NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL New Year's resolutions & 2015 playoff picture

Episode Date: December 29, 2015

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, and Marc Sessler – discuss the latest news from around the NFL, including the Eagles firing head coach Chip Kelly, and reports that connect Peyton Manning to HGH. Then, the heroes break down the 2015 playoff picture, and talk about the matchups they want to see in January. Plus, New Year's resolutions for some of the biggest names in the NFL.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. You know it's a special edition of the Around the NFL podcast when this is how it starts. Breaking news in the NFL late Tuesday afternoon. Chip Kelly, the genius himself, fired by the Philadelphia Eagles after three seasons, five and nine this season here with Wes and Greg. Mark will join us a little later on the show once we get to the proper edition

of Tuesdays around the NFL podcast but let's unpack this real quick off the top I'll start with you, Wes Kelly 10 and 6 his first two years things fell apart with him as the personnel men in addition to the coach and the Eagles decide to get out while they're getting as bad

do you agree with the move? Well I think the shocking thing was that it happened this week instead of next week that was the most surprising thing but I think he kind of brought this on himself with his fight for personnel power last about a year ago, and it all backfired on him. Sam Bradford didn't turn out to be the solution at quarterback.

DeMarco Murray was one of the worst free agent signings. He got rid of LaShawn McCoy, and that didn't work out. He got rid of Evan Mathis, and the offensive line wasn't very good. Signed Byron Maxwell, who's not a number one cornerback. Which of his moves worked? None of them. And you're right. When I was going through the list coming up with the different personnel moves,

for our article, I just kept thinking, oh, that didn't work out. Oh, that was a disaster. Oh, DeMarco Murray, by the way, told Jeffrey Lurie, the team's owner on the plane. Remember that story that came out a few weeks ago? When he spoke to him, Ian Rappaport, our NFL media insider, reported tonight that Murray told Lurie he had no confidence whatsoever in Kelly as a coach. So that was the guy you gave all that money to. Apparently snitches don't get stitches.

I wonder if Kelly has any confidence in Murray. That goes both ways. Right. I don't think that's obviously the reason that Kelly got fired, although I do think the unrest among players not liking his style maybe carries more weight with ownership or the front office at a point where the team starts looking flat and starts losing. They're not going to care about that if you're winning,

but when it starts losing and you're in Philadelphia and the situation becomes ugly, maybe they listen to the players a little bit. This from Jeffrey Lurie, who released a statement shortly after the news came out, I spent the last three seasons evaluating the many factors involved in our performance as a team. As I watched this season unfold, I determined that it was time to make a change. And, you know, Lori has to accept a big amount of responsibility for this going haywire as well. I mean, they made the decision on January 2nd, 2015. The news came out that Chip Kelly had been given total personnel power of the operation.

along with who's his boy, Ed. Manowitz. Manowitz, thank you. And that didn't work at all. As we're saying, everything Chip did turned to stone. And that falls on the owner for misidentifying Chip Kelly as a personnel talent. I think the disappointing thing for me is his first two seasons he wins. We think he has his revolutionary offense.

And I don't think he stayed long enough to find out if his system works in the NFL. did we get a definitive answer on that if yes well it worked the first two years no matter what you want to say about it he created offense and he improved the team but defenses catch up to gimmick offenses in the NFL they caught up to the read option and his defense i believe was 32nd in the league over the last three years combined oof so i i some some indictment something wasn't working well part of that is you end up exposing your team to more plays on both sides of the ball so that helps goose your offensive numbers per play. You're not as good, maybe, but you just have so many plays.

And then it hurts your defensive numbers. Brian Baldinger made the good point on NFL Network that Malcolm Jenkins has already played 150 snaps. He's played two more games than a lot of other starters out there. And he still has one more week to go. I do think that the 20 wins he racked up the first couple of years, including an exciting style of play, the pace of play, could give him another chance. Someone tweeted out, I'm looking at it right now.

you know, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Ron Rivera, Sean Peyton, those are some of the coaches who had worse records in their first three seasons. It's not like he was a disaster. He was, I mean, as a personnel man, he seemed like a disaster. But as a coach, things were working those first two years. They went to the playoffs. And if you look ahead, spin forward, there's a lot. I mean, this is now a major rebuild going on within the Eagles

in terms of their front office. But for Chip Kelly, I guess the two places, and I wrote a piece on the around the NFL site, about this, what's next for, the two teams to look at right now, and especially one, the Tennessee Titans rap sheet reported that he had spoke to someone in their front office a few weeks back, and, you know, would they be interested in Chip Kelly? And they said, you know, we can't say we'd be interested in him just because he was under contract, but they didn't say they weren't interested.

Now he's not under contract. The other team, I would say you could at least put into the mix as the Cleveland Browns, who very nearly landed Chip Kelly as the coach three years ago, before he was lured away back to Philadelphia. Joe Banner's not there anymore. He was involved in the courtship of Kelly, but Jimmy Haslam's still there, the owner. So maybe they'll make another play.

And then, of course, the college game where he got rich in the first place and became a well-known offensive innovator. Is there a team in the college ranks that will woo him away? Well, by all accounts, he wants to stay in the NFL and there's no major college jobs available anymore this year. So even if he wanted to go back to college,

he might have to wait a way. He could be like a really unlikable analyst for a year and then he seemed like he would not enjoy that yeah that's what surprises me because this broke an hour an hour and a half ago and i've heard so many people say that he belongs in college and that's where he's going to end up but he's only said that he wants to stay in the NFL he's repeated that many times marius marriota of course uh recruited by chip kelly at oregon the eagles made their play to try to get mariotto move up in the draft couldn't get him this now is the most real opportunity possible

where the you know Mike Malarkey ain't coming back in Tennessee maybe they the Tennessee brass sees a Kelly Marriota fit makes sense and you know the number one pick so that's a pretty nice job if you're Chip Kelly to go revitalize the franchise that's

all in the deep distance or middle distance at this point but right now the genius and I'm getting a lot of tweets by the way people like oh you must be loving this and I don't like when people get fired I'm not a soulless man you have a lot of soul but I have to say That's what I think when I think, Dan Hansa.

