NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Quarter-Season Awards

Episode Date: October 3, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling break down the latest headlines from around the league and give you their quarterly NFL awards, including standout coaches, rookies, biggest disappointments and more.  Don’t miss the Week 5 “Thursday Night Football” preview of the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns matchup.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. Works nights at the factory of sadness. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I'm joined, as always, by a room full of heroes, Chris Wessling, Greg Rosenthal, and Mark Sessler. What up, boys?

Hey, Dan. Good of you to come in on your day off, like much earlier than planned. Well, I'll tell you what, this morning. Thank you for bringing that up, because this morning I was, I went to the third floor of my gym, which is not a place I'm at a lot. It's where the weights are, and I did some lifting. And I just want to say, a lot of this goes back to if we're really going to brawl, with the Damashek show, guys. I understand that my role is to become stronger and take down.

I don't know. Like, the way I look at it is Greg and Damashchak. What do you think, Greg? Can you take down Damashik? I think we'll just sit on the side and crack jokes or whatever. Okay. Mark, who do you think you would be best to take down? I would have had no problem taking down rank before he turned into, honestly,

he looks sort of like a semi-chizzled superhero at this point. He looks like one of those Chippendales dancers. Yeah, he concerns me. So I'll go TD. TD. And then, you know, Wes, I don't have any doubts about you because I do understand that in your days on Tybee Island that you used to take care of frat boys

in the parking lot outside Huckapoo's. Right. And as far as I'm concerned, rank as a frat boy, he's going down. Are we all just going to attack, right? Well, I got TD. All right, so let's all start thinking about that. That battle, it's heating up with the Damashchuk football program. Today is Wednesday.

We are on the precipice of Week 5 action. Where do you guys want to start today? Let's start with the news. Let's start with the news. K. Rich, how you doing? I'm great. How are you guys? We're doing okay.

What do you think about our chances in that fight, by the way? I'm just wondering, how come no one's taking on check? Do I have to be the one to do it? No, we're on the side. I don't think Damashik wants to be involved in this. really you don't think so he's more of the don king of this promotion or we could we could get k rich involved as well and then maybe they can get elliot harrison but then you have to understand there will be no hits to the face elli will make better rule the problem is damasheck and elliott's strategy

would they would just talk everyone to death they would just not stop talking and then eventually they'd sneak attack um all right k rich hit the news It has been a while since you've heard my intro music. That bonkers sax was especially bonkers today for some minutes. Now to the news. Oakland Raiders demote Matt Flynn to the number three quarterback behind McLeon and always prior to start. I can't say I'm surprised by this.

Poor Matt Flynn. The gig is up. I mean, listen, this guy's been getting a big fat paycheck for years based off one decent performance against the Lions. Well, it was more than decent. Well, it was, listen. Still, it was one game that didn't matter. The jig is up, too.

You don't see a coach come out after the game right away and say he didn't play very well too often, like Dennis Allen did, and you don't see a coach bench a $6 million acquisition in the offseason that you traded a draft pick for behind an undrafted rookie in Matt McGloin, and I don't think I'm reading too much into it to wonder what the issues are here

between Dennis Allen and the front office because he's basically saying, hey, Reggie McKenzie, general manager, the guy that you traded for and tried to give me to start isn't good enough to beat out Matt McGloin. Oh, and by the way, I cut your fourth round pick Tyler Wilson. Thanks, buddy.

Well, in two years on the job, the best quarterback Reggie McKenzie's come up with is Mike McGloin. Is it Mike McLean or Matt McLean? Can we get a rule? Some Irish, dude. It's Matt McGloin. And that tells you everything you need to know right now

because Cliff Clavin to my right, the mailman, if he doesn't have the name right, that's not a good sign for the Raiders. You know, and... Big game. This Sunday night, late night on the West Coast, it's going to be on NFL Network, Raiders and Chargers, with prior back. I think this is a big one for the Raiders to get that second win.

