NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - ODB’s suspension & Around the NFL Christmas Special

Episode Date: December 22, 2015

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Colleen Wolfe – discuss the latest news from around the NFL, including the Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham receiving a one-game suspension for his conduct against the Panthers in Week 15, and Cardinals defensive back Tyrann Mathieu suffering a season-ending ACL tear. Then, the heroes bring Wess’s long-time college football consultant “Spice Rack” on to the show to defend Chargers rookie running back Melvin Gordon before finishing off the show with a Secret Santa gift exchange.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast won't pick you up from the airport. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas and I am joined by Room Filled with Heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, Colleen Wolfe, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys, and girl? Hey, Dan. I agree.

I hate. picking up people from the airport. I hate it. Yeah. It's my least favorite thing in the entire world. Well, that's a big statement. But when you're expected to do certain things like that, you know, it's not always fun. Well, doesn't the ante up, if for anyone that's ever had to go to Los Angeles is L-A-X, it is I got a, I had to go to court for about a $400 ticket because you have about five seconds to pick up your relatives before some.

like motorcycle cop comes and ushers you away. And my wife and child were like 20 feet away and they couldn't hear me. And I was telling the police officer, I just need to get their attention and they'll come right over. He said, go around the entire airport again. He didn't like my response and I got a ticket for being Mouthy. Wait, this is a habit with you because you were nice enough to drop me off at the airport one morning when I first moved to L.A. at like five in the morning.

Wow. And a police officer pulled you over. That's, I forgot about that. $400 for getting Mouthey. You know, people we've moved on as a society, we've moved on in terms of, like, who's the enemy now? The enemy is ISIS or ISIL, depending on who you speak with. But what you're talking about, Mark, I'm still going to roll with it. Thanks, Bin Laden.

None of this stuff happened before 9-11. You know, driving around in circles. Wow. Taking off your damn shoes. I'm still upset about it. I disagree. To me, the enemy is parking enforcers. in general.

Yep, totally. I mean, no one, the Los Angeles city is poorly run in so many ways. But if you're parked in one place for one minute too long, there's going to be someone there. I mean, that's the only well-run, well-run thing there is. What would these people be doing for a living to contribute to society if they weren't doing that? Probably joining ISIS. You know, we sound miserable, by the way. It is the holiday season.

Welcome to our civics podcast. Yes. It is December the 22nd. today the holiday season is upon us so we should be in better spirits forget all that stuff you know all the things you have to deal with in the world ultimately this is a happy time of year and that's why later on in today's show we're going to play our first time ever we're going to have a little secret santa grab back and we you know we drew the names out of a hat this morning and each of us got one of the people in the room right now and we're going to present

gifts to each other in audio form because it wouldn't work if it was like, oh, here's a $20 iTunes gift card. Good thinking. This is more like a gift that you would like to metaphorically give someone. These are my favorite gifts. Yeah. So we're going to give gifts to each other at the end of the show. I know Sidney is excited about it.

Sweet girl. I know that she loves the Christmas season. I do love the Christmas season. See, we didn't even talk about that, but I know you so well at this point. despite us not having you know at this point anyway a close personal relationship I just feel like I get you

yeah and I know that Christmas is something that you love I'm getting on a plane tomorrow at 6 o'clock in the morning so I can go home and see snow because it's not really Christmas without snow there you go so I'm talking about I knew that I didn't even I could have told you that she missed snow without having heard that yeah you are remarkably plugged in

okay so we will have our little secret Santa the ATN secret Santa we will also talk about the Monday night football game that had Greg all excited on Twitter yesterday because the Saints were involved. Did not have me excited. The Saints and Lions played on Monday night. We'll talk about that,

and we will get into the news. A lot of big news, as if you're an NFL fan, you are plugged in. And the last couple of days, there's been some, you know, heat-seeking lasers of News Nugget. That doesn't mean any sense. I think people understand what you're trying to.

So a lot to get to. So let us get to it. Let's start with the news. Sometimes we start with the Monday night football game. But let's be honest, that is not a game that's going to feature any Super Bowl team. So let's talk about the news. And the first thing we've got to talk about is O'Dell, Beckham Jr. And the Giants wide receiver who, and this will be, for better or worse,

one of the most famous elements when you look back in the 2015 season is the one of. Hang on, Greg. What about my news? drop. Oh, my goodness. It skipped right over it. Whoa, I totally apologize. There's a really good one today, too.

Let's hear it. Thank you. Santa! Oh, my God. Santa here? I know him. And I tell you, Sessler, she's so excited, Sydney, about Christmas that she has an elf sound drop. Yeah, I mean, it takes away from this psychic energy you claim to share whether you barreled right through her the most important thing that brought to the show.

Thank you. I don't think that's the most important thing you bring to the show, Sidney. But we'll talk about it afterwards. Odell Beckham Jr. Suspended one game on Monday by the NFL. He's appealing the decision handed down by the league office following just a total meltdown by the giant star who let the Panthers get in his head and let Josh Norman get in his head. He drew three personal foul penalties during the game, a 3835 Panthers win.

And it ended with him staying in the game, which a lot of people thought he should either have been suspended or kicked out of that game or benched by Tom Coughlin said he plays the whole game. And what I think what ended up happening here, Colleen, is that the league did what Tom Coughlin should have, which is get him off the field. And that's what happened here. Yeah, and it puts Coughlin in a really bad position because he's telling his players that it's unacceptable behavior, but he left him in the game. And at the same time, he wanted them to win. And so O'Dell Beckham has put the Giants in a really bad position because he basically had such a total meltdown. I thought about it like it's like road rage. So it looked like he had road rage on the field.

