NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Russell Wilson Breadcrumbs & NFL Vision Boards

Episode Date: February 25, 2021

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you the latest news around the NFL starting with Big Ben most likely staying in Pittsburgh (5:45). The Athletic's Michael Shawn-Dugar joins the show to talk all about Russell Wilson and the trade rumors happening in Seattle (13:51). The heroes create a vision board for the 2021 season (39:25).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.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

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 Eric Davis in the Hall of Fame. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. from a virtual room filled with some heroes,

Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. If you are not, baseball, you're fine. Eric Davis was a five-tool star in the Cincinnati. Reds baseball team, Wes's favorite team, and injuries conspired to keep him out of the hall. But perhaps maybe as a nod to Wes, the baseball gods and really the voters. Now you get dicey where you're counting on the voters for a miracle,

put Eric Davis in. But great player, Eric Davis. I used to tease West. He was no Daryl Strawberry, who was another superstar of that ilk in the late 80s. But Eric Davis is probably a more well-rounded player. For some reason, I always, just when I think of the Reds, I just think how silly it is that their original name was the red stockings and how silly it remains that there are two baseball teams named the red socks

and the white socks and there were the red and the reds are the red legs i don't know it just seems silly all i think socks is a is a newer stockings was the word of the day back then it wasn't as off putting but i mean i have a suggestion the hall of fame the baseball hall of fame is up in cooper's town correct i mean a very i've been there as a child a very nice um it's a nice part of the country very serene but maybe um you know we've got a A lot of listeners, a lot of power behind this show, you know, it's kind of in vogue to storm places of security these days, not all in good faith. But this would be we storm Cooperstown and force Eric Davis's presence into the building. If they do bus, we could have someone.

I'm sure someone would be good at that, creating an Eric Davis bust. I initially liked where you were going because I thought you were going with grassroots campaign and start building something on the Internet. in Wes's memory, and then you went the other way, which maybe connects us with another level of insurgency. I don't know. No, I would say that that was inglorious what happened in our nation's capital. This would be brute force with heart behind it. I don't know.

I mean, I know Greg would not be. General Rosenthal, your thoughts? I'm not shocked that Mark was the one to propose an insurrection. And could be. we've often said that Mark would be a great cult leader if he needed to be. But I don't think this is the spot for it. Plus, it's still COVID time. So all this, let's hold it off.

I don't, you know, the poor people that are there working, you know, it's a nice place. They're doing good work. We can table it for now. I kind of feel bad too because that is your style, Mark. But like January 6th, kind of ruined insurgency a little bit. We might need to stick a pin in it for a couple decades. I have no history of storming building. It's not my style.

I mean, I just, I think it's, I think it looks bad because of what's just happened, and I get that, and that was bad. But this would be like some, sometimes when you storm a building, it's for good reasons. But again, there's no support here for it. I mean, there's plenty of that, too. There's zero support. I don't know if they have security guards up there in Cooper's down. No, I think there, it's like the British sleeping in the middle of the night. We would have our way.

Speaking of the late great Chris Wessling, checking in on that GoFundMe, Mar-on. We are closing in on $300,000 raised for Lakeisha and Link. How about that? How awesome is that? So if you haven't made any donation, it's okay if you don't because obviously everyone has different financial situations. But if you have anything to give and it doesn't have to be a lot, that is going towards the best cause imaginable.

So check that GoFundMe out wherever you find a hero social media page. All right. Still really weird. Three weeks tomorrow, West Gone. But we soldier on as a podcast right now. We have a really good show today. A bombshell piece dropped in the athletic. They do really good stuff over at the athletic.

That has been a successful experiment in sports media, if you ask me, not trying to get a job there. I'm just saying I like good sports journalism and I often find myself reading The Athletic. And three members of The Athletic wrote a combined to write expose, if you will, on the situation between Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. And when I woke up this morning, boys, I didn't think much of what was going on in Seattle other than Russell Wilson being a little cranky. You read this piece by Michael Sean. Mr. Unlimited. Yes, you read the piece by Michael Sean Degar or Dugger.

Mike Sando and Jason Jenks and you have a whole different perspective, Greg. And we're going to have Michael Sean Dugar, Dugger. Well, we can clear that up. We'll have to ask them in minutes to talk about what's going on in Seattle because it's getting grim. Also, a little more, QB talk. Another big veteran involved with some drama that seems to be getting cleared up. And then at the end of the show, vision boards are big right now. We're going to build one for the 2021 season.

But let's start, yes, by hitting some quarterback news. Let's go, Ricky. Mr. Mr. Unlimited. All right. Let's start with what's going on in Pittsburgh. Ben Rafflesberger. This has been a bit of a soap opera playing out for the past. couple weeks about whether the soon-to-be 39-year-old quarterback would return for another season.

Now it's happening. We got this Adi Kinkabwala, our own Editi on NFL Network. On Wednesday, reported that the Steelers had confirmed they want him back. And then it became public when Steelers President Art Rooney announced Big Ben will return for the 2021 season. He deemed it a productive meeting that he had with this franchise quarterback. We don't know what the contract numbers are, but honestly, who cares if you're a Steelers fan you're either happy or bummed about this?

Greg, I think you had said that you thought there was a real chance he was gone. I was never in that camp. What do you think about what happens with the Steelers now? Do you think it's just Big Ben and Dwayne Haskins with some Mason Rudolph, or is there more intrigue to come here? They said they wanted to add quarterbacks, and that was after adding Haskins. so I don't think they might not be done. I also want to see how this plays out.

You know, I think it was shaped strangely that like Big Ben is back. Well, he's not back yet until the contract signed. By all indications, it's going to happen. But I am curious, you know, about the details. They must have had some broad agreement about the rough way that they're going to do it, whether he's taking a pay cut, whether they're giving him guaranteed money into next year Not like, I think all of that matters because I think it tells you where they're at. For instance, Drew Brees last year, the contract he signed indicated clearly it was going to be his last year.

So I'm curious if that's the type of deal they do with Ben. And I always leave like that little door open, even with an owner's statement, that things can go wrong and feel anything can get hurt when you're talking contract. You know what I mean? It's just been a little strange that it's like this announcement. He's back. Well, he's not back. What the agent and what the owner said is that they're going to negotiate a contract and he's expected to be back. I mean, I would say compared to, it's the offseason of discontent with quarterbacks all over the place.

Compared to some of the situations bubbling out there, this feels more peaceful. I mean, I guess I'm with you, Greg, but when the owner comes out and says what he's said, I would be surprised if they suddenly have to. Oh, I'd be shocked. I just am wondering if there's one moment of consternation and I am just curious on what the details are, because that's a big part of the story for me. I think it's interesting, it's an interesting scenario with Steelers fans in general, because I think that there was definitely a pocket of them out there that were emotionally prepared, or very prepared

to say goodbye to them after the way that season ended. But part of it is like, look, that's great, you have Dwayne Haskins on the roster and Mason Rudolph and all these Hammond Eggers, but a better version of Big Ben is still the best option there. I would not be surprised, though. have to be forward-thinking. They have to think about, and they're not in a great place in the draft to do this, but they've swung at a couple quarterbacks in the draft, and I think fully missed entirely. They've never found his real heir apparent, and it's not Dwayne Haskins, as far as I could see, and it's not Mason. I mean, if it's Dwayne Haskins, we're going to need to see a lot more than we've seen, right? I mean, I see you in your head, but it's like.

