NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Around the League: NFC North - August 26th, 2013

Episode Date: August 27, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling, give you the latest news from around the league before focusing on a breakdown of the NFC North. Find out how to win a box of cereal straight from Studio 66. Join the conversation on Twitter: @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.

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

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the League podcast is an iTunes sugar nut. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined by a roomful of heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Zessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys?

Nice to have you back. Yeah. I felt like the energy level there was down a little because you're a little tired from your Las Vegas weekend. Fair? Listen, I don't know anything about Las Vegas. It was Nevada. I can't go into further detail where it was. I attempted to keep that storyline that you were on a business trip in Nevada.

It was a business trip. Business was taken care of. I'm back now, and a nice job. I listen to the podcast. because I'd like to stay up to date, even if I'm not around. Nice job by Handsome Hank, also known as the Notorious DOP. Greg, you did a great job as the host. Plow past the 40-minute mark, which is a little Peter Jackson moved by you.

We've got to keep this thing moving. And then Crystal, saying Greg was your favorite because he picked the Eagles to win the division. Words hurt. Well, you know, you're back now. Oh, well. Well, he don't see what you have positive to say about the Eagles. Well, he still picked the Eagles to last place, like everyone else. Well, Reg remains my favorite.

Actually, I think the Giants is the last place. I noticed even in the article you point out, everyone's picked Philadelphia in last. I have them eight and eight in third place. Including Handsome Hank, three of four had them in last. But yeah, you're right. I missed your eight and eight. Either way, I'm going to remind you about this prediction all year. And bad job by who picked the Cowboys again?

Everyone but being here, Dan. I've gotten sucked into the Cowboys' Vort. vertex five straight years. If this is the year that they actually do win the division, I am going to personally travel down to Dallas and take care of some business. Three out of five of us, including Handsome Hang, pick the Cowboys to win the Division. To me, that was very surprising. And yet all I got all weekend was all of you out there that listened to the show and were upset that I picked the Cowboys in last place. Cowboys just, they were so

angry that they couldn't believe people calling for me to be fired that I clearly don't know anything about football because one of the four of us had the gall to put the Cowboys world we're living in all right so we are now we're through preseason week three this is a big week for roster cutdowns we will start with the news and Greg Rosenthal you lead the way it's got a little quarterback driven up top of the news yeah I think let's talk about all three quarterback situations that changed in some way over the weekend starting with the Oakland Raiders Terrell prior and Matt Flynn this to me was was the biggest story of the weekend because it was so surprising. Wesleyan, I know you were watching

that Raiders game closely. What was your takeaways there? Matt Flynn never had a chance behind that offensive line. And I guess, you know, the whole stadium was deflated. They were booing, they were cheering. They had the prior chance going. Matt Flynn looked awful. And the whole time you're just watching it thinking, why have a game manager for a roster that has no defense and can't stop the other team from scoring points? It doesn't make any sense to go forward with a talent challenged Matt Flynn. So to me, like Pryor was the obvious answer. See what you have in him before you draft a quarterback next year. And there were a couple plays where defensive ends came in completely untouched off the left side of that line and a wiped Flynn out.

And I think with Pryor, who I think is going to struggle himself, at least the guy can move. He can get out of the pocket. I mean, Flynn is, like you said, just a dead man walking back there. A few things on this. First, just to make it clear, Tarel Pryor is going to start the fourth preseason game. He's taking all the first team reps this week. We don't know for sure that he's going to start week one, but that is the total expectation now. It would be a surprise.

I'm just taken by the fact that they sign Matt Flynn for all this money. I mean, not a ton, but enough to be a starter. They spend the whole offseason pointing towards this guy's a starter, and you change gears and make it prior the week before the season starts. It's just, no matter how you slice it, it's the last thing you want to be doing. Yeah, I feel bad for Raiders fans, too, because they're calling for Terrell Pryor and really what have we ever seen from this guy that tells us that he's even going to be a competitive quarterback.

And with Flynn, this could happen to him again with Russell Wilson last year. Now, people initially thought it would be Tyler Wilson that would end up knocking him out. But now it's going to be Torel prior, which is really almost the ultimate indignity. It is going to happen again. They've given him an out with the elbow injury. For a second straight year that happened last year. He's not been healthy then for potentially over a season. Yeah.

So he's either injured or they're telling their fans he has an injury now. so don't expect to see him. I've talked about sample size a lot in the preseason. So many judgments are made on little game action. Matt Flynn only dropped back nine times in that game, and a change is made nine times. Now, two of those plays were interceptions. One was a fumble.

