NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Schedule Release Extravaganza!

Episode Date: April 24, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- reveals the 2014 NFL schedule!  Don’t miss out as the gang breaks down all of the biggest matchups and storylines in the season ahead.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 are NFL media outsiders. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hensis. I'm joined by room filled with Heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosentahl. What up, boys.

Hey, Dan. Welcome back, Wes. Thanks. Good to be here. Glad to see you decided to return. 92% won out over the 8%. I know. The odds were in our favor, and it all worked out.

And some of our listeners are already welcoming you back. Everyone's a little more excited. The office, we weren't the same without you Monday, Wes. One of our worst shows ever. I'll say it. It's good to know that I'm not easily replaced. No, you definitely, the chair, did not beat you. This is a very special, very special around the league podcast.

It is the, let's see, what are we going to call it? It is the scheduled release special. Bonanza. Sounds good. I like Bananza. It's extravaganza. What do we like, bonanza or extravaganza? Extrava Bonanza.

It is the schedule release Extrava Bonanza. Bonanza, that doesn't mean the same thing. It is the schedule release extravaganza. How about that? Arthur Joseph would be proud of that. Vocal coach. Arthur Joseph, if you listen to One Day's podcast. Sorry, you missed him, Wes.

Yeah, I'm not sorry. And you know that I don't want you to go to those because I don't want you to change, Wes. Are we burying the lead, though? What? The schedule being released? Well, more importantly, it is the birthday of our friend and host, Dan Hansis. Oh, that's not the lead. Oh, get you Dan Hanses.

Oh. Get you Dan Hansis. Kansas is the man's best ready over read. Now listen to the sounds from around the lead. Wait, you get a theme song all of a sudden? Whoa, that Young Monday, weighing in. At Young Monday, who is a Southern California area rapper and good friend of downstairs editor David Ely supplied that

after a series of recording sessions. So thank you, at Young Monday. Check out his stuff. I thought that was pretty professional, actually. As far as introductions go, that's better than any interest music I've ever had. That's great. It did take them six months to put that. together.

Six months is a little generous. Generous. Things take time. And David Ely downstairs told me that Young Monday might even work up some songs for the rest of the crew. Oh, all right. Now I like it better. I like, though, the other day when we first got this, Dan said, let's save it.

Let's save it for a day that's really, in all long. You knew your birthday was coming. Listen, this is a job I take seriously. Young Monday and I are going to become a duo. Old Tuesday bastard, that's going to be money. Wow. I kind of like that. So, yeah, today is the schedule release extravaganza.

No, we don't need the music again, Gold Standard. Come on. How are you, Gold Standard? I'm doing fine, thanks. Sorry, I got a little giddy. I know, everybody's a little excited. In fact, this is what's really exciting. The schedule is released on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Can't wait. A little inside baseball or inside football is maybe more appropriate. We are recording this before the same. schedule release in our hands right here is the 2014 NFL schedule and I could tell you something it feels very good to have this and the rest of society doesn't in fact it feels almost too good you ask me if I have a God complex let me tell you something I am God it's an old Baldwin that is that is my spirit animal Alec Baldwin from 92's malice.

So we have the schedule right here, and let's get right into it. That's all this show is going to be about. Forget about news. Forget about another free agency segment. We're not going to be talking about the Panthers Wide Receiver situation. This is going to be all-schedule, Greg Rosenthal. There is no more news. It's perfect.

Yeah, this is perfect timing. The NFL machine trudges on. And all due respect to Adam Schefter, I've got to give him respect that he pointed out on Twitter today that what mark well so you know mark Cuban obviously very antsy and agitated about the NFL's increasing creeping schedule which seems to be a year-round beast tonight's schedule release coincides to the minute with the tip-off of the Dallas Mavericks playoff competition who are the Mavericks playing mark another basketball team the Spurs I want to watch that game just testing your outside NFL sports knowledge you did not disappoint um

So, yes, we have the schedule, and we're going to go through it right now. And, you know, like good podcasts, as we kind of plotted out, if we were not in control of the schedule, if we were not Alec Baldwin in Malice, what would we want to know from the schedule? So we're going to give you the listeners all the pertinent information. Why don't we start with week one, gentlemen, because everybody loves week one, because what ends up happening, having been through this rigmarole of the NFL yearly schedule now for almost four years myself, you end up writing ceaselessly and reading ceaselessly about that week one game that your team is playing. So why don't we start right there?

