NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Storylines We're Overly Invested In

Episode Date: May 14, 2019

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all the latest news around the NFL including Joe Flacco getting all the 1st team reps for the Broncos (8:38) and Chris Harris staying with the team. (12:20) Aaron Rodgers may have appeared in Game Of Thrones, but in there are more signs of dysfunction in Green Bay on the football front (14:03). Sadly, former Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham has died at 72 (23:03). The heroes then share the NFL storylines that they're overly invested in. (30:20)Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Doesn't watch Game of Thrones. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined. in a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal.

What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. I don't, you know what, that open, I don't, we don't need to keep poking the bear on that. And by the way, it's not even correct. Wes watches Game of Thrones. Yeah. He's our conduit. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the finale.

Like, I would, I'm seriously thinking about going to all eight seasons and then just not watching the last episode. Oh, that would be wild. I don't think anyone's ever done that. I watched, I think, four seasons, and then fell off. I fell off. And I blame only myself, but also the show. I don't judge anybody for loving the show. Interesting way to phrase it.

What did you say? I blame only myself, but also the show. Well, I like it. But I think the last show that I, and this is a cultural phenomenon, Game of Thrones, no doubt about it. The last show that I truly was head over heels for was Mad Men. and I remember the final episodes not always thinking oh this is you know

this is going how I wanted to go or not necessarily thinking they're sticking the landing but enjoying all the final episodes because I'm going to miss these characters you just want to hang out with the characters longer and you know you're not going to get any more Roger Sterling in your life

after these last three weeks or whatever I don't sense a similar thing or a same thing going on with Game of Thrones and that might just be because the show itself is obviously so different it's fantasy it's war It's bloody and violent, and I think a lot of people are getting killed. So there seems to be, and we're going to get into it on today's show,

a segment where we talk about what in the NFL, we're kind of, to use a great term, wildly invested in, overly invested in. Game of Thrones fans, Greg, are so upset, it seems, about the direction of this last season because they're just so into the show. Yeah, I don't necessarily blame them, but I think after 76 hours of investment,

that everyone's given Game of Thrones, you know, the emotional connection is just making people crazy. They're rooting for certain things. It's just everyone's so invested. It's like the Super Bowl or something. It's like your team making it to the Super Bowl and this season is the Super Bowl

and there's just emotions are high. I can't speak for everyone, but I went into the final season with the thought. They had put so much time into this. They are so invested. They have brilliant people working on this, brilliant actors they have technology the likes of TV shows have never had so the expectation going in especially with these many movies every week they're an hour and a half the expectation is we

might see television history this might go down as the greatest television show a spectacle the likes of which we won't see for decades and it hasn't been that expect those expectations are almost impossible to match that's part of what they were up against but that's a good problem to have ultimately well there's also another thing going on so you know, Shakespeare's Globe have featured players. That's what they're called players. Are we going back into like the 13th?

Here we go again. So like you have football players but you also have players or actors. Both of them are dramas, right? One more stage than the other. They both rely on tension and release. Mounting tension, then resolution.

In Game of Thrones, the last episode, Sunday night, the resolution was unsatisfactory, much like the no-call in the Rams Saints game. And I think this is the fallout you're seeing. It was a very unsatisfactory resolution for viewers. I think one huge winner is George R.R. Martin, because if there are one, and I don't watch it,

but it's impossible to even log on to Twitter for more than three minutes without hearing every single person you know's opinion on it. So I only call it from that. But the critique seems to be that since the books ended, that the show is plot-driven, not character-driven, that characters they spent all these time with are doing things that they shouldn't be doing otherwise, And so if George R. Martin, who wrote the book sitting back saying, oh, yeah, I nailed it. Let these two showrunners go and botched the ending. That is a fair criticism.

Well, it's not my criticism. Well, it's also like seven, no, nothing is meant to go on for 76 hours. Like this conversation. Period. No, I mean, it's fine. Well, what about people? Well, that I don't agree with at all. I don't think, ultimately it's kind of like an art.

It's a form of art on some level. It is a form of art. Absolutely. And so think of all the greatest television shows of all time. Almost none of them were as good as they were in the final season as they were all along. Because like what's, you know, it's like a 80, it'd be like writing a 4,000-page book. Like, it's just too much. You can't keep it at that level.

How many shows do stick the landing? Yeah, I'm not saying you can't stick the landing, but that every single part of the show is at that same high level. It's a lot to have. How many shows can you name that had a satisfactory series finale? Very few. I love the Sopranos at the time. I wasn't trying to be contrarians. or anything, there wasn't, like, that public opinion.

I loved this. Breaking bad ended very well. I liked Mad Men the way it ended personally. I thought also what happened in the final season was an awesome final season's character arc for our boy. Yeah, and Six Feet Under, I thought, ended extremely well way back in the day. Second to last episode of Six Feet Under is one of the best hours of television. You mean the penultimate episode?

The penultimate. People love dropping that. Everyone's jumping on that. All right. It's a fun word. Like no facetic. Don't come at it. We don't pretend to be ex.

I hear it. These guys, they don't know anything about pop culture. I'm telling you I don't pretend to know anything about Game of Thrones. So settle down. Right. Thank you for getting that out there, Mark. You heard Mark Sessler. Don't come at him at Mark Sessler NFL.