One was a sack. So half the plays were just catastrophes. Whereas Terrell prior, I went back and watched that game, and really his game was about four or five plays that he made. He didn't play that well. He played missed some throws, made some throws, but he made two throws down the field and he made two incredible scrambles and that's it. It's like those four plays for Flynn, four for prior and that decides your week one starter.

I'm starting to feel even better about my one and 15 pick for the Raiders because this has the potential to be outright dumpster fire. Softball pants or safe. Greg, what else is in the news? Yeah, speaking of which, the Buffalo Bills had about as bad a weekend as they could have, first of all, Kevin Cobb gets knocked out. has a concussion. We don't know when he's going to be back. There are reports that his injury could be career ending. The bills say they're not thinking about that,

but it's clear he's going to be out for a lengthy bit of time. So Jeff Toole is the guy, the undrafted rookie, that they're planning to start week one. If E.J. Manuel is healthy enough to start, he'll start. So we'll find out. It's going to be one of those guys and Matt Leiner and Thad Lewis, from your Browns. Former Brown Thad Lewis will compete to back up Jeff Toll potentially. So wow.

Well, I think Doug Marone called it exciting. This is an exciting development in a way that he's like, you know, it's exciting that we're going to start this mystery man under center. But I think the thing that they lost Gilmore to at cornerback. Stefan Gilmore are making the leap candidate who we were still in love with is going to be out six to eight weeks, which is almost as big a loss. It's bigger, I would say, than Cobb. honestly. Yes, it is. It's a bigger loss than Cobb.

I mean, it's like on defense, we're not going to really get to see what the real plan was on defense out of the gate because of that injury. And we certainly aren't going to see anything close to what the plan was on offense. So, you know, the bills were this exciting team to some degree because they're going to change things up. And it's going to be, what, maybe six weeks into the season before we get any sense of what they are. Gilmore had been the beat writer's choice for training camp MVP. after showing some shutdown corner traits down the stretch last year, you could make the argument that he was going to be their best defensive player this year

or their most important defensive player. That, to me, is a much bigger loss than anything to do with the quarterbacks. Yeah, they're going to be starting Liotis, McKeldon, Cresden, Cresden Butler. Cresden Butler, a Steelers reject. Those are your starting cornerbacks for the bills. But I don't think it's that big a deal because E.J. Manuel still could be back for week one. Either way, they're going to be in trouble against the page.

Patriots. Maybe he's back for week two. The New York Jets, on the other hand, you know, they were hoping to have their quarterback situation settled by now. Dan had to be paid. Did you watch this game? Yes. Actually, I have a Nevada business story, if you guys want

to want me to share that about the incident where he was injured, Mr. Mark Sanchez. I had I was seated at a table for a business meeting in the middle of this lobby of this hotel, and I was getting dealt some papers, from the person running the business meeting

and as soon as I look up and I see Sanchez get destroyed and knock to the ground, I look down and the business person is holding a blackjack who's showing blackjack and Sanchez was riding on the ground and I just went up to the hotel room.

That was it. And that's it. Yeah, you know. That's being a Jets fan. Yeah, that's life. That's life as a Jets fan. That was surreal though, really. because as someone that has followed this team so closely

and now was that press conference and the vitriol from a friend of the old ATL debate club, Manish Mehta, in particular, his tweets towards Ryan calling for his head and saying how unprofessionally was and then Ryan's press conference, which was just an absolute train wreck. I mean, this team, they're going to be fun to watch

for maybe people that like, you know, to see tragedies unfold because this is not going to be good And for this to be happening in week three, it just blows my mind. Of the preseason. Week three before that, yeah. What's more of a calamity? A dumpster fire or a tire fire. It's close.

Wesleyan didn't even want to talk about the Jets' quarterback situation on the show today. Well, you know. Despite it, you know, it's an important thing, a team starter. I feel like the Raiders and even the bills a little bit, this is virgin territory for quarterback battles. Yeah. You know, we, I don't mind. being, you know, nobody wants, if you're Columbus discovering America,

you don't want to hear about the freaking Vikings. You want to be the first one there. This Chet's quarterback situation has been discussed all off-season over and over. It's no longer virgin territory. I think that's fair, but more from the Rex Ryan angle, it seems to me like they're just allowing him to just hang himself.

And it's like, to me, to me, I almost feel for Rex Ryan because I think he's been put in a situation that he just can't win. Well, how about Mark Sanchez? He gets rushed into that game against the second string line when he was supposed to be the starter. Like, who's making the calls here? But that's what backups do. They come into the game late.

