NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - More Training Camp Whispers & Cowboys Hard Knocks Recap

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

A room filled with some heroes- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, and Gregg Rosenthal spin through training camp whispers around the league starting with the Ravens (5:20). Marc gets very upset while cut off during his Joe Burrow discussion (13:30) and Green Bay's David Bakhtiari might not be ready for week 1. (16:10). Patrick Robinson retires from he Saints (29:40) and the Chargers seem to be trending in the right direction when it comes to fans (33:21). Cameron Wolfe joins the show to discuss the Dolphins (40:15) and the heroes recap the first episode of Hard Knocks with the Dallas Cowboys (52:53). Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast has misplaced its mirth. Welcome to another edition of the, our Merkin? the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined from a virtual room filled with some heroes.

Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler. Was it a Merkin? Was that what money said? I, I, can, we almost need to hear it to get in. What did he say? You didn't hear it. It said they've misplaced their mirth. Like you guys aren't funny anymore.

That's very different. Yeah, I don't know where you got Merkin and for listeners out there, but you don't know what that is. Just Google. Oh, you don't know, you don't know how I got Merkin out of mirth? It's not that far off. That's true. But a Merkin is, according to Google search, an artificial covering of hair for the nether regions.

It's used a lot in show business productions for certain scenes. And that's what I thought the bit was. So we are flying here on a Wednesday, hump day. Am I right? No, that's not true. Dan keeps his, you know, right by the day. desk. That was a real peek behind the Hollywood curtains right there, Dan, like a real stage

hand. This is where, yeah, your wife being in the biz really paid off huge. Everywhere you go in my house, you open up any draw, you will find a Merkin. That is just, that's just what, when you live in Los Angeles and you have a spouse that works in the entertainment business, Merkins are literally everywhere you look. That's the life. Dan, I was at your house last night for Emily's birthday, and actually I was playing with the boys and I was like oh let's get a board game and we opened up the drawer and I was like

oh my god what is that and your four year old was like oh that's daddy's murkin I was like oh okay it's normal to them Greg and I obviously not invited to Emily's birth there's a birthday party we're saying what's my gift to my wife for her birthday for her 29th birthday we'll call it that um was Erica she came by for a visit came by to babysit I got to find out where you ate some dinner down there where you live? Oh, we went to Mercado. Oh, what a place. Great Mexican restaurant.

All right. We're in the weeds. Right off the bat. Big show, Wednesday show. Did I mention it's hump day? Oh, yeah. Mercantay and hump day. The rare Merck and hump day.

And we have a new guest that's coming on a little bit later. A new member of the NFL Network family, Cameron Wolfe, who is, a reporter for us, and he does a lot of work down in Miami with the dolphins, which is good because the dolphins are an interesting team at this moment in time. He also has been over in Panthers camp, so we're going to have Cam on, I don't know if is Cam acceptable? We're going to check it on. Yeah, I've heard him referred to as Cam like on other platforms. And also another C-Wolf with the same spelling of the last name. Colleen is a class act all the way, but you have to wonder if it annoys her just a little bit.

I saw her celebrating it. Like she was saying it added to the sea wolves that she apparently knows other sea wolves, maybe not at NFL Network. Be totally honest. Be totally, Marks, I know your answer. Greg, you be totally honest. If a Gary Rosenthal started working at NFL Network, would you be not mad or even annoyed, but just a little bit like, oh, I wish he had a different name.

If it was Gary, I want all the Gary's I can in my life. So I would be all for that. There he is great, man. I do like being confused for Ken Rosenthal occasionally on Twitter, you know, another diminutive man in sports media who's done very well, you know. Baseball man. You're basically Ken without the bow tie. That's how I always, that's how I know which one is which.

Without the bank account, I think, too. Maybe the airtime, the bank account. Yeah, yeah. Coming up on today's show, I mentioned Cam Wolfe. Also, yep, it's back. I got to tell you, our editor Ali, we had a phone call the other day. I said, listen, load management, ever hear of it? He had me write a Hard Knocks preview.

He had me drop an entire Power Rankings column. And last night, I'm up until 1 o'clock in the morning writing the Hard Knocks recap, the premiere of Dallas Cowboys season, 16th season of Hard Knocks. And I quite enjoyed the episode. I'd like to hear how much an annoyed mark. So that's going to come up a little later in the show. I'll save it. Mark Ait's hard, dogs.

Do not. But before that, we love doing it. Greg, you know, this time of year, it's a great way to info dump and share some of our own analysis. It's time for some Trinny Camp whispers. Let's go. Let's get it going. What are you hearing, Greg? Here to the ground.

Where should I start? Let's go with the Ravens camp. I feel like the Ravens are quietly having an annoying camp for them. And, you know, started with Lamar, and it's continuing with a variety of injuries. Now, Rashad Bateman, with a week-to-week injury that initially downplayed, and John Harbaugh confirmed on when. that he might not be ready for the start of the season. So that is more than a week-to-week injury.

He made sure to say it was going to be a while. And you just like look at all the different little pieces. It's the Ravens. They'll be better in November than they were in September. But it might be a team you want to catch early. Like their offensive line, Zitler's been out for most of camp to Miles Boykin, their receiver who was a starter last year, might not make the team right now. I just feel like there's a lot going on there.

And Bateman was one of those rookie receivers that they needed to come in and make a big impact. Because as you mentioned last week, Dan, like Marquise Brown has not practiced at all. He's had a hamstring injury, too. So you're basically counting on Sammy Watkins, and that's it. Yeah, you have a Lamar who's deep into his scientific research on COVID. He's been down for the count again. It's just been kind of a little bit sloppy, huh? Ronnie Stanley, they're, you know, arguably their best player along with Lamar.

hasn't, you know, is just coming back to practice. People forget, you know, one of the highest paid left tackles in the league. I think he might be number one and hasn't really practiced either because he's coming off that serious surgery that knocked him out of last season. So it's just like, there's a lot. There's a lot there. I really do think sometimes it's about when you play the team. And the Ravens more than any team, them and the Patriots, I think, have a tendency to look

a lot better at the end of the season than they do early. And you know what? It's funny because doing the power rankings, and I wrote it over. two days leading up to going up today. It is good in terms of an exercise keeping things in perspective because I did think about all this with the Ravens, the way you just laid it out. But it wasn't enough for me to drop them out of the top five. I still say, okay, it's been a little bumpy, but am I going to say all of a sudden

the Ravens are taking on water? No, it's just a little bit of a hiccup in their season preparation more than anything. Greg, Greg calling it annoying is, it has been a little, little bits of annoyances, which is not typical for the Ravens. Jimmy Smith is another guy that's out a couple weeks who they're counting on to play snaps. It's just a lot of them stacking up. All right, how about you, Mark?

Give us a whisper. I've been focusing on Rams camp a little bit where I know when they lost Cam Acres the thought was, I thought to Camer was someone that could lead, be a top three rusher in the league, if not have a chance to lead the league in rushing with the way that offense might look. But they lose them,

obviously. And, you know, the problem was you have Darryl Henderson. I really like Darryl Henderson, but he's had durability issues. But Jordan Rodriguez from the Athletic, two weeks in a row with her, you know, risers and fallers at camp, has listed all three of their running backs, Daryl Henderson, Xavier Jones and Jake Funk as guys who have, they both rotated in as first team and second team snaps. No one's taking the starting job away from Dale Henderson. But even just today, Sean McVeigh listed Xavier Jones as someone who is going to have a big

role in the offense. Jake Funk is sort of this analytics darling. I mean, I like the name, but actually I've had people reach out and see like, this guy is going to grow on you, the more you watch him. But he sounds like a little bit more of a special teams dabbler who will get some snaps at running back. But it just sounds like, A, obviously, this will drive fantasy heads to drink probably, but it will be a total committee scenario. But if you go back and look at what Darrell Henderson did in a couple early weeks last season where they lean on him as the number one guy, he was electric against the Eagles and the Bills. And I just think that I've talked about him being explosive,

looking healthy, which is key for him. That wasn't the case earlier in the offseason. So I think they're going to be okay on this front. They just need that depth because, yeah, as you said, the other players behind him, there's really no one with any type of pedigree. And Henderson has had injury issues, and he wasn't really the guy at Memphis, even in college.

