NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Around the League: NFC South - August 28th, 2013

Episode Date: August 29, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling, dive into the latest NFL news and give you their MVP predictions before the crew previews the NFC South. 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.

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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. Trust sources with knowledge of the situation. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room full of heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys?

Hey, Dan. I wanted the nickname, no nicknames this time. The nicknames, I'm thinking, I'm toying with the idea of tacking the nicknames on the back end when we say goodbye and then giving you guys your proper names up top. What do you think? That seems like a fine idea, Dan seems like he's getting more and more hosty with each show, adding little elements. I like it. Before you know it, Dan will leave us and he'll be starting NFL AM every morning. It might reach a point where I am giving no actual football analysis

and you guys are doing all the heavy lifting, which actually sounds about right. So today, big news on the ATL page. We rolled out one of our season preview features, and this is a doozy. We could have ramped it up and ramped toward the MVP, but Greg, our boss, decided. let's start with the heat our most valuable

player predictions in the NFL in the 2013 seasons Lyle are around the league intern, produced the page but we have our four, five picks with our new man Kevin Patra based over in Chicago, Sugartown.

So I guess we could start how do we want to do this? Do we want to just go around the horn here? Yeah, yeah. All right, let's do that. Seems organized. All right, and I guess I guess I'll start because I chose I guess mine was kind of the wild card here I could end up looking horrible but you know who cares I took Andrew luck of the cults as I've said on this podcast I love the cult's offense this year I love cult I love luck as a transcendent type uh hall of fame type dude despite being just 23 years old and I think he has everything in place and I think he has the targets with reggie Wayne T.Y Hilton Darius Hayward Bay, Dwayne Allen, Kobe Fleener.

I love if Ahmad Bradshaw is healthy what he brings to that team, both as a runner, a receiver, and even a blocker. And, you know, most of all, I like, well, I also like Pep Hamilton there. I think that's a good fit. But most of all, I like the look. Luck has the look. He looks like a Hall of Fame guy. And he seemed like that at Radio City Music Hall in 2012, he seemed like he was going to be a star. It was destined.

and I think this is the year where he becomes that guy. As I wrote in my piece, the last guy to win the MVP in his second full year was Dan Marino in 84. I think it happens in 2013, Andrew Luck. I was a big fan of your Dan Marino comparison. I liked that a lot. It was a bold pick, but I liked it a lot. And I could see it because he threw so many passes last year.

That kind of helps when it comes to statistics and MVP voting. And I think the same thing is going to happen again. Much better than your running back rankings that you did over the summer. The much maligned running back rankings. Andrew Locke, he's got to be like the coolest nerd in America right now, right? I think that's fair. He actually, he's almost like a evolutionary type Peyton Manning where he's almost a cool geek. And he'll be on some level I could see.

He's both cooler and geekier than Peyton Manning. Hmm, that makes sense. And I see like five years, six years from now he is the face of the league, him in RG3. You know what's interesting about him too? you see Kaepernick is on every commercial right now Russell Wilson's on commercials RG3 is everywhere I have not seen one single commercial with Andrew Luck

Indianapolis factor is part of it I think he's just all football all the time But Manning broke through that I know he was always a guy in commercials and he was playing in the same market Oh I think it's more than Andrew Luck doesn't want to do the commercial At this point in his career I think you're right and maybe he's conscious of something

I'm with you Dan on luck being that special. But I do wonder, we're putting so much on this kid. Ron Jorowski has him so high. You think MVP. You know, he did have 54% completion rating last year, 23 touchdowns, 18 interception. So we're expecting him to really get a lot better. It's high expectation. I would attribute the majority of that completion percentage to Bruce Ariens' aggressive downfield attack, which is much harder to complete passes, and the fact that he was always throwing on the run or with three defenders hanging off of him because it's offensive line you can give him any protection.