I mean, honestly, I think it would be irresponsible, quite frankly, with the roster that's in place and how many really strong players, even they have to make some moves in free agency. This is going to be a good roster that returns in 2021. There is certainly the idea. And I know Sheck, who's, you know, Steelers Homer, we all know that, put out the theory that perhaps Big Ben changed his game in relation to the record of the team. And then by the time they tried to ramp it up, it was too late. Okay, maybe that's the case. Or Big Ben started to fall off a cliff last year.

and the guy that shows up six months from now is even worse than that guy. I just think the one thing, I think it's the right move to bring him back, but I think it would be the wrong move to say, well, Mason Rudolph or Dwayne Haskins or someone in that realm is our backup plan. I think you're setting yourself up for big failure. I would like to see them take a swing, whether it's in the draft or to go get our veteran quarterback, even like an Andy Dalton type, not to keep using Andy Dalton as this fallback guy, but maybe like somebody like that

that would bring proficiency to the backup position in case the Steelers needed because there is a chance they will. There is, and I'm with you on the roster's, you know, intriguing, and it's top-heavy, some really good players in defense. They have the bones to be a good defense, some good skill position players.

But you mentioned Sheck's theory about him, you know, not wanting to get hit. Okay, that's the offensive lines issue, which basically collapsed and has been falling apart since Mike Munchak, their coach left. Here's what their free agency situation is on the offensive line. Left tackle, Villanueva, who's been there forever, really didn't play great last year. Free agent, pouncy, retired.

Another starter, Kevin Filer, I believe it's pronounced, who started at both tackle and garden and had like a thousand snaps the last two seasons, also a free agent. So, you know, a group, DeCathro, not playing as well as he used to. So that's a big chunk, and that is a big concern. And I suspect that is Kevin Colbert. They're GM's number one concern right now and priority for the off season, not the quarterback situation after this is handled. These things just never end well.

And Big Ben is not, you know, he has not been embracing the Tom Brady diet for the past five years. I mean, I don't, nor do I buy that he's just a big pudgy man either. I think he's working harder than some would believe. But this version of Big Ben with one of the worst teams in the league at rushing the ball down the stretch last year. I mean, it was just abominable behind a really shaky offensive line situation. You know, Greg, you just mentioned it. I mean, that's the kind of thing where are we going to get Brett Farve's, you know,

2010 season, and you could see a whole bunch of quarterbacks that Big Ben is just sub, you know, performance level. If you're anyone else in the AFC North who's been getting killed by Big Ben for the past 15 years, this is delicious. Like who would that be? It's really every team in that division, if you think about it. I mean, the Ravens are the only one that I think they put or hurt on them. but how delicious it would be for it just to be a continuation of what happened in January. Not for Pittsburgh fans.

I'm just going to become a Browns fan now, by the way, and draft off of Sessler's enjoyment. I was going to say, because I've for a long time, posited that Greg has it out for Big Ben and the Steelers. And it's all right. That's fine. I understand. You have your reasons.

You check the track record, and that is not true. No one has predicted that to be better. Well, you just pumped your fist when you talked about the Steelers. a multi-year dirt nap. Now it feels time for the dirt nap. But before, I was predicting them to the Super Bowl every year, you guys would make fun to me. I had too much faith.

Well, that would annoy Mark. That is fair. That is a fair report. And, Mark, I'm totally on board with you having these feelings after all the years of misery. Obviously, I feel the same way about a certain team that Greg actually loves. All right. Let's stick a pin in Big Ben talk, but let's continue to do some veteran quarterback talk, some surprising veteran quarterback talk.

and we want to welcome to the show first time on the Around the NFL podcast and he wrote along with his colleagues at the athletic a banger. I call it a straight up banger on the situation involving

Russell Wilson in the Seattle Seahawks. He is Michael Sean Dugar. Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Michael Sean, I know you go by Mike too. Like how are we doing this? Yeah, Mike here's fine. I just I just feel bad. I don't have any books in my background.

You guys all have books. What about the plant? You need the plant, too. We don't read any of these books, though. Like, they're props. They're fake plants and books we've never read. So don't feel, don't be concerned. Okay, I won't feel too bad then.

Mike, so you, yes, like I said, wrote this piece that's blowing up today on the internet. You also have a really good podcast I was listening to Seahawks, man to man, where you were talking about this situation as well. And I think, let's start here. Everyone is surprised on the outside of this that all of a sudden there is a possibility that this Russell Wilson Seahawks or maybe the Russell Wilson Pete Carroll marriage won't work.

But someone that's on the inside, like you, that's been tracking this team, is this something that we should have seen coming as a volcano that is bubbling and ready to explode? I don't know how people from the outside could have necessarily seen it coming, but it does remind me of attention, attention. Attention. If you plan to watch the movie, Den of Thieves, ever, Mike is going to spoil it for you.

Major spoiler alert. Yeah. I'm a big movie guy, so forgive me. But like the movie Den of Thieves, I think it's on Netflix or whatever. Like you get to the end, spoiler. And O'Shea Jackson Jr's character is like the mastermind. And you're like, huh, should I have seen that? And they do all of these things where it goes back. And you're like, oh, okay. Like, I should have seen that coming. The scenes at the bar, like all these little lines. you put it together. Like, that's where it is. Like, if you watch the movie the first time, you're like, well, how was I supposed to put that together? And then they reveal it, and you're like, oh, there were all of these breadcrumbs throughout the course of the film that, like, leads up to the end. And that's kind of what is going on here. Like, yeah, if you're watching from afar, if you only turn in on Seahawks' hands or on primetime or whatever, or America's Game in the Week, you're like, oh, okay, whatever, the Seahawks need to fix some things, whatever. But then if you, like, really go back and read Russ's quotes from

2015 or 16 or 17, like every old press conference is going to get so many more views after this knock people are going to be like, oh, how could I have missed this? And you're going to hear the quotes about legacy, the Drew Breeze references, the Tom Brady references, LeBron James references. And then you're going to get to this point and go like, oh, no, I get, I get why that guy would be frustrated to this point that he wants out. I love that. I love that analogy. And I was sort of thinking, too, of like, World War I started. And it's one of the few things I remember from history when I have to have to, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdin. We're a lot older than you, Mike.

Well, no, I wasn't around during that time. But his assassination basically kicked off World War I. But there was a bunch of stuff happening that led to it. But they called that the powder kegan. I loved the way that you kind of laid these little breadcrumbs about what's been happening with Russell Wilson for so long. Would it be fair to call an inciting incident him sitting at the Super Bowl watching Tom Brady win a Super Bowl with another team away from his comfortable home in New England with Antonio Brown,

who he helped recruit to the organization because he has a huge voice in Tampa Bay, obviously. And Russell Wilson's sitting up there thinking, I don't have any of these things. I've worked as hard as anyone. And in his world, does he feel like he lacks a voice? And can it be really fixed with the Seahawks? Or is this thing just heading towards a breakup? I'll add something to Russ's frustration at the Super Bowl, because all of those things are correct.

But also, the last time Russ played in the Super Bowl, who did he lose to? Right? And how many Super Bowls has Brady been to since the Seahawks lost? 400. Yeah, you know, like if you're Russell, it's not. He does only see himself as like someone who can be Brady's equals, like they were adversaries on the biggest stage, right?