Any of us. Yes, we got a lot to get into. Yeah. So what are we kind of so invested in in the NFL that we're going nuts? We can't even keep it together. And it is hot in here. Mark's doing the, he's got the vapors. It's not just me this time.

That should tell you something. Yeah, that is. Downright oppressive. You know what that tells me? Ricky, keep an eye on Mark Sessler because even when it's not hot, he's hot, when we are hot, he could pass out. If we could put like some type of a fainting couch next to his chair, we got to keep Mark alive. Yeah, I'll have them wheel it in. Maybe like one of those spritz bottles.

We just have somebody like a chair. One request, too many, I think. All right. Anyway, so what are we overly invested in? But before that, let's do some news. So they're going to lose that last game, letting some younger guys play. 13 and 3, respectable for Sam Darnold's second year. Wow.

Good luck, Sammy. Back to you, right. There it is, Greg. That is the Mark Sanchez on NFL Total Access here on NFL Network, predicting a not only a 13-3 jet season in that game they play where they hit the ball. Yeah, he went through every game of the schedule. They were 13 and 2, and, you know, right? rested all the starters against the bill. That part is what I love the most.

It was really great. He delivered it with a lot of Panash, and I hope to see more. I thought David Carr, who we like, he's been on this show, and he fostered a broker to peace between this show and Derrick Carr, the Raiders quarterback, who had blocked Greg and I for a time, and then unblocked us live on broadcast, which I still got goosebumps just thinking about that moment. So does he. We like David Carr, but Carr was a little bit annoyed.

I thought that Sanchez was making a farce of what to me is the most farcical exercise done on NFL network. Just hitting the button WL for 16 weeks. That's true, but it kind of made for better TV. He was kind of a straight man. It was like, what's going on here? We've lost control of the show. Mark Sanchez has taken over. Mark Sanchez is having fun.

Stop him. Anyway. Good for you, Mark. I hope you get a job. He's not on our roster right now, right? Adam, why not? That's what we need on the next. He's one of those featured players at the globe.

He just is coming in every once in a while and's trying to get that long-term deal. Let's do it. I think people saw just how inept he was with the Redskins last year, and he's not getting the deal. He did. He's not going to be in the league. Oh, in the league.

I'm saying with the NFL network we're saying. I think we've moved on from the on-fields. I think everyone's right. Everyone was nailing all that different takes on what I've laid out, but you were all right. All right. Let's get into a start with the Denver Broncos. Did Sanchez have a cup of coffee in Denver?

Yes. Okay. Segway. The Vangio, the head coach of the Broncos, the Joe Flacco, the off-season trade acquisition, will get all first-team reps in OTAs. He addressed the media and made it clear that Flacco will get those first-team reps.

Then we have an open competition after that and we'll randomly play with the twos and threes when we do our reps. OTAs began on Monday. of course Drew Locke is in the building the draft pick by the Broncos so a lot of people are wondering how long a leash Flacco will have

and speaking of Joe Flacco gentleman, he spoke to the media today Monday and made it clear that you know the old reality show thing I didn't come here to make friends well Joe Flacco says I didn't come here to mentor let's listen in I think that is

like I said it's kind of Rich's job you know and it's and it's and it's to be in that quarterback room and watch and that's how you can develop listen I got so many things to worry about I'm trying to go out there and play good football I'm trying to go out there and play the best football in my life so as far as a time constraint and all that stuff you know I'm not worried about developing guys or any of that you know that is what it is and like I said I hope he does develop but I don't look at that as my job my job is to go win football games for this football team Wes you like what you hear i mean i don't really have strong feelings on that that i've heard that from so many different

quarterbacks veteran quarterbacks over the years that it's customary that seems normal to me customary from flacco who said similar things last year he does seem a little uncomfortable with the with the notion it may be annoyed and he's just a competitive guy and you kind of got the same vibe from eli manning when they asked him those questions a few years ago that he wasn't ready to give that up at that point. I think Eli's maybe more ready now. I don't think Joe Flacco is going to go out of his way to make it comfortable. I wonder

if Flacco, when he got traded from Baltimore, thought one of the advantages of this move was that he wouldn't have to be answering these questions this time of year that he'd have another young buck ready to take the throne. Probably was told that. The Iron Throne, Mark. The Iron Throne.

I'm looking at a date here October 17th. Which feels like the ideal date for Joe Flacco to be benched. It is a evening game on Thursday night with the Chiefs. He will get benched. Drew Locke will step in with 10 days to prepare and only a week before the buy as well. A nice cushion for the youngster to come in and overtake Joe Flacco. I'm not buying this idea and Wes, I don't mean to buckheads with you. I know you're all in on Joe Flacco that he's going 16 weeks. I promise you if he goes 16 weeks, I will give you, you can come to my house and take

anything out of my house outside of a human being. anything in my house. Cut that, Ricky. We're going to need to file that for potential. And if he doesn't, I'm going to Wes's house and taking anything I want out of Wes's house. Do you agree to that, Wes? No, I have some stuff I like.

Yeah, I was like, what does work have that you would take? You're not getting my suvied. Then I'll just do it the other way around. You don't have a car anymore. Well, you share it, yeah. I wouldn't take your car. I don't even want it. I mean, Flacco's in a weird position

because if you look at their talent, they might be the most rebuilding offense and the youngest offense in the NFL. They're running back as a second year player. Their top three receivers until Emmanuel Sanders gets healthy are second year players. They have a rookie tight end. They have a rookie offensive lineman starting. They have Drew Locke in place.