I think with the Academy Awards, they take a young actor and they like to give him right out of the gate a nomination or flat out an Oscar. And it kind of paves the way for his career, and I view the MVP. Well, I look at what they did

with, like, Damon and Affleck out of the gate. Right away, it's coronate. Jennifer Lawrence. Perfect example. Jennifer Lawrence last year. I mean, it happens. That's marketing, and I'm not saying the MVP award is pure marketing, think that all these awards to some degree

are a bit of a sham and well I just I do I don't put that much on them but luck fits the bill perfectly because A it's not a fluke he is we all sort of seem to agree he is the kind of player that projects as a Hall of Fame quarterback

potentially he's on a team that's really well set up to go back to the playoffs when a lot of people doubt that and finally it's like talk about coronating your next big quarterback star right and don't forget about his 58-year-old dad flip cell phone, which I think he somehow works into this why he's mature beyond his years.

Okay, so luck, that's me. Let's go with Sessler. Mark Sessler, who are you picking? Well, I want to speak for Kevin Patra and myself, although we may be coming. Are you authorized? I am because we pick the same player. That's where I'll stop speaking for him. But I'm going at the other end of the spectrum with Tom Brady.

Because, number one, Tom Brady. is a guy that could have been MVP multiple other times, and it's like, again, like with other awards, you don't think they want to keep picking someone new. There has to be a nice storyline. Bill Belichick could have been coach of the year eight times by now. But let's pick, you know, the cozy underdog narrative to hoist up. Dick Duran, one coach of the year. Go to the cult slash whatever it is what you want. And for me, honestly, like, I look at Brady and he, it's not a, it's not a sympathy vote. I view him still physically. and the way he leads that offense as an MVP level performer.

And I think he's well set up in New England. When everyone, you know, two months ago it was this is a team that finally has been stripped of enough weapons and gone through enough this offseason where, hey, listen, we question if they're still the team in the AFC East. This has happened before the Patriots. Is it 11 years in a row that they could have double-digit wins? And they're overlooked that way. And in a way, I just think that Manning or Brady, if he comes through this season,

with another playoff appearance and I expect them to do more than just make the playoffs that for me that's my MVP and I'm not afraid to say it I think he is the best quarterback of my lifetime personally haven't we almost come full circle though on the hype with Brady

it went from you know the guy with all the weapons to now he has nothing left but now we're talking ourselves into all these new options he has that almost he's not he's no longer playing from behind again well there's still completely unproven. Are we talking about from two players to preseason

game? Is he still an underdog pick as MVP at this point? Or are we all confident that he's going to automatically turn this team into a bunch of productive players? The media is going to latch on to the Aaron Hernandez stuff and say look what he overcame, the Grunkowski injury. Even if we're confident now

in Kemprell Tompkins and Sudfeld, the people voting for the MVP are going to love the storyline of overcoming those tight ends. As they should. Right. I mean, that was their office. last year, along with West Welker. I love what Mark said about a narrative, and I do think that's why Luck and Tom Brady both make sense

because they have the carrier team on your back factor, which always seems to play a big role. Adrian Peterson last year is a good example, where you look at Peyton Manny and Aaron Rogers, and maybe they have to do extra to get as much credit as Brady and Luck will be for carrying their teams. Brady will enter week one with 88% of his recent. Reception's gone from the roster from last year.

He should get extra credit. 88%. That's crazy. Well, there have been a lot of stories out there. Oh, Hernandez can be made up for, you know, the losses and here and there. But bottom line, it's like the Patriots haven't been an up and down operation. They've been completely steady. And I view him as the reason for that. This won't be one of the three or four best years of Brady's career.

That's why I don't think he'll win MVP. That's fair. And will he throw enough to keep pace with some of the other quarterbacks that will be in this debate? for MVP. We'll find out. Yes, he's going to throw. It's Tom Brady. I mean, they're going to throw like crazy. And I think for the first, until Thanksgiving of last year, I thought watching tape every week, he was the best quarterback in the league. All right, Wes, you have the favorite pick laid on us. I picked Aaron Rogers just because simple reason he's the best player in the NFL. All right. Greg, you're up. No. No, that's, I mean, that, to me, that makes sense.

Yeah, I think you could argue that the last two years he's throwing the ball better than any quarterback in NFL history ever has. Dan gave me, you know, grief because I couched my pick a little bit that I said, Rogers should be the favorite throughout his prime each year, just as the most likely guy because he's that good, he's that talented, and he's right in the middle of his prime, but I went another way. Greg's couch is made entirely of Rogers' jerseys. That was the fabric.