The genius did get his comeuppance in the fact that he was a guy who thought he could do it all. And at least in this one season, small sample, he was proven to be a guy that was not such a genius in all ways when it comes to the National Football League, at least. So we'll see what happens next. Let's now, guys, go to the rest of the program. The Sizzler joins us. We have some fun. Matt Money Smith, take it away, baby. The Around the NFL podcast has.

Suggestions for Carrie Underwood. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by Rufeld with Heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethall. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. I don't think we all have the same suggestion for Carrie Underwood. Oh, sure. Did you say, hey, Dan, or Mark?

I did. You sounded, because I was looking down, you sounded like Sessler. I've been working on my ventriloquism. I'll tell you what's up today. Hansis's hair is on another level. It's time. It's peacocking. I got to go to the old blind barber tomorrow and get it done.

Get a haircut. There's a particular tuft of like white, gray hair that is just sticking straight up in the sky beautifully. Well, that's reaching out to the heavens where it belongs. That's how I like to look at it. You said we would have different suggestions for Carrie Underwood, Mark. I mean, I think most of us seem to share the suggestion. and let's get a new singer on Sunday night football pregame.

Couldn't happen fast enough. Terrible guys. Oh, that's right. Dan likes her. Or the idea of her, something about her. Yeah. This is the... If you're going to sing a pregame show...

Hey, let's stick a pin in it for now. Have some dance moves or something. Let's stick a pin in it for now. Let's all say. No Priyanka. This is the Tuesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast, the show in which we hit all the news that's cooking in the early portion of another week of football.

The final week of the regular season. Here we are, week 17 coming up upon us in a few days. So we'll talk what's going on in the news. We will get into, you know, Greg, your playoff knowledge will be tested once again in seedings and things of that nature. We will talk about the playoff picture overview, which some things fell into place in Monday night's game. between the Bengals and Broncos.

And, of course, that's a game we will talk about in a matter of seconds, even, a Monday Night football game that Greg called a classic. Always hitting me with, you know, criticism about dropping classic on things. A very good game. Classic. Come down a little bit.

When did I call it a classic? I don't even remember that. You wrote it in your copy when you were breaking down the AFC playoff picture. But that's fine. Great game. You know what it was? It would make my top 10 games of the year. I don't know if that quality.

You have 37 games in your 10 games of the year. You're like Dick Vital trying to talk about number one basketball. Let me guess you wrote this last night after the game. And the one thing I'll say about Greg, you know, Greg in a lot of ways, like a lot of things, it doesn't matter, you know, who cares? But when it comes to football, this is real. Greg loves professional football. He loves to watch it.

He loves to talk about it. He loves to write about it. So I think that enthusiasm spills out onto the page. and you were all wired after watching that OT thriller. Yeah. Out comes classic in your lead. I don't think that it was in the lead. Maybe it was.

I don't even remember. You remember writing this story, Greg? But how many scotches were in you? Zero. The Bengals Broncos, we went into it saying it was going to be the most impactful game of the season in terms of the playoffs. And then it delivered an interesting game we haven't seen before. I know Mark wanted a nice low-scoring game.

He got one. There were twists and turns. It would be in the top 10 games of the year. I promise you. Maybe I'll make my list just for you, Wes. That's a good list. That's a good post on the around the NFL page. It's good offseason article to promote NFL game pass because a lot of fans constantly tweet me asking which game should I watch once the off-season starts.

There you go. Interesting. It's all coming together. A lot of fans of West, by the way, not just football fans, West fans. His fan base. Well, I didn't mean that. Yeah, you do have a big fan base. It's about me. Yeah.

Now we're just, now that I'm just delivering drops. It's about me. There you go, Sidney. How are you, Sydney, by the way? I'm doing well. I've been away for a little while. It's good to be back. Welcome back from Utah.

Yes, thank you. And we're going to do some news in a little bit, Sydney. Before that, we're going to talk about the Monday Night Football game. Let's do it. The Denver Broncos have clinched a playoff berth in the AFC on a day where they enter a very unusual situation. for the Broncos on Monday night football. If they won the game, they're in the playoffs with a chance to be the number one seed. If they would have lost this game, they would have a chance going into week 17 to miss

the playoffs entirely to go from one to seven and out. Won't happen because despite falling behind 14 to nothing, they manage a comeback with Brock Osweiler leading the way a quarterback. They tie the game. Brandon McManus ridiculously pulls a field goal. in the final seconds of regulation so far left he misses the net how humiliating kicker humiliation but he gets his redemption they receive the ball in overtime to win the coin toss take the ball by the way Greg that's what they did they said oh we won the coin toss we'll take

the ball first because it's cool to take the ball and then win football games they go down the field mcmannis hits the field goal puts them ahead they get a stop demarcus ware recovered a mishandled snap by a j mccarran who played pretty well in this game but not well Well, enough. Final score, 20 to 17. Chris Wessling, you wrote up the takeaways piece on NFL.com. Six of them, in fact, meaty as they are. Let's talk about it. Your thoughts? Well, while we're engaging in hyperbole as regards to this game, I thought it was one of the closest games of the year that this game, at most points in the game after halftime, you thought could have gone either way. And they seem to be two very evenly matched teams with, I thought McCarran outplayed.

Osweiler pretty handily for four quarters. I thought he was the better quarterback in this game. A.J. Green didn't do him any favors in the fourth quarter dropping one pass that was a bomb downfield right in his hands and stopping his route on another pass in the end zone. That's six if he runs through the route. That was kind of hard to figure out. I'm with you. I really, number one, I think that Greg is, you got it right. This was a top 10 game this year. But I think we do. We do label, no, but we do label too many games that way. But this was just fun to watch because, you know, you get to the point where we've watched Peyton Manning 4,000 times, and Andy Dalton the bunch, and it's two young quarterbacks that I think are pretty well coached at this point for where they are.

I love Hugh Jackson and what he does with the Bengals offense, and A.J. McCarrin just seemed comfortable out there, and he kind of, he wasn't too big for him. Not at all. And he played fantastically up until the final decisive error. But really, I mean, I don't think this is a team that you can just discount because A.J. McCarran's in a quarterback. He can do. almost anything that we've seen Dalton do. I will just say, and, you know, McCarran did play well, but if you look at, and there were some misses, like Wes said with A.J. Green, but they scored their second touchdown with eight minutes

to play in the second quarter, three points the rest of the way. So it wasn't like he was shredding this Broncos defense and playing lights off football. They were a fantastic defense, though, right? They only had one drive in the second, or two drives in the second half where they moved the ball at all. Some of that's play calling.

