NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - MNF Recap & Stick a Fork in 'Em (2019 Reboot)

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler, and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL including Kaepernick's workout (16:16), Tom Brady upset after a win (26:50), and Gronk's huge announcement. (34:22) Back by popular demand, the heroes decide to fork some teams (41:21) before previewing the TNF matchup between the Colts and Texans. (1:00:00)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. What am I doing with my life? Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast, presented by the United States Marine Corps. You're supporting the troops, money. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal.

What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. I think that's a very healthy thing to just circle back to maybe every other week. What am I doing with my life? Every other week. hourly every night before bed uh west how you doing buddy you're a trooper we got a text from you earlier this morning that you were had all sorts of medical issues you were dealing with um and yet you're here grinding yeah i went to uh my cancer doctor yesterday my scans are to quote him beautiful

just beautiful excellent excellent party music but i've come down with a a bad cold and it's made worse by a hiatal herdium that i've been dealing with as an after effect of the surgery. Is that in the butt? No. It's in the esophagus stomach diaphragm region. Why did you need to go there with the diagnosis? Because I'm not a doctor, so I didn't know what that meant, but I just had a hunch.

You know, like I was watching Jeopardy, Jeopardy James is back with the tournament of Champions. And sometimes you just blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind and it's right. I thought that was about the butt. It was wrong because you're usually wrong. Strangely, almost always with Dan, the first thing that comes out of, to his mind is the butt. Our hernias usually are not associated with the butt, I wouldn't think. I thought you said heinie.

I ate it. So you're hanging in there, buddy. Wow. And you are, that's leadership. Yeah, deal with my heinie hernius. A lot happening right out of the game. You're a warrior. That's what I would call you.

Thank you. Today's show, good one. We are going to dig in. into the news and catch up on the big Colin Kaepernick news also a NFL owner speaks out he's getting impatient and the goat Greg as you refer to him as many others number 12 he's a unhappy a little bit upset we'll get into that speaking of unhappy and upset we're bringing it back maybe for one show only stick a fork in him reboot and Greg I know why don't you use the floor here to share your...

What floor? A rambling soliloquy. The floor you were using downstairs. You delivered to Mark and I that this was killed. Well, yeah, you said, though, that the hook this time is if we get any wrong, we're going to kill it. And I said, that was the hook.

That was the hook when we killed it, right? Greg, you heard, like, a drawer open up and he pulled out his notes, and he was, like, reading almost like some type of, like, stenographer's notes from seven years ago in the newsroom. We didn't remember that, Mark and I. We thought it was what the rules were if we got any teams wrong

and if you're newer to the show, when you stick a fork in a team, if we declare that team has no chance of making the playoffs their season is effectively over. If they come back to make the playoffs, we would then, well, Greg would do it because he was the boss at the time. He would make a charitable donation to the team city.

Yeah, we did do that. On behalf of the podcast. I think we got it, I think we did it three or four years and we were, there was only one year that we actually Yeah, right. We were wrong in all the rest. And you guys were annoyed that year, I remember, too, because we played it too soon. No, I think it makes sense now.

This is what our seventh season together. It's kind of like the seventh season of, you know, friends or any long-running sitcom. It's like, hey, what's that idea we had back in season two that people like, let's circle back to that. You have their receipts for those charitable contributions? Yeah, I'd like to see the seats. Yeah, I don't remember tracking that effectively that actually happened. I do remember. I want to open up your financials, Greg.

It was always the Red Cross. It's always the Red Cross in conversation. We'll go to the Supreme Court. if we have to get these financials cracked for Greg. No, this is, we've also talked about this before, Greg. We've done too many of these shows. This is what, like, introducing the stepchild that's five years old and, you know, precocious on a sitcom in season seven.

About episode 100, some of the kids originally in the show are in puberty at this point, and it's not as cute. Not to be confused with young Sheldon, which was just, that's a whole separate, that's a great idea. That's raging. That's raging on. Bring in the ginger. cross your fingers that's what this is

they do there must be some perfect science behind all that because you hire these kids when they're like four or five how do you know they're not going to grow up to look hideously it happens sometimes it's happened typically not though I mean like some of these child actors grow up looking now then they leave acting and they get

arrested and they have like face tattoos and stuff but we're going to replace you with Ted McGinley to save the show anyway Greg just make one promise that's all Greg, that you will play the stick of a fork in a game today in good faith. Absolutely. I always played it, you know, the way I wanted to play it. I don't think you would submarine the game, but now I have your word on it.

Thursday night football preview Indy at Houston. Ooh, that's a good one with huge ramifications in the AFC South. But before we do that, let's close out week 11 with a little Monday night football. Yes. Espanio. Squiggly over the end. We'll have to blocker, a Frank Clar, at 55. For out of yet, Rivers.

No, it's a intercepted by Sorensen, in the other count. Quarthe interception of the partido that lands a Phelette Rivers. Fourth interception by Philip Rivers. You're fluent. Fluent. That was great. Do we know who called that, Ricky? People that know Spanish with the call.

From Mexico City. Philip Rivers, intercepted by a ball hawk chiefs defense four times. And the chiefs, hold on, 2417 over the charges. At Aracus, Azteca Stadium. sight of some of the great soccer matches in the history of the sport. You've got the accent down. I'll give you that.

Español Azteca. Estario Azteca. Estario Azteca. Estario Azteca. Yeah. So this was a game where you expected, you know, big scoring, potentially Patrick Mahomes against Philip Rivers.

It didn't work out that way because, first of all, the cheese barely had the ball. It felt like in the first half. And the Chargers was, went up and down the field and did what the Chargers do. Chargers are going to charge her. Found ways to kick away multiple scoring opportunities, Greg, in the first half. The Chiefs go on a roll.

They get ahead. The Chargers battle back. But Rivers kept on making mistakes. And you wonder if this is a game you remembers kind of the beginning of the end of the Philip Rivers era in Chargers land. It's been a tough year for Philip Rivers. You know, he's had terrible protection, which has been the case for most of his career, especially this week, you know, you're without both starting tackles. You have a third round

pick, Trey Pipkins, who they tried to almost refuse to play early in the season. He's getting destroyed by Frank Clark. But ultimately, Rivers has made too many of those big-time mistakes each week. There's been one or two plays each week for Rivers that has really put his team in a tough spot. And this was a game where his defense played lights out and really gave the Chargers off. And so So you can blame Rivers, you can blame the play calling, everything about the Chargers' offense failed. And it's so Chargers because for most of the year, the offense was carrying them. And so whenever one side of the ball plays well, the other doesn't, they had the ball within, I think, the 30-yard line four times in the first half, and they had six or nine points. And they just could not make the big play what they needed to.

Yeah, I thought up until that Packers game, through that Packers game, he was playing well despite having the, the two worst set of tackles in the league blocking for him. And then the last two weeks, it's mostly on him. Last night was mostly on him. Frank Clark beat Trey Pipkins on that strip sack that might have been ruled in interception. It was. But other than that, I thought it was on Philip Rivers.

