NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - New Football Year Resolutions

Episode Date: August 25, 2018

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler & Colleen Wolfe - react to Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick's diagnosis of Guillain Barre Syndrome (7:30), the Ravens’ bad luck with tight ends (10:10), reflecting on the Eagles vs Browns Preseason Week 3 game (12:00), Raiders parting ways with Obi Melifonwu (17:15), Todd Gurley not playing a single snap in the preseason (20:10), Cardinals’ GM Steve Keim's emotional speech following his return from suspension (23:10) and what’s behind the tarp, Mike Tomlin (25:41)? The heroes then share their 'New Football Year Resolutions' (31:00) and, lastly, LEAVE Jason Witten alone (49:30)!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. The Around the NFL podcast is in secret contract negotiations with M of BP. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by New Era. My name is Dan Hensis, and I'm joined in a room that is just filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleying, Colleen, Wolf, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, people? Hey, Dan. Whoa, T-G-I-F.

Big day. Yeah. Feeling, I don't know why this is feeling very nervous again going into this show on the way. Just thinking what could go wrong. Right out of the gate, Colleen had to swivel her head during, to take a big cough. I just don't know how the group is doing on the hole. Dan, you had some curry for lunch that you say threw you off. A little bit.

Who knows what's going on with Gregor Wes? Just a lot of X-Fectors. Guys, West. If they're like 700 shows, this is the one you're nervous for? I'm confident. I'm feeling a little nervous. I'm feeling like this is going to be a great show. Preseason, we, pre-season season six of the around the NFL podcast.

This is not our dress rehearsal. Yes. Oh, yeah. We are now less than two weeks away from the start of the regular season. Let's lay it out. In 13 days, the defending season. Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles calling your favorite football team didn't look great last night though no and we'll get to that they open up their season against the Atlanta Falcons so that's in 13 days in eight days we will be on a plane on our way to London for our big long delayed long awaited around the NFL podcast trip to London details of which still coming together but what we can say is is, Greg, we're going to be all over the beautiful English countryside, potentially.

I think we're pretty much in London. Yeah, I would say we're not going to be in the countryside much at all from what I've seen. We will be on Sky Sports. We will hopefully have a live show from London, which the details are still coming together. Don't hold us to that yet, but that's what we're working on for Tuesday, possibly. And then we're going to be a Piccadilly Circus on Saturday, where we'll be among the masses, and I think there might even be a little Q&A potentially afterward. Q&A, we're on the stage and talk, it'll be fun.

A lot of fun stuff lined up in London. So you English listeners, and if you're close to England, I know we got a lot of Irish listeners, come on over from the Emerald Oil and Scottish. If it's not Scottish, it's crap. If you're Australian, come on over. Netherlands. Netherlands. Mr. F is coming.

Mr. F is coming, right? These European countries, it's not hard to zap through one of them to get to England. From what little I know, I think that the effort, it's in sort of an effort check on viewers who are listeners who are outside of England. You make it, if you don't, I'd like to know why you did not pony up and get there. You don't have an excuse. Get there. Deutsche Land, France. Do we have listeners in France?

Yes. Do you have friends in France now, Colleen? I do. There you go. Yeah. Anywhere where you are, if we missed your nation, come to England the first week in September. we're very excited. Today's show is jam-packed.

We have a preseason game, as Colleen alluded to, to discuss between the Browns and the Eagles. Some news, including bad news, involving one of the star offensive linemen of quote-unquote America's team. It's like some people are like, your president. I'm kind of like your American's team.

You're still treating that as a wide-open controversy. Exactly. It's raging. And with football season, now just around the corner, less than two weeks away. Greg, got to give all the credit to Greg on this one. Because what a segment idea it was. New football year resolutions.

New Year's. Forget January 1st. That's not time for starting over. We still have like a month left of the season now. This is when our new year starts. So a lot to get to. Let's start, though, by a look behind the glass. There she is.

Emma VP behind the glass today. How are you? I'm good. How's it going, guys? Great to hear your voice. Have you, um, how are things going in your relationship with Dave Dameshack? They're going well, you know? Like one out of ten.

Ten. Yeah, we're going strong. She's the big fish. But you go through the pre-production process with us today. Very easy, very smooth. Then how would you compare that to working with Dave versus working with us in general? Who's more enjoyable? Wow, that's really tough.

You guys both have your strengths for sure. I'm going to have to lean with Dameshack on this one, though. Love you guys. She's smart. She's smart. This is like succession. Every time we try to poach you, Emma, and we fail, I have a conversation with Mark privately,

and Mark always has the same response. It's like, she's a tough one to reel in. That's exactly how I say it too. She's playing hard to get. It's like, oh. It's like this is occurring in like a small alley behind like a Chinese house. Chinese house?

Like a Chinese restaurant. Let's go out back and talk. Let's do some news. What's up, you guys? I just want to let you know that we are coming back for season two, Very Cavalry. Don't forget, you've got to watch the season finale this Sunday night. But we're going to be back. How excited is Jay?

Hard pass. Wow. Jay Cutler, star of Very Cavalry on E. I sent a little nug over on our instant messaging chat client that came from E, the entertainment network that airs very cavalry this show is a hit uh for them it is the number one show like basic cable let's say east says the first season of very cavalary has seen consistent week on weak growth in all key demos and currently ranks as one of the youngest and most affluent series Colin you're affluent listen a fluent series on affluent series on ad supported affluent

affluent affluent no affluent affluent affluent no affluent fluent no that's what I said Affluent. No. Affluent? No. How is it an affluent series? The whole sentence makes it. And most affluent series on ad-supported cable and broadcast with a median age of 36.