Like you know how when you just completely lose sense of like everything that is right and you just go after something? Does that happen to you guys? No. Happened to me at LAX. I see that happening in Los Angeles everywhere I go. Yeah. But no. Okay.

So. I try to keep it cool. Not me. Well, Greg is so. you know even killed how could that possibly happen to Greg i watched this last night and coflin had multiple opportunities in the first half to sit him down for a series and affect some kind of behavioral change the behavior went unchanged throughout the game and that's definitely on the head coach he's become that team and that's not a good thing like that's odal beckham's all the

giants are now and we've talked about i mean mark you and i met him before he even played a snap and You know, I guess he was always a confident young guy coming out of college. But he got handed so much that it now, and to me, what happened was a manifestation of that, that he got overwhelmed. He's just a kid. He's like, what, 23 years old? And since there's been no checks and balances put in place for him, we saw what happened on Sunday, where he let it turn into me first battle.

And we see the me first. And we're all complicit in it because everyone loves, you know, the pregame actions where he's catching one-handed. And his cleats. And the cleats and, you know, the hair and putting them on the Madden game and putting him in every other commercial. I mean, it's O'Dell Beckham's world. I know it's not cool to have a hot take that the young charismatic athlete acted like a jerk and is all about himself. But that's what he is. And that needs to change or his career is going to be undermined by himself and the Giants.

I thought Eli Manning came out pretty strong against him yesterday. To some respect. But in general, you're right, Dan, that it does feel. like a one-person team when you don't see one or two veterans coming over early in the game and settling them down. Yesterday there were obviously a thousand hot takes and a lot of the players that work in NFL network almost to a man said he should not have been suspended that they thought a fine would have handled it that the bigger issue is that he doesn't have those guys around him

because on the field other players are so focused on their own assignments that they aren't seen globally what the fan is seen on TV but still how do you miss this? Well, Beckham is like a lot of great young players that have been me first. I mean, some of the greatest receivers of all time are me first, Randy Moss. I mean, some of the things they got into earlier in their career. And I would go back to the 50, 60s, and 70s. It's not like this is a new phenomenon. But I still blame the officials and Tom Coughlin more than anything.

And to me, this is such a memorable way for Tom Coughlin to go out. And I think it's going to be part of the reason he does go out, that this is a guy that's supposed to be a disciplinarian, that he loses control of his team. He doesn't handle the situation correctly. If they don't win out now, they're not going to make the playoffs. So let's say they lose Sunday night without Odo Beckham. So Coughlin's actions were directly responsible for Beckham getting suspended for this game.

And I just think if the Maras are looking at it, globally, there's no chance that he's going to be back next year. Now, with all that said, the officials didn't penalize him at all in the first quarter when they should have a couple times. and why not have a rule that two personal fouls you're kicked out of the game or three personal fouls at the very least why not make it like basketball

it doesn't seem that difficult yeah I thought of the Randy Moss comparison too and in a way you could say he's got the Steve Smith starter kit with competitive fire but Steve Smith's usually the one getting into defensive backshead not the other way around and in the Randy Moss thing like I'm very leery of becoming the white middle age sports writer railing against him

like the fake mooning incident in Green Bay or I'll play when I want to play. I mean, you can take all that stuff and go way overboard with it. O'Dell Beckham was wrong. It doesn't mean he's always going to be wrong for the rest of his career. I think what you said about that, too, is I think sometimes people go too much the other way because you don't want, especially it's like in this deadspin culture in terms of how you analyze sports and what just happened. You never want to be seen as the square on the other side of the argument.

You always want to be like, oh, the young kid that's, you know, being excited and being brash. You always want to say that's the way it should be. But Beckham, to me, is the guy that shows that that's not always the case. And they need to fix him, and he needs to look in the mirror. He earned this suspension. Right. It's very fair and should happen, but I don't think that he needs to be fixed. Right.

People get suspended for things. Oh, I don't know. People think he gets suspended for things all the time for drugs, for arrest. On a relative scale, to me, this is a pretty minor offense. And he got hit for it hard, losing a game, losing that game check, not being available during the playoffs. And I don't think it's been a huge recurrent problem where he's been an issue for the Giants. I think the problem is that he needs to obviously deal with the trash talk that he's getting better. Because there's now a playbook out there, and it's probably not a secret really what Josh Norman was telling him.

But there's a couple topics that people can go at Odo Beckham for, and it made him a little crazy. I mean, it made him crazy, and every cornerback in the league is going to know what it was that Josh Norman said. We should not downplay his behavior. What if he broke Josh Norman's jaw with that helmet spear job? I'm not downplaying it. I'm not downplaying it, but he got suspended. But he's flawed not broken. He doesn't need to be fixed.

He needs to come to some realizations about his own life. I understand he's young, but for him to think that it's okay to do the things that he did over and over again throughout the whole game, it just, it's kind of telling. somebody to tell them are we leaving josh norman out of this right that's it that's the norman by listen the panthers to me i feel like yes as they creep closer to 16 and oh they're also becoming increasingly tedious i did think of it yesterday because i was out of the office yesterday i did think that this entire adventure a misadventure between the panthers and giants and josh norman odo beckham is for you mark like the worst type of NFL story and not and that's not a shot against you but anything that's wrong with the NFL is what's what this story is well it just but i just but i

I don't look at it as just an Odell thing because I, looking, he's young, and I think he was certainly provoked on some level too, and he has to work on his reaction to that. But to leave the Panthers and Josh Norman out of the equation is half the story, too. I mean, they went at him. They went at him in the pregame. And whether it's O'Dell Beckham or someone else, like that to me also deserves some examination.

