NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The Gang Gets Patriotic

Episode Date: July 4, 2023

In a virtual room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus and Gregg Rosenthal tell you what about the NFL makes them feel patriotic. Before the guys get patriotic, they get caught up on some of the happenings from around the league including JJ Watt's broadcast future (08:08) and Mike Evans' outlook on the Buccaneers QB situation (16:13). After the break, the heroes tell you what about the NFL makes them feel patriotic, like early morning football on Thanksgiving (30:00), Justin Jefferson (43:10) and the vastness of football as a whole (57:45).   Note: Time codes approximateNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Always wears sunscreen outdoors. Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL. My name is Dan Hansis here in Los Angeles on the day before Independence Day when yes, you should absolutely be wearing your sunscreen. Skin health, people, get it. Joining me, just one other man today.

Mark Sessler is doing whatever Mark Sessler does when he's on vacation. But here, a man, not in America, but in the Orient, the Far East. A man who went dark last week as he became one with the culture of Tokyo, the great matrient. the great metropolis of the east. But now here he is. Contributing to the West. Greg Rosenthal. I feel like we got to update this music.

But I appreciate it. I have become one with the culture here. But these cultures don't run, Dan. And some might say I'm the most American, the most patriotic of any American. Because I've been celebrating for seven hours. It's already Fourth of July here. I woke up at midnight.

just been, you know, watching WWE since for the last seven hours. I'm already ahead of you in my Fourth of July celebration. For people listening, you would think that Greg wouldn't be in a totally white room in a gray polo shirt. He's actually dressed like Apollo Creed before the Drago fight. That's how patriotic Greg Rosenthal is. Is there something wrong with this song? You said it was outdated?

I don't know. It's just, you know, it is very, it's very traditional Japanese. We could get some J-pop or something. Now, this reminds me, the most Japanese I ever feel on these trips is we go to the onsen, which is like a hotel but with hot springs. So you go in the bath there, you go in the hot spring baths. And you get out of the hot spring baths and you put on your robe and you're walking, and you're just totally at peace at that point.

You've been blasted by hot water for a half hour. You're just as chill as can be. And when you're walking in the hallway back to your room in your yucata, in the rope. They are playing music kind of like this, and I'm like, this is about as Japanese as it gets. Are you, how to approach it? So are you the only westerner that's there?

Are you the only white guy that's walking through these hallways? Do you get looks? Like, are you accepted there? Well, they don't, not a lot of English speakers, and it's kind of an unwritten rule. You don't speak in these, in the bass anyways, because everyone's naked. It's not like a talking,

talking kind of place. But to answer your question, yes, I'm usually the only Westerner. Very often it's not crowded at all. There's barely anyone there. But last weekend, actually, it was quite crowded. And I was getting a lot of looks. But I think that was because of my awkward tattoo covers I had to put over my shoulder. I don't know. Maybe that was in my head. Why did you have to cover your tattoos? Well, they have signs everywhere that you're not allowed to go in with tattoos. It's like an old yakuza thing. But supposedly it's more If you put the effort to put it over, that's enough. It's more the thought that counts.

And you're not supposed to have the full body like I'm in the mob yakuza stuff, which I do not have. Holy God. So based on my knowledge of the culture of Japan, which is based on like six movies and a TV show, it is very important to bring great respect to things. And it's also, it's very easy to bring great shame upon things. You want to avoid bringing great shame upon family, and you want to bring great respect. So a tattoo brings great shame upon the Emeka family to see Greg walking around with the ink. That would be no respect, shame. So that's why you put the cover on.

I mean, I don't really go down with her father, my father-in-law anyway. So I don't know if he's seen it too much. Walker's there too, though, often my son. So I'm not the only white guy. I mean, while we're here, you're not practicing, but you're a Jewish man, and you're not allowed to be buried in a Jewish cemetery either with tattoos. I mean, you break so many rules, Greg. That's why you're the bad boy of the West.

That's why they call you that. Is that a, I didn't even know that's a Jewish rule, but, um, what? Yeah, I'm bridging and barriers here. Bridging boundaries. You're bad boys. What are you doing for the fourth? You're back in a little second. I got, yeah, this is, this is, you know, very.

you know, hot dogs, hamburgers, apple pie, fireworks, swimming pool. It's going to be nice. It's going to be nice to be with the family. My wife and two boys, they did a little extra time in Texas. I was home alone, which was nice for five days, but then you miss, you miss things. So the family's back together as of this morning. And Harrison is opening up a lemonade stand in our driveway. and I spent much of my last day here helping, like, to build and paint this lemonade stand for Harrison. So tomorrow will be a big day of commerce. That's a big moment in every kid's life. Well, not every kid.

I never did it. I'm probably too lazy to have my kids do it, but maybe we'll do it. He's agreed to give half of his earnings to homeless people is how he put it. Half to homeless people. I said, all right, half, okay. How about all that? He's like, no, not all of it. Okay, half.

It is July 3rd. This is our last show for a week and a half. So we're going to get you, there's not much to catch you up on. If you're listening to the show, we're part of your routine and you're a fan of our work. So we really appreciate you because typically this is when the NFL, despite, and this is where Mark would chime in, Greg, despite all its efforts, which are enormous. The NFL cannot figure out how to crack this time of year right now. And despite the gains it's made in March, February, April, May, June, it has not figured out July, at least the first three weeks.

So it's pretty quiet. No, this is nice. I often this time, and it annoys them, I bet that the NBA has a nice little time. year. I often, this time here, I'm just happy I'm not an NBA reporter who goes from the NBA finals right to the draft, right to Free Agency, which is a wild whirlwind. But that's what we do.

Now, there's nothing going on. Yeah. But I mean, they do it like the draft is the next week after the finals, and Free Agency is the next week. There's no break at all. They, like, smash it up all together. The NFL has a nice way of just stretching it out and never losing your interest. But yeah, by the time we're back next week,

we're almost feeling all the way back, and we'll have some news and all that stuff. Yes. So today we'll, yeah, whatever news is floating around we're going to get. Also, yes, with the 4th of July upon us, we are going to talk about things that we're feeling patriotic about in the NFL. A little bit nebulous, but we'll make it work. Or we won't.

And then the next day will come and everybody will forget that this podcast ever existed. I feel like we're in a good pocket here, Greg. I feel like this is going to be a fun segment. And I think, you know, we talk about the downside sometimes of this job here. We should have a lot of pride in the NFNL, this sport that we cover. And people, I look at the, you know, the downloads. People listen to these episodes just as much as any other time of year. So we love the people.

