NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Quarter-season Power Poll & “The Belichick Letters”

Episode Date: October 4, 2016

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler – recap the action from Monday Night Football that saw a 24-10 Vikings win over the Giants in Week 4. Then, the guys break down their 2016 quarter-season power poll, and come one step closer to picking the Team of ATL. Finally, the heroes delve into Marc Sessler’s long form piece that features a young Quiet Storm, and a different side of Bill Belichick.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. Wants to go to Disneyland with Bruce Ariens. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses, and I am joined. by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal.

What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Not sure what that was about. Yeah, maybe we're a year late on going to Disneyland with Bruce. Bruce, who's got some things to work out. She didn't have any, making any trips. I know Sid, she loves Disneyland. We're all excited about Disneyland. Greg went to Disneyland recently.

Hey, but Bruce, stay in the Cardinals facility, figure this situation out. Especially on a short week. It's not really going to have time to go. Sydney, you said you spent the whole weekend there two weekends ago, which is somewhat troubling. Were you back there last weekend? Don't say yes. You're going to be shocked, but yes, I was. Wow. Can I, I don't want to, I know we have a lot to get to you, but what is the continual appeal?

Is there, is it a ride you must attend over and over, or is it like a certain snack bar that has you hooked? No, well, two weeks ago, I had some friends in town from Utah, and then last week it was mostly out of boredom. I'm not going to lie to you. I have nothing else going on, so I was like, eh. You got the pass. it's a passable explanation this is that old adage don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to yeah don't peek behind the kimono

I thought you just liked to hang out with cartoon mascots there wasn't a whole lot of that I heard a nice some good corporal turn we have to go up the steps to get to the second floor to get to the podcast studio and then all the corpo shadowy league figures are mostly upstairs on the third floor yeah they've never heard the show before But I heard a guy say, listen, man, we got to sit mic down and have a honest discussion. Wait, is that really, that's not corporate.

Well, it does imply that most of their conversations are not imbued with honesty. Yeah, and also honest discussion. That is corpo jargon for we might have to can this bro in a big spot. Are you sure that you, did you use the correct name there? So just anyone, any listener named? It was not actually Mike. Okay. You say a lot of mics in the building suddenly feeling concerned.

There are like 75 whites named Mike in this building. That's accurate. Yes, this is the Tuesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast sponsored, of course, and brought to you by Mr. Flames' economics class in the Hague, the Netherlands. Mr. F. And Mark, Mr. F brought us some tasty sandwiches today. really, he is not fulfilling his part of the deal. This is all working out.

I mean, I want to say one thing about it. When you go, I don't know why only 50 people are following, you know, teacher Mike Flame on Twitter, get with it. But when you go to his Twitter page, Mr. F on his Twitter page, it's a, the large image above your icon is a country road, you know, surrounded by Mist with him walking down in a backpack. I like this guy. That sounds like you. Country Road with Mist. That's your dream to just wander away into a country. Why are we here?

Get to the Hague. Why don't we just do the show from the Hague? So we do want to say thanks to the entire economics class if they're listening because it was a delicious sandwich and some ginger ale and some fries. It was great. These guys get sponsorship. Yeah, let me just say something. Are you listening, Dicks?

This nice little back and forth with the rapport that we're having, this cool drop. that we have for Mr. Flame? Mr. F. This could have been yours, Dick. All right. By the way, only Mark out of us follows Mr. F, so I'm going to right now.

That's bad job. Yeah, that's ridiculous. I've asked listeners to follow him and none of you guys are. Well, you have to be a worthy following. I didn't realize. We didn't know. I don't just follow willy-nilly.

So I'll check in on his account and see if he's a worthy follow. Your information is incorrect. I am following it. Nice. All right. Get on board. Okay, here we go.

Mike Flam won, by the way. today's show we're going to recap the monday night football game between the minnesota vikings and the new york giants uh we will continue our team of atl conversation see if we're any closer or perhaps finally uh we're reaching the finish line to choose the team of atl uh we will then check in uh we had our power pole uh in the uh before the season started we released our first power pole and now we're going to check in we did another round of voting for our power pole we're going to do the quarter poll let me say something about this and you got we got a miss of an email hey quarter pole and i got some tweets too is a racing term uh in horse racing quarter pole means it's three quarters of

the race well deal with it i'm calling quarter poll anyway do you know the pull is it's a mark you can move it anywhere you want in our situation we use it at the quarter pool the first quarter pool Horse racing can have the three-quarter pool. We don't have to follow their roles. We don't have to follow the rules of a dead sport. Whoa, whoa, whoa, well, I mean. Why do we always have to go there? This isn't 1933.

I don't care about horse racing. Right. Horse racing is not, you know, commanding the lexicon of sports journalism right now. Okay, let's leave it there. Yeah, so the quarter pole power pole. Greg has been trying to turn off a television that is doubling our voice, and he just put the volume up like a 73-year-old dad. You got it now, though. I turned on another one by mistake.

I was trying to help you out. Seven to three-year-old dad. Thanks, Greg. No grandchildren for that guy. He's just a dad. It was kind of cute watching you scramble there, Greg. I liked it. And then we will talk about a banger that Mr. Sessler wrote on Bill Belichick and his correspondence with Bill back in the day.

So we'll dig into Mark's big. home run long form in our sidelines piece, the Belichick letters. We'll talk about that. That's exciting. And then we'll touch on the Thursday night game. I'm not going to spend too much time there. But that's it. That's what's going on with the show today.

But let's start by talking about the last game of week four. Ah, yes, Monday night football from U.S. Bank Stadium, my favorite stadium in the NFL. Haven't been there yet. Hopefully, God willing, in, you know, two years from now when the Super Bowl is there, we'll be there all as a group. But until then, all I can do is enjoy this place on television. And it is an amazing facility and a great atmosphere for football. And the Minnesota Vikings are doing their part to make the fans happy.

Because once again, the Vikings. defense showed that it is for real. It is a unit that can stifle all the best quarterbacks in the league, including Eli Manning, who became the latest high-profile quarterback to struggle against Minnesota's defense. His big three-wide receiver tandem shutdown, including O'Dell Beckham. Minnesota jumped out to a two-touchdown lead. The Giants got back into it in the second half, but then the Minnesota Vikings

salted away with a final score. The final tally was 24 to 10. Vikings over Giants, the Giants fall to two and two. And Mark Cecil, your nominee for the team of ATL. The Minnesota Vikings now undefeated at 4-0. The Vikings to me, and I realize the kind of football they play, is a little countercultural to what the NFL. Well, what the NFL would have sideburns in the spot.