And they are looking at it. Well, that's the thing. And I think the blindside block is the, or the blindside hit is the only reason he got suspended. Because otherwise, we see a lot of this stuff in a, NFL games a lot. I mean, the Cody Wallace hit from the Steelers on David Bruton was as bad or worse than the O'Dell Beckwith. I would say worse. But also, if you're watching the game, you need to provide context for that hit. Right. That's fair. And all these things, I think, have context. That's why in the context of football, it doesn't, it seems like it's

totally warranted to suspend him. But then you move on. He's still the best receiver or one of the best receivers in the game. Ron Rivera, by the way, announced on Tuesday that there will be no more bat brought on the field. So that should solve everyone's problem, including O'Dell Beckham's. Moving on, some crushing news for the team of around the NFL, Honey Badger, who has been just an absolute stud. Tyron Matthew is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL at the end of Sunday night football.

Worst, you know, it's just such a bummer. It's a second time he's torn his ACL in three years now. fact that it happened with two minutes to play in a 40 to 17 game makes it even more painful. But here's the question, Chris Wessling. How devastating is this to Arizona's chances of winning a Super Bowl? Will it cost them a chance to make it to the Super Bowl? I don't think anyone knows. I really don't. They are, in my opinion, the deepest team in the NFL, and they can move Gerard Powers to the slot, and they can play Justin Bethel, who was probably the best fourth cornerback in the NFL, more snaps. They can put.

DJ Sweringer in at safety, but there's no one in the NFL who plays Tyron Matthew's position. He's played more snaps at outside linebacker than safety this season, and he plays in the slot 60% of the time, and he's their most inspirational and energetic defender. And I think it speaks so much about Bruce Ariens and Tyron Matthew that Bruce Ariens can get away with saying, this is my favorite player and my happiest draft choice, and it doesn't alienate anyone in that locker room. They do get back Rashad Johnson who's, if you had to pick who's the most similar player to Matthew on the roster, it'd probably be Rashad Johnson, who's a good player.

Sounds like he'll return to practice this week, so it's not at least a cavalcade of injuries at the same position. But he's the reason, he and Patrick Peterson are the reason that defense is what it is. It's not the best defense in the league, although it's very, very good. They're good because of the back end and because of the flexibility that Matthew and Peterson as a duo gives them. them to do all these sorts of things and blitz and get creative and live with a pass rush that's really not that great. And now you just have Peterson, who's going to be locking down top receivers. But now the secondary, what made them special, is not nearly as special.

I think it's a crushing loss for how versatile he is and for, like you said, he's the glue on that defense. But it's also a team that if they're going to get to the Super Bowl, it's going to be because what they are on offense. And if they're going to give up, let's say, give another touchdown. down eight points, nine points a game. They've got the offense to make up for it. But it's really the last player you'd want to see go because he was such,

you know, you look at the character of the Cardinals and why we chose them as team of ATL and what's fun about them. He is right at the center of that. And, you know, you've got to ask, will he be the same player when he comes back? I think with modern medicine, the answer is hopefully yes. That's the bummer of the two is that, you know, he was going to be the rookie of the year probably in 2013.

He tore the ACL in December of that year and then wasn't the same in 2014. So now you're looking at the same exact situation where you're not going to see the same Honey Badger next season and hopefully the year after that it becomes the guy he was this year. It just completely stunts the growth of what is really turning into a big time career and you hope that he's going to still be the same player. Yeah, and he was so much fun to watch too.

That's the other part of it. I mean, watching these games, you know, you get so much fun out of the offense. But then when you have the guy like this on defense, who his playmaking ability is off the charts. And it's just, it's so interesting to see the players that really got emotional about his injury. I mean, Carson Palmer, who last year just suffered the ACL right before the playoffs. And so these guys know how awful it is and the timing is just so bad. Well, he's a leader. He's a third year player who's been injured, but he's a leader.

He's one of the leaders of that team. If you're a Cardinals fan, there are plenty of things you can hang your hat on, though. every Super Bowl contender or every team that ends up there has stories that they've overcome throughout the season and it's usually something that you know something major like this that you have to overcome they have more stories on that team than any team in the NFL moving on Charles Woodson will no longer play football after the 2015 season the former all pro cornerback and safety will retire after his 18th season He announced this on Monday.

His quote, 2015, is going to be my last season playing in the NFL. Was it a tough decision? Kind of in a way. But a couple of weeks ago, it hit me that this would be it. It's important for me to let Raider Nation know now. Greg, where does Charles Woodson stack up in the history of great cornerbacks? I have a hard time judging guys. You never watched on a dated basis.

But I think it's telling that Ronnie Lott and Rod Woodson both came out after they found. out this news and they said he's one of the top three defensive backs of all time. And they were careful not to say cornerbacks because I think when you look at Woodson's career, what made him special is that he could do a little bit like Tyron Matthew, he could do a little bit of everything. Even when he played cornerback, he was very physical, great run stopper. And then his post-30 career as a safety and a cornerback, but mostly safety, is what made him special. There was a time in 1996 when he was on the free agent market at the age of 27 for eight weeks.