I saw a guy struggling to complete throws that coming from Philip Rivers, it was kind of stunning and shocking to watch. And I mean, we all kind of have been through this journey with aging quarterbacks. And it's not the same. He did at the end. He did at the end. But there were still just certain plays where you can just see something shifting with Philip Rivers. And it's not the final season of Brett Farv, which was incredibly painful to watch over those final five or six games. But you just, when these quarterbacks hit the end, sometimes it happens fast and it happens quick. And, you know, we hear from Steve Weish that the Chargers certainly are a team that, you know, the mindset will soon become we need to think about this position. and they've thought about it in years past, too. He also got credited with four a little bit unfair on the strip sack

to hit him with the interception, but then he also threw up a balloon that should have been intercepted but was lost in the lights by Honeybadger, I believe. So it was just that type of game. Well, that was actually, that's a great example, though. That was one where that's, to me, that's not on Rivers. They got, that was another play

where Frank Clark beat Pipkins in two and a half seconds. And even Rivers, when he got to the back of his drop, it looked like maybe Pipkins had a chance and Clark beat him so fast that you can't even like account for that and he hits his arm and he gets picked off but he's not playing. Did you not see throws from rivers

that were problematic in that game? Of course. He has 14 interceptions which is second only to James Winston in the league this year. His QBR is 46 which ranks 23rd amongst quarterbacks. It is, he's always been kind of a throwback guy and maybe he is like, you know,

he's not the type of guy that's going to be able to play until he's 40. he's more like what most NFL quarterbacks were for 50 years that once you get to 37, 38, like Eli Manning, like so many, Peyton Manning, that he becomes washed. I mean, he's a quarterback especially that needs pass protection. You got to give the Chief's defense credit, though, even though they did give up 300 yards in the first half. This is a top five pass defense, according to football outsiders. They've made a lot of plays on the ball all year.

They've been a tough team to throw against. That's why I'm surprised the Chargers didn't run more throughout the game because they were making hay when they wanted to run. And yet everything about, you know, Rivers, that's the conversation after the game. To me, it's secondary. We can kind of stick a fork in them. I'm sure we will later. They're done for the year.

To me, my biggest takeaway is what's up with the Chief's offense? That's the worst game I've ever seen out of Patrick Mahomes in terms of a Patrick Mahomes Chief's offense. And every week when you think they're finally turning it around, then they lose Tyree Kill right away, they lose Damien Williams right away, and they can't get anything going. They punted four times in the fourth quarter. It was a disastrous fourth quarter where the only thing they could do was get Mahomes to scramble for a first down or else they had no answers, which to me was shocking to see.

It was shocking to see. They can't keep a running back healthy and with a hot hand. I thought one of the great signs for the Chiefs was that Mahomes looked good scrambling. Yep. He looked like normal Patrick Mahomes. And some of those throws he made to Travis Kelsey were beautiful. But Greg's right. That was not one of the better Patrick Mahomes games.

It doesn't help that someone like Sammy Watkins, essentially refuses to step up when a Tyreek Hill is off the field. I won't do it. Well, maybe it was Mexico. You know, they were just so conservative. I'm just saying this is one of the great offenses we've ever seen. And I'm not used to seeing long stretches, which is the first three or four drives of the game

and the last four drives of the game where they just do absolutely nothing. And they're not playing the 85 bears here. Let me do the half glass full. They had every excuse there laid out to find a way to lose that game on the road in Mexico City. Mahomes throws for the fewest amount of yards 182 than he's ever had

in a game that he finished you had as we said Tyreek Hill went out Damian Williams Lashon McCoyleys with a concussion Field was a problem for both teams but you couldn't go side to side And they found a way and they did it because their defense

like you said with Frank Clark and the secondary making plays so it's good to see that this team could win sometimes when they don't have everything clicking on offense which they didn't I think that's fair They are, I think, a more complete team defensively than they were a year ago.

And that was certainly Clark's best game of the year. He's been coming on. He did not start the season well, but he's been coming on. He had a bad nerve issue in his neck that was affecting the way he was playing. And to your point, Mark, Sammy Watkins, yeah. He's the greatest tease of the decade, I think, in terms of the wide receiver. He made at least one play last year. No, it wasn't a zero across the box score, but it's like you'd like to see when they have Tyreek Hill,

when they have Kelsey, and when they have one running back plugged in and making huge plays, which you've seen a couple times, they're unstoppable. But when you're leaning on one of the three, you're in hot water. And Travis Kelsey, after a quiet first half, you had a monster second half. You kind of need your big guys to step up when it counts. Some of those throws were amazing. And part of it is listening to the players after the game. I mean, they're dying.

I mean, the elevation just changes that game for everyone. And I don't know if it was because the Chargers practiced in Colorado or not. but they did come out in the first half and they were running the Chiefs up and down the field. Wes and I locked that game, and I thought the Chiefs do not deserve to be in this game at halftime. They were given a lot of chances by a sloppy Chargers team, and that's why you pick against the Chargers.

But the Chiefs had a chance to get run out of the building in the first half, and it just didn't happen. That's another sweep for the heroes in the picks. We're starting to get respectful. We're on fire as a good. I would bet we're around a 700 percentage in the last month. or so. So progress.

Yeah. The way a team surges, you know, close to Thanksgiving and after, that is what this team is doing. It's patriots-esque what we're doing right now with our picks. Any other thoughts on the game, gentlemen? I have a long, long. No, I'm just kidding. Great timing for the Chiefs, by the way. Even if things don't seem like they're clicking for this team and maybe this isn't the year,

maybe it is, who knows, but perfect timing for this buy. You have all these guys going to eat up. And then when they come out of the buy, they get the Raiders. And then they get the Patriots. So they have a really interesting skill. schedule. And I think Tyreek Hill's health, I think they were cautious with him knowing they had the buy coming in these big games because he's not a Jenga piece because they can still run their offense, but they are just not the same without him.

What happened to the September version of Demarcus Robinson? Right. He's disappeared. They were so conservative. I mean, I've never wanted to criticize Andy Reid for being conservative, but the play calling at the end of the game, they were just counting on their defense to win it. They were expecting Philip Rivers to give them the game. and ultimately they were right. You ever had altitude sickness like flown into a mountain town?

It's not fun. Maybe that's what was happening to some of these players. Mountain town. Darker, do you have something you had? Yeah, I just wanted to hear more about you thought that they were taking it easy

with Tyreek Hill because of the injury going into the by. So you're just caught. I just wanted to know your thoughts about the injury and how they should handle that. I don't really know. I'm just saying he's standing there on the sideline the whole game. A little different.

Yeah. I'm not saying what they should or shouldn't do. You're right. Trust the medical staff, right? Yeah. So I guess they told them sit on the sideline. Okay, cool. Just wanted to clarify.

All right. Let's move on to the news. And so the main character is, to this new mind, greater, greater mind, a mind that yet is to be. All right. So we mentioned Colin Kaepernick, his workout scheduled a week ago today for, Saturday on short notice. Kaepernick was given short notice. Everybody's given short notice.

Teams invited, many teams showed up to Flowery Branch, where the Falcons practice facility is. Shortly before it was set to begin on Saturday, Kaepernick's team announces, no, we're not going to do it here. We're uncomfortable with the waiver we were being asked to sign. Some of the legalities of it were not kosher to us. So we're going 60 miles south to a high school field. and hosting our practice and hosting the workout.

They wanted it to be more visible to the public, which the NFL had it closed to the media, their planned event at the Falcons facility. The workout, as we're told, most people that were there said that he looked good. Streamed on YouTube. Streamed on YouTube. He's arm strength is still there.

