NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - News & "Go Get My Lunch" 2014 season edition

Episode Date: September 11, 2014

A room with some heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- recap the latest NFL news including the Ray Rice situation and injury news around the league. Then, the trio play the first "Go Get My Lunch" round of the 2014 NFL season, revealing bold predictions involving Matt Ryan, Calvin Johnson and much more.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 quick coming off the edge. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler and Chris Wessling. What up, boys. Hey, Dan. How are you, buddy?

Great. Our boss, the boss, not Bruce. Springsteen, but Greg Rosenthal is not here. He's tending to some boss duties. Sometimes when you're the boss, you can't be in on the fun, and I do feel for him because it was like

it was like watching, you know, the sad kid left behind as we went up the stairs, couldn't join us. Or as what happens in Mark's life, when it rains, you leave your 16 kids inside and your other one outside. Oh yeah, that was your weird analogy from our last podcast. Yeah, listen,

I have been dealing with a some version of a head cold and many of the statements that I've made over the past couple of shows dating to even before Dan returned are questionable. All right. Well, we have a great show today. And, you know, it's an exciting show because we are going to bring back one of our favorite games. And it is called Go Get My Lunch. That last part was supposed to be implied.

Oh. You know, I'm used to Greg saying that to me as well, so that kind of threw me off. I'm a little off balance right now without Greg on the right. But we're just going to stay focused. We're bringing back the game. Go get my lunch. Sorry, sorry, sorry. And we're going to, you know, get all our new wagers back and forth with each other about...

Propositions, thank you. Propositions about what will happen in the 2014 season. We decided we could not move forward with Go Get My Lunch until we cleared everything, cleared the decks of previous sandwich wagers, excuse me, propositions, and now we have and we can move forward. I also am not certain that I'm comfortable with going to local stores and dropping like 40, 50 bucks on buying sandwiches for anyone, including Wes, when he has something that is the appetizer that needs to be eaten

before you start having high-octane sandwiches paid for you. Chris Wesleying will eat his softball pants. That's a fair point by you. you mark and i believe i was guessing that today's edition of go get my lunch will implied oh sorry uh well we won't collect on those until the end of the year right because most of what will be propositioning in most cases will be an end of the year scenario correct okay and by the way just an update on the softball pants front i have a connection in los angeles one of the most popular eateries i will not name it at this point but one of the most popular eateries and the

and the chef behind this popular restaurant in West L.A. I have been in contact with his people. He is interested in coming up with a special treat that would include the nylon, the elastic, the zipper, the other composite parts that would be worked into a dish for Chris Wesleying to eat. So we have one of the top chefs in Los Angeles in play right now. I will have to meet with him in like some shadowy garage to hand over the pants. that's fair no there would obviously at some point it would have to get into his possession so that's coming up

but before we get into the sandwiches and before the lunch propositions we're going to check in with the man behind the glass there he is looking smooth as always mr t d what's going on fellas how you doing great how are you doing well doing well you know it's been a fun week and uh looking ahead it's a thursday night game the first thursday night game of the year mark featuring two teams one being the Baltimore Ravens and the other The Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Wesleyan's team

Certainly not your team mark They are in my world They're part of my job To report on them Do I pine for them And think about them Did they ruin my Sunday Yes they did

You know despite that second have come back I came out of week one Liking the Steelers even more They're even more exciting to watch Than I thought they would be Of course you did I get I usually Usually having worked with Mark

because this is our fifth season together. I'm used to seeing Mark immediately crestfallen about the Browns, but Sunday was different because we got crestfallen Mark for the first half, quietly excited Mark into the third into the fourth quarter, and then crestfallen mark again. We got at the end of the game and excited Chris leaning over my cube going, are the Steelers kicking a winning field goal? It's like, are you kidding me?

Anyway, TD. Real quick, the Steelers were fun to watch, but on this week's DDFP, Damshack took it overboard and compared Levillon Bell to LaShaul McCoy. That doesn't make any sense. Can I just make one editorial suggestion? When you play the Damshack, come on, player, we have to hear the whole thing.

Come on, player. What's that? What's up with that? That sends it over the time. Oh, that was iconic. Anyway, so yes. Yeah, the shame report was it? The Sheck Report?

Is that what it was from? No, this was on the podcast. Oh, he said on the podcast. The Dave Damashik football was on there. Handsome Hank was on the podcast. Dave has a podcast. I know. I heard DJ set him straight and compared him to Deuce McAllister instead, which does make

sense. Yeah. That almost seems to be selling them. I don't know. I mean, it's much more accurate, obviously, than Shady McCoy. We're talking early career, Deuce McAllister, when he ran for like 1,600 yards one year, and I had another 60 catches for 600 yards. He was a dude for a while.

while there. Poor Damashek down in the newsroom eating a salad, getting assassinated up here. I wouldn't say that. What's the soup, fella? If you hear that, Dave, I want my free soup today. All right. Let's do some news.

Well done. Is that because Cam Newton's coming back? Not because of Cam, but because Jim Harbor came out this week and spoke about his quarterback. and said, he reminds him of, essentially says he reminds him of Superman, like, you know? And I was like, you know what? That's your boy.

I had me thinking of, you know, me I'm a big superhero movie fan. I'm a big score fan. I was like, you know, well, let's do a little throwback here. Let's play a little original Superman thing. Area producer, a big score fan. That's TD. Gonna fly now. Don't put him in a box.

No, never. All right, let's get into some news. And we'll start with the big news in the NFL, obviously not on the field. Ray Rice, we've been gone, Ray Rice has been not only released by the Ravens, but suspended by the NFL indefinitely. This after TMZ released video footage inside the elevator of Rice striking and knocking out his then-fiancee. This has led to Ray Rice being out of the NFL now, and obviously

it's become a huge story. Everyone has an opinion on it for better or worse. Ray Rice no longer with the Baltimore Ravens. I was told this week that I am free to speak my mind on this issue. Yes. And a shadowy league figure told me this. And the same shadow league figure told me he will enjoy hearing that as my last podcast for the company. Yeah, it's a touch. Listen, everybody knows the deal.