Absolutely. We do love the people. Let's hit the news. All I know is, you mess with me, you got problems. That's all I. I know. Greg, does that bring back any memories for you? Because it certainly did for me when I stumbled upon it about 48 minutes ago.

Specifically, that clip, no. I want to say, and longtime listeners of the show will probably be able to back me up on this. That was one of the earlier, like, kind of drops that had a lot of legs on our show. Because when ATN first started in 2013, that's when JJ Watt ruled the world. And it just so happens, Gregi, that I, in looking for a drop that tied into our first news story, which is JJ Watt is joining CBS as he begins his post-playing days, another career, I fell down a wormhole watching, I don't know if NFL Network still airs the show, but it's a great show, miced up. I don't know if it's still like a program on our schedule, but it's still, you know. I think it is actually. Okay, good.

Watch it. Look it up in your local listings. This JJ Watt, the thing about miced up with any sport is you never know what you're going to get when you mic somebody up. And you hope the person not only is engaging and there's some good nugs to get on the audio side of things, but if you can get like a big time performance from a player, then you really hit it out of the park. So I'll always think about that first drive. you heard. Week 13, 2014 against the Tennessee Titans while with the Houston Texans. We're talking peak J.J. Watt. Eric behind the virtual glass hit another one.

What you got today, 10? You got some? Let's see. I'll show you. I'll show you. Just make sure you got a good view. Get some popcorn. Maybe some ju-ju-bs. A slushy snow cap, perhaps. Maybe some snow caps. I don't know. You're going to want to be comfortable today. watch the show watch the show so that's what during pregame stretching and i always thought that watt was kind of a fascinating figure and it does tie into his his post-playing career now where yeah he was undeniably a corny guy uh and maybe the biggest corn ball like in the league in some ways uh but his play was so enormous in that game he had like three sacks including a strip sack and a fumble recovery a touchdown reception from ryan fitzpatrick of all people and uh the way

the way he's walking around and none of the guys are even really paying attention to him is he saying this stuff uh he knows he's on mike he chest sparked a young dandre hopkins to start that a very young but that i thought captured uh the watt uh vibe very nicely yeah i i feel like i think about west a lot when we talk j waugh because we were just i think we were all fascinated by this guy i said it before in the show i still think he's the best defensive player i've ever seen when he was at his peak, I actually would still even take him over Aeron Dottom. Maybe it was just more obvious when you were watching it. He was like the first guy that I just decided I would watch every single snap and it was

always entertaining. Michael Parsons has gotten close, but Pete Watt was better than anyone else. And Wes loved him. And Wes, like a lot of guys who kind of made it about themselves, had like a love-hate thing where he hated the corny side of J.G. Watt, but loved the player. And he feels like he's landing at the right place. JJ Watt at CBS. He has landed at the right place.

CBS is kind of where he should be. Here's the quote from what. I will be working on CBS this fall. Really a great opportunity. I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm very much looking forward to talking NFL with all you fans this fall. Interesting. He's 34 years old.

He retired after a 12 year NFL career, wrapping it up in Arizona. That run, Greg, and that was the 2014 season where I just played that from. I think you could argue, and there will be old heads who could point. to guys from way back in the day. Of course, LT at his heights.

That's another guy that you look at Aaron Donald more recently. You know, that 2014, he finished second in the MVP vote. He finished first and defensive player of the year. First team all pro. He had 20 and a half sacks, 29 tackles for lost, 51 QB hits. He was legitimately unblockable. And I'm with you that I think, at least since we've been doing the show, I give him even the edge over Donald.

And I don't know if that's, yeah, maybe unfair to Donald. But Watt to me was like the guy, the guy that could, he never disappeared. And he was just a constant, constant menace. So I don't know if he'll be any good in the booth or on the set. In fact, it does make me a little nervous. Like, he's joining that CBS team. There's just going to be a lot of stilted laughter, like a lot. But maybe he'll surprise us.

You never know with these guys. Let's be real. Unless he has some viral clips, we will never watch that. We will never see what he has to say. And I'm always a little worried when it's like, yeah, I didn't want to, like, commit too much. He's just, like, flying in for, like, big games and playoffs. And, you know, he's like a part-time studio guy with Boomer and Bill Cowher. So I don't know if we're going to get a lot of gems.

It doesn't seem like he's going in all the way. But I remember writing those, like, MVP columns where I would, like, you know, on NFL.com where you'd rank who they're the top five candidates every week. And I was always pushing, like, if he doesn't win the MVP, no defensive player. ever will or should because he's just better than anyone. But he was also going up against peak like Aaron Rogers and Peyton Manning seasons in two of his best seasons. So I get it why he didn't win.

But he was as good as I've ever seen. Yeah, I don't know if we'll ever see it. I think LT was the last defensive player, if I'm not mistaken, to win MVP back in, I'm going to say, 86. Eric, maybe you got fact check me on that one. And if Watt couldn't do it during that run, I don't think anybody ever will. And there's just, you know, we did the superstar club last week, Greg, and there are seven guys that I have in the, in the club. And there's a decent chance.

And there are certain guys like a Lamar Jackson, for example, Justin Herbert, who have a lot of work to do. But there's a chance like all seven of those guys could be in the Hall of Fame one day. So when you have that much quarterback talent in the league, in addition to the other skill players that these quarterbacks are throwing it to, the idea of a defensive player getting it, you would have to do something that's never been done before. or maybe it would take 25 sacks. You'd have to set some type of record or some hallowed record. Otherwise, I think finishing second MVP and taking DPOI is the best you could do. I also appreciate it as one of the few viewers of Arizona Cardinals in-season hard knocks. J.J. Watt spent a lot of time in front of the NFL films cameras over the course of his career.

But this was sort of a full circle moment. He was very likable as the older kind of mentor guy and still a total badass, like still the best. like still the best player on their defense for long stretches. So he was one of the highlights last year. All right. I'll do it. I think he plays this year. Mm.

Sandwich? I mean, I would take that. Yeah, certainly. And actually, I like it better just in this one-on-one setting because I don't like JJ Watts' broadcasting career. I don't want to go in with two feet on it. But it just makes so much sense if, you know, if the Steelers are nine and six in December and he has a chance to give them

that little juice on the edge with his brother playing there insert another team that's looking for that one last piece with JJ Watt with zero titles pass up with that opportunity. There we go, sandwich.