He looked big. Some others saw a guy that was more average, not a standout guy, but somebody that could probably play. in the NFL, and then Kaepernick, who, in all of this, over three years since this whole process that began, of course, when he kneeled during the National Anthem as a member of the 49ers to protest social injustices and police brutality, to now you've almost never heard from them outside of Nike commercials or whatever. Speeches, yeah, very rare.

But he's been very much out of the spotlight in terms of as a speaker. He spoke to the assembled media at the high school. Here's a little bit of it. Start by saying, I appreciate y'all. That means a lot to me. Our biggest thing with everything today was making sure we had transparency and what went on. We weren't getting that elsewhere, so we came out here. It's important that y'all are here.

Y'all been attacked for the last three years. Y'all continued to be attacked. We appreciate what y'all do. We appreciate you being here today. We appreciate the work you do for the people and telling the truth. That's what we want in everything. I've been ready for three years. I've been denied for three years.

We all know why. came out here showed it today in front of everybody. We have nothing to hide. So we're waiting for the 32 owners, the 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running. Stop running from the truth. Stop running from the people. We're out here. We're ready to play. We're ready to go anywhere. My agent Jeff Nally is ready to talk to any team. I interview with any team at any time. I've been ready. I'm staying ready and I continue to be ready. It's all the people that came out here today to support i appreciate y'all i love y'all to the people that aren't here i'm thinking of you i appreciate you support from where you are we'll continue to give you updates

as we hear we'll be waiting to hear from roger giddell the NFL the 32 teams we'll let you know if we hear from them balls in their court we're ready to go all right so a lot to unpack here and as you imagine even one right when it was announced you knew this is It's going to be fireworks over the weekend. What's going to happen? It felt like a very slim chance, Greg, that it would go exactly to plan or what the NFL's version of the plan was. And it certainly did not. What was your kind of takeaway from the whole thing?

Well, I'm an optimist. And I, despite all the confusion of everything that happened and the understandable skepticism on both, you know, Kaepernick's side about the NFL and really the public side about, like, what is going on? with this. I thought, well, maybe this has a happy ending. Like, I'm an optimist that's thinking maybe he is back in the league at some point, which I think would be a great thing for him and for everybody. And I come away from this weekend feeling like there's less of a chance than that than when I, then going into the weekend. So that, to me, that's, that's disappointing because you know, you thought, okay, maybe there's a chance here. And I actually was mildly, impressed or surprised that eight teams went to the the separate workouts.

60 miles away. So some scouts went and watched them. I thought David Tepper, the owner of the Panthers, had an interesting comment. He, of course, signed Eric Reed. The Panthers were not one of the teams that even sent the team to Atlanta. And he said, look, if we wanted to sign them, we would sign them. And if we did want to sign them, we just have them to a private workout. We felt no need to go to that.

So that's like another perspective of it. But after everything that happened, it shouldn't be too surprising, but I feel like there's less of a chance than ever that a Kaepernick's back in the league. To me, the thing that sticks out is the timing and the planning. And they created the controversy with the way the whole thing was staged in the sense that you have Steve Weiss reporting that there were high-ranking people within the league office that had no idea this workout was happening until it was announced on Tuesday.

that obviously teams did not until the email landed. And to me, it's counter to how the NFL plans essentially everything, which is extremely lead up heavy with a lot of notice. And even something like a workout, you're asking people, we already talked about the fact that it didn't happen on the off Tuesday. It happened on a Saturday, which is an awkward time to have teams ship people out to a second location. And that there's a lot of other with the waiver that Kaepernick was asked to sign going on with that, Right, like there's a lot of hot takes about the waiver and I feel like you need a law degree to break it down.

And I read a couple, you know, articles Brian McCann on Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio wrote about it. And they explained it better. Like I don't even feel like having an opinion, you know, like being informed enough to talk about that. But I guess I understood why he decided to do it as he did it. And it doesn't seem like it would, you know, totally mean that no owner could just make a decision down the line. It just felt doom from the very start. It felt from the time of the announcement, and then when Saturday, when you heard that there was a catch here, that was all expected because my one thought about the whole thing, and you see it from both sides, and you see there's distrust from Kaepernick's camp toward the NFL, and perhaps likewise, based on the way this was all planned out. my general thought is that I came out of this thinking because of the way it was set up

that Kaepernick's mindset was almost more I'm not going to let the NFL dictate the terms of what this is I'm going to show them that I'm in control of this situation this is my story and I'm going to tell it the way I want to tell it and perhaps and I'm not even saying this is the wrong thing for his mindset because he's been through a lot over the last three years perhaps he put that a war, if you will, the NFL ahead of actually trying to get hired to play football because there are people out there that took out of this. ESPN, Stephen A. Smith was a very vocal person on this front, that this all felt like just a total PR move by Kaepernick and a show that he put on to be in the media and stay as a figure, you know, wearing the Kuntakinti shirt

and, you know, the big statement to the press, all that stuff felt like a show more than than actual a guy trying to get hired. But that's my feeling is it's just so doomed that there's too much mistrust on both sides for this ever to end with him getting work again. I don't think he plays again. I don't think anything changed. In fact, I think it's worse off than it was a week ago. I thought all along the number one hurdle is you cannot force a team to believe a free agent

is worth signing. No team thinks he's worth signing. And along with Greg, I've had some level of optimism before the change of venue that some leader among the coaches, among the GMs, some leader out there says, I'll take the disruption to my routine. These people being strong creatures of habit during a football season, I'll take it on me to change my routine, to have that disruption during the week, I'll go on a limb and do it, and then he changed the venue, made it a headache for everyone. And I don't see any point where someone's going to say, this guy is worth signing. To me, he's even less worth signing now

after what happened with that? Well, I think what should inform all of this is something, you know, people are like, well, what changed? You know, he's been out of league for three years. Well, here's what changed. The NFL and Colin Kaepernick agreed to a settlement that in a case where the NFL was being alleged to collude against providing him employment. That's what happened this year.

So I don't know why it happened this weekend versus some other time during this year. But that, to me, informs everything between. these two sides. Like that, I mean, there's, there is no other player like people like, well, could other veterans, like there is no other player like Colin Kaepernick in the history of the NFL. You're not just signing another backup quarterback, you know, he's going to, he's going to be Colin Kaepernick. That's who you would be signing up for.

What's not changed, though, is that you have 32 owners and I, this is just my personal belief, there isn't one among them right now that wants the distraction and the sponsorship. hit and other things that come along with bringing Colin Kaepernick in at this point, who's not a starting quarterback necessarily. There are a lot of coaches that are not going to want to go fight that battle with their own owner. If it was going to happen, it would happen to me in the offseason when the rosters are 90 men and things are just a little... But that's what made the timing so strange about this.

Yeah, different, I think, than right now. Who even needs a backup quarterback right now where they're going to go make this burning headline? The Houston Texans? Well, I mean, you saw. A.J. McCarran in a game last week. All right. Let's move on. We mentioned David Tepper. He's the Panthers owner. And he spoke

on Monday after the team's loss to the Falcons, an ugly loss, 29 to 3, that dropped the Panthers to 5 and 5. Their second straight loss, there's also a really bad loss to the Niners that's really kind of

put into focus that this is kind of a team that might be mediocre. And David Teper, the owner, who bought the team a couple years ago, told reporters that his mood is, to use his word, every time they lose. And he added that he does not want to have a mediocre team. Mediocrity is not what he wants the Panthers to be associated with. It's been that way for too much of the team's history.