No one was calling for Ryan that they were throwing Ryan Mallet out there. But he wasn't the backup at that point. But he might have been. I mean, he's one of the guys competing. He wasn't the starter. It's been over for him ever since the butt fumble. Yeah. I mean, really it has.

By the way, it's been a really bad weekend for the deeply mediocre QB club between Matt Flynn, Kevin Cobb, and Mark Sanchez. The only bright spot is Matt Leinert. He's feeling pretty good. He's got a job. He's back. I saw where Jeff Toll watched Linerd in the national championship game. The Rose Bowl.

When he was in eighth grade. That makes me feel old. I mean, with Sanchez, I don't think it really matters because they wanted Gino Smith to start. week one anyways and so what you understand why there's some outrage in terms of the way they the situation was managed or no i don't think it was that i don't understand the outrage that's new york media it's just oh so over the top it was called one of the worst decisions in modern football history a guy got injured tom brady said it i risk getting injured every day when i get in my car on the way to work when they asked about playing too much the pre you know it

happens it was unfortunate obviously in the sequence that it happened But I don't think it's that big job. There are a lot of reporters taking this whole jet situation personally for some reason. Yeah, I think you're right about that. Okay, so one of our most popular stories we do after these preseason games, and I guess we're going to be doing it through the regular season, what we learned. So check out Roundleague Blog for the most recent what we learned.

But we're also going to do one, a podcast version. It used to be called, you know, three takeaways. Now we're going to call what we learned. and we're going to start out with the great Mark Sessler. What did you learn from week three of the preseason? Well, I actually came into work on Saturday to watch one game, and it was Colts Browns. And my takeaway has nothing to do with where you think I might go with Cleveland.

It has to do with the Colts, actually. And I saw Cleveland make a major mistake on defense, which I think other teams might end up doing this season, and they paid complete and full attention. to T.Y. Hilton, understandably, because I think he's from a defensive coordinator's side, the guy is a dangerous weapon. But Reggie Wayne basically ate them up all day long. They left the guy in single coverage. I think that my takeaway was, Indianapolis is an offense, number one, with potentially a Hall of Fame quarterback, which we've talked about before. But more weapons

than I realized a couple weeks ago when I left them as an AFC team that won't make the playoffs. I mistake. I think I made a mistake there. The more I... Everyone's backing out their picks already. Well, I think it's my only regret. We are, we've made our picks early, and you learn with each week what teams are and how they're going to play. And the cults, to me, look like an absolute sleeping giant on offense. It should be recognized that Dan was at the vanguard of this movement, advising fantasy football players about the plethora of weapons on the Indianapolis School.

Well, who was covering Wayne? Is it Joe Hayden or? No, it was not Hayden. I mean, but also half the time it was, you know, Cleveland has major issues at safety, and they've, they had a new starting cornerback out there on the, across from Hayden. They were using a couple different people. But they just, it's like you can't just decide to commit to one guy. And they didn't even have their two tight ends playing.

I was going to say, they didn't even have Dwayne Allen and Kobe Fleener on the field when all that was going on. It's a scary performance. Hayward Bay is better than people think, too. When he is not the first guy, when they put him out there. He is your second or third or fourth option. If you're asking him to replace Donnie Avery, that's a position he can handle. My thing I learned this weekend was the Denver Broncos running back situation is more unsettled now than I think it was going into training camp. Monty Ball looked very ordinary.

I thought for another week of preseason action, he dropped a pass in the red zone. They had him playing really late in the game with the third stringers, which I thought was interesting. I've just kind of seen what he would look like. Ronnie Hillman's fumbled three straight weeks. Noshan Moreno played great, but didn't play for almost the whole first two quarters. So they're entering the season, and they're playing in 10 days. And kind of like the Ravens, my takeaway is these two teams playing on opening night have a lot of unsettled positions. We don't know who the running back is in Denver.

Got to figure that out. Got to see if Champ Bailey can get back on the field, Derek Wolf. And the Ravens have a lot of questions up in the air, too. So these are two teams expected to do really well. But I think heading into the season, they're just still figuring things out for the first few weeks. I think with Denver, too, on the running backs, like, you cannot have someone in there that cannot block, protect Peyton Manning. And that's been an issue. Last year with Hillman especially, it seems like it's an issue with Ball right now in terms of his learning curve.