The first sandwich proposition of 2023 right there, Gregi. I still, who was the guy you said was coming back last year and never did? Oh, Antonio Brown. I'm still waiting for that sandwich. I gave you that sandwich. It's sitting on your dad.

you haven't been at the office a couple weeks it's probably really smelly um in other news the another guy that you know you can make a case for canton is buccaneers wide receiver mike evans uh who is you know not in the superstar club some pushback if you do the old google greggie that we did last year i did it again uh this afternoon superstar club there's just so much there's nothing going on so everyone's just writing aggregate stories off the superstar club and mike evans not being in got on people's radar he has nine straight one he's not even close stop he has nine straight thank you one thousand yard receiving seasons the record is jerry rice who did it 11 straight years uh and uh he told uh kprc uh that that's what he's trying to do

he's trying to get that rice record he was also asked about the quarterback situation because Tom Brady's not there anymore. And Mike Evans has caught passes from bad quarterbacks in the past or mid-tier quarterbacks in the past. That's going to happen this year because it's Kyle Trask, former second round pick, who's gotten very little run in his pro career so far. And Baker Mayfield, who's basically turned into a journeyman. Here is what Evans said about that underwhelming duo.

Kyle's improved a lot. I'm really impressed with what I've seen with Baker. Whoever the quarterback will be, you know, I'm positive. if they're going to make the right choice and, you know, we're going to win some games. Are they going to win some games this year? Well, they'll win some. It's not really a guarantee for Mike. You could win some and we go four and 13.

I mean, this is like the mildest take, hot take possible, but I'm shocked that they're predicted by Vegas to have the lowest win loss total in that division, that they're like kind of the heavy favorites to come in last. I see that division as more like they're all, anyone could win that division. And it wouldn't, like the Buccaneers might not be that. They won the division last year. I know it was at eight and nine, but they have a pretty good looking defense. They have a good trio of wide receivers. Could they win seven or eight games again?

I could see that. I mean, the quarterback thing is so ugly that it's hard going into the season believing that you're going to win a lot of games. But the rest of the team is as good or better than the rest of the division in terms of the roster. It's not a bad roster. I mean, the core is another year older. It's not 2019. 2020 anymore.

Were you overly impressed with the defense under Bowles last year? No. No. I mean, they had their money. So then you're really asking them to lead the way unless you think that Trask and Baker can unlock this offense. I would think that maybe Evans and Godwin will still eat because they're going to be

behind in a lot of games and they're going to be throwing the ball a lot. So I maybe feel good about Evans getting to his 10th straight, 1,000 yard season if he could stay healthy. But I do not have a good feeling about this at all for the bucks. I am genuinely excited about watching like every NFL team entering the season. That's why I always say week one is my favorite week. And then a few of them slowly get less interesting as it goes. But the bucks are pretty low.

I used to do a watchability rankings thing going into the season. The bucks got to be 30, 31 or 32 in terms of like there's not a lot of intrigue there in terms of exciting week one teams I'm ready to watch. Yeah, that's a tough. sell. Spinning back real quick to the media minute, ESPN made a ton of cuts, by the way. As a football fan, you're going to have a different experience watching pro football coverage. Susie Culber, Kishon Johnson, Steve Young, Matt Hasselbeck, Todd McShay, their draft guy. Among the ESPN dismissals, they, you know, they've been cutting back.

Mickey Mouse has asked them to really get things under control in terms of salaries. So a lot of those are big names. and all of them are gone. I just want to give a special shout out to Susie Culver as a Jets fan because I always have so much respect for how she handled the Namath incident in 2003 when Namath was drunk on air and, you know, went for the kiss and how she knew that he had just buried himself and was so kind of sweet and forgiving and, you know,

didn't let him off the hook but also didn't throw gasoline on the fire and make things worse for a guy that was bottoming out in his life. So shout out to Susie Colber. I hope she lands on her feet. I hope she lands with NFL media. And I hope everybody else does too. It's hard out there in this game, buddy. Yeah, it's not funny.

But the reason I put Colbert this thing into possibly talking about because it's awkward to talk about people losing the jobs. It sucks. We've had layoffs this off season and it sucks. It was Susie Culver. Just because she's been there for 26, 27 years. She's a pretty legendary figure. I remember this show when they were like launching ESP.

P&2 it was her and in more and as a football junkie, I would, I would always watch that show. She was great. I don't know. It's a, it's a weird time in our industry. We're just trying to stay afloat. Yep, absolutely. And like I said, I hope everybody lands on their feet in short order. Joanne Bentley in other news, linebacker, signs a two-year extension with the New England Patriots.

So he's sticking around. Gregie, you're a Bentley guy. I just, you, I could tell you're a Bentley guy. No, I'm real. How else could he possibly be in the news rundown? Well, I know. It was, I said it could be a quick one. But I'd never been so wrong about a guy as Joanne Bentley.

What a stiff he was for the first couple of years. Another guy that Wes, it reminds me a West too, because we were like, what does Bill Belichick see in this guy? He cannot stay on the field on passing down. He was just getting killed. And he stayed and he stayed and he's gotten better and better. And he added his best season last season. I think he might be a team captain.

And so Belichick saw some. something. Where we didn't, this defense, it's pretty deep, Dan. On paper, it looks pretty good. I don't know about building around defense in 2023, but on paper, it looks pretty good. And Bentley got that like Patriots. It looks like a good deal for the player, but it's really not going to look that good in a year or two type of deal. There are people that are using permanent marker to etch the Patriots in last place in the AFC East. I am not one of those people. Maybe I'm using pencil. If I had to to do the order because eventually you can't just say it you know you can't just say oh you know

the patriots everybody's sleeping on the patriots uh you have to then look at how you see things and i do think the dolphins could be a very good team i think the jets have the potential to be a very good team i think the bills obviously are still a contender but would i be stunned if the pets are hanging around 500 in november and have a chance at the playoffs i wouldn't be There's still too much, there's too much good there, even if it's no longer great or special as I've brought up in the past, Gregi, to totally write them off as, I'm not saying Super Bowl contenders, but, you know, I think what you're alluding to with Mack Jones, who you have as a Making the Leap candidate and defense and a Belichick who's, you know, got his backup against the wall a little bit. Yeah, the Pats could be frisky this year. And Belichick's been laying it on thick, like he said something this offseason, how he didn't think they really had. even though they won the Super Bowl in his second year, he didn't think they really

became who they were until year four of a program. And that's when they, and I kind of agree as a Patriots fan, that that was the first real great Patriots team 2003. And people thought he threw that out there now as if this is like year four of the post Brady program, that he's had his time to set it all up. And now this is where it all pays off. Eric from behind the virtual glass says Lawrence Taylor won in 86, last defensive player the year. Eric Dickerson came in second that year. Eric, can you jump in real quick?

