NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Super Bowl LI Opening Night recap

Episode Date: February 1, 2017

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling & Gregg Rosenthal – discuss all the latest news from around the NFL, including two new GM hires as the 49ers add John Lynch to their front office, and the Colts hire Chris Ballard to be their new general manager. Plus, the heroes recap everything they learned from opening night of Super Bowl LI, and make the case on both sides as to why we could see another Super Bowl blowout.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is accepting tailgate invites. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Oh, here we are.

Yeah, put Dan in a radio station booth and he starts yelling at me like the host of Mike and the Mad Dog or something. How you doing, baby? I like this. That's a good job by you, Mikey. Sports Talk 790 a.m. Our new location and the home of Lance Zeerling. Yeah, I think this is Earbaum's actual office area. So we're going to take good care of it, a friend of the show, Lance Zeerline, at the IHeart Radio Studios here in downtown Houston.

the site, of course, of Super Bowl 51, Marron, here we are, now just five days away from the big game. And, guys, it's time to start talking about that game. Last week we had some fun, we had some good times, Mark, hit the road on your road trip. Oh, make sure you check out Mark Sessler's banger. What's the vanity URL, Mark? Let me get back to you on that. It's not what I thought it was. Good promotion, Mark.

I will come back to you on this. We should hear a little bit about that trip. It's not too often that Mark Sessler is going to be driving across the country on the way to the Super Bowl. Maybe never again. How much driving did you do? Well, that was not my primary role, as we discussed on the last segment. Okay. Yeah, so now that road trips are done, and we're all now here together in Houston,

we're going to turn our attention to New England Patriots against the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. Last night, we all got in yesterday with the exception of West who got on Sunday, but we went to Media Night and at Minutemade Park, which is the home of the Houston Astros. So we'll talk about our takeaways from, you know, uniquely NFL event, media night. So we'll talk about all the happenings there. We'll also check in what's going on around the NFL outside of this game. because there is some big news going on out there. And we like to check all the boxes, folks. Greg, that's what we do.

We check all the boxes. That's just our life, you know, checking boxes. I'd like to think we do more than that. Box checker. You know what, though? You need. This is Super Bowl week. This isn't about box checking.

But you need somebody to check the boxes. We're going for a championship here. You need somebody who could check the boxes but with some flair. All right. I don't know. Who knows what we're talking about. Also, we will about that game, a segment called the darkest timeline. where we make a case on both sides, both for the Falcons and the Patriots,

why we might get, yes, another blowout. So these are the things we're going to talk about today. We are all excited to be here together in Houston. What is this? Our fourth Super Bowl is a foursome? It is. On the road together? This is our fourth Super Bowl.

First one was in New Orleans. Yeah. No. First one was in New York. That's true. Back in Los Angeles. Were you in Los Angeles? I believe reporting from that office during that Super Bowl.

Dan, we've been to six, though. This will be our service. This is number six for the Sizzler and I. I do want to make a statement. This is for the shadowy league figures. I know what you did by putting us in the C-Lister Hotel. I know a message was sent to the heroes, one, to keep us on the straight and arrow, to let us know, oh, you think you have a nice amount of listeners to your show. think your fan base uh is saucy and passionate and beautiful well guess what you're not you're

not big boys no and it was it was around 1130 last night the four of us having a nice beer together and you think we're right in the lobby of this gigantic hotel this super bowl hotel where will jerry jones be mark davis the rest there are probably five other humans in the entire lobby and the poor waitress is just waiting for us to leave so that's the scene I think the sad part, though, is it's not a message being sent. It's more like that madman scene where Don, you know, goes to the other guy. He's like, no, I don't think about you at all. Well, that's...

Well, I mean, what's more depressing? But, yeah, I felt like the bar was like one of those zombie apocalypse movies where the survivors walk through like a major city landmark and it's desolate and eerie. That's the lobby of our hotel. And then on my way to the media center and Radio Row today, I cut through the Marriott Marquis, where Handsome Hank and the other third floor diamonds are and a gorgeous, literally a palace that opened five days ago. Literally? They opened it for the third floors. The 2% power rains.

How many hours will pass before that becomes our hotel bar? Will we even descend on our own hotel again? I don't know. I don't know. Greg, you're not comfortable. You feel like this sends a bad message about us complaining about anything. It's your old boss way coming through. No, I just...

You're happy what you get is what Greg says. You are projecting in a high-stress situation on me. I'm good with this conversation. I don't miss any chance to complain about the corporate overlords, but this is the first year we've had a Mitch. Oh, we did have a match. We have handlers this year. We had a driver that took us from the media center to IHeart Radio Studio Radio or whatever this place is called. And that is, that's a step up.

We were passed through three separate hands. handlers we even had a person who made sure we were walking out the right door and to the right car well that's just because we're stupid and we need help none of us has any sense of direction then they understand that all right sydney is not with us but she is uh across the way in los angeles uh so sid i know you hear me let's do some news what's your favorite part of the around the NFL podcast now isn't that adorable robert bruce sent that in, his three-year-old boy, he's like the next Jonathan Lipnicki of Jerry McGuire. He's like our Lipnicki.

He's our human head weighs eight pounds kid. We've been given that much. We have a Lipnicki, and we're in the C-Lister Hotel. Wake up, shadowy league figures. Anyway, yes, let's get to some news. We'll start with Media Night, which was held, as I said, at Minutemade Park. and Mark, why don't you set the stage for the audience and let them know your overall feeling about Media Night? You've been to six of them now and how this one differed a little bit from the past and the general vibe.