And is it Moreno in the end that is the most reliable guy they have? Well, Monty Ball took first team reps at practice Monday. So that's the big development. While Ronnie Hillman walked around the practice with a football under his arm wherever he went. He got the OMRF's treatment. Out. So that might say it out. They drafted ball because they want him to be the guy,

and I think Moreno will have a sizable role. But they're searching for it. And, you know, I think it's a big thing to watch that first Thursday is Peyton Manning doesn't really have that much of a running game. They threw 35 passes in one half of football with Peyton Manning. This backfield reminds me of the Redskins last year when fantasy footballers are going into the season with no idea if it's going to be Roy Hulu, Evan Royster, or Alfred Morris, and we find out from our guy, Dan Helly, on the morning of the first game, at 10.30 in the morning, Helly breaks the story that Alfred Morris is starting. Maybe the Broncos, we don't find out

until that Thursday night who started. How about Chris Wesleying giving Dan Helly some love? Now on NFL Total Access back then was working for CSN, and that is somehow still sticking around your big Nagin over there. The Clif Clavin stuff. There's too much up there. He's the mailman.

Wes, what's your takeaway? You know, I'll talk about the Bears more in our NFC North preview in a few minutes, but this is with the

obvious caveat that it's only August. The two teams I've noticed that look a lot better than I expected going into the preseason are the bears and the Jaguars.

So I will say that the Jaguars have much better offensive weapons than you think. Justin Blackman looks sleaker this year. He came into the season last year out of shape and you could see it on game tape he couldn't

separate couldn't run out to the catch he looks like a much different receiver this year also looks suspended yes worth noting yes he is so they lose him for four games ace sanders is a major upgrade on any slot receiver they've had marise jones drew looks looked better this week than he did the week before and they're going as much as we talk about the bills and the eagles uptempo offense the jaguars are doing the same thing they're they're leaving these defined reads for their quarterbacks one decision get the ball out of their hands, and then get into the huddle quickly again. They're moving the ball up and down on their first team defenses.

Granted, it was the Eagles' first team defense, and everybody's moved the ball on them. I think last year the Jaguars were a team that had the least play count per game, or they were right in that mix, and that was not good for Blaine Gabbard. And yes, he didn't even play this last game. But it's like they're another team, and we talked about this last week, that they're trying to form that offense around what fits, what maybe potentially limited talents Blaine Gabbard, has, but what would work for them?

And yes, it's like it's a way to get their guys open quicker and get that ball out quicker. And it lasts two weeks. They have looked like a different football team. I still have a hard time, though, buying in on the Jaguars as long as they have that quarterback situation in place. Maybe to me they're the team that when they finally do cut loose on Gabbard and they find someone else, they're a team that can get better in a hurry, but I don't think it's going to happen. I should add this.

Their skill position talent is pretty good. The starters on offense, better than people realize. but they probably have less depth than anybody. If somebody goes down, they're in big trouble. We've been talking up Jordan Todman watching him in the preseason. Looks pretty good, Jordan Todman. He had always been just a guy, but Greg has noticed him jumping off the screen. I guess I need to see it.

He fried the Eagles last week. You're doubting Jordan Toddman. I need to see Jordan Todman against first string defenders before I get excited by his 4-6-5 speed looking good in preseason. To every Jaguars fan out there that says we never talk. talk about the Jaguars and we always dump on the Jaguars. This was positive Jaguars talk. Absolutely. I want some

credit. Just that was good. All seven of you, you should be happy. I would disagree. They have one of the most insane fan bases. When that team gets good, they're going to go crazy. They're sensitive little guys. All right, man, we were really pumped up about the Jaguars. All right, good. All right, so moving forward, we have now our division by

division preview. We are now, we're almost done. We're getting close. The light at the end of the tunnel. we have this today we have the NFC North one big question for each of the gentlemen in the room and I will start it with the man they call the boss Greg Rosenthal wait he was he's not ready I was trying to wave it off

there was an arm wave but I'm just gonna I'm just gonna go what I got the Chicago Bears right here right yeah we could start it somewhere else and we could swing it back to you no my question with the Chicago Bears is even with Lovey Smith gone do we still think this is a upper echelon difference-making defense

that's just quiet you're not excited about the bear's defense I was expecting to go in a different direction you're expecting offense we can get to that I think they have the best defense in the division and I think it will make a difference for them in this season

I wouldn't call them upper echelon I think they still have age issues weren't they really really really good last year you know what I mean I think people forget The first nine or ten games, they were arguably the best defense in the NFL. I think you could extend that out even into pretty deep into the season.

