NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Around the League: August 9, 2013

Episode Date: August 9, 2013

Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling break down the NFL preseason Week 1 action and discuss the nuances around the league, including San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s beard. Also, find out which intro music received the most votes via Twitter this week. Tweet the podcast at @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to another edition of the Around the League. podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We are missing our friend, Dan Hansis, in action, but we soldier on today. Mark Sessler and Chris Wessling are here with me. We had a night of preseason games. What's up, boys? It's good to be back. Are we excited about the preseason? No. Oh, come on. No, I am. Honestly, I got to say it was a rush for me. Like, you're waiting for that on that preseason

live app. You've got four screens spinning saying like the game is about to start. I got some butterflies. We haven't seen this in months. Wesleying. Within minutes of the Broncos and 49ers playing, we see Peyton Manning lining up in the pistol formation. That does not get your NFL juices flowing at all. Well, you know, I do like that kind of thing. The scheme changes, seeing how creative teams are going to be. That's fun. My balloon was a little deflated when not minutes into the Bucks Ravens game. We have to wait for the ref to go under the hood for a replay? It just seems extraneous in a preseason game. We should kill instant replay in the

preseason. I think everyone would be on board with that. Well, Wes tweeted that and I almost retweeted it because I found it funny and then I got distracted and I went back and looked later and people had, they had hammered you a little bit saying, you know, the refs need a preseason two, they need to get their vibe together. I mean, I guess I see that point of view. It's preposterous. why the refs just jumped right into the season last year at what week four they did it was i don't remember them needing hood practice well the broncos you know broke out that formation and for football dorks like us who are all over the preseason that was like nirvana seeing peyton manning back there i think it was a surprise you got the running back behind him

he's only out there for one drive but it gives us something to talk about are we already making too big of a deal about Peyton manning pistol formation and in this change. I don't think so because I think we're going to see more teams that don't have the running type quarterback give this a shot. And, you know, we had talked about this a little bit earlier today that Chris Alt even came on NFL Network in January and preached that, listen, you don't need the read option angle to make pistol effective because when you're lining that back up four yards behind the quarterback, defenses can't see that running back's first step. And he talked about Nevada used it for two years without the read

option and they had a lot of success with it. And he even mentioned Eli Manning, not Peyton by name, as a guy that would make sense and would improve the running game of basically any NFL team that incorporated it. Well, on the other hand, that's kind of why we are making a big deal out of it. It is too big of a deal because it's not about the quarterback then. Peyton Manning's running the pistol, but this is purely about helping the running game. And it can help the passing game, too, though. It can simplify things.

It can make it so that their play action game. You know, they have a great zone running scheme. When people forget the Alex Gibb back in Denver, that could be a big story this year. And look, I think the entire NFL sees the flexibility that formation gives you. It doesn't mean it's going to be their whole offense. But the Broncos, you know, they give defenses enough to worry about. And now you throw this into the mix. You got Wes Welker there.

You got Julius Thomas, who I know Wesseling's very excited about. I am. I feel like he's that wild card now. He's a lot more athletic than Joel Driesen. It gives them another mismatch type of guy, potentially. He took first team reps all offseason, and now he's starting while Driesen is out. I guess I'm interested to see whether he keeps the starting job.

And had a nice game. How great an offense would that be to be a tight end? I mean, you're going to be open. Right. Single coverage, you're going to be open. You know, Demerius Thomas, Welker, Decker, all taking defensive attention away. And Julius Thomas is one of these new types who was 6-5-250,

played four years of college basketball. He's athletic as can be. Missed two years because he was injured, but the Broncos have liked him since they drafted him three years ago. His emergence really one of the more underrated storylines, I think, of camp. They have a lot of numbers. I mean, because at running back, they're still sorting it out. Ronnie Hillman's still the starter.

Monti ball. You know, there wasn't really any separation there last night, but that's a good tight end group. People forget that they were pretty productive, and you throw Thomas in the mix, who's the most athletic. and they're going to be tough to stop. You know, they were playing the 49ers last night. Did you have any impressions watching the 49ers, Mark Sessler?