And you would have never guessed that he would be a Hall of Famer 10 years later, or that everyone would assume he was a Hall of Famer. He had as good a post-30 career as just about any defensive player I can think of in NFL history, that the second half of his career was better. He's having a good year, too. I always find it interesting when players have that moment where it comes to them and they know that they're going to retire. And, I mean, it doesn't surprise me because he's 39 years old,

but he is playing so well that I wouldn't be shocked to see him come back next year and play. Change his mind. Yeah, he's a fascinating guy because you mentioned his post-30 career, which is so extraordinary, but also his career at Michigan where he becomes the first defensive player to win the Heisman trophy, beats out Peyton Manning in a major upset, was a two-way player at Michigan, seen as one of the best athletes in college football history,

and then goes to the NFL and immediately becomes the defensive equivalent to Randy Moss as the offensive rookie of the year, a smashing success right out of the gate. Edel Network's doing a bit this week or a feature for the Thursday night game. He's playing his last game in Oakland on Thursday night against the Chargers, which is why he announced this now.

It was great timing for the home crowd to appreciate him. Does he have the best trophy case in all of football? Because you got the Heisman, you got the national title, you've got the rookie of the year, you've got the defensive MVP, you've got the Packers Super Bowl. I mean, that was his year.

when they won the Super Bowl, that was also Charles Woodson's year where he just dominated the NFL. Frank Giffords in his grave going, come at me, bro. There's some good ones. Desmond Howard's pretty good, too. Broke his collarbone and that Super Bowl win, too,

in the second half. If I don't misremember, he was in a sling while they were celebrating. So Charles Woodson. He made a big-time, half-time speech, they all talked about, where he really didn't get many words out, but he just sort of his emotion,

and he broke down, because I think it happened in the second quarter, and they knew he was done for the day and they were all just fired up after that. Nice nug, Greg. Remember covering that one? Fun team. Able brag, Greg.

Very nice nug. Moving on, the New England Patriots have running back problems. LaGarie Blunt out for the year. Of course, Dionne Lewis, out for the year. And they made a move on Tuesday. It became official that Stephen Jackson, the veteran running back,

who had his best years in St. Louis, and seemed to be out of gas in Atlanta the past two years. Confirmed. Is now joining the Patriots on a one-year deal. So they have added another body back there. Who's the guy that had all the carries? Brandon Bolden was supposed to be there. Joey, Yusefa.

Yusefa got some carries. Stephen Jackson has a chance to work his way into this rotation because there's not a lot there. Well, yeah, he's going to go out there and play out of his mind and all of a sudden prove everybody wrong. Mark once wrote that Bill Belichick could get Anne Hathaway to rush for 200 yards in this often. Well, anyone, I mean. Well, this is a good test for it.

This is. And to me, I understand that Belichick more than anyone likes to pull these players that at this point are ignored by 31 other teams and turn them into a January Cinderella tale. And maybe that's what happens because I don't doubt the Patriots at this point for the powers that they have. but this to me remains something of a curious signing, not that there's a lot of other free agents out there, but is this the best player you could find? I love it.

I mean, he has got no lateral gildy left whatsoever, but neither does Joey Yosepha. Right, that's the thing. Their roster is so bad right now. I don't think he's going to be their main guy, but they're, I mean, in terms of the running back position, sorry, Dan. You light up that running back versus any other team,

they might be the 30-second best running back room in the league right now. This could be a great story, though. Stephen Jackson played on some bad teams his entire career, and he carried some awful Rams teams. I think he'll be a short-yardage guy. And Belichick has talked about it. He likes bringing – there's a method to that. He likes bringing them the older guys that are hungry for titles.

He just thinks that's a – He's also not afraid, though. He's not afraid to part ways with them if they're not going to work out. And so I want to see it work before, you know, I start getting overly excited about Stephen Jackson's big old career. Yeah, he might be a shot at U.S. No, it's not at all shot it. Not at all shot at West.

I mean, I even did a little dance with his arms. No, because it's already becoming, like, it's already being woven into New England's, you know, postseason lore. And it's just like, all right, well, let's see it happen. I hope it does. He came in our newsroom. Of course you do. And he looks like he. Patriots season time for Marksler.

Stephen Jackson came in our news from a couple years ago and looked like if you were like everyone in the newsroom is going to take this guy on in a fight, he could take everyone out in about 14 minutes. He's a monster. Two guys, two guys passed that test. He's one and the other one is Chris Jenkins. When Chris Jackson, Jenkins came in, and we see athletes all the time, like famous football players. So many famous people come through here. Wait, what's wrong with just reminding everyone that we see players all the time? You're absolutely right.

Chris Jenkins was a step apart from anyone else in terms of his build. The widest person in the world. I like this. Is there any player that you guys have ever seen that stuck out to me? Because for me, it's a clear one, which is Kyle Brady. He was the scariest, most imposing sort of well. Well-built human I've ever seen in my life. Kyle Brady was just, like, insane.

So for me, when I was covering the Eagles in the locker room, Humblebrake. John Runyon. Yeah. Interesting. Coming out of the shower. And let me just tell you, though, like the towels that everybody has, they looked like washcloths on him.

He was such a large human being. I don't think Goil should be in the locker room. I knew this is going to start. Get about. Get about. Okay, offshoot of Popeye. I don't believe that. By the way, though, Stephen Jackson,

he did play with Josh McDaniels when they were together with the Rams. I think that's why that has to be, it's not just Belichick, that's a huge reason why this happened. And in other running back news, the Chargers have placed rookie Melvin Gordon on injured reserve.

He suffered a knee injury on Sunday against the Dolphins, ending a season that, you know, I think disappointment is a good word to use. Troubling would be another good word to use. And, you know, also, let's be honest. Spice Rack, who, of course, is Chris Wessling's desert football analyst. He lives in Vegas. A man, well, Greg calls him my football Spengali.