They were good. They had running backs averaging 150 yards per game through like a six-game stretch late in the season. And you could say that coincided with all the injuries and then the offense not being able to keep up. I'm sure there were some tempo issues where the defense was on the field too much. So maybe that was a factor. Is Brian R. Locker being gone? Does that make them a better defense? Was that the best thing that could have happened to him being out of the picture?

Well, now you've got second round rookie, John, Mr. Boom Bostic. Oh, oh, no. We were talking about that coming up. Wesleyan's pushing that nickname real hard. Mr. Boombosting, a little shaggy shadow. Yeah, every time you look up, he's getting fined for a big hit, you know. We've got to add the boom into the Bostic. Wesleyan is going Chris Berman on us.

I don't know how I feel about this trend. Bostic's looked good in these games, though. He's looked pretty good. Well, you could, I think the Bears have a great draft hall. And, you know, I have this friend on Tybee Island, his name's A.J., but he's one of these informed football fans of his pleasure to talk to. And we've been talking about the Bears for two or three years. And he knew two or three years ago, okay, in the draft, they have to fix the offensive line,

and they have an aging defense. So we've been talking about this every year, and their drafts haven't come through. Emory might have fixed it in one draft. They've got the whole right side of their line now as rookies with Kyle Long and Jordan Mills and they look really good. Forte's average in 10 yards of carry. Cutler's had time to throw. The offense is moving the ball.

And then, as Greg mentioned, Bostic is an upgrade on Erlacker at middle linebacker already. You hope to have three starters come through any draft. They might have three week one starters coming through this draft. I also think on offense real quick, Al-Shon Jeffrey looks like a different player to me in what we've seen so far and that the bears always to me I can never take him seriously they'd go 13 and three with a great defense but you knew they were going to get bounced in the divisionals because they had

these pipsqueak non-entity wide outs for like a decade and an offensive line and you're right in one season they suddenly have Brandon Marshall all Sean Jeffrey Martellis Bennett not bad at tight end in an offensive line and also Forte looks to me revived and stronger than he did a year ago I agree well he had some ankle injuries last year so maybe that's part of of it, but he looks, maybe it's how high he's wearing his socks. He looks taller, thinner, quicker, I don't know. Lovie Smith never had a top 20 offense in his entire run. And that was not a coincidence.

That's going to change. Which is hard to do. All they got to do is be average. And I think this defense could carry them. Stephen Pia, I don't know, how do you say is that how you say his name? He looks great. Henry Melton, Julius Peppers. I mean, they have depth there on the defensive line, which is hard to find.

They have a lot of pass rushers up front. and Lance Briggs is still great. I saw them blitzing off the corner and doing big things. Mel Tucker was a pretty good coordinator, people forget in Jacksonville a few years ago, and he has a lot of talent to work with here. Okay, Wes, why don't we talk a little Packers? Well, I believe three of the four of us,

I haven't heard Dan's opinion much on this, believe the Packers' offense is going to be transformed a bit with Eddie Lacey as a running back threat. My question is on the other side of the ball. Is this a championship caliber defense? I think so. I think it's the same relative group of talent, as talented as they were when they won the championship before.

I think in the secondary, you have Casey Hayward, Morgan Burnett, a lot of good talent there. It's a very deep secondary. I think they're counting on young players to make an impact up front. But top to bottom, B.J. Raji, Dayton Jones, A.J. Hawke. I mean, I think it's a talented enough group to win. That's my answer. I think they're definitely not who they were two years ago

when they were an epic train wreck. We saw them even get better last season off of that. I haven't watched enough of the Packers' defense lately to really chime in beyond what Greg said. But I'm not sure they need to be a great defense to get double-digit wins. Even when they won the Super Bowl, they had, what, 16 guys on IR? It's like, that's a team that has a good mix of young and veteran players that can get through any sort of hiccup. But I don't think they need – I wouldn't put them up there with the bears, to be honest.

I'd say Chicago was a better defense. Is Clay Matthews, is he officially in the Good Year, Bad Year Hall fame with alternating years? I don't think so. And is he on a good year or bad year this year. I think he's healthy, he's going to be lights out. I think he's one of the top two or three defensive players in the NFL. And he is such a difference maker. I didn't even mention him when talking about the defense.

I mean, he alone makes their defense so much better. I would say the one thing I've noticed from the start of the preseason until now is they are a lot deeper on defense than I thought. Secondary is pretty deep. I heard Mike McCarthy say his defensive line is deeper than any he's had in his whole tenure there. They got Dayton Jones and Johnny Jolly's back. Mike Daniels. They look pretty stout up front. They get their first round pick from a year ago.