Well, I mean, you know, initially what I thought was interesting was the team does lack any sort of presence downfield in the passing game. From what little we saw last night, immediately they were using Vernon Davis in the formation where he would come across. He completely tricked the defense where he was going to be. They were thrown to him short. Bolden looked like an immediate fit to me in the 49er system. Like, Kaepernick and him already really, really seemed to have chemistry,

but they really lack like that ability to strike down field from what little we saw last night. I can already hear Dan Hansis listening somewhere thinking we don't have enough mirth in this podcast. It's too football, hardcore heavy. But I totally agree with you on the 49. It's not so much, not just that they don't have a vertical threat, but they just don't have a real wide receiver. give me a wide receiver on that team that's healthy I mean outside of Bolden no they don't have a deep

they don't have a guy no is Bolden a wide receiver though no I think he's more like your inside guy he's going to do the same thing over and over he shouldn't be playing wide he's a tight end I mean he's a slot receiver so he's a wide receiver but he's basically a tight end I mean he's not going to get any separation they're hoping that AJ Jenkins steps up that hasn't happened he's had a rough camp

he lost a fumble I don't want to overreact to any result of the preseason. I don't really care what happens in the box score, but it's more about who's earning snaps, who's getting into the mix, and they're searching. I mean, they signed Austin Colley. I think Austin Colley's going to make that team.

Austin Colley might end up playing a lot for them. Yeah, if he's healthy, I mean, I thought when he played with the Colts, I thought he was more important to their offense than Pierre Garsohn was. He was that good. I am encouraged that when I got a first look at Kaepernick last night, he had grown what were the makings of a very fluffy, beard and no I mean I you know the guys the guy is maturing he's obviously growing into his role does he still look like the great gazoo I don't know he looked like a he looked like an adult to me

ready to take charge but I mean also the Niners is a team like the Patriots talk about a team that can completely go into the lab and change what they do from week to week I'm not I think you're right the preseason is not going to give us a full picture of what they're about on any level no we learned last year in the preseason how explosive Kaepernick can be sometimes a preseason can tell you a little bit about something who's some young player that's trying to make an impact now they're going to hide things he's not it's not going to be about him right i i do agree with you i the beard was troubling to me he's kind of that guy who shows up like if you just don't see him for a month he looks like a completely different person when you see him after there's just people

like that in life uh he's got that you guys are hating on the beard because i kind of have a beard well no we've got chris law behind the glass your beard is you know it's time tested and it's Gives you an elegant look. Elegant? I appreciate that. I think it's more lumberjack. Lumberjack? You're like an elegant lumberjack, though.

You're not, you are wearing a flannel, but it was a recently laundered flannel. Could Dan Hansers grow a good beer? Yeah, he's the type. I mean, we're honored to have Chris Law subbing in here producing today. Oh, thank you guys. Certainly the most well-known person, you know, in the studio right now because of the Rich Eyes and Podcast, 10 million downloads. I mean, they're on fire.

But you're the type, not to get on. you, but you're the type that pulls off the beard. I feel like people that are in the ESPN body issue, they don't need a beard. They don't need a beard. You would not be the choice for the ESPN body. What does Dan Hanses think of that? Because I think we have them on the line. Oh, no.

Uh-oh. We're getting surprised, just like we surprised them the other day. Dan, are you there? Dan, you know, it's a bunch of, you know, my ears were twitching, and I was told that there was some heat being dropped on me. So I got a call in, and I got to, you know, send my honor well you know you like to steer us sometimes into the lighter side of things and into the jets and those are two you know topics we've avoided so far no jets talk nothing too

zany and you know we're just you know wondering how disappointed you'd be somewhere listening well number one i'm deeply disappointed um you know someone's got to bring the entertainment end of the podcast but you know more importantly i was i was laying on lake lbj outside austin texas enjoying myself. Chris, I get a call from him. I figure there must be something terribly wrong, like maybe I'm his emergency contact or something.