It did. I mean, I would typically, I will not hold back. And I know there's already been enough of four reporters complaining about being at the Super Bowl. But Media Night historically. Oh, you put me in the Seelist Hotel? Yes. Media Night historically, I think, you know, maybe there are moments of it that are rewarding, but very few and far between if you're there to report it because you got a wild crowd behind you going crazy there's crazy stuff happening on the video board and you're just trying to discern to get any

sort of information from a player or coach and none of them want to be there so it's a little tough but last night's being in minute made park i thought that it was the best one for me that i've experienced because it was more spaced out they put some of the fans had headphones on so they could get their noise a different way it had a little bit of a more controlled setting to it was certainly more subdued which more subdued maybe uh from from from our vantage point as reporters trying journal is trying to get through the fleshy mounds to get some info it was better but i don't know like greg did you did it seem to you that it was a little a little like tamped down and you almost want media night to be a little weird no no i don't want

it to be any weirder i think it was just a bigger place and so that made more space and and you're right that it's it's a strange night but it's also like a night where you could talk to matt Patricia, the Patriots defensive coordinator one-on-one for 10 minutes, which is like... It is good access. You're never going to really get that opportunity. So if you want, like, I thought the players for the most part were happy to be there. The Patriots notably themed to just kind of be enjoying this. And like, they're not, no one's being a jerk.

Even Bill Belichick is taking, like, questions about his underwear and stuff like that pretty happily. Speaking of Bill Belichick, you know, I'm going to show. share a few clips of his availability. Here's one. This is where you want to be at the end of the year. You want to be in this game. You want to be playing for a championship. We're fortunate enough to do that.

We have a good team. I have a lot of respect for these guys, the players, how hard they work, how competitive they are. And this is where we want to be. So we're going to enjoy it. We're going to embrace it, and we're going to compete on Sunday. Thrilling stuff, Greg. Now this is the part where you step in, Greg, and you say, no, you're missing the whole point in. This guy's fascinating.

There were many moments on Monday night where he gave good answers, whether it was about historical stuff about his dad or, you know, the history of football or, you know, stupid stuff. He shot down some, you know, reporter who went back to an underwear question. You can't go back. He's like, uh, not yet. Actually, we, we already covered that. I'm not superstitious. Uh, and like Donald, like they brought up a Donald Trump question. And I do like the Belichick move where he not only does an answer.

answer the question, he just sort of like, he just laughs and looks away and waits, like, lets everyone know to ask another question. Like, he wouldn't even dignify it with an answer. I saw it happened with a Univision reporter who dared to ask about the halftime show. And he kind of humored her initially. And then when she asked a second question about Lady Gaga, he gave her a look for a half second, kind of a deep breath. And went, yeah. And look. away from her. So gave her a moment to smold her and just, and burn away and turn into Ash like the Terminator 2 people in the playground and then it carried on. But yeah, Belichick, he seemed like he was in good spirits though. He was happy. I mean, he said there's nowhere he would

rather be. I actually believed him because he knows what this means. You know, it's early in the week. It's unlike any other week of the season because he's already done the game plan. Like, they don't really have a lot to do Monday, Tuesday, relatively. So I don't. think they're too stressed out like he goes out for dinner with friends in in this part of the week let's hear what else bill had to say well think for the entire team we all understand that we need to play our best game we need to really have a great do a great job in our execution and um you know all the things that are important fundamentally to having good plays no matter what the plays are so hopefully we can do that for the team that's for everybody fascinating you know

anyone can cherry pick a couple bad answers anyone can do that we had the name of the video file that I'm taking this from and Sidney helped me out here was the best of Bill Belichick. I just want to say. What were you saying, Mark? No, I think the one thing that I've noticed, I don't know about you covering the Falcons, Chris, but each thing that I've been to so far, compared to past Super Bowls, and I do think this would be different if the Cowboys were here, everyone says, oh, it's a bigger room, it's a wider space. I get it, but it just feels like there's less media here.

It feels like a little bit of a down-tempo lead-up to the game so far. It's certainly more calm this year, and I'm with the Falcons, and since only two people in the country cover the Falcons, there aren't many, there's not much competition, but I have noticed more of a divide this year in the behavior of print journalists versus the self-important narcissist in television. If you have a microphone and a camera, you can go wherever you want, nudge people out of the way, jump to the front of the line, shove people into a burning fire, whatever you want to do, because you have a microphone in a camera. I love Wes at Media Night. You couldn't draw up something that is more distasteful to me than media. By the way, not only does Wes hate media. The music was so bad. Ex-ambassadors, a modern rock band, came out and played essentially a halftime show and then a post-game show.

So Wes, who also detests commercial live music in a concert setting. So you had to deal with that. How did it deal with the bodies? And you had to deal with the cameramen and the self-important. low hearts there was no al lighter this year acting like an animal there was just you they killed modern rock it's no longer modern there was like the worst thing i've ever heard didn't rock go out like 15 years ago i will give the guy credit from ex-ambassadors and i'm not really familiar with the band but he wore adidas sweatpants on the stage and i got to give

him a little bit of credit he's like saying you know comfort is more important the cool rock stars used to wear like leather pants and now it's over just like and it was another wear adidas it was another lead singer that had a sneaky Brian Hoyer looked to him. Just with a beer this time. Another one of these guys. What else went on at meeting night? Tom Brady. Obviously, always the biggest star, Brady,

had the biggest crowd by far. I thought it was interesting how even at the end of his availability, it was 15 people deep. By the end of Matt Ryan's availability, the probable MVP of the league, you could get right next to him by the end of the Falcons Hour. But, you know, I think a big

part of what... Matt Ryan makes Bill Belichick Look, and sound interesting. So there's a reason for that. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, so I think a big part of hanging over both media night and this entire week is what's going on in the country right now with a controversy and the protests and Donald Trump's early weeks in office here. And, of course, Tom Brady, who over a year ago had a Make America Great again, hat in his locker. and he's lived to regret that, I believe, because now he's president, just like nobody else really expected Donald Trump to be president. I don't think Tom Brady.