They really got nothing out of their top two picks last year. They really need that second pass rusher to emerge. And don't they only really need to be a middle-of-the-road defense? A defense can get enough stops some of the time and then let the best quarterback in the world. It's all about stealing the ball these days. It doesn't matter if you hold people. just have to produce the turnover. I will be interested to see right out of the gate because they, you know,

they sent Dom Capers and his crew to go learn how to stop the read option. Actually, by spending time with offensive coaches on how the read option actually runs. And right out of the gate, they have the Niners and the Redskins. So we don't even know what the Niners and Redskins will do on offense. But it will be interesting to see what the Packers are coming into week three. I was a little surprised that Capers even kept his job after a second straight playoff meltdown. Many people were. So I think he is definitely on the hot seat.

They have to get better. He's gone. Sessler. Minnesota Vikings. One big question. All right, Vikings. I put week six as the over-under when Christian Ponder is replaced at quarterback by Matt Castle.

For better or worse, I'm not saying it's an upgrade. I just think the decision will be made at week six. I want an over-under or won't even happen. All this over-under talk reminds me in my business trip. Who's up? I will take the over. I know Greg is probably the biggest Christian Ponder detractor in the national media right now.

Stop. I'm not even in the national media. And I am the biggest Matt Castle detractor ever since he left the Patriots. I've never believed he could be a quarterback. He personally hates you, actually. He's told me. Yeah. Did you see him in Vegas? You know, I just don't see.

Ponder, we can believe that there might still be some development left. Athletically, he's much higher playing than Matt Castle. Castle I feel like we already know what he is He's a turnover machine He's inaccurate And he doesn't really throw well from a muddy pocket At least with Ponder I mean some of those things apply to him too Maybe he gets better I just don't see how

What do you gain by turning this offense over to Matt Castle Over under week six you said I think they have they have enough faith in Ponder Especially how he finished the season before he got hurt That maybe he would he can make it through Thanksgiving or something like that. But I don't know, I think it's very possible he loses his job. And I think Castle is just a good enough guy that they think he could be a spark.

It's an experienced guy that's had some success. So I think I'll take the over, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if he loses the job. I think he'll keep the job a little longer than that, because just doing the math, week six, you know, you'd have to be one and four going into week six to lose your job, I think. If you're two and three, you keep it for sure. If you're two and four, I could see them doing it.

I could see them pulling the trigger on, you know, Ponder early if he doesn't show progress. And he has really looked poor in the preseason. I think that's a factor that he hasn't shown that development. I know Adrian Peterson hasn't been out there, but still a guy in his third year, he should be getting better. They opened the season on the road in the division two straight weeks. So that's a big test for them right out of the gates. They're in Detroit.

and in Chicago. So you better get one of those games or else you got a big pressure-packed home opener against the Cleveland Browns, Mark Sessler. Who do you think wins that game? Ponder Whedon? Wow. I think we need to put Wes.

Let's put Wes on that game. What would be the odds going into the preseason that you would say, okay, we've seen progress on a weekly basis from Blaine Gabbard, Jake Locker, and up until this week, Weedon, but nothing from Ponder. Greg's right. He's been pretty bad in preseason. That's actually why I asked the question, because I think that they did a nice job of,

not a huge Greg Jennings guy at this stage, but they surrounded Ponder with more than just Adrian Peterson. And we can't say, hey, there's nothing there. If Cordero Patterson pans out, he certainly looks to me like it's a complete stud as a pass catcher, then you've got a really solid tight end in Rudolph. You've got two very solid wide receivers, and you've got the best running back on planet Earth. Why should the quarterback be the one guy holding the back?

and yeah and I would say if the Vikings front office thinks the way I do which I hope they don't but if they did I would say that I'm looking at Adrian Peterson and he's a once in a generation athlete and I am not wasting his prime years he's I think he's his age 28th season probably has two or three elite years left if I feel like I need to pull the trigger to try to save a season when I know I have that guy in my roster I'll probably do it that's a relevant point and it reminds me of the bears wasting a once-in-generation defense special teams combination on Rex Grossman. Oh, don't want to, don't want to Grossman the situation. But your window's only open so long.

That has to be a consideration. I mean, how much longer is Peterson's peak? By this point, you know, it's tough to get another quarterback in there. That's why these decisions, you know, with ponder, I think it gets even worse if you don't get out of the bad quarterback early. Well, that was, that had to be the whole philosophy behind signing. Castle. They believe they needed a veteran to push him. You know, we can debate whether Castle's that guy or not, but I think that's what they were thinking.