We work for the NFL. And this is a touchy situation with the league that's happening. It's unfolding right now as we speak. The NFL is dealing with what's. really a difficult situation it's been uh the league has gotten tons of criticism over it uh but i guess the the the takeaway with ray rice now is that he's out of the league the league maybe took longer to act than people expected it to or wanted it to but he is out of the league so what what's next ray rice do we see him in the NFL again i can't imagine we don't i mean it always seems like

when ben rothelberger's going through this kind of stuff and michael vicks going through this kind of stuff. Everybody comes out and says, I can't imagine these guys ever playing in the NFL again. And I just, everybody's wound up right now. But as, you know, as time goes by, this people will want to give him another chance. I mean, I think Chris speaks well on that. It's that the NFL has been a place of second chances for a lot of people that we thought we'll never see them again. And so we'll have to wait and find out how it goes down. It's a situation where had Rice's original two-game suspension had been held up, he would have been back with a team on Friday after Thursday's game. Instead, we're left with the situation where the backfield is now a huge question mark.

It was even a question mark with Rice there after he had what was really a terrible year last year. He looked better this summer, so there was some optimism that he would maybe return to form. But right now, what do we have back there, Justin Forset? Bernard Pierce. Bernard Pierce, who got fumbled and really seems to be creeping deeper and deeper into a doghouse. So do we think... Taleaferro. Taliafaro is a guy that people are excited about. I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if they went out and got someone. Do you think they'll stick with the in-house options? I do. And I think it seemed like after the game, John Harbaugh said, look, we don't accept fumbling.

And then two days later, he said, we're not going to bury Bernard Pierce. He's a big part of our backfield. And I still think Pierce is the favorite to end up leading this backfield and rushing. Foreset might get this starts Thursday night because he deserves it after the first game. All right. Let's move on. The Indianapolis Colts, another suspension. Robert Mathis had been suspended four games for violating the NFL's abuse policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Now he's out for the year while training on his own in Atlanta. He blew his Achilles tendon.

So the league's sack leader last year, he had 19 and a half will not be coming back. He's done for the season. And at age 33, we don't know what we're going to get from Robert Mathis going forward. It's a devastating loss, and Chuck Pagano came out and said that. It's devastating for Robert, for the team, for the organization, and it is. He was their only difference maker on defense. He was in the defensive player of the year conversation last year. I think he might have finished second, and he deserved it.

He played that well. This is a team right now that cannot protect its quarterback, and it can't get to opposing quarterbacks. And we've looked at them all offseason as this shoe-in in the AFC South because it's hard to pick who else could possibly overtake them. But with Andrew Luck, it's hard to say they won't be there at the end, but there are a lot of missing pieces to the Indianapolis cults. They're not a really, really team that you can look at

and say this has a deep January run to it. Which, oh, go ahead. They drafted Bjorn Werner in the first round two years ago to be this guy, and he hasn't been that guy yet. So it's either now or never for this guy. And I think it should be said that Ryan Grigsden now has had three seasons or this is the third season for him to build a team around Andrew Luck. I know it basically started from scratch initially,

but for us to be having the same conversation now, like, oh, well, the AFC South is weak, but you can't discount Andrew Luck. It's putting a lot on Andrew Luck, basically asking him for the third straight year to basically put the team on his back just to get to the playoffs, and I don't think any of us see him as see the Colts as a Super Bowl contender right now as presently comes to him.

Here's the problem. If they want a running game, that often comes because of Andrew, luck taking off with the ball. The guy's a better runner than Trent Richardson is right now. I'm not even trying to be snarky. Statistically, last season finishes a better runner than Trent Richardson.

I mean, is there a loss that is this for AFC contenders take one Jenga piece out of a defense? He's got to be up there in terms of Jenga pieces for any of these AFC teams that are playoff Ophals. Yeah, he might be at the top. I don't know if they have any other pieces

in that Jenga tower. It's just luck in Memphis. They just took the one piece away. That's a crappy janga tower. It does not sound fun at all. I don't know. Let's go. Some more grim news.

So two bits of injury news out of the Monday night game. We'll get to the Monday night games a little bit after the news. But the Chargers Cardinals game, a Cardinals 1817 win. Both teams seem to potentially lost key players. John Abraham suffered a concussion in the game. And now it's been announced that he's taken a leave from the Cardinals. And there's a report out there that he's been suffering from memory loss and has been for over a year now. And he is pondering whether to retire.

He was placed on the reserve list, which gives him five days to make a decision on what he wants to do. But 36 years old, apparently a history of concussions, still a productive player and their best pass rusher. Now, Abraham, very good chance it seems that he's out of the picture. Awfully similar to the Robert Mathis situation where you have a team that really only has one effective edge rush. If you take John Abraham out of the picture, this is one of the reasons I was down on the Cardinals' defense. Their only edge rusher is a 36-year-old guy, and they have nobody behind him. Calais Campbell can get to the quarterback, but he's not coming off the edge. They have no outside linebackers behind Abraham.

It's interesting that in a year where we thought maybe the 49ers take a step back in the NFC West because there's no easy team in that division. But then bang, the Rams lose Sam Bradford. Today we find out that Chris Long is gone for a while. that in a bit. And then you got the Cardinals who might have had one of the toughest off seasons around in terms of what was a very solid, interesting defense being stripped away of its talent. It's hard to look at the Niners and not say they're going to be able to take care of business against these teams, at least at home. I was impressed by Arizona's defense against the

charge, especially Larry Foote who was going off in that game. But how many pieces can you take away before the team's, the defense really becomes a mediocre or worse unit? And I think we should point out that they are a team who last year played way better at home, especially on defense than they did on the road. So it shouldn't surprise us that they played better than expected in the opener when they were playing at home. That's a sneaky stadium to have to win in. It is.