Do you guys think that he ever thought that this could be a situation he'd be in? I don't think he thought he would be facing a week-long barrage of questions around this. And going back to real quick, the mood of all of this, I think that what's happening in the country, you can't just ignore it, absolutely has draped over this Super Bowl to some degree. We're not in the mood to be. fascinated by a bunch of clowns running around, you know, asking questions that are ridiculous. I wrote on end around that this is in terms of Super Bowl history. You might have to go back to Super Bowl 25, which happened just as the Operation Desert Storm kicked off to find a Super Bowl where the current events of the country were so pushed to the surface that it kind of

puts the game in a different light. But Tom Brady was asked about his relationship with Donald Trump, as I'm sure he got more than one question on the topic, Greg, we can throw it to you in a second because you got close to Brady. Here's what Brady had to say. He's been deflecting the questions for months and months, and it didn't stop yesterday. What's going on with the world buck? I haven't paid much attention to what's going on. The country, President Trump, all that's happening and so forth. Like I said, I'm just a positive person, so, you know, I just want the best for everybody. Is it fair, Greg, for him to be dodging the question like that? No, because he's been a political act.

in some ways in terms of putting the hat there and some other. He's put himself into that arena, into that conversation. So I think if you're going to do that, then you should answer the questions, not just shoot it down. And I guess what do we expect out of him? But then don't make any statement to begin with. I wouldn't say what's going on in the country. It's a bad question. Just focused on what I'm doing.

I'm a positive person. Like, no, bro. I mean, I think part of this, like I was saying, he, I don't think he had any idea that this was going to go. I think Trump was his little golf buddy, and he put the hat in there, and it was cute, and Donald would probably shoot him a text, and that's cool. But then all of a sudden, Trump's the president as enacting policies that are freaking people out, and now Brady's the most famous athlete in America, and he's tied directly to Trump.

It's a tricky situation. Yeah, it's poor form. He is a positive person. I think that's the way he's wired, that he envisions things happening, and he makes them happen. and he's wired to do things in a positive way. But you backed Trump or you said words that supported him, and that has consequences. You should deal with him. And that wasn't the only time Trump came up in this.

In fact, the most high profile, prominent time Trump's name came up, surprisingly, was from one owner to another during a live NFL network, fill in the blank segment between Arthur Blank of the Falcons and Robert Kraft. Oh, let's talk about this. All right, now we're going to have a little bit of fun. The most famous person in your cell phone right now is Kenny Chesney. That's a blank. Yeah, I like it. Yeah.

How about you, Mr. Kraft? Donald Trump over here. Yeah. Elton John. Elton. That's another good one. That's a great one. Yeah, I love Elton.

Kraft, by the way, gave Arthur Blank a look like, bro. Before saying Elton, John. Owner code. Well, it, it's tricky to talk about. for everyone and that includes the players you know i asked ricardo allen about it who's the safety on the falcons who's a likable guy from the hard knock season if you if you remember and he said we we try to keep it out because that kind of stuff can divide a team and he he didn't try to put two things about he's like we're in when you know there's a few people that have things to say

but when they're when we're in meeting rooms when we're with coaches when we're in an official team capacity we don't want that coming up because that's going to you like little news stories could create a problem and he's saying stories like what's happening right now that could create a real problem and so it's kind of i get it in their situation where they're preparing for a super bowl they're kind of just see no evil here you know even right exactly and who has more than tom britt i mean from that angle i understand brady's response where i'm paid to do what i'm doing my whole career rests on this game and everything else. You're going to ask me to start to go down other political channels and get all worried about

other stuff. Other people can. That's not Brady's role right now. Let's move on and talk about what was kind of the most entertaining story, but also kind of cringe-worthy if you put yourself in that person's shoes. Kyle Shanahan, who was a big star on the floor at Media Night, was speaking with press members for an hour straight. He had his book bag or his backpack near his vicinity.

And at the end of the speaking engagement, he looks down and the backpack's gone. Greg, what happened? That is wild. A 78-year-old columnist for the San Francisco examiner, paper I'm not familiar with. Maybe our podcast listeners from San Francisco can... Been around for a very long time. There used to be an examiner in so many of the NFL cities. It examines things.

Old art, I believe. You know, he took it, he took the bag by mistake. He left his bag behind. USA Today is the one that reported this story out. But Shanahan was frantically looking around the floor for 15 minutes, apparently has the game playing in it. You know, I think a security official from the Falcons looked through arts bag, figured out who it was. And they, you know, they started calling him and they got the bag back. I mean, of all things, it's a reporter that's going to have to be covering Kyle Shanahan from here on out.

So kind of a rocky start. You might have wanted to go on the blackmail route where you say, I have this thing, but in return, constant scoopage up in the bank. What about the six degrees of separation here and follow along? Art, 76 years old. 78 years old, writes for a weekly newspaper or daily newspaper from San Francisco, which is nearby where Tom Brady grew up, who is the quarterback of the Patriots who are coached by Bill Belichick, who cheats. What if he was in on this?

He told the old man to get the book bag, and he told him to get the chip out of the iPad. Who's in with me? Who's coming with me? I'll come with you. I like that. I like that's juicy, and it's realistic. I, I, you could almost sense the air come out of the balloon for all the tinfoil hat conspiracies that we're hoping they could have something to talk about with this story. I think he went with the Uncle Leo defense.

