NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Turkey Day Special

Episode Date: November 26, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Marc Sessler present the Around The League Podcast’s first annual Turkey Day special. The crew catches up with Chris Wesseling and previews all of the Thanksgiving Day matchups. Catch the latest headlines from around the league and get the analysis and predictions from each game. 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. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansen, and I'm joined by two heroes, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Good morning.

I'm excited. I believe... It's the afternoon, Mark. Oh, good afternoon. Come on, bro. I think it was you, Dan, who was. said that you feel dead inside in between podcast, that this is the only time you feel alive? Was that something you said once?

I don't think so. That sounds like you? And it's disturbing. That sounds right. You should have more in your life. Anyway, well, that's kind of my internal monologue when I get home at work and, you know, from work or basically anything. I'm just looking forward to the next pot.

And this week, we don't have to wait as long. We're here for the Thanksgiving special. This is the Thanksgiving special. You know, if we were professional, we would have. had some type of turkey sound effect ready, but no one told Crystal to do that. So, K. Rich, apologies for not, you know, putting just basic prep into this podcast. You know, there's always a chance for post-production. Yeah.

You love post-production. Crystal actually came into work 10 minutes ago, and we're already up here podcasting just because we want to just get it out there. Yeah, so this is our Thanksgiving preview. But, you know, before we get into the three games, Mark will be locked into the office. on Thanksgiving night while his family cuts into the old bird upstate in California. Sorry, Mark, for digging into that. But before we get into all that, how about the news, K. Rich? Kay Rich of the headlis.

Why did you need to go down that bad? It's a perfectly, you know, amiable scenario because I have to fly up. for a wedding. Right. And I worked it out with Greg Bray. I would do the Thanksgiving holiday and be locked in place for a wedding and not in the office two weeks ago. And I do like that I don't realize I didn't provide any context.

Right. It just sounds like your family just took off. It's this very amiable agreement that, you know, it helped with the family budget. That's the business. I mean, your family's not here for Thanksgiving, right? You're going in the yacht. We're all three of us in New York. I think they're forgetting about me slowly but surely each month.

Right. I'm losing touch with the people I care about. Well, the first bit of news is to find out what everyone's Thanksgiving's plans are since we went there. Well, no, no. Mine's a little wacky, though. My parents are actually coming in Thursday night. We're pretending Thursday never happened. I'm taking work off Friday, and we're going to do a little Thanksgiving on Friday.

How about that? There won't be any football involved, but whatever. Black Friday Thanksgiving, very interesting. Kay Rich, big on Black Friday. I'm having a few people over Casa del Hansis during Thanksgiving night. Right. How about you? What are you doing, Mark? I am covering the evening's third and final tilt, which should probably take me close to midnight.

Yes. You are welcome to come over to my abode afterward. Thank you. I might. But I believe I have a turnaround where I'm back in the office at around 4.50 a.m. the next morning. And getting to the office on foot. Yeah. It is a work week.

By the way, Mark, after Sunday night's podcast opted to walk home in the dead of night, even though Greg and I were both leaving at the same time as well in cars. Mark just wanted to walk silently through Culver City, California. It was odd a little bit. I do the same thing, Mark. I walk home and it's refreshing. All right, guys, now for what we're really here for, the news, starting with this. Jay Cutler will sit out another week for the Chicago Bears,

and he remains a week to week with his high ankle sprain. This is actually, it might not seem on the service, but this is good news. if you're to believe Coach Mark Tressman that this is not anything more than a high ankle sprain. He will sit out this week. That means Josh McCown will play again against the Vikings. But in Tressman's words, Cutler will definitely be back before the end of the season. So that's good. I don't think this is a good team.

And they can't stop anyone on the run and they're about to play Adrian Peterson. And the schedule sets up nicely that they have a game that I think they can win this week can stay in the mix in the NFC North. But since that 3-0 start, they're just 3 and 5 over the last eight weeks. It's funny. I like this year's team better than last year's Bears, except that team finished 10 and 6. And I'm not sure this team will. And, you know, this is tough for Cutler because this really is an audition season for him to prove to Tressman.