And Greg Rosenthal, what better way to start than the Thursday night season opener? We've got to give our boy Kevin Patra some love the day after the Super Bowl, or even the day of the Super Bowl, he wrote it, predicting saying what he wanted to be the opening night game. He wanted the rematch of the fail Mary, the Packers, go away. into Seattle and that's what he got and I think it was a great choice who can't get excited about little Aaron Rogers Russell Wilson action yeah it was the game that that really to me is the most infamous at least regular season game of this century you know you'll never I'll never forget watching that everybody remembers of course our own Mike silver then with Yahoo going up to Aaron Rogers

and just mouthing you know what the and Rogers being like I don't know man and just walking off And it really was the game that led to the end of the replacement refs. So now these teams square off again at CenturyLink, and that is a nice way to start things. I think it's a preview of the NFC Conference Championship game. I love the Packers this year. Greg and I will both be predicting them to make it to the Super Bowl, I think. That's true. I think it's a nice move by the NFL to do exactly that, to put a team that the Green Bay from last season,

we never got to see them at their full power, obviously. You've got Aaron Rogers back, and you've got a big chunk of defensive players back. They are a sleeping giant. They are. I mean, it's kind of a hark back to a moment that wasn't a proud moment for the league. And they're saying, we don't care. We're rolling this out anyways. Well, it's the best player in the entire league, Aaron Rogers, against the best team.

And they had good options. They could have gone with Denver as a rematch. They could have gone with San Francisco. But I like that they're not just counting on everyone to tune in for this first game, which anyone would anyways. There were a couple years that the Titans were involved in week one, that the lame dolphins team I think was playing Pittsburgh in Weektime. Forget that stuff.

Put the biggest heavyweight thing you can. Peyton Manning just called. He says, what do I have to do to say that I'm the greatest player in the league? Be better than Aaron Rogers, which is not. I don't know. He's old. Wow. We're going down that road to then?

I'm just saying it. Who wouldn't take Aaron Rogers? It's got ugly very fast. For the 2014 season, if we go around the room, who you're taking? taking Rogers or Manning. I'm taking Rogers. Rogers. That's no-brainer. Peyton Manning. All right. So let's look at the rest of the game. Mark, who would you take?

I go A-Rod. Of course. Most importantly, the gold standard. Aaron Rogers or Peyton Manning, 2014. Who do you want? Is this even a question? Aaron Rogers. Come on. Oh, yeah. You're a Packers fan, right? Cheese-Head. Cheese-Head. I forgot about that. Dubious. All right, so let's go through the rest of the

week-one games. Why don't we just, I'll go down, I'll read through them and you guys can interject at some point. Saints at Falcons. These are the early games. One of the best division rivalries in the NFL. True, actually. I laughed because I forgot that the...

It's so easy, like, the Falcons were good for so long, and then there was so bad last year. You forget that, oh, this team deserves respect. I'm sorry, Atlanta Falcons. The Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens. Bengals start 0-1. Buffalo Bills at Chicago Bears. Can't all be winners?

The Washington Redskins at Houston Texans. That's a nice, that's actually a nice game. You get RG3. Everybody wants to see how he'll be playing, and now he'll be going against David and Clowney and J.J. Watt coming at him. I like that. I like it.

And a team with no quarterback. We are going to talk about these games way too much. But it is one of those, it's the first game of the season, and it's two brand new head coaches. It's kind of like you can set the tone for your season, especially Houston as a very easy, early slate of games. And it's like, all right, these are two teams. teams that you really know nothing about.

You can sit the toe. I'm requesting to cover that game right now. Okay. You got it. That's the earliest request ever. And Mark is already putting his request for Titans at Kansas City Chiefs. Can't get enough of that. The Patriots start against the division rival.

The Dolphins in Miami. My New York Jets are home to face the Oakland Raiders. That should be interesting. Glenn Foley goes for 400 yards in that game. Hold on. How ugly for New York if they lose that game? Got to win that game. And we'll get into, we're going to get into that later.

Jaguars at Eagles, Browns at Steelers. Get Ready, Sessler. How do you like that as a start to the season? I like it because Cleveland has not started on the road since 1995, and they had only won one of those 20-something home openers in between. That's a fact? Get him on the road. Now we know how long an official NFL apology lasts.

See, Greg, outside of New England, certain teams suffer and go through hardship. That's a preposterous, that they've won one of the. those home openers in almost 20 years. How does the... And that truly is... You know who their quarterback was? They've had 4,000. Oh, when they last one.

Let's see. Well, good luck to you, Mark. The Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams. Domes. Boring. The Niners at Gero World. That's interesting. That is.

The Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers. It's kind of interesting. People don't know what we're going to get from the Panthers next. year. A lot of people think the bucks will be better. Colts at Broncos on Sunday night football. That is very fun.

That is what I'm talking about. Again, not saving the bullets. Just put it all out there. That game will, there will be stories of panic in Denver after the result of that game. Whoa, is that a Sessler? The Colts beat them last year. They're going to whip them again. The first Sessler of the 2014 season, ladies and gentlemen.

Does that mean you have to stick with that when we make our week when they're in? It's in. I'm with the Broncos right now for that game. Just as you did in the Super Bowl. And then there were always, whoa. That was a dagger. Bonson burner blow torch. And then, of course, Monday, two Monday night games always in week one.

The Giants at the Lions and Chargers at the Cardinals in that late game. That's an uninspiring Monday night helping. The Giants are on primetime every single week of the season, all 16 games. It broke a record. Giants, I'm with you. I don't love the Giants are above. That second. In a dome.