And he was inches away from beating him. And then he thought, I'll get back here, right? I'll get back. That's the Russell thought. And only Brady's been back. I think that fueled it as much as everything you just mentioned, Antonio Brown, go to a line. Tom Brady getting to hand-picked players like Gronk and

AB. Tom Brady having more say over the offense, you know, Bruce Arian just said it. Like I had to step back and let Brady do his thing. You know, Russ reading that, like, huh, must be nice. Like it all, it all came to ahead. The Super Bowl was like all of those things at once, but I think that's another detail people forget. It's like, yeah, Russ lost to Tom Brady last time and hasn't been back there since and Tom's been there, yeah, 50 million times since then. And now where does it go from here? Like, I think everyone's going to ask me that today, but I think really everyone knows the answer. If it, if it was good,

right, if they thought it was going to be good, would they be on, you know, TV, Russell's saying, I'm frustrated. Citing how many times he's been sacked, like, 394. He's been citing that number like a cult. It's like a campaign for a presidential run. 394, like, in spinning it as if it's the Seahawks' fault, a lot of it is. But like, if it was not all this fault, not all the Seahawks. No, it's another

conversation. It's not all one person's fault. But, I mean, the fact that they've used that is like their campaign slogan, like, I'm frustrated. of getting hit too much. I don't think that if this was like a fixable situation, that they would be doing that. You know what I mean? I hear you, and that helps to answer, you know,

one question I had is like, why does this all have to be so public or kind of clumsily public? And you guys did an awesome job. Everyone should check it out of kind of showing the way that him and his camp have put this messaging out. And make, you know, it's made it very clear he's aggressively trying to do something. He's trying to make people uncomfortable

But it gets to the other question I had Which is more of like an existential question Reading this article And maybe that's why Russ is trying to do this You tell me, you know the situation maybe better Is like, why wouldn't they just get rid of Pete Carroll then? Like why And that maybe goes to who's really owning this team

And who's in charge and that's confusing But do you think there's any way Like Russ is putting all this out there almost to let other people know at the higher points of the Seahawks organization that maybe if you did have to choose

to me as a fan, if I was a fan, it'd be a little crazy to choose Pete Carroll over Russ. Yeah, all of my friends and all my group chats are like, Mike, can we just pick Russ? Like, why would we always? Right, right.

You know, I think one of my friends said I'd rather have 10 years of Russell than four more of Pete, right? And it's like, yeah, no, most people would. But I do think, yeah, your point about, like sending a message, not just to the public,

but the higher ups is important too. I asked Pete, on like January 11th, I said, who in the building holds you accountable, right? Because he controls personnel on top of the on-filled product. I said, who can tell you the truth? Who can be harsh with you? And he mentioned a bunch of dudes that are under him. You know, and two of them you mentioned were his kids.

One of whom was mentioned in the story as, like, having quit his job twice during the season and only to come back later. So, like, I thought that was very telling. Like, he didn't mention anyone who cuts his checks. He mentioned people who he ultimately cuts their checks. And that's not really how accountability works. You know, like if I worked for my work, you know, like, if I worked for my, my dad, I never have, but I doubt I'd be the only person in the building he can listen to.

You know, I just don't think that's how that works. So I think a message of accountability is being sent by Russell in his camp, too. It's like, I can't tell this guy anything because no one holds him accountable. He can throw challenge flags and sign bad alignment and make bad trades or do whatever. And I just got to go out there and get hit by Aaron Donald. And I got no one I can go snitch to or report to, you know? Like, that's very frustrating if you're doing that for nine years. And Russell, 32 years old, he's professed that he wants to play 10, 15 more years.

He wants to go to the Brady Papp. And he's just maniacal enough where he might actually be able to do that. Pete Carroll is going to be 70 in September. So these are things that need to be factored in if it's going to be an either-or scenario. And I just want to, first of all, Den of Thieves, you kind of ruined it. So I don't know if I'm going to watch it now. Yes, we should watch it. I will say that I haven't seen that, but we have had the star of that film's father, Ice Cube, on this show.

So how about that? That's a good job by us. We nailed that. You definitely should watch the movie, though. It's really good. Even with that spoiled, I bet you this. Even if you watch it, even though I spoiled it for you, you still won't be able to,

at first watch, put together all the breadcrumbs. We'll be until the very end. Wow, this sounds like the new usual suspects. Now, let me ask you this, because you said this on your podcast, you'd be surprised if he's being Russell Wilson, the Seahawks quarterback in 2022. Now, when you said that with your co-host,

was that caught up in the heat of the moment, or do you honestly believe that this is something that's heading toward divorce? No, I think, and anyone who's written a big story, like in journalism or reported one in radio or TV or whatever, you know that you left things on the cutting room floor, and there's a million things that we heard and just didn't make the story, right?

We had to trim it. And so, like, I know how bad this is. And I know that there's two things that we didn't put in the story that I think are also really important. Russell had a son in July, his first biological son. His Sierra has a son from another marriage. He named that son, Wynn. His name is Wynn like Harrington Wilson.

Pete Carroll wrote a book in 2010. The title of the book is Win Forever. These dudes are obsessed with winning, and they will do whatever it takes to win. That's the one thing they're always going to be aligned on. If they don't do that and they can't agree on why they're not winning, which is ultimately what the real disconnect is here, they can't coexist because they're too obsessed with that idea of winning. So when I said, yeah, I don't think he'll be the quarterback in 2022. I'm projecting them not winning the Super Bowl or getting there.

If they get there, then that's different. They win it. Obviously, winning fixes a lot of things. But I think that's the only thing that can fix this situation is winning. You got to win. These two dudes have made it known. The only way they can more make it known that they want to win is they go file a trademark like Chad Johnson did to change their names to win.

You name your firstborn son, win. You care. A lot of pressure. That's the only thing I can fix the situation right now. But you think next year. So you do think this is almost setting, and I heard this from someone just asking about this today, too. They thought it was setting the table for next year, that this is all priming the pump a little bit and that a trade would be maybe less likely this year, but more likely next year.

And I think it's, yes, to answer that. And then it's like a think about the narrative construction here. If the Seahawks do come up short next year, who is everyone going to blame? You're blaming the Seahawks. Yeah, exactly. Pete Carroll, the Seahawks, they're going to look at and say, you guys didn't give Russell Wilson what he wanted. You guys are idiots. So now he wants to leave.

Whether that's right or wrong, they've done a good job. And I mean, rest of his camp of putting that as the message. Like, we are the victims here, guys. I am the superstar quarterback here who has played with bottom five old lines. Like, I want to say, like, seven of his nine years. and that's just not good enough, right? Their bottom, like, half of the league all the time in the O-line spending, other than which year?

2013, when they spent the most on the O-line and the whole league. Would they do that year? Win the Super Bowl. So, like, there's all these arguments that they've put out there and used it, like it's still like a presidential campaign. So if we're right back here next year, the Seahawks weren't in the Super Bowl, whose fault is it going to look like?

And then the Seahawks are going to have to get rid of the best quarterback in franchise history. I would ask this because, I mean, It's this Carol Russell Wilson power struggle. And I love that you meant like the title of the whole thing is about power and control. And I mean, this story is as old as time. But then you got John Snyder involved in this too. And some of the juiciest stuff in there was that John Snyder was prepared to draft Patrick Mahomes, that they were very high on Josh Allen. I mean, that's the kind of thing that if you're Russell Wilson, you're thinking, excuse me?