I'm old. I didn't know any better. She had a hand, by the way, you know, handle, it was, it's such a strange situation because he, He's talking about this is his first Super Bowl. This is the peak of his professional career. He's been to, he said six Super Bowls as a coach's son. He's never been as a coach. And he's got one of the greatest offensive all time.

Meanwhile, the whole time he's answering questions about the 49ers. And a job that he can't officially say he took. Like the whole thing was strange. I thought he handled it very well, maybe a little more of a Kyle Shanahan fan, just how he talked about it. Did Dan Quinn have a similar situation in Seattle before he took the founding shot? Yeah, that's a good point. It's not easy because, and he said, I'm not going to lie. Like, I'm really excited about what's coming up and everything.

And you've got to think, like, he knows he has so much work to do in San Francisco, but he's got the biggest game of his life ahead right now. Belichick, that's one thing he said. He said, this Shanahan offense ranks with the best offenses he's ever faced. Well, I think Chris Wesleyan said it before Belichick did, but I have wondered. Wow, how about that? Thank you, Monichick. Well, what I'm supposed to give you credit for that over Bill Belichick?

No, no, no. The Belichick's riding my coattails? That's what I see. I have wondered if the Shanahan thing at all is a distraction. I assume, I presume not, especially if you look back at the way Dan Quinn handle it, but it's person to person. And, I mean, it's, it is an odd thing to suddenly realize this guy that you've kind of, he's so tight with Matt Ryan that it's over and it's like he's leaving. I don't know. Devante Freeman, let's spin through a couple more things from Media Night.

Devante Freeman told NFL.com is Mike Silver that the club should pay him like a top team. money like pay him top tier money like the elite back he has been this season he kind of pushed it off when asked about it west freeman should be paid like a top tier back is he that good i think he's a top six NFL back whether he should be paid like one depends on how you want to build your team but this was good reporting by mike silver and awful instincts by freeman's agent to come out with this right before the super bowl to put that kind of attention on it you can figure that stuff out in the off season. I agree, but the reaction and maybe it's just reading Twitter seemed a little too

much in that direction. Is it really that big a story? I mean, was it really that big a deal? Like, is this something that's bothering the team? I don't think it's that. It's not some crazy thing this week. When the agent's coming out and throwing shade on Tavin Coleman's role in the offense, that's not a good idea.

That's fair. I would have a problem with it if I was in the Falcons locker room. Save your agent from talking until the offseason. And that's what I would tell Devante Freeman. That's fair. Mark, you spent some time with Dante Scarnacia, who is the most famous offensive line coach in America. He was great. I mean, well, first I went and talked to a couple of his players just to find out kind of what they feel about him.

It's an article that was assigned and will be writing. But then I went and talked to, well. What does that mean? It's another article that exists, that will have my byline. It will exist by tomorrow morning. Sub-banger? Not even. I mean, let's...

Oh, wait, someone came up with a good word for a sub-banger. Now I'm forgetting it. Was it like a thumper? That's showmanship. Sets it up. Come back to us about Greg. All right, go ahead, Mark. Well, I thought Dante Scornicka, though, then so I, you know, the floor is so vast that if you're looking for someone, it's next to impossible.

And if you run into someone, you're just lucky. And suddenly, this little white-haired coach, little tiny guy, is very small, was suddenly right there. I was like, that's Dante Scarnackia. So I just got in there. started to listen to him. I thought he was just a perfect guy. He went through and talked about how someone like him relates to guys that are 21, 22, 23. I mean, that's hard in our office sometimes, but he clearly believes so much in teaching. All his players said, this guy loves us so much. He's there for us. He cares about teaching. They said he's the most consistent

coach that they've ever been around that the way he doesn't know TAs is the same way, the same drills he does during Super Bowl week. And that line, they were much healthier this year. That helped but they've been incredibly consistent and i think his returns a big reason why i i don't i've never heard him talk i've never actually seen him i imagine him to be like what is the name geppetto from pinocchio i love jepetto like a kindly young uh old italian man he's like four feet tall and uh cooks a mean yep got a little bit of jepado in him who's the jimony the cricket in this situation that'd be shack mason shack mason is the correct answer uh any other takeaways uh from the night other than Chris Berman's

personal tribute where they brought him onto the stage to the tune of the natural thing. Oh my God. Speaking of like TV TV reporters coming up and saying what they could do, there was a moment Chris, you would have really, Wes, you would have appreciated like when he came up to

Dante High Tower and just tried to get his eye contact, it was really, there was just such a moment of like, make sure you know who I am and that you're lucky. That, you know, daddy is coming home to talk to you. It's your big time because i'm speaking to you they're the level of the level of big time that's what i'm telling you that's what i said the level that of big timing that goes on in these in these functions just

amazes me you know there's no big timing at the hyatt no no there's no there's no cast system there's only four or five people it's just like yeah it's like 70 there's more staff there and we all have nice time together and it's like a fallout shelter see the first time i've ever been at the super bowl and seen more tumble weeds than bar patrons i have see i have see i have some different vantage point when we would come with for nbc sports.com thinking of like 07 08 were my first super bowls sometimes you'd be you'd be like a 45 minutes away in some holiday and or so at least yeah it's a nice place they got it's getting back to what i thought you were going to hit us with which was yeah thankful for what no i'm just saying we're could be a lot

worse no more kovetching future podcast sponsor houston's hyatt regency yeah it certainly could be Yes. Big news, surprise news, out of San Francisco. The 49ers have named John Lynch, their new general manager, John Lynch, a man with limited experience to say the least, has most recently, at least in a management role. The deal is for six years. The same contract length. The 49ers are planning to give Kyle Shanahan when they officially make him their head coach, according to RAP sheet. and Wes, your thoughts on this high, which to me kind of felt like on some level, Lynch, a guy, a Hall fame player, well-respected, people think he does a great job in the booth. But immediately you got the Matt Millen comparisons, the same type of situation with Detroit. We know how that turned out. To me, it felt a little bit like a Hail Mary move from the 49ers in the sense that they need something big to turn the franchise around. So let's take a chance on this guy with huge upside, but a big question mark.