And to get closer to Wes's softball. pants. And one other thing, I know the funny thing about this, especially or maybe tragic, is that Terrell Pryor now is being viewed as, you know, the savior of that organization. We're not even sure that he's any good. I know he's shown things and

he surprised us all this season. But, you know, if that, the train goes off the tracks there, it is, oh man, it could get even worse for the Raiders and we'll have to see. Kay Rich, what else is in the news? All right. Next up, we have two interesting trades. The Jags trade offensive

tackle Eugene Monroe to the Ravens for draft picks and the cards trade offensive tackle Levi Brown to the Steelers for a conditional draft pick. These trades say to me that the traditional AFC North Powers, the Raven and Steelers, say the Bengals missed their chance to run away with the division, we know we have a chance now. Yeah, I mean the division is certainly up for grabs. I think that it's hard just to package these together because the Ravens, it was another very successful move by Ozzie Newsom. I look at what the Steelers did, and I just simply cannot understand what, after watching Levi Brown this season, what Pittsburgh's

front office sees in this guy. I heard people saying, oh, this is a win now move. Anyone who's watched Levi Brown, that's hard to sell that. You can't sell that to me. They're trying to win now with him. Him and Mike Adams, it doesn't matter which one of them is in there. They're in trouble with that. And what happened? So the Jaguars on Tuesday night trade Monroe to the Ravens. And I agree. I think that's a great trade. I think it's a good trade for both sides because the Jaggs get some draft picks and they'll

open up that left tackle spot for Jokul. But especially for the Ravens, because Monroe is a very good left tackle. Was this the Steelers almost panicking and saying now we have to do something and a little late to the party? No, these trades to me have nothing. You can't compare him. Levi Brown was going to get cut. It's probably a conditional draft pick that's a seventh round pick if he starts a bunch of games.

So who cares? It's basically a guy that was going to get released. Hey, we'll pay his salary for you. And the Cardinals were apparently done with Levi-Brown. Doesn't mean it was a good trade. I think Wessling's right. It shows that they're not giving up on this season. But the Ravens move is a huge move.

I mean, he could be Joe Flacco's left tackle for the rest of Joe Flacco's career. And they've been looking to fill that spot for years. Michael Orr couldn't do it, so they moved to the right side. Bryant-McKennie wasn't doing well this year and they'll try to give Monroe a lot of money in the off-season, I assume. And it's so hard to find a decent left tackle at this time of the season

that they went out and got a fourth and fifth round swap for this guy is a victory by the Ravens because it patched up what is a genuine hole for them without losing much, fourth and fifth round pick if he's a guy that can keep around for a while, that's a victory. And if this is the beginning of the end of Bryant-McKinney,

you can make the argument that Sweet P played a role. I think she did. She did. There's no doubt about it. An iconic figure in the NFL. Kay Rich, what else is in the news? All right.

Last up, this actually made me laugh a lot downstairs in the office. San Francisco's 49er safety, Dante Wittner, says he's changing his name to Dante Hittner. I don't know about you guys, but I'm smelling the remnants of Ocho Cinco, who went back to Chet Johnson,

lurking in the Niners' locker room. I don't know you want to be smelling the remnants of Ocho Sinko necessarily, but I'll let someone else comment on that. And how about this? How about the idea of ever changing your name where it's close to Hitler? Under any circumstances,

Hittner, way too close to Hitler, terrible idea, you don't want to do that. Somebody's got to, maybe he doesn't have a grasp on history, maybe he doesn't know that the ultimate tyrant of the 20th century had almost the identical last name. Just something to think about, Dante. I'm a fan of any move that allows us like a temporary relief

from the knowledge that sports are all a business if this allows us to have just a little bit of fun and Dante Wittner's not taking himself too seriously I'm on board with that but I don't know about this hitner thing with him it seems like didn't he knock out Pierre Thomas with a helmet to helmet hit in the playoffs a couple years ago

he about knocked himself out of the game two weeks ago against the Colts with a hit this guy's leading with his helmet too much and maybe they ought to have a talk with him about this little change. Does this team do the right thing and do a jersey swap? Well, there's where the business side comes in

because the NFL requires any name change for the player to purchase all remaining inventory of those jerseys that they made this season. So the only way it could be Hittner on the back is he has to legally change the name and he has to buy all those jerseys

which is not going to happen because it's you can get a loan from Matt Flint. There's a shadowy league figure just nodding his head, proud of himself, bringing my claws. Kevin Patra had a good idea that we should all take the first letter off of our last name, just in solidarity. And then my name would be Greg Ozenthal, which would be kind of like a cool Irish Jewish thing, like the O with the apostrophe. I'm just saying, you are extremely Irish. I've always thought you're Irish. This is the first I've knew.

Sessler and I would have almost the same name then. Esler and Essling. I like that. You are kindred spirits on some level. We don't even want to talk about. Anzis. Anzis. That almost sounds, that's actually depressing to think about it.

I don't want to lose the age. I like my age. All right, anything else, K. Rich? No, guys, that's all it. Take it away. Thank you, Crystal. All right, so we are officially at the quarter pole. We're four weeks through, well, we're not officially because they're 17 weeks.

