand, so I've called him Kiwi. Okay.

Yep. And what happened was 9-11 happened. I didn't think Erica's interjection could get worse than the last one. Or yours. I might have done it. But 9-11 unfurls out of nowhere on a morning in September. Yeah, you could say that it was out of nowhere, yep. Right?

Out of nowhere, according to most. And I'm sitting there in this hotel. This is where this, that we were, our company was based out of a hotel room, which is, should tell you something right there. But we, I was there doing this Excel spreadsheet watching New York burn to the ground and all my friends are in New York. I had just moved from New York City. And so I'm trying to get on the, as you remember that, I try, trying to call anyone from the East Coast you couldn't get through basically. And I'll never forget this because I wrote it down. This, uh, gem of an individual, this boss who ran this company was already tired

with 9-11, 14 minutes into it, because he wanted us focus. on our job. Cash now. Not cash later. Not cash in 2002 right now. And he kept saying, let's stay focused people. Eyes on keyboard. Eyes on keyboard. And I'm trying to figure out what's happening. 11's going on. Yeah. And so I like went and took, I said, I have to go take a few phone calls. Where was this? This was in Denver. So in his world, it was not something. It was a, 9-11 was a regional issue and not a. You're in a hotel. Right. A backwater in the hotel room. Was he have like a whipping stick or something for people that don't keep their eyes on? He was a very, he was a very grading man.

And so he was annoyed with my, my reaction to 9-11 in general. And the next day, he claimed it was budget cuts, but I mean, please, he basically fired me and a mile away from the place. I'm home, I'm driving home in a, in my lease car, got into a major car accident, and suddenly had no job and no car. Yeah! Out of there. All right. The next, I like that story. I hate the story, and I hope that man got...

I hope he's in... Where's that wretched a... Where is she... On tour with her. She's out now. Or she's got a Lahara now. He's making money off her 700,000 Twitter followers. Seven the 9-11 guy there too. All right.

Now... That's a man with perspective. The third tier back on August, this was the feeling good, feeling secure, life is good tier, uh, begins at number 10 with Mike Tomlin, Bruce Ariens Sean McDermott Bill O'Brien Adam Gase

and Mike Vrable Who is not feeling good feeling secure Only one of those I think the rest of them are all fine I think it's pretty clear Gase I mean it's crazy

that the I've loved these reports in New York the last couple weeks with Schumer Pat Schumer rather and Adam Gase where it's like, hey, we're going to be patient. And then you read the article and it's like, well, we're just not firing them this week.

It's his first year on the job. That's not being patient. Like the fact that you need ownership sources to say we're not going to fire the first year guy in the middle of the season is ominous. You read all the time about what owners are looking for in head coaches these days. And Adam Gase is the polar opposite of just about everything they're looking for in a head coach. like able to deal with the media always has a nice bearing and leadership about him is polished makes eye contact yeah there's nothing that adam gaze does that is like what the new breed of head coach is supposed to be they nailed it uh and in the offenses you know until last week tracking to be one of the worst than the history of the NFL averaging 12 points per game before last week mike tomlin has solidified his standing right absolutely he would bump up to the higher tier for sure i don't think bruce erie So would McDermott in my mind, just because I feel like he is there and he's staying for a while. I left that one, Anthony Lynn.

I was going to say, what if the Chargers, and things have been a little bit better, but that was an ugly loss last Thursday night. I mean, what if they went off a cliff? Is Anthony Lynn that safe on a team that's going through a ton of transition to begin with? Or maybe that helps him? I don't know. I can't blame him for their injuries. He also is coming off a, like Nagy, the fact that he was a coach of the year candidate. and got some votes last year.

I don't know if they're looking. Telesco, I don't think, you know, who hired him would have any interest in firing him. So I don't know if the Spanos has won a clean house totally. I'll say this. O'Brien's worth mentioning. Tolesco's been great, too.

Right. He's done a good job. No, I was going to say, if you go from 13 to 16 on this list, which is Lynn O'Brien, Gase, Brable, I don't think any of those guys are necessarily safe if the wheels fall off totally in these last seven weeks.

Do you guys think? I think all of them could be in danger in that spot. Remember, Eight guys. Eight guys on average the last few years are going. Bill O'Brien just seems like he's been through 50 wars at this point and has more power than ever before. Right.