Yes, a man who staked his reputation on Melvin Gordon being a breakout star in the NFL, immediately upon drafting Wes put his faith in the Spice Rack and that faith was not rewarded and we've talked about Spice Rack all season and Melvin Gordon so you know to put a bow on it we thought let's get Spice Rack on the phone

let's get you know connect with the desert and see what Spice Rack has to say for himself so he's going to join us right now he is Spice Rack oh how's going boys and girls welcome this is funny because first thing you know what before I even

you get to a question the first thing i want to know is was two things really one was i just lined up for ridicule that's fine i can deal with that but the other thing is were you actively rooting this season against melvin gordon were you rooting against athletes or the sports you love are you asking someone specifically or the entire group i'll be honest i was rooting against him the first time i saw him hesitate to hit a hole in preseason well this is just so you know this is not yeah this is not a massacre of spice rack we want the spice rack to remain on the wall but we just thought maybe to give you a forum here to maybe you know cash out to use some Vegas parlance on spice rack

or whether you're on Melvin Gordon or whether you're going to stay in and just say this was a bad season double down double down Vegas uh well I'll I'll double down because I have to but here's here's the deal with melvin gordon uh or projecting any player you're going to be wrong sometimes and i have the courage i have these little notes in front of me right now i have that word circled courage so you know take that word of course well done wow but uh no i'm going to double down just because uh listen it's possible he'll be a bust and i have no problem distancing myself from a Trent Richardson or something like that after a season. But there have been plenty of running backs drafted highly that their production wasn't there.

They were a lot of hesitating. I mean, you got on a list. Look at the production early with like a Garrison Hurst. I don't hear as much energy. Even Ricky Williams for a season struggled. You know, Levi-on-Bell was at three and a half yards of carry or something after a year. Well, he's right. This sounds great, Brandon.

and I applaud your courage, but I don't hear as much energy as, let me read a few texts from before the draft. He does things that remind me of Jamal, Charles, Chris Johnson, Dickerson, and Terrell Davis. Maybe not in 2015, but I'm not running from saying those things. All right, now it's an ambush. No, I love these because the one of the reasons why I continue to turn to Spice Rack as one of my college football, you know, savants. It's because he's bold and he's not afraid to make a,

mistake and he's just saying what he sees and i trust his eyes but if the dallas mother truck and cowboys draft him 27th he'll lead the NFL and rushing next year take it to the bank good night i was i was as bullish on gordon as as you could be i'm not getting away from that uh you know all the the everything that's that had happened with uh wisconsin running backs in the past didn't scare me off i saw a guy with jemal charles stride i saw him with uh that home run potential that you crave and what are you going to do can we talk about something else can we talk about barry larkin uh well all right before we talk about ricky waters never got any hall of fame uh consideration i know why west by the way was rooting against melvin

gordon now that i hear spice rack you got the little bit of the southern twang he's got some great football acumen in history west west is worried west is thinking i'm the spengali around here i don't need spengali he's worried that spice rack's coming in on his corner sabotage that's like when uh gina gershon got pushed down the stairs and showgirls that's what's i was thinking of that yes spice rack has a history in radio too so he's a natural whereas i'm not well don't don't don't let people know that now the expectations rise now it's like where's this guy's polish i thought he was a radio superstar you know if the jeslinick rosenthal uh The podcast goes on there.

The holidays are just a few days away, haven't bought a Christmas gift yet. West and Spicerack. Oh, Weston Spice Rack is the answer to Jesulnick and Rosenthal. I liked it. That'd be good to have just something as a backup. All right. Well, Spice Rack, thank you for. No, no, no.

Whoa. You're getting rid of me? I didn't get the. Listen, happy holidays. Wow. What else do you got? What else do you got? All right, you got 20 seconds.

So you go, I'm timing you. I'm fighting through this. All right. 17 seconds. I feel very inadequate. Sidney, you got to hang up once it gets to 15. All right. Do you have any stories?

You need any Nick Van Exx? Eight seconds. Tell us something embarrassing about what you need here, guys. Four, three, two, one. Last word. Last word is, are you crazy? This is a whole disaster. Oh, no.

Wow. Your friendship with spice rack might be ruined. For spice rack. Well, he feels terrible. I can tell it in his voice. So let's bring it on the podcast and put it on a platform. Well, we'll have a back on because he doubled down. But basically he wanted more time there.

But what we just needed to hear from him, he says, I think maybe out of pride, he says courage. But pride, he's going to double down and say he will bounce back. And he made some good points, Greg. There have been other very good running backs that didn't start their career well. And if you look at Melvin Gordon's own career, he had, he had, he's, He's had fits where he started slowly, whether it was in high school, college, or the Brussels, maybe. Well, maybe we start a new trend on this show where we don't write people off after one season. I think we've talked about that even downstairs, and let's see what Melvin Gordon does next year.

And Spice Rack, too. We're not right in Spice, we're not. Is he going to be upset that we had to cut him off there? I think he's going to be upset at himself because it sounded like he had about 30 different topics he wanted. Did he think this was like the Spice Rack podcast? No, he wanted to talk about Nick Van Exel and Barry Lark. and in a lot of Cincinnati things. Spice rack is a very sports fan.

Oh, yeah, he was great. I got a vibe that we liked him. I would love to have him on again and then, you know, always kind of hang up on him at the end. Jessica will have so much to say. I think that could be his schick. We'll give him a set, finite amount of time to get in whatever's on his mind. It sounds like a guy with a lot on his mind.

