NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Stick a Fork

Episode Date: November 28, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, and Marc Sessler bring you the latest headlines from around the league and add two unlucky teams to the fork club. The gang also gives you their NFL pleasant surprises in honor of Turkey Day. Join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast is as consistent as a Brett Farr of retirement. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I'm joined by two heroes, Mark Sessler and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Are we a little concerned about the fourth hero at this point? He's gone radio silent as far as I know. Chris Wessling, this is the fifth.

fourth podcast he's missed. We should be nervous at this point. I think he said he was going to miss four, but it's going to be more than that. We might never see him again, Greg. Mark is supposed to pick him up from the airport, I believe, on Thanksgiving. It's going to be a nerve-wracking moment.

A lot of things are supposed to happen, but it's like I feel like he's when a mod Bradshaw on us, like I just vanished. Wait, I thought one of our intros was the Around League podcast will not pick you up from the airport. One of my favorites, by the way. Well, you know, he's my friend. We do it for you.

We do things like that for friends. We do it for each other, not for anyone else. All right, that's fair. And Mark, you are now, your family has gone to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. You have the home to yourself. I understand you got a nice bit of rest last night. Well, some, any listener or Greg knows, anyone that has kids under the age of three, the concept of, I have two of them. It's a one-two punch.

The concept of a night of uninterrupted sleep, much less just if I clean the house up in the morning and I come home at night and it's still untouched versus a certain like a tornado hit it it's unusual and I am in that place right now would you say this is one of the top 10 days of your life in the past 15 years no because I mean in a perfect world I would love to be with my family oh you are loving this sleep don't pretend it's I feel rested yeah for the first time since I've known somebody update Sessler's Wikipedia Wikipedia page to say he feels rested on November 27th, 2013. It's the one-two punch of your kids, plus having to be at work at five in the morning.

That's a problem. It's a perfect storm of me feeling about 10 years older than I am. All right, so let's get into it. We figured, you know, people get excited about this, the fork committee, when the fork committee gathers. So we figured why not start the podcast? Let's talk about the fork. Who got forked this week? Nine teams have been forked.

Hate to say it. Two more were forks, so why don't we get into it right now? Stick a fork in them. Here lies the New York Giants. A deeply crappy team that strung together the single least impressive four-game winning streak in football history. The Eli Manning's sad face has never been this sad.

We had to do it. We did it too late. Remember I wanted to do it after a two-game winning streak just to show how little respect I had for that, and it would have been fine. We wouldn't have been too early. I actually can go the other way. The only reason I'm not, I didn't fight this,

is because I didn't feel like dealing with it, and this doesn't mean that much to me. But at the same time, I still have a... A man of principle. This feeling that the Giants will be playing a meaningful game in December. Oh, stop. So I almost thought about in the four committee fighting this. Instead, I just had another Danish,

grabbed a cup of coffee, and just let you... I mailed it in basically, just mailed it in an entire city's football team. You could care less. And by the way, we're talking to a Jets fan here. You know, one thing about the Giants real quick, because I think if the Eagles weren't getting hot the way they are and starting to, I think, take command of that division, I don't want to hear about the Cowboys. I still think they finish 8 and 8. I'm not sure I would have forked the Giants either because I fully expect Dallas to crumble. But you have to be good to make a run.

And the old Giants were good. You guys are still thinking about that team. These are not those teams. Well, you the other day, Greg, on this very podcast, basically called that pair of runs a sham. Right. Well, they were not good. They haven't been good regular season teams other than the year after their first Super Bowl win.

That's their one good regular season team. That's a fact. Still, it was a bit of a hatchet to your credibility the way you completely shot down those two titles. By the way, they weren't making any run anyways. At San Diego versus Seattle at Detroit coming up. So the Giants had a tough slate. you know, I just wonder, is Tom Coughlin back with this team next year?

If he's back, is Perry Fuel back? This is a team. I don't think they necessarily underachieved that much on defense. I just don't think they're that great. I feel like Coughlin has so much goodwill stored up that they're not going to fire him. And I think he's also one of those guys that I don't think he could even imagine doing anything else but coaching. It's like Red and Shawshank Redemption where he leaves prison and then like, thinks about committing a crime to go back to prison because he doesn't know anything else,

I think Coughlin's the same way. He'll coach until he gets kicked out the door, and I don't think he's ready to go yet. Really? See, I could see this ending, and I know he's given no indication. In fact, reverse indication, he's talked about staying. Reverse indication. That team in general just keeps... It's like a bad band name from the 90s. Reverse indication, New York Giants. It's like a bad, like, almost like a collective soul knockoff band. I think they opened up for DeBesch Mode for a while. There's a rebuilding project that has to take place here. It's not a one-year fix. I don't know if Coughlin's the guy you do that with.