I think he took a lot of risks with what he did before the season. He's got to keep it going. He's got to make the playoffs. But he's on track to do all that. I mean, he might be watching Chedevi and Clownie last night and wish that he didn't have to pay Chedevian Clowning $7 million to go away this year. Nice job by Clownie. Yeah.

say that. Wes, the post office, you left voluntarily from there, right? Left voluntarily. I've never been fired, but I did have a one-day job. You're not giving him any grief. See, he didn't be. He wasn't fired. I mean, I don't know. He kept it to himself, you know, he wasn't floating

about it. You, before I said anything, you're like, oh, this is so hard. I've been so valued everywhere. I've gone. Before I said anything, you literally said, oh, I bet Greg, you'll say that you've never been fired. So it came from you. I apologize. I was It was between, it was my start of my first year of college, my freshman year.

So I was 18 years old. And my dad, I think, pulled a string or two to get me a job with a big ice company in Cincinnati as a driver, driving a monster truck around these back roads of Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio. This is the days before GPS. I had no idea where I was going. And to my naive 18-year-old eyes, the directions I was given, once I got out on the, the road. I could not make heads or tails. And there's no ways. You know, there's no Google maps. I'm going to like Owensboro County, which I've never heard of before, to drop off ice at like some country store. And there's no like vehicle training. So I'm trying to manage this

like 30 foot long truck back in it into like these pony kegs and stuff. I end up coming back around midnight from my, from my delivery, which was supposed to end. With a truck full of water and bags. It was like a Saturday afternoon. I want to watch college football. and all my friends are out partying and, you know, all the other delivery drivers are back by five in the afternoon. Here it is midnight, I come back. I ended up not even making a couple of my last deliveries

because it was so late and I couldn't find the place. Put the ice back in, like, the receptacle tank and ended up spilling it all over the place. And I was just like, I am never coming back to this wretched job again. So I just no-called no-showed, and I don't think my dad was too thrilled since he had pulled the string for me.

classic let dad down in a big spot scenario. That was a grow-up situation. Just too much too soon for me. The next category is newbies. I kept these guys in a separate category. First-time head coaches because typically they get more than one year. So let's see. Do we think any of these guys are in trouble?

I had Kingsbury at 17. Zach Taylor, who three months since this has been written still doesn't have a win. 18, Brian Flores, 19. Freddie Kitchens, 20. Vagangio, 21. Matt Lefleur, 22. How did Gays get out of this group? Because he's not a first time, first time coach.

Oh, I got it. I'm just like, how did he get boosted up? Which was smart because he could be fired. These guys have more runway. Kingsbury and LaFleur are on top of the world right now. I know Kingsbury's record isn't great, but he's done what you wanted him to do there. Zach Taylor, I mean,

he's with that mom and pop franchise that doesn't pay two coaches at the same time. They're going to want to see him with the number one overall draft pick or the number two overall draft pick. I mean, they've got a nice little... Yeah, they've got a nice little lead there for that pick, man. Freddie Kitchens, there you go, Mark.

No, I mean, Zach Taylor also has shown me literally nothing, but I get it. It's a tough situation. Freddie Kitchens, the word that you hear... Eddie Don't catching by. It's the same way Jack Taylor is. A totally awful team. Hold on though.

All the time we talk about do something that differentiates you for one of these 32 jobs. I'm not saying he doesn't possess those skills. I haven't seen it. If I could make something up, but I'm not going to. No, I think that's totally fair. I just think from Wes's point, I don't think he would be in any trouble. I don't think he'd be in trouble even if he went 0 and 16, but I guess you never know. Kitchens would concern me because, you know, you hear little rumblings behind the scenes.