So this is about as young as it gets. And then you have Flacco kind of leading all these young guys. In other Broncos news, Chris Harris, the star cornerback. Well, it looks like the Broncos are going to keep him around or do everything in our power to make sure he's playing in 2019 at mile high. Mike Cleese of 9 News Denver. reported that the Broncos will not trade the cornerback. He's been a no-show at off-season workouts trying to get a new contract. The Broncos are expected to present a counteroffer next week.

It might not be that money that Harris wants. So Wes, this all-pro corner, you know, he doesn't have a lot of leverage here. I mean, he could sit out mandatory minicamp and take a little pop there to continue to state his unhappiness. But if Denver doesn't want to trade him, she's probably going to be playing with Denver. That's it. Everything was copacetic. Until the Broncos went out and paid big bucks for Kareem Jackson, and then Chris Harris had to watch a lesser cornerback get a better contract than him,

and he's not happy about it. But if you're the Broncos, Chris Harris outside of Von Miller is your best defensive player, and your secondary is night and day with and without him, as we saw down the stretch last year. They're just not nearly as good of a secondary if he's not there. But he's a guy how old is he right now? 30. 30 coming off a major injury. It's always tricky to pay up like an aging.

player coming off an injury and he was underpaid for so long. So do you pay on past performance because you like the guy so much? Not many teams do that. I don't know, Vic Fangio thought that his first year on the job would be minus Chris Harris. I don't think that was part of the deal in his mind. So you'd like to think they would get something done here. Fondio is going to get some business done. Let's move on and talk about, yeah, we now have our second deep dive on the Green Bay

Packers and the culture within. This one comes from Tom Silverstein of Packer News. He writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Thank you, Greg. And a really interesting breakdown. So Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy fired obviously in December. Ted Thompson has to step down or has moved out of his position and what's letter, you know, revealed as because he's dealing with some serious health issues.

Mark Murphy, the president of the team. had a decision to make how he wants this team to run. And this team has run smoothly for decades now. It was Ron Wolf during the Brett Favre era into Ted Thompson. It was always a clear line of power. Who was making decisions? Who was the guy in charge? Well, that's not so much the case anymore because Murphy, Greg,

is put into what's kind of a three-headed monster here that puts the organization in a little. little bit of a tricky spot potential. We haven't seen any outward signs of dysfunction, but when there's not a clear line of delineation of who's in charge, that can happen. Your thoughts on this piece. I thought it's really fascinating and is worth reading in full if you're into the inner workings of front offices.

And I would say it's dysfunctional because the two guys that theoretically are as important as anyone in the front office, Russ Ball, and then the GM, Brian Gutikunz, we're both essentially unhappy with the job that they got, that they each separately felt like they were sold one job and maybe got another one where they don't really have the power. They didn't, Goudicunds thought he was getting Ted Thompson's job and it's not because he has limited, say, for a general manager. Then you have Matt LaFleur over to the side

who takes a little fire in this piece too about whether he has a forceful personality and you have these three competing areas of the team, not on the same page necessarily. And then the thing that would worry me most about Packers fan is you have Mark Murphy getting in with the coaching staff and doing the types of things that bad owners do. He's not technically the owner, but he's acting like one. It's a lot.

I think one of the things that surprised me the most in our job over the past decade is the level of palace intrigue in these front offices. The level, the lengths they go to keep, and foster power for themselves versus, you know, kind of contenders for power in the same front office?

When Gunnichan interviewed for the job, as Greg referenced. What's right? What is this again for new listeners, then? This is Brian Gutikunz's on hold music. If you call Brian Gutikunz and you need to get through to him if he's taken care of other business,

this will be the song that plays He's very proud of his German heritage I mean a little off brand If he essentially is somewhat of a neutered figure Inside the building compared to what we That sounds like someone very powerful His dropping hammers on it Perhaps he picked that song

Before he found this out But anyway the interview He went in for the interview Thought it was like Greg said Ted Thompson's job he was going to get Which was you know All-powerful job And then was told actually no

It's not going to be that way And he had to They had to wait for him to come back and say, I still want the job because it threw everything kind of out of whack. And then with LaFloro, the head coach, there's questions about how much power he had to even pick his own coaching staff. And Mike Petten was, you could perhaps see it as pushed onto him a little bit. And then some other special teams coordinator that he liked quite a lot. And even the, you know, he flew in for the interview and then got apparently lowballed in a contract offer and ended up

being, you know, going to New Orleans instead. A lot of cooks in the kitchen. It just seems like not every – it doesn't sound like anyone's particularly thrilled with things right now. Now, if they go in their, you know, 8 and 3 in November, nobody's going to even remember this anymore. But if a team that's sitting on back-to-back losing seasons, if this thing goes sideways, well, this is only – I feel like this is only going to fester and become a bigger story. Some of these things take years to really blow up, too. So even if they were 8 and 3, I'd still be concerned with the overall structure. These teams that have this sort of mix and match scenario where you don't really know who's in charge.