Well, no, what the NFL would like to promote, which is high-scoring games and madness and a lot of, you know, acrobatics through the air. This reminds me, this team, I'm not sure how far they'll go or what will happen to them. They're not a perfect team. But they remind me a lot of going back to the day

when we first started watching football. The Bears team, like Wes and I would say, you go back to the 80s, the early 80s, where the 84 bears, the year before they become the 85 bears, and the 85 giants before they became the 86 giants, where you see the DNA forming of a great defense. and a dominating defense. And we talked in the offseason about this being a Super Bowl-level defense

with a top-five coach. And those two things have come to pass already in week four. Will it stick? I don't know, but they keep passing the test over and over. What they did to New York's receiving crew last night is notable. They are second in the NFL and sacks to the Broncos. Limbaal Joseph. Despite none last night.

Despite none last night. Limbaul Joseph shuts down the trenches in the running game. and they are big, athletic, and rangy at linebacker in the defensive backfield, taking away the intermediate and deep plays, and they really limit you two plays around the line of scrimmage. Well, to me, they have been building this defense, really, for a few years now, and they're here. They've arrived.

The rest of the team, maybe it'll take them until next year to catch up, but you said it with Joseph. They got six guys in the box on third and one, and they say, okay, try to run on us on a run. running down. We're just going to leave six guys here and let our big athletes do all sorts of crazy stuff on the perimeter and confuse you. Try to run on us. No, you're going to get a three-yard lost giants and you're going to go forward on fourth down. You're not going to get that either. They have such an amazing defense and Xavier Rhodes makes such a huge difference. What a jump.

He came back in week three. Here's a guy who was our making the leap a few years ago, took him a little extra, but he's great. He shut down Kelvin Benjamin when he was matched up against him last week, and he really shut down Odo Beckham last night. Two points there again about their defense. Number one, yes, they had no sacks, but that's because Eli Manning was firing the ball into the turf. The moment someone got in his perimeter, I'd never seen Eli look more spooked. I don't know if it was between the loudness of the crowd and just the ferocity of that defense, but Eli did not look at all comfortable. And yeah, the other big storyline in this game was that O'Dell Beckham was completely neutralized

by Rhodes and again lost his cool. It was a little bit of a suspect. leg, but he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt anymore. And, you know, you could take, if you take Odell out of that passing attack, you know, they have some nice players left, but he is the key to that offense. We've seen that for two years. This was his worst game. He had a short drop, the taunting penalty, didn't get open, and then on the interception there was a miscommunication with Eli Manning, too, and it was the lowest output of his career.

Right, and it's not just the statistical side, it's that this defense, almost the way you watch college football, a good team wipes out the team, the opponent's best player, and it changes the complete complexion of the game. And they hitch it. I mean, Anthony Barr had had a hit on, who was it? Who was the, it was the, a New York Charlie now. It was insane. I mean, Daniel Hunter, Anthony Barr, Harrison Smith, these guys are just athletes. And I, I love watching this team play because they're a complete team and they're a reminder of complimentary football. They have a formula. Every game, they get a special team. teams play. I know it's not Blair Walsh playing well, but every team they get a contribution from

their punting returns or Cordor L Patterson's playing well. And they get Sam Bradford to deliver some nice balls on third down. He's not the best quarterback in the league, but considering he doesn't have much of an offensive line, he's playing very well. Well, and Sam Bradford, you know, West did an excellent job writing this game up last night, but you talked about Sam Bradford, and we've never seen him on a team with this many parts around him. So it's a completely different situation for that quarterback, but you'd still expect with the Sam Bradford that we've known for so long to come in and deflate the operation somehow that he would take away from all the parts around him. And that is not happening play to play. Sam Bradford is not perfect. He makes me like them more. He makes me like

them more because it's a weird story. It's just this, the whole thing is so weird that that makes me like them more that they're doing it without Teddy and Adrian Peterson. The biggest difference to me in Sam Bradford is he's attacking down the field now on okay. Yeah, he's got the weapons to do it too. And he's not always going to get to face a cornerback like Trevin Wade, who was a complete liability for the Giants last night. But the two deep balls to Charles Johnson, another one to Adam Thielen that could have been a pass interference call. These are not throws Sam Bradford was making with the Rams and Eagles.

And he's the first quarterback to, I think, really, we've heard about Kyle Rudolph year after year. Kyle Rudolph's going to be Jordan Cameron. He's going to be all these people. He is having the season of his career right now. And before we move on, the Giants team defense is much better this year. I would say they're average, which is a huge improvement from where they were a year ago. But they are not getting much pass rush out of Olivier Vernon or Jason.

They're last in the league in fact. They're not a good pass rushing team, and they spent a lot of money on that. And on a night where Linval-Joseph, a guy that they let walk away in free agency, is very valuable. Jerry Reese is watching those guys. Those two defensive ends, Vernon and JPB, play more snaps than any defensive ends in the league. So you either got to trust the guys behind them. to rotate in, you've got to get creative. I don't know what it is.

They've been stopping the run and the secondary has been playing well until this week when they were banged up, but they're not rushing the passer. We should say a little bit about Cordero Patterson. He had the element of surprise in his favor in this game. The Giants were not prepared for him to be their number two receiver

and to get the bubble screens, the handoff, running routes. I don't know. He still seems like a guy who has to get his touch is manufactured to me. He's going to be around the line of screen. And back to Beckham for a second. Good returner, though. great return. A bad team would have gotten rid of Corderole

Patterson and not found a way to use him at all by now. A potential pro bowl returner. He's a great returner right now. And back to Beckham, this feels like a thing now with him. It really does to the point where listen, the numbers are still okay. They're representative, at least, and catches in yardage, but he has no

touchdowns. Every week where the shots on the sideline where he has his own teammates trying to talk to him, I think he's starting, the emotions that he's showing, he seems to me maybe psyching himself out a little bit at this point. I'd like to see the old O'Dell who could not be covered. And I know Xavier Rhodes is a great corner on the rise,

but there was a time in those first couple seasons where O'Dell just, it doesn't matter who was out there. He's going to get his yardage. So it was kind of telling to me to see him get kind of taken out of the equation there. That's something to watch. Well, that's on Eli too, and it's on their play caller. You're playing in Minnesota where Randy Moss used to tell his quarterback, throw me the damn ball.

These guys can't jump with me. Sometimes you just have to throw it up. and let the guy make a play. Are you Randy Moss? Yeah. That was good. Hey, all these guys can't jump with me. That was quite good.