I wouldn't be surprised if Coughlin is gone. I don't think they'll ever use the word fired. And he might choose to walk away. Right now, he's on an unending series of one-year contracts that they essentially tack on. So he has a couple years left. He could go away very easily. I think if they ever did want to fire him, it would just come out that he's decided to leave. But look, this is a job that a lot of coaches are interested in.

And when people talk, you know, it's not like I have a lot of sources around the league or anything like that. But this is one of those jobs. Phil Cower, everyone's always said has been circled this job, that he wants this job. John Gruden wants this job. There's a lot of people that would want this job working for the Maras in New York. Great reputation. I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if they made a change.

I agree. If Cower took this job, would that mean he would stop making those god-awful Time Warner commercials? the single worst commercials on television today. It would put an end to that, Dan. I don't think. So let's do it. Let's make it happen. I think Cowher's at the point now where he couldn't get a job. He waited too long.

Do you want him as your coach if you're... No. He kind of put out fielders if you read between the lines and little reports that were leaked last year that's like, hey guys, want to hire me a little bit? And really didn't get much interest. And I think that's where he's at. And Gruden probably is afraid of getting into that.

I think Gruden is back coaching next year, whether it's college or NFL. I just got chills thinking about the Jets firing Rex Ryan and then Woody Johnson opening up the checkbook to get an over-the-hill bill cower. That would go horribly. I thought you were going to go somewhere else with that. Rex Ride jumping across to the Giants.

You're going to get an over-the-hill. Monty Kiffin is your head coach next year. Oh, wow. Wow, Monty Kiffin. There's no worse match or more impossible match than the Giants and Rex Ryan. Okay. That's fair.

Here lies the Cleveland Browns, who managed to again raise the hopes of their fan base this summer. only to again crumble to severe mediocrity. They are, and seemingly always will be, a factory of sadness. You are a factory of sadness! Look, you talk about, we went as far as we could putting our support behind what's happening in Cleveland,

and it came to a bitter and ugly end. They had a chance. Back-to-back games against Cincinnati, who they've beaten, and the Steelers, who in theory are beatable and they were at home, and they were taken care of pretty easily. Not competitive, really. Taking care of.

I don't have a problem forking them. There's a lot of work to do here. They are definitely worth the fork. And also, Brandon Whedon is starting again. He will never die. No, he will not. And honestly, they play the Jaguars. I, at two weeks ago,

I thought that is a game they were going to show kind of what the, put the parts together, a nice 35 to 7 stomping at home. I have no belief that they're going to take care of business. Dan picked the Jaguars to win. Actually, he calls himself your friend, Mark. Also, while I pick the Jags, I'm sorry, I'm out on the Browns now. I can't get on anymore.

It's fair. The guy that also used to work for around the league, Chris Wessling also picked the Jaguars. So I think it's the first time this season, there's been multiple Jaguars picks in one week. I think it's the first, yeah, that's true. I think there's only been one Jaguars pick, period, and that was Chris Wesleying Jaguars at Oakland week two. I think that's it. Patrick picked them once.

Wow. I believe Patrick did. Listen, Wesleyan has an open disdain for the Cleveland Browns. We know that. And so that doesn't surprise me at all. Seriously, 4 and 7, probably about what you expected before the year started. You've seen the product and what the changes have been since Michael Lombardi and Joe Banner and Rob Chizinski came here. Let's have a little evaluation.

Do you feel more optimistic about the future, less than the season started? It's too early to judge this year's draft, and I'll leave that for the experts like the Daniel Jeremiah's in that crown. But I will say that I look at Cleveland's draft hall and it is unimpressive to date. A lot of these guys aren't even playing. So there's a lot of pressure on an organization that traded away. Now, listen, the Richardson trade looks good. I honestly think that they have to be given some credit for their self-scouting on that. Oh, most definitely.