It really is underrated for that. And it's also, you know, every offseason we can look at the additions and subtractions off a roster and then whistle this team down the river. You're gone. But they surprise us sometimes. That's how the Cardinals looked in week one. If they can keep it up, losing Abraham, that would be surprising. And on the other side of the ball from that charge is,

game we learned on Wednesday that Chargers Center, Nick Hardwick, who has been the center for Phil Brover since he came into the NFL. He's really been a steady player for them. He is out for the year, suffered a neck injury. It seems like it was a neck injury that he had some issues with Stingers last season. He hurt the neck in week three of the preseason. He went out with an ankle injury on Monday night, but apparently the neck also was an issue from the game. And they announced today that suddenly he's out of the picture for the year. That's a big loss for the airline. Yeah, let's be honest. It's hard for us to say what they need to degree of accuracy, how losing the center will affect them. They have a capable backup in

Rich Orenberger, who has been around for a while. But I don't think this is like a death knell for their offense. Well, I remember when I went to the Chargers Cowboys game and we talked with Antonio Gates after, and it's like, what is this whole Philip Rivers revival? What was it to you? He goes, he's never changed. It's been the line. They finally found guys to protect them. Now, whether or not we buy into that as the sole explanation, he was one of their most consistent guys on that line. And you're right, but changing a center in quick time is rough because you've got to do a lot to get that other guy prepared.

And Mark, you mentioned it early, another NFC West team losing a big player. Chris Long, the defensive lineman for the St. Louis Rams is going to miss at least a, quote, few games, and it could be months after he undergoes ankle surgery. This is another big loss for a Rams team that doesn't have too many more hits it could take. if it's already over for them, you know, this almost doesn't make a difference, but still, that's a bad loss. Yeah, if there's a silver lining, it's that their defensive line is probably deeper than anybody's in the NFL. They can plug some guys in there and be fine, but the defensive line isn't the problem with this team. I think we'll see more from that Ethan Westerbrook's character,

the undrafted guy who look good. We did an injury roundup today, and it reads like an unwieldy first draft Russian novel. For a Wednesday, a lot's happened on the injury front. Wes, I know you're off today. You came in to do the podcast, which really speaks to you as a man, what you're all about. Or maybe you are very bored. Which one is it?

I think it's both. Well, I know you were not on board with Earl Thomas as the punt returner for the Seahawks, of course the Star Safety, being given those additional duties struggle a little bit in the season opener. And now Pete Carroll announced Wednesday that Earl Thomas will not be returning punts anymore.

Brian Waters will take over that job effective this week. So the experiment with Earl Thomas as a punt returner lasts exactly four quarters. Never made any sense to me. I get that Pete Carroll adheres to the competition mantra more than any coach in the NFL. That's why they have so many undrafted free agents who make the team and so many late-round draft picks who have big rules. And Earl Thomas earned that job. But it never made sense from an injury prevention standpoint. And from a standpoint that Earl Thomas has.

no experience doing this job, and he made mistakes in the opener. He didn't know when to call a fair catch. I talked to two people inside the Seahawks organization this afternoon, and why are you laughing? Sometimes you just know something's a lie. Well, this is accurate. I just got a text about this on the way up to the minute. You know, that'll be fine from you, too. I'm about to drop some information out of the Seattle area.

John Schneider was, well, he was in his vehicle, and, you know, long drive through the Seattle Forest land. What are you in a vehicle? In his vehicle. I'm not going to give you wrong facts. I don't know what kind of car he has or trucks. So he was in his vehicle through the Seattle Forestlands listening to an episode of the podcast when Chris ripped the concept of Earl Thomas being a punt returner,

went back to the facility and said, we have got... It's just a celebration of Sessler. Gotcha. The sound effects are relentless. Went back to this facility and said, listen, Pete, I understand. what you're all about, but we've got to reverse course here. Take him out of the punitive. What just happened to the last two minutes of my life?

I instituted a material change in Seattle. Yeah, we're not allowed to, on the site, we can't write it that way. But for the listeners, who I think are more of our real audience. Are you now an NFL media insider? I guess I just crossed that threshold. Finally, finally, this was something I just wanted to run by you guys because I found it amusing. Larry Fitzgerald on Monday night was only targeted four times.

And the first one didn't come until the second half. He finished with one catch for 22 yards. Larry Fitzgerald doesn't say anything about this because, you know, he's an ambassador of the game. He's all class. It's all class. But Larry Fitzgerald's father, not quite the same character, it seems, as his son. Oh, he is a character.

Yeah, he came out and he tweeted that comments along the lines of, well, read the comments because they're so trenchant. Being a receiver, you can work hard run all game, and you're dependent on the. the coach calling your number and the quarterback getting you the ball. The world saw on Monday Night Football, the politics and business of football, if it's been decided that you are not getting the ball, just win. So obviously with Larry Fitzgerald Jr.'s financial situation hanging in the balance for next year,

senior thinks that his son's being frozen out for money reasons. It's an interesting theory. It doesn't seem that completely outrageous to me in terms of up. Well, listen. I heard someone make this. guess before the season that Larry Fitzgerald, he didn't use Frozen Out, but Ross Tucker, Ross Tucker on the Ross Tucker Football podcast said, I would not draft Larry Fitzgerald in fantasy football because they have these younger receivers.