I can't argue. That's a long way of saying I can't argue with Wes. Well, and you could also throw in that I think we all. expect their running game and their defense to be better than last year. And you've got to win to win the MVP. You have to make the playoffs. That's just part of it. And I know Cecil, you actually picked the Packers not to

make the playoffs. Do you feel that part of that will be Rogers coming down to Earth a little bit? No, and I think I hope I mentioned that last time when we discussed the NFC North. Rogers, I ranked him as the number one quarterback in football over the summer. Nothing has changed my

opinion of him. He's completely an MVP level quarterback. I can't debate you. I've tried to figure out what is going to cause the Packers to miss the playoffs in your view? And the only thing I'd come up with is the Bermuda Triangle is somehow involved in this equation. Remember, I mentioned that I had a metaphysical feeling of ugliness that something strange was going to happen. So if you're looking on paper and for what's come before,

you're right. It doesn't exist yet. How about the D.Bs starting at tackle? David Bactiari and Don Barclay. That's a reason that they might not do great. Yeah, but still, even if the defense is bad, if you have, and using Mark, your logic, if you have the best quarterback in the world at the height of his powers, how do you not make it through the regular season?

Plus a metaphysical dark spot. You keep going to, like, mathematical equations. How can you argue against that kind of Trump car? What does it mean? So listen, you know, yeah, logically, if you want me to just give you my computer predictions for the season, they make the playoffs. I'm not using that. I'm using a feeling I have

that they're going to go 9 and 7. I'll probably be wrong. Is it like the last Batman movie where Bane explodes in the middle of Lambeau Field or something? You're asking me to explain something that just floats in the ether. It caught my attention.

I said, I'm going to pay attention to this. This is like an X-Files episode. Do police investigators call you and ask you for psychological intervention? Not yet. Actually, that's not a bad idea. If this checks out, we're calling the Culver City Police Department.

Do we have anything else or do we want to throw it to Greg? Go with Greg. Greg, your pick. My pick is Ben Rothesberger. I've talked him up all offseason as one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the league. I still think if you look at his career arc, two-time champion, he's had some great years. He's been hurt. He still has, to me, when I look, once his season's over, I can see him having that year

where it just all comes together perfectly. And to me, this makes sense as that year. he's at that sweet spot where his mind has started to catch up with his body and his body hasn't broken down yet he still has his physical traits to get out of tackles he's still got maybe the best deep arm in the league and he's a much smarter quarterback than he used to be he's got Todd Haley willing to throw the ball deep and I think the Steelers are going to be a surprisingly good team so then he gets the MVP votes see I think that's a gutsyer pick than luck

because the Steelers, well, I apologize to you. Thank you. The Steelers do not have a sense around their offense that they're about to take a step forward. Everyone's talking about a step back potentially. We both picked them as to win the division, I believe, a couple weeks ago. But Rathesberger last season through midway of the season

was playing at an MVP level. He was phenomenal during the early part of last year, so I like that pick myself. This is like the seventh straight year you've picked Ralthusberger to win MVP. I picked him to do it once. Give me a break. Last week, Big Ben made some throws down the field that were just incredible.

And for all the talk about Todd Haley being dink and dunk offense, I don't think Big Ben's going to let it be a dink and dunk offense. And I think the guys that you usually put in conversation with Big Ben, when you hear people talk about him, Eli Manning, used to hear Rivers. Big Ben is so much better than those guys. Flacco, he is head and shoulders above that ground. He belongs in the Drew Brees.

Tom Brady, Peyton, Manning, Aaron Rogers category. He's that good. And he has the same advantage as Luck and Brady in terms of the narrative, that the low expectations, if they do well, it will be seen as Ben really raising up the level of some poor team. Right. I think he's going to need Heath Miller to come back healthy and Marcus Wheaton to emerge as kind of a dangerous playmaker as the number three receiver.

You could argue he's lost almost as much as Brady has to some degree until Miller returns because you lost Mike Wallace. Frankly, they draft Bell to re-shape that running game. The guy is out of the picture for a month or whatever it is. And what they have in the backfield is completely vanilla and unreliable. And again, it falls on Big Bend shoulders to take the Steelers wherever they go. And my only concern, and even though he's only missed, I guess, four games the last two seasons, he's had two pretty bad injuries.