That second Monday night game, first of all, is never a true Monday night. It's never the greatest match ever. This is great. Chargers Cardinals. You got Philips Cardinals are a fun team to war. I like that as a second game. It's a role that the Chargers have to be involved in the second Monday night game in the opener. That game should take place in Japan.

Why? At the Tokyo done? Well, like baseball does. Just put that game in another part of the world because no one's watching it anyways on the East Coast. I have a feeling I'll be covering it. I think you've been spending too much time with Mark Cuban. I think people will be watching that game. Fair enough.

The jet lag, I feel like the coaches would complain about that coming back. Oh, man. Yeah. So, all right, so that's week one. The next thing we want to hit, and it's always fun. Thanksgiving, this is a great Thanksgiving schedule. And why don't we start? We'll go on the order of the games.

You know, the Lions always have that first game. Kevin Patrick comes out just settles in with his big old turkey bone. and it is bud-heavy. You know, he only drinks bud-heavy. Well, in theory, he'll be writing this game up, so hopefully not too much. We've only been through two different weeks of the season, and the Lions are on national TV both times.

Good call. So the Chicago Bears head to Ford Field. Let's get back in that dome again to face the Detroit Lions. I always get excited, too, for who the halftime act will be. It's usually an abomination of some kind, whether it's Kid Rock or Third Eye Blind or Nickelback. It's usually something truly wretched. Bob Seeger's from Detroit.

Bob Seeger. Is Bob Seeger still active? I don't think so. He looked pretty old the last time I saw it. So not a candidate. So that's the first game, and I think that should be very competitive. You have the middle game, which is it just a... Well, it's always the Cowboys involved.

So is it always a division game, that middle game? Not always. Usually not. Yeah, the Philadelphia Eagles at the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington. Very interesting game I like that one The last division game I believe with the Cowboys

on Thanksgiving was just two years ago when RG3 went in there and had the best game of his young career was an unbelievable game He went off And the Cowboys actually got back into that game But the show that Griffin put it on

The first half I remember it was like Wow we're looking at the future We'll see if you can get back to being that guy I think the league saw Matt McGloin On Thanksgiving last year And they thought

We have to avoid this at it all possible. Well, Oakland and late November, why would they not have last year known that was dubious? That's fair. They don't have softball pants to wager. And then the late game, this might be the game of the regular season. And last year's Thanksgiving game, Mark,

I know you were working on this game, and this was one of the more memorable games of last season. Of course, was the Harbaugh Bowl. Am I right? No. No, it was so memorable. It was Tomlin Ravens. Tomlin walking out on the field.

Mike Tomlin, that's exactly what I was saying. You guys just misunderstood me. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers against the Ravens. Tomlin steps on the field. Mark works till midnight. And this year we get the Seattle Seahawks at the San Francisco 49ers. Hubba, hubba, hubba, hubba.

One side note here, this is Goodell and Friends with a big slap to the face of the American football conference. Six teams all from the NFC on Thanksgiving. You're saying Rog should be admonished for this I'm not saying I think he's making a statement That's a shadowy league figure

They're just putting the best games on there There's a shadowy league figure right behind you That's my takeaway Turn around right now I'm with Mark on this one Step up your game, AFC I think the decision made by Roger and everyone in the New York office was excellent

And I think the schedule looks great I have a stat for you This is the first Thanksgiving without an AFC team Since before 1970 And the only reason they can even pull this off is because of a new scheduling wrinkle. They can now cross flex games between networks. So you can have an all-AFC game on Fox or you could have an all-NFC game on CBS in very selected cases

where it just improves the overall game. So one of these games will be on CBS even though the two NFC teams. You know why there were no AFC teams in the next game? before 1970? Because there was no AFC. That's what I'm saying. And one thing you guys should know, Thanksgiving, famously, the Mark Sanchez butt fumble, guess what?

Sanchez's back on in the spotlight. On Thanksgiving with the Philadelphia Eagles, who knows? He could be playing. He could be crashing into an ass. The media will attempt to put him under the spotlight even though he'd be wearing a ball cap and holding a clipboard the whole game. With Dan leading the way, he's sitting right next to him. He just found a way to chew home.

the 2009 Jets into a Thanksgiving Day discussion in 2014. No, I wouldn't say that because that was the absolute Nadir of the Rex Ryan era. So I don't like to bring up the butt fumble. It wasn't 09 either, by the excuse me, the 2011. Yeah, the 2011 jets. I don't like to talk about it, but I'm just throwing out there. Sanchez's back in the field. It's about bringing the information to the people and being a pro.

What's Tim Tilo doing that night? Maybe we can talk about that too. Tim is doing something irrelevant. Why don't we get... Okay, so that's Thanksgiving. That's a nice sleep. That's great. If you're into the NFC and only the NFC...

You're playing this one. You can get it left. I don't know. Someone's got to represent that half of football. The Browns got passed over yet again on Thanksgiving. They have not been in a Thanksgiving game since 1989. It checks out, though. That sounds about right.

It's true. Barry Sanders ran all over him. Hey, you know who that's good for? The Cleveland Browns and their families. Maybe you don't want them to be with little Hoyer on Thanksgiving. You want him and his dad. He just want him eating alone with his mom while Brian is off playing football. Good point.