Hugh Jackson got more conservative than the second half with a lead and started running the ball a lot more. and, you know, McCarron was put in so many third down situations, and I thought threw some great passes on third down. I agree because the Broncos defense is the best group in this game. They're the best defense in the league. And those touchdowns they got in the first half, they earned them. All those third down passes, there was very little window for him to fit the ball into,

and he kept doing it play after play. That's hard to do to keep dialing up 12 play, 14 play drives. I'm thinking of one throw to Marvin Jones, which he sailed. in the second half where he had to be perfect. It wasn't quite perfect. There was a first and five after they had a penalty and he had an open guy for a first down. He missed that throw.

You're not going to hit every throw in the game, but when you're playing the Broncos, that's the thing. You have to almost be perfect. So I think they deserve a lot of the credit for the win and Gary Kubiak deserves a lot of credit for the win because they made some significant half-time adjustments. They go no huddle in the second half.

That works. They go zone coverage instead of man-to-man in the second half, and that worked, and they get Vernon Davis off the field and just go with the other two tight ends the whole time, and that seemed to work too. So everything Kubiak did really seemed to pay off in the second half of that game. Oh, and Daniels was a bad, bad, bad individual last night. It was interesting because if you just watched the first quarter,

you would have thought that Hugh Jackson was coaching circles around Wade Phillips, and then after halftime, like you said, the adjustment to the zone defense and Kubiak's adjustments, you have to credit the Broncos coaches. Big play in this game also. So they're up 14-0, Cincinnati is, with eight minutes to play. They go down the field, take it down to the 231 mark. They hold the ball for six minutes, and then Mike Nugent can't kick a 45-year-old field goal.

So it could have been 17-0 with the Broncos getting the ball back for one more possession. I thought that field goal kind of swung the game a little bit. It got the crowd a little more excited. Broncos go down the field. They kick a field goal and make the kick at the half, and then the comeback is on. So the Bengals really had the Broncos on the ropes. And, you know, if they now don't get the buy,

which could be a real challenge for them now, they are going to rue the day. They let this opportunity to slip away because they were in total command for most of the first half. They had 16 plays in the first half. The Broncos did rather. And the Bengals had 16 first downs. So it was a dominant first half.

And that's why I think it was one of the best games of the year because the two quarterbacks showed up and did well. And I think the great players in this game all played really well. I mean, Marvin Jones making plays. Sanoo, A.J. Green early, was making some tough catches. Von Miller, who was very quiet early, kind of took the game over late. So all the players you wanted to see step up, they did step up. I enjoyed watching the constant cutaways to John Elway.

Going on an emotional roller coaster. Rewarding. I like that kind of stuff in the game. That's why you don't get that on, when we watch, when we watch so many of these games on condensed game pass you don't see some of the little the drapings around the action i like elway maybe thinking everything is going to crumble around them and then they it doesn't but it will at some point because you're not an elway fan no i respect elway a lot oh you do yeah i thought because of the stuff that i'm over that and and since this is

well i guess they do get a playoff game but it is the last monday night football game of the year watching this once again i just had to think i they've passed they've passed the nbc crew It's official, Toriko and my books, Tarrico and Gruden, now the best in the game. Really? I think so. I struggle, you know. I love watching.

Gruden teaches you things. I'm on. You're learning. Gruden does a great job. But for me to turn away from Alan Chris, I'm not ready to do it. Hey, two legends. I take two legendary teams. They're both great, but sometimes there's a new champion.

Mark, did you want to share your insight via text message before kickoff today on Monday night about Mike Dorica? I will. You know, Tariko had his pregame, and I texted, I think it was just to Dan. Yeah. Because I know Dan's a huge. Huge. You're a Toriko, Ike.

So I just found the fact during his pregame presentation. Here we are a guy. What is he, like 5-3 or something? He's a very small guy, kind of pudgy, bald, not trying to be Brad Pitt or anything. But you know what? He's exceedingly. I was like, this guy just strikes me as massively charismatic because he knows what he's doing and he loves what he's doing. And if I have followed Dan down any path, it's the Mike Tarrico path.

He is my A over A1 to Hal Michaels. I don't know if charismatic is the word I would use for Mike Tarichael. That's how I feel about him, though. What do you feel about him? What word would you use? Industrious. Okay, less sexy. You know, maybe he won't be on a primetime soap opera anytime soon.

But, you know, that knowledge of the game and in the rulebook and a way with words, that's attractive in its own way. The word I would use for him is professional. Well, he is a professional. Unlike Bob Costas. Just kidding. Oh. Just kidding.

Just kidding. Can't take those words back. All right. So that was Monday night football. And we'll dig in a little bit later on what this means for the AFC. Playoff picture, let's now move straight to the news. The football guy's theme that we're worthy, maybe we will. That draw can only be one man.

my boy, Todd Bowles. But we will not be talking about the Jets today. Well, I'll find a way to talk about the Jets at some point. I can almost promise you that. But right now we are going to talk about the Bengals because A.J. McCarran, as we just talked about, played a very nice game in prime time. But on that last play, when he, it was a gap,

he did not catch the snap. And DeMarcus, where recovered, when he went to recover the ball, he got his wrist injured. That hurts its top 10 game status. They needed a better ending than botching a shotgun. snap and McCarran needed a better ending and that's you know I'm not going to kill him for that but ultimately he made a total boneheaded error that ended the game that's fair uh j McCarran suffered a sprained wrist and it's a significant injury according to NFL media insider Ian rapaport

it is on his non-throwing hand uh but it is it is unclear at this point whether mccarran will be able to start in week 17 Andy Dalton of course um is out for the rest of the regular season and rap sheet reported on total access on Monday night that he might be out you know beyond the first week of the playoffs so this idea that you know if they could just get through the regular season even if they don't have a buy Dalton will be ready to go potentially that's probably not going to happen so he it's more likely Dalton wouldn't be ready until the divisional playoffs if the Bengals get that far so that is certainly notable and if McCarran can't go in the season finale

The third quarterback is, Greg? Keith Wenning. Keith Wenning is the answer. A second year player out of Ball State. He has never taken a snap in the league. So listen, Greg, let me just throw it to you for a second here. I need some playoff permutations and computations. How far can the Bengals fall if they lose with a third string quarterback in week 17?