It was an ankle, I think, in 11, and then last year it was a shoulder. If he could play 16, he's going to win the MVP. But we're talking about MVP. he's going to have to stay healthy the whole time because he's going to need the numbers. It's fair point. All right. So that was our MVP talk.

Crystal Rich, behind the glass, how are you today? I'm very well. How are you guys? We're doing great. We got a big task for you today. I'm ready for it. The news, around the league news, Crystal Rich is going to handle it.

She's going to take those reins and take us through the league. All right. Starting off Green Bay Packers News, running back Duan Harris, out for them. a year, re-injured his right knee. What does that mean for Mike McCarthy and the Packers? McCarthy was downright disconsolate, crestfallen at the press conference yesterday. This is the one of the favorite players.

He showed human emotion? This is one of his favorite players he's ever coached. You can tell. He has taken a vested personal interest in Dewan Harris and said he was a huge part of what his individual focused was for the whole, for the offense for 2013. Everybody assumed Lacey was going to be the guy. he wanted that one two punch of Lacey and Harris. I don't know that anybody believes McCarthy, but McCarthy fully believe that.

I believe him after that press conference because, yes, he was touting Harris for weeks, and it was like, all right, but we kind of feel like you're pumping this player up, encouraging him. But we don't really know necessarily what the Packers plan to do deeper in the season. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Lacey was going to be part of a committee with him and that Harris really won over McCarthy. It's a loss. but I do think because of the draft and the way they restocked, it's not a devastating loss for them.

Go back and watch Harris run last year, though. If you didn't know he was a guy that was undrafted and then kind of came off waivers, he would have looked like a first or second round talent. He looked really good. And I think McCarthy must see a big drop-off from Harrison Lacey to whoever's next. So he was looking at those two big guys as a one-two combo.

All right, Crystal, what else is in the news? All right, now this one's a good one. linebacker Aaron Curry, recently released by the New York Giants, announced his retirement via Twitter. Is this the new trend? Is it not a real retirement? Is it not legitimate if you do not come out on Twitter first? I think it just says where he's at in his career.

He's not on a team. And he was the number four pick in the 2009 draft, and it's the middle of August. And he has no other way to announce his retirement other than Twitter. And he was supposed to be one of the safest picks. I mean, he's one of the biggest busts of the last 10 years. How about that 2009 draft? Pretty bleak.

Well, I mean, we looked at it today in the newsroom, and it was like you go through the first seven picks, and if not deeper than that, you want to read them off maybe? I don't know if we were... Well, I'm doing it off the top of my head, but Stafford was number one, so it's... We're okay there. It started out fine.

Jason Smith number two. Should I use this glowing box in front of me that is connected to the information superhighard? Jason Smith number two, that's a disaster. Tyson Jackson's number three. That's pretty bad, although he's still on the team, so he's better than some of the other guys. Number four in that draft was Aaron Curry.

Number five is Mark Sanchez. And it's sad that Mark Sanchez is the second best player in the top five. And the Jets traded up for him. Andre Smith, who a lot of people thought would have been a bust, what came number six, he's been good, and then Darius Hayward Bay number seven. By the way, this is all off the top of Greg's head. That's very impressive. The second half of that draft has the best player in the draft.

The second half of the first round, Clay Matthews. Right. Plus Hakeem Nixon, Percy Harvin. And I guess the first half has basically Matthew Stafford and Brian Cushing. Yeah, Cushing's there. Alex Smack, Cleveland. He's in there. He's in the second half.

He's 16. But it just goes to show how you never know anything with the draft. Curry was supposed to be a really smart athletic player that was like a can't miss. The Lions were negotiating with him and Stafford for the number one pick. They were kind of using Curry. you know, to leverage Stafford, they were going to take him. And then, you know, now it's four years later. He's out of the league.

And to Kay Rich's point, it is a retirement because his career is over. I don't care what you use, a fax or go snail mail. It's over. All right, guys. Next up from Bill Belichick News, Patriots release cornerback Razai Dowling. What does this mean for the Pat's secondary, if anything? Just means they're terrible at drafting defensive backs. He wasn't going to make the team.