And the word or the type of word that seems to come up over and over, and it's not a shocking word if you're watching their games. It's overwhelmed and not totally ready to certainly make in-game decisions. And the play calling, which in theory was the mind-milled with Baker Mayfield and all this other stuff, the quarterbacks regressed. The play calling is a weekly talking point, and it couldn't be more of a talking point than it was coming out of Sunday. And now the coach killer in Cleveland typically is not handling business against own division, which has been every Browns coach. And Thursday night, a lot of eyeballs on the team

against the Steelers will get into that game. But things could go very south or things could get a lot. I think from here to the end is what happens to Freddie Kitchens. The games will matter a ton. Well, the hallmarks of poor coaching traditionally are sloppy play, too many penalties and undisciplined. I mean, you've got the Jarvis Landry penalty after the touchdown. You don't see Belichick's teams doing this. You don't see other guys. He's the poster child right now for poor coaching. I think Vic Fonjo could only be in danger if the Broncos decide they want to reboot the entire machine and they get Elway out of that position and Elway's guy replaces him once his guy.

That would be the only thing, but, I mean, that would be quite an overthrow of power there. Not impossible, though. It doesn't seem like they want to. The ownership situation is very murky and, you know, there's confusion and, you know, finagling going on behind the scenes when it comes to the ownership. So they don't, they seem like they want John Elway running the ship no matter what. Um,

the first job I ever had is also the only job that I've been fired from. I was working at ShopRite, which was a major grocery store chain still is, uh, in the Northeast. And, um, was not very good at the job for the reasons that listeners might,

uh, be able to guess. My till was short several times. Oh, no. I was basic counter for a while. Oh, really? basic, you know, because it used to be

much more difficult. People paid with cash a lot more in the mid-90s checks and cash and you had to kind of balance your till at the end of the night. Now I'm sure if you work an eight-hour shift at a grocery store, 90% of the transactions are going to be made with debit or credit

if not more. Back then what, like 50-50? A lot of checks. A lot of money being exchanged. And so my till is short a couple times, but not to the point where I was getting fired. I was just put on this probation like, hey, it's happened twice, it can't happen again. Did they suspect you of potentially taking?

They always do because it's young punk kids. Me, no, not at all. That was not who I was. But then near the end of the summer, my buddy Bob and I, his mother, Linda, ran her own small business where she sold crafts, little knickknacks and things of that nature, jewelry. and at the end of the summer at the Wildwood, New Jersey boardwalk, there was a big craft expo. I mean, this is where all the heavy hitters went to end the summer for Labor Day weekend. And for Bob and I, it was the first time we ever got a chance to, I would tag along with Bob, Linda, and Bob's sister, Lori, who hated me. And I returned the favor as well.

We grew up like each other. But back then we were all young. But Bob and I, it was a golden opportunity to, you know, walk the boardwalk and stay at a hotel and try to talk to girls. And that was also like around the time. One time Bob and I met two girls. And then we agreed to meet the next night. And when we got to the meeting point, two other like dudes, like big dudes. And one had a big snake around his neck and a wife beater, a shirt on.

And we just walked away because we lost. That guy's got a snake. We were defeated. On the Wildwood Boardwalk, if you had a snake and you were taller and older than us, we knew we were already dead. That's beside the point. Anyway, this weekend was coming up, and I didn't really know how asking off really worked because I was so new to working.

So I kind of forgot to ask until a week before. And then when I did ask, I didn't hear back. And then I just didn't go to work. And then when I came to work the following Tuesday after Labor Day weekend, I couldn't punch in. They were like, oh, yeah, you were a no call, no show. So we fired you. I was like, oh, that's how things were.

And you know what? I'd do it again Because it was fun times Down on the Jersey boardwalk Now you're the man with a snake around your neck And young people are scared of you Exactly All right here's the next group

John Harbaugh This is the seat perhaps warmer than preferred John Harbaugh Who might shoot all the way back up Oh yeah To the top tier Anyway Ron Rivera He's in the top tier

Yeah Ron Rivera at 24, Dan Quinn at 25, Mike Zimmer at 26, Jason Garrett at 27, and at number 28, Kyle Shanahan of the 8-1-49ers. So this is the second to last tier, the one you don't really want to be in. Shanahan, obviously, is moving all the way up to the first tier, but I would think that Jason Garrett, certainly Dan Quinn, and perhaps Ron Rivera, all in danger here. Well, I think Dan Quinn is going to lose his job. I think Rivera is the biggest mystery. Like if they make the playoffs, it feels unfair to fire him.

And yet, I don't know if their new owner is going to just want to do a house cleaning with Rivera. It's up in the air. Everyone keeps saying the new owner, the new owner, but I've never seen any indication that he does not like Ron Rivera. Well, he didn't sign him to a contract, you know, when Rivera wanted one. So that to me. I'll shut up then. I mean, it doesn't mean it's over. I just think he went into this year kind of knowing what the score was.