He does have a lot on his mind. So the spice rack made his around the NFL debut. So thank you, buddy. Don't be angry that we hung up on you. And really, it was Sidney ultimately that did it. Whoa, whoa, whoa. See, that's another, you know, another show from Dan. Another unusual.

I didn't have anything to do with it. All right. Let's quickly, Cindy, I apologize. Thank you. I appreciate that. Christmas. Let's talk Monday night football. All right.

So Matthew Stafford continues a strong close. Speaking of not writing people off, a lot of people are talking about the lines getting rid of Matthew Stafford. midway through the season. He threw another gem on Monday night against the New Orleans Saints. Three touchdown passes, a 35 to 27 win over the Saints in the Superdome. That is a game that, you know, two teams that are not going to the playoffs, but one team that looked a lot more competitive than the other. That was the Lions. The Saints, you know, made it look

respectable at the end, Greg, but ultimately, and you are psyched up, Greg. I know you love watching primetime games in New Orleans. makes you feel young again. Speaking of Jezelnik, your old college roommate, it makes you think of you and Jeltsnick and the quad, like smoking cigarettes and going, oh, I'm so hungover. Let's go get some food at the quad. You know, I'm blowing off class today.

Let's play Golden Eye on Super Nintendo. I'm going to use my meal card today. It seems so easy for you to come up with this material. Yeah, I was going to say, if you knew Tulane, it's like no one lives on campus. That's for squares. or round campus. I don't know.

I don't know about too late. Forget the meal plan. I was impressed with the crowd, but I don't like the Saints team at all. They're entirely unlikable. And I tweeted out that any team that tries to trade for Sean Payton, they're going to get his lousy defense and his inability to fix defense with it.

And people still saying, oh, Mickey Loomis, he's the one picking the players. Sean Peyton has a lot of power in picking the players. He hires the staff. the defense has been bad really for five years straight. So that's on Sean Payton, and this is a tough team to watch. I mean, doesn't it feel like if, you know, you're getting and, you know, if you look at a coach like a player, you're getting Sean Payton five years after his prime?

I don't know. I don't know if I would want, would I give up some type of massive bounty to get Sean Peyton in 2016? I wouldn't. I think one team, I think one team will want that. I think that, well, I mean, whether it's the Dolphins or someone else out there, I think that Sean Payton, we may think that, and I don't think that they were wrong. I think Sean Payton, I wouldn't want him for all the stuff that Greg mentioned to.

Can he build an entire team at this point? But this is an old boy's network. These guys recycle these coaches over and over. Look at half the people that got hired. If Jim Tom Soule can get a job, then Sean Payton get another coaching job. Why not? Oh, absolutely. I fully expect him to get another coaching job.

I don't think he's out of the league. But I think he's highly regarded. Even listen to, and Gruden loves everyone. get it. I like Gruden this season, but Gruden was gushing over Sean Payton's ability to build a line and block. Well, that's his co-worker. I mean, that's his colleague. That was the guy he worked with.

I mean, he's wildly biased. But 10 teams could fire their coaches or be looking for coaches in a month and two weeks. So Peyton is going to be high up on that list. No, I agree. And he's a good, I think he's a good offensive coach, obviously. And the reality, though, is that they've had a couple

disappointing seasons in a row. He has two playoff wins since the Super Bowl, which is five years ago now, five or six years ago now. He hasn't had a lot of success, and he's had some consistent problems over the 10 years in New Orleans that really the one exception was the Super Bowl season, and that one was really based on turnovers that they had on defense. I feel bad for the fans there in New Orleans, because at one point, I don't know if you guys heard this during the broadcast, but somebody was playing jingle bells on some type of instrument, and Tariko goes, there's somebody playing jingle bells while Drew Brees tries

to audible yeah they i guess there wasn't much to be excited about there but i mean they had a nice little run now they're going to the other end of it and it's you know it's part of it's part of the game i guess the biggest question you know just looking ahead with the saints is you know where is it drew breeze after this season west did you see uh he he again he look really good he's 36 maybe he's not the same guy used to be but this a guy that probably stills a couple years in the tank where if he's in a good setup he could be a super bowl level guy right We talk all the time about the Saints trading him, and I just never, I mean, I don't put any stock in that. Teams don't trade franchise quarterbacks, and you can point to his age, but we've seen multiple examples of late 30s quarterbacks contending for the MVP in the last few years.

I think it's really interesting if teams would try to go after them as a packaged deal. Never really been done before, but as we talked about last week, he's in the last year of his contract. Jim Caldwell, though, speaking of guys that are going to get fired. That's all my point is that he's had success, for instance, more recently. Are you sure he's going to get by? I think there's a very good chance that Jim Caldwell. I don't know that the next general manager wants to separate Jim Bob Cooter and Matthew Stafford. I mean, Stafford's playing great since mid-season.

You could potentially keep Jim Bob Cooter, too. That's happened, but that puts that in peril. But Jim Bob Cooter's stock is through the roof all of a sudden, which it baffles me. But, I mean, it baffles me because of his name alone. That's true. It just I can't. I don't even believe he's in my world, but he is in my world, man. his potential to become the greatest cooter of all time.

It's hard to do. Cuder rankings. Well, he's going to bypass the mechanic from Dukes of Hazard. That was a 70s reference. Went over my head a little bit. It's not an excessively long list. No. But he'd probably be ahead of the mechanic from Dukes of Hazard.

Well, he has to be. He's not achieved anything in like four decades. What was Mike Severs' friend's name and Growing Pains? Boner. Oh, Boner. Were you just setting that up, Dan? Anything else on this game? No, but I have an update from Poor Spice Wreck.