I mean, he wasn't going to be a factor, but it's just a reminder how bad they've been drafting defensive backs over the year. Well, and they talked about here's the great thing about New England that the year before they swapped out a pick so that they could get a much higher pick than following season to take Dowling. But when they actually had to make the pick and it's a defensive back, New England can't close the deal.

They can't seem to get that right. What else, Crystal? All right, Stephen Jones, son of Dallas Cowboys owner, says that the Cowboys have a, get this, secret sauce for an NFL title. No, I like to cook. Can I get the recipe for my eagles? I don't know you want that recipe either, but you definitely don't want the Cowboys recipe.

Greg, you have the recipe, right? Yeah, I wanted to ask what is in this secret sauce, but I'll take a gander at it. Terrible self-scouting, overrating your own players. You got to throw in some dead cat money. I think that's important. Tasty. A lot of self-made hype. I think that's crucial.

um no depth make sure don't add any depth to the mix i think so am i missing i think so leaving your own publicity did you say that it was kind of in there yeah how about a flock of incriminating photos of uh high up executives at every network that decides who plays football games on prime time well wow taking shots at her boss well the ratings well i didn't i'm not pointing to us but there's a large shadowy league figure watching over your shoulder right now uh you also need a head coach that is not that strong and you need a lot of writers to fall for your hype every year no matter how many times and dan and i have been burned that we didn't jump back in but i've been burned so many times predicting great things for the cowboys okay so chrysla you have a very very high

wonderlich score for your first news reading what is the highest wonderlich score ever who had it well 50 is the best you can do that was a 52 wow i went above and beyond yes uh okay next before we get into our division previews, Wes, you want to talk a little pup list? What should we be looking for? Give me some Pup. Let's do a Pupless roundup. I'll give you four names, four guys who are put on the Pup list this week. Tell me which one is the most important player. Who was the biggest loss? Percy Harvin, Michael Crabtree, Jonathan Stewart, or Jay Ratliff? Well, for the season, I think it's Harvin. I think they'll survive. survive without him, but I just think he was going to be such a big part of what they do.

I think the other teams can, you know, recover better than the Seahawks will. Oh, sorry, go ahead. Well, initially I was going to go Harvin, but I think it's Crabtree because I think even this, in the last month or two, we've seen that Seattle is stronger, a wide receiver than we initially thought. And their defense is, in my mind, every bit potentially as good as the Niners. Losing Crabtree, I don't see that they've replaced him in any way in San Francisco. You don't like Marlon Moore?

I like Marlon Moore, but you're talking about 14 days ago. I wouldn't have known who that guy was. I don't like him at all. No, I don't like him either. Can I ask you kind of a spinoff of that question? Which of those guys has the best chance to make any type of tangible impact this season? Wow, that's a good question. I would guess, and this is...

Go over the list again. Ratliff, Jonathan Stewart, Crabtree, and Harvard. What's going on with Ratliff? It seemed... It was such a bad idea to keep him. And this one we first guessed on around the league, right when they brought him back, we said, this is crazy that they're paying a guy who was injured, who got in a yelling match with the team owner, he was unhappy, played really bad. DUI. DUI, forgot about the DUI.

This sounds like some relationships I've had. And they brought him back for $5 million. And now he's upset or he's hinting at being upset with the Cowboys training staff. They don't know if he's definitely going to be back this year at all. I would say Harvin has the best chance of impacting the playoffs. Maybe Jonathan Stewart has the best chance of being back by Halloween. Yeah. I think Jonathan Stewart will be back first, but I would go with Harvin

because his injury is not as serious. I don't think it's crappier. And they did have months of install and practices with Harvin on the field. They've tucked some of that away. But everyone has seen Harvin on that team. They've practiced with him, played with him. I think that he could be a complete X-factor in January if the Seahawks get where we think they'll be.

And I'm not putting much stock into Crabtree having a real impact. We saw how Suggs came back from that injury. He was heavier. He was slow. And Crabtree has to be explosive at that position. Don't forget that Sugg's tendon was partially torn. Crabtrees is fully torn. Well, there you go.

It's coming back from a more serious injury than Suggs. I don't love hip injuries either for Harvin. It doesn't sound too fun, but he's got a long time to recover. Also your favorite baseball player, A-Rod. So you have an issue of hip injuries. Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about. Anything else with Pup? We're Pupped out.