I mean, is he account who's holding him accountable? because when you talk about the offensive line not coming together coming together over the course of seven or eight seasons, I look at the front office in the GM too, and they've certainly had some against the grain draft picks over the year. Yeah, and that's where Pete Carroll actually takes a lot of that blame, too, because he oversees personnel. He was hired before John.

He's essentially John's boss. John can't make a pick until Pete okay. I think Russell is like an example of that. In 2012, you know, John is from Wisconsin, worked for the Packers, and here comes this, this 5-10, like, guy who's balling at Wisconsin. John's like, hey, we should take this guy. But no matter how much John wanted him, if Pete was like, no, then they wouldn't have took Russell. Like, Pete has to okay, everything.

So, yeah, the Seahawks have taken, I think, more alignment in the draft than any team since 2012, I want to say, or maybe 2010. It's not very good at it, right? So that goes to not only power of control, it's like a lack of faith. You know, if I'm Russell and I'm like, hey, Pete, can we get some better alignment? It's like, yeah, chill, we got this. It's like, well, no, you don't. You don't got it. Like maybe I should have some control over the situation.

It's like, well, no, you can't. And now we have, again, like you said, all the time, power and control driving two people away from one another. They haven't had a great defense in five years. And if Pete Carroll wants to remember life without Russell Wilson, just throw on some Chaz Whitehurst tape, you know, or the Matt Flynn era, which never really happened. Or even Tarvarez, who played okay. But it's like, man, you better be careful what you wish for. Awesome work by Mike. and also Mike Sando, Jason Jenks at The Athletic.

Please check out that article if you want to be informed on this situation. And before we say goodbye, Mike, I'm going to check out Den of Thieves. You definitely need to. I watched a bunch of heist movies over the last month, and that was one of my favorite. I've got one for you, by the way. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, too, is that's one where you, on the third or fourth viewing, the layers become evident. It's like, Colin, where are the pants? It's a huge heist picture.

Mike I heard you say pineapples on pizza is a good thing I don't know where you're from originally Mike I don't want to judge but that's a terrible take but I'm going to give you the platform here to explain why pineapples on pizza is a good thing See pizza like the reason like cheese pizza I think is so great Because it's just like it's a blank canvas You can just experiment you can do whatever you want with it

You can get creative and there really are no limitations There's another another movie reference This is a Cuba Gooding Junior movie Cuba Gooding Jr. movie, I can't remember the name of it at the moment, but he's trying to pitch everyone to think outside the box. And he's like, you guys want to think outside the box, which you really need to realize is there is no box.

Just let your mind wander. And I'm like, when I thought, I was like, I saw that movie when I was a kid. And it was just like, yeah, it's pretty trippy. Fighting sensations. Snow dogs, too. Yeah, that was good. It's a great, like, way to look at, like, pizza,

hot dogs, just anything. Like, I debate all the time my friends, like, whether a hot dog is a sandwich. It's just great. You can just free your mind when it comes. comes to food. Like, let your mind roam. Put some pineapples on that pizza, man. It's going to taste great. I'm with you. We get, we get pineapple

and a jalapeno in our house all the time. Thank you. I'm all about it. Listen, I'll be cool about this. I just feel some foods are sacred pizza is one of them, but listen, that's why it's a great world. We can do what we want and eat what we want. And Mike, thank you for joining the show, and we'd love to have you on again

because you're good at your job. If I come back, I'm definitely going to have all my books. I'm not going to be lacking next time. Thank you guys for having it. Thanks, Mike. There he goes. Awesome stuff. Michael, Sean, Duggar. You can follow him on Twitter. And yes, again, over at the Athletic. You know, he also within that report by the athletic, Russell Wilson's camp had broached trade destinations with Seattle, excuse me, with Seattle to the dolphins, jets, saints, and raiders. And then right before we came on today, Adam Schefter reported, so as this thing continues to mushroom,

that Wilson has not demanded a trade, according to his agent, but Wilson told the Seahawks he really wants to play in Seattle. If a trade were considered, the only teams he would go to are the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, and Bears. First of all, Jets aren't on that list, but I don't know if that's a issue for me personally. It's so transparent this drama that's playing out. And Russell Wilson being involved,

a big reason why, because that's just kind of his thing. but it does surprise me, even after that conversation, again, where I went to bed last night and where we are now, that this thing is as bad as it is. It kind of all blew up here. Well, and to Mike's point, I think, I feel like now Russell Wilson's been trying to drop these breadcrumbs pretty hardcore. You know, he's been trying. It's almost like people weren't really listening because people like us think, well, why would they ever get rid of Russell Wilson? I remember even talking about it when he went on Jimmy Fallon and that was a little bit of a story and they wrote about that. It was like, well, this isn't really going to happen.

You know, this isn't too serious. But it's coming there for a reason. It reminds me of that SI article where like it was all his bros and it was like entourage. It's like, we're not entourage, but that is my favorite show. That's what Russ said. And he still got the same, he still got the same agent as he did back then. And it just, I know we, you know, I guess the conventional wisdom is maybe it's next year. But I don't know. This seems pretty. ugly the nature of this. How do you go through another year? Like that's, that kind of, that timeline feels weird to me. It's pretty, it's pretty rough. And the fact that. Consider the timing on the calendar though, too. I mean, no, I get it. Logic says maybe emotions subside a little bit over the course of the

offseason and, and you calm down. But the whole like, um, political way of looking at it, like the messaging, I thought that's a brilliant way to put it, that he's got these like campaign points. And it's like, how is that flying with teammates? You know, how is that flying with his offensive line? Because I'm sure some of them are thinking, okay, well, Tom Brady's never taking those sacks, Russ. Like, yeah, you're right. You could have put the worst offensive lines around Peyton Manny and Tom Brady, and they would cut that sack total by 50%.

It's just a fact. Like, quarterbacks, sacks are a quarterback sack. It's both. I mean, both things can be true. It can be the offensive line, but it can also be Russ. And I'm sure they're not loving. that and you see some of his old teammates and that was like the huge last story about Russell Wilson was that SI story where the defense and the coddling of Russell Wilson

there's just a lot there I loved it this is one of those stories I'll remember I feel like this story is really planting a flag in his career it's complicated too though you mentioned that and everyone knows Russell Wilson holds on to the ball and that's going to drive up sack totals and make an offensive line look worse and that's certainly fair but there is the other side of it the reason he's going to go to the Hall of Fame one day is he is a magician in the pocket. He's made so many great plays. And there's a reason he's been playing for nine years and they've gone to the playoffs eight years and he's won a Super Bowl and nearly one another. He's a special talent.

And I think one thing that they hit on in the article is that like they, the let Russ Cook era as short as it was in 2020 was incredible. and then over the course of one bad game that led to a sit-down with Pete Carroll or Carol sidled up next to him and basically told him to get his S together and then the next game they didn't play well either and then it was over. That opportunity that he had been waiting for

to lead the offense in the way he believes he can started off on a record-setting pace. They go through a little valley and then it's taken away from him and I can understand that being the source of a lot, a lot of frustration and anger for Wilson as well. I could see that, But, I mean, at the same time, there's D.K. Metcalf saying that defense has just figured out what they were doing.

But, Greg, I think you make a great point about the, if this is going to go on, even for another year, that we're a long way away from Dan Marino buying his offensive lineman isotoner gloves, which has been escalated to, you know, quarterbacks treat their linemen like kings, because your life is in their hands on that field. And you've opened the offseason by setting every one of them on fire. This just feels like it's a campaign, but it's a campaign that doesn't have a wide opening for a fruitful happy ending. The Seahawks era feels a little bit over to me. Now, a lot else can happen.