And inside the building, there's arguments over who's in charge and there's all these hurt feelings. It can last for a year or two and then it utterly crumbles. The worst thing, like, whether it's some sort of South American country or it's an NFL team, when there's a power void and everyone's rushing to fill the power, it's really important that it's done well in the NFL. And this situation concerns me, number one, based on every press conference we've seen. so far out of Green Bay where Mark Murphy is sort of treating Goody, despite his on hold music and everything else and their young new head coach, as almost like young children or people that need to be tutored into the role and answering every question over them. This is your head coach

and you're at least media facing GM. Well, and if you read between the lines, I got the sense Goody might not even have been totally the guy on board or with the LaFloor hiring and that he was on the side for that press conference, which is, I mean, that's troubling. I don't know. A lot of it is understandable. Like you can see why, but it's how bad organizations start. And Ted Thompson having this auto-nemonic disorder, which we didn't talk about, which is a pretty serious illness, that he might have stayed with the job too long.

And then McCarthy and Ball, Mike McCarthy, the former coach, were apparently totally at odds, and that created why his job is a certain way. And I don't know, it's a lot. It's been a lot of success since Ron Wolf was there, but Ron Wolf is no longer participating in Packers' events and kind of is mad at the organization, partly because of how they treated his son. There's a lot going on.

I remember at the Combine, two years ago, when it was Goody's first run, you know how you randomly see people in the elevator, and like the 12-year-old in you is like, oh my gosh, that's Mike McCarthy, the Packers coach. But we were alone, I was like, hey, I really think your new GM seems like a great hire, and he just looked at me

and, like, his door open and he goes, er. It wasn't that bad. It was kind of like, it wasn't like, hey, man, I think he's awesome, dude.

We're going around. It was just like a, er, and walked out of the elevator. Okay. What hotel is this? We've got to see if there's footage somewhere. It's the one we always stay at an indie.

The Marriott? The Hilton. All right. I don't check hotel names. Anyway, moving on. Greg, good news. Happy Monday for you. Some people got the case of the Mondays today,

not you, Greg. You know why? Gino's back. Gino's back. The Seahawks sign the journeyman quarterback, the former second round pick of the Jets, spent last season doing nothing behind Philip Rivers with the Chargers. And now he is going to be probably,

he'll probably be the number two behind Russell Wilson, but he's got some competition. You know who it is? Paxton Lynch. Lynch v. Gino to back up Russ. I would call that totally Speaking of Powell's intrigue Flip the coin, sorry Greg

Well, don't be sorry I think what teams are Gino's better than Faxon Lynch Even I'll say that Yeah, I won't say that necessarily It shows me You know, what's more important? Talk or action?

You know, you can a lot of funny talk about Gino over the years Look at the action. You're not going to go back to the end of the 2014 teams You got to be kidding me, punched out by his own team Talk about leadership void

What the NFL teams are telling us They're like If we want to pair someone with a quarterback who knows just about everything there is to know about the NFL but needs a little something else behind him to really teach him the game and Eli Manning, a Philip Rivers, a Russell Wilson.

Who do they bring in? They bring in Gino. They bring in Gino to help that veteran really be the best that he can be. Here's another way to look at it. If you have a quarterback who never misses a snap like Eli Manning, Philip Rivers,

and Russell Wilson, feel free to bring in Gino Smith as your number two because he's never going to play. I think Wes nailed that. We'll always defend that stuff. our Gino had as a giant against the Raiders. And that will always annoy me. Watch the tape.

Watch the tape. Watch the tape. Watch the tape when he runs down the sideline cheering against Ryan Fitzpenter. He was the best on the same team. It was like the best game by a Giants quarterback. Heared against his own teammate playing quarterback because he wanted to play. What a rotten teammate. I actually did give a little bit of thought before the show when this, you know,

was putting together the rundown. Why does he keep getting jobs? He must be pretty good at picking up. a playbook, and he doesn't cost a lot. He throws a pretty ball. He throws a decent spiral. Nice and tight. When he throws it to his own team, he throws a pretty ball.

Finally, in the news, some sad news. Former Chiefs Coach Gunther Cunningham has died at the age of 72. The Lions, whom Cunningham last worked as a decorinator 2009 through 2013, and he worked with them as an assistant through 2017, announced the news. born in Munich, Germany, Cunningham, moved to the U.S. at the age of 10. It became a naturalized citizen. In 2010, he attended the University of Oregon where he played linebacker, but he was known as a real lifer as a coach in the NFL,

started with the Baltimore Colts as an assistant, spent time with the Chargers and Raiders before moving to KC as their DC from 95 to 98, some really good Chiefs teams in that mix. In 99, he succeeded Marty Schottenheimer as the chiefs head coach for two years, went 16 and 16 for more than 30 years Cunningham was a figure in the NFL and Bucky Brooks we joke about it a lot on this program about Daniel Jeremiah having or not having a podcast

here at NFL media well I'm going to talk about this one first of all DJ wasn't on this episode it was Rhett filling in with Bucky but I like that I think that's a great combo right I think it's something to explore but Bucky played under Gunther Cunningham him for a phase of his career, and he had some words about Gunther, so let's listen into the most recent episode of Move the Sticks. Look, the NFL lost a great one because he's one of the best defensive minds, one

of the more colorful personalities. He is a guy that I think everybody has a story when it comes to Gunther because he felt like he was the toughest guy in the room, and anyone who was around him, anyone who was on his team, had to take on that personality. because, look, teams are really, they take on the persona of their coach. And so having played for him, you walk out with a level of confidence and a level of kind of that bulliness that goes on. So, look, I'm going to miss him.