So that kind of throws a little bit of a wrench into this. But, you know, just play along society. We are one quarter through the regular season. So I figure this would be a good time to maybe revisit some of our picks for the, you know, different awards for the end of the year and also maybe decide whether or not it's too early to get off that train or to stay on it. We'll start at the biggest spot, MVP. We're not going to dwell on this, Greg. You had Rafflesberg.

We've talked about that. I'm sure you're going to want to change that. I had Andrew Luck Sessler had Tom Brady and Wessling had Aaron Rogers None of us picked Peyton Manning which seems like it was a strange decision I did explain though that I felt

something would happen It was a feeling? Well yeah During the season That's why I went with Brady That something Erie was going to happen in Denver And that's why I went with someone else So it hasn't happened No not yet

So who is the MVP right now though Other than Peyton Manning Let's say that Amazingly, I think it's Philip Rivers. I think it's Drew Breeze, but I really want to say, Reggie Bush. I did a post on the site where I went through all the awards. We're going to do that weekly on the site. And I had Breeze, too.

I had Jamal Charles number three because he's second in the league in yards from scrimmage. He's their entire offense. Wesley mentions he closes out every game. I had Jimmy Graham forth. Who's more dominant right now catching the ball than Jimmy Graham? Nobody. he's you can't stop it I go Rivers because I think Breeze

listen that team is on the radar after that Monday night game everyone's like oh wait this potentially is a Super Bowl team we forgot how good they were under Payton but Breeze is doing what we expect Breeze to do Rivers was left for dead by the side of the road can you be an MVP if you blew the first game of the season

and then you lost to the Titans because you couldn't close them out I think he's on track yeah that's a little harsh he was flawless in that Titans game He played better in that Titans game. How many points did they score against the Tennessee Titans? They moved the ball up and down.

How many points did they score? For what they asked them to do in that game, they didn't have the ball. He played great. There was nothing more you could do if they run the ball 50 times. How many points did they score? Not much. No, right now. In the teens.

Drew Breeze would have 30 that game. They wouldn't let Drew Breeze throw the ball in the fourth quarter, or in the first three, really, in that game. Because he's Drew Breeze, MVP candidate. Hey, let's move on to defensive player of the year. Let's see, Greg had Clay Matthews, Wes and I both at JJ Watt, Sessler at Patrick Peterson. Who did we miss?

I think this award is one that if it's not off of sacks, it's off of a lot of word of mouth. I think Cameron Jordan, if they continue to do what they did and that defense turns around and stays where it's at, Cameron Jordan's going to be a real candidate for it. J.J. Watt's probably the winner. J.J. Watt, I think, is playing at just as high of a level as last year. One guy we should talk about is

Endama Kung Su who is playing great and Greg mentioned Richard Sherman I threw in Jason Hatcher too because I've watched every Cowboys game and I have a hard time believing there's more than five guys playing better right now than Jason Hatcher

I mean he's been such a factor so through a quarter of the season I think Watt for defensive player of the year it should be almost as big a blowout as Manning for MVP We better mention Justin Houston or the new whiniest fans in the country, the Kansas City Chiefs will come after us.

I smell a rant coming. Oh, there's a rant coming. Well, let's hear it. Well, you have beef with the... Flores yours, West. Look, I've got... All these Chiefs fans are bent out of shape. Every week since the beginning,

I have mentioned how great their defense is. I've made it a point to mention this because they're playing great. And I pick against them a couple of times, and apparently they're hanging on my picks, like, for a game. If I get a cessler and I get a feeling that another team,

might beat them, it's disrespectful to the Chiefs. Can't you just enjoy your 4-0 start with your boring quarterback? I'd rather watch grass grow than watch Alex Smith play quarterback. How many people have you blocked on Twitter? Roughly half of Twitter. Actually, you know we should do? We should have Wes check, and then maybe we'll all take a guess and we'll see whoever comes closer. I don't know. How can you check that? To sum up this rant, your 4-0, who cares what anyone else thinks about your team, enjoy your team's hot start. Well, if you really want to get Chiefs fans mad, it's funny you say this, I do this quarterback index thing where I rank them all, and I figured quarter pole, I decided to go

one to 32 this week. Had Alex Smith 25, might have been a little harsh, and yeah, I got about 30 or 40 people just saying they'll never read me again. I'm a joke. You know why? Why? After Dalton? He was after Andy Dalton. Right, isn't he? I don't know. Wes, since it's still in its nascent form, can you explain what AD after Dalton means?