So it's like if he goes down or if he is not as good as they want him, to be, you might find yourself getting into a little bit of an issue. I don't know. I still wouldn't be surprised if there's a veteran that shows up that everyone knows. And it won't be Todd Gurley, but I could see someone else popping into view here. I think if they lost someone. Right now, I think they're like he's basically, Sheming McVeigh has said we're riding with these guys. I mean, if there's some sort of hiccup, yes.

Funk, I mean, you know, Mark loves the scrappy white running backs. Like, you know, Christian McCaffrey was right there for him a couple years ago. Really wasn't interested in that McCaffrey was too good. He was a first round pick, though. Right. He was too big. This is about the Zach Zner All-Stars. You have to be, you have to have a cool name like Zach Zener.

What's his name? Jake Funk. Toby Gerhardt. That was really the original. I just like bringing that up. Well. I'm not worried about their running game, by the way. They're always kind of an underrated run blocking team.

And that, I just think. it's almost undersold how many weapons they have, even without acres. The fact that Van Jefferson is out there, Deshawn Jackson, I know it's Deshaun Jackson, you know, practicing without pad season, he always looks good. But if he's their number four receiver and Tyler Higby is like their number five as the tight end, like that is a loaded group. I'm not worried about their running game. In other whispers.

It's been an annoying, a little bit more than annoying. I would actually maybe flip the switch a little bit to alarming. training camp overall for the Cincinnati Bengals. So the last thing they need in this uncertain time around Joe Burroughs, he works his way back from that catastrophic knee injury, is dispatches from the beat reporter saying that number five overall pick Jamar Chase has,

according to Paul Denner of the athletic, has not shown as much separation as you'd hope in training camp. This is a player who did not, he opted out of his final year of college. He's 21 years old. So he's obviously rusty. And the hope here is that that's all this is, that some of his struggles in camp in terms of really standing out

are all tied to his lack of play. And Cincinnati knew that was a possibility, I'm sure, when they drafted him. But at the same time, this is such a big pick for them. They took Chase because he was Joe Burroughs teammate in college, and they thought they would have an explosive one-two punch. They can't miss on this pick. And I'm not saying they're coming close to missing.

on the pick. We have no idea what's going on. But what you would like, you'd like to hear things like you're hearing in Florham Park around Elijah Moore, the Jets draft pickers like, oh, this guy's an instant playmaker. He might be a star in year one. You want to hear that from Chase, especially when you went wide receiver over protection for Burrow. So far, not the case. Not hitting the panic button, but when you factor in all these other issues around Cincinnati and their offense, I'd be concerned. Because you have to look at what they did in the draft as a whole, not just chase. They chose not to take Sewell, like you said,

and what they did to help their offensive line was take Jackson Carman in the second round, which was a guy that had a lot of people split on, was surprised he took in the second round. He has struggled so much in his early snaps that he's been benched, supposedly, for like the fourth round pick. So already, like, that plan isn't going well.

And who knows, the Bengals would argue, okay, we took three offensive linemen, like one in the second, fourth, and somewhere else. And maybe one of them hit. and maybe the fourth is hitting, but like when you're hearing that the offensive line is struggling in Bengals camp again and Joe Burrow is struggling too, it's just, they are probably the team I'm like less excited about than I was two weeks ago. And maybe it's irrational, but I don't care. Well, I mean, Paul Denner has been writing one sort of, you know, fatalistic report after

the next, and it started with the Burrow scenario. And I do kind of wonder if they, if they brought burrow back a little too early just when you hear like tyler board we mentioned this on our network show tyler boyd saying that you could sort of see him favoring one leg um you know limping a little bit like that that just seems to me like with you with the injury he had it wasn't just like a clean acel it was much more than that hey me are like that's a little tough so how about some we has to be i'm with you mark i just i just i felt the same thing that what the fuck some organization my time. It's pretty rare to hear Mark swear. It is a comprehensive

waste of my day. It's a manufacturer joke. I'm hearing boots on the ground, by the way. You know, you know, Nick Wessling, you know, Chris's brother. Ricky's dying. She's loving it. Best man. His wife's been at Bengals Camp multiple times and has given boots on the ground reports about Burroughs struggles.

They're worried. Really? multiple it is it's funny you mentioned it because i thought about chris and um we you and i had conversations early in april when the reds got off to a hot start and how bittersweet it would be if the reds finally pulled it all together and west was around to see it at least on this uh uh earthly uh plain i don't know but um the cincinnati bangles for years i try to say Wes, come back to the Bengals. Go into their loving arms. They're waiting for you to come home.

We know you built the file. It was a thick... I wonder where that is right now. It's somewhere. Somewhere in Lakeisha and Wes's house right now, there's that thick file, the dossier that Chris prepared, as only Chris could,

with utter focus on all the reasons why he was divorcing this team. This was, what, 15 years ago now, maybe more. I thought Burrow might bring him back. back in. And Burrow was the guy. I remember draft day being like, and Chris was excited about Burrow, just like everybody else. And like, this is the guy to do it.

And I just, I worry that is Cincinnati on the right track here? And to your point, Mark, the same thing. Went through my mind and I did write about it in the power rankings. Is, are they having the right conversations in that building right now? Because it is a conversation that should be had. Are we pushing too fast on this quarterback to have them ready for week one as opposed to when he's truly ready to compete again. He's struggling with the mental side of things. We've heard that. It's been dispatch. He's spoken about it. Something to keep an eye on.

Well, there's just no, like, where is our grounded trust in ownership in coaching? I mean, that report or that file that Wesleyan had was like two Warren commissions stacked on top of each other. And there was a lot of evidence for him to lean on. I don't think he was about to come back anytime soon. No, I don't think he was. All right, Greg, you're up. Let's go to Green Bay. Because I don't think it's been talked about enough that David Bakhtiari, you know, the best left tackle in football, I think it's trending towards not playing week one, you know, protecting Aaron Rogers. There's a chance he could go on the PUP list. Sounds more likely maybe they'll keep him off of it and hope that he returns early

in the season. But that's a big deal for an offensive line that also lost their center, Corey Lindley, to the Chargers. And yet I'm not that worried about it because they've been playing Elton Jenkins at left tackle. He's a third-year player who's played every And I'm at the point where I just think Elkton Jenkins can like make all the money in the world by playing left tackle. Who else has played guard, center, and then if he does it at left tackle at like a Pro Bowl level in the first three years of his career. He's sneaky been one of the best draft picks. Goudicunds is kind of stat, you know, quietly stacked up some pretty good draft picks. His first one is Dyer Alexander and all pro.

Jenkins, if he steps in at left tackle, no one's going to make more money than him. reportedly the whispers are just that he's shutting down the Packers Pass Rush, that he looks totally natural out there and that they're not as concerned about the whole left tackle situation. It was a couple weeks ago that Matt LaFleur had a comment about the Green Bay's line saying it was sort of as deep as any line he'd really ever been around, that there is a lot of valuable moving pieces there.