I'm going to miss him dearly. He did so much for Kansas City and the rest of the league, the way he impacted it. It's sad to see a great one back the way. I just remember those late 90s teams. Marty Schott and Ever got away with running the ball at the time because Gunther Cunningham's defense was number one the league in points allowed two out of three years when they went 13 and three.

I always feel, Chiefs fans have had some great teams over the years that didn't get quite over the hump, but his defenses were awesome. He is one of the rare guys that was a defensive coordinator for the Chiefs, became head coach, went to another team, then return, how many head coaches return to their previous team as a coordinator? I cannot think of any other than him in these last 25 years. Secondly, if we love Hard Knocks for what it teaches us about the coordinators and the coaches, and the personalities running the 2007 Chiefs, Hard Knocks. There is no bigger star on that entire show than Gunther Cunningham,

who I had no idea who the guy was before it, and he is a raging badass through the entire thing. He's unbelievably enjoyable to watch. He's the same dude on Thanksgiving when Justin Foress, way back when against the Texans, he was with the lines at that point, ran for that 81-yard touchdown that couldn't be reviewed because Swartz threw the red flag during it,

and it was a scoring play. So they said, sorry, it was clearly he was tackled to the ground. And they just show Cunningham taking the playbook and throwing it in the air like an old man and kicking it with his foot. Then a couple, it was either a year or two after, Monday Night Football shows him up in the coordinator's booth, chewing out fans that are like 10 feet away

who were giving him a job. Stop this guy in the room. He was, to me, one of the, I can see why Bucky feels away. It would be hard to forget him. Gunther Cunningham dead at the age of 72. That's what's happening in the news. Hey guys, Lisa knows how important rest is to a better life.

How are you sleeping lately, Mark? Much better. Good. I'm watching both my boys. My wife is away on business right now. And they both slept in bed with me last night. Not a great night's sleep. That doesn't good.

A lot of little legs kicking you repeatedly. You kind of also have to protect your body, even awake or not, when you have little children in the bed, because they're going to kick you all over. They're like little body heaters, like space heaters. You don't need that. Exactly. It's like what it feels like in here right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they're like crawling on the floor somewhere right now.

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Anyway, Lisa's most popular multi-layer foam mattress is made with premium foams for cooling, contouring, and pressure relieving support. That's the standard Lisa mattress. So check that one out and just know that Lisa believes all people should have access to deep rest and relaxation. So don't miss out. Live healthier, live happier by resting deeper. order today and get 15% off your purchase for a limited time at lisa.com slash around and use promo code around that's l-e-esa dot com slash around and guys one more thing i'm not going very far i'm in a rush it's too uncomfortable sometimes i just forget don't kid yourself there's no such thing as a good excuse for not buckling up if you've used any of these excuses or other you're putting yourself at risk of injury or death.

In 2017, more than 10,000 people were unbuckled when they were killed in crashes. That's 51% of people killed in motor vehicle crashes that were not wearing seatbelts, no matter what kind of vehicle you drive. Wearing your seatbelt is the best defense in a crash. Greg, do you buckle up? Of course.

Every time, me, buckle up. It's not cool not to. It used to be not anymore. And I used to not buckle up in the backseat. And then one day, I smartened up. I said, you know what? the buckles buckling back here too I grew up in a live and let live house

where you didn't have to buckle your seat but since I've been an adult always buckle my seat absolutely I didn't remember Wes I was called you Bob Bob's not on the show my middle name is Robert there you go cops are on the lookout

and writing tickets so why take the risk so do the smart thing and buckle up every trip day or night front seat or back seat I added that in just a reminder buckle up in the back seat click it or

Ticket. Nailed it. All right. I should add in my mom's defense that were like nine of us trying to fit in a firebird. So seatbelts kind of were, you know, they're little extraneous. My mom also came from a large Catholic family where there were six children. She tells the story when they would drive to the beach in the summer. They'd be packed into the back of the station wagon. There'd be a dog in there as well.

And then Poppy, my late grandfather, smoking a big cigar. There's no air conditioning. It's character building. Well, less helicoptery parental scenarios back then. Yes. All right, there we go. Let's talk about it. What are we overly invested in as we look ahead to 2019?

At a level where, yeah, this is what we do for a living. We should be invested in a lot of the subplots that surround the season as we look ahead. But for whatever reason, these subplots have really kind of worm their way into our old brains and I was going to mention like a part of a brain to just dress it up a little bit but then I didn't know if it would be mentioning the right part of the brain. The North Cortex. Cortex would have been good. I was thinking of the what was the M. Gwamblata thing?