I'm just saying, like, this is, we're a long way away from Carol and Russell Wilson being attached to the hip and everything just seems so, you know, peaceful and hunky dory. I hate that word, but for so long, and now it just feels. It's so messy and it's so public. It's fascinating, though. It's really a great story. It's a great story. And I don't think you should ever bad mouth or use your platform or in happiness with the team to chop down teammates, which he is doing on some indirect level. But also, you know, this isn't Joe Thomas and, you know, Kevin Mawai and Quentin Nelson on this line in Seattle.

Like, he wants better guys there. He doesn't want a lot of those guys there because he doesn't think they can play. Brady's ruined it. Brady's ruined this for everyone. LeBron a little bit too, but that basketball is such a different sport because I don't blame him for using the power that he has. He has some absolutely good points. None of this would probably be even happening if the Seahawks had a top eight defense

at any point in the last five years. They've been totally mediocre. If they had a good defense, we're not talking about it. But I think Brady, you know, has given this idea, especially in football, that's so wrong. It's like, not everyone gets to win. win, bro. It's like, Aaron Rogers is one of the greatest of all time. He hasn't been to a Super Bowl in a decade. Ben Rothesberger, same. Drew Breez went once and it's just like so hard to put everything together that makes you win. It's not saying anyone's right or wrong, but it's just

so hard. Yeah. Tom Brady ruined a lot of things for a lot of people, including my 20s and 30s. What the next thing coming here, by the way, is, and it's put it in stone, okay? I might even put sandwich on it, but I won't. The Seahawks are going to disappear from his social media accounts very soon. That's the next step in this. And I love it. And I also, the whole idea of New York not being on that second list, there was that nugget that Sierra, an entertainer who is attracted to either L.A. or the Big Apple, longs to be in New York to some degree. So in the Jets, by the way, if you're all these teams that want to trade for Russell Wilson, you're not going to ship a bunch of late round picks. I mean, the Jets could offer.

for Seattle a fresh new start. I never would rule the Jets out. You know what they could do? They could say, hey, those two first round picks you stupidly gave us for a safety, we'll come back to you. Give us a quarterback. Let's fly. You know, it would hurt, but we'll give you, you know, Quinn and Williams.

And by the way, we got, you got to give them a nuisance in Jamal Adams. If you give them number two overall, you could, that is, that's the trump card that the Jets have right now, that they won't, you know, if you're a Jets fan, hope that they have normally that if they want to make the big move at quarterback now is the time because you have that number two overall pick whether it's watson or wilson you've got that you're you might not ever have that again stick a pin in that's going to come up a little bit later um all right i don't ricky the den of thieves thing are you you're younger than us are you plugged in on den of thieves no i haven't seen it yet i'm a little nervous that mike is going to catch some heat

for, you know, pulling the, like, Kevin Spacey at the end of usual suspects. Like, you usually don't give away the big twist. Maybe you can put, like, a spoiler alert and post there or something. Yeah, but was it a little bit more time? Was it a big, like, like, give away, though? It was sort of. Yeah, it sounded like it was the biggest. I thought it was bold, though.

Suddenly it's him versus Netflix. His name becomes elevated and magnified. I mean, it's a power move, and I enjoyed it. It would be funny if we stopped the show right there. there and Ricky's voice or Dan's voice comes in, we insert it and it says, attention. If you plan to watch the, you know, movie, Den of Thieves, ever, Mike is going to spoil it for you. Yeah.

Make a spoiler alert ahead. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'll just take what you just said and I'll put it before too. And then you guys can hear it again right now in real time too. Okay. Well, it sounds like our listeners are the ones who lose out, but sometimes that's how. things go. It's not the first time?

And don't, and one last thing in this whole quarterback talk. DeShon Watson tweeted today. Loyalty is everything. Don't you ever, caps ever. Forget it. And the Texans can play their little cute game right now and act like they can just ignore this

and it's going to go away. It's not going to go away. The power dynamic has shifted in our league. And if you, if your superstar is unhappy, it is going to tear your franchise apart unless you somehow fix things. And if you can't fix things, you've got to move them. And we'll see if Seattle gets to that point.

But Houston certainly seems like they're at that point, and maybe they're just in denial right now. I mean, and speaking of sandwich bets, I had one on Big Ben as the Houston Texans week one starter. I will be paying you in sandwiches. That was easy. That was easy. That was easy.

That was like a drunken moment with no alcohol involved. I don't know what I blacked out mentally. All right. Good stuff. All right. Let's get into it. Vision board. What's a vision board?

It's big right now. And I'll give you a little bit of an example of a vision board being successful. My wife, the ladies are into this. Now, I don't want to get tagged as being a sexist. Like, oh, no, men like vision boards too. Sure. I'm sure there are plenty of men crafting vision. boards at this very moment. Lots of men. But the ladies love the vision board. My wife, my wife,

the wonderful Emily. She put together a vision board because we were looking for our first house. And guess what? Not two months after she put together the board, we found our house. So I feel like that is, it works. I mean, there it is. There is the proof in the pudding. Speak it into existence. That's what it's about. It's about taking something, a wish, a belief, a hope. And if you put it out there as something tangible, physical, if you see it, you can believe in it, and then you can achieve it. So with that in mind, we were thinking, what if we put together a NFL vision board for 2021? Things that we really just want to see.

We want it. And we'll put together a collage. We're all going to, we're not doing our own vision board. This is the around the NFL podcast vision board for 2021. Keep in 2021. We're looking ahead to this season. And let's get going. Greg,

I want you to start off the artwork here. I want you to imagine, if you're listening to this, Greg, we have a big piece of paper here, and Greg is cut out something. This is a lot of cutouts and quotes from magazines. Greg is cut out like the picture

and, like, his vision is he's putting the first piece of this onto the board. It's beautiful. He's got the big white board that he got from blix. art gallery or art supplies. And Greg, just so you know, to take it a little further, he's wearing overalls, no shirt underneath, one of the overalls undone.

So you see, maybe even a little nipples popping out, and he's got a bandana. Bandana. Okay. Barefoot, too. Barefoot. Corteroy overalls. Mm-hmm. Delectable. Shout out to mid-90s. Women's fashion.

Love that stuff. I was thinking of like to Me More and Ghost. I'm thinking, yeah, more just like high school girlfriends and stuff. I mean, I did. I was a big fan. I cut out a picture and it's just of one man, one NFL player. And it's a picture of Justin Herbert pre-haircut, cocking back to throw a nice pass.

And I cut around it, putting that in the corner here. And for me, I looked at this more like a personal vision board, not what I want to see, but more what I want out of my 2021. And Herbert to me represents the love of the game. I just love watching

this guy play, so whether it's with this podcast or with our writing or with our TV stuff, I just want to like tap into that. Future drafts for preview shows. Absolutely. Just like he's the

guy to me that connects me. And I'm not saying it's all about Herbert. It's just what he represents. He's the guy that connects me, especially last year, which was not an easy NFL season for anyone. But he was the one last season that sort of connected me and kept me close to that love of the game and just love of the sport.

And so for me, that's like what he represents and I'm putting on the vision board. I like it. I like that. I love it. And Herbert was, yes, a shining star this season. And it's funny because we, much hand-wringing, And the Chargers do still absolutely have their work cut out for them

and really carving out a niche in this market. And we'll see once people are going and actually going back to the stadiums, what kind of crowds they draw. But one of the things that everybody was hammering over and over again, like, who is the star that you can sell the Chargers in Los Angeles on? Well, here he is. He comes in. You nailed the draft pick.