Yeah, I think you labeled that pretty well. As a general role in all fields, I think that talent is much more important than experience. But in this specific role, as general manager, what does he know about the salary cap and contracts and all? In addition to the fact that he's never really scouted or worked his way up through the system, you're right. It seems like a Hail Mary to me, and I'm just not sure if Jed York deserves benefit of the doubt on this. Well, Jed York doesn't. Does he?

I mean, go ahead. No, I mean, he clearly does not, based on his recent track record. He owes millions of dollars to people that a year and two years ago he thought were the right group. And what happened in San Francisco was a continual issue between the various power silos, the GM and the coach, not getting along. Nice silo usage of a big spot. What happens to happen here is Kyle Shanahan, who, by the way, for all the good things he does, has gone from organization to organization and in some cases left some unhappy people behind. And so the question for me is how Lynch, who's going to be a really trial-by-fire general manager, gets along with the first-time head coach.

That's going to decide, I think, a lot of how this works. Well, it sounds like Kyle Shanahan picked him. So it just speaks to... Lynch picked himself. It sounds like, what do you mean, he picked himself? Called Kyle Shanahan and offered his services for the job. And he also spoke that he was so thankful that Kyle basically, I think, pitched the Lynch idea. to the yorks that he was so supportive of it you know he talked about it and said anyone that's

successful and that's smart and you know you give them time and you got to like like the first day i'm not an expert on you know guys coming up in the personnel business but everyone's reaction to the guy they hired adam peters as their vice president of personnel was basically that this is a shooting star who was rising in the broncos organization was the last guy that the broncos wanted to let leave but because John Lynch is so well respected and has these relationships he got this guy to come with him now this in a Peters he knows about scouting so he's going to be the vice president personnel and you would think that a lot of the people working for Lynch are the ones that are going to be making a lot of the those kind of things let me ask you this

I know that you mentioned last week that head coach in the NFL is now like a CEO more than being really intense with the position groups and running an offense or a defense do you think that the football czar role is becoming more like that where John Elway oversees guys that do the salary cap or overseas personnel people, but he's in more of just like captaining the ship rule. Yes, but I could also point to other teams that have had football czars before and it's gone horribly wrong. I think it's just you cannot, there's no one way to do it. Right. There's no one way to be a GM. And I think Kyle, it tells us that Kyle Shanhan is going to have a lot of power. We knew that right out of the gate. And it's about the mix. It's so many people having to work

together with in an ego less way you don't hear about power issues inside of new england or other really successful teams like green bay because they typically don't exist they fish those people out well the chanahan found a guy that he respects and it's crazy that they got a six year contract that's that was reporting so the 49ers basically are reacting to their reputation of firing someone every year and saying nope this is the time it's for real we are legitimately going to let them it was almost like jed yorks Or Jed York is trying to sink the family fortune. It's almost like he's preventing the future Jed York.

He's like, he's like, I know this is going to be tough. Our roster is really bad. The only way I can prevent myself from firing them all in two years is give them both six-year contracts. There's the obvious problem with that, though. John Lynch could stink at his job. And let's be honest, working at Fox, nice gig, saw him at media night. He seemed to be having a good time. People seem to like the job he does.

But the chance to be a GM with no previous front office. experience did you have to offer him six years to lure him into the gig that i'm a little surprised that you would have to give him that many years that many years absolutely but i will say that what's equally tiresome is to watch coaches and gms and in front office people get burnt out and get fired and they get immediately hired to do the same thing somewhere else so i'm okay with looking outside of the normal group of people but we'll see how it goes finally uh the indiaapolis cults have named Chris Ballard, their new general manager, this comes eight days after the strange and drawn out dismissal of Ryan Grigson. Ballard was the chiefs director of football operations, and he now takes over for the Colts, as we've talked about.

This is always, it's going to, as long as Andrew Luck is there, it's going to be a good job. But Greg, he needs to make the moves that Ryan Grigson did not know how to make, and maybe that starts on the offensive line. Yeah, I agree. And in defense, who has Gregson brought in other than Vante Davis? That's kind of an exciting player core piece. I liked what I heard out of Ballard. We'll see. They drafted well in Kansas City.

That is what's happening in the news. Oh, you're not even going to bring up the Jets hiring their offensive coordinator, John Morin. Oh, it's because no one cares about the Jets. Enough shots about Belichick. Your team has no Q factor right now. So, first of all, not a good luck. Second of all, you just said, why didn't we bring it up because nobody cares about the Jets? But you wanted to bring up.

John Morton is a great man. John Morton is ready to lead the Jets. He's been in the league for 13 years. My research tells me that he spent the last two seasons with the Saints as a receivers coach. And you want to talk about a high-flying offense, the Saints. And now you got John Morton in the building in the Meadowlands. Who knew John Morton was drawing up that offense? What?

What could go wrong? He'll be the best Sean Payton assistant since Joe Lombardi. This guy's the Tom Savage of offensive coordinators. All our problems are solved in New York. Okay, that's what's happening in the news. You know, Greg, don't get touchy. This is your special week. That was me having fun.

Is this what you want to hear? You want to hear some more Belichick? Is that what you want? That was unbecoming, Greg. You know, we played a lot of good football teams. They play hard from snap to whistle 60 minutes. I have a lot of respect for that. And they practice that way, too.