I can be your guy, re-up with me. I want to stick around. I'm not sure why Tresman would do that other than the fact that it's hard to find another guy of Cutler's arm strength and equal on someone. level. One other sneaky disconnect that I found when I was working up the post. I was digging through our archives from a week earlier. Tressman said this week that there's no underlying information about the Cutler's ankle. It's not worse than a high ankle sprain. But then Cutler himself said last week there are a few other things involved. I just had a normal, if I just had a normal high ankle sprain, I wouldn't be in a cast. A cast helps it scar up and stuff. But the normal high ankle sprain isn't

really a concern at this point. So Cutler says there's something. something more to it. The coach a week later says there's not something more to it. I'm more willing to side with Cutler that we're dealing with something else. A trustman is just trying to manage this. People come up to me on the street all the time and they ask me who's going to win the NFC. On the streets. Really? I love walking around L.A.

Are you famous to that level? Big time. In Santa Monica, they know my name. Me and my daughter. My answer is not the Bears. That's, I think, my answer. And if they asked me about Jake Cutler, will he be on the Bears next year? I think at this point I'd be a little surprised if he was.

All right, guys. Next up, we have an injury update on Star Chiefs linebackers, Justin Houston, who had so much potential, and Tomah Ali. Houston has a dislocated elbow, and Ali sprained his ankle, but not a high ankle sprain. Sounds like Ali has a chance to play this week against the Broncos. That's huge. If they were missing both of them, you know, I think forget about it,

even though they're in Arrowhead. It sounds like Ali could play Houston. We don't know. We may not see him for a while. A little worried about Houston's dislocated elbow. That's an injury that the swelling was so bad on Monday that they weren't ready for an MRI. Maybe that's standard.

But bottom line is a dislocated elbow is not a pleasant thing. And I would not be surprised if it took more than one week. Who knows? And we're looking at a Chief's team that is threatening to lose three in a row. And they now face what has to be a super agitated Peyton Manning, who in theory won't be playing in sub-freezing temperatures and might rebound this week. But I want to see what Denver does too in that game. That's a strange situation for the Broncos. And you know who is the first, you know, defensive end off the bench to replace

these guys after they got hurt? Frank Zombo. I mean, that's a problem. When you're going from two guys that might make the Pro Bowl team to Frank Zombo. Yeah, it's bad for the Chiefs. It's a big drop to Zombo. But when we talk about Peyton Manning, it doesn't matter who you you are. No one can get to Manning. When they had the full forces they couldn't touch them in teams week after week can't. What else is in the news, K. Rich? All right, guys. Last of, this is not only sad for Packers fans, but fantasy owners all around the world, all around the nation, including myself, who started Aaron Rogers. His chances

of playing on Thanksgiving are slim to none, according to Mike McCarthy, Packers head coach. Well, the best case scenario had always been Thanksgiving, and it's pretty clear that's not going to be the case now. After Thursday, they'll have that extended break of, you know, a week and a half. And then you would hope he's back then, which would also, speaking of fantasy, lined up nicely for our team, Alison Brie, who has Aaron Rogers. That's the most important thing of this whole storyline. You know, it's like, you can't just take a quarterback and dip him back into a game situation. We're going to have to see him come back, have a full week of practice, go through the whole rig and morale before Aaron Rogers back. You know, they said this could be a more

serious injury than they thought. Thanksgiving always felt like a push. It did, and McCarthy wouldn't name a starter initially. He says he's going to prepare two quarterbacks to play. Matt Flynn, who replaced Scott Tolzeen on Sunday when the Packers tied the Vikings. Dan, you watched that game really closely. How did Flynn look? I think that was, Flynn looked very good. I mean, considering, and Mark's not going to like to hear this because Mark was so upset about Flynn finding success in his life from a career perspective. Mark has some hate. No, no, that is not accurate.