A lot of y'alls when you watch Randy Moss on ESPN. Like a voice to Randy Moss. A draw. He's from West Virginia, which is a cousin to Ohio. I want to say one thing. I like Dan. Dan is on the Minnesota Viking Stadium beat. Yeah.

And I've killed domes. And I'll tell you why. Because on television, which is where we're watching most of these games, no, we're not there. It's tempered. The sound is tempered on these domes. and even the Falcons had a pumping crowd noise, which is ridiculous. Beyond ridiculous, that's true.

They didn't have to. But this stadium, listening to that game last night, total unleashed, raucous, unhinged chaos, sign me up. The old Metro Dome was loud, too. I mean, I don't think this is like a new phenomenon, a loud dome, but that is a special facility. By all accounts, the sound there, I don't know if they engineered it or what is special.

It's loud. All right, let's move on, folks. Who will be the team of ATL? The team team of ATL The team team of ATL Only one team could earn the right Now's the time to shine a light On the team

This is a very special honor. Yes, Dick Banks, the one man, house man said it. Well, this is a very special honor. That's why we're making sure we're getting it right. We have narrowed it down the most recent nominees, the Raiders, Vikings, Eagles, and Cardinals. And we're coming off a week for it. And by the way, Mark, just I don't want to get too sidetracked here. but the other reason why a lot of ways you're seeing the Vikings is counterculture.

Sure. Ravi Shankar's ghost is playing the sitar on the sideline. I saw it three times. That would do it. That would take the countercultural angle over the edge. Absolutely. That would do it. So here we go now.

The Vikings are in a lot of ways looking like the favorite right now, 4 and O, a fun, exciting team to watch. Maybe not a high-octant team, but one thing, we were just talking about that stadium. I think that's in their favor, too. What a fun atmosphere it is for those home games, at least these first couple primetime games. So the Vikings 4-0, the Raiders, like we said,

now three-and-one looking very exciting in terms of offense and stealing these games in the end. That's kind of what I like in an ATL team, a team of ATL that kind of keep you guessing, get you excited, play an excited branded ball. And, of course, Lady Gaga, excuse me, Lil Debbie. Whoa. I think that will upset little Debbie?

Well, Lady Gaga's international superstar. I don't think Little Debbie wants to be compared to anyone. Yeah, she is her own person. Singular. That's true. The Eagles on a buy. And Greg, where are you on that? Were you, did you think the buy as bad timing as we try to figure out a team of ATL?

Or do you like the people marinating on that 3-0 start? Well, nothing can go wrong when you're on a buy. I feel like the Eagles have been 3-0 for 100 years. That's true. And then, Wes, you went to the Cardinals. from the Titans and then they laid another egg and you're ready to say

goodbye to the Cardinals now. Goodbye to all the teams. All right. Take us through. We'll start right there. Let's start right there. Chris Wessling, you are still,

there's not a team that's jumping out to you. Is that yes? Is that a correct or incorrect statement? There are no teams jumping out to me. Certainly not any teams that would be eligible for team of ATL as in not a contender,

not a perennial powerhouse. Those are the fun. teams to watch to me but it can be a contender certainly right we picked the cardinals last year the raiders fail on a very specific point when i turn on ravens raiders i find myself organically rooting for the ravens hard in that game well that's a problem and it's not nothing against the raiders i just find the ravens to be a more fun team to watch and i'm more interested in the storylines and the players on their team so when i turned it on i was just like oh yeah the ravens are fun to what i hope they win this game

That's an issue. The Vikings fail on many levels for me. This wasn't the case when Mark chose them, but they're a 4-0 frontrunner now. They are not that fun for me to watch. I don't look forward to watching them on Game Pass. And their fan base is insufferable and so insecure as a collection of human beings that they will feel the biggest slight if they're not chosen team of ATL.

Now, just by a little. Is it every fan base kind of has that. pocket of just you're going to complain or whatever i don't remember a collection of people for one team under one uniform taking personal insults and directing them towards his podcast so i can't say by by way of context last year we were down on the vikings at points of the season and uh i guess there's a viking subreddit that took issue with the team and i i for one listen part of part of this job is you're going to get a lot of criticism both on twitter and end in subreddits everyone's felt the burn you just I've become kind of numb to it, so I kind of say, whatever,

every fan base is going to have bad apples that are just going to be jerks for no reason. Well, I get that, and I had almost this exact conversation with the paramour last night when you... The paramour. When you get attacked... The alternative rock band? No. Who mess up there? You're a lady friend.

Thank you. Criticism comes with the job. That's fine. It's not... Why do we have to accept insults and personal attacks, though? that's a very fair point that's a major difference to me the studio audience get arriving a little

late yeah let's get them in the doors and seated before the segment starts going forward forward said yeah so I I understand where Wes is coming from and I think the key to this process is it needs to be organic that it needs to be a natural team

we can all get behind and if that happens that would be beautiful and if it doesn't happen anytime soon or not at all this season you know so be it But I am speaking from the heart here that when I watched that Panthers Vikings game, that was the most exciting 40 minutes of football, the final 40 minutes of that game that I've seen from any team all year because I was so surprised by it, just how dominant the Vikings were. And I love the storyline of that they're doing it without their quarterback and they're running back. And it was really hammered home last night because on paper that was not an especially enjoyable game. but I really liked watching it because I was rooting for the Vikings

and I just, I like the whole vibe, I like Zimmer, I like the defense. And to me, I just threw the Eagles out last week kind of just to throw another team out because I do like the Eagles too. But the Vikings, I'm all on board with the Vikings. I'm putting my support behind the Vikings because the heart wants what the heart wants. It is a genuine feeling. I like watching this team. They remind me a little bit of our original team of ATL, the Carolina Panthers.

2013. Go ahead, Mark. I'll echo everything you just said, Greg, because that's a lot of the reasons why I am on the Vikings train 100%. But I would say from another angle that when this came about, we didn't even know what to call it at first. It was just that you, Wes and Greg specifically really fell hard for the Panthers, and that's that organic moment where there's no turning back. That's how I feel about the Vikings, but you can't manufacture it from all four of us.

and I don't think we want to try to make that happen in any way. And so we've got to come, we don't want it to tear the podcast apart and all of us go down and just write blogs for the rest of our life either. So I think we at this point, like we can find a sensible solution. I don't think we're there this week. Let's throw this out there. I love the Raiders, this team, but I will, I'm hearing what's going on in this room. And I'm looking, I sent out a poll around the NFL, a Twitter poll,

who should be the team of ATL, over 6,000 votes, 44% say the Vikings. Our subreddit are around the NFL subreddit, which has over 3,000 people on it, and everybody should check that out. They voted in favor of the Raiders. But I am kind of in the same place where I could definitely get behind the Vikings,

which is not to put on pressure on West, because I think West has to, if it's a couple more weeks, maybe West, where you need to watch a couple more games and see if you can get in. And if you can't, no hard feelings. We just won't have a team. but I would be willing to go with the Vikings as well.