Fitzgerald has a $24 million cap finger next year, and they're probably going to start veering the offense away from Larry Fitzgerald. Well, it makes sense from a strategic standpoint that that's what they're going to do, but I don't buy into it that Bruce Ariens met with management. They're like, hey, don't let Carson Palmer throw it to Larry Fitzgerald as much. We need to save money. That's not credible in any way. It didn't go down that way, but they don't need...

It's not like they're taking out a key part of their offense that they can't survive without. Honestly, it's not that way anymore because they have so many other wide receivers. We saw it. Well, here's an example of how it could happen. Early in the game, there was a key third down, and the Cardinals were in a three wide receiver set. Later Fitzgerald was not one of those three wide receivers. And that's never happened before in Arizona. And it should be noted that Bruce Ariens was, of course, or,

Well, it's a little conspiracy. I mean, we do sound a little nutty potentially to think that they've met over this. No, I don't believe that. And I don't think that's what we're saying. It's just that I think that in general, the offense is veering away from Fitzgerald. You love conspiracies, though, Mark. You once started to write a JFK assassination book. Not a conspiracy.

Wait, you believe in it, right? In what? There was a conspiracy in Dallas in 63. I believe that the facts that were given to the American public back then, 50 years ago, whatever, there is more to it than that. I don't think I'm alone. The vast majority of the American public. I agree with you. Yeah.

I think it would be silly not to think that. Yeah. Why would the government start telling us the truth now or then? Hot take. Hot government take. Yes, we can. Since when are we always given the truth by the government? That's a really fair point.

I don't know. We have veered into a completely different type of podcast at this point. Oswald acted alone. It should be stated that Larry Fitzgerald himself shot down what his father said and you know shot down what his father said and called the comments inflammatory so you know there was probably a not a pleasant phone call between the two in fact kevin patcher our beloved around the NFL writer wrote in a post this morning that it was the equivalent of the soccer dad embarrassing his son at the game oh i've got a better analogy oh do it michael vick and marcus vick uh yeah that's another great one uh So that's the situation. Bruce Ariens was ticked off, I think, was asked about this on Tuesday and basically said, you know what?

We have options now. The days of the ball being forced in Larry Fitzgerald's direction are over, which makes sense. You got Andre Ellington, you have John Brown, you have Michael Floyd, who's a star in the making right now. It's a different time moving forward. That's what's happening, guys. TD, I was that for news.

That was good. It sounded like you're a little moving forward. It's kind of like when you listen to people. Pandora or Stitcher, actually. Do you listen to the podcast or Stitcher? Always because that's, we are Stitcher Award winners. Yeah. So if you pause an episode and go back to an episode,

then you hit play, has this robotic voice that goes, resume an episode. You just sounded like that. Resuming route. Well, by the way, I'm just curious because the Stitchers are coming up again. Yes. Do we need to formally nominate ourselves or is that something? Is that the TV producer work?

Yes, we get the, we get the note. Once nomination starts, we have to apply. for nomination. People have to vote for us. Like, hey, go vote for around the NFL. Because we're reapplying for the job of the biggest podcast in the world. Yes, of course. All right, gentlemen.

So it's time. We move forward. Play the game. America loves it. I don't know if America loves it. Our listeners seem to like it. It's my favorite game show that we have. Now that Greg has my toaster.

Yes. Now that Greg has your toaster, you still have, go get my lunch as the big game where we trade theories or predictions about. the season coming up. Our last time we played it was in April and we did predictions about the draft and the off season. Now we're going to do some predictions about the season. We're going to take turns

going around the horn, laying it out there, and then each of us, the other two people in the room will get the opportunity to take you up on that proposition, disagree with you. And if whoever comes out on the winning end, gets a high octane sandwich. Or in Mark's case,

a piece of bread with lettuce and cheese. accurate. A grilled cheese. A fancy grilled cheese. You are a factory of sandwich. You know what? I'm coming for you after this show.

I love the TD Sizzler heat today. It's like Sizzler has taken ranks place. All right. So I'm going to start it off, guys, because I'm so excited about the first one that I can't wait any longer. I really do wish Greg were here right now because he loves this game so much as well. What we'll end up doing maybe for our next show, on Friday, we will talk to Greg, let him throw a few out there as well.

I like that idea. Yeah, we got to get the boss involved. Yeah, so we'll give Greg his opportunity as well. But for now, we'll throw it out there in TD, behind the glass. If you have anything, if you want to get into. If you want to hand us sandwiches, by all means. Here's your only warning and heat it. The previous producer, the Gold Standard, tried to wade into these waters.

He ended up down to sandwiches and then fled to England. so we never absconded with our sandwiches. He was in the voyage for two months. He is back, though, if you want to track them down. Okay, I will. So if you happen to lose sandwiches, there's no family trip to Nigeria that lasts for, you know, six years or something. So you would have to pay up. It's a lot of trouble that go to get away from giving us sandwiches.

He moved to Nigeria because he owed his four sandwiches. That would be stupid. I understand that mindset. Okay, here we go. I'll start it out. Here we go, Phil's. Andy Dalton. I just want to get Dalton the mix.

I know how much you guys hate Andy Dalton? I'm already taking you up on this. So I'm taking advantage this. Andy Dalton will finish with a higher pass rating than Phil Rivers. Oh, I'm all over this one. Yep. I'll take it. I didn't even need to run this by West.

Andy Dalton was always necessary. Mark, you seem to be maybe you don't have the vendetta that Chris Wesley does. I have no vendetta. I'm telling you, I hate to go all Greg Cosell on you. I'm telling you what the. film shows. That does sound bad. I did not want to come in here and drop a ton of bets, but I'm going to have...

There are no bets here. Propositions. All right. Propositions. I'm going to have to take you up on this. It's just too juicy. Yes. Now, we do have a listener that keeps track of all these at home, right?

Yes. We do. He's been wonderful. And he has been wonderful. He or she, I assume. He should reveal himself or herself so we can give he or she the credit. I know. Well, have they?