So young, rich people. Yeah. Jake Keller, who spent an entire career 12 years, West, struggling to earn our respect, has finally lived up to expectations. It just took him leaving professional football for reality television. Hey, just because boring people watch a show doesn't mean it's a success. It's a successful show. It's an unwatchable television show. You know, I tried very hard to get into it.

But Jake Cutler is good for about three minutes a show, and then you have to deal with backstabbing drama from weird, weird women for the rest of the show. It's unwatchable. Sounds like a winner. I can't believe I've never seen it. I enjoy it. But I don't want to give a-stabbing drama from weird women, some of which are attractive. I'm in on this.

That's what you want to watch. This is your wheelhouse, actually. What else I want to watchable? I don't want to give a spoiler alert for the season finale, but I have her. heard that Jay is kind of sour about some things throughout, but in the end, you like them. No. Jay, sour on some things, stop it. Greg has described every episode of the show to date.

All right. Let's get to the news. And yes, we'll start with the Dallas Cowboys, uh, who are dealing with an issue, uh, and their veteran center, Travis Frederick, one of the very best in the league announced Wednesday. He has been diagnosed with, oh boy, uh, Gian Barre syndrome, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the body's nervous system in response to illness. Whoa. This is a four-time pro bowler each of the last four seasons.

He's been dealing with injury, shoulder and neck issues throughout training camp. And now it comes out that he has the syndrome. And it comes in varying forms, Greg, from mild cases, which are quickly alleviated to more serious attacks that can last for months. Frederick is optimistic about his treatment. Rap sheet said there's no time to him. for the center's return to action. Like most people, I didn't know anything about this disease, and then I read up on it, you know, after hearing this news,

and, you know, the takeaway is just, it sounds like a really difficult thing to go through, to put it mildly, and that there's so much variation in the severity in terms of how it can affect different people that there's not much more to say other than, at least, you know, for me, then you just wish them the best and you hope you can fully recover. one form of it, and we don't know what specifically he's dealing with, but it can generate bodily weakness in the legs and upper body. And, I mean, you think of what an NFL center has to do.

His message was, thank you, I'm going to get back as quickly as possible. But the way it was stated in general, to Greg's point, is we just have no idea. And their backup situation is not extremely promising in the form of Joe Looney. Not to be confused with Joe Don Looney, one of the most interesting characters in the history of the NFL played in the 60s. No, it's not him. And they're injured right now throughout the offensive line.

Well, Zach Martin, he's got the knee injury, so his availability is up in the air for the opener. And then their rookie, the left guard, Connor Williams, he's been struggling too. So this offensive line, it's not what it was once was a couple years ago. And even Tyrant Smith is a little banged up. He's not going to play this weekend. And so it sounds like they'll sit back Prescott just because they don't want him to play behind this banged up line. Which they're getting killed for, but it's like as soon as something happened, to him, the media will turn violently on the Cowboys and destroy them.

We'll get two star players and how they're being used a little later in the news. But the Cowboys' Offensive Line has to be studly for this team to win the NFC East, and they are going through some major challenges here, especially at the center position. Moving on, we have another first round pick who's going to miss the start of the 2018 season. It is over in the Ravens Nest, by the way. Tight-end Hayden Hurst who went 25th overall, Mike Garifolo, reported that he has a stress fracture in his foot. He's undergoing a procedure today Friday to insert a screw.

You never want to hear a screw is getting inserted in feet. He's likely you never want to hear it, Colleen. I know, I know. I know. I second that. What, do you want to hear it? No, I don't. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear about a screw going in feet.

I don't really totally buy what she's saying. Like I think she does a little bit like that. I think you were revealed a little bit there. No, not at all. A metallic screw truther. please. Hurst will likely miss three to four weeks, which would sideline him, obviously, for the start of the season.

Wes, the Ravens, it just seemed to have bad injury luck at this position. Yes, they do. I did not think of that, Dan, but you are correct. Crockett Gilmore, who is now, I believe, a tackle. He's always trying to be, yeah. Yeah, they have bad, bad luck, and they have another rookie, Mark Andrews. They drafted in a third round. They have Nick Boyle, who's a veteran.

But Hayden Hurst, they had big plans for him, and as much as I've liked what I've seen from Joe Flacco, this does hurt. Yeah, Dennis Pitta was like the first one there. That's where it started. Yeah, that's sort of where everything began. And then Max Williams, he's dealt with a ton of injuries. Todd, Heep could never stay healthy. I just, they had talent at that position.

They invested the second rounder in Max Williams, too. And then it's weird. You don't often see, like, you think you solve tight end with Max Williams. That just not happened with who he is so far. You go out and have to spend another first round and get another tight end. These guys can't stand the field. Yeah, unlike Colleen who's taking a perverse, you know, pleasure from this screw going in his first.

Into his foot. Right. Drill it. I'm disappointed. I was really excited. That was my last Google search. Yeah, he was going to add something to this off. Greg is a more measured approach to this, and I appreciate that.

I think we all do. Moving on, yes, the week three of the preseason did kick off on Thursday, a game that will not, you know, go down historically is one of the more entertaining affair. Is a five to zero win for the Cleveland football Browns over the Philadelphia Eagles, the defending champs. Colleen, yikes, one step away from infamy with, I believe, the annual matchup against the Jets coming up next week. Oh, and three. Yinks. Oh and three. More disturbingly, your QB, Nick Foles, who is the Super Bowl MVP, continues to struggle. Two picks, took a sack for a safety. Does not look anything like the guy from last year. Where are you at on the old

P scale. Oh, it's just the preseason, right? It doesn't matter. Um, I don't know. I'm kind of freaking out a little bit about it. Just watching last night, Foles looks lost. He did not look anything like the guy who played in the Super Bowl. Now, I do keep trying to remind myself, okay, Al-Shon Jeffrey's not out there. Nelson Aguilar, you don't have Jay Jai, Mack Hollins, Darren Sprouls, right? Cory Clement, Jason Peters. There's a slew of their starters that are not out there right now in addition to Carson Wentz. But Jason Kelsey, he was knocked out of the game early. The offensive line, he did play.