Continue on and I'll respond. Matt Flynn came on in the early in the fourth quarter of a game that his team is trailing 23-7 and led three scoring drives to push into overtime. You know, both teams obviously stalled out in the overtime. That's how you get a tie. That's how those things work. But on balance, Flynn was more than you could have ever asked for considering the circumstances and I also found it interesting that Mike McCarthy said on Monday

that part of the reason, one of the reasons he was impressed by Flynn was his recall to go back to the old Packers playbook when Flynn was there and it helped them in their hurry up offense. So I think he's not only did he make the throws and play well's elbow looked healthy, he also allowed them to do some things that maybe they didn't think they might have been able to. So I don't see any way Scott Tolzian's playing on Thursday. It seemed, that's coach speak to me. Well, I think it's funny because a week ago in McCarthy came out of the game against the Giants saying that he had never seen a young quarterback make, on tape, eight perfect downfield throws the way that Tolzeen did.

So this week, he's all flowery and excited about Matt Flynn and his recall of a system that he has spent five years and whatever. Listen, all I'm saying is, I think the Packers, the reason they're practicing both in McCarthy, he came out, they're desperate. they've had so much flux at the quarterback position. But he knows. He knows who the starter is, right? Of course it's Flynn. It's got to be, right? Yeah. I mean, it's not even a question.

I mean, but it just, here's the thing. With Tolzeen, I thought they are developing for the first time in a while at young quarterback, and they pulled a plug on it so quick, and bang, we're back to Flynn. It's green-based backup. It saved them from a loss. It did. I can't kill him for that. I just, I find it, as a fan, it's boring.

I don't want to see Matt Flynn back. What is it with you and Matt Flynn? I'm not. He's a free letter. Would he steal your girlfriend in 2006? No, I don't dislike the guy personally. I just find it to be such a Green Bay thing to do. You find it annoying that he's made so much money over the last couple years,

whereas Brian Hoyer has barely made anything. This is a class situation. I'm not sure that's where I'm coming from with it. But listen, let's move on. Are you a communist? No. Why would that be linked to my issues? No, I just feel like his wages are the reason.

why you dislike him, and if everyone made the same amount, then maybe Matt Flynn would be, you know, more beloved in your mind. No, that's not accurate. Okay, just throwing it out there. Just the theory. All right, so, all right, so we're talking about the Packers. Why don't we just continue into our Thanksgiving preview in the first game on Thanksgiving. Mark, excuse me, Greg and I will be in the office for these early games.

The Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions from Ford Field. Who needs this game more, Greg? That's a good question. I'm not even prepared to answer it. Boom. I think the Lions need it more at home. The Packers, because Rogers coming back, I think, have a better chance, even if they lost this game of running the table.

Now, if you look at opponent-winning percentage, the rest of the way, the Packers actually have the toughest slate of any of the NFC North contenders. They have an easy game against Atlanta, but then it's at Dallas, Pittsburgh, at Chicago. I think they could win all four with Rogers. Whereas if Detroit loses this game at home to a backup quarterback, the way this season has gone, I think that would be tough to recover from. You know, Detroit's schedule isn't terrible down the stretch, but they've lost two in a row.

They just lost at home to Tampa. I would say Detroit has more on the line here, because this is a team that a week ago was in control of this division, and it's not a very good division right now. and they're turning up to be just as inconsistent as unreliable as the rest of them. You're at home, it's Thanksgiving. For years, the nation was furious with the idea that Detroit, a terrible franchise always gets this home Thanksgiving game.

Or maybe just I was. Yeah, I was too. It's like, oh, we're just handing this to you. They actually are an interesting team now. Take care of business. Yeah, how many more three-minute features on CBS do we need about Joey Harrington's piano playing? Not many more. Not many.

I'll tell you who I'm rooting for. I'm rooting for the Packers. I don't know if they're going to win, but the last thing I want to see is the Detroit line sneak into the NFC playoffs and get blown out by three touchdowns in the first round and just, you know, whatever. Why would they do that?

Because they stink. I could see them doing that. We all know they can beat anybody. They can lose to anybody, and they have a real capability, and their quarterback plays a big role in this of stinkers on any given week, and I could just see it right now,

January flame out. If you're making the watchability argument, I like a little Detroit Lions in the playoffs. I mean, you got Stafford, Reggie Bush, Megatron, Fairly ensue. You never know what's going to happen. Every game comes down to the end. There's spectacular wins. There's spectacular mistakes.