After Dalton is the point at which your quarterback is no longer the solution. He's a problem. And it's meant to be a ranking of quarterbacks. We consider your quarterback to be worse than Andy Dalton. I think it almost could be after Alex Smith, because he's kind of that guy too. You could do worse than him and you can win games with him, but you should want to do better.

I think it works for Dalton because he is a problem, whereas Alex Smith could be a Trent Dilford type of game manager. Dalton turns the ball over too much to be a game manager. All right, let's steer back towards our conversation. By the way, Kevin Patcher. Such a stickler. Listen, we're talking defensive player of the year, we're talking about AD.

And I know I played a part in that, but we've got to get the train back on the tracks. Kevin Patrick, by the way, chose Alden Smith as defensive player of the year. That might not happen. prediction. That's a rough pick. Okay, moving on, Coach of the Year, Sessler, you had Mark Tressman, mostly because he spells his name with a C, right? Largely.

Wes had Mike Tomlin, yikes. Dan had Rob Chudzinski, feeling decent about that, and Greg had Chip Kelly. Oh, I thought I had Andy Reed, really? Chip Kelly. Andy Reed is the runaway favorite right now, right? This is an award that's really hard to have us.

How did none of us take Andy Reid? This is a award that it almost is meaningless to pick after four games because everyone is a favor. I mean, if Bill Belichick keeps this up, he'll win. If Sean Payton keeps up, they're not all going to keep it up at this rate. I think they would be right in the mix. Can Sean Payton win? I don't, with everything that happened, is it tougher for him to win to be seen as a positive narrative? I think he's coached the year material if they turn around and go 13.3.

He would be my pick because I think we've already seen what he's done in game. I take him over Reed personally. I just don't know if that will happen. And I think you should get credit for your hires. I mean, that's what we're giving Reed credit for because their offense is better, but it's not great. It's really what he's done in the organization. Let's give Jim Schwartz a little love, too.

How about that? I like that lion's. I have a tough time with that one. What about this? And Greg, you might be able to help us with this. I'm not sure. 2007 did Belichick get coach of the year, 16 and 0. Yeah, he did.

All right, so John Fox has to be thought about. certainly Peyton managed coaching that offense well there's a lot of teams on pace to go 16 and oh the chiefs are yeah but come on

there's a difference just like no one now they're after you nobody yeah nobody bought into the dolphins as an undefeated team and they showed it on Monday so you're right

good that's analysis Dan that is sharp thank you moving on moving right along rookies of the year Greg had Eddie Lacey and Alec Ogletree

I had Eddie Lacey and Honey Badger, Sessler had DeAndre Hopkins and Starr Lutelelele, and Wessling had Eddie Lacey and also Tyron Mathieu. Wow. Lutelelele. I don't know what is this going on? I would probably pick...

Incorrect pronunciation? I would probably pick Gio Bernard as my offensive rookie the year through four games, but I'm not changing my pick. I think Lacey still is a chance to be that guy the rest of the way. defense Honey Badgers play great I have no problem sticking with that pick

I do like Sessler's boy Star Latulet though I will change in any picks It's only four weeks You're not allowed to change Yes we are we are allowed to do Whatever we feel like basically Well that's the Jim Harbaugh

We can do what we want to do Well that was the exercise I thought We could jump off the train That we boarded initially No we can't get off But it's just a matter of You know Could we if we had that option

It doesn't matter I would not get off I will say I think Hopkins to win this kind of thing, needs to string together. It seems a little up and down to me in that offense. He disappears too much. Yeah, he had that great week two game, but he still seems to be finding a role in that offense.

Star to me, I think he could get Kikoed here by Kiko Alonzo. But I'm going Star. I think that, honestly, he doesn't look like a rookie to me. That's the big difference between him and Elijah. He just looks like he's been in there for three or four years. Right. There's a lot more good defensive candidates. Ziggy Ansis played well.

Not saying he's the guy right now, but he could get there. Sheldon Richardson's play well. You mentioned Alonzo. Mingo. I think Starr is the pick right now for me, but there's no runaway. I think it's interesting. But Mingo is down at the 5, 6, 7, Terry, and that shows how strong this list is, if he's down that far.

I'll be annoyed, and I know Westwell, too, if Manuel, if he doesn't sharply improve, wins offensive player because he's a quarterback. Because he hasn't played well. Exactly. He's been okay. He hasn't been that much worse of an NFL player than Gio Bernard or D'Andrey Hopkins necessarily. Because he's helping them. I think you have to judge quarterbacks on a different level.