He did go back in. But the offensive line did not do Foles any favors at all. I mean, he had five turnovers this entire preseason. So of 14 possessions, they've generated zero points. They've allowed nine points. They've had the sack fumble that was returned for the touchdown against the Patriots and then the safety against the Browns. It's been really ugly for full.

where is the piece scale one to ten eight wow so you're very nervous about this eight I don't like it nervous after Carson Wentz emerged as an MVP on national television we had the show the next morning I'm always nervous guys foals has had a dramatically up and down career and now he's having to handle something I think that's the only takeaway if I was an Eagles fan that would concern me is just foals if we need to count on him a little bit he said he needed to kind of escape the all-encompassing football world for a little bit and like talk to his family and Who knows how he's dealing with being a Super Bowl MVP,

and he's had some pretty low lows. But you're missing your top three receivers, your top three running backs, your Hall of Fame left tackle, your quarterback. It's like, who cares? That wasn't really their team out there. If you remove recency bias, this Nick Fools looks awfully familiar

because the history of Nick Fools is a bunch of superlative starts and a bunch of meltdowns and very little in between. He, more than any quarterback, seems to be, playing to the level of his coaching staff and teammates. And he didn't have many teammates in this game. And he don't really game playing in the preseason, like a lot of the stuff that Doug Peterson does that makes him great. They're not going to be doing against the Browns in the preseason.

I mean, a little credit to Cleveland's defense, though. Not saying that it's a Browns fan. I mean, I've watched 85,000 Browns preseason's games, and you don't see them do anything on defense, whether it's August or it's flipped over to September. And I think Miles Garrett's your point is like, the dude, like, when you think first overall pick, well, you'd like him to be a star.

star player. I mean, he is a completely fascinating guy to watch. He blew up. He absolutely blew up to Eagles last night. I don't care who's on the field. Yeah, he's looked. He's a great. I mean, he looked great. I think last year under the radar. Vaitai struggled so bad. Looked so bad last week and bad this week. Torad Taylor, dislocated pinky. Um, but I guess he'll be okay, but an injury scare. Also, Baker Mayfield was, um, checked for a concussion. I think that checked out positively as well. So a couple scares for the Browns, but nothing lasting, it appears at this time. I want to see, I feel bad because I, like, love Tyrod Taylor more than just about anyone. But it's like, I just want to see Baker Mayfield play at this point.

Like, I never thought I'd support Tyra Taylor just being benched. But Baker Mayfield makes three or four throws, and he did it in this game. And each game that you just, wow. Like, he's been, I think, the most impressive rookie quarterback. Well, and even his pick, and Charlie Castley had a good video this morning that showed that the Browns receiver coming across the field. That was actually a perfectly timed throw by Mayfield, but the receiver got bumped, and so suddenly there was no one there but an Eagles player.

But Mayfield's been impressive. I don't know why we're not discussing this, but the idea of pulling Tyrod Taylor for the injury, then putting him back in. I don't know Browns fans or not, you could agree with that move. It just seems weird to me. The only thing I was thinking about that move was watching hard knocks.

You hear the Browns constantly talking about how they're not tough enough, and Tyrod Taylor, Tarad Taylor. Yes, please. If he's supposed to be the leader and the quarterback right now, he's going to go in, he's going to go back in and show that he is tough and especially to Todd Haley. It could have been his to Silly.

Everyone's immediately going head coach and I get it. But if it was Tyrod or Tyrod saying, like, I must go back in and they gave him the choice, then that's a different narrative. Put the pitchforks and torches away. Area quarterback plays football. Right. I mean, whatever.

Moving on, the Oakland Raiders, Cut in ties with a 2017 second round draft pick. Ouch. Obie Melifonwu? Melifonwu? Damn it's close. You're there. Melifonwu.

Melifonwu. He was a waived, injured. This comes after a rookie season in which Obie appeared in five games, made just one start. Ten weeks on injured reserve last year, knee and hip issues. Rapshite noted that aside from the injuries, Obie was waived. because Oakland, quote, never quite felt he loved football enough. Yikes football people. Come on, Chris Wesleying.

I think he's wearing the pants in this relationship. That's Reggie McKenzie's draft pick out the door after one year just because John Gruden's there. Right. That's kind of the takeaway. Like, you never see second round picks go that fast. It probably was a mistake. It's not like they'll regret it.

He was a combine workout warrior. But you really see Gruden has very little use for a lot of the players that were before Seth Roberts signed a contract. I think last year. He might not make the team. Carl Joseph was a pretty hyped up Reggie McKenzie first round pick. He may not be starting for the team. Like, he's getting rid of all of the McKenzie guys. Lingeringering hip issues are about one of the worst football scenarios you could ask for. And by the time we hear that a player is not all in on football, they've been knowing that probably for a long, long time. And so I don't know if it's just on. Well, it's not just on Gruden to be,

I don't know, he's made some interesting. moves. But I wonder what Reggie McKenzie thinks about this player today versus when he drafted him. I wish we knew what it was exactly and how they came to the, how they came to the reason that they never quite felt he loved football enough. Like what kind of sparked that? Yeah, there had to have been some type of situation that went down or something that they saw within him. That reminds me when last year for the NFL Pickham show, when we would do the cornhole segments, we just sensed it. It was like, Mark doesn't have the love for this. The love's not there.