And that's kind of where I'm at with the Lions. I thought they maybe were a little past that they're really not. I'll take the Packers and Aaron Rogers against the Carolina Panthers. If you're looking long-term NFC North, right? You want to get Rogers back in the saddle. They sneak in right to the playoffs. And that is Aaron Rogers with honestly a pretty good Green Bay team suddenly supporting him. Who knows what they would do in the playoffs?

One other thing I want to throw it to you guys. It is Thanksgiving in Detroit, and that could mean only one thing. Indomacan Su is going to commit some type of savage act of violence. What's going to happen? I don't know, but you're going to be writing the peel-off piece about whatever his shenanigans are this year. I got foot to Matt Schaub's lowers last year. I made sure to have two of us on for this game because we got, Because of the Indomican Sue factor, someone will cover Sue, and the other guy will just cover the game.

We need a Sue beat guy on Thanksgiving, that's what it's coming to, because Sue beats guys on Thanksgiving. Ooh, that's pretty good. If they lost this game, they're at Philadelphia the next week, which is a tough game. And then versus Baltimore, the Lions, I think, have to win this game to stay right in this mix. All right, so let's pick this game. Green Bay, Detroit, Sessler, I'll throw it to you. Because they are at home and because I do think they absolutely need this, I'm going to Detroit. Greg?

I'm taking Detroit. I'll take the Packers. I liked what I saw from Matt Flynn. I think they're seeing their way out of it, and I just really want the Packers in the playoffs. They have not won a game without Aaron Rogers yet. We talked about that all they had to do is beat bad teams, like the Giants and the Vikings, and they didn't beat either one.

By the way, they also haven't lost a game in two weeks. Let's stop dissing ties. All right, let's move on to the second game of the day. And you know what? I think for this game, we need to get Chris Wessling on the horn. Chris Wessling, of course, has been out of studio the past few days. He's on Tybee Island doing God knows what with God knows who. K. Rich behind the glass, we need to get him on the line because this is Oakland Raiders related.

Oh, yes. And softball pants. Coming right up. Hello. Wes. What's up? Oh, boy, it doesn't sound too good. Chris, how you doing?

This is the Around the League team from the podcast studio. How are you, buddy? I'm well. How are you guys? Well, we're doing well. You have a little bit of a Kim Carnes rasped to your voice. Yes, I was doing some showy the other night. Should we be surprised that West sounds like this from the Sunday night podcast?

This is the post-Huckapoo's effect. He's playing hurt. You know what? I'm going back to my original theory that Huckapoo's is evil, because what could strike down a man of Wes's vitality to this point? That's fair softball pants good. I never denied that Huckapoo's was evil. Wes, so we got you on the line because we're going through the Thanksgiving games

and where we've moved on to the Oakland Raiders against the Dallas Cowboys. First, take us through Sunday because the Raiders, they seemed headed toward that fifth victory, which would have given them, what, five chances to get to six. Once we hit six, of course, Wes has to eat his softball. as per the agreement. Will Chris Wessling eat his softball pants? Instead, Fitzmagic rolls into the picture, steals the game away in Oakland,

and now the Raiders need two games. What was your process as you watched that game on Sunday? Well, I had half the bar was aware of the bet and was watching that game with me. So we were all cheering when Fitzmagic happened late in the game. Wait, they're rooting for you? If I were them, I'd be rooting for you to eat the pants. They like me

Oh See that's the difference He only said half the bar The other half Probably clearly rooting for pants He is a legend I guess They don't want to see anything bad

And we have no evidence We have no proof That if Wes ate softball pants It wouldn't have potentially fatal effects So from that pure base stance Of will it kill Wes I would think his friends They don't want to risk that

Yeah I brought it up By the way to my wife Have a little update there I brought it up once at dinner, and the response was... Your wife, who's a chef? Yeah, she was a chef. You know, she went to school for it and all that. The first time she just said, that's disgusting.

I'm trying to eat. Right. Off to a flying start. So that shut it down. I brought it up again when I got home last night. She was worried about, you know, Chris's health. She basically didn't understand. She just said, you can't eat pants.

And I said, well, that's part of the bet. She's got to look past that part of it. She's got a civil suit on her mind, clearly. So we have to, I still have some work to do on this front. I guess it would be my update. Well, we also have K. Rich and some soul food on tap as well, right? Oh, yeah. Hey, I'm just curious to know, Greg, how did you bring this up to your wife?