Just a question. I noticed that I received zero clapping feedback from the audience after my comments, which is fine. I don't know anything about that. That's a studio audience. We pay them $20. I'm not trying to control studio audiences, so yeah, I understand. It's a dead silence.

Man, tough room. Wow. All right, Wes. So what are you thinking right now? We're in the trust tree right now. Yeah, I don't like the Vikings. That's what I'm thinking. Part of me.

Problem here. You know, someone said something that Kevin Patrick tweeted something that, you know, it struck me as so much true. That kind of the fun of it is trying to find the team itself, the chase of it all. So if the chase doesn't end, so be it. Hey, here's the reality. I'm going to root for the Vikings.

I'm going to root for the Eagles. I'm going to root for the Buccaneers, even though no one likes them. You're going to like the teams you like. I don't think you should root for the Buccaneers, though. No, I'm not giving it up on them. I will meet you guys in the middle. I will do some homework.

I'll go watch all four Vikings games. See if my attitude changes, and I'll get back to you. What more could you ask for? You couldn't ask for anything more. And that's a type of attitude that makes Chris Wessling what they call in your culture, Greg, a mench. An uber minch. That's, I don't know what culture.

A superman. a lot of anti-semitism today between this and the... What does that mean? A mensch is an absolute compliment. It's a joke! Oh, okay. The crowd, what does the crowd have to say about it?

This crowd is... Hey, talk about it. This crowd is wayward and hammered. The crowd's anti-Semitic, actually. I know that for a fact. I don't like that. In fact, we don't like that. Send this crowd out of here.

Because we're done with the team of ATL discussion, and we're done with you. All right, so there is the conclusion there that we have three votes for the Vikings. Wes is going to go back to his think tank, watch their last four games. They're playing this week? You're asking me? Yeah, I mean, you're the fan boy. Yes, they play.

They do play this week. They play the Texans, I believe, then they have a bye. They play the Texans and then the buy. Mark knows their schedule. There we go. So five games for Wes to dig through and be a scientist on, and then we'll let you know. And who knows, maybe someone magically appears

and other team appears, but we seem to be narrowing things down now. We'll see what happens. So the Raiders are out. I know what? No, in converse, I'll go watch Raiders games. To me, no team. I'm not really at a team.

Until you choose a team, you don't. It's like a captain of a ship just trying to bring this thing back to port. And I like the Vikings. Greg likes the Vikings. You like the Vikings. And Wes has an open mind on the Vikings. I'm willing to say goodbye to the Raiders. If Greg feels more strongly about the Vikings and you feel more strongly about the Vikings

and West the Raiders don't really do much for him, well, then I've got to go against Deb. That's right. I do like that both teams represent sort of seafaring, hostile warrior types, which is attractive. I like that. That's a good point. Let's not close the door on the Raiders. Maybe they really blow the doors off everybody this week. By the way, Buccaneers, a third seafaring chaotic tribe.

so it's a very right they might be coming back who knows how you sell me on the vikings with a nod to their history of seafaring warrior i mean who knows tom brady's coming back this week maybe that puts the patriots in contention i'm i would vote for them right now oh i that thank you for even saying that because i get to do a very loud veto pound the table never will it ever happen we have two votes for the patriots wow and that's all you'll ever get i don't know or maybe you get a third vote but you'll never get a four mark's a big bellich fan he just wrote a love letter to him go ahead mark and do it too but i'll never vote yes possible it would talk about counterculture choosing the patriots would be the truly surprising move that we could do

yeah the mass populace and get behind that wait why are downloads down one million all right okay let's talk power poll folks uh the first power poll of the season we bring this up we wrote about an article on this, right? Well, it was due about an hour ago. No, the first one. Okay. Yeah, the one for tomorrow will be published a day late by me. Okay.

September 2nd, 2016, Greg Rosenthal wrote a banger. No, not a bang. It wasn't a good one. Okay. It's like, I missed this one. We needed to just get it up and that's what she said. The Seahawks. Oh, okay.

The Seahawks topped the, uh, around the NFL power pole. We had a top five that we called our title contend. Seahawks, Patriots, Cardinals, Panthers, Packers, and I'll just share the top 10 with you guys. The Pittsburgh Steelers were at six, followed by the Bengals, the Chiefs, the Broncos, and the Raiders. That was the top 10, and then I'll just look at the bottom five here. The bottom five were the lions, Rams, bears, Browns, and 49ers.

So that's where we stood before the first game of the season. And now what we did was each of us. did a ranking 1 to 32, and then our satellite heroes, Kevin Patra, who offered some salty context with his 1 through 32. That's correct. What was Mark, if you could, could you bring up what Patcher labeled his first group of teams?

It would be, I'd have to, like, stop the show to go find the email, but I can put it into context for you because I was. I think I could give you the exact word. Okay. Please do. Well, it was classic patcher is what I like to. to call it. No, I found it.

I got it. This is obnoxious. Have a tea party. That's Patrick. That's his first category of the good players, of the good team. Right. That's your group. Well, he starts out upbeat.

Group of elite teams, you know. Anyway, so, okay, so now after four games, the four of us did a new one through 32, Kevin Patra, Connor Orr in his haunted mansion, which will get to his one through 32. And then, of course, the great Colleen Wolfe, Connie Fox, she chimed in. So all told that seven heroes and satellite heroes that all did a power rankings. And this is what our new list, what we came up with as our updated power pole, five through one. Here we go. Steelers at five, Vikings at four, Seahawks at three, Broncos at two, and Patriots at one.

So there you go. The Patriots jump to number one. The Seahawks were our number one team. They dropped to three. But Patriots, Broncos, Seahawks, Viking Steelers are top five. Anything surprising there? Yeah, that's, to me, I'm a big Patriots fan. It seems silly to me to rank the Patriots above the Broncos.

Well, I know we're projecting Tom Brady or something. Why is that silly? Because I think the Broncos have been fantastic. Their defense is better than ever. and they're a more complete team. But the Patriots haven't had two of the top five best players in the NFL. That's fine. But the Broncos can't do anything more than they've done.