That said, I waged on as a high-ranking professional. Now, I will say this. When I worked, I remember a job I had working at starting. I did not mean high-ranking. I was going to say highly dedicated. This is what I meant to say. I worked at like a shop right as my first job, where my job was just meant to take all the carts scattered around,

like the four-degree parking lot, and then put them into the lines. And it was like, it was easy. I was not motivated. At one point, the boss, John Furramonte, he had to sit me down and say, I just don't see the fire in the eyes when it comes to this employment. I was like, I can make up something,

but I can't fake my disengagement here. Maybe this is what's happening with Obie in a much different higher-stakes scenario. Football is just a more elaborate game of cart-rangling. I mean, it's money. You're just making money one way or another. In other news, the reigning offensive player of the year is Todd Gurley. he is not going to play a single snap in the preseason and guess what he's cool of it here's what todd had to say that is everyone's dream to not play in the preseason some guys

just like being out there to get a feel for it and to see but not this guy Greg is this kind of like a potential trend in the NFL the fact that they're also sitting Jared Gough for the entire preseason and that's partly because their offensive line is banged up Andrew Whitworth is getting sat in this game but I do see it as a trend. I think the Eagles were extremely conservative with some of the players that they chose to play. Some of them really weren't injured.

There's other teams throughout the league that are kind of the cowboys that look like are going to sit people. I think it could become a trend, especially depending on how this goes for the Rams, whether teams just consider sitting starters for the entire preseason. Not every coach is going to do it. The NFL has already has a problem on its hands with preseason in general, but it has a double problem if it goes. really well for the Eagles and Rams and other teams.

And it becomes, now, these trendy, forward-thinking coaches have learned not to play anyone valuable in the preseason. Then the NFL is still trying to entice fans to come buy tickets for four and for two teams, five preseason games, please. I would take the if out of that. The NFL already has a problem that the first quarter of the regular season is subpar football because nobody takes the preseason seriously. And because of the CBA and you can't work out as much in the off-suit.

I mean, like, not every coach is going to go this route. Tom Brady is going to play into the third quarter on Saturday. He played the entire first half in the second preseason week. He's been, he once played into the fourth quarter or the fourth preseason game, which made people lose their minds. And, like, that's one of the things watching the preseason that annoys me. When people kind of decide what the arbitrary rules are of when players have to come out and they decide, how could they possibly be playing Tyrod for the fourth series instead of just two?

It's like, just let the coach. I don't know. I trust the coaches. How do you have a great opinion on this? Yeah. But I also think a lot of coaches are just falling in line behind other coaches, and Belichick is one of the few that actually has his own ideas on this. Here's something wild.

From 1970 to 1977, there were six preseason games, 14 regular season games. So technically the same amount of games, but six preseason games. Not only that, and there was a time. Two a days for like six weeks. When we would have been in like sixth, seventh grade, when football started to become like deep in the bloodstream, I remember Cleveland playing Pittsburgh. in the preseason.

I mean, you're playing divisional rivals, and it was four or five games always for that. I mean, that's ridiculous. It makes sense not to play your starters and your stars. It's really, I feel like, just for the rookies and the guys that are really battling over positions. Yeah. But how do you get your offense and defense in sync

if you're not playing football games? It's the one sport where I guess every sport is like this, but football to an extreme degree, where the difference between playing in a game and practicing is so dramatic that that's why some coaches love it. I don't know. I don't know what the right answer is. Who the hell knows?

Nice close. Moving on. The Arizona Cardinals have their general manager back in the building. Steve Kime, who detonated a Kine bomb on himself recently, suspended five weeks beginning July 17th following his DUI arrest on the 4th of July. He got fined $200,000. On Wednesday, he spoke to the media. This is what he had to say.

After the reports came out, My 12-year-old son was texting his buddy. And he said, they keep showing your dad over and over again on TV. I'm so sorry he's having to go through that. And my son said, I'm not. He shouldn't have been doing it. And my son was right. I don't think there's any feeling that's worse.

I feel like you let your children down. Whoa. That was one segment of about a four or five minute press conference, and the first three was just Steve Kime speaking off the top of his head and from the heart. And it was one of the more remarkable press conferences I've ever seen in the NFL. And it really just stuck out as a contrast to me to some other times that we've seen people really mess up their lives or in their work and how you handled it. And he would even say he wouldn't want us to be praising this

because he's like, the only thing you can do is how you're going to act moving forward. That's really the only thing that matters. But in a week where we saw like that Urban Meyer press conference, watching this really stuck out to me and you really, you know, you just felt how honest he was throughout the whole thing. Well, he completely let his guard down

and you can tell, you can hear how genuine he sounds. I mean, that had to have been so, embarrassing for him to go through and to talk about the way that his 12-year-old son kind of had to take it all in. I mean, that's a big moment. That's kind of, that's a come-to-Jesus moment. Kids are honest. I think the Cardinals also, this was not a check-the-box suspension for the Cardinals. Like, they sounded very bent out of shape and serious about it from the beginning. And I think that he's responded partly because of the way they responded. It wasn't just a get back in the building and slap you on the back to the thing.