I like that. I've changed my mind. All right, moving on. Gold Center, how's it going so far? Are we getting the information out there to people? You're hitting hard. It's great analysis. A quick plug, if I may, NFL.com slash movie trailers has some excellent,

excellent high quality previews of coming attractions for this year's schedule so check that out yeah Zach if you're going to want to throw plugs in we're going to need to clear this ahead of time I have the paperwork

don't just surprise us the gold center talking out of school on the podcast today but did you worked on some of those correct I did it's a selfish plug but I'm also a huge NFL fan no they are really cool seriously they are great

you should go to the league's official website that's what you're saying I think I think people should well you can also check out A lot of schedule release content from the Around the League podcast crew, including Kevin Patrick and everyone. We have lots of features, all the team scheduled breakdowns. It's probably the favorite thing Chris Wesleyan does all year. I would say I've seen these trailers that the Gold Standard and his cohorts have put together.

Cohorts. And I saw over the weekend, Superman 3 or whatever, Man of Steel, whatever it's called. The man with the tights on. And the trailers were way better than Man of Steel, which was the worst movie I've ever seen in my life. Well, thank you. It's good. So damning with faint praise.

A compliment that went all over the place there, but I believe positive. We need to get like a... I just want the people to know how bad Man of Steel was. We need a Mark Sessler read for some publicity for Man of Steel. Oh, I like that. I will pump it up beyond need, beyond measure. All right, moving on.

A lot of heart. so much hard let's move on let's talk about some of these prime time games you know you have the Thursday night games which will be aired on CBS

and NFL network this year you have of course the Sunday night game with Alan Chris you have the Monday night game with John Gruden and Mike Tariko so why don't we go around the room hell let's go around the room twice and pick out games

in prime time that appeal to us and I will start as I always do with the mad scientist the mailman, Chris Wesley. Primetime games. I'm looking at week five. The Seahawks, your Super Bowl champions,

travel to Washington to play the Redskins, a bounceback team with comeback player of the year, RG3. Ooh, Wes, you were on that train with me, and I love it. It's not even like a matter of if it's going to happen. RG3 is the comeback player of the year in 2014. Wow. Who would be the guy that would come in second in your mind? It doesn't matter.

They should just clear the whole field. Marcus Lattimore. I feel like Pennington is always a good guy. Just in case. He's been good. Does Marcus Lattimore count if he's not coming back from anything that happened in the NFL? Yeah, that would count. He could win it.

Wes, I have to assume then not to get off topic too far, but if you think RG3 is going to return to being a all-pro-level quarterback, that the Redskins are potentially going back to the playoffs. Potentially, yeah. Or if the very least they're going to be a super competitive team in 2014. I think they will have to beat out the easy. Eagles. I don't know if two playoff teams are coming out of the NFC. East. This is nice talking about next season, getting the juices flowing a little bit.

All right. Mark Sessler. Give us a game. Game that I find interesting. I understand that you want to go to San Francisco, Seattle, blah, blah, blah, blah. Philadelphia at Indie, Week 2. A little bit off the grid. But I am starting to feel that my AFC team might be Andrew Luck and the Colts. and I love your team I thought this is a collective choice that we make well he's just saying he's making a separate team in terms of a Super Bowl team I'm talking about

you and Damasek I love the cults and I think that anything I can't wait to see right out of the gate what Chip Kelly has planned for Philly's offense and that's a Monday night game week two Philly at Indy sign me up I might even stay late to write a few stories on that

Greg I'm going to go early and I know Carolina's getting a lot of heat but I still have some love for them as the first. We'll have other official teams of the around the league podcast but there will never be another first. And it's still Cam Newton

and it's still entertaining to watch him play and you got week three, him versus Pittsburgh on Sunday night, Rathosburgh and Cam Newton, maybe not the one that's got to jump off the page to everyone but two of my very favorite quarterbacks in the league to watch. All right, that's good. I will pick.

Let's see. eight. I'll go right to the midpoint of the season. The Green Bay Packers rolling into New Orleans, the Super Dome. I love quarterbacks. I love Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and we get two of them in this matchup. Aaron Rogers against Drew Breeze, two teams that you would think are going to be in the mix. The Saints great at home. They get a team in the Packers that are coming off a division title, and hopefully Aaron Rogers is healthy and playing, and I'm excited for that one. I had this one circled with a checkmarked by it.

It was going to be my next pick. Ha ha! Chris Wesleying? Gotcha. And if you recall a couple years ago, remember, this was the kickoff game. Randall Cobb brought a touchdown out of the end zone. Darren Sprouls had a great game. Mark Ingram was stuffed at the goal line late.

It was a great game. This has the feel of one of those games where you could have two teams rolling in at 7-0 and it decides who stays perfect. It doesn't usually happen too many weeks after that. But you get that occasional Monday night game where you got two perfect teams. I like that. Wes, I'm sorry I put you on the spot now.