The case for the Vikings is a very good defense, potentially. They were good last year. They're a lot faster than people think. Is a defensive coach. Okay, and I will do the last question on the Detroit Lions. I know you guys saw the Patriots game, 49 win. Their front really harassed Brady, who finished 16 of 24 for 18. 85 yards.

They didn't look good. Should I be getting excited about that line, specifically that front line is potentially a dominant unit that it all comes together this year? Get excited. Is Kevin Patcher listening out there? Our fifth around the league member joined full time on Friday. He's a Lions fan.

Why not get excited? I think they could be the best defensive tackle duo in the league fairly ensue. I think they're very exciting. I mean, that Patriots game had a lot to do with the Patriots suddenly fumbling every fourth time they touch the ball. But that is, was a fantastic line through the whole preseason for the Detroit. I don't love the linebacking group. The secondary seems very sketchy to me.

But I'll tell you what, like the fact that they went out and did the Ziggy Ans the thing in the draft was to me, I love that. You cannot have enough pass rushers and you could not put enough good guys up on your front. And that turned dominant because Ziggy looks for real to me. I think he got injured in that game and they just said. They rubbed mud on some body part, and he was, like, back in there. That's how they do. Even on an artificial turf. Well, I'm not sure where the mud came from.

Maybe they have a bucket of mud on the side. I heard that on the telecast, so I didn't make that up. Jose Rio used to rub snake oil on his arm when he hit a sore elbow. That was stupid. Maybe they can get these guys to play some offensive line, too, and then we have something going. Yeah. I would say they're not, it's not even a debate. if Sue and Fairley are the best defensive tackle in the NFL.

They are. Well, they got to do it. Fairly has to do it. Here's a Fairly stat for you. With Fairly in the lineup, the Lions have allowed less than four yards per carry on defense. With fairly out of the lineup, they've allowed over five yards per care. He's a difference maker. He just hasn't been able to stay healthy.

And he's kind of a train wreck with all the penalties he's always getting into. And off field problems. Yeah. You can't ignore that. It's interesting that they didn't invest in Cliff Averill, and I think the philosophy was Sue and Farrelly. You can only, first of all, pay so many guys. You've got to pay Megatron.

You've got to pay Stafford. But the bigger thing is Sue and Fairly make the guys outside look better. Suddenly, Willie Young and Jason Jones might look pretty good because those two guys inside are so good. All right, Greg, let's go around now and do record predictions. All right. In first place, the NFC North, I always take them to make it to the Super Bowl. Bowl, and I'm going to do it again.

The Green Bay Packers is the number one seed in the NFC. I'm just giving it all away. Twelve and four this year. I think the defense will be very, very good, and they still have the best player in football and Aaron Rogers. I have the Lions at nine and seven. I have the Bears at seven and nine, and I have a big catastrophe season for the Vikings falling all the way down to five and eleven for Minnesota.

All right. came here. I was lying, it's my day off, I was lying on a blanket in the park watching some adults who should have been at work playing baseball. I like Wes's off days better, by the way. Well, listen, I'm on a, I'm on a budget, okay? But I saw Wes tweet that he cannot stand when everyone in the fantasy football community thinks exactly alike. And so I'm going to throw something at you, I think you're going to be opposed to, but it's the way I feel from my heart. Bears win this division at 10 and 6. And I don't have to, I don't have anyone else in this division making the playoffs

and that starts with the Packers missing it at 9 and 7 the Vikings at 7 and 9 and the Lions at 4 and 12 everything we were about to talk about with this offense in Chicago we didn't quite get to today is what I am starting to see in them I think something

I think Tressman's offense will be the talk of the NFC this season well let's get to it I want to hear what you guys have to say about the Bears why not what did we not get to about the Bears Peter Jackson work again here we go No, no, no, my interest is peak. We'll put it on the website tomorrow. We'll put it on the website tomorrow.

But I just, I think we did touch on to some degree. I think that they are going to, they've shown us very little. They've shown us just a peak at what they're going to do. I think Cutler is a guy who's not necessarily special, but he can do anything that you'd ask him to do in that offense. Greg, thought Cutler looked like a new quarterback the other night. He really played well the other night. And as, you know, the biggest Cutler, Homer, I've been always expecting that he'll finally turn the corner.

I'm hopeful again. It really did look good the other night. And, you know, Tresman, there's just something about him. I like him from the start. I don't know why it was Tresman. He's the quarterback whisperer. His record with quarterbacks is unbelievable. We just talked about their defense.

I think you put two and two together. It's, I don't know. I see them winning the division. Packers are a very good team. I have a feeling something weird is going to happen in Green Bay. It's not so much a 9-and-7 comment on their talent. I just think something. So you're saying injury?