I think he could have easily lost his career, or lost his job, at least with the Cardinals. Finally, in the news on Thursday, reporters asked Pittsburgh Steelers coach, Mike Tomlin, about a construction, a tarp hanging near one of the practice fields at the Rooney Sports Complex. Initially, Tomlin was vague, and he said this, I'll leave that somewhat mystical, man. I'll let you guys hypothesize about the origin of that and its use, and at some point I will address it directly. It will be the 2018 little side story. So they kept pushing him on it.

And he went on, you know how it is, man. This is interesting times, drones and so forth, you know. We do what we got to do to prepare and be ready to play and play on a level, fair, competitive playing field. He's protecting himself from drones, Chris Wesley. I think drones and so forth is a good fantasy football name. I just love so forth. Like it's a little bit like whatnot.

You just don't have anything to say. So you just like, and so forth. But Mark and I are big on, drones need to be regulated. Absolutely. Invasion of privacy, it's like car alarms or secondhand smoke. Just because you want to do it for your life, you don't get to affect other people's lives. I could not agree more. A drone flew over my neighborhood.

It's back. It's back now. This is bringing like PTSD to me right now. Right over my neighborhood, over my own backyard. Yeah. And I'm like, you, how dare you? Yes. Robe it?

Yeah, it's like, because the problem with drones is like, in general, whatever anyone's using it for it's no different than what you'd use it for when you were like a sixth grade boy like you're going to fly over someone's backyard and over people's pools and try to catch things that a six grade boy or a at this point probably a 65 year old man at this whoever's flying the drone yeah like a paroled felon i mean what do you what is it you're hoping to see now i have to be like even more paranoid about stuff you have to be but if you can you imagine being to the skies 30 yards above an NFL practice you have perfect vision of what formations look like i mean Tomlin is not being an overly officious

freak show here. Well, he might be. If you were a coach, you would feel differently, Greg. You can sit here and say that. Maybe. I want drones flying over your high school practice. He's the only one that's doing it, so not every coach is doing this. I'm just saying paranoid coaches is a tradition

in football. Like, the red skin. But you can't just say the lazy fair attitude to drones flying over at Steelers practice. I'm just saying, it doesn't Al Davis would have outfit like many hot air balloons with bazookas just to shut down these drones.

The Redskins closed down Super Bowl practices because they were so paranoid about the Raiders spying on them like, you know, 30 years ago. But they probably just were being paranoid. It's also a good idea if you are trying to spy. Oh, it's great. Use the drones. It's a little obvious.

Right. Back to back. C-plus league champions of the shield in softball, Los Angeles County softball. We were playing a game once. I think this might have been two years. years ago and a drone came right over the outfield and only now am i putting it together that it was probably those barney's beanery creeps yes they were trying to get a scatter report on our 45 year old

hamstring like stricken lineup i try i threw a softball up at it i almost hit it at one point we had like three people out with hamstrings two with groin injuries one with abd you guys were decimated soft tissue injuries just the drug and yet we persevered yes we persevered yes we The drones on the beach are the worst. There's drones all over the beach in Southern California. I have to hear this all the time because my dad's an air traffic controller and he hates drones. I'm with you. I hate drones.

We're all in locks it up here. Greg was being a contrarian. No, I was. I don't think you need to close practices, but I'm anti-dron. To be pro-drone, you're anti-America. Yeah. Anything in the sky. Shoot it down.

What? I mean, within reason. That's what's happening in the news. Oh Hey Dan What Hey Dan What

What? Did you get your passport? Not yet actually Whoa! No! You better get on that Obviously You can't travel abroad

Without a passport That's been made clear You can't travel to London Without a pass Oh, my God. Hey, Dan. Better get your passport. I don't need to hear from you.

You're not going to London without a passport. Can we get an August calendar in here? You do grasp the gravity of the situation, right? You're being honest, it has not arrived yet. I kind of think Dan's is playing this up for the bit at this point. Is that possible? Looks a little nervous. Sure, that's what's happening here.

But, like, you can track it. It tells you, when you get your passports, it tells you the day it's going to arrive, you can track it online. Have you been doing that? The government's been tied up with some things lately. And I think it's led to a moderate delay. I think it arrived like a week and a half ago,

you know, the coal miners from sent it along. They got it. We'll be okay. We're all going to be there. Yep. And if not, Colleen, you have a passport. I got one. Shoot you over there.

Great. You available? No, not really. She has like two apartments in Europe right now. The weight is nearly over. Football is almost here, which means it's fantasy football season and Fandul has never been more fun or easy to play.

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All right. Let's move on. Yes, here we are. New football year resolutions, 2018. How exciting. There you go. Oh. Champagne.

Champagne, Mark. All right. That'll be more than enough. All right. This is what we're going to do with the new season upon us, less than two weeks away. some resolutions i don't care where they come from any type of resolution as you enter a new season uh gregg let's uh let's start with you all right i this is it's going to be starting

off not not serious but it is something that's been on my mind a little lately i want the nfl to have a new year's resolution to have eric read on a team by by week one here because this has been on my it's been on my radar even more so than capernick was uh a year ago Because it's a little harder to wrap your mind around that an above average starting safety in the NFL for the last five years who's averaged over 900 snaps a year, who was, you know, probably playing some of the best football of his career at some point last year, is not on a team. And it just really stands out and it really serves to sort of like support a lot of the worst thinking that you could possibly have about the league or the owners or anything. and it just doesn't it doesn't make any sense it stands out even more i think than the capernick won a year ago is just like why why is this happening so i'm hoping some owner just resolves to step up and he's just on a team and it's not it's not part of the storyline

that's my resolution i like that i think that that would even nationally move the needle at all or help matter i honestly i do no capernick i think is the guy i think it's been ignored But in terms of someone in the NFL with name power, at this point, Eric Reed is put in that conversation frequently. I would say the Niners got rid of Eli Harold. They traded, and he's not a very well-known player. But he was someone that also, a week ago, refused to talk about, he kneeled all last year, and he refused to talk about it this past week,