And did you say it humbly? Was there any compromise? You know me. Well, nothing comes out too humbly. What is the dynamic in that relationship? put your foot down and say listen honey no no i'm i was approaching it you know in retrospect i probably shouldn't have brought it up you know while we're sitting there eating dinner that wasn't the right time so because i tried to you know well you know we have this bit with the podcast

you try to scheme listen honey you will cook 13 pounds of fabric into various dishes no i'm approaching how big are these pants 13 pounds i'm approaching this very carefully knowing that she might not be totally in love with spending the tiny bit of free time that she has cooking something that could kill one of our employees. All right, so, okay, good. Well, it's good to know. We'll keep working on that. Wes, before we get into the game itself,

I just want to ask you a question. Before that final drive, before the Titans took over, what was rank at 1 to 10, how nervous you were about the idea of eating pants? I would say 6. All right, and now after that drive, how do you feel? What is the number? I would say close to the three and a half See that was huge

Well when you look at their schedule That was the game they had to win right there It was huge Well you know if they go and they steal a game Ingero World on Thursday Everything's back to normal Now I'll throw this out to all you boys Do the Raiders have a shot here

The Cowboys are coming off a win They desperately needed at the Meadowlands That kind of righted the ship a little bit And now they have a chance Once again the Cowboys have been afraid of their own shadow all season, really for years now, can they put back to victories together and really put the heat on the Eagles?

I think the Cowboys should be considered the heavy favorite. They're the better team. But we've also seen that they pretty much play to the level of their competition every single game. And the Raiders, I think, play up to the level of their competition. Now, they've got blown out a couple times

against Philadelphia, Kansas City, the first game wasn't that close. But for the most part, their game. And these are two teams that I never have a good feel for what they're going to do that Sunday. So they could go out there, and the Raiders, they're capable of beating just about anyone. And the Cowboys are capable of losing just about anyone. Look, Dallas is defense, too, by the way. I could see Raiders or anyone moving the ball. and Oakland's put up 20 or more points in five of the last seven games.

This is going to be a close game. I think Matt McGloin could play a little bit. He made some really nice throws on Sunday, and I think the Cowboys don't scare anybody, especially without Sean Lee. Do I think they blow this game? They are the Cowboys. Hmm.

I'm thinking in real time. Wes, doesn't McGloin scare you a little bit the way that Case Keenham in his early moments before he captured your heart scared you? Keenham? Yeah, early period. I would say that I was more scared of Terrell Pryor than I am of McClellan. Really?

Yeah, not the prior as a better quarterback, it seemed like he just made them more competitive. Teams had a hard time stopping him on third down because of his running ability. I don't know about McLevin. We'll see. They kept moving the ball against Tennessee. They just kept

settling for field goals and missed field goals. If Sebastian Janakowski doesn't have one of the worst days of his career, the Raiders win that game. See, Bass is slipping a little bit. Here is a bit of hope for West, though. So let's say Dallas sneaks out of here with this win. What do you mean, a bit of hope?

He's putting himself at a three and a half on the worried scale. And he has a reason to not be worried because they play the Jets, which say that's 50-50. Then they close out with the Chiefs, the Chargers, and the Broncos. And the Chargers are on the road. That's tough. I don't think Oakland gets to six. They will be underdogs every game the rest of the season. But they've been underdogs from the start.

Let's face it. They're America's Cinderella team. Before we let you go, Wes, let's just pick this game. I'll start with you, Wes. Who do you see taking this? I imagine the Cowboys. I'm taking the Cowboys. Fellas?

Yeah, I'm taking the Cowboys. Yeah, me as well. I'm going Oakland. Yeah, Mark's going Rogue. Guts. He's just mailing it in. That's why I'm in last place. Wow.

I like this, though. That's almost a guaranteed hero pick. All right, Wes, thank you very much, buddy. Come back to you soon. All right. Thanks, guys. Okay. God. Put him back on the life support machine now.