I mean, and by the way, LT fans out there. It's like, how could you say, Jay, you watch the best defensive player? L.T. of course. Well, like, by everything I heard, that's absolutely true. I'm sure he was the best. I was like seven. How can I possibly say that he was better? I'm saying based on what we saw. Thank you, Greg. Yeah, just that was on my mind ever since the old. It's okay. It's your first show back. Your hot is a pistol, and I like it. Eric, just want to let you know, you obviously are doing a great job so far in the producer chair. Last week, I caught some heat on Twitter from Bill's fans because I said in a conversation that they had not gotten to the AFC title game under McDermott yet. Right.

Apparently, they did. You are the biggest Bill's fan I know. You know, I saw that too, but I understood what you said as you said, get back to. They haven't been. They haven't been in two years. Oh, no, I very clearly, yeah, I, okay, misunderstanding there. I clearly said that they hadn't made it to the FC title game yet, but they got beat in 2020 by the chief.

So I was checking in a case, Eric, you had heard it, but you didn't want to jump in. When there's an egregious era like that, please. Yeah, yeah. No, yeah, I did, I saw the comments too, and I thought it was, I understood it as, because you stopped and you're like, this is weird because we're saying get back to or get to.

It's like, they haven't been. Yeah, they got, you know, ousted early the last two. years. So yeah, but yeah, that's the 2020 year. I block it out from my memory anyways. It was also COVID. The bills kind of didn't really show up for that game. I know they scored some points, but it wasn't particularly competitive. So I don't remember. I think it's fine to forget that game. Before you disappear, Eric, all I need is a record. Buffalo Bill's 2023 final regular season record. Uh, need it. Got to have it. 11-7. 11 and 6.

I mean, that's, you can't even, yeah, that's just... Okay. If it's 11 and 7, they lose their first game of the playoffs. It's a rough prediction here. Well, on the spot. 11 wins. Mark Sessler believes nine wins can win the AFCEs, so, you know, that might be... It's a tough decision.

That could be plenty of breathing room. I mean, well, let's talk after week one, Monday night. See how everybody fits. Oh, my goodness. Isn't it? I have talked about it. It's like that first week, it's going to be... If sky has fallen for one half, how good is the other half?

And it's going to be, by about Tuesday afternoon, I'm going to be either side. It's like, oh. How about this, Gregie? Your favorite week of the year, week one, Monday night football, bills at Jets, Alan V. Rogers. That's a football game. Yeah. That's amazing. And I'm also glad they're not doing the double header in week one this year.

It's just that game. We might have to do a special, you know, full team, Hansis, Eric, everyone involved Monday night recap, not even wait for Tuesday. Yeah, the talking heads are already salivating, man. A couple of picks on either side, Rogers or Allen. Somebody maybe throws one late on a two-minute drill and screws over the team. Listen, there are a lot of outcomes. One of those fan bases being in a panic feels right come Tuesday. But we have a few weeks still until we get there.

Let's take a break, and then we'll get patriotic. All right. Listen to that. That's one of those famous songs. The Yankee doodle dandy now. It's, uh, what is that one? Dun-da-na-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dun. You know,

Don't do a dismissive shrug of your shoulders just because you're in Japan. I just don't know the name of the song. So I'm just hoping you fill it in for me. I don't know. That's the song we play at the 4th of July parade. That's the song. Yes. Independence Day is upon us a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence,

which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, establishing formally the United States of America, England, you can't have us no more. And that's a good job by the founding fathers. Now, so there's the patriotism on July 4th. This is a very anti-U.K. edition of the show. I like it. That portion, yes. I mean, there is a naughty history,

but the Americans and the English have become great allies in many ways ever since. So that's good. The U.S. and Japan also. very good place these days not always the case not always the case um we are in a good place because this game of pro football greggie oh man does it stir the emotions the pride patriotism i don't yeah i don't even know where to start here i have so many options actually let's start with like a holiday because because that's um that's patriotic and so that was The first thing I thought of when I thought of Fourth of July was another holiday.

And the idea of patriotism, it's devotion to and vigorous support for one's own country. In this case, for this segment, we're referring to football world, land of football, right? That's what we're, that's what this is, basically? Yeah, well, just, I mean, let's be real. Okay, I, look, being overly patriotic, that's almost a, um, a U.S. stereotype. People think the Americans are a little too patriotic, a little too jingoistic. Why all this flags every. But you can have pride in your country.

I'm sure every country has pride in their country. And, you know, American football is kind of our sport. I know baseball, blah, blah, blah, America's pastime. But that's everywhere else. Like, this is the thing that we do America the best. We are essentially the only. It's dominant. Do it.

And so I think it's okay. I'm saying it's okay to be a little prideful of American football because it is pretty uniquely American and it makes me think of Thanksgiving, which is to me a uniquely American holiday. And that was the first thing I thought about when just feeling patriotic. Give me, here's what I'm feeling patriotic for and looking forward to. Give me a little 9.30 a.m. West Coast kickoff on Thanksgiving. To me, that is America. I don't need to cook. the bird. We're going to go pick it up. It's open at 8 a.m. over at the place that cooks it

for us. So I'm going to go pick it up at 8.30 a.m. I'm going to bring my son. We're going to have some muffins in line. And we're going to drive back and we're going to get back in time to see the new America's team Detroit Lions kickoff at 9.30m. You wanted them out of Thanksgiving for years. Now it's come around. It's great that they've kept it. And I do love me a 9.30 a.m. West Coast kickoff on Thanksgiving. I just love 10 a.m. kickoffs every week. So I'm patriotic for that, too. I just love all day 10 a.m. on the West Coast.