Right? But if they don't make something big happen with what they've gotten in return, with their two number ones, a lot of pressure falls on the front office. I think I like the coach to me. They have a coach that I hope they keep around for a really long time. I think there's a lot of positives in Cleveland because we talked about the defense being talent-laden, and nothing has really changed my mind on that. I think they haven't been a great defense this year, but if you look at all the parts,

they've pretty much played as expected. And Joe Hayden is an all-pro type of cornerback. You've got a lot of people on the defensive line that'll be there next year and that are still young. You found Josh Gordon, who looks like a number one receiver. You found Jordan Cameron. There's been a lot of good things that I think one more off season and they could be in the back.

Heck, if they beat the Jaguars, they're only one game out of a playoffs. But we just don't think they have any ability to make a run. In the Ray of Hope, honestly, and I don't think that Brian Hoyer is even the starter here next year necessarily on any level. But I'll say, listen, hold on, no, no. When they had a functional quarterback in there, right,

who got rid of the ball quickly? he made Cameron the player he was. Cameron hasn't even been on the radar since we went back to this Campbell Whedon thing. It's not your fault, Mark. It's not your fault. The worst thing the Browns could do is look at a Brian Hoyer in some swimming pool rehabbing his knee and saying, let's bank on him for the next two years. Go get a quarterback in a rich draft.

Go steal Jay Cutler. Do something and really build around a guy you could believe in. Not a 30-year-old rookie. not some no name that played two and a half good games and got the organization excited. Not Michael Vick. Not Michael Vick. Certainly not Brandon Whedon. Let's back the truck up a minute. I don't think there's anyone in Cleveland on the team

that says we're going to latch everything to Brian Hoyer. I think he's... No, he's a great... He's an ideal backup. Here's what I would do if I were the Browns. Your eyes say something else, Mark. This is what I do. They have about 13 draft picks or whatever it is. I would, among those 13 players, right? take six defensive

offensive type guys that give you some good stability I would draft seven quarterbacks you're going to get one out of that mix you just draft up and down the board you draft quarterbacks all over the place one of them is going to change the franchise not one and haven't failed draft seven

I like Dan's bit about the Brian Hoyer in the pool I can sort of imagine that article now written by Jason Locke and Fora how Brian Hoyer is the first one in the building every morning 3.30 he's doing you know backstroke or whatever don't do it guys just don't do it

don't get sucked in they're forked it's over we don't talk about it so those are the two forked team that is now 11 teams out of 32 forked people buzz there's a buzz among society they want to know

they want to get inside the four committee gatherings and by the way you guys I know we had some issues we have the optical indicator now to enter the committee room where you have to put your eye up to it there's been some glitches but

I was told that will be fixed. In the committee room, the Jets were brought up this week, and, you know, I put the veto on that. I don't think we're ready to say goodbye to the Jets just yet. Yeah, you know, I signed a confidentiality agreement, but I'm not afraid to say I brought up the Jets. They're done. How can you say that?

I don't think the Jets are an especially good team, but they, if that's sixth seed could be seven and nine. Right, and it won't be the Jets. I don't think the six seed could be seven and nine. It's actually almost mathematically impossible for it to be seven and nine because they all play each other so much. Someone's going to get to eight wins. So if they go three and two, they're eight and eight?

I don't think that will happen because we make calls as the fort committee. So sometimes you just make a call. We made a call with the Titans and the Rams. I mean, they're around 500 still. I'm not worried about them at all. I disagree. Well, with the Jets, I think they have the best defense of any one of these AFC hangers on. On. Jets have an overrated defense. They have a great defensive line and some talented linebacker

and one of the worst secondaries in the AFC. But every one of these teams are deeply flawed that are chasing that six spot. I just, I'm not right. One more week and I'm ready to fork the Jets. I couldn't do it this week. Thanks, buddy. And I'm sorry about the Browns. I'm not doing that for your, for your benefit. Oh, it wasn't? That's based on logic. And Greg, can you call your locks guy, we need better products? And the locks at the committee meetings has been, doesn't taste right, almost tastes a little foul. Well, Greg has a lock. It's shipped in from New York, so I think it's getting bad on the way here.

We put it on some ice or something. And speaking of fork, one more thing before we move on, four concerns. We forked these teams and they're supposed to be dead and we still stand by every fork we've done. But which team maybe jumps out to you as someone who could actually rise from the dead? Greg, I'll ask you first.