It wouldn't make a big difference. They're at the three seat. and they have a chance to get to the two-seed. Ooh, I like that. They have a chance to get to the two-seed, and so you want to put the pressure on the Broncos, who have to host the Chargers later in the day. I can see the Broncos losing that game.

So you want to win to give yourself a chance for the buy. I do think McCarran's going to play based on the reports that are out there that I think he'll play through it, and they need him to. And Wes might be of the mind that they're better off playing McCarran in the playoffs. But that does show what a big game this was last night, because you could have gotten through that first round. You get to the final eight, and instead now you might have to go with McCarran.

If he wins you a wildcard game, you're really going to take him out for the divisional round? I know it's crazy talking. I know Dalton's an MVP candidate, and Dan's going to tell me I'm disrespecting Dalton. But I can't help the feeling when I watch AJ McCarran play. I just have more confidence in him in a big game than I do an A. I see why you're doing that.

I see where you're coming from because in the back of your mind and you are hardly alone, you still can picture Dalton coming up small in a big January spot. Even if we had a lot of evidence telling us that he wasn't that guy anymore, if you have a young guy. We have zero evidence telling us that he's not that guy because he's in played in January. Well, he played a great season. Right, but that doesn't tell us that he's going to come up big in the player.

It would be, to me, it would be, you know, really disrespectful of Marvin Lewis if he went that way. I agree with you. I think Dalton took them to, what, 8 and 0 and 10 and 1, whatever it was. He gets his thumb hurt, not his fault. You don't, unless McCarran plays out of his mind, I don't even think that should be a consideration. I don't think Hugh Jackson would do that to Dalton. Yeah, I totally agree. But there's variations here.

It's not just, okay, Andy Dalton's back. He's Andy Dalton again. He has a broken thumb. So. On his passing hand. It's not going to be completely perfect after six weeks or whatever. So it's a variation of like, can he be that guy? he also has never had an injury in the NFL where he's missed time.

So he's coming off of, what, five or five weeks off by then? And you have to come in versus a guy that's been playing every week that is 100% healthy. And then you start making that decision. And we don't know. I mean, it'll be impossible to know what he looks. But Karen is not 100% health. Well, that's a fair point, too. Well, you're also presupposing that Dalton isn't 100% when he's ready to play a playoff game.

So I think the question is, if he were 100%, could he be replaced by McCarron, I just, I don't see the team doing that. It's a weird thing to do to your locker room, too. I think the idea is he would be playing through some amount of pain regardless. I mean, with a broken thumb, it takes months to truly recover. Not just pain, but you lose range of motion in your

thumb. Let's see. It's going to be stiffer. I think this is more a conversation if McCarran flames the Jets and Wildcard weekend for 330 yards and three touchdown. Yeah, he's got to, right. He's got to make that argument for himself. Your jets might be

the primary focus of West of us this year. I know. West of us is on, baby. I know. Thank you, Broncos. But the way it looks right now, both celebrate. We're smelling a Chiefs Texans playoff game at the moment.

And if that's happening, that's definitely the early Saturday game. Oh, yeah. This would be a Sunday Jets spectacular. Right. Okay, so that's what's going on with the Bengals. Let's move on. We have not talked about this yet,

so let's touch on it. Peyton Manning, Al Jazeera, which I know, Wes, that's a network you are plugged in on. Al Jazeera America. Al Jazeera America, I should say. They released a documentary this week. You know, it was on doping in sports.

It involved some type of former Olympic level athlete and doing some undercover camera work digging his way through the seedy world of PEDs. And over the course of this documentary, Peyton Manning's name comes into it, someone that worked at a clinic in Florida reference that Peyton and his wife Ashley Manning had received HGH shipments to their home

and... Blame the wife, good move. And what happens then, of course, this blows up when it gets out there. I think the Huffington Post first did a report on it. And since this has come out, you know, there's retractions galore, including Charlie Sly,

who was the employee on the hidden camera that mentioned the Manning's. Manning angrily denied ever-taking PEDs and said he's never met Charles. Charlie Sly, although he did say he has been involved with his clinic, as has his wife, but not in any nefarious way. A reporter for the Al Jazeera America documentary went on the Today Show on Tuesday and said that the documentary never directly linked Manning to HGH, just the wife, in terms of shipments.

So that's where you are right now in Manning Al Jazeera Gate. I mean, it's become so absurd that Carson Daley played a major role today. How about that? Carson Daly, I remember in the 90s watching MTV. He's like the host of the Beach House at Seaside Heights. And now he's in high-octane sit-downs on the Today Show with Manning's legacy at stake. One of the hardest working men in show business. This is the biggest non-story that we've reviewed on this podcast since deflake it. Why do you know something that we do?

Well, the guys already recanted his claim. The guys already recanted his claim. And would it bother you whatsoever if Peyton Manning used HG. to get over for next certain. It would bother a lot of people. Wouldn't bother me one bit. I don't think one thing that really stuck with me was the Dead Spin article about this.

And they were a little blasphemous, not blasphemous, but trying to get attention. Hyperbolic is the perfect word. The PEDs debate is over. And the point of the argument is there's really not that outrage about it anymore. The discussion about this is about the reporting and about Manning's reaction on ESPN,

which people have different feelings about. Some people think there's some pretty suspicious things about it. Other people think it was very convincing. But very little bit about it is like, well, this tarnishes his legacy. This is crazy that he did this. I will signal back to January when Mark Brunell was sobbing on live television. Oh, my God. About Tom Brady taking some air out of balls, allegedly.

There will be a large segment of the media and population that would view this as Peyton Manning committing, you know, treason against himself and America, even if it shouldn't be viewed that way, it would be a massive story if you were ever actually linked to all this. I hope it doesn't happen. I like Manning as a player. I hope that he didn't do anything,

you know, that would be seen as illegal because HGHU is illegal in the NFL. It has been since 2014. Yeah, that's the thing. It's a little murky whether it was at the time, although they did agree in 2011. No worry, HG. The shipments were in 2011,

but it took a while for the NFL and the NFLPA to hammer out testing for HGH. But, you know, it's just kind of a messy story, and I'm with you, Wes, that it feels like a non-story, especially when there's more fun stuff to be talking about in the NFL, but when Peyton Manning plus steroids comes out, it's going to be a story. We're in a different climate now, and athletes' bodies, specifically NFL athletes' bodies, are in the news. Like, how does the NFL protect them from themselves?