I know East coasters aren't really viving with this, but that to me is as American as it gets, full day of football. That's, I always found having lived, you know, nearly 30 years on the East Coast and now here, you know, 12, 13 years on the West Coast, that 1230 kickoff, um, that's the only game you and it was always the lines that you're you're feeling like all right i can watch this game i know i got a i got to polish furniture i got to do this got to bring the chairs up from downstairs you know i have to help out i have to run to the store for mom i got to do this but i could watch that 1230 because the company's not coming over till four and then it got

always got very murky that middle game was the the cowboy game i've missed it so many times over the years because it's right in the heart of thanksgiving and now the late game Actually, it's popped up, obviously, in the last decade or so. That's a better one. That's a great spot because it's like when you're settled after the long day. Here on the West Coast, yeah, that morning game that really kind of kicks you into things. And then you also get the cowboy game before your company comes over. And there I say, Greg, just get ahead of this a little bit.

You know, you cook the bird one year. Just do it. Like, it's nice. You know what I do? You know what the Zuster does. I have an air fryer outside, and I put the turkey in there. It takes like six hours or something to cook. and I got the TV set up, and I'm watching football and checking in on the temperature of the bird every half hour or so, you know, hanging out with friends and family.

And it's a very nice thing to do. It's a nice little combo platter. I mean, Amica's making some pies. She's making some sides. But now, I'm not doing it. Challenge yourself. It's only one life. You're right.

I will get through this whole life without ever kicking a bird. Okay. I'll try it. All right. You know what I'm patriotic about? please oh do you want to sit no you have anything else you want to add on that because I do that's good that's good that's it um I am patriotic about an anniversary um the anniversary of the dumbest thing that's ever happened in the history of the NFL I'm filled with such pride

thinking back uh to what happened 20 years ago this October I'm going to read the article from Len Pascarelli headline punter out this week comma maybe season lead when rookie coach jack del rio placed a stump of oak in an axe in the jacksonville jaguars locker room a few weeks ago as the motivational technique symbolic of his theme to quote keep chopin wood it was viewed as a sophomoric technique by some veterans now the move is likely to be regarded as a huge mistake the jaguars on thursday lost pro bowl hunter chris hanson for an undetermined amount of time the sbion dot com has learned that he will be sidelined for to six weeks and could well miss the balance of the season when the fourth year veteran was accidentally gashed on his right non-kicking foot while wielding the axe taken to the hospital for a gash in his foot. I don't think he returned, Greg. 20 years ago that happened. I was thinking there have been crazy stories in the ATN era. This is a very bad memory around this time of year, but I remember being in the newsroom in July

when we learned that and we're getting the details of Jason Pierre Paul's fireworks accident that cost him a part of his hand. That was more sad. Yeah, that was sad. Do not, everybody out there, do not do the fireworks thing this week. Just don't. It's not worth it.

They're not that cool. Go somewhere where they do it and they know what they're doing. That was a terrible, stunning, crazy story. This one is more under the side of Coach's Folly and Jack Del Rio, who had some choice words about the insurrection years later, maybe not totally studying it was him that was behind it all. You would think this would have really hurt Del Rio's career? Like, this feels like a borderline fireable offense.

But he was around in Jacksonville for a while longer, got another head coaching job, still is the defensive coordinator? I had to check. I was like, didn't hurt him at all. Is he still the commander's coordinator? Because they've kind of been up and down. I feel like he's definitely still. but he is. He is. Yeah. He's still there. That was amazing. There's a lot of like if Twitter was

around type of stories that you wonder how it would be covered and that that is high on the list. Let me read the end of the story here, Greg? I have so much patriotism about this. It's true. It's uniquely Americanly dumb. The accident apparently occurred during a team meeting that the kickers were not mandated to attend. There's your mistake right there. You left the kickers to their own devices. Not surprisingly, the axe was removed from the locker room Thursday afternoon and the tree stump will soon be gone as well. It was somewhat surprising, according to Pasquarelli, the franchise officials and the league

would permit the tree stump and the axe, given the potential for the kind of incident that transpired Thursday, the stump had garnered plenty of media attention. Final quote from Jack Del Rio, who was sympathetic to the insurrection. I'll find another slogan. The message was understood. The thing was on its way out soon. but not soon enough. It was symbolic more than anything else.

He didn't really back off. He said the slogan to live on. He didn't back off. I love Len Fascarelli tries to blame the league on it that they allowed it. What? They heard some talk about the stump and they were going to like make a rule about it. I don't know. All right.

You're up. All right. Let's go bigger picture. Let's talk Cowboys. I actually am feeling patriotic. about the Cowboys. I'm just glad to me they're the America's team for a reason. They're just the biggest, dumbest, funnest team.

I'm glad they exist. I'm not a Cowboys fan. There was that great book, Billy Lynn's Half Time Walk, which I really recommend. You're looking something to read. It's kind of a football book, kind of not. It's sort of critical of what a team like the Cowboys mean to America and everything like that. And so, Cowboys are America. They're everything bad.

They're everything bad. good but like damn it if jerry jones hasn't like accomplished what he wanted which is they are the biggest show in town they are bigger and dumber they are the show they are the team that everyone wants to watch like they are america and uh bomani jones says it a lot when he goes to a cowboy's game he says you want to see america go to the cowboys parking lot that is true diversity there is everything in a cowboy's parking lot there's Hispanic black white everything there's high income there's low income like there is every different types of fan everyone's a cowboys fan that's in Texas and really all around the country and uh there's a lot that's wrong with them but i'm i'm glad

they're there they are american to me i'm feeling patriotic about the cowboys great one and you know jerry jones doesn't have a spotless um you know record when it comes to you know things that he's done in his past but i have to say um jera as an owner and as the guy that that really stokes the fire that organization. I appreciate him as he enters his, he's in his early 80s now. And he will be, his presence will be missed when he's gone. And I think about the Cowboys and as a Yankees fan, like people hate the Yankees, just like they hate the Cowboys. And that's good. It's good to have that team that is very popular that has a lot of success in their past. But then when they lose, you get this huge, you have the, you know, this segment of diehards.

that support that team, but then everyone else can celebrate that team failing. And the Yankees are that in baseball and the Cowboys are that in football. And I thought it was actually kind of interesting when I was doing Superstar Club. When I'm kind of stuck on a player, every year I'll send out a tweet like, is this guy a superstar? And one of them I did was for C.D. Lamb, who I think is a god. I responded. I mean, you wouldn't know. It was it was all anonymous, but I did fill out that one. Oh, what did you say for the record? I said yes for C.

Yeah. So C.D. Lamb, and I put him in, but when 10,000 people responded, 80% said no. And it's not because they were, like, judging C.D. Lamb is not a true superstar. It's because they hate the fucking cowboys. And they don't want to, they don't want C.D. Lamb to be successful because C.D. lamb having great success means the cowboys are back on top. And I think it's just fun to have that team that everyone hates. It's so important.