Turns out, it was just Chris. Law doing me a solid as a good man telling me that there was some heat being dropped on me, and there was a lot of, you know, maybe some disrespect over the fact that I'm not at work right now and I'm drinking,

you know, alcoholic beverages while you guys are working. So I just want you to know that I hear all and I know all, and I have sources. I'm not sure what heat was being dropped on you. I think I'd need to go back and listen for that. I think we're just frankly

jealous. You're on Lake LBJ. You guys on Lake LBJ. Are you or are you not currently with Cedric Benson? If I was with Cedric Benson, I would not be in any condition to take the phone call. I will say, were you guys talking about Kaepernick's beard? Yes.

It's the greatest beard ever. I've not seen a beard like that since Rocky 4 when Stallone was training for the Drago fight. And the one thing I will say about that is when Drago, when Stallone grew out that beard, he actually climbed an entire mountain and then

beat a man that was not human on Christmas night on the road. So I am all in on the Kaepernick. So that bodes well for Kaepernick. Yeah. I have a critical question for Dan Hanses. But yeah, so I don't know. I was called in. I just to defend

my honor, but if it really, if I wasn't catching a lot of peace, then I apologize for coming in with guns blazing. Dan, I got a big question for you here. Is there an umbrella in your drink currently? There isn't because I'm in Texas and this is beer country. I see my wife right now on a tube on the lake asking for me to get her a beer. Do you have a shine or box? Now I kind of understand why I might deserve to get some heat right now because I'm in a pretty

good spot right now. It's August. Dan's on his ninth vacation of the year. He's got another one coming in Vegas. Football is being played and he's out there drinking Lone Star beers. We should be annoyed at you. I'm impressed, to be honest. We count off these nine vacations. I don't know. I'm the one doing the count.

Dan, thank you very much. Go back and say hi to your wife from us. I will. And, you know, guys, keep up the good work. I really enjoy your work. So that was Dan Hansis. Thank you, La, for throwing us under the bus there. See, Law, I like this.

It takes an incredible amount of initiative as a producer. That's a good point. You're filling gaps. I like that. He's driving the show. Trying to make, trying to bring up the boat that is the NFL podcast, raise all boats. Well, kind of like Dan is number four on the depth chart here at around the league.

Namdi Osmoa, number four on the San Francisco 49ers depth chart last name. How about that for a segue? I don't know why everyone is so surprised. He was a subpar guy for the last two seasons in Philly, and by name alone, are we excited about him? No, but I thought it was interesting last night that they start three guys, Tremaine Brock being one of them Terrell Brown, Carlos Rogers and Namdi Asimwa isn't one of those guys

and they just signed Eric Wright let's start doing the math Eric Wright makes the team does that mean Namdi Asma is not making the team It doesn't bode well when the defensive coordinator comes out publicly and says we still don't know what we have in Namniasma

we still don't know if he can play Wow And also I mean this is a guy that What was it a season ago That he was chronicled as eating sandwiches alone in his car during breaks. I don't know what he brings to the locker room. I just don't know.

No, I don't either. And to me, he's not really that interesting right now as a football player, but it is interesting that three years ago, Dan pointed this out last night, actually, and he was working from Texas. We give him a lot of grief. I believe he was working until, like, one in the morning, too. Dan's a very hard worker.

Namdi Ossemoa and Dorel Revis, we were talking three years ago, who was the best cornerback in the league. And if Ossemoe doesn't make this team, he might be out of the league. It's just another reminder how quickly things go in the NFL. Yeah, it was a quick swoon, kind of stunning. One veteran that's kept his career going at a very high level,

longer than we'd expect, is Stephen Jackson, the new Atlanta Falcons running back. They broke out last night, their first preseason game. He struggled a little bit. Chris Wesleyan, I know you watched that game. I don't put too much stock in the game itself because it didn't look like Stephen Jackson was even trying as hard as he normally does. I mean, we're talking about one of the big effort running backs in the NFL.