and he's out the door. This is three players from the same team. And it's something we're coming up on a two-year anniversary this weekend of Kaepernick sit kneeling for the first. first time that that anyone noticed he actually been doing it for a couple weeks before that and now it's two years and you think of the the impact that that's had on the country and the sport and everything and then just the fact that the first player that was alongside him next to him is now looking for a job too it just I don't know and he's a capable player like right there's no argument there's

no like argument about his his football playing ability or anything like that next up Colleen this is kind of for you. Oh. It's a resolution that maybe you and your people. Who are my people? Eagles Nation. Oh, okay. We talked about it during the recap of Brown's Eagles that Nick Bowles is struggling mightily.

Carson Wentz said this week, quote, it's going to be close whether he's ready for week one. And to me, it just seems like there's a lot of doubt about that happening. So there's a good chance. Yeah, boy, Nick Bowles, starts week one. And based on what we've seen, based on the track record, as Wes pointed out, that he's been a wildly uneven performer at this level, there is a good chance. He stinks.

It could happen. But this is what I ask, the resolution. Where's the resolution? Okay. It doesn't, this is the resolution you guys get to me. And do this for me, a Jets fan who's never even been to a Super Bowl. Keep this in perspective. If Nick Falls starts two games, if he starts,

four games. He starts one game and he stinks the joint out and he kills you and he even screws your season over. You cannot boo Nick Foles. You need to be nice to Nick Foles because that man is a golden god. No matter what happens, you must remember what he did the most important moments in franchise history. So this seems to be trending downward and maybe that's what's going to happen. But be nice to Nick Foles. How many weeks? No matter what happens. How many weeks? Forever. Forever. Forever. He gave you something. Matt, remember Colleen when I saw you on the field.

Do you want to reason with them? Because have you seen some of my people? You're a prominent, prominent member of this trial. Colleen's not who I'm worried about in this arrangement. Colleen, Wolf, when you get frustrated, if Nickville stinks in September, think of when I came upon you on that field at Super Bowl 52, tears streaming down your face, one of the happiest moments of your life? Yeah.

Think about that. And think about that, Eagles fans, because I know who you are. you are going to boo this guy it's going to be in your DNA to go after him really don't do it i talked to my mom last night she had already turned off the tv the game she was so angry all she was just throwing foals under the bus the entire eagles don't do it she said they're going to be awful this year the browns are going to be way better than the eagles that's right we thought we were going to get some uh yeah miss wolf yeah clips maybe that will be coming in general eagles fans should resolve to just kind of enjoy this ride.

You got an extra one last year with Foles. Do we have a thing? So what? Just because, yeah, we have. Well, hold on. As a Patriots fan, you're like, you would have been okay had the Patriots just stopped winning Super Bowls in 2000 after 2001. Like another team and their fan base should want the same thing that the best teams in sports have. It's a good comparison, though. In 2002 when they didn't make the playoffs, no one really cared because they stole one in 01.

It was a gift. And obviously you're going to, you want them to win and get excited. I'm just saying last year, a. especially, you're up one. So what? It's hard to stay on top. The Eagles win one Super Bowl and the entire fan base just has to be complacent now. That's impoverished thinking to say that they're supposed to just be fine now.

One year. No. This is just, just enjoy it. Smell the flowers. No, that's over. We already did that. You just shouldn't be jerks to the miracle man who got it done for you. That's all.

That's what I'm saying. You can get frustrated if this season goes sideways. But just don't take it out on Nick Falls. Don't take it out on Nick. Okay. That's fine. Then put Nate Sudfeld in. This is not going to go well.

All right, Wes. I mean, Colleen, you're up. Okay. Well, I had some other ones here, but I thought of this one off the top of my head because I was watching the game last night. And the amount of times that I heard Philly Special and Philly, Philly, I'm so over that. I can't, they're ruining it for me. Every broadcast is now. Like, I can't take it.

Every time I hear someone say Philly, Philly or Philly Special, I want to throw something at the television or the radio or wherever I'm seeing it or reading it. It's done now. I don't want to hear it anymore. Are you saying that the Phillies special has now bled into popular culture? Yeah. What's the resolution? It's too mainstream now.

It's two main. It's two main. The Philly special is too mainstream. Interesting. Because they're putting it up there with the cheese steak and Santa Claus, you know, people be booing Santa Claus. Yeah, except this one is associated with success. Yeah, but that's enough now.

We've heard, we've heard about it. Everybody's sick of it. Even I'm sick of it. That's it. So the resolution is to never. use those terms use them sparingly use them responsibly yeah

treat them better with reverence okay that's fair listen Wes this is a resolution about the Browns and Ravens but hang with me for a second here this Sapiens book which I have brought up

on this show a few times taught me what of course taught one thing that really stood out from this book when we moved from evolutionary wise from like apes to humans, a very important factor in order to rule more than 150 people or bring more than 150 people together is the ability to gossip and tell stories and move beyond objective truth to construct like religions, myths that create like American national exceptionalism.