And the cowboys are that. And I hope it is that way after Jerry's gone. because after George Steinbrenner left, the Yankees, when he passed away, the Yankees don't have that same kind of excitement around them in terms of how they're run and just the juice around them. And Jera, for the lack of Super Bowl rings in the last quarter century, they've remained relevant and exciting and a team worth talking about. And he has a lot to do with that.

I mean, he's got to be apparently the subject of a 10-part Netflix series. They paid $50 million to. I'm feeling patriotic for NFL films, too, still getting it done. NFL films has made this or in the middle of this documentary. It's apparently mostly about the 90s Cowboys, not so much about Jerry, but maybe it's kind of focused on Jerry and about the 90s Cowboys and everything that went on. It sounds pretty fascinating. But I think they'll be able to keep it going because even though Jerry's gone,

it'll be in his family, I assume, and Stephen Jones will be running. There's no greater proof that they're going to stay around forever than if you live through the Quincy Carter era and when they didn't have quarterbacks because they were still a big deal then if you remember that they still felt like big games I mean it was annoying that they were always on and stuff but they were still kind of a big deal even with Chad Hutchinson and Quincy Carter yeah but I could tell you Stephen Jones is not going to generate headlines like Jared did just like Hal Steinbrenner doesn't do it the way George did he is in a class of his own in that sense it would help if they could like you know get another ring though it's

you kind of have to have that success too to stay in that in that realm and it's been a while now so maybe this will be the year for the Cowboys you also have the the quarterback series on Netflix that's coming out soon

I can't wait for that I saw that text of years you said it looked you thought it looked great I'm gonna be I'm gonna wait and see we'll see how this thing looks oh you're gonna you're gonna gobble it up great well I'll watch it right away. It's just like I watch. You're going to snort it.

I watched this Netflix tennis series break point too. And like, you would think that would be catnip for me, but it was kind of disappointing. And now that you got my mind thinking about it, Jerry Jones documentary.

Let's let's let HBO handle that. It's do it in about 10 years or so. And get it right. Let's make it a two-parter and just... Yeah, the fact that it's NFL films is, it'll be great. but it'll be a different documentary than if it was by a different, you know. Right. Robert Kraft.

It'll be really great, but it'll be, it'll be different. The Robert Kraft probably has a say in this conversation, but Jones is probably the most powerful figure in the NFL, right? At least amongst the ownership and maybe even including Goodell and the owners, right? I mean, and the rest of the front office. So he's going to have his fingertips on anything that comes out. safe to say you know what i'm patriotic about holy god year four justin jefferson oh holy god pulled up the old pro football reference here is the

production for justin jefferson who by the way i don't know if you're aware gregg but football is an incredibly punishing physical game i've heard that i've seen it Justin Jefferson has never missed a game in three years. 50 games. Catches by a year. 88, 108, 128, 128. Yards, 1,400, 16, 16, 1809. Yards per game, 87.5, 95, 106.4.

Rookie of the year, second place, second team all pro. Second team, all pro, first team all pro, offensive player of the year. Then I looked at Randy Moss, who in my lifetime is the greatest receiver that I ever saw in terms of dominance, okay? And yes, sure enough, in a very different world in the NFL, 98, 99, 2000, he immediately just blew the doors off the league. finished in the top three in MVP, offensive player of the year, top five twice, rookie of the year, of course. What made Moss different

is his ability to find the end zone as well because he was just unbelievable on deep balls. He had 17, 11, and 15 touchdowns his first three years. So while the rest of his numbers aren't quite at the heights of Jefferson, you have to keep in mind the error he played in and then look at the finding the end zone the way that Moss did.

So I think Moss kind of changed the league fundamentally or kind of stood out a little bit more than Jefferson. Rice, I wasn't there for his first peak, nor were you, Greg, in the mid to late 80s. But he had a second peak in the mid-90s where he was just unstoppable. But he was, you know, gifted in so many ways. And once he learned the game, when he lost speed,

he made up for it in other ways. But I didn't, the way I look at Jefferson is different. and also just because he's just the way he explodes off the screen when you watch him. So as he enters now his age 24 season, I know a lot of people are down on the Vikings this year. I understand it. And they went 13 and 4, but they weren't a true 13 and 4. We all know that. I think they're still going to score points.

And I think Jefferson has a chance to almost impossibly get better in year 4. because he's done that every year of his career so far. That's a fun one. I picked up a fantasy sports magazine on the way here for Walker at the airport. That's one thing I was on my long list of things I'm feeling patriotic for. I love those early fantasy magazines. They're still pumping them out. Still pumping them out.

At the airport. Especially the early ones that come out. You want to see some rankings. You start making your list. Walker wants to do that. And we were talking about who to tell you. take with number one. There's McCaffrey and blah, but I was like, I don't know, man, Justin Jefferson,

if you're in that top, top area there, I'm just going to feel good. You just know it's going to work. In a PPR league, you know it's going to work. You know that's not going down. And I think even in a real football setting, I think I'd take him over everyone. As good as the top of the top receivers are right now, I think you're right to feel patriotic. I think you're good to take him over everyone. And I think he's got the right, he doesn't have the right quarterback.

Not that Cousins is a bad quarterback for him to have, but he could have a better one. But I do think he's in the right offense and the right coach that's going to keep just feeding him and finding ways to get him the ball. Yes. Kevin O'Connell will know what he needs to do. And it might be the last year of Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson, but whoever they bring in next is just going to have such a huge advantage.

As long as you keep Jefferson happy and get him under a long-term deal, he's going to make quarterbacks better for his entire career. You're up, Greg. I mean, but yeah, those fantasy bags. It's just like you're at the point of the off season where it's like I'm ready to start turning the page. I've had enough of this summer. Let's start making some rankings. Love those.

So many big picture ones. I'm going to go with just like running quarterbacks right now. I'm just feeling patriotic about running quarterbacks. These are some of the greatest athletes. of the world. I could combine this and just say, I'm feeling patriotic about NFL athletes. Show me a freaking Miles Garrett in another sport, by the way, or a DeMarcus Lawrence, or like a DeForest Buckner. I would argue that like the best NFL athletes are just the best athletes, the most impressive athletes. And they don't really exist. No, Greg. I wrote about

eight LeBron James playing tight end for the Cowboys stories on NFL.com in the mid-2000s. NBA's close, but they're not like 275 or 2009. 90 pounds moving that fast and that big. Maybe a couple of them are, but not many. A Janus type is. But to drill down, beyond just like specimen and athleticism, I'm patriotic about running quarterbacks. This is the league I wanted to see for so long.