Maybe they have. we just did not do our due diligence before the show. That's distinctly possible. Their name could be right on their Twitter feed for all we know. Anyway, someone has been tracking this. It's called to Go Get My Lunch Twitter. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah, so check that out because that has all the previous propositions.

So that's the first, and I'm excited already because I got two high-octane sandwiches. I like that one. That was a good one. By the way, Mark, when you buy me the sandwich, I'm going to make sure it's meat lovers, and you have to order it and look at it, get stacked on to the bread. He did say it was too juicy to pass up. It's going to have a little bit of softball residue in it. I'm going to make that one myself.

All right. Mark, your turn. All right. Here we go right now. Jimmy Garapolo will start one or more games for the Patriots this season. I'm a sporting man, so I will take you up on that. Leave it. I don't know what that means, but leave it to Sessler to do one that is just about someone going down with an injury. Because obviously Tom Brady is not going to get.

It doesn't have to be that. Maybe they're up by. six games in the AFC East with seven to go and they say let's put the youngster in there. Not from what I saw after week one. Well, maybe they've won the division in week 16 and they sit in week 17. That's quite possible. You said one or more games, correct?

One or more. Okay. I don't take any of any propositions that involve hoping or waiting for someone to get injured. I'm not in your business, Sessler. That's not what this scenario is. It's bad voodoo. I think that the bet scares you and so you're using linguistics to escape it.

You could just saddle up and take the bet. I'm just a little disappointed that you went down this route. You took the, you took the proposition, Wes. Right. Right. Let's just, for the time being, a little bookkeeping, you keep track of your own sandwich situation. I don't have a pen. Oh, Chris. Here we go. Hang on. Picking one up. There it is. Thrown across the room. All right. I've worked with Mark for almost five years, and he's never had a pen in an important situation. Well, I'm in an office where there's always little buckets of pens. Why do I need my own? He's not McGuiver. All right, Wes, let's raise the bar with yours.

All right. This is going to be a field situation. Ooh, I love field situations. I am taking Brandon Cooks for Offensive Rookie of the Year. You all get the field, which includes Kevin Benjamin, Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans. Who, Sammy Watkins with E.J. Manuel throwing to him? Wow, Wes. I'm trying to reel you in.

That's E.J. Manuel of the one and O Bills. I know you love Brandon Cook as much as I do, so I'm trying to reel you in. I'm not touching it. Kelvin Benjamin, Bishop Sanky. You know what? The field is, it's such a great odds. It's such great odds. It is. So I will take you up on that.

You have Alan Hearns. I got Hernes. He's involved here. He's on pace for 32 touchdowns. I think I will take you on that just because the odds are so good. Even though I do believe that Brandon Cooks is the favorite, he could easily get picked off. Anything could get injured.

He's a slightly built man. Here's what you have in your back pocket, and that is, Blake Bortles hitting the scene sooner than later and succeeding it's over no white no dinky

sure you don't want to join me Cecil no I don't but I already have stated that Blake Bortals will win the offensive rookie of the year

in print so then why wouldn't you take this because I like to go you sir are a coward no no this is called this is how you actually make these things work

I can't lose all I do is we win no matter what all right my turn Jason Garrett he is the

Teflon Dallas Cowboys head coach He has orange hair He's a carrot top Gives exceedingly dull press conferences Do you know who I'm talking about? Yes, not familiar with him He will survive the 2014 season Anyone disagree?

I can't take you up on that one Because I believe that he has incriminating photos of the owner I am going to take you up on that Oh, I like that Because it is my belief that Hugh Jackson will be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Book it.

He has experience working with troubled owners, and he's going to pull that trick in Dallas next season. All right. So Mark on the hook for two meat lover sandwiches now. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate that. I haven't lost one yet. All right. Your turn, Mark.

All right. The LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers will win more games in their first seven appearances on the basketball court than the Browns will win all season. season. Oh, this is a good one. I love this one. Because you have to figure that the Cavs are going to be an Eastern Conference, a serious contender, and they could go 7-0, but they could also maybe take a little

wild gel, so they could be four and three, but they'll probably be five and two or six in one, so that's five or six wins. I picked the Browns to be a six-win outfit this season, so I will abstain because it's too close to what I was thinking. that's what I'm thinking Chris I am looking up to Cavalier's schedule right now

ooh that's smart too I think we gotta get TD involved in this Knicks Bulls Blazers Jazz Nuggets Let's go one by one start over Knicks One and O

Yeah Bulls home and one Home or away At Bulls okay one and one At Trailblazers They're gonna

split with those games They're two and one At jazz Three and one At Nuggets They're gonna stumble there That's three straight road games.

Yeah, they're three and two. Three and two. Versus Pelicans at Cleveland. The who? New Orleans Pelicans. It is real. I know it's absurd. They're four and two after six games.

And then at Celtics. Five and two. That's five of seven. Five wins. You're a big basketball guy. Is five and two sound fair there? That's correct. Five and two.

Okay. So five, they have more wins than the Browns is what you're saying. That's the way you phrased it? I said that we'll win more. Now that we went over the schedule, that was brilliant, Wes. Would you allow me to reverse back and take the sandwich proposition? So you're saying that the Browns will have four wins, tops? Or fewer.

They can't. Oh, they can't. Oh, excuse me, I was looking at the wrong way. Yeah, it's four wins or more. Because I think they'll win six. So, yeah, no, I'm out. I'm out. I'm out.