No, no, no, just something unexpected. I get these feelings sometimes. You are the leader in the clubhouse. Gutsiest pick now, I think. That's not that gutsy, is it? I had the Eagles winning. I'm not giving Cessler anything. Wes, let's hear your records.

You know, when we first started this exercise, since then I have elevated three teams in this division and pushed one of them way down. Wow. I have taken the Bears from last place to second place, but I'll start at the top. I have the Packers at 11 and 5 winning in the division. I feel better about them than I did three weeks ago.

I have the Bears at the Bears at the last. 10 and 6 and making the playoffs now whereas I had them bringing up the rear before. I have the lions at 8 and 8. Good. And the Vikings at 7 and 9. I like that. It's pretty good. It's a strong division. I have the lions at 9. I'm

on the Lions train too this year. I like the Lions. I have the Packers at 12 and 4. Sorry Mark. We'll see what happens. Bear is at 10 and 6. I like them this year and I like I'm making the playoffs. A lion 7 and 9. I'm not quite in. And then the Vikings, I also feel fall to earth.

six and ten new quarterback next year wow so three of the four of us have the vikings in laugh i think we've spoken on our lack of confidence in christian pond i think that's the headline headline in your wrap-up post on this topic on the atl blog i don't know yeah there's that there's three or four of us had the bears had a winning record including two in the playoffs that was i i jumped mine from six and ten to ten and six on the bears during this telecast during this podcast yes that's pretty i'm a fickle fickle man so let's talk about the most popular man in the newsroom today. Oh, well, that's a nice segue.

Well, it's not really me. Because this would happen. A few weeks ago, we were talking in the newsroom. I think it was Wes Damashach. It's definitely not me. It started with the Adrian Peterson and Wheaties box. Right. We were talking about Peterson was on the Wheaties.

Who eats Wheaties? It became, what's the best cereal? And I told Dan that Kicks is like eating dried up tumbleweeds in a cardboard box. I like kicks. I like kicks in the category that is, not sugared, heavy sugared cereal, just like a nice solid cereal. So that led to Greg's love of frosted mini-weets, which are basically miniature, sugar-coded miniature wicker baskets. It's a great cereal.

We were talking one cereal for the rest of your life. I mean, shredded mini-weets do it all. I like that, too. So this whole conversation carries over onto Twitter, and, you know, I thought the highlight of Twitter was Damashik, the analogy between Apple Jacks and Tom Brady. What was that? You know, like Tom Brady, Apple Jacks makes those around them better. It leaves the milk. Apple Jacks does for milk what Tom Brady does for young wide receivers.

But what we all agreed, though, ultimately was that the best cereal was cinnamon toast crunch. No, I'm not in any agreement on that. Nor do I. And I thought I had posted that clearly and made them my number one choice. And a lot of people agreed. A lot of people chimed in. I guess Greg and Mark do not agree. Well, I'm not four years.

years old so so then so then i get word that apparently there were multiple boxes at my desk this is while i was on my business trip multiple cartons and it turns out the good people at cinnamon toast crunch caught word uh caught wind of our twitter conversation and sent 50 boxes to the newsroom of cinnamon toast crunch uh so you know thanks to general mills whoever you are sir and uh he's not really a general. You can look that up. Well, I still respect the hell out of him. For sending the serial, we passed it out around the newsroom. We have a couple boxes just for the

ATL crew. So General Mills is as much of a general as Colonel Sanders is a colonel. I mean, seeing people's faces light up and just the words spread around the newsroom, it was like Christmas morning. Did you guys hear about the cinnamon toast? Like, people were talking. You know what's going to

get old for Dan? Oh, yeah. I've seen this scenario play out a half dozen times today. Can you guys talk about Rolls Royce's next time or beer. Maybe they'll send you some of those. I got that. And I also, I feel a little bad because I feel like, although I agree that I like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Wes was the man that truly championed it.

And I could tell Wes, there's a little heat about it. So I defer to you as the king of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. If they want to continue to send those boxes, send them to Chris Wessling. We should send out some Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I know we've got to go soon to whatever listener out there tweets at us. about cinnamon toast crunch first tonight, Monday night, and we'll send you some boxes, and we'll spread the love. All right, that sounds good.

We are out of time. Thank you for listening on behalf of Wesleying. They call them the mailman, Sessler. They call them a sizzler. And Rosenthal, they call him the boss. So until next time, we will see you on Wednesday. No one called me that. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here.

And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant.

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