You absolutely nailed that draft pick. And Dolphins fans are nodding their heads solemnly. And now you have to hope that he just continues to build off that season. All right, I'll go next. I'm really, I've got to be totally honest with you. I'm struggling, I'm struggling with this because this whole thing around my team with the quarterback. Well, first of all, what are you wearing? Hmm.

I'll let you decide. But while you think or unless you have something. You do your thing and I'll ponder it. All right. So I know, like Greg, what you're saying about Darnold makes so much sense logically. It really does that what he's put on tape over three seasons is more than enough evidence that the Jets, if they have a chance to move them off the roster for a nice draft pick and start fresh, do it. I know that. I also know from years of history as a fan that whenever I fall for a quarterback, inevitably they let me down.

And the belief I had, most recently I would say Mark Sanchez, even Ryan Fitzpatts. Patrick going into his second season there, you know, Browning Nagel. You go up and down the list. You could find so many guys, Bryce Petty, I even harbored some thoughts about. Never the kid from Penn State, it should be said. Never thought he could play. Hackenberg. Yeah, Hackenberg.

Respect that, man. So, you know, it's like, I tend to fall in love with the idea of the young savior, and then I get let down. So Darnold was, to me, the biggest chance, a number three overall pick. So I should. I should not be cutting out his photo right now in Jets Green and White and putting him on the vision board. And yet, I am because in my vision, all this talk for people that understand the quarterback position in the sport that think he could play and just got the rost of raw deals, why wouldn't I take the number two overall pick? And instead of taking another swing in the draft, why wouldn't I rebuild the roster with massive smart trades with a GM I trust?

You have the Falcons picking at four. You have the Eagles at six. You have the Panthers at eight. All teams, and I'm just naming three, logical ones that would die to get into number two and take a young quarterback like a Zach Wilson or Justin Phil's or what have you. And then I could use that bounty over the next couple of years to build a young quarterback. a monster roster and then give Sam Donald a chance with a better coach and a better offense. And here's the kicker here.

And I'll shut up in a second. If Donald stinks this year, it doesn't sink the franchise necessarily. You still have two first round picks at least next year and you could then try to address things. My vision is Sam Donald's there with a much better roster

and a real shot. And I know it's not the right way to look at things, but I can't help but think that makes sense for this team given their dearth of talent. I love it because I think you have to factor in what I think is going to be a coach of the year type coaching staff with Robert Sala and Mike LaFleur. Just look what the Niners accomplished on offense when Jimmy G. went down. I think that the way that they treat the quarterback in the run game and everything else, I mean, the Jets don't have all those pieces,

but there are some mock drafts out there that have the Jets moving down a bit and taking like the number one tight end in the draft, which is a key position for that. I'm not saying that it's just that to your theory, though, that maybe you just don't assess into everything about Sam Darnold based on the train wreck, he's been, that he's barely survived, that maybe there is a new life for him. And I think that's an interesting idea. This is where sharing the vision board is. It's problematic. It's complicated. Because if Dan comes down and, you know, checks out the vision board in the middle of the night and someone slash Darnold's, like, face, it's like, everyone's going to look at me.

You know, everyone's going to look at me. I know. I know. But like I said, I'm not disagreeing with you. Everything you're saying makes sense. But there is a case to be made on my side of things. Well, if I want to be real, if I want to be real, like as a Patriots fan, yes, do that. That's my vision, too.

That's kind of what I would hope for. Oh, I would love for Donald to be good. That would be so amazing. It'll be fine. I can think, I'm not seeing. I don't, I have, we've done this long enough that's like I never feel that confident in anything but like he can be fine but like I mean a jet's quarterback sucking is always typically been as safe as it gets right what are the what are the odds of him being a top five

quarterback cover that seems like that seems like a big reach to me that's my thing that's my thing all right top five that's pretty hardcore I mean I would take top 10 but that's a big reach right right it's a big reach mark by the way I was wearing well I don't have a full picture but I know that you're wearing one of those things that became popular like eight or nine years ago at live games or in other scenarios where like a grown man would wear like the giant furry animal on his head.

Remember that whole movement? I don't know what happened with that. But I'd see you with that with like a nice Tito's and soda. No, I've got it. You're actually wearing the same t-shirt you're wearing now just, you know, playing nice t-shirt. But then you're wearing jams shorts. Do you guys remember jams? Oh, jam? That was like my wardrobe back in the day.

Like really, really bright color shorts. maybe like a swatch watch on his on his wrist wearing a swatch and now we'll throw it to you mark I already know what you're wearing this also became popular about 10 years ago at sporting events in fact it's where I thought you were going remember when guys started showing up in the the full green body spandex including the head and they would they'd be nude underneath and it would just be like nothing left to the imagination and even your face is covered in this green spandex outfit that that's what you're doing in your private home while you're putting together your vision board. I mean, I see Greg's face right now, but I'm concerned that part of me really likes that concept and

idea. I don't know if I like it hanging out with the three of us, but it's compelling. Could get you arrested, but it's what you like. It's what makes you feel safe. All right. Well, I'll take your word on that. But mine is, you know, some of these vision boards, they've got, you know, there's a verbal, there's a word aspect to it because it's something you want to just remember in your head. And I previously banned this phrase, but I'm going to unban it in this one situation because I think it's a powerful reminder of where Aaron Rogers could be in the future. And here's the thing. It's a cutout. The word is my office for the day. And the cutout is SoFi Stadium. And it's Aaron Rogers making it clear in his mind from here to the end that he will be

playing in the Super Bowl next year in SoFi Stadium that there is no other destination for Aaron Rogers. So when I talk about every Sunday, my office for the day. What a 180 this is. I love it. Well, because look, I think at this point, there were times when I was annoyed by the whole Aaron Rogers thing, mainly because people just like fast-track the Packers to the Super Bowl in every prediction all the time. And they would invariably crumble in the NFC title game. And you know, I've mentioned it before. It's like every January of like Dom Capers and his hair flying up in the booth as the defense is crumbling and the offense can't do anything about it. Well, things are a little different. This team is different. And they just lost two NFC

championships in a row, right? That's what I'm saying. Like, this time around, it had hair, his hair would have been flying up in some of this big games. This time around there can be, it is seek and destroy. And my office for the day is where he will get to when he gets that promotion to the right place he should be working, which is SoFi Stadium in January. And he, every Sunday until then, he's going to have to be a businessman with his briefcase. He's going to have to prepare his documents, file his reports, do it well, be a guy that shows up all day long, and you wind up in L.A. next February, winning the Super Bowl, and putting that narrative that he's one of these quarterbacks that's going to go down with just one Lombardi

trophy to bet. I like when you, because I obviously can't do the same thing. I like when you rein yourself in and you say, I'm not going to talk about the Browns, and then I'm going to pretend like I'm rooting for anyone else, including Aaron Rogers. I like that. Well, like last year, they could play them against each other. Then you would root for the Browns. It's fine.

I don't know. He really seems to be into Aaron Rogers. Well, they do play each other next year. So that'll be part of the journey. Cut to week for Mark flaming Aaron Rogers and the Packers for some reason. I don't know why. Wait, Mark, while we're here, while we're here, because you did have some really strong takes on this. And I hope you don't rein it in on the podcast, the engagement.