He's always in tip-top shape. He's using the preseason just as a tune-up. But my concern with him is, you know, I've been saying that he's a major upgrade on Michael Turner. The one concern, and I saw this a couple of times last night, he doesn't have lateral agility. And you see this if you watch the Rams tape, and you see Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pete, and then you watch Stephen Jackson. And Jackson kind of looks like the old cartoons where it's a Tom and John's. Jerry Chase and he's skidding around the corner with one leg up in the air,

and that's how he turns the corner in the NFL now. But that's been the case for a couple years, right? I mean, and he's still been effective. He's a guy that kind of changed styles during his career. When was the last long run Stephen Jackson had? He didn't have any last year, I don't think. No, I just, he's not going to turn the corner, and if your offensive line isn't blocking well,

they weren't last night now. They were going against Bengals who might have the best front four in the NFL, so we can't really take much from that. As an Eagles fan, week one, first play from scrimmage 40 yards up the middle for a touchdown Stephen Jackson went on us there you go wide open though I'm serious though in the open field he's not a guy for a couple years that is worrying anyone very true he is an upgrade over Turner though I mean yes and they've already talked about that

I think you're right Wes he not I'm not sure he wasn't trying but they did not put him out their full blast they've talked about using him more in the passing game Turner brought nothing to that front if you're using him as a Joker and lining him up all over the formation and he doesn't doesn't have lateral agility anymore. I don't know if that's going to turn out so well. Well, that may be the case. Stephen Jackson's a guy that I don't care how veterans do in the preseason

because they've been through what the regular season and for him the playoffs are like. And they're not really putting it out there. Football is such a game of effort, you know, that you have to be going all the way or else it almost doesn't make sense. It's really hard for me to take anything from the preseason, which leads us to your Browns, Mark Sess. Well, I have one more note on the Falcons because I caught some. some heat a couple weeks ago when I labeled them as a boring franchise, just a boring operation.

But for me, it was a mystery, like I said, why I felt that way. And it came, it hit home last night very clearly. It is the way that television broadcasts look like from that dome. I don't know if it's the color on the carpet, the way the whole thing looks. It's like a massive sleeping pill. I cannot watch Falcons games without becoming snoozy. I think that's true of all domes. They're just not as fun to watch the game. It doesn't show up on television as well. I agree. Saints, though, are a fun team to watch in general.

Falcons always have been that team for me, too, that when they're on national TV, you're like, really, four or five games for the Falcons now? But now that they got rid of Malarkey brought in Dirk Cutter, they got Julio Jones. I think that's the point. It's not the team. It's the environment.

Put them outside in a gritty situation. I'm more on to it. But, yes, on to the Browns. I mean, Mark loves his teams to be. running for three yards up the middle, in grass. Like Peyton Hillis, you know, an offense built around Peyton Hillis is really... I like the elements. It's called tradition.

And we might have a hard-nosed team in Cleveland this year. I know all the writers in Cleveland, they see them score a couple touchdowns, you know, in the preseason, and they get very excited about Brandon Whedon, and they had a nice first night. Mark Sessler is feeling the love. Well, you know, not all of us can simultaneously root for the people. Patriots and the Saints, Greg. So, you know, these guys in Cleveland that have covered that team for two decades, Tony Grossey wrote a column last night that I thought was appropriate.

He basically thought it, you know, he couldn't even explain what he saw because for the first time in a preseason game in a while, they actually put a few drives together. But we shouldn't overstate it because, you know, they're playing against a very vanilla defense. But I thought Whedon, he looked accurate. He made good decisions. Last year, what you saw and do was drop back, pat the ball repeatedly, and then often have the ball tipped or just throw it nowhere that made sense. He seemed decisive last night to me.

That was the difference I saw on Weedon's play. You seem conflicted, though. In your logic in your head, you know that it doesn't mean anything, but in your heart, like Browns fans out there, you couldn't help get a little excited. Sure. As a Browns fan, it's like I do think that honestly, if that team were to turn it on, it would be one of the better stories in the NFL.