Mark, what did you take out of these comments? He also left the door open for Cam Newton remaining with the team. But this does sound like a guy now that he's got his, you know, his feet on the ground with this job, that might be ready to make some noise. I think David Tepper is one of the new wave of owners who is going to come from a different place than some others. And this is the moment where in a season with a team

that's been swirling in questions about what will happen with Ron Rivera, oh, and now everyone just assumes Cam Newton's out the door, the owner saying, I don't speak much, but when I do, I'm going to remind you that everyone here serves, as they say in the White House, at the pleasure of the owner of this company. and he was a very active business owner. And, you know, you have these guys that buy teams as a play thing to invite their friends to

and sit up in the box and they want nothing to do with the football side. David Tepper has never struck me as that at all. He is hands-on, now not in a necessarily meddlesome way, but in a way where he knows, has his own strong opinions about what he's observed with Ron Rivera, where the team's at right now. And certainly on the Cam Newton front saying, no one's going to tell me what happens with Cam Newton. I'm going to tell you.

Ooh, yeah, he might have been sending a message there of how these reports get out reading between the lines. He did, you know, clean house immediately with the Panthers on the business side of things. So, you know, it's not something that we cover, but he changed out a lot of people, brought in his own people, and the continued mediocrity line is the one that apparently

he hit multiple times during the interview. And it reminded me that the Panthers have never had winning, consecutive winning seasons in the history of their franchise, which includes the nine years Ron Rivera's been there. He's gone winning season, losing season, basically every year since 2012, after starting with two straight losing seasons. And that spells trouble, you know,

because it's not like Rivera's defense is playing sensationally. These comments alone make me just believe that Herney and Rivera are going to be gone unless they, you know, win six straight games here. Also makes me think, Kyle Allen, will not be the quarter. Beck, because what is he, if not mediocrity? Well, yeah, at no point have I, yeah, I've liked watching Kyle Island, but I thought his best case scenario is competing with someone that probably has a better chance to be the starter next year.

In other news, the New England Patriots beat the Eagle 1710, a game where their defense stepped up and shut down Carson Wentz and company. We, you know, things move very quick for us on Sunday into Sunday night when we tape our show. So I didn't, I didn't see, I don't know if you guys did, I didn't even see, the Brady comments, but it became a story on Monday about how dejected he was after the game upset about the play

of the offense so far this season. Rick, do we have a little bit of that? Up and down. That's what it looks like to me, so yeah, we'd probably do everything better. Yeah, well, we just played for three hours so I think everyone's a little tired. And then they also asked him

what does he think we'll get the offense on track? I don't think it might matters what I think. That's what we do. And then he's on the radio the next day, doing one of his spots on the Greg Hill Show. I didn't know that's the thing he does. He said,

the strength of our team is our defense and special teams, which, I don't know, Mark, does it feel like this is a rope-a-dope situation, or do you think he really is? Is this maybe a late-period Peyton Manning thing where I'm passing the torch on what makes this team special? What's going on?

Break it down for me, Mark. As only you can. Please, Mark. I mean, when Tom, the floor is yours. The few times you get Tom Brady to get this agitated, I don't like the next team coming in to play the Patriots typically. I, this is. But is this still, is this different than all the other years?

Because I don't think it's any different at all. It feels a little different this year. Well, I don't. To me, it's factually different that their efficiency and their offensive production is average for the first time in 16, 17 years. So when he spoke on Monday, I did listen to that too. And his tone was much different. On the Greg Hill Show?

How was that program, by the way? I was not aware of it. Sounds like a Ben. But I do know he's been on WEI, and I guess they've changed their programming. There you go. That's what tripped me up. I had never heard of it either. The floor is yours, Greg.

And he had a different tone, which was talking about complimentary football, saying we won a Super Bowl 133, and that was good. We lost the Super Bowl, 41, 33. That wasn't good. So I don't know how many points I'm going to need. It's a complimentary game. And I do think he's distraught and disappointed. You come out of a buy week, and the Eagles defense handed it to them,

and he wants this offense to be great because he's not used to coaching a mediocre offense. Then again, I do think what he's saying about complementary football informs what they do. He doesn't throw interceptions. He gives up on plays amazing. I mean, he does not risk anything. They are fourth in the league and fewest turnovers, and that's largely because of Tom Brady. He doesn't take sacks because he doesn't really take hits.

He doesn't take interceptions. Aaron Rogers plays a very similar style. He's much more athletic, but he plays a similar style. He's not trying to put the defense in a bad situation. I believe that, that he is kind of playing to the defense where he's not being as aggressive because he knows they're good. But that's got to be humbling, and he doesn't want it to stay that way

when you're used to rolling up points with Rob Gruncowski every year. They usually pick up steam in December, and last year it was they found their running game with Sony Michelle, and they were putting over 100 on everybody to complement that defense, and I think that's what you're talking about with complimentary football. The running game is the worst I've ever seen. You get Isaiah Winback, who is the most talked about two games played in his life left tackle I've ever heard. Shaq Mason played way better.

When you got Marshall Newhouse every week out there, you're just like, okay, hopefully a first-round pick can help. You get improvement out of Shaq Mason and you get Isaiah Wend back and maybe Sony Michelle starts making people miss again. Maybe you get a running back. Maybe you get a running game. Who knows? Can you give me one now?

Can you give me the floor is yours? Dan, the floor is now yours. Egon. It's over. How many times have we done this? This is the year. No. Ego.

There are whispers and we've talked about on our show that he is headed. I wanted him to retire at the end of last year. They've won enough. I don't want to see any. any bad decline years, just leave. That is fine. That is the high watermark of like condescending Patriots fandom. It's not condescending.

Tom Brady to retire. No one else seems to agree. I just don't want an ugly end. But you agree with that. Absurd. He gone. I don't, I think they could win without, you know, they could certainly win when he's gone too.

Why off a Super Bowl win where he looked fine in the playoffs for the most part? He's not the same guy physically. Would you want him gone? I mean, that just seems a little bit like you've been given too much as a Patriot. Yes, of course. They've won too much. they've achieved it all. Move on to the next era.

Moving on to the next Patriots story, Gronk will not be there to help out Tom Brady this season. He had a painfully transparent announcement scheduled for 9 a.m. This morning, and as pretty much everyone expected, it wasn't an announcement that he'd be coming back to the NFL, but rather that he is in the business of partying. Let's listen to a little bit of that. Time out.

this is a bad game plan bro you're still in the prime of your partying career listen this isn't just some club event this is a festival centered around you you can turn it down

a little bit Ricky but keep it on I just I get it grunk I get it like you're a businessman now can we stop hammering this so hard it's like Kyle Shanahan

with a flat brin cat but we're talking about it it's working no but it's like has anyone want you to talk about more that he's not just a football player, he's a businessman. We get it.

Enjoy your party. That's what this is. It's a gronk party at Miami for the Super Bowl. Kevin Patra tweeted at me, said, are you going to resurrect the Super Bowl party beat, which I once covered for this website? I will not be. I will not be at the Gronk Beach.

Getting some Firefest vibes from... Oh, that would be so great. From Gronk Fest. Just people stranded, looking for food. Cheese sandwiches. Yeah. Dang, you've given up on the idea that he's coming back.