And there's some fun stuff to unpack with Jason Garrett based off his press conference a Monday, but maybe let's save that for the Thursday Cowboys preview. Are they playing this week? They are. They already hit their buy, right? All right, good. So we'll talk about Jason Garrett more on Thursday. And then, of course, yeah, Kyle Shanahan.

In the piece I wrote that, you know, they believe in them. And they just have to kind of do it already. And they finally have kind of put it together after going 10 and 22 in those first two years. All right. Now the danger group. Number 29. Oh, before we do that. Actually, let me go through this and then Greg's story.

Danger group. Matt Patricia Lyons. Doug Marone Jaguars. Pat Shermer Giants. And number 32. Jake Rooted Egon. He's the guy that feels the best right now

because once you get off the hot seat and you're just getting paid money to do nothing and all that pressure and stresses off your shoulders I'm sure he feels better than any of the coaches in the league right now. It's like when Rob Ryan got a phone call on a tropical beach that he had been let go by the Cowboys like right away you run to the bar and just have a great night and say I'm still getting paid.

So I get to go on like unemployment on steroids for the next two years? All right. Smell you later. Patricia Marone Shermer Are they all done? I don't think Marone's done I think

I think they need to finish strong Wes that's what I think That's fair If they go in the tank maybe But it seemed like their owner liked the way he handled The Jalen Ramsey situation And maybe Tom Coughlin

Didn't handle it quite as well And losing Nick Foles And still being a viable team Through most of that Yeah I think the remaining what is it seven games for them it's gonna tell his story where are we at with matt patricia i think it seemed like a month ago people were impressed with him and now everybody's saying his he was hired to fix the defense and the defense is terrible it seems very up and down you're right

in terms of how he's viewed but they did i mean remember they fired jim caldwell after back-to-back nine and seven seasons they go six and ten last year and nobody seemed particularly impressed and then when this season kicked off like west is saying people are saying wow this team is strides. The offense has certainly gotten better and maybe they're buying into the culture, the Patricia slash Belichick culture, but they have one of the worst defenses in football and seem to be heading toward six, nine and one after six and ten. Well, it's going to come down with all these. Like, who's doing the firing and how much do they really want to change their entire organization? Like in Jacksonville, does he want to fire Tom Coughlin and Caldwell and

Marone, which feels like the way that he would probably do it if it happened? That's a lot. In Detroit, Does the Ford family, I don't know who's making the decisions, is it Martha? I mean, does she want to fire Bob Quinn who brought in Matt Patricia? Because Bob Quinn's not going to be firing Matt Patricia and start over after just two years. I tend to think probably not unless things go really crazy bad. I want to see year three of Matt Patricia. I mean, I think invariably a lot of these guys get dumped before they even get to execute whatever plan they put into place and convince an owner to get the job. to begin with, the Lions have been more interesting this season

than they have been in my 20s, 30s, or 40s. That's fair. If that year that they should have beaten the Cowboys in the playoffs, they were a good team. I know and their record was better, but for some reason they still registered to me as a raging dullard fest. For something about them this time around,

got me interested. I mean, raging's not new, but raging dollar. I don't know. How many more descriptions can you come up with for this team? All right, Greg, close us out with a little, Rosenthal Hot Bud Action. Let's see. I mean, I've quit some jobs.

I quit one on the first day by phone, which they quickly told me, like, this is a small industry. This is not a smart move. That was a segment producer job for an action sports show. People talk. Yeah, and I left the city six days later. But I'm going to think of another one where I... L.A. and took me, what, 15 years, 10 years to come back before that guy was gone. in the summer one year I was a waiter

and you know it's the end of the summer and people are starting to leave and party or whatever and I guess I had maybe asked for some days off and they were just like yeah you you know we need some extra shifts like you can't just take those days off at the end of the summer and it was my last few days you know

of the summer and I just wanted to party and I was just like no which okay that would have been that would have been fine I would have maybe not left in the best terms But I stupidly went with my friends to the deck at the restaurant to drink on one of those days. And the manager there, Sheppé. Sheppé. He was not happy and started talking to me about it.