And they're starting a rookie at center. They're just going to draft Josh Myers, play him right away, even though he's not like a first-round pick or anything, and they sound pretty confident. Lafleur just seems confident in general, taking shots at Arthur Smith earlier today. I don't know if you saw that day. Smith took one right back, though. Well, yeah, Smith started it, said he doesn't spend.

Let's hear it. Let's listen. I don't think I'm sweet and awesome. You know, I don't spend an hour like Matt LaFour does, looking in the mirror before he runs out there. So you can tell Matt I said that. What did LaFleur say in retort? Well, I'm honored that he would think of me, first of all. but, you know, Arthur and I did share a lot for him together in Tennessee. So, yeah, I might have been looking in the mirror, getting my clothes right.

Well, he was trying to get his hair right with that just for men. You know, you guys, you guys know, you guys know, he's younger than me, right? Ooh, that's spicy. You kind of like that. You could tell Matt Lafleur, like, prepared that. And that's, Arthur Smith went back again and he was glad. He was like, I'm glad, you know, Matt spent, like, another day preparing that joke to come back at me. It does feel like if I'm in the locker room in Tennessee and that's where they were teammates, I guess, you know, colleagues on the same staff with the Titans, like I'm taking Arthur Smith kind of in a jab back and forth. It feels like Lefleur is not going to be as quick.

Not the first like coach, because we don't know him that well, that I would have predicted to come out with such a burning arrow that goes right through Matt LaFleur. I mean, it was pretty nice jab by Smith. Yeah, but nothing. I was going to say nothing cuts as deep as Keith Hansis, casually tossing. off, he looks like a bearded boy. Hey, Danny, I like this LaFlau guy, but kind of looks like a bearded boy, doesn't he? I wanted to talk some Packers, because I do feel like all we did was talk about Aaron Rogers' is psycho drama all offseason.

Yeah, that's not. There's been very little focus on the football of it all. So I was like looking for some sort of good Packers, that ain't our fault. Good enough, good enough. And yeah, I have refused. I don't want to go back down this road because I know it's very unpopular in the public forum to say anything critical of Aaron Rogers in his role in what happened over

the summer. Public opinion was very much in your favor, Greg, over Aaron Roders. You guys are hearing the, you know, Mark and you have been hearing the chirping too much last time you were worried about it. I don't mind the chirping. It's just, it's okay to be aware of what's around you as well, Greg. And I'm just saying, like, that's fine. If everyone thinks Aaron Rogers is a god and there's nothing he could do that is wrong and

everything that the management does is wrong, that that is what it is. But can we at least allow that Brian Goudicans, the guy that Rogers has been trying to get fired for six months, has actually done a lot to help Aaron Rogers, whether he sees it or not in his time at the helm? Or will we at least allow that? No, we will not allow it. The subredic will not allow it. It was like 98% to 2%.

Like, Gregus sounds smart. Dan and Mark don't know what they're doing. I'm not getting daily things. things about this. You've got to tune these clowns out. You've got to tune them out. No, this was weeks ago, but it was a shocking response to what I thought was a two-sided conversation. You're absolutely right. By the way, Goudicunds, here's what he did the start. He fired Mike McCarthy. We'll get to Hard Knocks later, but I think... Mm, Goody. You know, the first decisions he's made have all been great.

Drafting Jair with his first pick. Hiring Matt Lefleur, that's worked out great. Like, back-to-back 13 win seasons you're right you're absolutely right let's fire him though because uh we decided to not keep uh jake kumero or whoever the rogers was on about i don't know but uh no we're wrong mark oh no it clearly uh who's up mark uh it's me i'm gonna go to jacksonville uh number one i i want to talk about the jaguars because i cannot think of a team that has been to me more blasé and passable and don't need to watch them for years on end.

But now I cannot wait to see even their preseason games to see what's going on here, because it's a completely to me. I think the offense under Urban Meyer has a chance to be productive right away. I think number one, Gardner Minchu was put in a bad position in the past couple of years, but you look at the talent on the offense right now.

It starts with Trevor Lawrence, obviously. If he is what, as if he comes as advertised, everything changes. Marvin Jones, DJ Chark, I know he's going through something right now, Leviska-Cenault, who I think is going to be great. Those are solid wide-outs, better than some of the wide-out rooms around the league. James Robinson, obviously, last year. Rookie Travis E.T.N., who has been described as, you know, moving all over the field

and totally uncoverable as a running back, catching passes out of the backfield. I think they're going to be a run-heavy, one of the most run-heavy teams in the league. And I kind of just can't wait to see it because it's the Urban Meyer factor, too. These things, sometimes they work out. Sometimes they're total disasters. If you're a college coach that figures out, I don't want to do this NFL thing. But he has said over and over, this is not a four-year rebuilding plan. We are here to win right now.

And inside that division, I'm not saying that they're a playoff team at all. There are a lot of issues and some weaknesses there. But I would not be surprised to see them go from one win to like seven or eight. I really have a feeling that they're going to be one of the bigger stories of the year. Well, as the Texans have devolved into farce and the cults having all their issues, of course, and even the Titans now adjusting to life without their play caller. The AFC South really needed some juice. And yeah, I think that that's what Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer provide.

I totally, I could see that. I mean, it really does a lot of it goes back to Lawrence, not to oversimplify it. But if he is as special as people say, they are going to make a leap. And they lost 15 straight games to end last season, and they went in the tank. So it's going to be hard not to be better, but how much better will be interesting to see. When you look at Andrew Lux's first season, they became a playoff team after being a complete disaster the year before. It's not impossible. There's a lot of money in the offensive line.

I don't know if it's a great offensive line. I don't think it's great. They drafted Walker Little, who's my son's new favorite player, just saw his name on the draft and has been asking about him. I'm like, yeah. And is reportedly looking good in Jaguars camp over there. But I do wonder about like the Urban Meyer bringing some of the college stuff to him. I'm fascinated by this thing he's been doing in practice. it's like they have this winners and losers session and like they have an announcement it's

like Robinson versus Jack and then like that you know they have the matchup and they declare a winner and a loser after each one and they keep they keep track of it and urban Meyer was like well this is too important these are like people's livelihoods I want to keep track and like he's saying that the wins and loss is metric as you know as he was referring to the data well inform him in terms of like who makes the team and the depth charts and all this and it's like It's a big rah-rah college thing every day at Jaguars camp. It sounds like it would be fun camp to go to and watch, at least. Whispers.

Listen, I'm not going to panic about Zach Wilson. I have a different outlook on the Jets quarterback situation than I've had in the past. Certainly different than Sam Darnold, who I was all in on and truly believed in, and it didn't work out. I don't know about Wilson. We'll see. We'll see. I've always been kind of, I would say, on the fence about Zach Wilson.

but it just felt like a gamble when it happened and maybe he'll turn into a superstar and be the Mormon Mahomes. But I'm fully prepared, put it that way, for this to go the other direction. With that in mind, he has not played well in recent practices. And it started with the green and white scrimmage, which they hold every year. Well, they didn't last year, but last year didn't happen. You hear me? It never happened. where they have 20,000 people in MetLife Stadium,

and Wilson struggled mightily through that scrimmage, 11 of 24, 112 yards, two picks. And then he took those struggles into practice as the week went on, and he's been having some issues, and a lot of this ties back to where they're at in the install of the offense, which they're completing now. And once they started live play calling in the seventh practice, Wilson went from being this really bright spot in camp to all of a sudden he's struggling.

And my overall takeaway, and this is maybe a message to fellow Jets fans that are listening right now, is like, just chill out, don't freak out. This doesn't mean that Wilson is a bust. But it does remind you also that this is going, there's going to be a learning curve here. Hopefully there's more highs than lows. But the idea that Zach Wilson at 22 years old coming out of that program of BYU against that level of competition, was ever going to step right in and be a dominant force in the NFL, there's going to be some really bad days.