Yeah, I'm taking the yell on that. But you know what? I still, even when I made the sandwich prop that Gronk will play by December, I knew it was a win-win situation. Either I lose a sandwich or Gromk doesn't play. And as you say, he goes. He go. Since we never actually exchanged sandwiches, you don't lose anything.

And one more note, he does say at the end of that infernal video that he's done playing this year. So he'll be back with the Patriots. next year i'll put another sandwich on that i'll double down maybe he's taking a look at that new england offense and saying i don't want to be a part of that anyone would take me on a sandwich okay okay okay oh why not maybe we call an audible shout up just for this year what a goober um a chooch he is uh you take me up on that doesn't have to be the patriots he's playing in the NFL next year you said he's a businessman that's what that comment was maybe

next year whatever i'll take you on that that's fair okay Why not? Grant playing next year? Sure, I'll take you on it. That's a win-win too for me, you know. If he comes back, that'd be great. Finally in the news, this also popped up Sunday. The Redskins had a disheartening loss to the Jets at home.

Greg, you mentioned it. There was even a Thomas Boswell, I believe, wrote a column calling it the low point and the team's history. Nobody at the game. They've lost the city. Well, it got worse because there was a sideline video that kind of went viral. by the local NBC affiliate down there that showed Dwayne Haskins,

who's obviously had a tough go of it so far in his rookie season. He doesn't have a lot of help. Imploring his teammates as he's taking a beating against the Jets. I think he was sacked five times. What can I do to help you? What can I do to help you?

And the linemen, for the most part, are just kind of sitting there. And that led to a lot of speculation, Greg, both ways that this was a bad look for Haskell. This is a bad look for the Redskins. Well, the offensive line, we don't really know the whole story between the interaction and everything around what's going on behind the scenes there. But in general, it's just yet another kind of, this is not a great time in the history

of the Washington Redskins. I don't know. I thought it was fascinating. You're going to say it's a great time in the history of the Russians. No, no, no, I just mean the video. The video, I didn't put any higher meaning. Oh, it wasn't a great video. Bro.

It wasn't great. I felt like I needed to know more about the. context. I didn't have any like hot takes good or bad. I just found it interesting to watch. It's not like great podcast fodder, but like I don't know. I feel like I need to know more like of their relationship and that's maybe that's a pretty normal thing to happen. I put this on par with what Greg has said about telling teams what they should do with injured players. The disconnect between what you're seeing thousands of miles away on a video out of context versus what's going on on a sideline during the game, you can't make heads or tails of it.

I don't think you can sit there and translate what's going on. It was one where I wanted to hear what ex-player said. And interestingly, there were, I feel, like, equal people on both sides who thought it was great or thought it was terrible, that you have to earn that and a whole gamut. This may be someone, it's a veteran teammate right now with him. Morgan Moses said that it was him just trying to figure out because we're a veteran group.

Daniel, look at me, you want me to come up with a different take? No, I don't need anybody on my side on this. I saw what I saw. I don't think it's, I don't think it's, I think that Redskins have been an absolute train wreck. They are running the most bland offense that does nothing to help a rookie quarterback. And he was probably out of his shell, literally trying to plead with these guys. Let's wake up and get some advice. So what did you see, Dan, an offensive line that wants nothing to do with that quarterback?

I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that. I just thought in general there was, there seemed to be, there wasn't a lot of passion. There wasn't a team working together. I think it was 34 to 3 at the time. It was. So they rallied. You know, they rallied behind Askins after that.

There was a telling moment to watch the video at the very end. Haskins pleading for any type of feedback. He gets very little of it. There's even a line that, Greg, you even said yourself. It looked like he kind of rolled his eyes almost. There's one guy who was clearly just kind of, what? But that's not a good look. And then at the very end of the video,

Haskins essentially just turns and almost in a dejected way, body language wise, walks away. He's like, I went to these guys. How can we fix this? can I help you in terms of the protection, get the ball quick or make better decisions. There was no back and forth about how we fix us, and he just walked away. Nothing solved, although they did score points. Right, and they did score the next couple of times they had the ball.

If having a coworker, like, disinterested in what you say was a, like, a killer flaw, like I would have been out of this company about 50,000 different times. Right. I think in that situation, 34 to 3, after a long season and a long decade, any rookie quarterback, no matter his personality or whatever, in that situation, is going to get the same treatment. I usually have an interest in things, unless you start talking about tennis.

That's the only time I kind of start to zone out. I try not to. I know, Dan, I guess maybe you're on a thread where, like, the Jets are quarterback wreckers and they, you know, they go from city to city destroying offenses. I'm not sure I'm with you on that either. I don't know what that means,

but it is a bad sign when the Jets are wrecking you in the back field because they can't get to anything. Not a great sign. All right. It's back. Maybe for the last time ever. make sure you enjoy this everyone Greg had detailed

copious notes of that he had he had ended it he tried to get us to sign a contract we weren't comfortable with I don't know what you're talking about so we moved the conversation to another room it's this studio it's stick a fork in him

reboot I'm just happy to remember something better than someone else as I first so what is as I said at the top of the show this is when we go through we go through the league

and we make a strong, strong, strong declaration that a finite decision. Does that make sense? That their season is over when we bring up a team. And we had to, when we did it, we would occasionally bring up, you know, just one or two teams a week and have a long discussion. We're pretty deep into this podcast.

The key, though, was it had to be unanimous. It's got to be in it. That was what, there was a lot of hurt feelings over the year. You know, it's tough to get that unanimous agreement. I can already tell you how this is going to go. Mark and I, any team that is borderline boring to watch, we want them forked and Greg's going to save them.

All right. Let's see how it plays out. And I'll use the power rankings as a guide here. So we'll start 28 to 32. Bengals, Redskins, Giants, dolphins, bucks. Everybody in favor of the fork? Yeah. Bengals officially eliminated.

Hang on. Cynthia Freeland. What? Three and seven? They're done? No, the Bengals are. Oh, sorry. The Bengals are bucks.

Cynthia's coming on Thursday, right? She's joining us. She's going to be on our minipod. On our recap. So, you know, we can break that news. She said that she had to put that the Bengals had a 1% chance and all the teams at the bottom had a 1% chance going into last week. Even though they had 0% chance that the NFL was making her say that there was zero, you know,

even though the math said if you round it, you round it. it down, you rounded down to zero. We'll have to ask her about that. That to me is, so they had no chance a while back. They asked her to compromise her model. Wait, so it wasn't zero. It was like, it was like point, you know, one or point oh, oh, oh, oh, one. And so she had to pull, because I was like 1% for the Bengals, that seems high.

Like, go, they were oh, a nine. How could it even be 1%? If there's a chance, there's a chance. All right. So all in favor of the fork for those teams, say aye. Aye. Aye. What a, what a time it's been as a gym.

It's a lot more debate over the best. Bengals than I expected right there. I didn't catch an eye from Greg. What's the state of the union on your fandom for Jamis? Oh, it's over. Whoa, that's big news. Are you in favor of the fork? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Okay, good, good. All right. Is your daughter still a fan. 27. 27. She's never a fan of James. She just like the uniforms, the name.

27 to 23. We got the Jets. I like that they got out of this last group. That was cute. Back-to-back wins, baby. Cute. Cardinals, lions, Broncos. Broncos. So Broncos, Lions, Cardinals, Jets.