Now you're scrambling. What are you got? I'm going to scramble to week 16, Denver at Cincinnati. Just because I know it's the game that Denver knocks the Bengals out of the playoff picture. Oh, wow. Wow, you really went after your old Bengals there. It's interesting because you've always maintained that you're team neutral. You're not anti-Bengals.

I don't know if I buy into that. You see a little anger there. But this sounds anti-Bengals. Well, sometimes I'm anti-Bengals, only because I know their proclivities. What was that mean? A Clinton-like explanation. I don't know what that meant. Did anyone else pick the Bengals to lose to the charges in the playoffs last year

just because they knew that the Bengals aren't allowed to have nice things? But that's what you have to, like, on some level, inherently root for that narrative to continue. Because in your mind, for you to work out where you said, I'm quitting this team, for it really to pay off, it has to go on in perpetuity and they will always be that team that you felt you had to get away from. Dan, if you've ever seen Tombstone, you know it's not about the revenge, it's about the reckoning. I mean, you're saying a lot of smart things,

but I don't know if I understand any of it right now. I don't need a scenario to play out. This is what the Bengals do. I don't think any of you guys understand this is what the Bengals do. It's in the faith. I think we do understand. We're just stunned at your, I guess it's, just still bangle anger that's just

still here after all these years. And it's okay. It's banger. It's banger. All right, let's see. Do you have any... I'm going to go with something that I was sure you are going to go with, Dan. Bronger? Well, no, I'm still involved with the Browns, so I've got to work this relationship out. I'm going with Jets at New England

Week 7. Okay. I can't get enough of this whole concept of the Patriots of all teams stealing Dorel Rivas off the open market and the Jets saying we don't want them we're not going to pay for him I just don't like that for New York

but listen if anyone knows if there's any Achilles heel to Dorel Rivas Rex Rind would know how to pick on him I don't see where it is but a fascinating match I could safely assume that Gino Smith or Michael Vick won't be picking on Dorel Rivas if Dorel Rivas is Rivas I think you just avoid him all day long but I guess he

Rex would know how you would potentially attack a team that had a Revis New Revis. He's trained for Stevie Johnson. Ooh. Who I've heard is on the market. An indivision trade. Just floating around there?

Whispers. Around the league. I like it. And you chose a Patriots game and not even their one against Andrew Luck. Another delicious primetime game. That is. My game, I'm going late in the season because they just have a different feel of it

once you get late in the season. And it's going to have a different feel because it's on Saturday night. We have games on Saturday night back in the NFL, San Francisco, San Diego, Week 16, December 20th. That just sounds great. Philip Rivers, you just feel like between these two teams, one of them is going to be on the borderline of making the playoffs or not two very entertaining coaches and quarterbacks and on a Saturday. I don't know about you guys.

Saturday games, it's been a while and it reminds me of when I just loved watching football as a kid, Saturday, late season, near Christmas matchups, good stuff. You know who's going to hate it? Our wives. Any of us cut, you know, it's like an extra,

that's the one day off and now we're back. Well, they're somewhat schooled on not seeing us at all on weekends from like late August on. It's all in peril. Finally, I'll pick one more. And I am having grown up on the East Coast, even though I'm a Jets fan,

I do love NFC East showdowns. And in week 15, it depends. you think about the Cowboys this year, whether they'll be in the mix this year. But the Cowboys at Philly in Week 15, these divisions, the division in the NFC seems to always come down right to the end. And to me, it's a very good chance that game will have a lot of value for at least one team and most likely both. I like it. I like Tony Romo. I like the Cowboys always seem to play entertaining primetime games. And this will be another one.

You know, it is an insult to human intelligence that no matter what happens. happens, Dallas gets five primetime games every year. It was such an obvious aspect of... Did they get it again? Yes. Without question. That team could be three and 13 next season. A lot of teams get five games.

A lot of teams hit the maximum. The Giants got five and they were worse than the Cowboys later. Well, that's in the same area. That's in the same little category of doesn't matter what you've done. Well, you're on TV more than, you know, to the limit. Are they not entertaining? Are they not playing straight games? The Giants have been the least entertaining team of all times.

Were the Giants entertaining last season? I'm with you. The Giants didn't keep them off the airwaves. The Cowboys always entertaining. They're always in the mix to the end, and they rate. That's a big one. Every time Cessler says that about the Cowboys, I do feel like I need to say what Greg just said,

which was, yeah, they'll probably finish 8 and 8 and be a big disappointment. But every game they play in prime times is exciting. They have a huge fan base. There's that built-in drama just with the Cowboys involved. I think it's good for football. It's about one thing. It is about money.

It's all about money. Well, this is the only reason, because it's not the best game every week that Dallas has put on there. It's not. But they put teams that are entertaining. The Steelers are on five times. They have a great quarterback. Don't have a problem with the Steelers. They're the same as the Cowboys.

They're the same as the Cowboys. They're the same. Oh, who cares. Who cares? The Cowboys are more entertaining to watch in the Steelers. That is untrue. That is nonsense. I'm out of here.

You just like the pretty outfit. Name three people. Name three defensive players on the Cowboys, Dan. Wow. Don't put me on the spot like that, Wes. It's my birthday. Fair point. All right.