And you see a lot of people come around to say, you know, you're right, what the team's been through. To see them flip it around and start to win would be exciting. But it's far too early. The cynical side of any Browns fan is let's emerge unscathed from something other than a four and 12 season before we even start to, you know, conjure our imagination. See, even the mild excitement, the preseason to me,

and I hate to be a buzzkill for Browns fans or anyone else out there, it means nothing. I mean, nothing that happens results-wise is going to tell me something. Maybe some players, like Dionne Lewis, the Browns, he's a nice story, he's playing well, now we're learning that he's probably going to be a part of their offense. I think he's going to be the backup to Richardson? I think he's a complimentary back, which frankly they just didn't really have last season. They see him as like their poor man, Darren Sproles, just to use in the passing game.

Right, and he made a nice touchdown catch. Ween was protected very well in that. game. I'd like to see what Whedon does when he's not protected. That's a fair point. Led the NFL and batted passes last year at six foot four. Which is inexcusable considering his stature. That's right. I thought Mingo was the other guy I'd look at and say Oh yeah. You know, listen, they've drafted a ton of guys who just, you know, week after week, they make no impact on tape. He's athletic. He made, he got, you know, passed his blocker a couple of times. First game out there, I was encouraged by that. He looked very good.

Actually, it reminded me a little of Chandler Jones in the preseason last year. I do think you can learn something from the rookies. They played the Rams. Tavon Austin wasn't really a factor here. Do we think that Brian Schottenheimer and the Rams are just kind of keeping Tavon Austin under wraps for August? I think from what we've seen in Brian Schottenheimer's history, we have to question whether he's really in the lab. Whether anything's under the wraps. Right. I mean, what we saw from the Redskins last year to your point about the preseason, meaning nothing. There was so much kind of hand-wringing about RG3s, boring preseason.

He hadn't done much. And then they take the wraps off in week one against the Saints, and by half time you realize that Shanahan's are brilliant, that they've masterminded this whole offense and shown nothing in the preseason. Yeah, I mean, I think that the Schadenheimer angle is starting to pick up some steam. We've mentioned it a few times on our site where it's what is it that Schadenheimer is going to produce if he's going to pull a Shanahan-type transformation week one. Because he is who he is.

You look where he came from not only in his roots with his father, but through his career. He's been a guy that is not a push-the-envelope type of offensive coordinator. But I think also with Austin, they weren't going to game plan to try to turn him loose last night. And that's fair, you know, that's fair on their angle. I think if anything, they'd want to do that at home or they'll wait a couple weeks to see how he reacts to defense.

Yeah, I don't think they'll show anything. with Tavon Austin in the in the preseason and this is an offense that needs a creative offensive coordinator because as much as I like Chris Givens and you have Jared Cook who's always been talented but not always productive uh you have an okay quarterback trying to get better you have a mix you know of running backs looks like darrell Richardson's going to be the starter Isaiah p had a fumble last night you know these aren't guys that have been around and you know their roles you have to figure out all of these guys' roles, I think Chris Givens got to be the number one receiver on this team. I mean, San Bradford, you know, you can knock him a little bit, but he had one of the

prettiest, you know, passes you will ever see to Chris Givens last night. And if he's protected, he can throw a big-time vertical pass. They're going to need Schottenheimer to be creative because their personnel on offense. These are all space players. Givens, Austin, both the running backs, Cook, you're going to have to scheme to get these. get these guys the ball in space. They're not going to power through people. This isn't, like, going to be a base offense. So, Chottinheimer's going to be very important this year.

The other thing is, on the Rams, the very young, I think it was football outsiders that noted that they're running back slash wide receiver groupings have less experience than any of the last four expansion teams that came into the NFL. Wow. So, yeah, it's like coaching is extremely important with that team. And Bradford, who's cycled through one coordinator after the next,

Does he have his best one right now? I think we're all concerned with that. And the Rams have a lot of potential, especially on defense. And you see this on the offense, and if they can't flip the switch, it's a shame. And I think they're a team on offense. It would not surprise me if they're one of the worst five offenses in the league. And it wouldn't surprise me if they take a huge jump. I just think they're one of those teams you don't know what you're going to get.