What was that part? You're on your own. Madula amblangata. I almost did that but I didn't want to stumble over the word. I may have stumbled upon it myself. No. Greg, why don't you get us going? Maybe sometimes I don't have to, you know, externalize these.

internal thoughts while I'm saying that's your job as the host and this is a you know somewhat confusing segment and so I think it's it's good to set it up it really is inspired by Game of Thrones we sort of did the intro already right off the top but just that people they're in too deep they've they've committed so long with Game of Thrones that they're just losing perspective on things that's a little bit how I feel with the Los Angeles Chargers at this point I've been predicting that this team is going to be one teams in the AFC that it's going to go to the Super Bowl that it's got one of the best rosters in the league for so long that there's no there's no backing off at this point like there's no I can't go off of that when they went 12 and 4 a year ago but part of me does you know

the part of me that's not as invested kind of looks at it from the outside and and looks at that offensive line and it's garbage for the most part and it was at the end of last season and it's basically the same group coming back and it's an it's an older quarterback and And as loaded as that defense looks, and it's really good overall. I do worry about a team that doesn't really have much of a home field advantage. And was that their best chance last year, 12 and 4? I don't really know. I can't tell because I'm in so deep.

You're in too deep. I'm in too deep. I can't see it. You're blinded. What about the idea of building into those things, maybe be worried about the way the offense played down the stretch? Yes. You know, after that amazing, they peaked as a team, one of the great moments in Chargers history, at least regular season, but maybe you can go, the whole, you know, kit and caboodle is when they went to Arrowhead and the buzzer-beater win on Thursday Night Football.

And from that point on, I don't remember that offense being close to the same. What does that mean? You're right. I do worry about that. They're a little thin, you know, they have two great receivers, I believe, in Keenan Allen, and Mike Williams is coming up. But after that, it's Travis Benjamin, and then there's a pretty big falloff. It's just a team that it... You're nervous. I'm not nervous.

It just looks so good on paper that I actually think now I've been rooting for the Chargers to do well for so long. I'm getting some Charger fans' thoughts in my head, which is like it almost looks too good. Something's going to get funky. It felt like at the end of the year the problems were twofold, that their running backs were injured, and they have one of the best, most productive backfields all year. And that the right side of the offensive line just fell a problem. part and got exploited almost every week. The offensive line was so bad the last four or five, six weeks, and that was what I think

separated this team. And the defense is really good. I hope Gus Bradley can take advantage of all the talent that he has. It looks great on paper. This is an organization where it hasn't always translated from paper to reality, kind of like the last season of Game of Thrones. How about that? I brought it back around.

And Aaron Rogers was the latest celebrity to make a cameo on the show. I think he gets, you know, Wes. Did you see? Oh, yeah. Wasn't that going to be in the news? I mean, I wasn't looking for him because it was about Game of Thrones, not some quarterback for the Packers, but no,

I didn't see him. Well, I saw a scene where... Some quarterback for the Packers. This is an all-time great. Yeah, but he plays football. A football player has no place in Game of Thrones. That's a whole different world. That's mid-earth.

Everyone else are just actors. They're just guys that hang out in L.A. and work on their screenplays. I think willing suspension of disbelief matters more for me than most people. It's hard to pick them out. There's a scene, according to some. Again, don't watch it. But where he comes, we shouldn't be doing going on the show too much. You don't watch a show.

He comes burning down. You have. You want you spent four or five seasons. He comes burning down like a left turn as the dragon is like touching down. Rogers and burning everyone up, according to on Twitter that's him. I don't think anybody watching this would have seen that as Aaron Rogers. And even if they were looking for it, you'd have to go back and rewind it. Why are we so, why am I the one defending Aaron Rogers finally? Why are we so negative about him appearing on a television?

I'm not negative. I just don't care if he was on it. Yeah, it was just like a little like. He's a quarterbacker. I thought he did it. If he's in the scene that they showed, he did a nice job running. You know what's happening right now, dear? He gets torched.

It's hot in here. It's hot. It's pretty hot in here. It is. And it's funny you say that because I'm watching Aaron Rogers get incinerated on Game of Thrones. And yes, it happens so quickly that it's very easy to miss. And Wes, obviously that's something you can miss as we completely bring the show to a home. I mean, how would I know that's Aaron Rogers?

On site watching it, no way. It's only because it's been tweeted out. No, it's just looks like some gibronie who got killed. That's the point. You're not supposed to know. They're not supposed to know that it's him. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I'm just saying nobody should be expected to notice that's Aaron Rogers during the...

I also think maybe they shouldn't have had them in shoulder pads in a number 12 jersey. It just took me out like the coffee cup thing. Didn't help. Took me out of the moment. All right. Anyway, what am I wildly overly invested in? Well, I'm going to keep it real. It's got to be involving my favorite team.

But it's a bigger picture as well. I am too invested in the year two of the two of the two. 2018 quarterback draft class, just to see how this all shakes out. It starts, of course, with my boy Sam Darnold, who I'm really excited. I feel like he's kind of in a good spot where nobody, despite the additions, people still don't really think the Jets are going to be any good. So he doesn't have a lot of this. I don't think there's a lot of expectations really built up around Darnold,

which is probably not the worst thing. But when I look at the roster and Greg, you hit the Jets in the roster reset, that they're better in almost every phase of their team from last year. Now, last year's team was a bad four and 12 outfits, so that doesn't mean they're going to go 12 and 4. But I'm really excited, especially beyond Levi-on-Bell and James and Crowder, the Adam Gase angle, which as a Jets fan, you just have no, it's been so long since they've tried to build an offense

with a coach that has an offensive mind. I'm excited to see how Gase and Donald work together. Mayfield and the Browns, we've talked about that a lot, but you want to see, is he going to be a superstar? Is he going to be an MVP level guy? Unlike Donald, obviously the Browns have a ton of expectations. So I'm interested to see how he fares facing that type of scrutiny. And then the other guy is Josh Rosen.