I have no one that worries me. at all. Who do you have? Lots on the line, too, because this segment is... Uh-oh, we're starting to meander towards the charity mentioned by Greg. No, no charity. This segment is gone if we get any team wrong. That's been out there.

People have been saying to us on Twitter, we don't want to lose the segment, but that's okay because we won't be wrong. It's a lot of responsibility. If you wanted to look at, like, mathematically, the Titans you'd have to be concerned about just for that craziness in the AFC, the team I think we, that won't make the playoff, so technically we're right, but I think we're, but I think we're we're wrong on and forking when we did is the Rams. No. I like the Rams. I think if they were in the AFC, they'd be a

playoff team. The fork isn't about who's a good team or what they would be if they were in the NFC. It'd be who's making the playoffs or not. That's why if they finish 8-8. But in spirit, we forked a team that is much better than we thought they were when we got rid of them. I got bad news for this segment and people that like it. We'll probably get one of these wrong. It happens all the time. Last year it happened with the Redskins and Vikings. Those are crazy. Something happens every year.

The one I'm concerned with, I think the Rams, yeah, they're frisky, but ultimately they're buried. Kellan Clemens is involved, and they're buried. The Titans, I'm a little nervous about. Fitzmagic is in the building. They got some good pieces there. And I'm also worried about the Colts. I feel like the Colts can potentially go in the tank and the Titans sneak in.

Something weird always happens. That's my biggest concern. That said, I'm fairly confident we'll get this right this year. I'd like the segment to come back. If you ask this question again next week and we're coming off a Tennessee victory in Indianapolis, then my question, then my answer is totally different. But I have to see Tennessee do something impressive. But let's be, you know, we've been almost painfully conservative in picking these teams.

So, yeah, we're not in the danger zone because we have not really done anything that edgy. And the Titans have to go to Denver and they have to play the Cardinals still. That does not look like a team ready to go on a run. I'm feeling good. This segment's going to live past all of us. us. Our grandchildren will be talking about it. Ooh, I like that. Right, there's K. Rich behind the glass.

How you doing, K. Rich? All as well, guys, just enjoying this Thanksgiving week. Kay Rich is a chameleon physically. She has straight hair today. Usually, she's known for those curls, and now you look different. You look different. You look like a different person. I like it.

I think it looks nice. Thank you. Holiday stuff. Well, you wore a holiday outfit. You were like... Right red. Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

I like it. Thanksgiving. What were you doing yesterday? Wait until Christmas comes. Yesterday I went food shopping all over, L.A., all over, and I spent all day cooking, all day long. So who's eating all this food? Man, we have a whole bunch of friends from the East Coast who live out here now, who are gathering together. We're going to have a big feast.

And you're the one in charge, basically? No, I'm not in charge, but I'm doing most of the cooking. Witness protection program gathering. Yeah. I don't have many friends at least out here No well that's evident It's kind of sad

Kay Rich has so many friends She didn't even think to invite any of us Table's full Awkward Table is full All right guys You're ready for the headlines Wow and then she just dismisses us

Don't want to talk about it Move on Not part of my social milieu Guilted All right Kay Rich let's let's get some headlines Oh oh All right, guys, first up, a Patriot's Audible that is moving the needle.

It sounds a little something like this. Cougar, Cougar, Linda, I'm wondering who the heck this cougar is named Linda. Am I the only one thinking that? You are, because we all know. Oh. Prepare to be enlightened. I think it's evident. Well, I mean, listen, the subject spoke about it.

It's Linda Holliday, Bill Belichick's minstress. Paramore. You wrote the post this morning on Roundleague. An important post that we're going to be submitting for the Pulitzer. Is it Pulitzer or Pulitzer? That's part of the problem why we're not going to win one. Anyways, this production by Mark was fantastic. Tell us a little more.

So even if you watch, we have the clips up on dot com. that if you watch before his touchdown to Grunkowski's clearly shouting, audible at the line, this cougar, Cougar Linda business. And it was a nod. I guess Linda actually means shift left for a lot of teams. It's not, it's used, I guess, around the league to some degree. But in this case, it's a nod to Linda Holliday, the girlfriend of Bill Belichick, who technically not a cougar, though.

Mark knows about... Right, because he's an older man. Right. She's 50, and he's 61. So she would not be a cougar. It's been his girlfriend for a long time public. She actually spoke about it. So this is what really added credibility to this important subject.