And if you're not allowing things like HGH, and if you're not allowing marijuana, which can be used to help players get over injuries, I think these are discussions that are going to happen in the next half decade or so. I was, when I was planning to hang out with Wes at around noon on Saturday, I texted him, I said, hey, let's get together. Why don't I come over in an hour?

He texts back, hold on, got to wait till 7 p.m., still watching backlogged tapes, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of Al Jazeera America, call you later. I've partied with a lot of big Al's before, but not big Al Jazeera. I mean, your obsession is, Disturbing.

Listen, Wes has told me, said, that's an unfiltered news take. You know, you watch CNN and Fox, you know, that stuff. You're watching it through a lens. Al Jazeera, America is where it's at. I do. Wessling out. Look, wow. I do have strong opinions on news.

I do have strong opinions on news coverage, but it doesn't involve Al Jazeera. All right. Let's move on. It's one thing I love about you, Wes. You've got strong opinions about everything. not quite just about it's endearing to me uh moving on drew breeze and listen all the big buzz in the off season about ooh this could be the story of the off season some type of uh double a switch if you well drew breeze and sean peyton going elsewhere to another team leaving the saints after a long

period of prosperity together not happening drew drew brees was on uh NFL networks NFL HQ speaking of his favorite programs, Marcus show. You watch every morning with a cup of coffee and some Danish. Breeze appeared on HQ on Tuesday, was asked if he sees any scenario in which he and coach Sean Payton are not back in New Orleans this season. He had this to say. No, I don't. A plan was put in place throughout last off season as to how we were going to ask to make a

run at it in the future. You know, obviously, we had high expectations going into this year, and we fell a little bit short. But I'm confident with the character, the leadership, the talent that we had. has on Sunday a rap sheet noted that Breeze and Peyton could be both else could both be elsewhere next season Drew Breeze has a historically large cap hit or cap charge for 2016 of 30 million dollars so the Saints probably have to figure out a way to make it work but I guess they want to which makes sense because Drew Breeze is still one of the top probably six to eight quarterbacks

in football well when did Drew Breeze get to decide right exactly it never was up to Drew Brees. This doesn't mean anything to me. It means as much as Sean Payton making little jokes about Twitter reports, that you've got to have some Sunday Twitter reports. Meanwhile, while his representatives are the ones, you know, throwing this stuff out there where he might like to go. Who else would know where Sean Payton would like to go, by the way, when this is coming out yet he might want to go to Los Angeles or Miami?

Only people that are close to Sean Payton. So this breeze things means nothing to me because it's not up to him. It's up to Tom Benson and Mickey Loomis and whatever GM they are. If Drew Brees doesn't want to go to another team, he's not going to go to another team. Well, hold on a change if Sean Payton leaves. That's not up to him. That might change. I'm just saying it's too early.

Right. He can't speak for both of them as a package deal. And also the Saints haven't, as far as we know, have come to him very point blank and said, you want to stay here? You've got to take a major pay cut. That can change everything too. Breeze is just, what's he going to say? Yes, we are thinking about leaving. One of us, it's probably my coach is exploring my options.

The Saints are not married to telling the truth. We know that. he's going to have to renegotiate his contract. Now, whether that means adding extra years and getting more guaranteed money and lowering the figure, which probably sounds fine to Drewbies or something that...

He hasn't been one to take less money in the past. Right, no. And, but, you know, the cap hit thing, it's bad for the Saints. You know, they're in one of the worst situations, but it's really going up a lot. I think it's going up 12-something million and it's going to go up a lot next year,

so that makes it a lot easier. Finally, in the news, Shad Khan came out on Tuesday and announced that Gus Bradley, the coach of the Jaguars. How long has he been there now? Three seasons. That's right. Five and ten.

The time has Chip Kelly. Remember, he interviewed with the Eagles. He was the runner up with the Eagles. Yes, Gus Bradley has had very little success, wins and losses, to the point where going five and ten this season is seen as some type of great gain. But as quarterback is making progress. They're more competitive than they have been in the past. So Shad Khan says Gus Bradley will be back in 2016

so you could cross him off the list. Greg, does this mean anything to you? I found the most interesting part of this story that they did the thing Chod Khan is, that is, where in the statement he made it clear this guy has to win next year. So this was the on notice. He said something to the effect that we fully expect this will be the best year of his career

and we'll be in a much different, you know, position next year at this time. Translation, if you're 6 and 10 again, that's it. You know, you're going to have to have a winning record as probably the bar, something like that next season, which makes sense. I like this move for one specific reason, because you've got a lot of potential vacancies opening up. And while Jacksonville has to be an attractive opening to certain potential coaches because of a non-need jerk reaction owner who is patient

and you've got a potential franchise quarterback in place, still you're in a bad division and you've got a GM and a coach that are very happy working together I would take that over blowing things up and hoping it works somewhere else I understand the progress has not been what you want from teams

but there is progress that can lead to a quick turnaround type season next year especially on offense they got to fix that defense and I wonder if this agreement behind the scenes came with some of your assistance some of these people are going to be gone as part of this maybe not

I don't know. Tangible signs of progress on offense. This is all about the quarterback. He can't just stunt Blake Bortles development now after he showed progress. Nope. And, you know, in their defense, their number three overall picking the draft towards the ACL before the season. Yeah, and he says work remains to be done to be where we expect at this point next season,

which is well above where we stand today. So, you know, win some games and you'll stay. One more note here. Josh Freeman has signed with the Colts. Whoa. Back in the league. Maybe Stephen Morris, if he goes down, like a little Josh Freeman.

It wouldn't be shocking if Josh Freeman started a game with playoff implications in the year 2016. Whoa, 17. I'll take. I mean, don't you think he's got a chance to start over Stephen? Yes, he does. I mean, this week that he could start over Stephen Morris because it sounds like Whitehurst pass a Beck and Buccar out.