They are fifth in the league in yards per attempt passing. They are top five in the league in scoring. They have one of the best defenses of all time. To me, it's just like, what more do you need to do? They've been great. To settle you down just a little bit, Greg, you know, looking at the overall, outside of Connor, who went completely off grid on this, three people picked the Patriots, number one.

Three picked the Broncos. The issue is that a few people had the Broncos down at three. Nobody had, it evened out, it just was a slight weight advantage. It's not crazy. You're right. It's not crazy. Yeah, I would think. It's a surprise.

If this was who's the best team after four weeks, maybe the Broncos would be the runaway number one. But the way I understood a power pull is who's going to be there at the end of the year. Yeah, I think you, yeah, there's different ways to look at it. And I think the Patriots, you know, laid a stinker in week four, I think, which maybe sticks in people's minds a little bit. but 3-0 where they were easily winning with backup quarterbacks and without ground close to 100%. And I just think now when you're adding in Tom Brady, the best quarterback in the league,

well, until he starts his hashtag. I get it. Then things just get better. And maybe Grong. I look at it like the Broncos are starting Trevor Simeon the whole time, though. There's no different, you know, it's not like they should be. So there's a ceiling at that position where New England's ceiling is about to get a lot higher. And I know the Broncos have an incredible.

defense but you're really going to say that Tom Brady and the Patriots with Bill Belichick should be behind Trevor Simeon and Gary Kubiak and the Bronx. I think the Broncos have a their ceiling this year is higher than it was last year and they were the world champions last year. But again it costs the board

most people are agreeing with what you're saying. They were the world champions last year and they narrowly made the playoffs. Here is they won 12 games. I mean they won the same amount of games as literally every team in the league except for except for the club. If they don't win that Bengals game which could have gone either way they were they were in trouble that's how it happens uh here

is the updated uh let's see where we're on here this is confusing there's too many lists what do you want to you have something i have the list right here excellent thank you mark uh so yeah we had the vikings at four the steelers at five and then here's six through ten the eagles undefeated may be hurt by that by week once again gregg that by week really doing a number on your nominee i had them lower than that. The Packers at seven, which, hmm, that's some respect for the Packers. Eight, number eight, the Falcons. How about that?

Where were they on the preseason power pole, Greg? They were buried deep in the 20, 21. That's got to be one of the first big surprise. They were in the if everything breaks right category. And really no one else in that category other than the Eagles who were 26th on our preseason. I don't really care much for your categories. I prefer Patras. Where did you have the Falcons, Wes?

I had the Falcons 8th. So you're buying in. I had them at 7, so I'm buying in on them a little bit here. What about you, Mark? 9th. 9th, and where did you have? Yeah, right in that range. I think there was a big...

Greg had them at drop-off. Greg had him at 8th. I think there's a drop-off, too, after the Falcons. There wasn't a close 9th to me. The Falcons are a flawed team, giving up 30 points a game, but they have something that's undeniable, which is right now the best offense in football. Play 10 for on Sunday.

The top 10 closes out with the Cowboys at number 9, who are on a three-game winning streak. I like that. I think they deserve a top 10 spot. And then the Bengals at 10. Wes, where did you have Cincinnati? I had them at 11. I had them at 13.

What about you, Mark? The Bengals, I had them at 13. All right. Yeah, same range, 12. They haven't really played great, but it's like which teams below do you really want to move up above those? Here is now. Let's do 11.

through 20 Raiders, Ravens, Cardinals at 13, where were they on the preseason poll? They were really high I believe number three. Well, when you play like dog crap, that's what happens.

The Texans at 14 and now without JJ Watt, I'm a little surprised they're that high with Watt being out for the year and Osweil are not looking great. The Panthers at 15, right at the Dalton line for NFL teams right now, a little But you know what?

When you're 1 in 3, this happens. The Rams at 16, the Chiefs at 17. The Giants had a big chance, I think, to jump near the top 10, but did not get it done in Minnesota. So they're at 18. And then the Bills at 19 and the Jets, my Jets at 20. I cannot defend the Jets as a homer. I have them at 19.

I think they're probably not as bad as a 1-3 team, but they're playing terrible right now, so they deserve to be there. Any surprises there? Mark Sessler. I don't think so because I think all, this is just a hodgepodge of kind of, you know, sort of their teams and lots with many issues. Well, two with, you know, Super Bowl hopes in terms of the Cardinals and the Panthers.

Now, the Panthers one, let's call it what it is. They're skewed down because of Conoror's deep antipathy. Should we get into this a little bit? For Carolina. We took a look at Conner's rankings. They ranked 28. They're wild. Let's bring up Connors rankings.

I think it's important to, at this point, before we finish out the list, have a better idea where Connor falls with his picks, which were absolutely wild, some of them. They usually are. What do we have, Mark? Do you have them up? Yeah, I do. I mean, all right, we'll start with what Greg mentioned.

He has the Panthers buried down at number 28. Number 28. 25 spots behind the 49ers. Right. The team that they beat by 30. A team that had 17 wins last year, have not lost anybody who sees an ending injury, a team that's just in a funk a little bit, one of the worst teams in football.

Well, and so if he's downed him down to 28, there's got to be other madness, and there is. He's got the 49ers at 23, which no one else came close to that. Everyone else in the Niners, bottom feeding. I had them laugh. Let's get Connor on the line here to talk about his list a little bit. Hey, Sid, can we get Connor on the line? Sure thing. While we're efforting, I found where I diverged.

I have the Ravens as the fifth best team in the NFL. I have them at eight, but a lot of people had them lower. Connor, are you there? Yeah, I mean, I've been on for like 20 minutes waiting for you guys. He called me in the middle of a nap. Connor, what's going on? You're taking naps at 6 p.m.? I love it.

He's an interesting man. Connor, or are you kidding me with this list? I mean, you know, how do you define power? I see power as, you know, maybe Cam Newton can't run the ball anymore. Maybe Derek Anderson's going to be the quarterback. And if that's the case, then that team sucks. You know, so I, let me just put them down there. Can I ask a question?

How much of the Carolina ranking here near the bottom of the entire league has to do with your unending Holy War with desk editor, David Ely? You know, I've kind of come together with Dave on this. I actually told him that Kelvin Benjamin, I like him a lot, so I feel like that was sort of me bridging the gap. and doing some good stuff for my future at the company. Didn't seem like you were bridging the gap during the Panthers lost last Sunday during the game to Atlanta.