And I'm prepared for that. And the hope is that there will be good days as well. So once he gets more comfortable, the install is complete. He gets more into the vibe of things. Hopefully he's making progress heading into week one. My concern here is if he kind of falls into some mental funk here in addition to the physical and he's trying to overthink, the Jets don't have a plan B here. And he can potentially go.

into week one in a not a great place mentally and preparation-wise, and then things can snowball, and you know the New York media is going to be all over that if that happens. So keep an eye on the situation. Hopefully next time this week, there will be reports that he's bounced back, but this has not been a good week for the number two overall pick. I mean, we also live in insane times where first-round quarterbacks, because this has happened a few times, are expected to come in and look like the world savior right away. I mean, it just seems so natural that he'd go through some ups and downs. It's probably a tough offense to learn, but the Shanahan offense is also great for quarterbacks. The one thing that you mentioned, because this is where you kind of lose some of

these guys, and I think it happened to Darnold to some degree. I can think of a billion Browns quarterbacks that had happened to all around the league, too, where if that first season, they don't have someone that can kind of put in to give him a pause. If he needs a week just to regroup, if he's got to go in there. There's good things that can happen for 17 games, battle tested, but also it could just shake you for years to come. And I think this Jets regime, though, you don't see that happening. If it were the past one or the past 25, I'd be concerned. And I think that's on the quarter. Like, if the quarterback's going to be a good pro, I think they can shake that stuff off. Alex Smith, Eli Manning, two of the worst

rookie quarterbacks I've ever seen. It shook it off. I think had the career as that they were destined to have. I do think Zach Wilson will be supported by a much better offensive line could be very good, pretty good weapons around them and in a potentially good defense. I do look at that schedule, though. You're right, Dan. All the other rookie quarterbacks have, you know, someone they're competing with

or even in Lawrence's case, not that Lawrence isn't going to play every game, but like, you know, a quality backup. And the Jets, you know, have James White or James Morgan. They might want to look into that. And they might. They play the Patriots in the Broncos weeks, two and three. So those are two defenses that will be ready. to send a lot at Zach Wilson and see how he responds to it.

I was saying that, you know, two months ago that it felt a little off to me that they have not built in any security blanket behind him. But I think a big part of that goes back to an overall organizational above the treetops viewpoint to use some corco-corpo jargon that this is the new era of the Jets. And it's going to be with the new head coach and the GM who's fully in control. and this young quarterback who's picked by the people that are in the building. But maybe it's better to have a little nuance to your organizational game plan.

Do you want to go around one more time? Sure. Ooh, I got a lot. What should I go with? I think about Patrick Robinson retiring with the Saints. I don't know if this is a whisper as much as a transaction. But I think if you want to put the Saints changes on defense in perspective, they cut this guy Ken Crawley a few years ago.

because they were so deep at cornerback that they didn't need them anymore. He had killed them in multiple situations and the playoffs and all this stuff. Patrick Robinson at that time was probably like their fourth or fifth cornerback. They came into this training camp with Patrick Robinson starting, basically, on the outside, which he hadn't done and played a full season in like almost nine years. Then he retires halfway through camp. Michael Thomas isn't returning their calls. On Yamada is suspended.

Suddenly Crawley, the guy that was like seventh on the depth chart just a year or two ago, is number two now. They're playing their young kid of Debo, I think a linebacker, some too, who we thought he would play a quarterback. It's like, I don't know, man. There's some weird stuff going on in New Orleans, and they are counting on Marcus Callow.

I know the way Mark talks about England, you talk about New Orleans as your true home. I love the city. And I think James Winston is a better player than people give him credit for it. But I think the downside of this team is quite low. it's last place. Total team and transition material.

I mean, I, you know, they've been through so much, but if they won seven games, I wouldn't be surprised. All right. How about this? A starter retired in the middle of camp at their worst position, too, and it's just like, things like this, just weird things keep happening. I keep thinking back, I keep thinking back to that year where Sean Payton was suspended for the year, and they had a huge poster of Sean Payton looming over all their practices.

I don't know why, but I just keep thinking of that. It's one of my favorite, it's one of my favorite stupid football things of all time. It was like, listen, we got jobbed and they stole our coach from us, but we know how to straighten this out. Let's build a mural of like the dictator of North Korea and put it up in the practice with giant lettering that says, do your job. It was like a 30 foot flag that was hanging over everything. It's not even their moniker.

It was crazy. It really was like a North Korea thing. That's well put. You can, I think we could all see them. if the wheels fall off going 6 and 11 this year? Yeah. Does anybody here see them going 11 and 6? I think if like a million things went right,

Sean Payton pulled some magic out over the years that are like it. I don't think you can totally take it off the table, but it seems pretty darn unlikely. I mean, very unlikely. They could have winds inflated if like, for instance, the Falcons never got started and the Panthers and Sam Darnold totally crumble as a duo. They like for three winning. from Caesar Ruiz,

who was their first round pick last year, who's now at guard. If he was good, their offensive line might be the, I would probably be my pick as the number one offensive line in football. So that is something that doesn't tend to get mentioned, and they could be incredible up front. And they, you know, since they had that huge draft class, I believe it was 2017, they've been, you know, money in the bank as a double-digit team,

a true playoff, Super Bowl contender. They made deep runs in the playoffs. They got ripped off on a Super Bowl bid by that nickel row. Bobby Coleman play. And it makes you think, oh, they're like the Patriots. Like they've gone 10 and 6 or 11 and 5 or 12 and 4 every year for the past 18 years. So they'll figure it out. But no, they actually, before that big draft, they went seven and nine, three years in a row.

So it's not like, and people are talking to Sean Payton's job safe and all this other stuff. It's going to the Cowboys. So it's not inconceivable that the Saints could take a step back under Sean Payton. It's happened before. They feel like the 2020 Patriots, except now. Yeah, they do. 7 and 10, except instead of 7 and 9. Mark.

All right, a little off-the-field nugget from the Chargers, who I think one of the things about the Chargers that was kind of put on ice last year was with no fans. We don't have to worry about, you know, the optics of the Chargers having 7,000 people in their stadium and 80,000 Raiders fans. And so now it's like, where are we with that? And I read this little nugget this morning that the Chargers actually, according to the team, they have blown past the average season ticket sales from their final

20 years in San Diego. The number right now, that number average back then, about $45,000. It is well beyond that, they say, at this point, at least, you know, tangibly beyond it. And that means that, you know, from a visual sense, it's not going to be as bad as we thought. This was just always on my radar because I never thought that L.A. should have two football teams and had this been a total disaster, it would be a huge talking point. The NFL wants nothing to do with that. And you're still probably going to get 20, 30,000 fans from the other team, which happened to them in San Diego. But it doesn't sound like a white-hot disaster.

You know, I'm glad you brought this up because I saw this last week and I had the same initial reaction as you. I mean, they're not out of the woods yet because, first of all, this is a very fickle town. I mean, the Lakers are always going to draw. The Dodgers always draw extremely well. the Kings have a really fervent fan base and you could point and then of course the college teams USC UCLA I mean it's it is a really good sports town but you can get lost in the shuffle

and if the charges get off to a bad start all those people that bought season tickets well what are they going to do they're going to turn around and say I'm not going to go see these guys I'm not going to spend the money and you know pay $80 to park at the new stadium and then watch them lose in the last minute I'm going to sell this to some insane Steelers fan and make a price office. So I don't think they're out of the woods, but it is promising. I mean, it feels like,

I don't know. I haven't met anybody yet. I don't have a lot of Charger fans in the Los Angeles area that I've interacted yet with. But this data tells us that they're out there. I know one. I know one. I know one. A guy I met at the bar when we watched the soccer match. A friend of, yeah, dad of a one of my kids' friends. I think they would not wish the pandemic on anyone, but if any teams sort of benefited from the pandemic in any way. It was them avoiding last season, which would have been awkward. I don't think there was much build-up. But then suddenly you have Herbert,

one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the league. And I think we've seen at a lot of sporting events in the U.S., the pent-up demand to just be back among people and root on live sports is different than it was before. I'm seeing this across sports. It's not just the NFL, and I'm sure the NFL is going to get a little bit of a boost from that, assuming, you know, things don't get totally dark in the coming weeks.