I wasn't doing that for you. I meant that as look at what they lost. This is not an entertaining team. We've established Dan as a Yankees fan has to like the Cowboys. That's pretty much just how they roll. I just watched the primetime games and I know what's good and what's not. All right. Moving on.

It's a very serious ending to the conversation. Very stern ending. All right, what do we want to hit next? Should we give our old buddy Kevin Patrick a call? Ooh, good call. Kevin Patra coming out to our Chicago correspondent. He wrote up a piece on the Around the League site, getting into the two defending conference champions

and their roads through the regular season and see how the schedule makers, you know, treated the two conference champions. So why don't we get him on the line? Kevin, the gold standard. Would you mind bringing up our Chicago friend? Not at all. Kevin Patcher, are you there, buddy?

What's going on, fellas? And I can tell everybody's got a little pep, a little bounce in their steps, schedule release day, the schedule release extravaganza, excuse me. Yes, we're all like elves working in Santa Shop. And Kevin Patcher wrote about the two Super Bowl teams. So tell us what you got out of examining the schedules of both the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. Well, I mean, I think from the Seahawks perspective, they have one of the toughest schedules in the league. We knew that from looking at what their strength of schedule.

Obviously, they're in the top of the division. They start out this season. You got Fail Mary 2, do with Green Bay back in Seattle. Then you have a playoff team with the Chargers, and then you have the Broncos in Seattle again. That's pretty tough right before you're by. I mean, not only do they have all the NFC West teams who each have gotten better in their own right, they also have other teams that improved. They're at Redskins, they're at the Panthers, who have taken a little step back,

but that's still not going to be an easy game. They almost lost their last year. They're at the Eagles in the midst of five other games, division games, at the end of the season at the end with. So I think they have a very tough road to get back to the playoffs. That's the thing that sticks out to me. out of their final six games, five of them are in the division. They don't play the 49ers until Thanksgiving. They don't play the Cardinals until the week before that.

They basically don't start their division schedule almost until November 23rd, which is pretty crazy. Yeah, it is interesting that they don't play the 49ers until Thanksgiving night. And don't eat a lot of turkey guys because you don't want to fall asleep for that match. Well played, Kevin Pasha. I've been holding on to that one for years. All right, so what do you see on the Broncos side? Well, it's interesting.

Similar to the Seahawks, they also start with three playoff teams from last year. They start off with the Colts who they lost to last year on the road. That's a home game this year. So that's an interesting matchup with Andrew Lov come right out of the bat. And they have the chiefs who might have taken a little step back. And they go to Seattle to face the Super Bowl and rematch, which will be hyped to no end. but from there they have a little bit easier schedule

obviously with the AFC West they play the Raiders twice they play the dolphins they play the Jets they do have a tough schedule where they have I believe it's three games in 14 days

or 12 days or something with the Jets 49ers and Chargers so they go to the Chargers on a Thursday night coming right off of a home game with the 49ers so that'll be a tough one

and they follow that up with the Patriots So that's going to be a tough stretch for them. They do play five of their first seven games at home, so getting off to a good start, I think, is important for that. They have a really easy schedule down the stretch, and I think another advantage they have, how many times do we see the Super Bowl loser who was clearly the best team in its conference during that year

and then improved the next year? So they're better than at least 14 teams on their schedule already. It's a friend. Go ahead. I think if you had to wait it, I mean, who would you say would get back to the playoffs? I mean, I think you'd have to clearly say that it would be the Broncos. I don't think there's a question out of these two teams. I would be stunned if both didn't get back.

And frankly, if Denver, I agree with West, they've improved. There's no reason they can't go out and roll 13 victories out of this schedule. The end of it is easy. You always hate, though. You hate to see the buy in the fourth week of the season, especially there's some veteran players on this Broncos team. It would be nicer if they had maybe that blow in the middle of the season. but overall you can't really get too worked up about their schedule. Wes is making faces over there.

I don't think there's anything to an earlier late bye. I'd like to see a study on that. Well, what was it that Bill Walsh said? Would you read a study about the Byes? Yeah, just because that doesn't sound like it would matter at all. Well, he did some studies that players are, Bill Walsh, Mark Sessler mentioned. Bill Walsh did some studies that players are at their most tired before week one. So in theory, then your early by would not be so bad

Because August And this is written in the late 90s So football's changed a little bit But it makes sense You're practicing ultimately you're working harder in August Than during the season when you have more days off And lighter practices Both Super Bowl teams have the week four by

Denver's schedule is very front-loaded All those tough games are early And a lot of them happen to be in Denver So they kind of lucked out with that Kevin Patcha fearless prediction Are both of these teams getting a first round by? Are they both getting a first round by? I think the Broncos will.

I think the Seahawks won't. I think they'll lose a few games within their division. But I think they do make the playoffs. All right. Well, Kevin Patcher, thank you very much, buddy. Have a good one, fellas. All right, thank you to Kevin Patra. And now we move on.