Oh. I had Julio Jones on my fantasy team, and I think I had a beer at that point. So that was, you know, we're going to get a little fired up. You know, 300 receiving yards. That's May plus stuff right there. Here's a window into Connor's mind in his power pole. I want you to explain how the Raiders at 18 are only one spot ahead of the Jaguars at 19.

What about that Jaguars performance in London really got you fired up? They play better after London, and I predicted this team was going to be a nine-win team. I think they're going to go in a little run here. I expect Jaguars to start pouncing here down the stretch. I get it. I get it. Down the stretch. Wait, how much?

I'm again, I'm going to read into the mind of Connor a little. little bit. How much of seeing the Jaguars in London made your memory jog back to a nostalgic time and nostalgic bromance with Mark Sessler last year in London with the Jaguars and you like them more because you were thinking about that as you watch the game. How about that? I mean, I appreciate the nickel psychology here, Dan, but you know, I think, you know, yeah, it was a beautiful time in my life, but at the same time, I'm a hardened football guy and these are these power poles. This is, this hard football. Connor, you know, you have your fascinations, and we are fascinated by you, I'll say that,

but when I see, you know, and this is a massive juxtaposition to anything anyone else employed at NFL media puts on paper, you have the 49ers up at 23 above a host of teams, and I'm struggling for beyond your fascination with Chip Kelly, a reason for that. I mean, you know. Five spots ahead of the Panthers. Five spots. I think they're going to go on a run, you know? That's your new move.

This poll is all about power. And the power is in my hands to rank power, and that's what I did. True or false, Connor, your power poll rankings can be bought. Bought with coverage, bought with nice, you know, conversations. Yeah. Wow, that's some fighting words ever, Greg. Didn't he use the phrase settling scores to the same? describe Conner's Emo.

He said it'll and scores the poor Chargers here at 29. There's another theory I'm working here that this is, Connor used to cover the New York sports teams, the Jets and Giants. This is kind of like the tabloid reporter in you here too. You want to goose the ratings

a little bit. This will lead to maybe a TV appearance on SNY or something. Yeah, I mean, it's been my dream to go on Good Morning Football, so hopefully this can happen. You know, just being ridiculous like that. I'm trumping it up. I'm making PowerPulse great again.

I mean, without getting out of here, you're the only one that we just talked about the Patriots and Broncos sweeping everyone's number one spot, except for yours. The Steelers number one, which I don't entirely think is crazy. I would just like to hear why. Are you kidding me? I loved, uh,

this is actually probably one of the few things I took seriously on that power pole. By the way, your results completely, you know, reflect themselves in the ultimate results. Just telling you that well it was amazing i was actually glad that my where i put the panthers i think dropped them to the appropriate you sunk them uh yes but i think it dropped them actually to where you know there's a lot of math going on here it's more than it's more than i'm getting credit

for but um watching the steelers was pretty amazing against the chief now that levy on bell's back i love what they're doing with that slot receiving the slot d'angelo williams in the backfield i think this team is going to be unstoppable towards the end of the season all right well Connor, I think you've defended yourself quite well here. I think you're going to go on a run. I don't see how anyone could have any questions about this now that I've done this. I'm saying you answer the questions, whether or not people have respect and how you answer them. That's up to the audience to decide.

But thank you for at least supporting your assertions with some real data and defense. It's been real fun, guys. All right. See you later, Connor. or are you kidding me um we got to get next we'll get connor on again we got to check in on his madden franchise he's a married guy now uh i don't know if that's still happening uh who knows we just got to keep tabs on connor in a way yeah oh yeah that's kind of important has he gotten through citizen cane yet wasn't that next then yeah i wish he's still in the line we'd ask him how

that was going uh but all right all right here is now the uh 21 through uh 32 uh again this is the of all of our is that the right yeah thanks or is it the mean no it's the average then okay it's not the mean

it's not the mean would be Wes picked something up here mark picked something way down here and the mean would be I believe

that's the median or the mean right in the middle I believe okay the average is putting everyone's results together

and averaging them okay great save this for the mean and average are the same thing yeah mean is the average how you like that I like them apples

you advertise your math problems in high school. I don't say much, but I wasn't far behind you. I lowered you into my trap there. All right. Redskins 21, Chargers 22, which I like that. This speaks to our knowledge of the game. We're not just going to bury them all the way down the list because they're one and three because they should be better than that. They've been very competitive. The Colts at 23, the Saints at 24, the Jaguars at 25. Not a bad teams. The Lions at 26.

the bucks at 27, the Titans at 28. I had the Titans at 31. Did anyone else have them that low? No, you, no, you took that price. They're lucky to have the win. I had them pretty close. 30, 29. The Dolphins at 29 way down here.

Whoa, dolphins are 29. The Bears at 30. And then we had a two-way tie for last place. And I would consider this progress, Mark. Not alone in the cellar. The Browns at 31 tied with the farting. I mean, I think it's fair. You're the last winless team in the league.

You didn't have a meaningless week one shutout over some team on national television. So you are where you belong. I had them over four teams. I saw something interesting. If you just look at, you know, when teams were trailing in games, in terms of game script and everything, the Browns were better than 13 teams in the league. They haven't been blown out. They've been ahead in all these games.

They've been competitive games back and forth. They haven't had some stink bombs like a lot of teams have had multiple stink. I completely agree with you, but I have no problem with the group putting them down where they are. I really had him at 30. I really wanted to move them ahead of the Dolphins who had at 29. But I do think the Dolphins did beat them. Maybe he didn't deserve it. But I think the Dolphins are a little bit better.

But the Browns, they've been competitive. They've been fun to watch. And to be fair to Greg, you're right. You had the Titans at 31. You and Dan both. I look at the list, the originalist. I look at which teams are we going to be the most wrong about. Yeah, let's see that.

I mean, the Chiefs at 9 looks or 8 ahead of the Broncos certainly looks optimistic. We botched the Broncos. We'll see. We'll see. You never know. We owned that. We did botched the Broncos.

We owned it. The Rams at 29, I think it's early to say that that's going to be totally wrong, but 29. We finished seven and 29 is low. And then the Eagles, no one really saw the Eagles come in at 26. Where were you on that? You could have saved them. You could have lifted. I had them 13th or 14th in winning that division,

but that's not enough to goose them up a lot. Okay. All right, there you go. There's the power pole. We'll do another one at the midpoint of the season. And then, I don't know, maybe we'll do another one after that, but it could be the last one at the midpoint. We'll do one more.