We have to have buy-in to all these stories, to these myths. The Ravens who stole the Browns franchise have a collective identity, a shared national myth in Ravens Nation that they have a tough, tough, swaggering defense and special teams. That's their myth. The Browns, who have been around for a lot longer, have no, they've got no shared national myth. They've got no identity. The Browns resolved this year, no matter what else they do, create a national myth

about the Browns, that they are a team led by Baker, Mayfield, and Myers-Garrett. If you come into Cleveland, you're walking away with a butt kicking. Likeing that That is a lofty resolution You know what I really like about it? Hey Ravens fans Sit down Yeah That's what I'm talking about

That's the myth Sit down I like it and it's really struck me watching hard knocks Like the Browns The myth like that the Browns fans Have been telling each other sort of about this team Is one of the most remarkable things It's amazing if you really take a step back

To think of the support and the love That Browns fans have for their team in general, but especially after Owen 16, it's almost like it never happened and all, like there's no real rational reason to support this franchise, period. It's just been heartbreak and they just went 0 and 16. And yet everyone is still all in and they kind of love it as much as ever. Like, I love that.

It's pretty amazing. Are you saying, Wes, that the Brown should stand up and be brassy? Yes. It's time, Mark. And everyone else must sit down. It was stand up and be braggy. Because they all was like, look at us. We do all this nice work in the community.

And I think that's all very good. But it was like, how about you punctuate that by destroying and scattering a football team on Sunday? This was your theme. Stand up and be braggy. This was part of your theory. You wanted some more bad guys who weren't really great. Wes encapsulated it very well.

I'm not sure stand up and be bragging works on a poster. I do like sit down, though, with an exclamation point. It's better than Rockland or whatever it was. What is it? The hardland? Hardland. We don't even know there's so many lands in there. Rockland.

All right, Mark, you're up. You know, this is for everyone. A new football year's resolution for all of us, because this is something that I see that is bleeding its way into, it's a certainly American pop culture. It's online, it's Instagram, it's Facebook, it's Twitter, and so it's everywhere. And it is another word that we need to ban,

a phrase that we need to remove. Can I guess? It would slightly blow up the second. All right, go ahead, go ahead, go, sorry. Well, let's so. We've gotten rid of, here's ones it's not, because we've gotten rid of, it's lit. Colleen has left the studio.

We've gotten rid of true dat. That thing's out of there. I mean, that was gone ages ago. Woke got killed. Woke is on its last life. Yes, queen, I mean, that was cool for like two months, and then it's like, okay, see it, bye, bye, bye. Now, this one is super ultra-annoyant to me.

Can Collin guess now? No. Not yet. I will let you in one second, because here's, You like the match game. Write down what you think it is. Now that I heard the preamble, though, I'm way off. Well, no, because here's where I see it.

And maybe you have two. This is just one of many examples. It's typically like on Instagram with like some like Uber cool girl who apparently only vacations and goes and sits on like boats on lakes all the time. She's on like some bros, like six pack bros boat with like a little dog and like a bubbly drink. And then on the text at the bottom of the photo says, what do you, you don't know? It doesn't say RPA. Living my best life.

Living my best life. I get rid of that thing. Some blasts away. I'm with you on that one. It's just, it's everywhere right now. But, I mean, it's adult men and women using this to describe a very false online life where apparently all you do is hopscotch from county fair to vacation to women. Whatever it is you think you're doing.

And sometimes it's used to re-in-I-I don't know. What is this, 1840? Hey, I'm in Milwaukee. Yeah, maybe not county. The outskirts of the mall. Like, we just finished the sock races, living my best life. It's also used to, like, reinforce, like, sometimes negative behavior. He's like, oh, yeah, he's been drinking.

He's on a bender all weekend. He hasn't seen his kids. Like, something's wrong. It's like, no, he's living his best life. It's like, no, that's not your best life. We would be fine without it. We would be fine without it. Huh.

As just a minor rejoinder, I have a word that's super on my radar. I heard it in the newsroom yesterday. And I think it might be something that comes up on the broadcast a lot, maybe. You can let me know, Emma. And it's more like a lady's word. I don't hear men saying it a lot. I can't wait to hear what a good thing. This is getting more problematic by the moment.

Keep going. It's a lady's word. And you girls are using a lot these days. It's probably being used on a constant rotation on the Cavalry program. Bougy. It's getting used a lot right now. I don't know that that's come up on the broadcast.

I don't know why you had to implicate us. I don't know if that's limited to ladies. Bougie's all over the place right now. A lady's word. A lady's word. How's that a lady's word? Blast it off. That's not a lady's word.

Blast it off. Get it out of here. Greg, that's not a lady's word. What do you mean? Because the most popular use of it is by Migos. You know, so and those are three guys. That's how it became popular. Is this an episode of Greg likes rap?

No, but you asked the question. That's kind of it. Yeah, I don't think that's limited. It's, sorry, it's been decided. It's limited to ladies only, and it's out. It's gone now. You have that power. Anything else?

No, that's good for now. Do we go around the horn again, or are we done? How do you guys feel? I think. Can we blast RPO? Can we get that out? I'm done with this. You don't want to go around the horn one more time?

We can if anybody has one. I was changing the same thing we want to blast them. That's fun. I like that. RPO's got, is the actual play call gone or the scheme or is it? I think it's okay to talk about it. Just stop using the acronym for it.

By the way, RPO is also heavily tied to the Eagles. I feel some fatigue on your part with last year's peak human experience that you enjoy it. I think Falls and Eagles fan, you know, it is tough, it's tough defending. You know, it's like it's a tough, it's a tough thing. the go through to stay on top. Give us another one. And to not stay on top.