Why don't we talk about, I'll throw this one to Chris Wessling. Who got screwed? Who got screwed Chris Wessling? Take a look at the Chargers. Last year they talked about how their playoff runs started early. They have four must-win games in December to close out the season. Those were not as tough nearly as the five games they're going to have to close out this season. Their playoffs are going to start in December.

They get at Baltimore. Home to the Patriots, home to the Broncos, at the 49ers, and then at the Chiefs to close out the season. Ouch. Murderers Row. Chargers sitting home in January. Oh, you're just making willy-nilly predictions all over the place. That's not Willie-nilly. They were the definition of mediocre last year.

They're going to be mediocre again this year, and they close out with five tough games. He's right. I mean, if you're the people putting this together, you have to be sitting around the room saying, all right, listen, we, let's be honest, San Diego just got roped here. You thought that Chargers were the definition of mediocrity last year? Weren't they eight and eight? They were great at the end of the playoffs by the back door? They played great down the stretch.

I think when they... They were... They were the definition of mediocrity. They lacked speed on both sides of the ball. They lucked into the playoffs, and they got to play the Bengals in the first... They had a really good offense, almost the whole season,

and the defense played greater than the end. I think once we got into December and January, they were one of the eight best teams. They deserved to be there. I don't agree with that at all. Mark Sessler, who got screwed? You know, looking at the St. Louis Rams,

and this is a team that for all the strides they're trying to make, they're already in the toughest division. So you got that out of the gate. They have a stretch coming out of their week four by week where they play eight games, seven of them against teams that went to the playoffs last year. Real quick. Eagles, 49ers, Seahawks, Chiefs, 49ers again.

Then your non-playoff team, a Cardinals team that was surging towards the end and arguably was better than some of the playoff teams that got in. Then the Broncos, then the Chargers again. Then if you're still even in existence after that, you get to play Oakland. And then, by the way, if you have any breath's chance of a playoff berth, you have to go into Seattle for the second year in a row in the final game of the year and deal with that. That's rough.

I will say this, and that's all fair. Can't you almost say the Rams and the Cardinals are basically built in as teams that get screwed as long as the Seahawks. But as Greg said downstairs, all these NFC West teams are in that boat, but if you're Seattle, you don't play Seattle. You can throw the AFC West teams in that boat too because they have to play the NFC West. So really all the Western teams,

they get a tough luck this year. Sam Bradford, I mean, you might as well put that house on the market now after hearing that ran from Sessler. And Sessler, you say Seattle doesn't play Seattle. Are you sure about that? Because isn't it a challenge to have to face down your own victories and championships? That is true. In the world of inner head games and personal demons, that could crop up.

But I'm looking more at the schedule that's been released today. I like that we see the Seahawks as a team rife with personal demons because they won a trophy. Greg Rosenthal, who got screwed? I'm going to go with the Titans and the Jaguars. Match them up together. Usually the NFL likes to give a break to teams coming off poor seasons. and have them play each other early. And they have the good teams play each other early.

And that creates some surprise teams and some slow starts for good teams. Tennessee and Jacksonville don't have the toughest schedule ever because they're in the AFC South. But they both have tough starts. Both playing three out of four on the road to start. Tennessee in Kansas City, then they have Dallas, then in Cincinnati, in Indianapolis. It's not the toughest slate ever,

but it's as tough as their schedule gets. And you're trying to build hope. And Mark and I were talking about it. There's nothing worse than your team. team is two and six after eight games, and you're to week nine, and your games already feel meaningless. So it's going to be tougher for these two teams, Tennessee and Jacksonville, starting on the road to build any momentum early. I have a feeling they're used to meaningless games in Nashville and Jacksonville. Right. Well, you don't want to change that around.

And the league spoke about how they feel about the boring level of Tennessee. It is literally until November 17th that they don't lock in at a 1 p.m. start. Week after week, get them out of the way. These two teams square off against each other on Thursday night football, week 16. December 18. What did we do to deserve that? Relax. That is a fair point.

You picked, you know, that's an outrageous troll. Joddy Football to Jacksonville. Can that get you excited? Now we're getting excited. Well, yeah, this is all subject to change based on what happens in a few weeks. By the way, I've totally turned into a corporate show. You are. That was alarming, actually.

Wait, one word answer. which of these two teams do you think finishes with a better record? Jaguars. I do too. Titans. Titans, but if the Jaguars draft Johnny football, I'm going to Jacks. Everyone keep in mind that there's no Golden Tate on the Titans.

That's a good point. All right. Perhaps not surprisingly, I'm going to go with the Jets as the team got screwed. It's like the only team's schedule he's looked at. But now tell me, yeah. But now tell me if I'm wrong that this is a little bit bogus, okay?

And I apologize, Greg, because I know you worked very hard on the schedule with the other guys in the league office. So October 5th, Week 5, the Jets are in San Diego, way deep in Southern California. They fly cross-country and they start preparing for the Denver Broncos, the defending AFC champions, come to town, Peyton Manning. And then you play the Broncos, and then you got a short week because you're playing on Thursday night football. And not only you're playing on Thursday night football, you're going on the road. And not only you're going on the road, you're going to Foxborough to play the Patriots on short rest. It's bogus. That is rough.