It's just one stream of conscience on text. The first one is just a simple, I choked. Oh, no, he did. I don't think so at all. I thought he kind of did. It all happened so fast. I didn't know the other folks. I should have stuck with Gordon in the general running back.

I'm sure he's going to love you. This is awful, Wes. You have to stop. No, because it's so relatable. I thought he did fine. He feels badly. I thought he's wrong. He's one of the best guests we've.

ever had on this show he's a lot of spice rack come back to us there's something inherently human about the desert dwelling spice rack he's great i think we should have him back all right we will maybe we'll see what happens neville gordon depends if he does anything in his career my goal is to get you and spice rack in a bar together at some point just so you can hang out yeah i mean i would do i have a drink with him not gregg though you're saying no all of us all five of us okay that's that's cool like you and know that you would have a drink with him i don't know if i would i don't like strangers. I've kind of...

Whoa, common man. Yeah. Well, I would. Uh-oh. Yeah, I'm just, I've kind of hit a place in my life where I'm just done meeting people. And if I end up getting to know people through work, just like Colleen's a perfect example. Colleen and I got to know each other in the last year or so. And it's nice that it happened that way.

But it's not like I'm going to go out and meet someone at a bar and becomes friends with them. Right, but you're here for decades more. I know. I'm done. Are you set with your friends forever? You don't need any new personality. in your life. I got a circle, Mark.

Why? You're going to continue to accumulate companions until then? Well, I didn't know you guys a few years ago. That's before I cut off. The line starts here, everybody. All right. Not ready to go there yet, but I applaud your very tight friendship boundaries. Finally, let's now, it is the holiday season, after all.

Sydney. For some of us? Can we, well, everyone, right? For everyone. well i guess Greg you're jewish for instance but it you know Hanukkah recently passed still the holiday season yeah new years that's not where i was going but yeah well we celebrate christmas i've never celebrated any jewish holidays so i'm jewish by you know cultural heritage for instance you know there's a history there but there was certainly no religion or any temple how do you feel about we always did christmas

because it's a better it's a better format as a kids we we discussed it and we're like we want it all in one day the jews kind of figured it out i gotta say because now that's a very popular sentiment that you have that i'm not religious or religious but i culturally i'm a jew which just means you don't have to go to like church or synagogue you got out of all like the the hard stuff with religion but you are retaining you're the essence of being a jewish man right like i like i like you know i don't like manual labor and yeah like Woody allen movies i like what i wasn't saying that but i'm just in in the sense there's a historical connection you know my dad was born in Nazi Germany.

So you do feel some connection through some history, but then... What's your dad's name? Tom? We need a little Tom Rosenthalpott, talking about the history. Save that for the Nazi podcast. I was thinking of a different name. Maybe Jewish Heritage Pod? Wow.

Stayed away from that. Well, let's like call the Nazi podcast. Can I get some holiday music? All right, so what we did, we handed out or I passed the hat around. and we each drew a name. And the person you got, we don't know who got who, will now offer up a gift. And usually I start with Mark,

but I'm going to mix it up because we did, it is a, you know, it's a mix-up. So I'm going to start with Colleen. Colleen, first of all, who did you get in Secret Santa? Okay, I got Greg. Ooh. Oh, wow. So this gift, you can't really put a price on it.

So it's a, you're the boss, you sit on the throne of ease, you have many rings, so here you go, I want you to open this. Okay, go ahead. Opening now. Is this cosplay? So it's a golden scepter because I just feel like it goes perfectly with throne and you can wield it in whatever way you want. But, you know, it has some magical powers and things. So a physical manifestation of the easy place he has in life. It's what he did.

Yes, he needs a little bit more of it. I feel like that would be, that's such a great present. It'd be fun at home, just watching TV, sort of letting them know I'm the boss there, too. Exactly. I get even less respect there. So it would just be a nice thing to walk around with. It's a nice thing. The Throne of E's meets the boss together with this gift.

I like that one. Greg, how about you going out? Well, I guess we're just meant to be this year, Colleen. Wow. I pulled you out of the list. And I went a little different route. I don't know if you're familiar with NetJets. NetJets is a popular fractional ownership of private planes.

It's a company you don't have to buy the whole private plane, but you can just use the plane whenever you want. So generous. I thought I would get you a year subscription to that. I don't know how that works exactly. How much do you make per year? But you're going to get a year subscription to that, and you're going to use it for good.

You're going to be part of the group that fires Chip Kelly. Oh, the con boy. I'm sorry. You can use the plane to drop him off in Oregon. You can put Pat Shermer, wherever he needs to be. Oh. You can drop him. You're going to get rid of Riley.

It's a separate flight. You've got to go get Ali in another part of Philadelphia. Riley Cooper, some Southern Rock Show, never to return to Philadelphia again. And then you can use the plane to go around the country and find, you know, the best man or woman to run this Eagles franchise because they need a new leader. Wow. And then on top of that, you can use. the jet to get home for Christmas. Yeah. And you

and your husband can go see my husband. You can see each other a lot more because you guys are separated by a notion. That's so thoughtful. Spend the holidays with him. Yeah, Greg, money was no object. It's, I've realized that. Really? Wow. Greg just, like I won out. Just exposed how much more he makes than the rest of us.

We've been suspecting that and yeah. Well, that's very nice. So Colleen gets to fire people, be with the man of her dream. Hire people, yeah. I will now. It's really a present for guns. John Gonzales. That's nice. CSNFilly.com, of course.