It shows up in the garage field. I like that Mark is suddenly, because he's got this nice microphone in front of him, is putting on like an NPR voice. And that's very nice. Greg, you have gone full villain. And by the way, I think that I would vote to kick Greg off the show right there. I think we've all had enough.

Wow, it is getting tense. That was unbelievable. You know, and that sets up... I haven't eaten all day. I think this is what happens. I'm usually a regular eater. You are a gigantic mess right now. I love the tension, and it's a good time.

It's a good time to now take sides. And the game is, or the name of the segment, is the darkest timeline. And I think I might have used that name before, but I don't care. I'm using it again, the darkest timeline. And here's the situation. As you may know, the average margin of this. victory in the playoffs was 15 points. We saw blowouts all throughout the first three rounds of the postseason.

And now everyone's excited, oh, but now we have two great teams and the Falcons and the Pats. We're going to see a nice close, maybe a shootout with one team prevailing or not, according to Mark. We might not have a winner. That was your prediction anyway. Still out there. Still out there.

And yeah, it's picking up steam, unfortunately. Yeah, this is not where I wanted it to go, but I can't control the... Did you read the tea leaves on this, or was that more like a blind, like, kind of Sessler you had, and now it's getting a little too real? Or did you kind of see this? I wish I could remember. I remember just that when I said it, you know, the general feeling was, well, you know, you don't know how to really play this game, but...

For those that don't know, Mark predicted back in a November, I believe, that there would be no winner in Super Bowl 51. In a sandwich bet. And, I mean, if I were to win, I don't really think that eating a sandwich is something that's going to solve. You know, it's not going to help anyone. So, no, I would not collect. I don't even know if we're going to be around to be collecting or giving out sandwiches if there's no. Well, let's spend our last few days.

This is the darkest timeline. Millions of sports reporters crushed up, fleshy masses, try and interview athletes. That's a good way to go out. Anyway, so, yes, the darkest timeline is another. You haven't seen your kids in two weeks either. No, everything's fine. Another blowout in the Super Bowl, which we don't want, but it could happen. And what we're going to do today, and our next show, we're going to formally make our Super Bowl picks.

Maybe we'll do a couple sandwich props and have some fun on Thursday. But right now we're going to go on the side of some cold reality, potentially, and make the case for both the Falcons and the Patriots, how they might be the team that is responsible for those. laying another blowout on another playoff team. So what we'll do here is we'll put the scientists together. It seems unfair. Greg and West. But, you know, but

the good thing is they might turn each other, turn on each other like that. And you always, because there's a lot of down in the lab, the egos. No. They're very large. Oh, please. And then, you know, we're upstairs, Mark. Oh, yeah, we're... I like how you literally put yourself above it. Yeah.

Yeah, we're the ego-driven duo. So the scientists will take the side and make the case of why we're about to see Patriots blow out. Mark and I will make the case why the Falcons, who have blown out many a team this season, will do it again on the first Sunday of February at NRG Stadium. And that would be the darkest timeline because we want to have a close game. Like, well, here we go. Here's the priority. I don't want to see a Patriots win, period.

So that would be dark. But if the Patriots blow out the Falcons and you guys are about to make the case how it could happen, that would be the darkest timeline for the old Zucer. So why don't we start there? Greg, Wes, make the case why the Falcons don't have a chance. You know, Bill Belichick, when you hear him talk about the Falcons, there's a lot of respect. He has a lot of respect for their offense. He talks about their team speed so much that Patriots players are going through the motions,

just dropping the phrase team speed into everything they say because it's a talking point for the Falcons for the Patriots this week but when he had Dimitrov coming through his system the two parted ways on one core philosophy Dimitrov built his team to be fast on that track inside the dome that's their dominant characteristic and you see it in their linebackers

which are three of the fastest linebackers in the NFL Bill's linebackers are big and they've always been big he builds powerful teams and he's going to look at this Falcons team as much as he respects them like the Indianapolis Colts. He is going to line up, send Legerrett Blunt down their throats 30 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns because he knows that this allegedly improved Falcons defense

for the past six weeks is getting up on inferior opponents at the front of the game, scoring on an opening touchdown, allowing their pass rush to come flying off the edges with no concern whatsoever for play action or anything else because you've got a big lead. He is going to run the ball down the falcons' throats because he doesn't think their defense has a backbone.

Greg. You guys are going to present your entire case, Craig. Oh, I thought we're going back and forth a little. I haven't heard enough to be impressed yet, so go ahead, Greg. Well, that's not you. If you're going to take one coach, if you're going to take one coach, if you're going to take one coach for one game, to create one game plan, you got an extra week to do it,

you know, I'm going to take Bill Belichick. He's gone against the greatest offenses in the history of the NFL before. Hasn't won them all, but he's won a lot of them against some of those Colts teams, against the bills back in the 80s as the Giants defensive coordinator, against the Rams. And one of the big difference to me is in the secondary. And I agree, Wes, that the Falcons defense, when I watch them, where's the improvement? I don't really see the improvement.

The Patriots in Falcons are first and second in the NFL offensively in yards after the catch. The Patriots are first defensively in preventing yards after the catch. So that's a strength for them. It's strength on strength. Logan, Ryan, Malcolm Butler, you know, Ryan said today that they told him that's why they drafted him. If you can't tackle, you don't play for the Patriots. Duran Harmon said he couldn't get on the field until he could tackle. that's what they do well that's how the falcons get a lot of their big plays the falcons on the other hand

are dead last in the NFL in yards after catch allowed and that's not just the receivers if i was them that i'd be worried about i'd be worried about our boy dion lewis i'd be worried about james white i'd be worried about all of them because they they make you make tough decisions and you look at this secondary and that's where you can see the big plays whereas with the Patriots, big plays are death. Bill Belichick, you know, he was talking yesterday, too. There's nothing worse than a big play. We want to get them into third downs.