All right. Okay, so we have reached our penultimate division preview. The NFC South. That was a Wessling-like word there, penultimate. I know. I like it. Two-dollar word right there. We are on the NFC South, and I guess we could start with one big question.

Chris Wessling. We're going to keep rolling with Chris. Okay, we've talked about this idea we have that there is this transcendent group of quarterbacks and they can take their team to the playoffs year in and year out because they're that good. The Saints couldn't do it last year and we've said Sean Payton was a factor. I don't believe that they can do it this year because the defense simply isn't talented enough. Do you guys believe their defense is good enough to get to the playoffs this year? I do. Not to give away our predictions, but I've got them winning the division because

we've talked about if Peyton makes a difference, they won seven games with the worst defense, one of the worst defenses in NFL history, I think they can improve enough, although they're testing me with all these injuries. It's making it harder to pick this team. I think they can improve enough where you know what you're getting with Drew Brees and that offense and that running game could be really good. I think their offense is the most impressive thing in this entire division, and it'll carry them through. How devastating do you think it is losing both Victor Butler and Will Smith? They're two outside linebackers. Where those guys true impact guys that they are not going to be able to replace?

Do they have the depth where it will be that much of a drop-off? I would say they were both question-marked. People were excited about Victor Butler and his first chance at a starting job, but nobody knows how he would do. And Will Smith is a 3-4-de-Defensive end, not a 3-4-outside linebacker. I put Coleman ahead of Will Smith in terms of – and I don't think that Coleman is a great player, but he was brought on as he's been with Ryan before to teach that defense to all these guys who have no experience in the three, four.

The injuries there, I can't think of a team that's been more ransacked with injuries to the point where I'm not sure they can even do close to what Rex Ryan thought they were going to do. Jonathan Vilma, not that I expected him to help them that much at all, but he was expected to start, and we don't know when he's going to be back. It wouldn't surprise me if he does not play much this season at all. So that's four starters in your front seven. Yeah, none of them were that exciting, but they were still the guys you were playing.

planning to start. So they're back, I mean, legend on the field, Junior Galette. Your guy, Chris Wesleyan has to step up. Rob Ryan's. Rob Ryan's all pro. Maybe it's because he was a jet, but doesn't it feel like Jonathan Vilma's been in the league for 27 years? Yes. Yeah. Has he been? Although he moves. He moves like he's been in the league for 27 years. It's hard to link him to the Jets at this point. I think he's been so important to the Saints, but I don't think he's a great player for them at this point at any level. If you want to make a case for the Saints defense, Ryan's been good with secondaries, and they have Keenan Lewis, Malcolm Jenkins, Vaccaro,

who am I forgetting? Jabari Greer has been very good. Roman Harbor. Could be a okay second. Could be a good second. Could be, but they have a long way to go from last year when they were the worst secondary in what, the NFL history? Yeah.

Mark. You're just depressing this former New Orleans resident. Mark, give us a question about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All right, with Tampa Bay, you know, I really, I actually like the Bucks more than a lot of people. I think there's a lot of intriguing talent there. They got Revis on defense. They've got a great secondary.

I love Doug Martin. I love the receivers. Obviously, the question mark there, and it has been for a while, is Josh Freeman. And I am one guy that does not buy Greg Shiano's months of trying to repair his early statements that Freeman's his guy. I know he keeps saying that. But when I looked at Mike Glennon, I watched each of these Bucks games, I really like Glennon. I think that they drafted him to fit their system. And I'm wondering, does he finish the season as the team's starter?

I'm going to say yes. I'm finished believing in Josh Freeman, and I'm with you. What Greg Shiano said coming out of the season was fresh. He didn't believe in Josh Freeman. He wanted somebody better, and that's Mark Dominic's guy. He's not Greg Shiano's guy. To me, there's some kind of chasm there. There's some kind of division between Shiano and Freeman,

and I haven't seen enough out of Freeman to believe he's a franchise quarterback. Yeah, I don't think the team believes in him anymore and I think because of that he's going to have a short leash and if they're two and four and they like Glennon as much as we think they do I think they're going to say what do we have to lose I think it would happen much later in the year

he's a tough guy to evaluate we did the top 10 quarterbacks under 25 and look Mike Glennon's I don't know if he's ever going to put together a half of football like Josh Freeman put together in some of those comebacks. The Saints comes to mind. I'm forgetting another one where he just was on fire.