It really has changed. I think we almost take it for granted because it happened slowly. But right now we got Lamar, we got Josh Allen, we got Jalen Hertz, we got Justin Fields, we got Anthony Richardson coming in, we got Daniel Jones lighting it up. Patrick Mahomes and Kyler and Herbert, you almost don't even think as a running quarterback in Burrow, but they have a ton of rushing value. They really don't make pocket quarterbacks anymore. I went back, Dan, and looked at the QBR rankings because they have a rushing value list back about 15 years ago.

One year 2007, there was one quarterback who was above a 10 in rushing QBR that year, and it was Aaron Rogers. Right now we have 11 of those quarterbacks. 11 versus 1. One year David Garard led the league. David Garard. I add a number around that Gino Smith had in rushing value. Literally there was a year like not that long ago

where no quarterbacks had rushing value. And then you even look at the top shelf guys like Vic and Cam Newton who were always exciting, but they were outliers. Even compared to those guys, the very top of the top, which is basically Allen Hertz, Fields, fields. in terms of his running and Lamar, you know, when he's healthy. Like, those guys are even at another level just in terms of the volume, even compared to Cam and Vic.

So the league did change. They don't really have pocket quarterbacks anywhere. They have some Kirk Cousins type, but they're not coming into the league. So I'm feeling patriotic. Like the league we wanted to see where the league kind of met the best athletes where they were is happening. It's happened. Yeah.

And you could do an entire, you know, sociology class course about, the evolution of the running quarterback and what took so long. And you look at Randall Cunningham as an example, at least in our lifetimes, he was the first example of the guy that could do that. And he blew everybody's mind and he was a huge star, even if it didn't last too long.

Then he resurfaced with the Vikings. Kind of forget about that years later, not as a that known as that super athlete and then tore the league apart as a mostly pocket. Super Bowl. Should have. Yeah, one of the great teams that never won the Super Bowl, those 98 Vikings with Randy Moss as a rookie, tying it all together. But then you had him looking at it.

And then Steve McNair came along and Air McNair, he moved the ball with his legs. He won an MVP with Peyton Manning, 2003. But, you know, then it's kind of quiet. Then Vic shows up and Vic kind of lights the league on fire. But we still haven't had a true revolution. Maybe it was like one at a time. It was like one at a time. That's what I mean.

Like, you would think it's not like there wasn't these flashpoint moments where it would have happened. And I think that also you can look at it. What I mean, there's so many layers to it, including how college was developing these guys and letting athletes play quarterback and play like athletes, not just passers. That it wasn't really, I feel like until around Cam, who was first overall in 2011, where you finally got like a steady trickle. And now I feel like the faucet is just turned on. and most of these guys are coming out of the league with this dual threat capability. And it's just like, it makes sense.

It makes a team so much harder to defend when you have that quarterback can do it all. And he'll be Justin Fields is like, before he got hurt at the end of last season, name me a more exciting player to watch in the league than Fields in November last year. Right. And even the guys, like,

I was surprised when I looked at the QBR of rushing value, guys like Mahomes and Borough who you don't think of as runners are still running so much more. The Russ RG3 luck year actually had a chance to really inject a lot of athleticism, and they ranked pretty high, especially early in this group. People forget Russell Wilson had a couple really good rushing years, but they didn't build offenses around those guys as rushing. They were just efficient running when they needed to other than RG3. And now it's just a huge part of these offenses, and it makes it a lot more fun

to watch. That's why I'm feeling pediatric. And RG3 is 2010 right before Cam. So maybe RG3 is another way to look at it when the, oh no, he's 2012. 2012. Yeah, with Wilson, with Tannahill. That's right. That's how old Tannahill is, is that like, I guess it's luck in RG3 retiring so early makes him feel older, but he was in that class. I will never forget being in the newsroom on opening day 2012 against the Saints when RG3 scrambled out turned the corner and then just went down the sideline I think untouched for like 70 yards or something

it was insane and it was like holy God that guy yeah it was a 4032 win over the Saints it was a huge upset and you know it was just like this guy has speed like it's hard to believe interesting good one Greg I wish RG3 stayed healthy. That would have been a, it was an interesting, one of the great what-ifs in this particular conversation of these quarterbacks is what if RG3 stayed healthy. I mean, his season, his 2012 rookie season was pretty badass all the way around.

Remember what he lit up the Cowboys on Thanksgiving? I did a weekly column, QB Index, where the whole point of the column was I just watched the coaches film of the rookies every game that year and rank them based on the week. based on the season. And as good as Andrew Luck was that year and Russell Wilson, for that matter, RG3 was the guy I put at the top at the end of the season. He had the best season of those three. All right. Let's see.

What do I want to talk about now? We can go quick. Yeah, I got a couple. I'm patriotic about, like I said, this is the one time of year. The NFL hasn't cracked yet. So I just want to shout out. I got a lot of pride and patriotism about the late-jews. early July news cycle.

Superstar club is all over. NFL websites across the world right now. But I want to put my focus on Chris Jones, chief star, who woke up, picked up his phone and just typed four words in an acronym. I'll win DPOI this year. Hit send. And he was on every,

like NFL and sports website in the world for that one tweet and I just wanted to give a shout out for the power even though who wrote it oh my God it was so good I think it was rotopat yeah rotopat's the best

you know you got Elon Musk what he's doing with Twitter now with the limits and everything Robats tweet and then comma for absolutely no reason whatsoever, comma. He imperiled his industrial empire while crashing the great communications platform of the 21st century.

That's a good job by you, Patrick Dardy. But anyway. Jones keeping it alive, though. Jones just, like, throws out a tweet, and it blows up, and he could win defense player of the year. He wants some money, too. You'd like get paid for it. Maybe that will get him a new contract

if he wins DPOI. But a shout-out for being able to just write four words in an acronym. and be the biggest NFL story for 24 hours. Yeah, this is the time to do it. If you want attention, like this would be my strategy as a social media coordinator or like a publicist, like go big doing something at this time of year. Positive.