I think the defense is going to be very good either way. Another defense that we watched last night that's had so much turnover is the Baltimore Ravens. Chris, you watch that game a little more closely. What did you see from that defense? I think three takeaways. One, Darrell Smith was a great free agent signing. A lot of teams missed the boat on him because he's coming off an injury-prone year at age 30. This guy can play, and he could be their leading tackler.

The second, sticking at linebacker, Dumerville was a big free agent signing, got a lot of publicity. Courtney Upshaw looks like the starter there playing. on early downs, and they'll split that position. Dumerville will come in on passing downs. And then the third thing, Matt Elam isn't starting yet. The first round draft pick, James Aheadabow is the starter. And this is something where every time Harbaugh mentions the position,

he does talk about Aheadabell. He can't be written off yet. We don't know that Elam will take that starting job. That surprised me, too. We had a list yesterday of rookies to watch. And I really, from everything I had read and everything you heard about, Matt Elam, I was like, the guy's going to, he is your week one start. It may not happen tonight, but it's going to happen.

And he really was in there at the end of the game, if anything. He closed the game with like the lowest guys on the roster. I'm not sure why, but from everything you hear, they like them. So I'll be interested to see what happens in week two for them in the preseason. I mean, it's a big, big disappointment for them if Ahead of Bow is starting in week one. But your point on Dumerville is really interesting because it gets me thinking about what that team's going to look like on third down. You got Dumerville on one side. You got Suggs on another.

you can move Helodi Nada around. I mean, that's a pretty dangerous group. I think Dumerville's loss in Denver was the biggest, you know, mistake by any front office in the entire offseason. I think it'll have a big impact. You know, and don't forget they picked up Chris Canty, who looked great last night, Marcus Spears. I don't think there's any question this defense is going to be better than it was last year.

They were only, what, 18th or 19th in defense last year? Well, it comes back to Ozzie Newsom. That guy, he goes out and he finds his type of players, and they don't have to all be 22. they don't have to all be hardened veterans. He gets a good mix. And it's funny that in March, everyone who knows a lot about football was raising the red flag and freaking out about the Ravens.

And here they are. They look a lot better than they did last season on defense, in my opinion. I totally agree. One other item we're going to hit from last night that we found out was an injury to Plaxico Burris. Looks like he's going to miss the season with a torn rotator cuff. Obviously not a big impact this year. There's no guarantee he was even going to make that.

team. But it just got me thinking about Plaxico Burris a little bit and just what a interesting career that he had, kind of as Heinz Ward's, you know, partner in crime, they let him go. I think he was one of the best free agent signings of the last decade. His first three years in New York, he was such a difference maker, averaging over a thousand yards, averaging about 10 touchdowns, and his performance in that NFC championship game against Packers. To me is one of the best, can you think of a better performance by a wide receiver in a playoff game than Plaxico Burris dragging Al Harris all over the field in five-degree weather in Lambo Field? I get your point. It was a dominating performance against a cornerback who was thought to be

among the best among the best in the league. But yes, Larry Fitzgerald's whole playoff run to get the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. That's a good one. Was more dominant. I'll give you that. I think with plaques, he could have made a lot of teams better this season. He could have produced this year. I understand on the Steelers, like he wasn't looking like to be more than a fourth or fifth guy. I would argue heavily against that. I don't think he, he wasn't even on a roster until December last year because nobody wanted him. I don't think he would have, I don't think he would have made the Steelers roster, and I think he would have been sitting on the couch all year. I still like him as a red zone target. I'm not talking necessarily a thousand yard guy,

but if you don't play special teams at wide receiver and you're only in the red zone, you're a roster ornament. I'll be sad to see him go. Maybe it's more like Plaxico's a steel or he burned the Browns a hundred times, but it's like I liked him as a player. To me he was one of the more misunderstood guy, smart guy. He's going to be remembered

for shooting himself in the leg while wearing a pair of sweatspants at a New York City nightclub. I just wish people would remember more than that. So let's pour one out here for Plaxico Burris' career. Not an alcoholic beverage because we're at work. Dan can do it. Dan can take care of.