He's made plays to help them win. Well, then. Right? It's not a great class for offensive. Because you know what? We would have thought, Oteyvon Austin could potentially be running away with this thing. He's not even on the radar. Right.

Which, were you going to say something? Well, I mean, that's a sliding scale. You can say that about anybody. Is Sam Bramford an MVP candidate because he helped the Brams to a win? I think of rookie quarterback. I think quarterbacks do end up getting extra credit for a good reason because Joe Bernard hasn't been that huge of a factor relative. He would be my pick, too.

It sounds like you're saying because other people do it this way, we're going to do it this way. No, I think... Quarterbacks shouldn't get extra credit if they're not playing well. He's played okay. He's played about what you... Feisty. He's played what you would want out of a rookie quarterback. I think they're happy with him.

Not what I would want out of a rookie quarterback. You're tough. Maybe I am, but I like quarterbacks who play. Mark and I are going to excuse ourselves from the room, so you guys can hash this out. There's some real heat here today. How about this? How about, okay, so those are the awards. Biggest surprise this year, either a player or team or coach, Mark, why don't you start things off?

I have to go Cameron, Jordan. I did not watch enough of him last year to on anything that he had done predict he would get off to the strong start frankly the whole defense you know outside of Greg no one saw this coming and he's my pick I think he just he's looked dominant consistently oh if you did watch him it wouldn't have helped you because he was a great run stopper he kind of seemed like one of those three four defensive ends that stopped the run can't rush the passer and he's like he's a new player

here's the juicy stat courtesy of pro football focus Cameron Jordan has 16 QB hits through four games, which is better than JJ Watt. So to say who has 13, so to say that he is improved as a pass rusher is really almost an understatement. He was a run defense specialist last year. I wonder how much you credit Rob Ryan for turning him into a pass rusher. Can't stop that Saints defense, Wes. I know. I'll never bet against them again.

Wes, you don't bet. No, no. It's not legal. Wes, who is your biggest surprise? You know, I'd love to say Reggie Bush, but we had seen signs that maybe the USC Reggie Bush was coming back. I'll take the quarterback whom I compared to Carson Palmer in August. I thought Philip Rivers was washed up.

I thought his arm was gone, and it's not. He made some of the prettiest passes last week, and we should all recognize that Bruce Carter cannot cover Danny Woodhead. So if any Chargers fan Has listened to the extent of this podcast They're no longer seating at you For your earlier comments Hey to their credit

They don't see they don't show that hatred on Twitter You know the thing with Philip Rivers too Is if you remember how he was a complete afterthought By a lot of people that are considered experts You know the way he was throwing the ball The way and even preseason People described his passes as balloons I mean what happened

I know it can't be just there has to be a reason why he became this guy again if there were signs to the contrary for two straight years. What has changed with Philip Rivers? Obviously, his talent isn't great around him. I think we see this with quarterbacks a lot, and as often as we see it, I mean, I remember the first time I noticed it as a football fan

when Brett Favreve was surrounded by tons of talent. Great offensive line with Frankie Winners and those guys. He had Antonio Freeman, he had Robert Brooks, he had Sterling Sharp, towards the tail end of his Packers career, all that talent was gone, and you saw his play suffer, and everyone just started bearing him.

There's this whole generation of American football fans who think Farr was overrated because they missed his MVP years, and only saw the years where he had bad surrounding talent. And that's the kind of thing that Big Ben is dealing with the first few weeks this year. Rivers is dealing with it, or dealt with it last year. When your offensive line is terrible,

and then guys like Antonio Gates have to stay in the block, it just, you're not going to play as well. It wasn't that bad last year. Public perception gets to a point with quarterbacks where his story's written and you just believe it. He played great at the end of last season. He made a lot of good throws on a weekly base.

Made a lot of interceptions too. But he wasn't ever that bad. Well, he had more turnovers than any quarterback in the league, including Mark Sanchez. But, like, Eli Mani has more turnovers than anyone in football the last three years, and we don't think he's a total bum. A big part of this discussion is pressure. Yeah.

You fall into bad habits. You know, Greg Cosell used to say that Philip Rivers is the best quarterback in the NFL with defenders in his face. By the end of last year, he was saying he was one of the worst defenders in the NFL with defenders in his face. And I think, you know, Sam Bradford, this has happened to him. Because he started his career with no offensive line, he's developed bad habits. Is it interesting also that we see Ryan Matthews looks refreshed to me. And Antonio Gates. Gates looks like a completely revived younger player.