They still need a 19 parlay to make the playoffs. I'm saying a playoff, a game with playoff implications. Their game is relevant. Imps, yeah. Imps, yeah. Okay, that's what's happening in the NFL today. Let's now look for it. Now we're going to leave this very Greg heavy show.

That's what the listeners have been asking for. He's got a celebrity friend. Everything's going great for me. What else has been heavy Greg about it? I don't know. In a good way, I'm leaning on you a lot, and I'm going to do it again right now. As we talk about the playoff picture overview with our signature NFL Playoff Robit, Greg Rosenthal.

The man knows all the permutations and computations when it comes to the playoff picture. You wrote up the AFC one late last night, NFC picture before that. What's the picture looking like? Let's start in the AFC, Greg. Well, it's not an exciting week 17 overall. I think your Jets really are the most intriguing thing about this final week. Jets, of course, are in with a win. Don't blow it.

Please don't blow it. Against the bills in Buffalo, Steelers, their only route in is with the Jets loss and a victory, which maybe we shouldn't assume at this point over the Browns. Why not? That's the only route in. That's what the Denver loss did last night because Denver is now in. There's only that one spot left. Pittsburgh has no other way to get in.

This is setting up exactly how Dan said it what a couple weeks ago, when we had a hit to decide how the Jets would break Dan's heart. And he said they would win against the Patriots. go into week 17 and lose to Rex's bills that is definitely on the table i am you think it's going to happen i do well i think it has a chance to happen i think that you got to put your money where your mouth is because we going into week 17 and our picks you're tied with oh i'm i pick the bills coming at you that could be the cider yeah i'm going to pick the bills i love it but go ahead west what you're saying i don't it wasn't important no but yeah here's the thing i'm uh yes i'm always kind

on guard that they're going to kill me, but I'm confident they will take care of business in this game. I think that they will, but would it stun me if something bad happened? No, it wouldn't and that would change. Let's say, okay, let's say the Jets win. AFC

pictures locked up in the wild card rankings. The Pats, what do the Pats lose? If the Pats lose, the Broncos can get that number one seat. They suit up at different times. Pats are playing early. They can clinch it early. By the time the Broncos, play, they'll know what's at stake and they could get into that one seat.

The Bengals cannot get a one seed, but they can get a buy. And I would watch out for that Chargers team. Played a little better the last couple weeks. Their defense is playing really well. I don't think, yeah, the defense play. I don't think their Broncos are going to run away and hide. So the Chiefs still have that chance to win the AFC West. Chiefs need to win at home against Oakland.

That's not an easy game, but they moved it. So the times starting at the same time as the Broncos, and they'll be facing off for the AFC West title then. All right. Let's take a look now at the NFC. playoff picture, five teams angling for seeds, says our headline on NFL.com slash around the NFL. Redskins locked into the four seed. Let's talk about the Packers Viking scenario, Greg.

Why is this one a little, hmm, tasty? Because if you're a Packers fan, wouldn't you rather be on the road in Washington than host a game potentially against the Seahawks? I don't know, the sound effect was too funny. Oh, the sound effect is killing me. It's great. It's so good. So you're suggesting Green Bay maybe should just lose.

I mean, that's what they've been doing naturally anyway, so maybe it doesn't take care of itself. So you'd rather go to Washington than have a home game playoff game. Yeah, and then if you even play it out a little further, well, you never know who's going to win the other game. But in theory, maybe you'd rather go to Carolina than Arizona the second week, too. You know, no team would ever actually do this. I'm not saying that it's a serious consideration.

Packers want to get some good mojo after the last few weeks. They wouldn't purposely do it, but you can go out there and not play with as much mojo or not have the same inspiration that you would normally. And they've shown they can do that too. And that Seattle, Arizona game, the way that last week worked out really helped out in terms of interest because the one seat's still up for grabs

and they're going to play at the same time. The Panthers and the Cardinals are both going for. I mean, the Seahawks Cardinals game strikes me as very strange, very little at stake to nothing at stake for the Seahawks. Right. I kind of, and they've got some injuries. Yeah. I'd be surprised if the Seahawks play to win. And if they get that six seed, you're playing at the NFC North champion, which is a tougher game, I think, than at the Redskins, but they probably don't care about that.

Hmm. How many times have the Seahawks and the Redskins play in the playoffs? So I think this is three straight times that the Redskins have lost to the Seahawks, I believe three straight times they've made the Seahawks. the playoffs, they lost to the Seahawks. This would be the fourth. Including the Beast Quake game, right? No. Oh, that was the Saints.

The RG3, needle thing, RG3. Ah, yes, that was sad. The Red Shed. Are you guys excited about this week, 17? I mean, I know you're not. It's not a lot of juice. Not a ton of juice. What is the Sunday night game?

That's the NADFC North game. Packers, Vikings. I mean, that would be better if it was like the loser was out, but that would have given a little pop, but we're not going to get that. I think you're right, the Jets Bill's game is the biggest game of the week. So how come that's being played at 1 p.m.? Because they just were worried the Jets would somehow, like if the Steelers lost again early,

then the Jets would be in and then it just would be a dud. You know, I would kill that decision because even if that happened, the idea of Rex versus the Jets, yes, that would be much less impactful, but I just want to see that at night. I call this flex scheduling in week 17 the Bill Pullian rule. Thank you, Bill Pullian, for giving us this rule, that the games actually mean something because you started resting your starters in week 11 or whatever.

Oh, yeah. I think, and I know the year it might have really turned was the year the Titans had a winning in on Sunday night football and the Colts didn't even play their star. Well, and who got knocked out of the playoffs because of that? Couldn't happen to a better team. Browns! Oh, sorry.

That's who you meant. They went 10 and 7 for the first time in like 30 years and they lost because the cults decided to put everyone on the couch. Oh. It's fine. I don't care at all. I'm of the Bruce Ariens mindset. They schedule you for 16.

That's right. He said they're playing. They're going all out. How weird is it that the Seahawks will be two and four in the division if they lose that game? Wow. They get swept by two different teams, the Rams and the cards. Good robot work, Greg. As always.