I'm focusing on the first round, obviously. Josh Rosen, what happens in Miami? Does he have a chance to salvage his career? What does he do with it? So I'm kind of really interested at how that shakes out. Josh Allen, is he any good? good. I think there are some people that think Josh Allen is really good. And then there's some people that didn't see enough to get excited about him. He seems very scattershot to me and an amazing

athlete. And finally, Lamar Jackson. I feel like Donald has helped out a little bit in terms of what you mentioned with lower expectations by the fact that by the end of last year, I think Baker Mayfield, and you could argue Lamar Jackson became bigger stories than Darnold tucked away on a lost Jets team. But I would not say on any level, that we're far away from it out here on some level, but there is no way that Sam Darnold does not have high expectations around him. And he should, he should have high expectations around him. There are high expectations, but I mean, the scrutiny of the team being,

I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about the team, people aren't expecting the Jets to go 11 and 5 and knock off the Patriots. It's a different field. No, I get that, but I do think there is a lot of expectation for a first-year head coach and second-year quarterback, just because the talent around him is so good. That Levyon Bell, you think Chris Herndon's going to make a big leap. You got a nice receiver crew in Anderson and a Noon, and who am I forgetting there?

Jameson Crowder. I mean, that's like a good – he should be expected to have a good season this year. His coaches should be better, too. I would say this is the most excited I've been about a jet season in a long, long time. You might have to go back to 2011 after their second AFC title game, where I just, not necessarily because I think they're ready to make the move to be a contender, but just to see how the team plays and see how Darnold develops. I've never had a quarterback in my lifetime.

Well, and you're not forced to, you're not forced to quietly back a total sham quarterback, which has been the exercise when you root for these quarterback-free crappy teams for a decade plus. As you know well, Mark. All right. Chris Westling, you're up. I'm going to invite Mark to go ahead of me if he wants to because mine is more of a macro view of the sport itself. Will it involve Shakespeare mythology? No.

Mine is very micro. I look at your notes first. I will go first here with my thing because it is based on a smaller topic than the entire sport. For me, I feel like when I get way too deep, I cannot change my opinion on something, even if it is changing.

And for me, I am in way too deep when I look at the Detroit Lions and I see nothing, but their immense, profound, untouchable dullness. Wait, you're in too deep on their dullness? I wanted to try to explain this. I think I'm with it. I have perceived them as boring for years on end correctly,

and I need the team to pull off something dramatic to alter my worldview. When I'm flipping through games, whether they're live run game pass, I want to feel something other than when I land on the Detroit Lions and think to myself, next. The Lions arguably have one of the top run stuffing lines in the NFC right now, led by Damon Harrison.

They have a competent quarterback in Matthew Stafford. I like Kerry on Johnson, Kenny Galladay. I kind of can get behind the Matt Patricia thing, but still, I cannot see my way out of this conundrum. Here are a few ideas to change my opinion. How about win a playoff game for the first time since 1991, a longer streak than the Browns? How about stop being the least interesting team in your division for once in my lifetime? How about consider the concept of not feeling aesthetically like the same exact dull trinket year after year after year? And before any Hamm and Eggers, Lion fans come after me, you should be ten times more steamed than I am.

How many Sundays have you wasted? Would you prefer to sip the most expensive champagne as the NFL crown is laid upon your brow or deal with another raging bowl of vanilla ice cream come September. It's going to take a lot to change my feelings. I'm way too fucking deep in on this one. It's like Saigon 68. Who knows when any of us will get out of the shit.

I agree with every word you said. And I totally get what you're saying that this could be the year the lions are exciting, but you're too close to it. Too close. Too invested in this narrative. And not rooting for myself to feel that way a year for now. I would love to feel different.

The rest of the league is coming to the point where there aren't that many super boring teams left. A lot of them have gone out of the way to fix some of their issues. And Stafford should have been, should be the solve really for their boring nature. Because when he came in and I at least was thankful that I thought he would save Thanksgiving the early game, I was like, all right, finally we're done with these Lions quarterbacks that are lousy. We got Stafford in the 930 hole for the next decade. But I don't know.

You're right. I mean, it's an underrated Mark Sessler storyline, his feelings about the Lions, but I'm glad we explored it. Okay, Wes. I just don't know if I believe it, but... I have to find something that I'm passionate about. It's not going to be like, I just can't stop thinking about the Miami Dolphins in their team-building process. Like, I don't spend time thinking about that and getting all hot and bothered over it.

But the Lions... That annoyed, I will say, when I think out something that is... He's talked about the Lions on this show for a long time. I felt passionately about this take since the minute this point. podcast started, and I'm not alone. Wes, pick us home. Because of the way we're indoctrinated in this country, our minds tend to set and entrench as liberal or conservative, right or left, business or labor.