You know, there was so much bad energy in that organization. I think they kept the coaching staff and the GM around a year, if not much longer than they should have. Out of the gate last year, there were so many problems in that organization. It's like this change, this coaching change, has been good for them. Along with him growing as a pastor, he looks like a different guy in the pocket. But I also think that they just simply said the chargers are starting over and it's worked. Okay, moving on. Mark, you had Cameron Jordan. I will go with Jordan Cameron of your Cleveland Browns.

I mean, I didn't watch the Browns close enough to see this guy as a rising star, but he arrived fully for him this year as a stud through four games, 30 catches, 360 yards, five touchdowns. That's Jimmy Graham like production. The only difference, of course, is Jimmy Graham is catching passes from Drew Breeze and Jordan Cameron is catching passes from a combination of Brandon Wheaton and Brian Hoyer. Well, and real quick, it's funny that we, Lord of Turner was the problem, one place.

He certainly has a pedigree with tight ends. He goes to Cleveland. I think he has a big role, along with Chud, in Jordan Cameron's development, but it's an indictment of Pat Schumer's regime, too, because they could not make anything of him last year, and they needed him. There was space for him to contribute. He wasn't a blip on the radar. This staff just found a way to get his talent out there on the field.

I would be surprised, too, except I read Making the Leap, which Mark Sessler featured You know, Jordan Cameron. Apparently, Dan did not. You know, I did a stat projection. I don't read any Sessler posts. No, and it goes both ways. It's a anthem. I never would have seen what he's done over four games as a possibility for him.

Yeah, it's been really amazing. Greg, who is your pick for surprise of the early going? I'm going to go with the Indianapolis Colts in terms of how they've played. I never thought this defense was going to be any good. They're fourth in the league and scorers. defense. Robert Mathis is tied for the league in sacks. They're running the football. They've turned into a totally different team and they're better. And this is a team I thought Andrew Luck was going to just have to carry them. And I think they're a really good team. I think they have a good

defense. Maybe we didn't give Pagano enough credit for getting his program together because on paper the players don't seem like they're there on defense and they're dangerous. They're turning into the Seattle Seahawks on us. They are, which is not as much fun to watch. But it might be, you know, their way to make the Super Bowl. I mean, I think this is, this week's game against Seattle is fascinating because I think you have to take the Colts really seriously with that quarterback and that defense. Okay, let's move on to biggest disappointments,

and I'll start this one. This is somebody we've touched on a couple times now. Tavon Austin, St. Louis Rams, this was a guy that, you know, I think a lot of people got excited during the draft process in what he could do. I think a lot of people got excited during the draft process, process, the ramp up to, you know, what he could be. I think it was Mike Mayak and said he could not be covered in small spaces.

Turned out he's been very easily covered in small spaces, and a lot of that has to do with the game plan around him. So we have not seen anything from Tejvon-Austin to tell us that he could transform the Rams' offense, but again, maybe this is more a game plan scheme situation. I don't think we should be surprised when a rookie-wide receiver struggles. They always struggle. But don't we remember this was a little different the way this guy was being hyped up. He was being touted as something different.

He was compared to a smaller version of Percy Harvin who did come in and take the league by storm as a rookie. There was a, and it was in-house, a lot of hyperbole surrounding Tavon. So I think it's hard not to call him a disappointment. It may not be his fault, but his numbers, no one would have said, oh, this is where we think he'll be. First name basis, huh? Right now I would draft Robert Wood. over Tavon Austin. I think Woods is great. Wouldn't you at this point?

No, no, because when we talk about my biggest disappointment I'll make that point clear. Well, let's talk about your biggest disappointment. Well, let's stay right there in St. Louis, and I'm going to wrap biggest disappointment, Gabbert Zone, and after Dalton into one big award. Brian Schottenheimer and Sam Bradford can share this

award. This team, all we heard all of season, how they have so much young talent. They're going to spread the field. They haven't done anything. This is one of the most boring teams in the NFL to watch, and they have so much talent, they should be operating in space well, and they're not doing any of that.

I think Bradford has regressed. I think it's on Schottenheimer to use Tavon Austin better, and he hasn't done it. So they are my biggest disappointment. I couldn't agree more, because the one thing about them, so, you know, let's say one or two weeks, and they find out, hey, we're not, we haven't cooked up something on offense that's really worked here.