I'm in favor of forking them all. It would have been interesting if the Broncos had finished off that Vikings game and been four and six, but they didn't. Goner's, everyone. They gone. They go on. All right. So far so good, Greg. I thought you were going to make your push for the Jets there.

That's why they got out of the bottom tier. I mean, they're 27th out of 32. There are only one game behind the Browns who are going to talk about, I suspect. Browns have a tiebreaker on the Jets. All right. Here we go. Next group. although the Browns are going.

Thanks to that week two. I mean, yeah, the Jets are three and seven. It's pretty tough. All right. Next group. Bears. Falcons. Uh-oh.

Greg's Falcons. Great. This will be a real test. Browns. Jaguars. Chargers. Okay. Well, I'm just going to jump in and say I would fork the bears.

and the Falcons and the Chargers who all have – well, actually the Bears only have six losses. The Falcons have seven. The Chargers have seven. I would fork all of them despite – you know, the Falcons, I think, could make it interesting down the stretch. But they're in the wrong conference. At 3 and 7 in the AFC, the way they're looking, I would maybe give them a chance. But right now, the Vikings are 8 and 3, and the Seahawks are 8 and 2. Worst case scenario, you need 10 wins.

I think it might – it's probably going to take 11 wins. I think the odds would say you're going to need 11 in the NFC. So even 9 wouldn't get it done, even if they did, you know, run the table. They bang themselves with that one, that seventh loss before they've gotten hot. Even if they get super hot, it's probably doom. So I'm surprised, though. So you're going to fork the Falcons in a big spot. I will just because I legit think if they win eight straight, they're out, which is, you know, it's tough spot to be.

They would need the saints to collapse. There's still a way if you do the ESPN playoff. Oh, yeah. They can get a second seed. still. Now, that is not happening. I am happy, I'm fine to fork the Falcons at this point. Too much self-inflicted wounds. All right. I am not comfortable forking your Browns yet, Mark. I will wait until Sunday night. I noticed Greg did not have them on his list of approved teams for forking. Right. I'm with Dan. I would not want to fork them because their schedule is cake.

You know, if Garrett hadn't been suspended, I think there'd be a real feel that they're going to, that they can beat Miami this week and that the Pittsburgh game is the toughest game they have until they play the Ravens, I think, in week 16. So that Pittsburgh game would have been the key one for them. I still don't think they're out of it. And I also talking about this with Mark this morning and looking at the standings, maybe 11 wins is what you need to get a wild card in the NFC, but we always seem to shoot a little high with that.

I think a 10 win team will probably get in the NFC. That means the Vikings, which could happen. Vikings and the Seahawks would have to go to, they'd have to go under 500 the rest of the way. Don't rule out a nine and seven team making it in the AFC. I think everyone just assumes, oh, you got to get to 10. But the Browns can get to nine. And like at four and six with a soft schedule, now they could also lose three in a row right now. They're a hard team to figure out, but they will have, Mark, as you pointed out to me, they played the bills.

So they have the tiebreaker on the bills. If they win, must win against the Steelers, basically. If they win that game, they sweep the Steelers, and they'll have the tiebreaker there. And then you have a real shot of things. Well, and I would add that you've got. teams that two weeks ago looked like they were heading to the right direction, like the chargers that suddenly are four and seven and heading the wrong direction. Some of the trash is heading downward in the AFC. You need the Raiders and or the bills one of those teams to

stumble, but I think that's very... We'll get to the bills, but their schedule is not pleasant. Would you fork the Browns with? I would not fork the Browns. I agree. The AFC is too weak and the schedule is too weak. Where are we at on the Jaguars though? Yeah. I don't trust the I think they're playing the wrong quarterback. And I know I went back on that and said, I understand why they're playing fools, but especially with this offensive line, I just like...

Took a lot of hits. Gardner Minshue's playing style with this team better. I'm going to keep them alive. I don't feel great about it. This is definitely a dirt nap game in Tennessee where I think on Sunday the loser. Loser goes home. The loser goes home because if the Titans lose,

they'll have gotten swept by the Jaguars. Jacksonville won that game with Minshu Mania. I'm with you guys in the sense that, and I'm on record on this spot, not being as big a fan as you guys are. But if Foles doesn't move the needle on offense two weeks in a row, I mean, it might be too late if they are four instead. I mean, their defense has to play a lot better. They need a lot to do better.

But they do not have an imposing schedule. The best team they play the rest of the season record-wise are the Colts and the Raiders. So they really don't play any elite teams. Could they get on a little run here? I think they could. Their season is on the line Thursday. night. You might see

Minshu at halftime if things were really, really going south. Sunday. Sunday. Sunday night. Sunday day. Sunday day.

Sunday day, yeah. Actually, they're flexing Jack. I scare me. Flagg. Robot broken down. Jack, they're like,

hey, you liked one prime time Jack's Titans game. Let's give you a two. We're forking the four and seven chargers. Yeah. Everybody. Ooh.

Interesting. I mean, Rivers is a guy. I don't care who they play. They're going to find a way to lose another two or three games. Couldn't you see them seven. Seven and seven next month? I don't even know.

I have to look at their schedule. It's just kind of the Chargers way. At Denver, at Jacksonville, home versus the Vikings, home versus the Raiders at Kansas City. That is not what you would call an easy schedule. No. Seven and seven and then lose out. I mean, they'll find a way to get your heart back. I think they're more likely to go five and eleven than they are eight.

All right. You got me convinced. I'll fork them. You guys all on board? All right. I didn't know Dan was going to. I'm happy to fork as many. teams as we can get consensus on.

He's just like permanent fork. Well, it's like we can mathematically get everyone back involved if we want. You still have to pay attention to these games for the podcast, though. I have paid attention to every single game from the beginning of the year until now. We know that. Okay. There are no questions about that. All right. Well, now

it gets interesting. This is where the challenge really is the first surprising result to me that we decided the Chargers season is over. Well, I mean... I said it last... I said it before that game. They needed to win one of those games. They needed to either beat The Raiders on the road or the Chargers in Mexico City or the chiefs of Mexico City, they didn't do it. I've seen too much.

I've got to go home. To quote, Shaq, just remember, we didn't do this to you. You did this to you. All right, now it gets tough. Titans, I'm going 18 to 14 here. Titans, 5 and 5. Panthers, 5 and 5. Steelers, 5 and 5.

Cults 6 and 4, Bill 7 and 3. Well, there's one obvious team here to me that is. easy to fork. I don't know. I'm going to see if, can you guys guess which one I think is obvious? It's the Panthers. Got to go. They go.

Yep. In the NFC, that team, I think what they're just what they got, eight and eight would be a good outcome for them. And if I'm sticking with my theory that a nine and seven team gets in the AFC, well, then I cannot eliminate the Titans who will go nine and seven, as they always do. The Panthers play the Saints twice the rest of the way. They play at Indy. They play Seattle.

Yeah. And they play Greg's juggernaut. We're just, we're sticking a knife in, too. Fork and a knife. Anybody want to fork the Titans? No. They can still win that division. Yeah.

No. They could. All right. I'm with you. Steelers. Bad Thursday night. Rudolph could not have played worse in that stage. But I'm not ready to fork them.

Won't do it. Now, this is one where I, I would, I would fork them. I would, what is it, like an emotional fork? I'm thinking, trying to look at the, the, Never fork with emotion, bro. I'm trying to look at a spiteful fork, just because... I have the same thing. Yeah, just because, like, Mason Rudolph, you know, the story about him is obviously what happened last week.