Really losing steam. No, it's just like once you get to the third quarter, like what are we doing at that point? But it is interesting to check out at the midway point where we are. By the way, that's why football does not use quarterpool for three quarters of the season because nobody cares by then. Right. We use it for the first quarter point.

Because football's a better sport than horse racing, and everybody around the world knows it. It's 2016, not 1933. Get out of the Depression with your quarter pool. Whoa, let's bring in the fire. Well, horse racing was an inferior sport even in 1933. I don't care about popularity. You're talking about a man riding an animal. That's ridiculous.

Thank you, Greg. Fair point by Greg. Also, you know, hammering horseshoe, like, medals into their hooves. Don't get me started on that. We're going to be like, what are we doing? society? Please. All right, let's move on.

Dear John. Why the time you read these lights, I'd be gone. What is this? This is a show that Mark and I used to watch in the late eight, mid to late 80s. Dear John. Oh, yeah. John Larraket. No, not, Judd Hirsch.

Judd Hirsch. They're the same guy. Judd Hirsch and Jerry Burns, who works out at my gym. Really? Yeah. Good show, actually. Good show. By the way, John Laracette and Judd Hirsch couldn't be further apart.

They're both mostly, you know, forgotten that actors of the 90. By you. You know, and you just shot down our landing spots for Bobby April, and you're able to take shots that actors are being out of work? Like, a little bit of hypocritical, don't you think? We wanted to do an NFL now video where we said landing spots for a disgraced special team. I didn't know. That's right.

And Greg was like, no, he's got a family. and we're like, all right. I view it as a marketing piece for him. It's drive-by shooting of John Lerickett and Judd Hirsch, who had very distinguished careers in television. They were great. You put me on the spot. I came up with something of how they're similar.

Anyway, Dear John was a sitcom in the 80s about letter writing or something. No. Anyway, Mark, a little bit of them. He got a Dear John letter from his wife. Yes, he did. He had to start over. That's not exactly what happened with Mark Sessler and Bill Belichick. But Mark did take out the pen and paper in the early 90s and started corresponding with the then Cleveland Browns coach.

And Mark, you wrote a killer long form, one of the best, if not the best that we've seen on this website, NFL.com slash Belichick letters is the vanity URL. And can you just tell us a little bit, Mark, about this? Sell it, baby. Tell us about the Belichick letters. Well, I mean, I think it's something I mentioned to you guys as far as a year, plus ago that I had these letters that at a very lost time as a college freshman at Miami of Ohio. You know, I'd followed the Browns since 1986 and went to college as a freshman in 1992 and really only went to Miami of Ohio. This sounds ridiculous to a thinking person, but

so that I could be closer to Brown's telecast because they didn't, there was no, I had no cable television back then, which sounds equally ridiculous. You only have the Jets and Giants. I grew up in the tri-state area. Everyone rooted for the jets and giants. I was not on that train. So went to college to be closer to the Browns with the express desire to work for them. I just like, I'm just going to get through college. Everyone talks about college is the best four years of your life. Couldn't have seen it differently. And found myself at Miami with 18 credits as a freshman. And to make a long story short, got saddled with a Japanese class and something called Trees and Shrubs, which is a study

of Ohio-based plant life. Trees and shrubs? Who assigned you these? Don't you choose the class? I you know, I don't want to put my parents on blast, but my dad and I both agreed that taking Japanese would be a great business move, and he and I laughed about it many times since.

And the horticulture? Well, I don't know. That seemed easy to me, but traitorous horticulture. It was ridiculous. Within a month of both of these classes, I knew that I was heat-seeking D's and potentially an F, and I flagged Japanese, but that semester, the only upside in the classroom was I took this study, this class called Football Studies by the Miami of Ohio football coach, Randy

Walker, and it was fascinating. And it was only for half a credit, and it was only for about an hour a week, but it completely hooked me. And it fed into everything that I wanted to do after school, even though it was 1 8th, 120th of what I was actually doing at school at the time. And as a final project, what you were supposed to reach out, to a football coach other than Randy Walker and find out about philosophy and how coaching happens and all this stuff. And I had burnt a lot of bridges with my high school coaches back in Connecticut because I had written a series of rather scathing articles about the team when I covered them as a senior. So I said, F it, I'm going to swing for the fences and write Bill Belichick

four hours away in Cleveland. And I sent a letter and it was like literally the only thing going on in my life at the time. I was like, will he possibly write back? I think two weeks passed or so, and he did. And the envelope, back then, you know, in a college dorm, you have little tiny mailboxes. And when I opened the mailbox and I pulled this letter out with a Cleveland Brown's letterhead on it, I literally nearly just fell the pieces and melted in the middle of my dorm. And then from there, I had enough naivety and hubris to write him again and suggest which players he should pick, even though I didn't even watch college football, told him he should take O.G. McDuffie.

He would, you know, Belichick was kind enough to write back, and it just changed my impression of him because he was getting killed in the Cleveland press for being, and he was, to them, a cranky, he was Belichick. He's what we think of him in the press conferences, but I saw a very different side. And so the point of this article was to find out, did he write them, did someone else write them,

maybe his admin? And I don't have a complete answer, but I feel that he at least, dictated them or the context of them to someone else to write them if it wasn't him. And the long form again, which everybody should read if you haven't read it already, NFL.com slash Belichick letters. We do have a bit of an update, some breaking news about where you left this piece at the end where you weren't sure you didn't have any answers,

but maybe you're starting to get a better picture. Yeah, starting to because Linda Leone was his admin at the time. And I at one point called the complex to try to talk to Bill. the day before they won their wild card game on New Year's Day 95 against the Patriots. And she was very willing to patch me through, and I freaked out and said, what could I possibly have to say to Bill Belichick? So I just said, I wish him all the best. And she seemed to understand who I was, though.

So I remembered that conversation, and I tracked down Linda Leone, who had previously worked for Bill Parcells and now works for Nick Sabin and Alabama. And she wrote me a very kind email, but she didn't want to go on record. And I can understand why I think that's part of probably how you get. Yes, exactly. But she, today, after I sent her the piece, weeks later after talking to her the first time, she basically said that Bill Belichick had called her up, that he had read it, the piece, and that they, all she said was that they talked on the phone about that and that time back in Cleveland.