I'm not sure the 10 minutes from now, Wes remembers being on the phone with us. I just have a feeling he's in an altered state. Come back to us, Wes. We need you. You need us. Okay, so let's move on to the final game on Thursday, the Thursday night affair. This is the game where Mark will be by himself in an office on Thanksgiving night all alone.

Listen, you know... Watching two of your favorite teams. Well, that is the punch in the gut, because had things gone the way that I thought they would in my better mind state, Cleveland would be in the mix here on the AFC North. which would be better for probably society in the country instead we get what we've gotten always in the last decade

which is Raven Steelers and I have a chance to cover the two teams I enjoy the least but I will say this it's an intriguing matchup The only thing that could be worse is if during the game Mike Tomlin rips off

a mask and it turns out he was Bernie Kosar the whole time I think that's the only way that's going to hurt you. That's interesting That would cut deep. That would be some extra work for you. But then who's the Burning Coasaw that we've been introduced to over the last few years? He's a different dude. Clearly a body double.

That would be a lot of extra posts, though. I feel like we would have to break that down. We just add it to what we learned. All right, so let's look at this game. Let's break this down. The Steelers and Ravens, two teams at five and six, both coming off wins. This is, I think, is this the NBC game? Yes, it is.

Yeah. Alan Chris, after a golden game on. Sunday night, now get a game that looked like a stinker two weeks ago. Now it means a lot. It's almost like a playoff game. It's not quite a playoff. But almost there. Whoever loses this is in bad shape.

I think the winner is the favorite for the wild card. You know, the winner, I would not even say the winner couldn't win this division, frankly. They're only, if since he stumbles, they're a game behind the Bengals. Since his lead is really, really slimmed. Do you think the Steelers' defense, watching them against Cleveland, is, starting to get better because when I've watched it, I don't think it's really the defense getting better. They don't have much of a passage. It's pretty much all Ben Rothesberger, Antonio Brown, Lavian Bell's added a lot, and the offense figuring out what they need to do. And the defense doesn't

really impress me much. I will say this about the defense because I know for years they've been tagged as they're too old. They can't move. They're one season away from complete collapse. There's a lot of pride on that defense. And I don't even know what that means sometimes in the NFL, but they love playing for their coaches, and I do think that they, I watch them play Cleveland, they shut the Browns down, which that doesn't sound like much, except things that Cleveland's been able to do week after week could not happen against Pittsburgh. Well, except for the week before. Well, and also, by the way, here's the weak spot, and I'm not sure the Ravens can attack it.

Ike Taylor and some of his play, he gave up a ton of yardage two weeks ago to Megatron and got killed by Gordon yesterday. Gil, 230-something yards. I think the Steelers, I believe we did an email running email last week. I think I said the Ravens were the favorite. But now I'm starting to think it's the Steelers. And I think it's because Ben Rafflesberger, who, Greg, I know you, well, you picked him from MVP, but you said you believe that he'd been playing well for the most part all season.

I was a little more on the fence. But the last two weeks, there's nothing else you could say. The guy is really locked in now. And he's the best quarterback of any of these wild card contenders. and I just think that he has the ability to now lift these guys to, you know, you don't have to get nine wins. They get to nine wins, eight or nine wins, and that could do it. And I think they'll start with a big win on Thursday night. I don't think Big Ben likes dealing with the Ravens.

I don't think he ever has. But I will say this, that when I look at Baltimore and Pittsburgh, the strongest aspect to either team, two teams that just know each other so well, you're not going to trick each other. Big Ben's play is the strongest thing here. I don't look at Baltimore and see anything that says, yep, that's going to put Pittsburgh on its heels. What about the Ravens defense? It's been a very good defense this year. Maybe not great, but very good.

They just embarrassed your boy, Gino. I know it's a big step up in class, but they're capable of having those sort of shut down performances. Doesn't Big Ben, though, seem to just make plays no matter what you put in front of them? It's a Joe Flacco game to be. I agree with you. Joe Flacco played a little bit better against the Jets.

Is that fair to say? say made some plays down the field in some tough conditions his best asset is that big arm and one of the things that have been missing from the raven's offense this year has been that big playability they took advantage of a opponent weakness last week you would hope that they continue to go to that now that you have Jacoby jones back to full health and troy smith that that's a big part of their attack that i think they've not used enough we're now entering week 12 and the defending super bowl champs their offense has been terrible it is what it is at this point isn't it?