She basically took it as a compliment. She said the plays worked out very well, so that speaks for itself. So she's fine with it. And then they asked Brady about it, and he went into some sort of robotic nonspeak where he refused to give away even a shred of information about what they had done on offense. Isn't he a joy?

By the way, speaking, that same play, he audibles and throws the touchdown. Is that the play where he completely bros out with Gronk and they're screaming at each other? You know, it is. They're two bros on their speech. One of the weirder sights. And uncomfortable, frankly, wasn't it? Not one of my prouder moments as a Patriots fan this year. But the Cougar makes up for it.

I can imagine the Gronk and Brady on some dance floor in Belmar, New Jersey or something. And it's one of those clubs where there's fog and one of those fog horns that goes off. And they're just broing out with their shirts off. Very uncomfortable. Watch that video and look at Brady. It's pretty funny. Man, what you guys see on Jersey Shore is not the real Jersey. Might I just add that in there?

Well, there's a pocket of Jersey. We all grew up in the, every one of us grew up in the Tri-State. Did you ever go to DJs in Belmar, New Jersey? I might have. Fog, foghorns, bros out, shirts off, it's absurd. I know Jersey, and I know the Shore. All righty. All right, let's head into number two, another brush.

shot from Cambridge. Oh, wow. Right on time. This one is going to quit. She wants nothing to do with us. I know. She hates us. No.

Next up. Yes. This one hits close to home. Foles announced to be the Eagle's starting quarterback for the remainder of this season. Woo. How do you feel about it, Kay Rich? How do I feel about it? You know, I feel like this would be a really big test for him in week 13.

If he can really show up good and put on a good. and put on a good performance. I've been very happy with his little streak that he's going on and he's hot, but if he can win this one, I will have more confidence in him because Eagles fans know we get our hopes build up high every year since Dream Team and then it's brought back to reality.

So we'll see in Week 13. Tough game here. Hashtag analysis. I like that because this is the first test that Nick Foles, I think, has had. Certainly the toughest defense they've played. Listen to the defenses that they've played during this little run here. Oakland, the Giants, Dallas, Washington.

Not a lot of good offense, not a good defense, not a lot of good teams, period. This is the toughest game they've had since week four at Denver. I think the Cardinals defense is going to slow down Nick Foles' role just a little bit. But obviously, a non-suspenseful announcement because I'd be stunned outside of injury if Vic played another snap for the Eagles ever again. He's done. Is he going to be a starter ever again?

I could see a team thinking that we've got a couple guys that we want to look at a quarterback. He's in the play. But honestly, if you really want to build something as a team, Vick's a tough sell because he does not play more than eight or ten games a season. Why not stay in Philly? I could see it. Sure.

And, you know what, he actually, to Vick's credit, finally, because I thought, oh, when this thing goes south and Foles starts to assume, we're going to get all these posts we have to write about Michael Vick being cantankerous. He has been great about it. He basically said, Foles is the guy. I'm cool with it.

I mean, he's got to know it's at the end, potentially. Yeah, he's a really good guy. I'm not saying that. I think he's handled this particular situation well. I hope he stays with the Eagles. But if he doesn't, think about what another team is getting. They might not get a starting quarterback,

but they're going to get a quarterback who's very knowledgeable and can spread that knowledge to someone who's younger. He's so going to the Jets. I could see Chip Kelly bringing him back. I think Vic might be at the point where he doesn't mind being a backup too much, especially on such a good offense where you look good when you come in. Jip Kelly doesn't care about the normal NFL rules. I could see them drafting another guy in the first or second round.

Oh, definitely. Having him go against Foles, keeping Vic there and just see what happens. Sure. Anything else in the news, K. Rich. All right, guys. Last up, Golden Tate. He's calling his Seahawks mate selfish for their suspensions. Well, this is unfortunate for the Seahawks.

So you have two guys suspended for substance abuse. Browner, they're saying it's going to be for a year. Thurman, it's going to be four games starting immediately. And it puts a strain on the team, and it also kind of hangs almost that there's a scarlet letter attached, and Golden Tate isn't happy about it. And I know Mike Silver wrote or reported earlier this week that there was a team meeting where this was also explained, you know, if you want to do this stuff, go ahead, do it, but you're not going to be coming with us to the Super Bowl.