And we just left and I'll never forget walking down like the plank of the restaurant and him yelling after me. Just like, that's really effing cool, Greg. That's really effing cool. just like screaming at me. And it didn't help that I was also renting an apartment in the back of Shepi's house. Greg, you played this perfectly. And I had a roommate at the time who I now do the podcast with Anthony.

And immediately after leaving for the summer, I kept getting these calls from Shepa, these long messages. And he wanted his very expensive bottle of vodka back from his room. And I was like, we didn't take any vodka. like we didn't touch it like I made Anthony just swear Like his room Like we were staying like an attic rented base

And he kept his alcohol in the I don't know He was renting out There was like yeah there was I mean he trusted the renter Let's start there's one huge thing And I was just like he was like That was a really expensive bottle Greg

And all this stuff And I made Anthony swear to me He didn't take it so I was like I don't know man It was enough and then A few weeks later I realized Why did I believe Anthony Of course he stole that Of course he stole the alcohol

Could you have done a worse job with Sheppé in general? I mean, you disgraced his business. You thieved items out of his rent-ins. Just disrespect him as a man. That's what you did. I don't know. And you weren't honorable. And I was a bad waiter, too.

I was in one of the worst sections. I was a 20th percentile waiter. Wow. All right. Well, there you go. So if you've been fired before, don't feel bad about it because everybody's got a story. Some reflect worse on themselves than others. like Greg Storre.

I mean, Shepe, please. Did you ever, maybe that's something, that would be one of those cool, like, you know, close off the... Call them back.

Call them back up. Maybe on the show. Like, reunite. Like the 12 steps thing? Yeah, just give him a call. Hey, like almost... What was that show,

the movie with John Cusack? High fidelity. High fidelity. Just 10, 20 years later. It's like, hey, I know I wasn't right and I was in the wrong. I mean, Shepe was not a popular character

among... basically every staff member there. I would imagine he has a side of this story, though, that we would like to hear. Ricky, can we track down Sheppey? Yeah, I'll look. The fact that you went there to drink. Well, that was ridiculous.

That's audacious. That was stupid. I was also, like, under-rate. There's a whole lot of, a whole lot of. Oh, breaking laws, state laws also. And also, you can lose your liquor license if you serve underage. So that would have destroyed Shepi's business. Entire life.

He didn't own it, but yes. But why are there caveats to whether that would have been a good idea or good for Sheppey? I don't know. Thursday night football. Good sag, Ricky. Oh, man. Thanks. That was fun.

You did it. Are you happy with your hot butt rankings then? And is it sort of giving you a little bit of insight to what? Yeah. No, I think it's a reminder of what makes following sports so fun. Things change. You think you know everything? And then a lot changes.

Yeah. All right. let's get to it Thursday night football the Cleveland Browns at home against the Steelers their last meeting the first meeting this season and their first meeting in over a year they played both their games early last year so here are the Browns at three and six they got the W against the bills mark um watched that game yesterday not not and you kind of alluded to this on Sunday show, not like a knock your socks off performance of the rounds that makes you think they're ready to go on a surge. And yet, with the Steelers coming in, it's all there. The table is

set for the Browns to get themselves back into the playoff race. Stuart Dye. Yes, it is. I mean, I think every week, we talked about it. Every Browns game from here on out is that way. And it's a big challenge. I get that I get that Pittsburgh's offense is, you know, probably mired in what will be a season-long slump at this point based on what's happened to the Snell, but it sounds like they might get James Conner back. That's TBD at this point, but that would be, that would help because their running game has been an absolute mess. The one of the other sides, too, everyone wants to talk about the Brown's offense over and over, and their defense has been acceptable for stretches. But one thing that bugs me about them, because I felt like that

Bill's game could have used, and I think the Steelers game could use it too, is something like we saw last night, like a home town pick six that flips the game on its butt and puts the Steelers into a hole versus setting their pass rush up all night long. And the Browns have seven, eight turnovers on the entire year and two since week four. They have not, where last year, they were not a good football team, but they were a turnover machine under Greg Williams. And it helped them in spots. And it certainly helped their offense. And they have gotten two turnovers since week four. It has not done a lot for a Baker-Mayfield attack that outside of getting Kareem Hunt back at this point, I thought that he made a big difference

in that last game. And I'm kind of excited to see what they do with Nick Chubb and Kreme Hunt together because I expected very little with the way that they've found a way to not maximize all their weapons. So there's a lot of questions for the Browns going into this. And if they are suddenly down 20 to 3 and Baker-Mayfield's been sacked six times and they're They're talking about all the same stuff we've heard in every Browns game all year. Lights out. Yeah, if you're the Browns without offensive line, I think the Steelers Front Seven might be the last one you want to face right now.