We want to get them into the red zone situations. Of course, every team wants to do that. But the Patriots have proven year after year after year that they rank higher in points allowed than yards allowed. And that's why I could see a lot of sevens for the Patriots and some threes for the Falcons. And in these games, the case to me is these games are weird. The conference championship and the Super Bowl games have too many blowouts because I don't know what it is. It's the pressure of the game. It's the moment when you have a certain velocity going in one direction.

Somehow they lose track of who they really are as a team. And to me, I don't expect the Patriots. I just do not expect the Patriots for that to happen. If they fell down by 12, I would think they can come back in this game. If the Falcons fall down by 12 haven't been in this situation much, I could see it going another way. And that's where, Mark, I could not disagree more. This foul, and West, you've been pounded the table yourself.

When are we going to start giving the Falcons the credit they deserve nationally? Why are we always making excuses why other teams failed to handle the Falcons? It's the Falcons that are whooping on teams. And I don't think there's any way that the Patriots, and I know their defense statistically looks good, and they did a nice job against the Steelers. The Steelers killed themselves, killed themselves, and played maybe one of their worst games of the season. Bad Steelers came back at a terrible time, the AFC title game. So on some level, and this is going to, I get it, I'm a Patriots hater, but I do honestly

still believe on some level the Patriots haven't truly been tested against a truly great offense. And Mark, this is an all-time offense. Bill Belichick said it himself, and it's Knoxie's buttering up his opponent. Yeah, they have scored 30 plus points in 10 of their last 12 games they are not a team that was at their peak power back in week six or week seven they are at their peak power right now talked with a couple of defensive backs on the patriot today patrick jump basically said i didn't drop a name you just did greg please refrain from speaking and greg is interrupting my segment of the podcast after your segment your segment my portion of our segment after the npr thing right think that you'd be less i mean continue on ever be hired by npr

Continue on, Terry Gross. Let's start right there. The Atlanta... Don't let him get to you, Mark. Keep powers. I am going to not let him get to me. I love what Atlanta does on offense, because if other teams have that one or two players that Bill Belichick can say, we're going to erase them, and you wipe out that offense if you're successful with that, you can't do that with Atlanta. They have so many different ways they can attack you.

Matt Ryan has been overlooked most of all season. He's an MVP quarterback. This isn't last year's Cam Newton and the Panthers going in. and facing an offense or the defense like the Denver Broncos. This is a different situation. I understand Belichick with a weak to prepare is highly dangerous, but this Falcons team, to me, I feel like there is not a weakness on their offense. And you can say sevens and threes, but how are you going to hold the Falcons' offense to threes over and over?

And now this is how it gets to a blowout. This is how it gets there. And I know it's hard to imagine the Patriots and Belichick being blown out, but what sounds like you? It's happened in the playoffs. It could happen. It could happen. The Falcons score first on everybody. The Falcons can score second on anybody too.

If the Falcons jump out fast here, and we know they can, and they do it literally every week, that whole game plan, if the Patriots, like, we want to pound it right down their throats and go that path and lean on the running game, if they can get out to that early lead and take the Patriots out of their initial game plan, yes, Tom Brady can get in a shootout with anybody. But I like the Falcons just being so overwhelming with, yeah, they get two weeks to plan for the Patriots too, that they lay 45-50 burger in a huge spot. And it could happen, 45-21. They're not giving up on that game plan. There are five dominant units and one really weak one in this game. Two great offenses, two great special teams, one top-ranked defense, and one defense that just isn't good. And that's going to be the weakness. That's not fair.

been saying all year that we're giving all these defenses too much credit. The Patriots, you can make the same case for them. So maybe they're only the sixth best defense. That's a lot different than the Falcons having and Greg said the worst defense in the NFL and yards after contact. Also the third worst red zone

defense this century. This is a defense that can be exploited by a smart coaching staff and a good quarterback. You don't think that the Patriots can have a really bad day on defense this game? No, I think the Falcons can make any defense have a really bad day. But I'm saying the Patriots can do that much more easily, just like I said, everything came so much easier to Matt Ryan and the Falcons and it did to Aaron Rogers because they had to work so much harder.

Things come easier to the Patriots defense than the Falcons defense because the Falcons defense just isn't very good. They don't have strengths to match up with the Patriots weaknesses. I really think the Patriots are vulnerable, like in the interior offensive line. I know they've been a good offensive line this year. They haven't been as good in the playoffs. that can be a problem. Do I think that Rashid Hagamon is going to get after them? He's been playing well lately.

Brian Cox was talking him up at the media day. Cox incidentally said he said his Saturday will be determined how successful it is by how many cigars he smokes. I love Brian Cox. Brian Cox is the best. He was trying to not be too respectful for Belichick who's meant a lot to him in his career. I don't think those guys are particularly.

really big strengths for them. Like Vic Beasley hasn't done anything in about four or five weeks. Dwight Freeney's playing pretty well. But if Dwight Freeney is your best pass rusher going into a Super Bowl over the last week or two, that's a problem. What do you have to hold the Falcons to for a chance to win this? I mean, they've scored under 20 points one time all season. Are we expecting them to go and drop 17 points in this game?

Yeah, I think they're going to look at what the Eagles did when they held him under 20. And frankly, we're the better team in that game. with a good defense and I think you're going to see the Falcons haven't really played a good defense lately The one way to stop Brady is pressure and there's no way to I can obviously

you know we're talking about this it would still surprise me if there was a blowout in either direction it's just easier to see it from the Patriots. We've thought that a lot during the playoffs that's all back to the main thesis here

that's true but I it for a Patriots fan to know that Tom Brady's facing a team without a great pass rush week after week in these playoffs, that's all you can ever ask for. Because you just kind of don't believe that he's going to be totally stopped unless you have a great pass rush.