They go into the third, and the fourth game, nothing looks different. No adjustments. Exactly the same thing that they did the week before. Right. Maybe they'll prove us wrong in the next few weeks. To play devil's advocate, I guess, on one part is, you know, I did see some writing this week and analysis that Brian Schottenheimer is now taking two first-round quarterbacks

and Sanchez and Bradford, and neither of them look any good. But I really think that's more about the quarterback talent on its own. I don't think you could put that on Schottenheimer, but at the same time, this guy now has a reputation as somebody that maybe is not an outside-the-box thinker on offense. Well, listen, you take Andy Reid. considering his pedigree. I mean, some coaches do take middle-of-the-road quarterbacks and get the most out of them. I don't think anyone's saying, hey, listen, Sanchez, and from what we know of Bradford,

these are, you know, Hall of Famers waiting the wings that Schottenheimer ruined. He just doesn't even really get them to do what they possibly could the best they can. I mean, Bradford looks like a complete disaster. The whole team does. That was the worst, that was one of the worst games of his career that we all watch, though. I think that's fresh in our minds. He hasn't been that bad every week. I think if you pulled league executives, they would put Sam Bradford among the most talented

quarterbacks in the NFL. Still? Yes. I think they would say that. Well. And I think to that point, you heard the Rams say just a year and a half ago, they said that. We think this guy can be the best quarterback in the NFL. That's why we're giving up the chance to draft RG3.

He seems just good enough to get you beat and get you fired. I think that's who he is, but I think his talent is higher than that. Cecil, you're a disappointment. You know, for me, it's more a response to what I heard some people saying, oh, you know, this year's quarterback that everyone thinks is nothing who's going to prove everyone wrong with a Super Old title is Andy Dalton. Never bought it. So I guess I'm not even that disappointing because this is what I expected,

but Andy Dalton, to me, it has flatlined. And Greg, Greg said it best. This is a guy that essentially he came into the league at his ceiling. I find him as boring to watch as Sam Bradford, and I'll tell you why, because the Bengals actually have done a nice job, like the Rams, of surrounding him with a number of skill players that even an average game manager could do a lot with. You go watch that game against the Browns.

It's not just Cleveland's defense, which I think is a good defense. Dalton does nothing to make the players around him better, and he did nothing to lift him out of a dark situation they were in that game. It's like if they don't roll in with a lead at some point midway through, he can't do anything to rescue them. He's a very disappointing quarterback. Here's Andy Dalton's two-in-one-quarter-year career in one sentence. If A.J. Green isn't open, the Bengals offense does nothing.

And that fan base hates hearing that, but it's true. It's happened over and over. It happened against the Texans in the playoffs. It happened against Cleveland. You get a cornerback that can shut down A.J. Green. There's nowhere for that team to go. Greg, your disappointment. Well, I'm not going to try to get too cute here.

The New York Giants have given up more points than any team in football. If you didn't know Tom Coughlin was coaching this team, you would think it was coached by one of the, you know, this is not just a team going 0 and 4 like the Bucks, let's say, have with some drama. This is a team that does nothing well. They can't run it all. They can't operate on offense at all. Their offensive line is performing at a worse level than any offensive line I can remember.

Oh, and they have the worst defense in the league. So this is a team, if you didn't know it wasn't the Jaguars, they've been just as bad as the Jaguars. And to see an organization like that struggle to that degree, you know, they have time to bounce back. But if this kept up, this is the type of thing that actually hurts Tom Coughlin's Hall of Fame can I see. I'm serious. If he goes down with a 2 and 14 team like that's that embarrassing, it's going to hurt him.

I don't know about that. He's got the two rings and they were very memorable games, especially the first one. It would have to, I would think it would have to be multiple poor seasons. If he goes one and then is tired of it and walks out the door, I think he's safe personally. Two rings automatically get you in the hall as a coach? No, Tom Flores has two rings. Yeah, I don't know.

Jimmy Johnson has two rings. He's not even close, and he's had a better. I would take Jimmy Johnson over Tom Coughlin any day of the week. I'd love to be the sculptor that gets just to create that Jimmy Johnson's statue with the hair. Oh, I thought you were to say Tom Cluffin, like you have to throw in some roots. Well, who would you rather craft, would you rather craft Chimmy Johnson's hair or Tom Flores's hair? Wow. I'm going Johnson.