And the Steelers the next three weeks have Browns Bengals Browns. They could be marching through Ohio like Sherman marching to Savannah. Wow. Yeah, the Browns tackles especially trying to stop. I think the Browns – I mean, like last week, Baker Mayfield had great protection overall. and I think he's been okay most weeks, but yeah, matching up against T.J. Watt and Dupree, especially on the edge. Right, is going to be big-time trouble.

They played Chubb and Hunt together. I think you're right pointing that out. What they did, 38 snaps for Hunt and 56 for Chubb out of 69, so that means they were on the field for 25, 30 snaps together, which you just do not see in the NFL, and Hunt did add a lot of juice. It was a great point to make about the defense, Mark, because remember that it was kind of like the hipster, take of like, hey, their offense is going to be great, you know, this year, but what could

really dominate, maybe the best group on that team is that defensive line. That could be the best defensive line of league. Maybe I even said that, you know, I don't even know. Hopefully not in that annoying voice. But they haven't taken over at all. Og and Joby's been pretty quiet. Vernon has been hurt and has been pretty quiet. I mean, Vernon's had a good year. I guess he, have it, have you watched their defensive line and thought, okay, this, this team's taken over. Like, Like Garrett and Vernon. Against good teams. Yes.

Garrett and Vernon. Against Denver, yes. But against like real teams. I think you are selling that too. Some short. That's fair. Garrett's been great. Garrett's piling up sacks.

But I guess what I'm missing this year is the one stable of better Browns teams is, you know, it gets cold now and you can put teams to bed with turnovers, with interceptions. And they have a good secondary. It's pretty deep. They've been injured up and down. But I don't know. I just see Pittsburgh hanging around, if not out. right taking this thing.

Oh, yeah. I mean, the way their defense is clearly the best group in this game. What is that, Mark? I don't know at this point. Oh, yeah. Dan, do you want to, maybe I'll throw this out there. I did think Mason Rudolph played his best game of the season last week,

which is maybe damning with faint praise, but I think he's probably played his best two games in a row, you know, incremental improvement. Dan, I don't know if you wanted to throw out the question that you did to us downstairs about Wes and Mason Rudolph. or is that not for public, you know, consumpt? I mean, now that you brought it up, I guess I should do it. If Wes, because we know Wes's problems with Mason Rudolph,

and on last Thursday's podcast, Wes said he was going to, you know, have an open mind. And then on Sunday show, you were even angrier with a young man over his play. I just threw out the idea if Wes were to travel to Pittsburgh and do harm to Mason Rudolph, how would Mark and Greg? approach the support of West, both internally, privately, and then in public on the podcast. Well, you didn't just say harm.

Well, it was a violent act. Yeah, life-ending harm. A violent act. No, life-damaging. In the hospital. I said that, number one, I'd take that public stance of we need all the facts, we need the information, we need to, I'm not going to take a side here until the case is clear to us. But I also think that people, you know, it's easy to be judgy.

And it's easy just to look at what someone does and say, well, case closed, they're a good or bad person. Wes is a very multi-layered individual, as all people are. But Wes, you know, you can see if you just hang out on them for a couple hours, the many layers. I am not going to jump ship on Wes's friendship based on. Good for you. He's got that layer of velvet on right now. Look at that thing. Velveteen rabbit.

Oh, yeah. I'm sticking by him. I'm going to have the research team or maybe our video department make just like a reel of third down throws by Mason Rudolph just as a support. You know, say, hey, watch this. Before you come to a judgment, let's watch these third and 11 checkdowns. Privately, I would support West to the extent that I'd help find him the best lawyer money could buy. This guy's dirty. He'll dig up all this stuff.