I mean, he came back two touchdowns on the Seahawks, on a great 2014 Seahawks defense. So that's why I would think if they're down in this game, he can come back. All right. So let's hope there's no blowout. But that's how there could be a blowout on either side of this game. And like I said, on Thursday, we will approach the game from another angle and then also pick the games. And we're getting near the end of the show now. What's going on for the rest of the week for everybody?

I will let you know my party schedule. I'll be at the Madden Bash. Wes, you're welcome as a plus one to all these parties, by the way. Don't even say that. I am not going to any parties. No, I'm not even invited, first of all. and nobody there wants to talk to me I'd rather meet with a stranger

you know in downtown are you worried that the paramour is going to listen to this episode hear it and and say Greg really rabble-dized in today I mean Greg just made that five times worse if that happens you're in a tough spot now

the paramour the paramour and I have gone about 15 rounds on this issue yeah she comes down on the other side of it I just have no business at these parties nor do I want to be in a party Wes, we can hang out in that lobby with four or five other humans, three of them waitresses and you and me. Much more appetizing. I'm sure those three waitresses are more interesting than any of the celebrities at this party.

Okay. So Wes surprisingly has made a strong opinion on a topic. I will be at the Madden party. I'm going to go. And then Keith comes into town. Keith Hans is coming in for the game. Really excited about that. Who's he rooting for? My brother-in-law, Keith. usually my dad is rooted on the side of the AFC team that's kind of what we do same thing with baseball with the World Series that's a very old school approach I like that but there are exceptions and a New England team would be one of them so I think of the Hansis House in general is coming down

on the side of pro Falcons this Sunday not surprised yeah so I'm doing that Greg what do you guys So you want you want my dad and my brother who are coming to this game to be sad. That's what you're saying. I want him to have a nice time. You know, who knows how many more Super Bowls that he'll get to go out. His dad has been sad all season. He's going to sign with, you know, he needs to.

My dad has never seen, you know, this is his second Super Bowl. First one did not include the Patriots. Who knows? You might never get a chance to see the Patriots win the Super Bowl. I hope your dad has a great time enjoying the experience, not the game. Did you just say that your dad has really experienced four Super Bowl titles but never in person so let's calm down on the morning of adult patriots fans he's never seen it in person my goodness i'm just saying you know he's getting up there in years just give the man something give him one

the fifth super bowl title this one in person also if they were to lose i'm 36 years old i've never seen my team in the super bowl period come on gregg that's not fair you make it too easy sometimes the throne of ease you're a villain at you Speaking of putting the mic, the mic changes people, you're kind of in that like, hey, I'm the guy with the leather jacket in the corner, slinging arrows in a big spot. This is not leather. Drawing a big circle in my notebook. No, that's my note.

Yeah, that was my daughter who drew that. Mark, your final thoughts on that vicious, savage NPR dig from Greg. Don't appreciate it. It wasn't a dig at all. And again, I'll go back to this. I love NPR. If NPR were to hire me, they would not hire Greg. And so I would be happy to work.

work for NPR. I mean, Terry Gross is like the goat. You should wish to be Terry Gross. Wow. Another dig. Another day. Greg is coming out of the gate hot in this two of a week. He's feeling insecure about something, a little bit nervous.

Maybe nervous. He'll get to the bottom of it at some point. So Greg is attacked Mark as a professional. Needlessly. Trying to submarine Wes's relationship and then took a needless dig at my jets who are already on the ground, a dead horse. I didn't know this was such a bunch of mouth. You know, I didn't know. all these sensitive snowflakes in here or whatever

now it's our fault because we're sensitive yeah yeah we just sound like a trump supporter you're the man in the black hat once you get in the studio here at iHeart studio i heart radio i heart radio i hear i really think it's you know i'm usually well fed and i haven't eaten all day i really haven't eaten in like two days and it in it's bad for you it makes you ornery

very well to the listeners um we uh who do we have in the car downstairs Mitch. Mitch. Mitch is downstairs. We've got our own Mitch. We've got to get to Mitch. You got some bangers coming. Everyone should read the bangers coming from Sessler and West. And make sure of Mark's long form. How did it turn out, Mark? Was it a banger? It turned out all right. You're happy with it. I'm happy with it. I'm going to read it tonight. The Road to Houston. Road to Houston is the, well, I believe it's, look up, do Nor forward hashtag Super Bowl City. Go to my Twitter feed. It is pinned on my Twitter. Just go there.

Did you say forward hashtag? Yeah, because forward. I don't know. There were two addresses for it. It never to be Terry Gross ever. I don't want to go around it. Look at my Twitter feed. More followers than Terry Gross, I don't imagine. Greg, did you figure out that the name that you brought up and then didn't have the answer or some type of note that you had? Don't turn this around on me.

No, I was saying I thought maybe you would look at it. We're just tying up loose ends now. All right. That's it. Next time you hear from us will be Thursday night or Thursday afternoon. That will be our official, let's call it the official Super Bowl 51 preview show, again, here from IHeart Radio Studios in Houston. Thank you to Sports Talk 790 for helping us out with this, and we will be back. Thank you for listening.

And stay tuned in on all of our social media feeds, but I'll try to do another. I did live Periscope. Wes and I tried it earlier. or maybe we'll do another one on Thursday. So thank you to everybody for listening. It is time to go. So this is Dan Hansa, signing off for Quiet Storm. You could be Terry Grossmark.

I believe in you. No comment. The mailman. The man in the black hat. And new money all the way back in Culver City. Till Thursday. This is an I-heart podcast.