And you could see the Chargers being a team because they're a buzzier because of what happened last year, where you get like the guy, the dad that moved to L.A., and like he was a, let's say, a Dolphins fan or a Jets fan or something, probably not Jets, they're too loyal. They moved to L.A. They reboot all their loyalties and, like, bring their kids in because they want their kids to watch football live and they all become Chargers fans. I mean, it's like the Rams, by the way, don't have the real.

routes they claim to in this city either right now. I mean, it was 30, 25 years ago. They don't. I mean, I think they're both. You knew the dagger was coming from Sessler. Say that to Jeff Birch. I'm just saying the Chargers, the Chargers were. Say that to Birch.

Yike. The Chargers, cue rating was so low a year ago at this time. I think it's vastly changed. And it's going to, I think you're going to get people curious about that team if they stay hot. Herbert was a godsend. And we'll see if he continues on his trajectory. I'm going to do a quick double banger out of the NFC East.

And NJ Advanced Media is Mike Kay reported that. Jalen Hertz says, quote, heavily targeted Dallas Goddard. Of course, he's a tight end on the rise. But also, Zach Ertz in training camp. You were a remember Zach Ertz, the Super Bowl hero. He'll never have to buy another meal in, insert City here. Like, Eertz is in that club. His game winning touchdown, catch against the Patriots.

And I just thought that was interesting after an offseason of speculation that Ertz would be leaving town. And maybe he still will. they could still trade Earths hypothetically before the season starts. But the fact that he's having a good camp does add a little bit more credence to the idea that, okay, he's still just 30 years old. Maybe he's just banged up last year. Maybe he's still a player.

And the fact that Jalen Hertz threw to his tight ends a third of the time in his playing time last year, maybe it's a good idea to have two tight ends that can play the guitar. And then over in Dallas, and we'll get to them more thoroughly with hard knocks. But I just want to mention here that Michael Gallup, according to the Dallas More, News is seeing more work in the slot, which I like because Michael Gop, it's almost like I don't know if the Cowboys know what to do with him. He's such a great talent. And it seems like they just say, go run deep and every once in a while, we'll throw it your way. If maybe you could carve out a more nuanced niche to him in the game plan, I think he could be a real

stud receiver. He's, I think, one of the more underrated wideouts in the NFC. They're going to be so hard to cover because if Cooper is healthy, I can't think of a trio in the NFL that can all do everything like those three. They're all very, they're all diverse, especially if Gallup is moving outside. He probably would be the one of the three that, you know, you think he has mostly one trick, which is going deep down the field. He's a great boundary guy. But the three, I mean, C.D. Lamb can do everything. Amari Cooper can do everything. You got Gallup cross training, like, good luck trying to come up with a defense to stop that. And by the way, they did it. We saw them do it for the first month of the season before Dak Prescott went down. I mean, he was on route to

an MVP type season. And if you'll allow me, just because I think it's very important, given the status of the world right now, Teva Bay Buccaneers, running back Leonard Fornett, who told reporters a couple weeks back that he wanted to learn more about the vaccine. He has now updated his stance. He said, we're almost there. So Dr. Fournett is almost there in the research and the digging on the vaccination. scene and this podcast will keep you up to date on Fournette's research and when it's

completed. The numbers have skyrocketed. 91% of the league. We're close. 91% of the league has gotten at least the first jab. That's pretty high. I mean, it was like 50 on June 15th. Right.

We're almost there. We're almost there. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody?

Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers,

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I was like, do I have a speed round whispers? Did you want to throw one in there? I don't want to. No, let's go. Let's go. Is Cam Wolf here? Let's talk to Cam. Let's welcome him in.

He is, of course, the newcomer at NFL Network, a reporter, and hopefully the hazing hasn't been too rough. I know he did some work with Rapsheet and, you know, Rappaport. He could be real rough on the newbie. So hopefully we'll check in on that. How is the great Cameron Wolf who's been doing a lot of work for us at the network? First of all, welcome aboard. And has Rapsheet been cool or is he a jerk?

Be honest. He was good, man. I can't complain. I was preparing for everything. They were telling me he was going to be hazing. I was prepared to have to carry his mic and do all kinds of. rookie Hayeson, but he was actually pretty good. You know, I don't know if he was just trying to sugar me up the first day,

but, you know, he was letting me take lead on air and, you know, not tripping over me and all the types of things. So he gave me a good welcome. Cool, man. Well, welcome aboard. I know you're based in Florida and you're doing a lot of dolphins coverage for us. You've also done some Panthers coverage. But let's start with the Miami football team, and they got the deal done with Xavier and Howard.

I imagine that was a huge relief for the entire Oregon. organization and it allows them to kind of move forward. What is the vibe around the team post Xavierian drama? Man, that was a big weight off of everyone's shoulders, especially if you're a Dolphins fan. You know, Xavier Howard is the best player on the team. I don't think there's really any question. And, you know, they've already seen this happen two or three times over the last few years, you know, make a Fitzpatrick gets traded. Tonsol gets traded. It's like, man, we can't trade our best player every year, can we? So I think, you know, early and off. season. He had requests as a trade. He wanted this new deal. But the reality was he never

truly wanted to trade. He just wanted the respect that comes with money. And, you know, he didn't feel that. So I think that there is a lot of ease of tension over the last three or four days with him being sort of satisfied. I don't know if it's fully finished. I think maybe if he has another great year, we revisit this next off season. But at least for now, for 2021, it seemed like everyone's on the same page. The way Brian Flores is defenses, they need man-man, shut down corners and Xavier and Howard is one of the best in the league so I think that helps everyone the team his teammates love them and it's a lot easier when you don't have to tiptoe around questions about why X isn't here you know try to pick sides on whether you're with the team or you're with

X so that was their biggest maybe hurdle coming into camp and it seems like they've overcome it are you wearing like a self-branded shirt maybe that's why rap sheet didn't give you any of the business like if you come in that's a power move like I'm at the new company what does your shirt say The Wolf Pack. So you're like another C. Wolf. You're like Colleen is, you know, a regular on this show. That's another C. Wolf. Any like tension there?

Like what's going on between you two? Greg, please. Oh, no. Oh, no, no. We're a wolf pack. We're a family. You know, of course, she's the highest ranking C. Wolf in the Wolfpack. You know, I'm just a new cub.

But we wolves, we stick together. So it's going to be a stronger. As you guys know, when wolf packs are together, they're stronger in pairs and they are as singles. So me and Colleen have already talked. You know, you guys are not going to hear the last of this wolf brand. We're going to, we're going to hit this until they tell us we've got to stop. I like putting the worst in their own names too. I think it's a strong, it's a strong move.