You're going to find somebody. You're going to pay for it, too? I'm going to help. We'll do it go first. fund me we'll do that again we'll get it all going and we'll make sure west gets probation max and he misses very few shows i and then publicly i'd keep my distance i that's just that checks out it's just it would just be so toxic that i feel like i would you have a wife and kids to work i would reserve i would say no comment publicly and just say it's a difficult situation for everybody right now

and i'd rather not say anything but and then i'd be working behind the scenes with you this is This is a fascinating topic, one which is, you know, wholly unreasonable and would never happen. First of all, first of all, I'd be more likely to slip him some HGH than to harm him. Okay. Let's get a better version of Macy. That makes you a better quarterback HG. Of course. Okay.

I mean, especially when you're... Fast Braid. Wait, no, leave that out. When your tendency is to back into or away from pressure any time you're about to throw, HGH might help. I like this team and I enjoy watching them So I want to see an improved Mason Rudolph Which you may say he's been I don't think he's improved

A little bit Can I just say I thought maybe you were looking at my screen While you guys were initially talking about this I did one of those A-B tests And looked at the first six games for Mason Rudolph And the first six games for Gardner Minshu And there statistically is not a big difference other than some downfield passing.

That is damning of football statistics. That is incredibly damning of football statistics. I'm out here saying that the A-B test says he doesn't look at. I don't know why you need to go after the Minchew. I'm just saying he, no, it's not a shot against Minchew. He's not as bad as people or certain persons, phelonious persons, perhaps, are pending him out to be. I would say this if you watch Minchu real quick, I get hope watching Minchu and he's exciting. I don't feel the way about Mason.

I think you using stats to try to compare Mason Rudolph to Gardner Minshu says more about you than it does Mason. Numbers are with the numbers are. Rudolph, there's different numbers, though. And the advanced metrics, he certainly struggles. PFF, which is more just grading him. He's a bottom, you know, five quarterback, and Minchu is right around average for starters.

Yeah, I think he's in between there. They should not even be mentioned in the same breath together. I know, because Gardner Minchew is Steve Young. I keep forgetting this. Garden of Minchews and we quit and this guy sits on the bench on Sunday. What I love is that there are

there are multi-agendas happening here. This is absurd. I mean, can we calm down a little bit with the Gardner Minchu here at worship? That's all. You have.

What he's doing to say about him? He didn't play well? He did play well. He played really well. He was fine. And you know what? Mason Rudolph is okay so far. Not great.

Not the worst. That is your opinion. I think he's been, he's been a pretty big detriment. When you score eight points, you know, for your office, like he's been a pretty big detriment. I do think he's made some improvements

of though not seeming as frenetic and going downfield and going through his reeds a little bit and not making big mistakes against the Rams. It was a little better. I think it wasn't as tough to watch. Well, we're going to see how it all. Incremental progress.

All right. There you go. You're locking this one up, Mark? No, I feel like I escaped. Wes and I both escaped. narrow issues there with the last Brown's lock. Are you guys going to stay in lock step? Ooh, I like that.

Lock step. Where are you going to watch this? Well, we're two in one, share, or three, we're two and one at this point in lockstep. You know, Mark was very nice. It was a very generous thing he did while I was, you know, my wings were clipped and I couldn't fly out of the nest. He fed me and he kept me alive for a while.

It might be time for me to fly out of that nest on my own. I mean, I also led you to a hideous loss two weeks ago, so I learned about feeding you. All right. We will be back on Thursday with two shows. We have the preview of Week 11, all the Sunday and Monday games. Also, we will recap Browns and Steelers late Thursday night. Who's on that game?

Who's doing that game? It's going to be Wes and Greg Mark. You doing that game too? I offer to if you, well, maybe you can't do it with the technology we're dealing with, but I could call in or something, but I don't need to. I mean, it's rare that you get to watch your team as a fan, so I wouldn't, you know, either way, we'll survive. I got to get the dongle.

Got to get that dongle. Oh, I got your dongle. I got your don't go for you right here. Sweet. I don't think people know what that means. Let's go. No, there will be no further explanation. Stan Hans is signing off for Quiet Storm,

The Mailman, the old boss, Ricky of Hollywood, the idea generator behind the glass. Till Thursday. This is an IHeart podcast.