Until next year. Until next year, exactly. Let's, before we get out of here today, let's talk about, you know, it is that time of year, guys. You know, it is December 29th as of taping. A lot of old men here. I can count myself. I don't imagine that we'll be going too hard on New Year's Eve, not hardly like Sydney,

who would probably be swinging from a champagne bottle at the top of the Magic Kingdom Tower. Is that what it's called? It's like you don't know me at all. Minus the champagne. Yeah, Four Loco, Little Four Loco, Little Champagne, Johnny style. Johnny, enough with the Fort Loco.

Yeah, Johnny and I, we're tight. You run in the same circles. Yeah, we're basically the same. What are you going to do? Yes. I don't actually know for sure. My family is going to be down in Utah. I might hang out with them.

I'm not sure. This is how I see it. Sydney, running the whole thing, warehouse, downtown Los Angeles, the invite doesn't go out until 1136 p.m. All points bulletin, massive rave in the warehouse in downtown L.A., New Year's Party. It will be called New Year's Till You Die.

Sydney will be hosting it. and being the DJ playing DJ. I feel more confident in this if this was 1997. Sidney would have been like... One of my least favorite things about L.A. is the amount of people that are here, so you can count me out for that rave. Thank you.

I'm with you on that one. I'd like to know what your DJ name would be Sid. I guess Las Sid could be pretty good. Stick with Las Sid. Well, what about the guy, Danger Mouse? Not Danger Mouse. Who's the DJ that wears the big mouse on his head? What's his name again?

You're looking at me. The only DJ I know is Jazzy Jack. Exposing our stuff. Anyway, you could wear the mini-mountain, you know, it's over. He's a good DJ. I know. Anyway, let's move on. Anyway, New Year's Eve coming up.

Let's share some New Year's resolutions. NFL style, of course. So we'll, you know, go around the old horseshoe here. And you can speak on behalf of a player or a coach or a GM or a fan base, your New Year's resolution. And Chris Wessling. I am going to start with you, your New Year's resolution. Who is it on behalf of?

I don't know if you want to start with me. No, let's do it. Well, you know, you can talk about your HGH and your deflate gate and your teams trying to lose down the stretch to improve their draft picks. Talking about integrity of the game, I'm the competition committee, and I resolve to fix the sports biggest problem at its base. The most basic play in the pass-heavy era is the forward pass. And nobody knows what a catch is, not the players, not the coaches, not the officials.

As the competition committee, we resolve to figure out what a catch is in the NFL. Wow. I like it. That's a great resolution. Why wouldn't you want to go first? That's a home run. Yeah. You just stole mine.

I wish I went first. I was going to have a blandino tinged one. Oh, well, let's hear it. No, no, that was essentially it. I'm going to have to improvise. Greg basically did not do the assignment. No, I did it. Whoever went first was going to say, well, that was mine.

No, I was going to do the Blandino. I'll give him a little, like, a Blandino. And we love Dino Blandino. Maybe he'll come on the show one day. We talked to him about how he's the hardest job in professional sports. You know, it's time to get rid of the Xbox controller. Let's give him something a little more official. Professional?

Yeah. Wait, where does he have the Xbox control? Oh, on the network hits or what? Every time he's on television, going over his, he's holding a remote control or a gamer control that, you know, it's like your nephew's explaining the. NFL rules. Yeah, let's give him something a little, like, at least make it gold or something.

I don't know. It would help. Not to get too far off topic here, but we're talking Blandino. Did you notice the part of the game last night where Ed Hockily missed the face mask? And then a minute later, he just was, oh, yeah, there was a face mask on that play. And everyone had the same thought that I did, too. Like, I think Bladino's getting in those guys' ears now from New York. And what's wrong with that, you know?

That doesn't bother me at all. I think it's okay. I think that's probably not what happened. I think I saw somewhere else. elsewhere they said that probably couldn't have happened but if they somehow have some technology that we're not aware of I like it I do too I think do you think they should be honest about as yeah I think they will they said in the playoffs they're going to be more involved maybe they'll just change it maybe that should be part of uh blandino's resolution in the competition

let the dean have more power let him really maybe you can buy a top button for his shirt next time so you don't have a resolution no I'm going to have a resolution okay and some other This one's going to be for Mike Tomlin. You know, don't just use those, he's going to resolve to not just use those good pregame speeches and good pregame plans when you're playing good teams. What team has blown it against bad squads more consistently than Mike Tomlin and the Steelers over the last seven years?

It happens, it's not a new thing at all. When they have a cupcake on the schedule, it's like they don't really show up. So Mike Tomlin, who's thought of as one of the best, coaches in the league. He should resolve to bring his A game against the lower levels of the league. And they would have a lot more success. It's a good one.

Damasek likes that one. It's a nice resolution. And yeah, they were talking about Ike Taylor to it. He said, I don't know, that's always been the case. That's what's always happened. I mean, there's numbers that prove it, too. A couple years ago, they lost three teams that were three games under 500. It always happens under Tom.

I think they get too confident. Okay. It's been a real rough road for those Steelers. That's a good one. It was my backup, but I'll take it. That was pretty good backup. Here is my resolution, and I did, I had, for Mark's Christmas, we had Secret Santa last week, and I said,

oh, maybe Johnny Mansell could stay with Mark in his little backhouse and watch after him, but then I realize that's not really a gift, Mark, for you, because that means you can have fun in the off season. We need to blow off some steam. So my backup plan is we're going to take Johnny. We're going to set up to Russia. during the off-season. Find Rocky's cabin from Rocky 4.

No TMZ sports, no Instagram, no cell reception, you know, no 4-loco. Can't bring the 4-local. And just leave them there until OTAs. I don't even care if he gets into the Russian vodka supply. You know, have at it, be responsible about it, you know. But work out, do the Rocky workouts in the mountains. Just stay out of trouble. We'll come get you in April for OTAs.

Johnny goes to the grocery store and gets like 700 pounds of potatoes. I hope this doesn't turn into an Into the Wild scenario, but other than that, I'm very happy with this. I think you might want to rethink the location just. If you're looking to him avoid trouble and underworld dealings and lawless society, I don't know if Russia is the place to go. He's going to be in the middle. Have you seen Rock before?