Pour your Shinerbach out, Dan. All right. Before we go, we've got our only weekly segment right now. Although we need some help, Chris Loss. All right, you tell me. After the show, you know, we need to come up with more weekly segments. But we need some sort of sound effect here to go along with our weekly segment called the Metrics Mindbender. This is a segment, you know, we talked about a few times before.

Basically, some story that we wrote that seems like it should be a stupid story. and yet America, you know, seems to just fall in love with it. We can't really understand why that is. One of our loyal listeners suggested that we should send this out every week and have the guys guess what story it was. So I'm going to give you guys, Chris. Actually, we'll give you Glock and jump in here, Mark Sessler, three options here. Which story here did the best and was the most popular this week?

All right, I'm going to start with early Doucette, cut by, The Seattle Seahawks after only four days. That's option number one. Snoose Fest. Brandon Boykin says that the Patriots bullied the Eagles at their practices. That's option number two. And then Brandon Moore decides not to join the Dallas Cowboys and stay in retirement. I am guessing that America is embracing the fact that the Patriots were bullying the Eagles.

All right. That's Wesleyan's answer. Law. I think I'm going to go, anything America's team rates well, I've got to go with the Cowboys story on this one, I think. Good strategy. That's smart. I wrote the bowling post, so I would put that as number one, just based on the way it was presented, the structure. By the way, these were all stories this week, because I had no idea.

I'm just kidding. These can't be our highest stories. Not only were they stories, but they were all extremely popular. They weren't the three highest stories of the week, but they were all up. there in the top 10. People were all about early Doucette, although he is not the answer. The 12th man, they track very well also. Their fans are crazy. So if you write

something about the 12th man. We need to start treating the Seahawks like we do the Jets. Yeah, Chris had a 10 minute long rant about NFL media's over coverage of the Jets. I'm with you, Chris. That may have been my first tantrum in the NFL Network's the office. Yeah, so we decided no Jets

talking in this show. The answer. And the winner here, Chris Law. Brandon Moore and the Cowboys, you're right. All Cowboys stories tend to do well. They do tend to do well. See, I kind of used inside knowledge there to narrow the field. But they all did really well.

That's why I chose them. And the Brandon Moore story, it was like it was Anthony Munoz almost coming out of retirement. People were hammering that thing. It stayed as our top story for a long time. That about wraps it up here for the show. We missed Dan, but I'm glad Allah you sat in. Thank you. I think we're going to get rich in here, actually, one day next week for you guys.

That would be great. I'd come in, chat a little pigskin with you. That would definitely add some class, credibility, and talent to the mix. Quality is sometimes missing from this production. Oh, please. Oh, I'm just to be honest. You guys are good. I'm looking at your numbers.

They're all coming up. I mean, you guys are new, right? This is week two and a half. Second full week, yes. It's great the way it started, too. Starting on the back end of Damashyx, kind of getting established and people to know you and then flowing it in. We are the Joni loves Chachi of podcast.

There you go. We're kind of like Beavis. How about Beavis and Butthead, spinning off from Simpsons? Am I right? No, I don't know what I'm doing here. No, you know what's a great spinoff that's going to happen? I just blew that. Season 5 of Breaking Bad is coming out, the final season, they're going to spin off Saul and do a series on the lawyer's saw.

See, that's a smart spinoff. Yeah. There have been a lot of dunderheaded spinoffs in time, but that one, there's some brains behind that. The Dwight shirt, Beat Farm one got squashed by NBC. That was going to be a spin off. We'll never know. I wanted some behind the scenes of that. Yeah. So we hope that we're more like the Saul spin-off, less like the Joey from Friends spin-off.

Yes, or the Roper's. The Ropers. And I think we got to close on the Ropers. For Mark Sessler, Chris Law stepping in and Chris Wessling. I'm Greg Rosenthal. That's it. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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