They're both pretty nice. Going Johnson. Well, we're never going to find out. Imagine, though, if Rex Ryan was coaching this Giants team, what the reaction would be in New York. I mean, it is the biggest catastrophe you can imagine so far. Well, that's maybe because Tom Coughlin doesn't promise things before he delivers them. Oh, stop. Well, no, but that's, I mean.

That's not the spot for the Rex statement. Coughlin is one of the more. humble coaches around there. He's from a different time than Rex Ryan. I don't even know what that means, but he is. Plays the is oe-euvre. Don't get me started on Rex Ryan. All right, so that's where we're at.

Those are our, that's our look at the quarter point of the season. Before we go, we should do a little talk about Thursday night football, mostly out of respect for Mark Sessler. It is, the Buffalo Bills are heading to the dog pound. They still call it the dog pound? You don't need to talk about this game on my behalf. They're just to have to go in and take. Take care of business.

Who's the behalf of we talk about it? You just got to go in and take care of business. I'm scared to death of Derek Anderson versus Trent Edwards part two. Oh, stop it. This is Brian Hoyer, who I am still juries out, but Brian Hoyer, as a fan, was in Cleveland Stadium when they played that last game before they moved, ripping the stands out of the dog pound and throwing in the ground. I'll take him over Brandon Whedon. That's not a felony.

And now he's the starting quarterback. That was a crime of the heart. They could be in the first place. I'm excited about this game. I like it when the random teams you don't see as much are on national television. And maybe Chris Wesleyan only likes watching, you know, the greatest teams on Earth every week. But I think this is a pretty intriguing match. You can stick me with that reputation.

I don't care. I like to watch good football at the expense of bad football. This is my thought on the game. I said it to Mark downstairs. I'll say it again. If we want to take the Browns seriously on any level as a Cinderella-level team that can make some noise in the AFC this year, at least in the wild card race

or who knows the division that's not a good division win this game. You're at home you should win the game Buffalo is not a very good team especially on the road they're pretty terrible

why are we sure Buffalo is not a good team do you think Buffalo is a good team they're not a great team my point is it's not like Cleveland is facing a team that's better than them or superior on some level

I think this is a winnable game and then the reason I say that is if you take care of business this game you've got a tough schedule coming up for the browns you got first lions at packers at chiefs versus ravens into your buy if you want to take a run at this and try to get to nine wins you got to win on thursday i think we need to be careful of assuming too much that we know anything after two weeks we all were making jokes about the browns how stupid your prediction was to have them at nine

wins now it looks like maybe it'll be okay we don't know if the bills are good or not they have they have a pretty good defense i think we don't know if the browns i mean this could be an 11-win team. It's so early in the year and there's so much we don't know. I'm excited about this game because I do think the Browns have a chance to be really good because they have a top five defense and they have a pretty good quarterback. These Thursday night games, do they? Wow. You're in. All right. Maybe I'm getting carried away, but they have a quarterback that's given them a spark and it's an upgrade for them and they have a really good defense. These Thursday night games have been, to Wes's point, I don't care who it is,

playing some of the worst football that we've seen. I don't know if it's the short practice week, but there was someone out that has a stat that over the last something like 19 Thursday Night Affairs, there have been 40 touchdowns and 40 interceptions. That it's the team that can run the ball better. That's one. And if that's the case, if Spiller's healthy,

Cleveland's got really essentially nothing at running back. Buffalo, if it's a grinded out type thing, that's not a good game for Cleveland. Wait, wait, wait. The Browns can run much easier against the bill, run defense, then the bills can run on the Browns front seven, which has shut down everybody. In theory, you're right. I hope that, you know, Cleveland's defense is the reason they're two and two. We'll see. It's a lot of defensive talent on both of these teams. Real quick, let's go

around and pick that game. Greg. I'm taking the Browns. Mark? I'm going to go Browns too. Better. Geez. It's a coin flip game for me. I'm taking the Browns. Zero emotion from West. Refuses to admit. I'm a refuse Nick when it comes to this And I will take the Browns as well so that if Patra listens to the podcast, he has a setup for a hero pick. This will be a good litmus test. I haven't said any of my pick yet. I could still pick the bills.

No, you can't. No, now you can't. If you were really playing the game. Respect the pod. If you were trying to just beat each other at picks, you would definitely want the bills here. Because I agree, it's kind of a coin flip game. Okay, so that is Wednesday's podcast.

On Friday, we will be back. We will talk about that game. Hopefully, Cessler will be in good space. spirits. We will also go over all the week five games. Until then, this is Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, K. Rich behind the glass, and of course, Lyle the intern. Until Friday. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down.

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