It's not Moscow or anything. No, no. way out and even if like uh you know the russian putin sends his goons out there it'll be the roads will be so snow covered they want to be able to get to him it'll be that situation it's foolproof and i do want to i do have a second one i want to throw this one out here to the people at nbc and it is uh i don't know if it's ironic or coincidental that our money drop today was about carry underwood um my new year's resolution is to write a new jingle for the misunderstood but undeniably talented carry underwood replaced the waiting all day for sunday night theme with

something more palatable and you're going to write it myself i will write it myself i wrote uh the team of a tn theme which went off the rails not well rails is not the right term it blew up in a great way people love that song that thing top the top the charts just hear the lyrics a couple of lyrics from waiting all day for sunday night and you tell me if if it's the source material or the performer that's to blame. All right, Sunday night, where are you? What does that even mean? It's on Sunday night.

Waiting for the game that leads red, white, and blue. What is this like? Leads, maybe. Well, that's just the lyric sheet. Bleeds red, white, and blue. They probably change it to leads because they didn't want to be. And that's not the only jingoism in here. Get on your feet for a star-spangled fight.

Did they hire Toby Keith? I think that's written by a guy in the county department. My favorite was always Al and Chris are the best on TV. And then they shoehorned Tofoy in there. But is get on your feet for a star-spangled fight. More than a game, it's every fan's right. Well, they should have gone with Delight. Well, if she's a real artist, you know,

she should have some control of the material that she does. And if she doesn't believe in that material, you know, make a stand as a real. I mean, she's not Bob Dylan. I don't think she, yeah, I don't think she's known as an artist. Listen, I'm just saying, let me get NBC, if you're listening, if you want to sponsor the show, does that work? I don't know. Let's talk. I'm with you.

And we can make a better song. Finally, Mark, let's hear your resolution. It can't get worse, that song. Well, mine is for Rex Ryan. And it's very simple. Stop talking. And it starts right now. And here's how I do this because you can't just ask him to do that.

He can't do that. He knows he can't. I get defense coordinator Dennis Thurman to go down to the local Wegmans in Buffalo, pick up three items, a tube of crazy glue, a roll of 3M nuclear-grade duct tape, and one gigantic storm blanket. Have Thurman glue Rex Ryan's lips with the crazy glue, very simple. Then have Thurman wrap the nuclear-grade duct tape around Rex's head 27 times very tightly. Make sure that Rex cannot budge for.

from the neck up, not even an inch. Then have Thurman swirl the iron-infused storm blanket around Rex Ryan's head and keep it in place until early September. We will all benefit. Can he breathe in this scenario? Kind of. This is definitely the most likely segment of the podcast to ever be, that's going to ever be used for evidence in a trial.

Yeah, this sounds like a sneaky murder plot. Well, you need to take these steps to quiet him at this point. Why don't we just send him off to the log cabin with John? I don't want Rex and John Mansell together. John, that's another resolution. Change your name to John. That would help. John Manzell.

That doesn't work. I'm still feeling bad to all our Russian listeners for calling it Leningrad. I don't think that's been the case in 25 years. You called it Leningrad? I said, send him to, what was the St. Petersburg? Sorry, Russian listeners. Greg, always on the wrong side of Russia. There you go.

That was dramatic, Mark. I feel like the thing I, I like about your contributions is we see it into Mark, like a different part. Well, no, if you removed Rex Ryan from our life for the entire offseason, and I'm thinking of all of us, how many less posts would that be for everyone? It's true. It's true. And I will say half the posts that we do in the off season.

There is a theme here and some connective tissue, both with the Christmas giveaway when Mark, you gave your gift to Wes, and it also tied into the Ravens being disbanded. this one ties into Rex Ryan being tortured relentlessly. I'd like to use the word muzzled. You're getting, well, that would be what we would tell the media, and this would be the reality. So you're getting a little gift to yourself in these, too, and that's good. That's how good.

That's savvy. Yeah. All right. Hey, guys, I've got one, too. Ooh. Yeah. I actually had one very similar to Marks, it was a little less violent, but it was basically, like, Rex,

let your actions speak louder than your words. But I also think that, For 2016, Rob Grankowski, I would like you to find a nice girl, settle down. Wow. Interesting. Now, I just think it's time. Are you that girl? No.

How do you know? He's a little too life in the fast lane, right? Yeah, a little bit. If I were to pick a pat, it would be Jules. Jules. Wait a second. Edelman. Oh, yeah, she's a huge Edelman.

Wait a second. Edelman is a handsome guy, but that guy, to me, first of all, his foot's messed up, and that's not a truck. Secondly, he is very, he seems very, like, full of himself. I would think you would like a more down-to-earth, a man of the woods and people that likes... And Rob Grancowski is down-to-earth? I'm just checking. The other thing is, you have to consider the height difference there. Why do you think that Gronk needs to be tamed?

I mean, he's a young guy. As a Patriots fan, I'd be worried. Just to find a nice girl. This feels like a failed shot at me. I'm 15 years older than Gronk, and I haven't settled down. It was not a failed shot in U.S. I don't know why he has to settle down. The man's only 26 years old.

All I'm saying, as a Patriots, I don't want to mess with what's working for Gronk. You know what you're saying? Keeping his mind clear right now is working. To once again lean on a rocky analogy, you don't want Gronk to lose the eye of the tiger. Exactly. Well, Greg, it's all going to come tumbling down for you and the Patriots at some point. So why not it start with a Gronk marriage? But wait, but back to the original point, Sydney, why do you want Gronk to find love rather than to continue to, you know, have a summer of Gronks and all that stuff?

just kind of be the essence of the frat boy forever i don't know i just i think that maybe that would complete him in a way spiritual fulfillment yeah i like that also kirk cousins find a new catchphrase but that's beside the point it's got a lot of them i're all relevant she's got more opinions than i do i like that all right so that's tuesday's episode of the around the NFL podcast we are going to be back on new year's eve uh Thursday uh to talk about week 17 no Thursday night football game this week. Those are all over. So we'll be 16 games to talk about on Sunday.

So get ready for that. So thank you for everybody for listening. And until then, this is Dan Hansen signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the boss, and LaSeed, behind the glass. Until Thursday. Hi and hello football fans, your old pal, Dave Damashek here. Make sure you check out the Dave Damashek football program. You can watch it on YouTube, NFL.com. You can listen to it on iTunes or Stitcher or NFL.com.

podcasts. We look at the world of pro football and the game called life.