My gift, I drew Mark Sessler. I was happy because Mark's a very close friend of mine and has been for several years now. He's in the circle. Glad I made that cutoff. So what I did, first of all, I framed Ben Rathusberger and connected him via irrefutable DNA evidence

to the Tate La Bianca murders, La Bianca murders, that had been initially and correctly attributed to the work of, Of course, your favorite, Charles Manson and his disciples. Relatedly, I have arranged for the early release of Leslie Van Houghton,

who you once wrote letters to in prison. This is so dark. So having her release so the two of you may have a platonic lunch date at the La Brea's Harpitz on January 12th. And I will personally prepare your meal. No meat, of course, buddy. Finally, I have arranged for Johnny Mansell

to move into your back guest home in the offseason so that you can personally ensure proper conduct and moral integrity. Merry Christmas. I think you checked in the box, and I'm stunned by some of the earlier ones. But Goodridden's Big Ben, have a nice time with it, Pittsburgh.

Landry Jones. There's no statute of limitations on murder. That's right. Tate La Bianca murders tied to Manson. You've gone above and beyond. It's so thoughtful. How do you feel about Johnny Mandel babysitting Luke and Colton, your sons?

I think it'd be good for him. I'm going to have to, you know, clear some things out of my house. No bars for you either, buddy. Yeah, well, that's not so much a gift on your part, but thank you. I know, that's a test. All right, who's up next? Les? Yeah, I, Dan, I know you're going out of town.

I believe you're flying tomorrow. Texas, yes. I know you'll be away from your friends and your podcast family, and I wanted to give you a proper send-off. I have arranged for kind of a heathen element to show up at the airport and send you off with Christmas carols but these heathens are all going to be dressed up checked out in their favorite Star Wars costumes

Oh, wow, all right, I like that So as soon as these heathens really get into their Christmas music I've arranged for the JETS fight song to break out And a bunch of Jets fans wearing Fitzpatrick jersey That take these heathens out with steel chairs And then sing the Wow, what a setup. that will be so elaborate so this one involves actual physical assault yes on star war star wars

cosplayers yes i love that they all get past untouched west i know that's on your christmas list that definitely took the most work of all these presents i mean that could take months of planning millions of dollars well that's just money yours takes a lot of planning it's not easy to frame an iconic quarterback for capital murder that happened in 1960 that happened before he was born Wes, I'm truly blessed to have you as a friend. Thank you very much. You're welcome. And finally, Marks us.

I don't know how they get past L.A.X security, West, but that's a good job on you. Maybe it's wooden folding chairs. Yes. I drew Wes, and I had to, you know, there were some details here, so I had to write this up, unfortunately. But here's what I'm buying, Wes. It is a portal to Tybee Island. Oh. Here's how it works.

When Shadowy League figures strong-armed West into moving to Los Angeles, he was forced to say goodbye to his sleepy slash boozy existence on Quaint Tybee Island off the Georgian coast. Instead of staring out over the sea, now he's stuck watching zombieed out traffic on the 405. Not a good place for our friend. It's true. As my secret Santa gift, I've coordinated with engineers in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Here's what they're doing. My team of 284 architects and more than 225,000 hard hats have agreed to break ground on a high-speed underground tunnel that will cross the continental U.S. from Marina Del Rey to Tai B.

Using quantum mechanics and nuclear fuel, a combination of both, we've designed a laser speed beer car that will take west from Southern California to his home island in two hours and 12 minutes. We're calling this tram system the old mouser. All construction costs will be covered by the National Football League's commuter assistance fund. As a side note, to help fill the coffers of the league's commuter assistant fund, we're disbanding the Baltimore Ravens effective February 1st, 2016. Merry Christmas, Wes. I couldn't even think of that gift for myself. I don't think anybody could think of that besides Mark Sessler.

It's expensive. I'm above and beyond, and I might just use that portal every single night to go to Huckapoo's for happy-out. The old mouser. And I do like also that you did manage Mark to give a gift for yourself in there by just banning the Ravens. A gift for anyone that cares about the history of the NFL. Brilliant. Well, there you go. That is, you know, what a Christmas.

And just so you know, Sidney, I do have a gift for you. I am lifting the four-month ban on Disneyland that I had installed initially. That's out now. You can go as much as you want. Oh, good. Wow. Thank you. Wow.

What a benevolent dictator you are. So generous. Dan's wildly restrictive personal advice for you is now lifting. What a guy. I know. I'm actually blocked out the last two weeks, so I'll have to catch up on that in January. There you go. So I think it's a happy holiday and Merry Christmas for everyone.

Great gifts. all around and we will be back by the way i was about to say merry christmas to everyone and we'll see you on the other side but it is a little bit of different schedule this week with the holidays so we will be back uh tomorrow wednesday with another edition of the around the NFL podcast and we will preview all of the week's 16 games to come so make sure you check in tomorrow or maybe it's maybe something you you listen to this show either today or tomorrow And then tomorrow's show, maybe if you're driving to the in-laws or relatives or whatever's going on during Christmas, that's when you plug in Wednesday show. I like that.

It's perfectly. Yeah. So that's it. Thank you very much for everyone listening. We will be back, like I said, Wednesday. Until then, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for Quiet Store, the Mailman, Connie Fox, the boss, and La Cede behind the glass. Behind the glass Behind the glass

Go Wednesday What's up This is the R&B podcast Yes man We had Antonio Brown on the day We talked to some Odell Beckham Some some rivalries Yeah, great show today, Nate.

Make sure you check it out at NFL.com backslash podcast. iTunes. Is that what's up? Okay, we're cool. All of that. All that. This is the gropless episode out. We keep getting better and better.

Shout out to the team. Peace.