This is the worst podcast, by the way. It's just like all our questions who are dolphins and Panthers report right now. are just like, do you hate this new guy you work with? Do you hate this new person? Are they nice to you? Are they me? Mark, get us on track. I do have a, I have something about the dolphins that on our show I've raised many times as just

I just want to know how it's going to work. You've got two offensive coordinators, Eric Studsville, George Godsey. And, you know, and I'm hearing that the offense has changed a lot. Miles Gaskin had comments saying, you know, it's going to look real different, more motion, there's more deep passing, it's more flexible. I mean, what is it going to look? look like and can you just tell me how did these two guys work together and like who gets the blame if like the offense crumbles and like who do fans decide to point fingers that just feels a

little bit atypical to make is there a batman and a robin in this mix how does it how is it truly going to break down here yeah i think they're going to thumb rustle every game so you can call plays and the winner is going to be at a call now i'm just kidding i'm just kidding um yeah no they've defined the roles i think i think what helps is that you know george gossi coming for more of a past background. Eric Studebill is coming from more of a run background. So although they don't have past game coordinator and run game coordinators, you can kind of look at it as maybe something of that elk. We've seen that in the past with teams who've had, hey, coaches that are offensive offensive coordinators, quote unquote, they'll have run game coordinators. They'll have office

coordinators. So I think that they'll, they'll collaborate, but I think you'll see them fall a lot in their lane. You know, George Gotti will probably have the heavier hand on the passing games. He's worked with quarterbacks in the past. He spent all of last. season, the second half of last season, working with Tua, being the guy who's directly in his year. So I'd anticipate that George Gatsi would have a lot more contact in the quarter room and in the passing game where Eric, he's been a running back coach his whole career. So he's going to be having a lot more impact in the running game with the offensive line and the protection. So they haven't, quote, quote, named the play caller. I have an idea of who I believe the

play caller will be, but I can't confirm that yet. So I'm just going to, I'm going to, good reporter and just kind of let it free for now. Yeah, sit on it until I can get it. But I know who the guy is. There's going to be one play caller. There's not going to be, you know, a back and forth where, hey, but I think that what helps them, and we saw it

last week because George Gatsy tested positive for COVID and he was out for a week. You have two instead of one. So in this COVID era, it probably helps you just in case something happens that another guy can step in. And also it helps you have doubles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got doubles. And it helps with a little

versatility, right? Because, you know, your game playing against the Patriots one week, you want to run the ball 40 times, it's probably going to be an Eric Studeville game plan. You know, and then you're playing Kansas City and you've got to keep up with Patrick Mahomes, you know, you're probably going to have a Jordan Gotti-led game plan. So I think that's probably how it's envisioned. But to kind of jump off what you were talking about earlier, it is going to be different from what I've heard. The three words I've heard have been flexibility, motion, and deep balls, which are three things that are pretty simple to us. But if you watch the Dolphins, offense last year, they'll have all through those things. So that's probably a good way to start

for them to try to get to and the offense in a better situation. I'm sort of done doubting them. Like you were there for the fish tank season, as we dubbed it, a couple years ago, and they ended up being way more competitive than anyone thought. I went into last season thinking they were like a bottom five roster just in terms of talent. And then if you actually look at the big free agent money that they spent, most of it went terribly. And yet, somehow they show up on Sundays and they're like dynamic and there's something there that seems like it's greater than the sum of their parts. You've been there for the, for the Brian Flores era. I guess just from your perspective, like, what is that? Because I think they've really overachieved back to back years. And I have

doubts about them again this year. Yet now I've been learned from the last couple of years, I'm kind of done doubting them and figuring that they'll look a little better than they do paper. It must be something in the fish tank, to use your word. But I think that when you look at all of it, it's got to start with the head coach, you know, and I think that they've made a good hire in Brian Flores. I think he's a guy. A lot of people were afraid when you hire these patron assistants, who are they going to be? Are they going to be copycatch for Bill Belichick? And so far, he's been his own guy. I think he's earned a lot of respect. And I think he's maximized those teams. That year, 2019, that first month, month and a half of that year was miserable. I'm walking in the

locker room and guys are just, you know, it's somber. It felt like somebody in a funeral you walk in there every Sunday and there was so much turnover that I had guys asking me, you know, where, where's the restroom? How do I go? They just showed up on a Saturday and they got to play, you know, playing in the specs. There was a lot of, a lot of stuff going on, but I remember halfway through that year, that was a big focus point for them when I think Ryan Fitzpatrick came in that game. I think Brian Flores earned a lot of respect and that team sort of earned respect that, hey, we can be better than our talent says. So on paper this year, I think they're an average team, like you said. I think on paper you look at them, you know, maybe a playoff

team, maybe, you know, maybe seven and ten, Aden, how do you want to kind of rank them. But I think that they have a little bit of magic in this defense and particularly how they scheme this defense up. And really, it's all on Tua. Tua plays better than he did last year, which, you know, obviously it's a low bar. Then I think there's no reason why they can't push for the playoff one of those wild card spots in the FACC. Man, if the dolphins go in a positive direction this year and the Patriots improve

and we know what the bills are, that's going to be a really interesting division, especially if the Jets are also competitive at least. Before you go, Cam, you were also at Panthers Camp and I wrote a little about this recently and I saw you reported it on as well, when you take a step back

and you look at the Carolina offense, it's actually, you don't have to squint to see it as a unit that can move and score points and make them potentially dangerous. What were you seeing when you were boots on the ground there? Yeah, you know, I'm a big fantasy football guy. So you start looking at their roster and you start seeing some, you know, Christian McCaffrey is he helped, if he's healthy, top three, top five back in the league.

You know, Robbie Anderson, DJ Moore, both of those guys had a 1,000 yards last year, you know, and you bring in Sam Donald, and he's a question mark, right? You know, he's the, the Tua, quote, unquote, of this offense where we just don't know what we're going to get. And their big thing for him is kind of what we were talking about. You guys have, you have weapons. You don't have to be Superman. You don't have to throw all these intersections you threw with the jets. You know, a dump off isn't to the Christian McCaffrey, isn't checked down Charlie.

It might be a touchdown. You know, so I think they're trying, and I don't know if they're going to be effective or not. I can't sit here and tell you that the San Donald experiment is going to work. But I think their focus is less simplify things for him. Let's maybe hope that he can have a Ryan Tannahill tight turnaround where we put him in a system with Joe Brinney. We made things, you know, from what I heard, the Jets kind of threw through the book at him and said, hey, learn, learn, learn. So maybe they simplify things. Maybe they tell him to focus on your weapons.

They've got a good defensive front. There's no reason why they can't be the second best team in that division, in my opinion. Who, Mark is loving this. He's on Matt Ruhle corner. He has a left. He's loving it. I dig Matt Ruhle. Very good.

Cam, again, welcome aboard. It's great to have you. And best of luck in your maiden voyage here with NFL Network. and I'm sure we'll be in touch down the line. We've got to get both Wolfe's on at the same time. Let's do it. No, that's their thing. That's their thing.

Seems possible. We don't want to fringe on their IP, but that's up to them ultimately. Yeah. All right. Yeah, we'll get, we'll get something together. But I appreciate y'all. It was fun. What to do it.

All right, man. Thanks, Cam, there he goes. Cam Wolf. Actually, I never asked him if he's okay with Cam, but Cameron Wolfe. Didn't seem not okay. Dan Arnold was another guy that's getting some pop, a little abbreviated whisper here, the tight end that the Panthers brought in. Yeah.