I understand why Golden Tate is frustrated. I would be, too, if I was playing clean. It's tough when you have injuries or suspensions at the same position. They're known for their secondary, and that's two of their top three cornerback. So it's a significant loss just on the football end. Forget all the, you know, who's being selfish, who isn't. That's supposed to be the backbone of their team,

and they're losing two of their top three guys. Thurman was playing well this year. Browner, who had made the Pro Bowl before, was not having a great year and is injured right now anyways. Don't think that's a huge loss. Yeah, I think Thurman's the bigger, immediate loss for the team. And I guess, you know, you can say, oh, you know, Seattle leads the league and these, you know, slap on the wrist from the league. And it's been a lot under Carroll.

But at the same time, you know, they got through this last year where they lost a bunch of secondary guys. And they actually went on their biggest run of the- The same two guys, actually, when they got hot in the end of the regular season. I don't see it derailing Seattle. There's a lot, a lot of teams only have one or two good players in the secondary. Monday night's going to be a great test. That'll be interesting. And they'll probably have to play the Saints again to make the Super Bowl.

To me, that's where the NFC, who goes to the Super Bowls, who gets home field advantage there between those two teams, the more I think about it. Do the Saints have the most intriguing stretch schedule? They've got Carolina twice. They got Seattle. And they have to go to St. Louis, which is interesting. A lot going on there. Thank you for the news, K. Rich.

Before we go, we wanted to talk about one more topic, and that is, I don't know, how do we want to put this? It's Thanksgiving. and, you know, we don't want to say what are we thankful for because that's really cheesy. But why don't we just say, like, what has been kind of a pleasant surprise? I like that. Pleasant surprise. You know, pleasant surprise that happens to be around Thanksgiving.

And I'll throw it out there since we're already talking about, like we're not just owning it that we have this cheesy device, what we're thankful for. I'll throw it out there, the Carolina Panthers. I'm pleasantly surprised that they put it all together this year. because you feel like every year especially in the ramp up toward the season there are 18 different teams

that everything looks like it's in line for them to put it together and go from mediocrity to greatness and I think the Panthers are the team that actually have pulled it off not that they're necessarily one of the great teams ever but they're one of the best teams at football they've proven it obviously

over the last couple of weeks or three weeks I am pleasantly surprised that the Panthers are a Super Bowl contender. You know, and another angle there is it was so clear that the organization reportedly earlier in the season already had spoken to a potential replacement for Ron Rivera. That it was... Robo!

Jobs were going to be lost here. You know, listen, it's not fun to report about guys getting the axe. It's kind of cool to see him save his job, and he was getting ripped, shredded on our website, by all sorts of people. This organization's lost, and they've proven everyone wrong. eminently watchable. They got Cam.

They've got Steve Smith, who just keeps upping his post-game interview game. It's really an impressive thing. He's on the Dave Damashchek football program this week. On the regular. Highly recommend checking out. He was really funny on that. Yeah, everything about the Panthers is great. Sure.

Speaking of the Dave Damashik football program, before I swing it to you guys, my wife cooked a pie, bourbon pecan pie on this week's episode of the Sheck Show, pie competition, second annual. Hans' family won it. So she's cooked a pie for another podcast, but not this one? Yes, basically. Okay, I'm going to just think about that. What about your wife?

What did she cook? I'm going to ignore that. She's, well, when she cooks something, it will be for this podcast. Oh, well, I'm looking forward to that. All right. By the way, I told my wife that K. Rich is going to be involved with the cooking of the softball pants should we need it. And I think another poor error in judgment by myself, because once she heard that,

And she's like, well, now I'm out. Yeah, Greg, that was not well-played. You have to think about it. Yeah, that was not well-played, Greg. Although we may never give it out. We're not sure we're ever going to see. Never give a clear out. I don't know if there was a strategy that would have come.

I might have been kind of like Gus Bradley devising a game plan for their Jaguars game against San Francisco. You might have the best plan possible. It's not going to matter. Let me give you something that I'm thankful, not thankful for, pleasantly surprised by. Yeah, because not thankful. We're not thankful for really anything, aren't we? I was going to go Robert Quinn here because, honestly, I think he's become a dominant pass rusher, interesting guy to watch.

But I'm going to go somewhere else with this. You could do both. I have like seven things are in God. But I don't, we got that. I think everyone agrees to some degree. This is going to make a choice. No, I'm happy. Start with Quinn and then move on.