Browns won four last year, and you called them the worst offense in football, and you see no tangible improvements here. you came out of a 24-point unanswered flurry by Cleveland saying that Pittsburgh is more exciting. I will not take this because I think they will win five games. I think that last year they lost about 10 in a row. They just went into a funk. And I could see maybe later in the year instead of going into a funk,

Johnny Football comes and revitalizes them for a game or two. You want to take this bet, TD? Proposition. Well, first off. Yeah. Sorry, wrong one. I'll do it right Well first off

This is true But I'm not going to take this bet I do believe Johnny football is going to show up At some point in the season And we'll off with two or three wins Was that the Peyton Manning slow jam? Yeah The Manning brothers in their little fantasy

Let's stop giving them so much credit On their little commercial things You know it's so funny too About those commercials And I thought this most recent one was funny I will say this. If Eli Manning continues to be terrible at football, you can't do commercials anymore

because it just becomes at a certain point you're talking about a first ballot Hall of Fame lock according to conventional wisdom. Eli Manning can be doing commercials as early as next autumn. Wow. Is that a Sessler that Eli Manning is going to be released and be out of football? Going to be out of New York.

Why don't you make this a proposition? Eli Manning will be wearing a different uniform in 2015. This is too much of a lock. All right. Who's turn? Uh, mine. I'll take another field. Okay, Mike Wallace leads all AFC East receivers in receiving yards this year. All right. Let's, Mark, let's talk this out. Who are the top AFC receivers?

I almost don't need to know because I think what he's predicating that on is that in the Bill Laser Eagles offense that took Deshaun Jackson and blew up his career totals, you're seeing something similar happening. He already looks good in week one. I'm not taking that bet. I like what I like where your mind's at. Did you say wide receivers or do you say... In the AFC East. Receiving yards or wide receivers? Receiving yards. So you've got Gronk. Yeah.

You've got Decker, Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Mike Williams. Julian Edelman. You can't take anything in Buffalo seriously. That's out. I'm sorry. I'm not taking the Dolphins often seriously yet. Not yet. So, uh, that is a shot across Mark Bow.

The laser, Mark. I apologize. Don't have to apologize to me. You're going to have your sandwich. Here's what it comes down to me, to me. Will Gronk have more yards receiving than Mike Wallace? What about Edelman? Decker.

Edelman will be like, he might, if he could have like a hundred for catches for 11. Edelman will have more receptions, but for yardage? Mike Wallace is a different type of receiver. But you're giving me the whole field. Right. When I worked this question through, my only question was Eric Decker. I loved what I saw of the Jets' offense. They didn't score as many points as they should have, but they made.

move the ball up and down the field. You're also trying to slowly lure Dan in. Of course I am. I am taking this as well. Once again, going with the odds and saying that give me any other player. And I think that Rob Gruncowski, although he didn't look 100%, once he gets cooking. Slow moving man. Yeah.

Once he gets cooking and he's back. If he stays healthy, he's going to have 13 to 1500 yards potentially. Wow, that would be a career high. Listen, don't count him out. Listen, you love Tom Brady more than anyone. I do. I love grunt more than anyone, too, but he's not healthy. All right. So, yes, I'm in. Are you marking yours down, Wes? I know. Mark did not take that one. Mark didn't take either of him and you took both. Okay, good. You're very smart, man. Next up, we brought up Gino Smith, so I'll throw this out there.

There's a lot of controversy in the summer about Michael Vic or Gino Smith. I won two high-octane sandwiches off you, gentlemen, because you didn't believe in Gino's starting week one. and now I'm going to tell you this because, Wes, I agree, watching week one, I'm all in, I think that Gino is moving in the right direction as a quarterback. I think barring injury, he's starting 16 games, so I'll say Michael Vick does not get a start this season unless Gino Smith gets hurt. So barring injury, Michael Vick does not start a game for the Jets. I can't dispute that. I liked what I saw out of him too much.

I feel like Jets fans are even being a little hard on him for his bad decision-making. which, to me, is a learning opportunity. He's a young quarterback, scrambling or, you know, fumbling. Those things aren't that big of a deal to me. But he looked phenomenal. Chris Johnson looked great. Chris Ivory looked great. Eric Decker looks good.

This offense is humming. I can't believe Wes is. I feel like I'm in heaven right now. This is how I picture heaven. Just hanging out with Wes and Sessler. Wes Validating my team. Are there midgets on unicycles with pictures of beer? Of course, obviously.

Mark. I think your premise is correct. I'm not going to take a bet on that. Wow. I'm surprised. Well, I think they'd come this far. And I think this whole Michael Vic on WFAN with Mike Francesa is going to melt into the hemisphere. That has no value.

It doesn't. You're not going to get anything out of him on that. You only get anything out of Mike Francesa is the big New York radio guy and Vic is doing a weekly spot. That only becomes relevant if Gino Smith struggles. If he doesn't struggle, Vic, there's nothing Vic could say that could cause an issue. I'm not taking it. I like where you're going. All right, your turn.

Mine actually springboards off that. My last sandwich bet, excuse me, wager. Are you just going to X all those out? No, just, you know. Proposition. Just keep going on. These are all being sent to the league office, these references you're making.

The Jets will finish with a winning record. Not 8 and 8, a winning record. I'm not ready to say that. I think there'll be 8 or 9, and it's too soon for me to. really get excited. Eight or nine. So are you taking him up on this?

No, I can't because I really... You don't want to bring that bad voodoo on your stuff. I said eight and eight before the season and I don't... Or I said seven and nine, I believe, before the season. And I'm not... I saw enough bad things on Sunday with the Jets that I could see how things could turn, even though the offense did look very good.

I'm not ready to go down that road, so I will not take it. Then you're agreeing that they have a losing record. Because I'm saying they'll have a winning record. They could have a losing record, yeah. Okay. That's a very tough schedule. Four weeks from now, they could be one in four. It's possible.

I like this team. I think they're good. So I cannot dispute what you're saying here. A lot of hope. So you think that would 8 plus? I like, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't have the ability to see the future like Mark, but I like what I've seen from this team.