But that did, you know, overshadow us having to watch and play football for three hours before that, which was one of the worst performances we've seen. It was really what, you know, it kind of ruined Wes's, like, moment to crow about how righty was about Mason Rudolph. But I will say that my doctor... Faulty narrative, by the way, but go on. My doctor is a huge Steelers fan, and I could tell he was just waiting for me to tell him that everything's going to be all right. He said, what do you think of our quarterback? And I was like, well, let me unpack this one.

Now, their schedule is definitely a plus for them. And that's what Steelers fans have been holding on to all year, along with their defense. They do not play, they play the Bills and the Ravens are the only two teams with winning records on their schedule. So they look at that Browns game and they see a winnable game, just like the Browns do. You know, and that bills is a tiebreaker game. I mean, if they were, I, the Steelers have damaged me so many times over the years. And it's with, they haven't had seasons like this, but you want to count them out and they're ultra-resilient. Of this group.

Yeah. They find a way to eke back in. So I struggle to fork them. There's still a chance that Duck Hodges will make his way onto the field and save this season. Their defense is the best thing about any of these teams in this, in this tier. Yeah. that they do have a real strength. All right.

Moving to the Colts, I think we all agree. The Colts at 6 and 4. I think we're done. They're in first place. The Bills at 7 and 3. How about the Eagles at 5 and 5? Because I'm ready to fork them.

Wow. A little bit of an emotional fork. That's an emotional fork. That's all right. Spite fork. Five and five, they can't score, and I don't see reinforcements on the way in Philly. In that division?

They're not going to win the division. and Dallas is going to take the east and then we're right back to that same conversation that at least 10 wins is going to get you a playoff spot and they're 5 and 5 right now. They're going to go win a 5 of 6 to close this thing? I don't know about that. I think the Cowboys who have to play New England,

they both have tough games this Sunday. It's a big NFC East game. The Cowboys are in Foxborough and the Eagles have to host the Seahawks. So that, you know, that could go either way for those teams. But I still think the Eagles are going to be right in it in week 16. They have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the day. It is dolphins, giants, twice, and Redskins, sandwiched around.

Those are four wins, I think. I think so, too. And they have in week 16, they play the Cowboys, like, if they ever won that? The team could definitely lose to the Giants once. Sure. And I think Sunday's game against Seattle's huge. To me, that's close to a coin flip in Philadelphia. I think they certainly have a chance to win that.

I would like to do the emotional fork, but this schedule is too easy. So the Eagles survive. I mean, there's only one game behind the Cowboys, right? Yeah. All right, let me read the list of teams that were forked. The Cincinnati Bengals, the Washington Radskins, the New York Giants, the New York Giants, the Miami Dolphins, Top of Bay Buccaneers, New York Jots, Arizona Gardens, Detroit Lions. Devin Brokos. And I roll back into the back of his head when he bites you.

Chicago Bears. Top Bears. They're going. Atlanta Falcons. Sorry, Greg. The Jacksonville's Jaguars. No, we didn't kill them. Apologies.

They're alive. They're alive. The Los Angeles Super Chargers. They go on. The Carolina Panthers. See it. That's it. Can you say the New York Jets one more time in that person's thing goes?

Get him gang green. Yeah, hit him, Joseph. So there you go. We forked, and Greg has, he's taking notes. Hey, Mark, the Browns, they're going to make the playoffs. Give us a hard answer. Oh, yeah. He believes.

Hey, that is accurate. Maybe. If we get any of these wrong, this segment goes away forever. Greg does a little jig. Who's most likely to come back to bite us? I don't think we took enough chances. Well, we could have forked the Eagles. The Eagles would be the team most likely.

Jaguars? So you guys don't want to change your minds on that? Come on, guys. Let's make it interesting and forked the Eagles. No, I don't want to. That'd be the last team. There was maybe one team out there that we were a little bold. Oh, yeah, you got, no, you can save the Steelers.

Yeah, I'm not forks the Steelers. Don't get on me. I've forked the Steelers. Let's do it. Let's get bold. Fork all of Pennsylvania. No, I can't do it. Won't do it.

I could be talked into it too. Bills? Talked into it. Fork the bills at 7 and 3? Just to get the people of Western New York riled up. The Rams. I mean, this is saying they're seizing. Oh, you want to get bold.

They don't like the rams. I forked the Rams right this minute. Yeah, right this man. This is, this is. This is saying the season's over. You're underground. That's six and four. I'm not forking them.

I would have done it. I would have done it. All right. Before we get out of here, Thursday night football preview, a huge matchup in the AFC South. Colts at Texans. Colts coming off a win, but also a loss.

They lost Marlon Mack, who has a fractured hand. And it's the hand that he carries the football with. No, Bueno. So one of their best players In fact, some people might be I know not the people in this studio Because you guys, I've never met people more plugged into the sport

But some people might be surprised to know That Marlon Mack is the number five rusher in the NFL He's had that type of impact on this offense So he goes out. Now, there is good news though, Wes, in his place A man that ran for 116 yards on nine yards per tote Jonathan Williams, the old spice rack Spice rack pounded the table for Williams

Come draft time a few years back It was the only name we could extract from him In a half an hour phone call A six-round pick of the bills A six-round performance by Spicerack that day But yes he actually He got himself into some trouble as I recall And then had a tryout was it with the Jets

And then he's bounced all over The States spoke to the media Yeah Spice Rack's been in a lot of trouble I asked I did a contact Spicerak about the Jonathan Williams. Oh, we know it's your contact. Resurgents. And he said it gave him some pep in his step out on Sunday.

Nice. He was excited. That's good. Well deserved. After the long Sunday of results coming in, did he need a pep in his step? I think Saturday was probably more the problem. It seems more like a Saturday guy. I feel like if your wife, Emeka, ever checked your phone bill

and saw the same number coming up over and over again, she would be a little bit worried. And they'd be like, no, no, that's spice rack. I mean, we've definitely never spoken on the phone. It's like you guys are in contact a lot. I like this phone bill scenario in 2019. I didn't even know this still existed. I mean, that never happened to me, but can you imagine,

I don't know, I can't speak for you guys, but that was like a number one way to get busted if you were being, you know, unpure in a relationship. Yeah, you have a, well, or I would even say going back to when, and like you'd have a long-distance girlfriend in the early high school period, and suddenly the parents, like, why are there $290 charges to Glastonbury, Connecticut? Because I love her.

That didn't hold much water. Anyway, thoughts on this game, guys. It's hard to preview this game because there's so many names up in the air, starting with wide receivers. T.Y. Hilton, I believe, is not practicing on Tuesday. Will Fuller is not practicing for the Texans on Tuesday. Two key components. I mean, T.Y. Hilton is.

I mean, along with Quentin Nelson, the most important player on this offense, I think. I'd give him a week. I know I'm not allowed to say that around these parts. But rushing a guy back for Thursday night when he's not right is almost a, almost always a recipe for exits the game early in the second quarter. I bet he wants to play because he always destroys the time. He does. Unbelievable numbers against Jacksonville lifetime. And, you know, this is a game that Indianapolis, at an earlier point in the season,

we thought this division was going to kind of start going towards the Texans. They came into Indianapolis with a head full of steam and they got beat, which happens a lot. The Colts have surprised us. The Texans are coming off a very concerning performance. I mean, Deshawn Watson had a terrible game against Baltimore. I think it's okay. Like great players can play poorly.