Let's hear you. I got another team. This is personal. I have resolved to enjoy football again, the on-field product, and just completely fade the entire off-field debates around football. This national left-right, there's only two sides, and every argument has to be a rejoinder to the other side instead of addressing an issue. Just leave all that behind, and it starts with really cutting me.

back on Twitter, like the death trap of negativity, like easy snark, like power posturing that you hold this power over the person you're interacting with on Twitter and the confirmation bias inheriting everything on Twitter and just cut way back on Twitter. Sign me up for less Twitter. It's funny because my resolution is similar in terms of like the trying to enjoy football for what it is and that's part of that to me is like don't get caught up and this is for everyone i would say but you know i would you know at least for myself it's like don't be so worried about your predictions or who you pick to win that game or who you pick to win the super bowl or or really

anything trying to foretell whatever's going to happen and the like either the satisfaction or the annoyance with the result based on whether that came true or not because the more you the longer and longer you cover football, the more you realize you don't know anything about it, not just like what is happening on a certain play and like the strengths and weaknesses of the cornerback on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But there's no way you have any clue about what's actually going to happen. So it's kind of, it starts to almost ruin the enjoyment of finding out if you're that cut up of like trying to predict and knowing what's going to do. I don't. I would severely question anyone that gets deeper and deeper into football and doesn't realize that.

that they know less and less and less than they ever thought they possibly could about a game that is so incredibly complacent. We can be saturated with names and statistics and information. That's fine. You can regurgitate all that stuff. But if you don't become humbled by the fact that you literally have no concept

what's going through most coaches' heads, you're not on my team. Love it. I got a team. Who else got one? This totally went in different directions than I expected. Who else? Anybody.

It's down to you and Connie. I'm good. I'm good. Mine are all fine. Mark, you said you had it. No, I do not. Mine is like, I want Marcus Marriota to be more accurate this year. I got a football nerdy one.

Okay. I mean, we don't have to force it, but if you feel like you want to speak on it, speak on it. I think that like at least 29 NFL head coaches should resolve to copy Doug Peterson's approach to game management that he used throughout this idea that you're going to punt the ball from the 40 yard line and it's going to go into the end zone and you're going to get 15 yards instead of keeping the ball and trying for it on fourth and short.

That's been a no-brainer for 30 or 40 years in the NFL. And I just, I hope NFL coaches resolved to be smarter in game management. Watch some old Bill Parcells too. He was great to have as your head coach because he always went for it on fourth down. He was not afraid to take shots on second and short. Like, be bold. Be bold. It's another knock on the preseason because I think we've seen.

a bunch of teams experimenting with essentially pulling the punter when there's anywhere, any chance of getting the fourth down conversion inside the 50. No punts. Like last night, the Browns did it too. But then the minute September hits, where are they?

Like then suddenly the 95% of these coaches get conservative. All right. Good. One last one. Jason Witten. Don't let the bastards grind you down. This is going to be a process. He's been shaky out of the gate.

But just hang in there, buddy. It's tough. You're being compared to Tony Romo, and it's ironic because he was your teammates for so long. It's just the way it's worked out. Booger. Everybody likes booger. And Tessitore, he seems good.

You don't like Tessitore? No, he's fine. I think he's solid. I think they all just, like, need some reps together. Witton's going to need some time. So people shouldn't be burying him because he's not Romo. Romo was like Kanye rap, college dropout, you know,

Guns and Roses dropping, appetite for destruction like that type of like a comet arriving on the scene it happens never and so whitens shouldn't be helped us thank you for connecting it in a way i could understand that's good good job like in 1991 we didn't new to new announcing teams would get some some media attention but people didn't shred everything that the new play-by-play or color guy was saying because there was no way to do it i saw this uh for the win and they do a nice job at us USA today like covering like the lighter side of the game. But like they had a post just like destroying Witten for getting something wrong

on the teleprompter and then a whole string of tweets from a bunch of like on Twitter just saying how horrible Witten is. Just like back off. I mean, come on. Take it easier. I'm with you. Yeah. All right.

That's it. One bit of housekeeping. The reason Emma, who thank you for filling in today. Emma. The reason Emma's filling in is because Lindsay Fulton, the, Bitcoin Princess has moved on. She's taken a new position with Yahoo working in their podcast division, so we wish her

the best of luck. And we are gentlemen back on the hunt for a full-time producer. I did get a DM from M of APP. What did you say? Well, I don't know what's to me what you said. Just want to let you know such professionals, so enjoyable to work with you guys. I really hope it happens again soon. What a contrast. Yeah.

Interesting. Mark, you weren't supposed to say that on the air. The DM, wow. So, yes, so best of luck to Lindsay going forward. And we will go forward three shows from the U.S. next week. And then it is off to London. And we could not be more excited and happy about it. So let us go.

And you're totally going. Totally getting your passport. Listed as probable. Dan Hans is signing off. For Quiet Storm, the mailman, tiny box, the old boss. and Emma VP behind the glass till Monday

Monday Monday I'm watching the Royals. Wait, you... I'm just sick. I'm not watching the game. Why? I was watching it.

Because it's annoying. It's annoying me greatly. I mean, I saw that it was still 5.0, and I'm like, you know what? They shouldn't even be playing. They're going to go from first to worse this year. Guaranteed. Wait, why? But why?

I mean, it's just, you know... Why? They can't even play. I mean, it just sucks. They're just pathetic. It's just really pathetic. The Cleveland Browns are going to be... Why do you have this back on that?

I'm watching Princess Big Royals. I don't care about this. Yeah, I'm not into it. I can't. Wait, why do you... Why do you think the Browns are going to be good? Well, you know, it looks like their quarterback is a lot better so far than, you know, and they just seem to be, you know, better at it tonight than the Eagles.

What? And then, I don't know, I'm just, I'm so annoyed with football. I can't even look at it. What are? The last two preseason games sucked so greatly, and this is on its way to suck it even further. This is an I-Heart podcast.