Wait, so do they have to win 9 for a winning record? Okay. Could be 8.7 and 1. Sports works. Eight and eight is not a winning record Nine and seven Dan would be a winning record You should understand that I don't listen to you very closely I am learning that rapidly

Dean Milner could be back this week And I think I'm one of the few people who believes He is going to have a good year But will he be ready for Aaron Rogers We're going to get to all our picks by the way In our next show our week two picks The Jets are traveling to Lambo to face an angry Packers team I'm not dealing too good about that

Chris Wessling I got one Oh, TD? Oh, yeah. Still, all right, so coming off the big Monday night performance, my main man, Calvin Johnson, who, by the way, is my favorite player, you saw LeBron going off on Twitter, Kevin Durant going off on Twitter, how amazing this guy is?

I say Calvin Johnson, who's Korea high and is 16 for most touchdown receptions in one season, is going to be the all-time leader, going to beat out Randy Moss's 2007 year, where he had 23 and get about 24-25. I'm all over this one. Yeah, I am as well. It comes from a place, again, a fandom, but also the fact that I do believe Calvin is probably the best talent in our generation

and he's going to have that one season where he absolutely just punctuates it and I think that this is this season. I'll take you up to you. I'd like to be attached to this even on a losing angle if you predict this correctly in early September. Wes, I mean, Tita, you've made the classic error of letting your heart get in the way of your proposition.

Of letting celebrity's Twitter accounts get in the way of your front. Not that. It just goes back to the point of, again, this guy is a phenom. He's a freak, and I feel like he has, he's going to have that one season where it's like, how much of this? Historical. How much of this goes back to the fact that his nickname is Megatron and you love comic book. It goes back to the fact that his nickname is Megatron, but that's beyond the point. Also, nothing puts a bounce in TD's step like celebrity tweets.

When you get this right and the room is trashy you. That is not true at all. Yeah, it is so not true. You started this off with LeBron and. Durant, tweeting about it. I don't follow a lot of athletes on Twitter. They have nothing to say typically. I get that off news and pro football off articles and all that jazz.

So he has to break the record. He has to break the record. And what is the record? 203. I mean, that's hard, man. With Golden Tate and, you know, Eric Ebron, all the options they have, teams can't lock on on Calvin like they did before.

I agree. You saw a giant try to see a couple of. I agree. But there's a flip side to that TD. That means that Golden Tate, Eric Ebron, Brandon Pedigrew are all stealing Tee. TD opportunities from Calvin Johnson. I think what they do is they still coverage.

And Joseph Forrier, a TD specialist. I think they still coverage, but Calvin should get those touchdowns. All right. Well, welcome to the game. All right. I like this. This is, this is, it's almost like that Brady Bunch episode where they had the cursed medallion on the Hawaii trip.

Oh, I like that. Two part episode. The producer chair, the guy wears the medallion when he makes his propositions. That's all I'm saying. Be careful. All right. I believe the first episode ends with one of the Brady brothers, brothers going underneath the undertow on a surfboard,

that would be, that would be Wes's role, I believe. I've been caught in an undertow before. It was the scariest moment of my life. That got way too serious all of a sudden. All right, who's up? I am. Okay. I've got another field bet.

By the way, we're running out of time. How about this? Wes, you'll do one, and then we'll go around one more time, and then we're out. Okay. I've got another field proposition. Yep. The St. Louis Rams. finish either with the worst record in the NFL or tied for the worst record in the NFL.

Good one. I couldn't be more down on this Rams team. That's kind of why I'm doing it. I figured you guys might be as down on them as I am watching in that mausoleum they're playing. Yeah, I totally think it's very possible to the worst team in football. Yeah, as do I. I'm not going to take that bad. You get 31 teams.

I know, but I, you know. Greg would take this. He would, and maybe we'll give them the opportunity. Okay. All right, I'll throw one out there. Ooh, I want to pick a good one. Last one for everybody, so pick a good one. Here we go.

A lot of pressure. All right, this one's a little wacky, but just for fun. J.J. Watt, who I'm deeply in love with as a football player, and even more so after week one, we'll have more sacks this season than DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller combined. Oh, that's great. that is a great question you just told me not to let my heart they take this i'll take you up on that all right all right listen you have a point there dan just doesn't want anyone else to use their hearts

there's j j j wott doesn't miss games von miller's coming off an acl injury and demarkas wear has missed a lot of time the last couple of years that's a factor that's a that's a that's a factor this is so hard Mm-hmm. And TD, I will say that, yes, from my heart a little bit, not at the same level as your love of Megatron, but I also have to factor in that JJ Watt, well, maybe it's really apt because J.J. Watt is basically the Megatron of defensive linemen.

I've got a side prop with a shadowy league figure on Von Miller's sex this year. So I've got too many oars in the water here. Does that mean you're scared off? I mean, this is pretty, this is tasty for you guys to pick it up. This is two, all pros. All right, I'll take you up on that. All right, yeah.

I will abstain. You can let the boss go down that road. All right, that's fair enough. That was a good question. Thank you. I am torn. I'm not even happy with my choice. You're in Brulia.

That's for our Australian. Natalie in Brulia? Yeah, that's for our Australian listeners. That song was not originally by her. Right. I actually remember that. Okay. Mark?

We have played one game of this season. and my bet is that Peyton Manning has 16 more NFL games and then he is done. I will take that. I'll take it. Okay. Yeah, I mean, what's your basis? He will retire after they lose their first playoff game.

Wow. So even if, wait a second, because you made this harder on yourself than you had to. Because if they, let's say they go, they win two playoff games, or win a playoff game and then lose one. They're not going to win two playoffs games. Wes and I would still win the proposition.