He was inaccurate. Kirk Cousins does all the time. It happens. You know, he was inaccurate. And more importantly, I think like the communication on the offensive line of recognizing where pressure was coming from, they were pretty scrambled up front. of knowing where the pressure.

And a lot of those sacks were on Watson. Maybe it's just a one-game blip. I just worry that this Texans defense does not have enough juice, which is why I don't feel confident in picking them. You give them a little edge at home, but if you take out J.J. Watt, there's a stat on ESPN called pass-rush win rate. When he's not on the field, they are 31st in the league

in terms of pass-rush win rate. I think the Bengals are the only team that's worse. Yeah, the Texans also, they were battered. in that loss to the Ravens. Justin Reed concussion. Mike Adams concussion. Lonnie Johnson, a bad ankle injury. When I go back and look at what happened the first time,

along with some of the offensive numbers, was Darius Leonard doing what Darius Leonard does, 10 tackles and a game-clinching interception and being a total difference maker. And he's healthy right now, and he's the kind of guy that I could imagine on TNF blowing up. Yeah, he spoke about it that he's come on really strong. he had a tough start to the year made a lot of mistakes was getting beaten coverage was struggling he admitted it and he has been on fire the last couple weeks and so is justin houston they do have some players coming along on the colts defense Justin Houston was a home run signing he's been fantastic this

he's had a sack every week for the past five weeks though that's fire just Preset had four touchdowns the last time they did it wasn't that long 15 to four touchdown interception ratio you know he's crafty in the red zone give Jacoby Brissette some love I thought we don't count those stats around these parts. What? Touchdown versus interception. Since when? I thought those were stats that we don't look at to judge whether a quarterback's playing well. I count them.

I was told that last Thursday. You were? When the film tells you drastically different than what the numbers say? Well, that's all I'm saying. Trust your eye. No, none of us remember it, though, so you got to give us more contact. Talking about Mason Rudolph. I think he was 11 and 2 going into last Thursday.

That was clearly not matching what the film was showing. All right. So, wait, one quick question. Which coach do you trust if this game is type, Frank Reich, Bill O'Brien? Frederick. I, Bill O'Brien, got out coach last week. I like Bill O'Brien as a coach a lot. He got out Lamar Jackson in my mind.

I don't know. Bill O'Brien is not liked around these parts, I understand that. No, I don't. I just said I like Bill O'Brien a lot. That's why it's a legit question. It's a legit question. I'm not just setting up Frank, right? That was just happened to be a one-two punch.

I didn't feel like getting into another Bill O'Brien argument. But, no, I love this. the Texans in this game like Frank Reich a lot great coach but uh I don't trust the Texans as much as I would have liked uh would have thought about a month ago but also JJ Watt exiting the lineup really is shaking my confidence with them but I still think at home in a game they really need I think Watson coming off a game where he played poorly he loves it in prime time I think we get a big Watson game I was I was leaning towards maybe locking this up I'm not going to but uh because they are a little up and down right now in terms of

this season but I love the Texans this game anybody else anybody else agree with me I'm gonna have to pick this game because I have to do it for a game picks and I will take the Texans I don't feel great with the wood or just outright laying wood no I think it'll be closer I think whatever it is the Texans are decent favorites I'll make it a one or two point you know that's the way of this so you pick the Texans too much I don't know why even be on the show at this point split I'm going Houston because they are going to split with the Colts. There's no way they're getting swept by Indianapolis. It's going to feel too lopsided of all four of us go with the Texans because it feels like

a coin flip game, but I don't trust the Colts firepower if Ty Ty, Ty Wight Hilton doesn't play and Marlon Mac doesn't play. Right, I looked up as a how do they score 33 points in this game, 35 points in this game, the Colts. It's always, it's always a mystery. I guess it's the offensive line, it's the coaching, the defense is a little better than the sum of its parts. It'll be played pretty well. Here's what I like to see. Or the Texans seem to break down every third game? Yeah. How about let's see some deep shots to DeAndre Hopkins. This has been a team that does not have a vertical element, which is shocking to me because Deshaun Watson throws such a great deep ball, but it just hasn't been there for them. Well, Fuller is always so much more important to

that offense than you think he would be. All right. Let's get some plugs in. Greg, the debrief. Debrief. I mean, it depends how you want to say it. I would go debrief. Yeah, NFL Dux. What was the hook of the debrief this week? Wasn't really a hook. Just kind of some takeaways. Some good week, 12 takeaways. Who's MVP? Who's number one? I have, you know, Russell Wilson, Lamar.

I think there's a nice gap there after those two. Give me some DAC. But I have DAC number three, Aaron Rogers, 4. And let's throw in wide receiver Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints defenses. No, he's coming. They can't stop them. CMC out of the top five entirely now.

That hurts, but I get it. Michael Thomas, I was like, why did Michael Thomas like my article? like, oh, someone let him know he's mentioned there. Mark Sessler, on my radar. What a column. And you are, what I like what you're doing lately, Mark, more high concept ideas of late. And what is it this week?

I mean, we are deep into the year. So I have to come up with, reinvent the wheel every week, it seems like, for something. But I came up with something called the Joy Meter, which goes from zero to 100. And it's things that are making me extremely, in some cases, me extremely happy. I did a mea culpa in the sense that with Lamar Jackson,

you know, inside of me, I wanted to push against the Ravens and push against the whole idea of them going to the Super Bowl again. Oh, yeah. And he is too fun to watch. So he got the highest grade. And then I put one out there for the Bears fans who get a four out of 100,

because it's been about as bad of a season as you could imagine. Good stuff, Mark. Wow. I'm going to give like an 8 on the Joy meter to the press release that the Ravens released today where Marty Morningweg, who no longer works for the team, had to go against a Michael Lombardi podcast for, you know,

making him look like a bad guy for not believing in Lamar Jackson. That's my, I get joy out of ridiculous things like this. Okay. Wes, you got anything coming up this week? I talk to my editor. That's my favorite part of the show. What's going on with you and Ali, the relationship? Where are we at?

I think we're okay. Yeah. Yeah, I like Ali, a nice guy. Would you put one to 100 in terms of strength of the relationship right now? Or Joy Meter. Joy meter. 84. Wow.

Wow, that's pretty... That's positively joyful. Yeah. Holly and I are friends. I like him. It might be a comeback player of the year candidates this week. Ooh, I like that a lot. And, of course, I have the power rankings.

And Ricky, what about you? Yeah. League one, Fantasy League one. That's on tonight at 745 Eastern 445 Pacific. Stream it live. More than this potters here. NFL.com. NFL.com slash fantasy.

League one, you can watch it on YouTube, you can watch it on the NFL YouTube. There's tons of ways to watch it. Very nice. And check out our Instagram, you guys. The likes keep coming in. And actually, I will post links to all of the guys' articles with swipe-ups on our Instagram stories. So check that out. Damn.

Erica's gunning for that commissioner's award. I feel it. Yeah. Well, we've got to dominate her, and we will after hearing that we're getting some swipe-up action. Yeah. As soon as you guys are like, oh, my articles, no. All right. Excited.

All right. Let's go. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm. The Mailman, the old boss. Ricky Hollywood. Rick Hollywood, subcaller. Till Thursday. This is an Ihaired Pardt podcast.

Thank you.