I am moving on because this is what I started to think during the show. I'm happy that the read option has been snuffed. out to some degree. Oh. I kind of thought it was cool last year, and it was an interesting off-season topic, but in the end, the quarterbacks that have made football, the skills that make a quarterback good all along, aren't just vanishing for guys that can run around. When you're young, you can run around, and that's going to be an asset, but I'm kind

of happy to see that, like, the pocket passer isn't vanishing entirely. Who does the love a running quarterback, though? I mean, I loved it as a kid. I love it now. I just didn't want to, suddenly we had, you know, Eli-M. banning run that running the pistol and all this forget that you got to throw the football very that's kind of like a grouchy thing to be thankful for i don't know i just are you bud grant or something what's going on part of me just feels i like the football the way i've always liked my football

i feel like you would have uh had had matt flyn not signed with the packers and performed well last week you would have had something locked and loaded that you were thankful matt flin's career was terrible no that's been overstated i just i find that that to be a a rather uncre creative decision by the Packers. How about you raise up a new young quarterback? So, Mark, what you're saying with the read option is, like, you're really happy the NFL is still a place that guys like Carson Palmer can still get it done. I like both.

I didn't want to see the read option take over the entire league. Should have stuck with Robert Quinn. Quinn's great. I didn't know we only had to choose one. I wrote down like six things. Well, I chose two. Apparently, I was supposed to choose one. Well, that's what I was told downstairs.

I'm getting one from Dan. I'm getting six from Greg, all sorts of. Why don't we do 100? Why don't we just go down the list of everything? There's so much. I like K balls. I like that they switch out the kicker ball and you can't manipulate the ball before the kick.

I'm very thankful for that. Now I have two. That is huge. Greg, now you get two. I'm pleasantly surprised by so many things. Keep in mind, we only have a couple of minutes left. I don't like you to keep this to two, actually. Also on Drefrey.

Let's start with him. He's been a lot of fun to watch, and he's kind of emblematic of that entire Bears' office. where it doesn't matter what the quarterback is. It's just, it's not Cutler, it's not McCown, it's Tressman quarterback, that they're fun to watch. Marshall, Jeffrey, and Forte have to be the most physical trio of skill position guys in the league. So they've been fun. If I'm only getting two.

And how boring was that offense in the past? Exactly. I think that's part of it. Is there always on national TV? I was sick of watching them. Now they're on, and it's fun. I think I've got to go with the Chargers in general. General, Lardarius Green is the next big thing at tight end.

He might be the fastest tight end I've ever seen. Their rookie of the year, I think, is Keenan Allen. If Eddie Lacey doesn't get it, it's Keenan Allen. Philip Rivers, I've said a lot about him. He's been a lot of fun. It's been so surprising. The only person in the country that said Ryan Matthews was going to be good was their buddy Chris Wessling, and he's been a lot of fun too.

So I'm going to Chargers offense. Pour some out for Chris Wessling, wherever he is. I was going to say No Sean Morena, too. That's three, though. He's making people miss. No one gives Noshan on any credit. He does some things. Do the Chargers pay Philip Rivers $14 million next season?

Yes. Whatever they need to, pay him. Yeah, he's only getting better. All right, that's it for Wednesday's edition of the Around the League podcast. If you have not checked out our previous pod, we broke down all three Thanksgiving games. I thought Mark gave a really incredible performance during that podcast. So for nothing else. I think you were.

Oh, I do remember. doing that you were there uh so check that out uh for a look ahead at all those games um other than that that we will be back friday i feel slighted that was an absolute backhanded compliment from dan yeah no i didn't really mean it for at all so if i would have complimented you like that too it would have been more uh more an insult but uh yeah no i think you do a great job thanks dan i feel i feel really good thank you dan all right i got to do some healing with mark after the show uh and we will be back on Friday. Greg, will you be with us? I know Mark and I will be in the studio. I'm

questionable, but it was looking like it was doubtful earlier, so we'll see. K. Rich, will you be with us? After my big Thanksgiving feast and all that Black Friday shopping and probably getting no sleep, I will be here. Are you just sitting on a mountain of money? No, that's why you go

Black Friday shopping, so you save money. Interesting. So until Friday, this is Dan Hansis signing off for the Sizzler, the boss K. Rich behind the glass. And lie all the intern who will be working double time on Thanksgiving. Forget him. Until Friday.