So, you know, they're old friends, and I... How about that? I don't know. It still leaves me wondering, but I, at least, you know, you know that it's, that Belichick has at least seen it. which is awesome yeah and i would love it i would love it if you know maybe not now bills in the middle of another battle this being the 2016 season one day you get in touch with belchek i would love with the patriots and they didn't weren't that communicative with you on this they were not making this long form shocker uh throne of sleaze but if the people of the patriots that understand

where mark was coming from in this and they read it that you guys could have a conversation i would love that if that could happen never know i think it will i think in the offseason he'll reach out the bellichick part of the story was secondary to me i identified so much and it took me back it transported me to those 1992 to 1995 years and i was exactly like you so wayward directionless and so obsessed with sports that i had no i had no idea what the future would hold other than i'm going to be in sports in some way i just have no idea how. Yeah.

And you put off all adult responsibilities, you make the worst decisions, you take classes, skip classes, have no, nothing going on in your life because you just are so obsessed with sports, and that's what came through to me. Yeah, that was a huge part of it. I think the Belichick side actually was the B storyline in it, too. I mean, it's not the way the NFL is going to obviously correctly sell it a certain way to their audience, but it was really hard to write. I wrote it in a dive bar

It lost and found Where I don't think Greg has been there But Dan has occupied that space That's the first one that anyone's ever done work They were stunned I was off in the corner for about seven hours You know With headphones on writing it

And just in a notebook Because I didn't want It was such a different time That I didn't want to sit And some sterile computer and write it I had to remember and think about it And they were not really easy times Because as much as you can look at

Where all your friends are now and things work out okay to the most part, it was a really, I went to three colleges in three years and probably drove my parents absolutely bonkers. Yeah, what were they thinking? They were, they could not have been. They're very supportive. They always have been, but they were obviously, I think as I would now thinking about my own child doing that, very concerned, because I would have these pay phone calls with them where I'd say, my goal is to work for the Cleveland Browns, and meanwhile, I've just gotten an F in Japanese and a D in Trees and Shrubs, and they're wondering what on earth is happening. And that all came through. I mean, I think the way you felt back then all

comes through. And even though Belichick is sort of a secondary part of it, what you said, Wes, I think that would resonate with a lot of people, how sports can be that, that pillar that, for whatever reason, you just find yourself obsessed with. Maybe it's, maybe it's to distract you from the realities of that you're kind of floating out there. And, and it's, cool to read these letters for you know people obviously just check it out on the site belichick letters you know the letters from belichick are kind of great i wanted to read your your letters too obviously it was great that you had pictures there's a a car on fire too that's all you know it's all part of it it was great that you kept all this stuff and and and i i didn't even take maybe i'm just naive

but i didn't even think that he wouldn't have dictated it because he says it he says he says you can tell, you know, your fellow students, I do manage to address each and every piece of correspondence, at least eventually. I kind of assume he's just talking and she's typing it, but it's cool. It's cool the information that he sent you. I've read everything that there is to read about Bill Belichick. I can, you know, I'm about, he's my favorite sports figure, I would say, of any sport period in sports history.

And it's cool. There's sort of like a canon of like, the great, for me in my own head of like the great things that have been written about Balchick or anything. And it's, it's cool that one of my friends is now written like one of those pieces that that absolutely belongs at the top of it. And it's really more about, it's really more about you too than just him. But he's a, it's all cool how it works all together. 20 to 25 years later, we understand that it's important to have balance and perspective in your life and have many interests. But you lose something in that process.

You lose that obsession a little bit. Yeah. And it took me back there. I really liked the journey that you took us on to go back to a time before you had adult responsibilities and when you could make big mistakes that would send your life careening in many different directions. Well, I definitely thought of, I'm not just saying this, of people like you that had a million jobs that we've talked about and other people that I just remember, you know, it's funny because there was no Facebook until a certain age in life and everyone suddenly is married and it seems to have their act together, at least online. But there was a wide birth of eight to ten years where I was not the only loss completely drifting individual. There were a lot of them, and that made friendship stronger.

And it was also painful and amazing all at the same time. And it's cool because so much of sports writing is all written from the perspective of a sports writer. And you are a sports writer. But the reality is most people that they experience sports as a fan. They experience sports in the way that you write. this article. That's true. Make sure you check it out if you haven't read it.

If you don't read this article from Mark and you listen to this podcast, we will never forgive you. NFL.com slash bell check letters. That's a hammer drop. It's a homework assignment from the round of the NFL podcast to our readers. You know, the podcast is free. We don't ask for much, but read that article. That is it for today's show.

We don't have a Thursday night preview. If you really want to learn our thoughts about this game, the Cardinals and the 49ers, the big potential Drew Stanton, Blaine Gabbardt Showdown, make sure you find on our YouTube channel, the NFL YouTube channel. We have a full preview of the game. Well, it should be on Apple TV and whatnot too.

Apple TV. It was a banger. Maybe the power pole back in September, not a banger. This video was a banger. There you go. So that's how you can find out our thoughts about that. But then come Thursday, of course, you will have our recap of that game with Wes and Greg

and then all the week five games previewed. So that's the next time you'll hear from us. So that's it. That's it. Mark, we didn't get a chance to talk about you nailing the firing of Phillies hitting coach, Steve Henderson. Got to get to that tomorrow. Yeah. I have a lot to say.

Well, why does you say it now? Go ahead. Tell us your thoughts about Steve Henderson. in the firing, yeah. Well, this, you know, this, when I caught word of this, you know, Dan, I'm not a huge, I don't watch a lot of baseball, but I have a lot of sources inside MLB, and I kind of got the Phillies, obviously a struggling team. You want to, let's just start right on paper.

This is a hitting coach that directed the 29th attack in terms of hitting, just a disastrous team out of 30 teams, 29th and on base percentage, 29th in slugging. I mean, right there, the resume speaks for itself, but I think it's all. also Steve Henderson's inability to connect with millennials and younger players. That's what I'm hearing is whispers. Now, some people got to have an axe to grind, but also the team does not hit well. That's an issue. If you don't mind me asking, who do you think on the team stands the most to gain from

Henderson being out of the picture? I know you're going to want me to list someone on the current roster, but I'm going to say really the best crop of players to gain from this are their AAA, they're double-e. They're minor players. The players coming up that are going to have... The major league instructor. Okay. They're going to have better instruction going forward. Philly's fans finally have some hope. Okay. Name one player in the Phillies.

Ed Koch. All right. Ed Koch, third. He always wanted to make his dad proud. Like, you're the mayor. Well, I'm in the big leagues. That's it for Tuesday's edition around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansa signing off for The Quiet Storm. The Mailman, the boss, and La Cid behind the glass till Thursday.

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