Yeah. We're now entering week 13. The defending Super Bowl champions, their offense have been terrible the whole time. At this point last year, they still didn't even have the losing streak that they eventually bounced back to. I still think there's time

because Joe Flacco can be that good to put together some games where he gets Jacoby Jones involved and Tandon Doss and Tori Smith and the Steelers defense. If there's a problem with them, they give up a lot of big plays. I think Joe Flacco has it in

to have a big game in a big spot and kind of start them on their path. We've been waiting for it all year. And it's like, listen, this is this matchup. And it's hard to predict these Raven Steelers games. But I just, I look at Pittsburgh, and this is jelling as more of a complete team on offense. They have a running back. I think Levy on Bell can do some damage. I just think Pittsburgh's got it going on right now.

Three wins in a row. See it's number four is coming this weekend. These guys are fist-bubby. The fan of the Browns and the Jets are fist-bubby over the Steelers. It's all we have. You, Greg, are coming off one of the biggest wins as a Patriots fan. You've got nothing but sunshine glowing down on you. Dan and I just have to get our victories where we can right now.

Exactly. Me and you picked the Steelers to win this division. You know, I had been as the MVP. That's no great consolation to me. No, I know. To be MVP, I can't pick the Steelers team right. Every time I pick them to win, they lose and vice versa. It's so early.

I want to wait until the last minute to pick this one. One question. Do you guys all think hands down since he wins this division, right now. You feel that good about them? I don't feel great about them, but I think they're going to win 10 games. I don't think it's going to happen. I think they will, but I'm closer to you, Mark, where it wouldn't shock me if they fell apart completely, but they'd have to only win two out of their last five.

I think I'm going to take Baltimore in this game as it just pains, these Steelers picks pains me, but I just kind of what I said about Flacco, and I think this defense is pretty good. I think this Ravens team has been lying in the weeds, but still could have some. something to them. If you change your mind, we're okay with it. For the official picks. Yeah, for the official pick. Thank you, Dan.

Yeah, and I'll take the Steelers. I think Pittsburgh is going to win this about 27 to 7. Whoa, you like the 20-point spreads. You're always picking blowouts. I don't think that's that crazy of a call. All right, that does it for the Thanksgiving preview. We'll be back later this week. Mark, again, if you get out at a reasonable hour,

you're welcome to come to the Hanzas House for Thanksgiving. and just let us know you're a vegetarian. What's in play in terms of Thanksgiving for your plate? Listen, if I show up, it's going to be so far beyond when dinner was served that I'll just come for the good cheer to hang out with the Hanses family. They will serve you some dinner here. Did you know this? I'm not holding my breath.

A special Thanksgiving dinner. They asked me who's going to be in the office and when we're leaving and whatnot. It's actually a huge spread. You act like, Mark, you haven't been here for any Thanksgiving. I just said I'm not holding my breath for it being something that's going to entice me to be, you know, fired up about a meal served in a neon-lit room. You hate food. There's no other reason.

I'm not a foodie. And, in fact, Thanksgiving ranks food-wise is one of the things I almost don't even look forward to you. I could care less. You know, it's funny. You sit in Wes's chair and you take on his grumpy attributes. I'm not trying to be grumpy. I'm being honest. I don't sit around country and.

images of like cranberry sauce dabbled on top of like a slice of turkey i don't think about it you could have that any time you wanted to i mean i'm about as cynical as it gets i'm not really into the holidays everything seems random but who doesn't like thanksgiving that's the one i can get behind i didn't say i like many aspects of it's family it's football i like all that i just no i like all that i don't need the over emphasis and the over celebration on these plates of food please let's get over so let's just wait for a couple weeks for mark Christmas rent, which is really nasty. No, no, no.

The vitriol really comes out for that. Have a happy holiday, everyone. All right, that's it. This Dan Hansa signing off for the Sizzler, the boss, K. Rich behind the glass, and Lyle, the intern, who is not invited to my home on Thanksgiving. Sorry, buddy. Not worth it. Until later.

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