And he reminds you of Ben Rathesberger at his peak. That's who he reminds me of. And I don't know if Glennon has that upside. So I think Glennon is the quarterback only if they're three games under 500 at some point in the season. When that happens, then maybe. I think it would be a December thing. You've got a quarterback without a contract next year in Freeman. if they're five and eight or six and nine in December,

why not give Glenn in a game or two to see what he has? Yeah, they need to be out of the picture because if they're in it, because, you know, last year at one point, they had a winning record beyond the midpoint of the season, and they were surging and they were becoming this kind of hot story, and then Freeman completely nosedived, and so did the rest of the team.

And, yeah, I could see a switch happening myself just because I think Wes nailed it. This is the guy, Shiano, brought in. And whenever you inherit a quarterback, it's not good news for that quarterback if he's not playing at a supreme level. All right, Greg, give us a question on the Carolina Panthers. Mine's going to be at quarterback as well. And just with all the young quarterbacks last year, the rookies and then Kaepernick breaking out, Cam Newton, you know, wasn't as big a focus as he was, his rookie year. I just want to know what are your expectations for Cam Newton this year.

I'm a little worried about Newton coming out and the team getting off to a slow start and going through that funk again where the team ends up getting buried and then he puts his season together statistically. I'm not sold on him in terms of his ability to overcome yet. And until I see him come out strong or react well to adversity, I still think he's a guy that plays best when the stakes are lowest. I don't question Cam Newton in terms of his ability to surpass what he did statistically. in the first two seasons.

I think he could do that, but I think that the Panthers have an issue. The last two seasons under Newton, they've started like two and six or something and then surged down the stretch. When the games they were in didn't matter, it's like the team loosened up. The Panthers need to learn how to compete early in the year,

and that has a lot to do with Newton leading them. I'm not going to get on the whole Cam Newton leadership thing because I think he's made a lot of strides in that area. But to answer your question, Greg, I don't have a problem with Cam Newton putting on a better season this season than last year. I think he could do it. The Panthers are on my short list of the teams slow playing the rest of the league in the preseason with vanilla offense. The Rams, the Chiefs, and the Eagles are absolutely doing it.

And I think the Panthers are too, which I guess says I have more confidence in Mike Schuller than I should. Well, let's back up on Cam Newton. After his rookie year, the expectations for him were not that different than what we're talking about with Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin the third and Russell Wilson. That was the kind of quarterback we thought Cam Newton was. And if he is that kind of quarterback, aren't they going to be pretty good this year? You know, they have some talent on defense, especially up front. They have Cam Newton in his third year. Well, I think the Panthers are... Should the expectations be high, is what I guess. Yes, they should. And I honestly would, I think the Panthers are the kind of team that

if they went 10 and 6 or 11 and 5, who really would be that surprised? I mean, on paper, I I see holes all over the place. But I could see them doing that. At the same time, I could see them going 4 and 12. He absolutely belongs in the same discussion with Luck, Wilson, RG3, and Kaepernick. To me, the one thing, and this goes back to his slow starts, he has a tangible fault. He has the worst footwork in the NFL of any quarterback. Worse than Stafford?

Yeah, if you watch his feet, he's a lot of times throws flat-footed, and he doesn't put his whole body into the ball. And it's like that throughout the whole game. He just has awful footwork. And to go along with that, he has the worst accuracy of that top five young quarterback group. Because of his footwork. What a lot of people blame on Cam Newton's leadership, though, I blame on Ron Rivera. Not a good game manager at all. They lose a lot of close games, and I think that comes back to coaching.

Well, and that's one point. I can't think of a coach that's on a hotter hot seat than Rivera, and that team could potentially spin completely out of control, throwing Newton's entire season off too with it. just don't know okay so the falcons i'll finish with them uh they were the best team in the division last year came within what five yards of a super bowl appearance last year uh they have most of their cast back all their key guys and yet why does it feel like they're being overlooked as a super ball contender this year everybody's looking to the nfc west is it a fair that no one seems to be

taking the falcons seriously it's go ahead no you go i think it's unfair I think they proved last year. They were one of the better teams. They were one play away from the Super Bowl. Now, we don't know if Matt Ryan would have even been able to play in the Super Bowl, but... He says he would have been able to. They were one play away. I think they got better on offense.