But it all goes back. And you gave, I think, Darnold, a negative 47.3, Greg, in our division power ranking segment. So if Darnold can't play the guitar, none of this matters. But they're hoping for the post-gaste bump, basically. Right. I mean, the Tana Hill post-gace bump. That's exactly right. I will say that there have been some very clunky Sam Darnold to Dan Arnold.

tweets. It's just like the most predictable flurry of kind of clunky wordplay stuff going out on Twitter. Dan Arnold is, I think, an interesting player, but the way the tweets have come out to me is ponderous. Is it because Donald and Arnold is simply in the same sense or are people having

fun with it? Oh, okay. Both things. Both things, yes. All right. Everybody out there, you heard, Mark, clean it up. Get that murking out of there, not the mirth. All right, before we go, and this is a spoiler alert now to all the UK listeners and other international territories

that haven't had access yet to the Hard Knocks premiere. I did connect with Handsome Hank, our UK ambassador and all things here at NFL media. He said that Hard Knocks will be up and in your screens Thursday afternoon or Thursday night on the Game Pass app. And I believe Sky Sports will also be airing it on Thursday or Friday. So check that out.

As for the rest of you, let's dig into it. The premiere, Tuesday night, Dallas Cowboys, and I'll start here. The Cowboys, yes, it has been a 25-year drought, 26, actually, since they've been to the Super Bowl. And you could say that's going to take some of the shine off the organization, and in some ways it has. But in other ways, the Cowboys are as high profile as they've ever been. And I think it's just fun to have them, because even if they're, not successful. They're always interesting

to me. And they have star power. And that's important for Hard Knocks. So when the show opens, I think it was a noted, it was something that was a calculated move by Hard Knocks producers. When the cold open of the show is, we're in tight with Dak Prescott, one of the most recognizable figures

in pro football. And he's speaking intimately about the struggles of 2020 with the death of his brother. And then the horrible injuries to stand against the Giants. six months later, we're off and running. And that was what I took away from the premiere episode, that this is just going to be fun with all these big stars,

right all the way up to the top where Jerry Jones, who's going to obviously be a big presence all through the five weeks. There wasn't even in episode one. There wasn't the, here's the underdog, and that's coming, because it always comes in hard knocks. Here's the underdog seventh round pick or the street free agent who's trying to make the team. They said, no, this is the Cowboys, this is the star.

and that's what we're going to lean on this premiere. And I like that. So that was an initial takeaway I had. Greg, what did you think about the premiere? Yeah, it was different format. Everyone says it's always like the same thing every year. It really wasn't. It might have been COVID impacted or they also just sort of made the decision.

There's no buildup to it. It was just like, let's get on the practice field. There's a lot of news here. Usually there isn't. Number one, Dak Prescott says he had two surgeries, not one. Right off the bat. No one knew that. Number two, we see what Jay Glazer had sort of reported about that it was this, you know, this muscle injury that's more common in baseball, which, by the way, doesn't sound like a good thing.

It's like, oh, we're calling the Rangers medical staff because we don't know how to handle this. I thought it was very telling when Troy Aikman said on the Fox broadcast, like, yeah, I think it's probably a little more serious than people think when everyone, everyone, you know, working for our company and everywhere else, immediately all they said about DAC's injury is like, oh, it's not a concern at all. Well, you saw what a concern it was, like to Dak Prescott. And to me, it makes me a little concerned about what's coming up. You saw how it important it was to him, to the coaches, to everyone like that he's on the field or not. The fact that, like, him and Zeke are, like, best buddies and they're, like, making a buddy comedy out of it. And the biggest stars are totally fine with the cameras there. And that, you know, that starts with Jerry Jones.

I mean, that's going to make it, I think, a more fun week. Well, how about to that point, Mike McCarthy and one of those. coaches meetings, they have this very hard to understand as an outsider, but they have this GPS tracking data that it's a metric that tracks how much activity a player has in a given practice. And Dak, like, oh, where is Dak at? 576. And McCarthy's like, whoa, that's way too much. And then they reeled them back, put him on a pitch count, and Dak's frustrated. But then, sure enough, he shows up a couple practices later with a bad arm. And Mark, it did make me think all these things in the edit can make things A look like B when that's not necessarily case, but it did at least

insinuate on some level that the Cowboys maybe brought him back too fast initially, and that led to the injury. Yeah, by their own words, I think you're exactly right. And, you know, I think the thing, the thing that is great about the show is even though we have an impression of Dak Prescott, and we kind of know how rough life has been for him over the last two years, you mentioned losing his brother and the injury, that I just came away knowing him. I'm feeling like, I'm a I had a whole different experience with Dak Prescott. I mean, first of all, I wanted to watch the show with my children, but Dak Prescott is a quarterback who drops about 72 F-bombs in this episode.

A lot of F-bombs and Hard Knocks in general. I mean, Mark McCarthy, too. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of language. But you know what? Like, I kind of loved him pushing back on not wanting to be put out of practice. Like, just I think he came across to me as far more determined and fiery than I imagine. I think Zeke Elliott is sort of a wonderful foyer. for him because Zeke Elliott, you know, I remember I once talked to his mom about a Mother's Day

piece in their relationship. And she sort of said candidly, like, Zeke is a big boy. Like he, you know, we saw he had never really wrapped a present before, that he's operating in a bit of a different world than other adults do. I thought that was really good. The part that gripped me, and I know, Dan, I think you maybe were not as won over by this was John Bones Fasel, digging into the process of having a vasectomy and then having it reversed. I don't understand. personally why anyone on the planet is having that operation to begin with but then I want to know why it was reversed but I thought that you know Bones Fassel's a guy that's kind of seems like hired by the studios to show up in hard knocks every couple years and like steal the scene and to me

I loved it I think the players were fascinated by it they wanted to add jokes they think some could not figure out what was going on I mean I mean I thought it was just striking all of a sudden we cut to the scene and Bones is like talking about the surgery on his ball walls. And he goes into it in the players because they're a bunch of 23-year-old dudes. It's the last thing they're ever thinking about his vasectomy is when you get to be our age, you become, you know people that have had the procedure done. I don't get it at all, but you might get, you might get some actual heat from certain people in your life to undergo such a procedure. That's a decision that people need to make.

But after all that, and I thought the players, some players were kind of interested in it and like kind of making sense. Other players are just looking at them like you had a third elbow growing out of his forehead and I thought that and then just the bomb at the end the twist it's like oh yeah and then you know they had to put me under again when uh when they reversed it and it was like everyone you know you think of michael scott in the office snip snap snip snip snap like what happened what's the backstory I need to know more about it right well I because it was just out of nowhere yeah I mean I would my my my guess would be that you want to have children again you know that would that would be the the guess I know

Maybe a new situation. Who knows? The coaches, though, like, I don't know. Greg, very somber, and he's like, listen, this is what really happened. I mean, you guys aren't making it like a big mystery. What's the story? He wants to have kids. No, I think he probably was controlled the first time around, and then he retook control.

I think there's more to the story. I would like to know why. That's a big decision to get the surgery, and then to reverse it is also. I've always had, like, an image of Mike McCarthy, and I was pretty hard on him. I think towards the end of the Packers run just the way he ran the offense and just like is he connecting to his team

and I don't know when he started going with the mojo moment and when he started and the players seemed to like it but when he started talking about Charlie fuck around and Harry High School I'm just like this dude's corny let's listen to a little bit of the

mojo moment which is the motivational ploy that he's building into the camp experience at whatever point in practice okay there's going to be a mojo moment when it's time for additional confidence, charisma, and performance, no matter what the situation. I think I smell a mojo moment coming. It's time for a mojo moment.