It's not fair. It happens. Oh, yeah, it happens. To you, Greg, you get a nice setup there. You got the jets coming in limping after Peyton Manning goes to work on my team. So you're saying. Revis is going to be licking his chops because Eric Decker is going to be dragging his feet. He's got a newborn at home.

And he's got, you know, all these other things going on in his life. Don't you want all your automatic losses just packed together? Now you have an excuse for him. That's what I'm talking about. Play like a jet. Greg, what was my response when you asked me if I wanted to do the Who Got Screwed article this morning? Well, I know you didn't want to do it. You thought you got screwed when I asked you.

I said the only sentence I would write, the only analysis I could give was stop whining about your team. Wow. Wasn't it last year that New England? Wes is a real nihilist about the schedule release, I feel. It's not his favorite day of the year. It's not. We'll leave it at that. Didn't New England and the Jets play Thursday night last year in one of the sloppiest affairs?

It was gross. Yeah, it was early in the season and neither team played well. In New England. And they had to go on the road on this short week and the Jets somehow overcame this. Did they overcome? Because they lost. They were very competitive. That was about as good as it's going to get for them.

No. If you've been tracking this rivalry, it's been fairly even considering the team's success over the past 10 years or so. That's fair. They give, Rex Ryan gives Brady more problems than any way. All of this stuff that you just talked about means about 3% compared to injuries that happened throughout the year. Well, yeah, that's true. I mean, it's a lot of, it's April. It's April talk.

Should we just scrap this podcast and re-record and talk about Caleb Haney signing with the Cowboys? This has been gold. By the way, Marcus Truffant just signed with the Seahawks to one-day contract. It's great that he's retiring with Seattle. See, that's what you want to talk about? That's what you want to talk about? Let's re-record. Maybe they brought him in to, you know, help secondary for one day in practice.

Maybe they're down a guy or two. Who is the Dalton scale of going back to your city to have your number to retire for your old team? It might be Marcus Truffant. No, there was someone on the Jaguars that was unbelievable. No, no. At least he was there for 13 years. It was like Jerry Porter went back to the Jaguars. I don't think he's allowed back at Jackson.

Make it that up, but I'll look for it. It was a ridiculous one. Mark, I want you to do your one-day contract with the NFL when the time comes for you to retire and come back and just announce it. We'll have a whole barbershop quartet like, what's his name? I'm going on record to say Marcus Trufant falls below the Dalton scale of having your one-day retirement ceremony. Yeah, I'll buy that. That would be a really fun, mean-spirited post, the worst one-day contract signings. That's why it's better for podcast talk.

All right, so that is it for the Around the League podcast schedule release extravaganza. We've got to have music this time, Gold Standard. Sorry, sorry, yeah, here it is. Around the League podcast schedule, release, extravaganza. Boom. All right, so enjoy it, go through it all. It's all there for you to peruse. You can look at your favorite team on the NFL.com website,

and then on around the league, we have tons of insight on the scheduling. Possibly too much. Potentially, but also maybe some people will say not enough. You can't make everybody happy. But most likely, yes, too much. I'm going to too much. Too much is, that's our motto. Too much is not enough.

Yeah, so check that out, and we will be back on Friday. And, Wes, before we go, anything to share from your visit to Tybee? It was, I called it myself. sanctioned debauchery, my sanctioned fun, vacation time. I went back, I had all these great plans. My lady friend and I were going to go out on a boat. And then it rained and it was like horribly windy the first few days I was there. So the only thing to do was hang out at Huckapoo.

And I, you know, I kind of joke around that I don't really like people that much. But that's my like little haven. So I get spread a little thin when I go back to Tybee. It turns out that three or four nights is just about as much as I can take. Was the stormy conditions, was that perhaps indicative? of the rest of your personal life while back in the old hometown. Everything worked out fine on that.

Oh, good. Well, that's good. Well, we're happy to have you back because the 12% chance that you didn't come back, maybe if the weather was perfect and he went sailing on that boat and the sun was hitting you just right and you had the nice bucket of suds

kind of like in Shawshank when they're on the roof, when they're tarring the roof and everything felt perfect. Maybe 12% could have become 51. Mother Nature is like, I listen to this podcast all the time. need to prevent West from falling in love with this Tybee Island place again,

here comes the bad weather. It sounds like this percentage for the next time you go back to Tybee is getting smaller and smaller because, believe it or not, Wesley missed Los Angeles and his boys back in L.A. I missed you guys. I don't know about the city. All right, well, we're glad that you're back, West, and, you know, we're happy that Cooter, no, Huckapoo's. They did a nice job. We called them a couple times, and they were nice.

people and it seems like a great place we're going to do a podcast there one day we're going to get there gold standard is going to handle all the legwork on the setup and he's going to pay for our flight so that'll be good um so we'll be back on friday and until then this is dan hans signing up for the mailman the sizzler the boss the gold standard behind the glass the guy with the credit card until friday today will be dan's last birthday 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

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