You can debate that because of the offensive line questions. And I think they're a little bit more talented and inexperienced on defense. But what do we think is the real Falcons team? Is it the team that was skating by winning a ton of... close games, often against pretty bad teams in the regular season, or the team that played pretty well in the playoffs against very good competition, although, you know, let's not forget, really could have easily blown that game against Seattle. I mean, had an epic choke that they made up for with two plays.

To me, it's not unfair to overlook them, because I don't think they're as talented as the other top teams. I don't think their defense is that good, and I think it's a really tough division, and it makes total sense to me that they would come back to the pack. I think their defense is a big question mark compared to when you look at Seattle and San Francisco. I think, you know, it was a year ago that Atlanta had not proven to anyone that they could do anything in January. And we're still getting used to the fact that, honestly, that first half against San Francisco, they were nearly perfect. They played a wonderful half of football.

And yes, they came a play away from the Super Bowl. But the NFC is top-loaded right now, where if they were in the AFC, it would be hard to ignore the Falcons as a clear Super Bowl choice. But in the NFC, there's just too much talent. And I don't take the Falcons over potentially two other teams in that conference. Well, that's a really good setup now as we go to the records for the division. I'm really curious where you guys put Atlanta. We'll start with Chris Wessling. I have the Falcons in first place at 10 and 6, the only team from the division making the playoffs.

Panthers in second place at 9 and 7. Saints in third place at 8 and 8. Buck's bringing up the rear, the wheels come off the wagon, six and ten. Mark. Once again, Wes and I are on a party line here. I have the Falcons at 10 and 6, the only playoff team. I have the Buccaneers, however, at 8 and 8 second place. The Saints going 7 and 9, and the Panthers 6 and 10.

Rivera will not be coaching there a season from now. Okay. I have the Falcons at 12 and 4. I think they'll have another big regular. season. The Saints, 8 and 8. I'm not buying in on that defense. Panthers, 8 and 8, same thing. I have Newton questions and the Bucks, 7 and 9. I see those wheels coming off as well. I feel, actually, I'm already regretting 7 and 9. I'm thinking more 6 and 10, but I'll stick with it. Greg Rosenthal. A couple of weeks ago, we were all talking about Sean Payton, and we said how much

is he worth? Everyone said two or three wins. We didn't say which direction, but no one hasn't winning anything. I do, though. I have him winning the NFC South at 10 and 6. I have the Carolina Panthers. I really debated this as my second wildcard team at 9 and 7. I have the Falcons falling back to Earth at 8 and 8. By the way, people don't talk about that that was one of the most devastating title game losses that you could come up with. It's kind of like, oh, they blew a 17-point lead at home, and everyone gives them a good, you know, A-for-E effort. Yeah, but what about the Niners the year before?

That was worse with Kyle Williams. It's got to kill Falcons. They put the collective stink on Michael Turner and sent him out of the town quarters. It was somehow viewed as, okay, they're making strides, but it's a killer. You don't get chances like that too often, up 17. I think they won't get that chance this year. And I have the Bucks at 5 and 11. I just don't really trust the quarterback.

And someone has to fall here because I think it's a tough division. Okay. This would be the part of the show where we talk about Tuesday's hard knocks, but I am now the only ATL writer who watched the episode so now we're down to just waving that segment out on Friday why i can't call you out for that it's a dvr world it's the best show for a night i'm gonna watch it tonight all right let's all watch it so we can talk about the finale why don't we make a pact everyone can come over my house if they want i don't have a house let's say well now that i finally been invited i will i will show up all right good all right so uh yeah friday we'll do nfc west uh and anything else

coming up on friday greg uh i think that's it I guess we'll start looking ahead. We're not going to talk about the fourth preseason week because you should never talk about it. We've got a toaster on Friday, don't we? Ooh, yeah, that will be a nice tease. There's a toaster involved Friday, potentially. But I feel good that a big toaster competition is on tap. Okay, so we'll see you guys Friday.

Thank you to Kay Rich behind the glass, the mailman, the sizzler, the boss. Signing off. See you Friday. 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,

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