That's good. We got a mojo moment. Give me the defense on the wall side. Mojo. Offense over here. Mojo moment. Yeah. Yeah, you look like you.

fired up for the mojo moment here. O'B. Hey. That was another thing. McCarthy's such a dad move. You know, in 1999 when that Austin Power sequel was huge, those guys were in diapers, almost everybody in that room. And it's like, I don't know if that's the target audience. But I actually liked, he won me back a little bit with Charlie Friarrow and high school

Harry. I was kind of into that. I don't know I do think though Dan it was a huge victory for you because for the first time ever I guarantee on NFL.com the character fat bastard

was put into a write-up by yourself which I thought was marvelous thank you I'm just saying like at some level like you see him at the beginning McCarthy and Jerry Jones is tearing up and talking about coming back to football and what it means to him

and they just sort of show McCarthy next to him and he seems to be looking over thinking like what the he looked to be fuddled to me he was like he was like what the hell is happening right now and it's not like he's running the offense kellen moore's running the offense and like he's coming up with with uh the mojo moment i don't i just don't know what's happening there mojo moment rickie can you can you bring up the mojo moment uh what it means also i mean and coaches do this stuff all the time i just i'm sure it was fine it was

more that charlie the charlie was like nothing else matters we're in this for a championship. Charlie frown, he's out of the building. Where is he? Where is he? A mojo moment, according to Mike McCarthy. And he has all the coaches yelling it also. And that was the PA guy at practice yelling it out too. So this is a major initiative for the Cowboys.

This is what it said on the PowerPoint presentation, when it's time for additional confidence, charisma, and performance. This one, I got a little confused. So Mojo Moment is established initially here that there's a time for a mojo moment, okay? And it's like when that time hits, it's time for the mojo moment. But then the second part of this,

the slate says no matter the time, the place, the situation, kick in your mojo. Which makes me think that you should be having your mojo at all times. It feels like wasted energy. Undercuts what the initial thought, which is when the moment calls for it,

that's when you need the mojo. Anybody else have an issue there? No, I think it's, I think number one, it's probably, I guarantee he's probably run this mojo moment thing. like six summers in a row in Green Bay back in like the like 2008 region but um it feels like he has you know there's a certain number of he maybe went in it from different angles but on that graphic he smushed two two angles together and they're almost they clash a little bit you're

you're constantly in your mojo but then you need to know when the mojo's not needed please finally i just think of like kyle sanahan or vic fangio or bill bell check watching this and being like well we're going to kill them yeah but he is also the only coach had ever got Aaron Rogers over the mountain. I don't know. I find him, even though I don't think he's... I mean, he inherited Aaron Rogers and... Oh, well, kind of. He had a little time. Aaron Rogers had no choice.

He was the head coach. But I'm just saying, I think he's an interesting figure to track. Just because he's been around for so long and you get this... I'm not saying he's the leader of men that you want in 2021, but for the Cowboys, he is right now. Finally, Jerry Jones, Mark, this had to be the low point for you, the episode. Oh, yeah. His breakfast, 78 years old, and get a shout of this, Ricky. 78 years old, and Emily was watching it with my wife. And she said, oh, she thinks it's a brioche bun with what looked to be cheese and a sausage.

And I said, no, look at the consistency of the bun. I think, first of all, I think it's an egg in there. I think you probably have cheese. You definitely have the sausage patty. And then I think it might be like pancakes. Is this a McGrittle? It's a McRiddle. In fact, I thought there was, you could see.

I thought McDonald's packaging, but I looked up what is in a McGrittle. And this is from their website. It is griddle cakes. That's the breadish item that he's touching with a cake, right? Isn't that the same thing? I think it is like a sweetened pancake. A folded egg, pasteurized, processed American cheese, thick cut applewood smoked bacon. In this case, it could be sausage, clarified butter.

We see him pouring salt on top of it, but just would like to point out to Jerry Jones that it already comes packed with $1,300. 160 milligrams of sodium. So the extra salt, okay. He put so much salt on his McGrittle that they actually cut away from it when he was already like deep into the process. We have no idea how much longer went.

They were worried for children that we're watching. They were like, this is a bad example. I'll tell you what, you guys can frown upon it. I actually made me like him more too. No, I would try that McGreele. He's not eating cantalope in the morning. He's 78 years old. He's got, I'm going to eat a McRiddle.

Well, you guys have been up in Oxnard, right? And that like, that set up that the Cowboys stay in. To me, it's very interesting. I think you do get a reflection of that in training camp. It's not, it's not fancy. It's like a huge, you know, no slack to the Renaissance brand. Great, great hotels. But it's pretty much the worst hotels. Those players are going to stay in all year for sure. It's a pretty low-key, very chill scenario. And everyone's staying in it. There's no, like, special house. Maybe Jerry Jones has some place on the beach, I don't know about, but I'm pretty sure they're all just like staying in this little hotel complex.

It's not a big deal in the middle of nowhere. And there is something to that that I like that very few NFL teams still keep up with that like old school 1950s, 60s tradition of like we're all going to camp and we're in it together. It's cool they do that. I love it. They're in their dorm rooms and I don't know. It just feels like you said old school because as the sports world becomes more. They're riding the bikes around and stuff for a couple weeks.

It's fine. much more high, glossy, and everything else has done at such a high level now that you kind of lose some of that innocence of what the sporting world was like even 25 years ago. Glossy is not something I would attach to the Dallas Cowboys on any level. So those eyes. I mean, there were moments it felt like a bit of a, like I could almost feel West shuddering. He would not have like, there were, it felt like it was like a PR video for the 2021 Cowboys. There was a little bit of that, but I'm, you know, I... On some element, that is...

And John Gonzalez tweeted this, and this is a part of Hard Knocks as well. You come out of these episodes, you're like, oh, man, this team looks pretty good. I mean, they do have a ton of talent. I mean, they are a fascinating thing. Is team going to lose? I don't know. I'm worried about Dak. I'm a little more worried, I think, than most.

Yeah, he's throwing lightly now, by the way. But that will be, you know, sometimes that these things dovetail together nicely when Hard Knox syncs up with an actual big NFL story a couple of years ago with Antonio Brown. That comes to mind his contentious holdout with the Raiders and the foot issues he had after going in the cryogenic chamber. What is that guy? That was nuts.

But we're going to get good coverage of the stack thing that otherwise they would be able to shield in secrecy. So there you go. This is my 10th season, by the way, at NFL.com writing these recaps. I started 2012 with the Dolphins and have done it every year. says, I've only missed two episodes when Harrison was born and Greg, no, no, when Jack was born in 2014, and Greg, you had jumped in for those two apps. Otherwise, every recap, every year. Sands, man, the sands through the hourglass.

I mean, but conversely, when Greg leaves the set to go pick up a child, he's lamb-baseded by you and myself. Well, the birth of a child, I mean, got to be there with the wife in the hospital. I mean, I think we should all be flexible, you know. with things. We started the show a little late because the lawnmower is making a lot of noise. It's like beginning, end of the show, changing times. What's different? I don't, there was no lawnmower.

There's something like that. I don't remember. There's no lawnmower. We have a slide at Hansis Manor, a pool slide. It had to be sanded down. Very loud process. Very loud process. Yeah.

A very expensive process, by the way. This home ownership thing, you got to watch out. And you'll get banged. You mentioned you had a pool man sanding the slide, but he also brought a pool boy with him. Very intriguing. Whatever happened to Gary Cooper. A pool man and a pool boy, yes.

And I'll send them your way next, Mark. There won't be anything for them to do in my place. I don't know what you need them for. I'll put them to work. It's getting weird. All right. Good stuff. Hey, NFL network program is back. Friday. Thursday. Thursday. Great. Hey, we got a great time. We're right before Washington Patriots, 6 p.m. Eastern.

That's, that's as good on a Thursday. That's as good a time as we've ever had. So people should watch it. That's great. So we're the lead in to the preseason action. That's good. That's a good time slot. Please check that out. We are very excited about things that are happening over on the network side. and we will be back with this program on Monday barring any type of crazy news you won't hear from us on the podcast again until Monday but thank you to everyone for listening thank you to Cam Wolfe

and we will be back on Monday until that he's the car Thank you. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

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