That's the bias we bring into sports, and the people who follow football closest tend to break down into two separate camps, pro-owners or pro players. And we lose perspective. We get in too deep when we've used. the league's issues through one of those lenses instead of taking a broader view about what's good for the sport itself short term or long term

as well as the most rewarding entertainment experience for the fan more fans, more writers should be thinking about what's good for writers and fans not what's good for players or owners. Hmm. What are some I think that's a thought-provoking

idea there. What are some examples? Like what made you think about this? One thing a topic that came up a week or two ago, the franchise tag, when you were talking, like, that might be an issue that the players, the NFLPA, will get rid of, there's no chance of that happening because the sport itself needs the franchise tag. It will be an awful, awful sport if quarterbacks can just go wherever they want, like the NBA, where you have these power teams and dream teams, and only two teams or three teams are relevant every year. You can't do

that in football. That's one thing. But I also think replay is another one. Yeah. Very replay I could totally see. The franchise tag and player movement is a double-edged sword. With the NFL and the way talents dispersed and the salary cap, you know, good quarterbacks are almost getting there. Like Kirk Cousins kind of put a no-trade, no-tag, you know, clause on his contract. In theory, Wilson could do that. I don't mind getting rid of the – I don't mind a little more player movement.

I think actually the NFL that might make it interesting that if better players got to free agency. But I think you're right about the replays. that, and this is across a lot of sports that I think you're losing the force for the trees. Someone that hasn't watched a lot of NBA in recent years, but, like, tuning in for these game sevens, I mean, to see, like, a two-minute delay,

to see if Joel Embed was acting or not when his eye got hurt with six minutes left in the game. It was like, come on. Let's wake up here. You're also allowed to look at the Levi-on-Bell situation and say, hey, the Steelers offered him a fair deal. he hates the franchise tag but the franchise tag

actually would have been good for him had he accepted it and as a fan of the game I would have had a much better experience if he was playing for the Steelers instead of sitting out all year let me ask you one question when it comes to replay

because I like your argument that it's great in March and April when we reconstruct replay and it becomes more expansive and it's going to address the stuff that hurt everyone's feelings a couple months ago rightly so but then the game

suddenly when it's, if they are going to become longer, we don't really know, because I think there's arguments to suggest that won't happen. I don't know if any of this would be happening at all if it weren't for Twitter and stuff like that. Because if this were 1988, like the expansion hubbub over Minnesota and New Orleans would have died down about 10 days later and been largely something people wouldn't even be communicating about publicly. It stayed such a fervor and the owners have to react. And the owners and everyone else had to vote that in. Like, when you say pro-owner or pro-player,

I mean, some of these issues are right in the middle. With replay, like, do you want them to not be responsive to that kind of thing? The owners, I thought they did at least. They tried to make the game, I don't know. For me, it's confusing because the owners to me, they tried to address what was a truly beguiling issue for the league going forward. That's fair. I don't think you have a lot of owners or right now.

Now, like, looking at the health of the league is, like, the most important thing, which is a problem. It doesn't help that in almost every American sport, the commissioner is essentially powerless, and he's just a lackey for the owners. Ooh, getting hot in here again. I mean, that's the way, that's the way it's evolved over the years, that, like, if you're an owner of the sport, the commissioner is under your employ. That's just the way it is. good say guys we have one more show before

the Chris Wesleying Lekeesha Jackson nuptials by the way your brother Nick oh yeah I mean I got him triggered he is he is all up in his feelings

he's not what happened now he's sending me private text now oh he did saying how you know how badly he wants to beat me and he was going to play left hand but now he's got to play right he has your phone number

he got my number to teach me a lesson And it's just like, bro, I love it up here living rent-free in your head, Nick. And it's nice up here and roomy. And let me tell you something, you're not going to like what happens this weekend. It's noisy, though, up in his head. It's a lot of chatter. A lot of chatter.

But just realize the pressure's on you, buddy. The pressure's on you. And he's listening right now, right? Yeah. Nick, you remember, I'm the one with the microphone. and if you don't beat me this weekend, next week will be one of the lowest points of your life. Well, you and Nick is...

And if we hear no updates about the game at all, you know that Nick fared well. Here's what's going on all. Here's the problem, though, Nick, it's not a one-on-one... Well, maybe you will do a one-on-one thing, but the problem is, like, if you and Nick are a close battle, that leaves, you know, me and West to decide the win. But I've already made my feelings clear on that.

I care less now about the two-on-time. Is there a one-on-one cornhole, I guess? And just Nick and I are bad. Reg is a little concerned about the top-heavy nature of the Wesleyan-Westling team. Well, here's the... Hey, we're big-time underdogs. I don't mind it. It'll just, you know, make everyone more surprised when we shock the world.

But that's just the reality is we're big... It also feels great, as I'll mention, two shows in row, just to be completely knocked out of the lineup at whim by you hobby horses. Enjoy yourself. Here's the tail of the tape. Nick, clearly a better cornhole player than Dan. We'll see. But here's what I'd say.

Nick, not even in the same league as Dan when it comes to psychological warfare. And this could backfire on Nick if he's talking about throwing left-handed, because Dan might then force him to throw left-handed. Nick will get obliterated. We'll see. We'll see. I wouldn't, you said clearly better. We'll see.

Because he's got to perform. It's easy to do it when you're alone in Cincinnati in the backyard. But when the lights are on and when people are watching it and when it counts, we'll see what Nick Wessling's got. We'll see if he's got anything in the heart. I'll leave it on that note. Let's go. Stan Hans is signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman,

the old boss, and Ricky Hollywood. Behind the glass. I want you, Nick Wesleyan. I want you. Till Thursday. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies.

evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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