Yes, the engagement with the actress Cheyenne Woodley of Big Little Eyes and many other projects. Very talented woman. Your thoughts on the penning nuptials? I just have questions. I'd like to learn a lot more. It feels to me and I know nothing. So let's start right there. I'm not coming at you with information.

It just feels to me. Seem pretty certain on text. No, it feels a little. a little suspicious that, you know, there's all this thing about they met during the pandemic. She's never heard of football, which is fine. That's fine. That's fine. That part of it, I don't know. But it's just like when I think of Aaron Rogers and everything about him, like, what about what she's said about him is how they link up. I would love to hear. And Erica, if you cut this for social, I will drive my car off a cliff. So don't even think about it. I'd love to know Erica's take on

this too. But like, am I wrong? Does this seem like, oh, yeah, of course. This makes total sense. They didn't even know each other five months ago or whatever. And now they're like, I just, I want to know more. I'll leave it at that. And I probably was a little stronger on text. You were, yeah. Your texts were very. That was totally different.

Am I like a lone wolf with this? I just, I find it. It's a total publicity move. I mean, that's how I feel. I mean, he's dated famous people, but that's the circle he's in. You know, let people love. You know, Colleen and Gonzo, they were famous people in Philly. They moved in after three months, they were telling us.

It made it work. I got engaged about that, about as quick as Rob. I mean, this is the classic situation where Greg makes friends and I burn bridges, and I just, it's unappealing. Well, yeah, me and Woodley are going to be, you know, hitting the par three. I don't. Well, she doesn't know what that is. She's like, he's a football guy. It's like, come.

Okay, please. what is the Ricky you would know this is the type of thing I feel like you would know what is that celebrity dating site oh Raya Raya so there's this site

that you have to get invited to and it's basically a housing area for wealthy slash well-known people what's that

it's Tinder for famous you have to get verified you have to be accepted I got on it a couple years ago actually somehow I got invited

I don't think they're getting And not in Woodley Rogers level people. No. No, the bar's not that hot. Rogers sees, Rogers is watching Divergent one night and he's just like Texas agent, hey, can you get me her agent's number or whatever? You know, that's got to get it. Okay.

I was going to, I'm just saying, what if he was on Raya? I don't know. Okay. Maybe that's where they met. I don't know. I saw John Mayer on there. See, Ricky, who did you see when you were scrolling or were you swiping? Yeah.

How did you get in, by the way? All due respect. Yeah, someone gave me, like, an invite. I was, like, referred to by someone, like a YouTuber that has a trillion followers. So I, like, got on through an invite. And I saw John Mayer. I saw Kaylani. I saw Raven Simone.

I saw a couple of other, like, guitarists that you would recognize. Guitarists. Yeah. I mean, did you interact or date or DM or flirt? None of them matched me back. Which is really sad. It's one thing to see them. It's on Raya.

Yeah, Richie Sambora wasn't like, hey, got to check this lady out. It was such a rand, guitarists. They're like rock stars and like losers too. Like, oh, I'm a vine star with a million followers. It's like, get out of here. But here I am. Yeah, pot call. But all right.

All right. Well, Mark, that was good. No, I'm just saying. It's like, no, it's true. It's true. It's true. but like why wouldn't john mayor like be intrigued like i'm just like a little nobody who's like fun to be around like it's an immense mystery yeah man there what are you doing on that

side bro i mean come on i mean hey i guess he's saying he's just owning his whole thing all right uh does anybody else have anything i want to add to the vision board thank you rickie before we uh go i have a just i will not dive into them but i have a couple taglines for certain for a couple quick taglines that would take no more than 20 seconds if you'd be interested. I have another one to add to the board if you want to do that and then finish by giving us some taglines. Sure, let's do that. Okay. I wanted to throw, Greg, and you kind of put this on my radar and then I did some thinking about it. I want to see, it's a big picture of Greg Gumbull's head.

And then surrounding Greg Gumbull's head is just a collection of the most fierce looking wolves that you've ever seen. Just he's he, but the wolves and they had their teeth out, they are not coming at Greg. They're going the other way. They're protecting Greg Gumble.

Because what, whatever's happening behind this, this used to be the number one guy at CBS and those days are over. But what they've been doing with this guy, they just let Rich Gannon go. His partner for the last a couple years, I guess it was.

Before that, they had tagged him with Bruce Ariens, which was, you know, come on now. It was a three-man booth. And Trent Green was in there. And then before that, Trent Green was there, and they got Trent Green out of there. And it's like, let's get this man out of this abusive cycle where you're pairing him with like gimmick hires and quarterbacks from the imperial period of ludicrous. You know, how about we take Jim Nance and his $20 million a year demands, say, go take a hike, go to Amazon, care Greg with Romo, and for no other reason to just think how many less golf bits we'd have to endure during the middle of huge games. Gumble, Romo protect Greg Gumbull, wolves around him. He's safe.

I would only ask what other bits would we endure, though, in place? place of the golf bits. No bits. Gumble's a pro. He's been doing this for a long time. He's good at his job. Come on. He's a professional.

There's no question about that. Greg, why are you making that fit? What do you have against Greg? Well, I see the, I see the, first of all, the worm has really turned on the Romo thing. People are, are a little tired of Romo. I'm not. Or the, you know, the Romo Nance thing. You know, ball don't lie.

I mean, he's falling down that pecking chart. Greg Gumble. He had a time at our network. I don't know if you remember that doing Thursday night football. That love that. I said law don't lie. It doesn't even really make sense in this context. Not really. Mike don't lie? I don't know. Like CBS executives don't lie, but yeah, I guess they do. Always. Yeah. I don't know. You know, he had his time and he's still getting those checks. So I would be worried, though, about who's next up there. Yeah, if you're like, if you're Greg Jennings or whatever and you're the next partner for Gumble, you know, then you got to be a little worried. A little bit of a curse situation. It's a weird thing that you put this on your vision board.

I love it. Yeah. And I, I, Greg, or Dan, I wasn't aware that you were such a Greg Gumbull ophile. I, like, based on chatter in our newsroom, and I'm not pegging this on you, I didn't realize anyone was a Died in the Wool Gumble fan, but he is a professional, no doubt about it. I don't remember how we did on our play-by-play rankings a couple months ago. I don't think he's soared into the skies, but... It's like Greg Jennings is going to come for his first day of work. And they're like, oh, by the way, before you get in the booth, here's this pendant with an ancient, like, mummies head on it.

You have to wear it all season. It's like, why? Oh, no, don't worry about it. It's definitely not cursed. And I know Jennings is on Fox, save your tweets. I should have chosen Jay Feely or something. You know, it's a live show that we're taping here. I'll throw a one quick.

By the way, even in something like, this, Greg. Let's not throw Jay Feely out there. Go ahead. I just, yeah, trying to think of CBS. I have just a phrase for the, for the middle of it. I don't know if I looked at this exercise differently. I was thinking really more personally, but I'm putting that phrase, which I've brought up here on the show. It's your vision, Greg. Sure, yeah. Heed the call, which was something Wes would say to me a lot. Heed the call. It's just a nice, it's not about faith or anything. It's, you know, but that you can look at it that way, too. You know what's in your that you want to do ultimately if you look in far enough so heed that call i like i like that

and don't put a hashtag heed the call let's no no we don't need the call straight up i like that and gregg jennings if they try to give you a tiki god pendant just say no that is i'm not doing i'm not wearing this so so random is this the first we haven't talked to gregg gumble in a while do you remember that yeah we were not had we did not have a podcast when gregg gumbull was on nifle Network. Was it Gumbull and Mayock? Was that who was with Mayock? You predated me in terms of watching NFL Network, to be totally honest. I didn't even have NFL Network until 2014. But he launched Thursday Night Football. So that was a big spot. I thought Mayock was great on it. That was a big spot for Greg Gumble at NFL Network.