All that matters for these purposes is if he doesn't play next year. Yeah, he could, if they make it to the AFC championship game and lose and then he retires, we still win. No. No, I think all that were, the proposition is only that he doesn't play next year, right? No, that he only plays 16 more games. They will lose their first playoff game. This is money in the bank. Oh, okay.

It's not money in the bank. because it is correct sandwiches in the belly all right I'm all over that and those are going to be finger sandwiches if you win that

but is that an allusion to your financial situation well just might be you are a factory of sanding you know

this show cannot end fast enough and I have a sharply worded letter to hand to you my friends finally a sharply

worded letter TD You better watch out, man. There's an 8-to-1 ratio of antagonistic sound bites in my direction today. Finally, Chris Wesley. I have to make one up on the fly here. Let's do another Peyton Manning one. Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford each finish with more passing yards than Peyton Manning this year.

You know, it's funny you did that because I was thinking about a Matt Ryan yardage-related proposition. Well, he's already off to a... That just feels sensible. I'm not taking that one. Hmm. It feels sensible. Well, Peyton Manning just broke the record. Yeah.

That's why it's not going to happen again. TD, what do you think? Too sensible. Yeah, I'm big on Matt Ryan this year. I think this is the year he jumps into officially the top seven, top six in the game. Well, do you think he'll jump into, like, the top 15 of Damashx list? I hope so. I think Peyton Manning will throw for about 43 to 4,500 yards this year.

Oh, you're selling him short. and I think that leaves him wide open to get picked off by... The Brown's quarterback's threw for 4,300 yards last year. Don't underestimate that crew. I think he'll... I think Manning will fall about 8 to 9 yards short of both of them. I'm with you. Eight to nine.

I think I agree. Can't take it. And then he'll say I've had enough. There's nothing more I can do with my career. We just lost a wild card game to the Pittsburgh Steelers. I've got to call quits. I failed to real mark in on a single proposition. All right, let's go over.

Let's just for business purposes now. bookkeeping purposes. I'll start. Andy Dalton will finish with a higher passer rating than Phil Rivers. Wes and Mark, both on the hook there.

Jason Garrett will survive the season. Mark disagrees. Got another sandwich there. Nobody took my Gino Smith will start 16 games proposition, but I did get Wes on J.J. Watt will have more sacks than

DeMargis and Von Miller combined. Mark. What do you ask? Remember when I repeatedly during the podcast, for everyone to track their propositions? I wasn't paying attention during that part. He hasn't pan in a piece of paper.

You're asking for... That was deserved. Too sharply worded letters coming to you, buddy. Okay. I did the LeBron Cavs' Brown scenario. Everyone was to mystify it. No one agreed. I thought Dan took that.

No, no, I didn't. No, it was too much for you guys to handle. I went Jets winning record. No one took that. No one said they'd have a losing record. Right. A lot of ridiculous excitement about the Jets in this room. And I said,

Jimmy Garapolo will start one or more games. Dan wanted no part of that. Wes took it. What about your last one? My Peyton Manning one, everyone signed up. And everybody's in on Peyton Manning. That absurd prediction.

With so many loopholes for victory, it's almost... The government's almost looking into it. He left both flanks open on that one. That was potentially very poorly done, but I feel strongly that he will get axed in a playoff game, not unlike, you know, when we saw Marino go down in flames? 62 to 7, yeah. It's got to be a game that's so embarrassing.

Yeah. Right? That says so much about what's happened. That Manning says, I'm done. I'm off into the sunset. T.J. Ward, you quarterback this team. I thought you only get to go into the sunset when you end your season with a victory. It'll be an apocalyptic sunset. What's happening? Finally, Wes.

Brandon Cooks will win Offensive Rookie of the Year Mark agreed with me As I suspected he might You Dan disagreed And got the field Which thank God that you'll be Banking on E.J. Manuel for this one

Let's see What else? I had the Rams finish At the worst record or tied for the worst record Nobody took that Nobody took the other 31 teams We believe you Sorry Rams fans We hate your team.

It's a bad situation. Mike Wallace. Really good preparation on this end. I don't have a pen and paper. Mike Wallace, AFC East. Mark agreed with me. Dan took me up on that. I took the field again.

I like Ronk. 1,2008 yards. My last one was Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford finished with more yards than Peyton Manning. And I believe you both chickened out on that one. Yeah, I chickened out on that one. I'll admit that. I viewed as a correct prediction by Wesleyan.

And finally, we had TD. Yes, I took you up on JJ Watt. Yes. Yes, I did. And then on Mike Calvin Johnson, we'll have the most in history, the most touchdowns in the season in history. Cessler took me up on that, correct? Only Cessler?

No, we all took you up on. Yeah, we all do. We don't think it's happening. I was the only one that didn't massacre you on this broadcast for coming up with it. Take shots. That was free lunch, TD. I got one last quick one, really quick.

Oh, I love this. All right. Another team A team in the AFC East Not named the New England Patriots Who will make the playoffs this season Oh, I like that I mean, that's probably going to happen

I think the Dolphins could I think the Jets could I say will The Dolphins or Jets could I won't take it Because I'm rooting too hard for my Jets I will not Take that

Dan's like the guy who has to announce The Monday Night game so he can't bet on this one But he's just not announcing the Monday night game I'm not saying that dolphins or Jets will make the playoffs, but I think they're both strong enough to make that a very believable circumstance. Yeah, that's too, yeah. That's good. No one's touching it. No one's touching it, but that was good. That was sort of a soft landing to our game there. That was stinky bait.

That's Tybee Island talk right there. All right, that's it for Wednesday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We'll have one more show this week. Well, we're we're going to preview all the week two games and go over the Thursday night affair. Greg Rosenthal will be back with us. We'll give him some sandwich opportunities. So thank you for listening. We will see you later. This is Dan Hensis, signing off for The Sizzler, the Mailman, and T.D.

Behind the Glass. Until then. We gone. Thank you.