Yeah, you brought up Wes, and one of the things, I would have loved to read a book that Wes would have written because I think he would have written the next great sports book, if you were able to write a book, Greg, it would definitely have to be one of those like in-depth breakdowns, like they did like an S&L book, they did, these guys had all the fun, the ESPN book, like an NFL network, oral history. But oral history is even not taking advantage of this

because I want Greg's takes in there. I want you to write the tell all on NFL network. I put the takes in between, yeah. So stay on my good side network or else I'm coming to you afterwards. and I know all the people to contact. By the way, one of them is not Greg Gumbull. I made the huge Gumble mistake and confused the two Gumbles. It was Brian Gumbull.

Wait, real sports is Brian Gumbull? I knew something was wrong. Brian Gumble did launch the NFL Network. And that's why it was no, you know, with all due respect, I shouldn't say that. Don't say it. I know exactly where you're going. Don't say it. Edit that out.

I don't respect it. He was great in the studio. Brian Gubble, not good in the booth. It was a bad choice. So his brother, Greg. His brother Greg is in the booth. Okay. In the booth, Brian, not too much.

Greg's spinning. We're off the rails. All right. Give us some tags, Mark. All right. And there's a lot to these, but you're going to have to almost imagine what they mean, I guess. But Best Life Unlocked, Matthew Stafford. I mean, you had a, you know, we're five months removed.

from Mrs. Stafford complaining about Michigan, they're probably like, you know, shoveling their driveways. It's dim and dreary. Now you're in La La Land. I mean, it's a fantastic. I'm going to stand for them a little bit. You what? You, uh, wait, I don't understand what you're saying.

You agree with my- I just don't want it to go unchecked. Michigan's a wonderful place. I know a lot of people love Michigan. Oh, it's not really a shot at Michigan, but they seem to be tired with it. And I think this is a best life to unlock. They're suddenly, you know, hanging out in Los Angeles,

and there's a chance to become a star for the Rams. I like that out of a boring situation. How about this? If you're Jared Goff in Detroit, everyone's down on this guy. Time to be a boss boy. And you can paint that all for how you wish. But these are things that I've found on other people's message boards. People are actually using, in that case, it was time to be a boss girl,

but he's a boy. So I flipped it. For some reason, boss girl has a little more pop to it than boss boy. Maybe just a boss. Well, some things have more pop. hop than Jared Goff right now. So, I mean, it's, you know, he's a little emasculating boss boy. It's almost like a little takedown of the guy.

Well, that wasn't my attempt. The last thing is he designed a life he loved. Again, I saw she designed a life she loved. But this can be, I think, gender neutral. It's Sean McVeigh. I think he's boldly sort of said, look, I was the genius boy. And that came with, like, you know, if you ever watched the Royal Tenen bombs, their adult lives were riddled with problems after being the boy geniuses

and the girl geniuses in that family. And Sean McVeigh came in as that guy, as the head coach. Well, these are men. I mean, I don't have a, I could get a Sheila Hemp Ford in here for you somewhere if I, if we want. No, but just the use of boy. It's just coming up a lot. I don't know. This says he designed a life he loved.

Well, yeah, right. He was the boy genius. But I'm just saying that he has boldly sort of said, look, I'm restarting the engine, doing it my way. I'm designing the Rams and the life that I love. And I think that the Rams, if anything, they've kind of said, we don't care how anyone else does it, and you can like it or not, we're starting in a new direction. They've upped my interest in that team, and that was a chore, I think, on their part to get there.

No, I was just saying, like, just to take the pedal off the accelerator on all the boy stuff, because it might get weird on the vision board if there's just like too much stuff, like, boy this, boy that. Well, that's all. You know, you could exclude me from the exercise, but I'm allowed to paste what I want onto the board. You've got Greg gumbo with wolves. It was your idea. Yeah, it was a good idea.

Yeah, Greg Gumbull, not Brian. Can we put Sean McVeigh shirtless in the pool? Can that be the picture of them that we cut out and use? Sure. I don't know if that's exactly the message here, but yes, again, it's your, you have freedom to do what you wish as well. This is yours, though. That's why. I don't want to.

Could you put it next to my picture of him? Like, I could have him in clothing. You could have him in the pool. Okay. I hope someone's watching this or listening to this right now and maybe it shows up on the subret. somebody puts together what this vision board would look like, we'll definitely amplify that on social media. Oh, yeah.

A lot of boy stuff. We're going to get a lot of contributions there. Just because, by the way, it's been bothering me, I just want to let you know the original NFL Network Thursday night team was Bryant Gumble and Chris Collinsworth. And Dick Vermeel replaced Collinsworth on the Saturday games, which I remember was a weird thing. But I stand by my take.

Brian Gumble was one of the worst play-by-play man I've ever heard, barely was aware of what was going on in the NFL, killed those broadcasts. One little note before we get out of here, like I'm not standing for the total Brian Gumble takedown as someone who's older than you and grew up every morning watching Brian Gumble and Jane Pauley, you know, they were the Today Show host of choice. And I know Brian Gumble, that Sports Illustrated profile they put out about Brian and Greg Gumble back in the day was one of the bigger broadcasting takedowns I've ever read, and I would suggest you go find it. Do you guys remember that? No. I don't know that one. Greg, you, Greg, this will

essentially be adult reading to you. He did the game where they went 16 and O over the Giants. That was actually Brian Gumbull's last game, I believe, with NFL Network. How about that? Greg is so annoyed that he's so annoyed. And, you know, real sports, venerable contributions. Great to the sports world over the last 20 years or so. Still going, strong, too. There is definitely some respect on Bryant Gumbull's name here. But the vision board has Greg with the wolves and maybe Bryant, like with his name scratched out.

That's respect. There we go. A bunch of whippersnappers taking down the Gumbles. This should go well. All right, that's it for this week. We'll be back next week with two shows, including a Monday program. So you'll hear from us next on Monday.

Again, a reminder. The Chris Wessling GoFundMe for Lakeisha and Link is active. Please hit it up. And actually someone just on Twitter this morning had asked me about what kind of books Wes was into. Of course, as you know, wrote an amazing piece about his favorite football books of all time. Check that out.

And also another listener and Wes fan, as we all were, went on Spotify and saw that Wes, his Spotify account, his playlist, and I can't stress this enough, Wes was a music lover as all of us are. But Wes, in his Wes way, was also a curator of playlist that all fit a very specific mindset and he has 85 playlists available over on Spotify, which you could get, if you look them up, contact Wes over there or just check out my Twitter profile

where I have it amplified there. Keep saying amplified. Everything from Steely Dan to Leadbelly based on what we were listening to over at their place last weekend. Absolutely. All right. Good stuff.

This is Dan Anza signing off for Quiet Storm, the old boss, And Ricky Hollywood Behind the Virtual Glass Oh Greg Take down that other Suspenda

Or what is it What are they called? Overalls Brian Gumble That's it Until Monday It's gone Suspender

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