Unfortunately, at this time of year, it's always often negative stories. But this, Chris Jones calling his shot is a positive story. I do worry a little bit. He's coming off a career year, I would say. I mean, he's had a great career. He actually is going to get some Hall of Fame consideration if he keeps this up at this pace the way he's been going. But I would say last year was a best year of his career, so can't, can he top that? That's tough. One last addendum to this. In his replies, someone

wrote, you might need damn near 20 of them thangs, referring to, I believe, Sacks. And then Chris Jones, once again, you know, very Spartan in his choice in his wording. Because, you know, again, you don't need to write a lot here. Just enough. His response, okay. I mean, it could have been, because I don't know how he said it. Like, if there was an inflection, it could have been like, okay. Or it could have been like, okay, like being a jerk about it. Or, okay, like he's going to do it. I think that's an okay.

I'm going to do it. I think it's okay. Yeah, that's what's nice. Okay. All right. I got one more, Greg. So I know you probably have 400 more. No, I got too many.

I could go fast, but I got two I like left. But I'll do a speed around here. Number one, shout out to DeZone out here in Japan. Game Pass is just on DeZone. DeZone's showing live games all over the world. I didn't know about that. You know DeZone at home, D-A-Z-N? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that.

I mean, we got to hear you. You can watch the Tokyo Swallows. Isn't that like an MMA destination? Right, but here you can watch, you know, the local baseball team. But Walker noticed, like, we got NFL network over here on DeZone, and we got Game Pass. And I Googled it. It's all over the world on DeZone. You can have a game pass.

You're patriotic about DeZone. I'm just saying that was like, nice job by DeZone. You can watch some live football over here in Japan. That's good. Let me write this down. DeZone, that's a good job by you. The Bucks cannons. I like the cannons that they fire off.

That's good. I like that Madden is still going so strong. Walker getting a lot of airtime today, but he's. He's addicted to the video game mad, and now it's like, it's still going strong. Shout out to the Bosa brothers, famously bad in interviews, not a fan of their politics. Like there's few people in the NFL I'd want to hang out with less than the Bosa brothers. But we never talk about them. How about delivering?

I just watching them. Like, Kyle Shane An says Nick Bosa is maybe one of the smartest players he's ever come across. These are top five picks. He was joking. He was serious. But in terms of like their hand usage. and power and like if you're into that like they deliver they were top five picks who are absolutely studs from the minute they enter the league joey's got to stay healthy but like they look

like they're going to go with a power move and they swipe like they are technicians so shout out to the bosa but they just seem very uh american where was nick where they needed to stop 27 nothing though or joey i should say i mean he's he's one that was nick uh one one player but i mean joey by the way is kind of a sammy wakins all-star right now uh drafted in 26 He's only 27 years old as of this taping. Somehow, Joey Bosa is only 27 years. No, Joey is the only going to get to stop with the rest of his teammates. 27-0.

Oh, you're right. I'm an idiot. I thought you were talking about the NFC championship game. Because that was close to 27-0. I think Joey was hurt for that game. He missed most of the last season. You got to stay healthy, Joey. But those are great football players.

But I'm going to finish with a larger point. All right. Football. The dichotomy of football, Dan. I'll try to make this quick. No, let's end with this one. I like this. Go ahead.

We're going to end. It appeals to everyone because it's sort of the biggest, dumbest spectacle of a sport we have. A sport that, like, my mom can just kind of jump in once a week. You don't have to know that much about. Or my 8-year-old son can jump in, and they like the hits, they like the action, they like the touchdowns, and it's their favorite sport. It's my mom's favorite sport. It's my son's favorite sport.

But on another level, it's sort of the hardest sport to understand. We cover this stuff every day for 20 years. And honestly, I will never totally understand it. I mean, in terms of the way that every play and everything that you would need to know to understand what happens on every play, it's basically impossible. And even if you are coaching, you do understand it on the most granular level possible. Even for those guys, it is always changing. It is always evolving.

It is always changing from one year to the next. So you have to stay totally on top of it or you get left behind. And even those guys who do stay on top of it, they can't be watching every snap of the defensive tackle of every team. So it's sort of endless. That's why we love the Baldi's of the world because they're at least out there trying to see and know everything. But even Baldi would admit like he can't be watching everything.

He doesn't know everything that's going on. So it works as this basic sport that appeals to everyone. But it also appeals to the connoisseur, the person that wants to dive in and be as smart about it as humanly possible. I think it's a sport for those types, too. And you will never get to the bottom if you want to just study it as like an intellectual exercise. So it works on both fronts. And oh, by the way, it rates. Oh, yeah.

We love football! It puts the meat in the seats. And I mean both at the stadiums and on the couches. Yeah, that's so true. I loathe to even bring it up because it's my least favorite thing. The you never played the game card that a pro athlete will play with the media. But it is honest, football is the one sport where you really, these guys that come out of the league and then go into broadcasting,

if they do it right, they have such a huge advantage. I think that's part of what made Tony Romo so great when he first started. It's because he knew the league. He was just in the league and he was just dissecting it because he'd kind of mastered the sport from that side of things. And then he was bringing it to the audiences. And like if you love to try to like learn about the league in a different way, when you have somebody like the young Romo broadcaster throwing that stuff at you,

it's like catnip. But it's also you could tell, and I don't want to bring up any names, the guys that try to coast on that. And then they get further away from their playing career. And they tell themselves so quick. and they're almost betrayed by this thing. Like, well, I played the game, so I don't need to do the work. Like, if you don't keep watching and trying to learn where the league's going,

because how much is, Greg, how much has football changed since when we start doing the podcast to where it is now? That's what I mean. It's remarkable. It's not that basketball doesn't change. It changes, but I think schematically, in terms of coaching the way it's played. It changes. Baseball, I mean, it doesn't change as much.

Baseball doesn't change as much. And even to the point of those players who really do understand the X's and O is better, one thing I realized being young doing this is like, yeah, they might understand all that. But they don't know like the 32 depth charts. They're not really following along if like this guy is having a great season. This guy isn't on a season-to-season basis, just because it's impossible to cover everything. That's why it, to me, it's a great sport to cover because it's endless. It is.

Good one, Gregie. again it's fourth of july here in the united states and everyone be careful we still went over an hour we managed to turn we honked for over an hour everybody have a great time with their friends and family and uh gregg please get home safely with you uh your family and enjoy the rest of your trip um will be away like i said until um a week from thursday so this is the only time of the year where we're dark for this amount of time and then we'll slowly start to ramp things up and we have a big year coming up with a lot of exciting things that have been going on behind the scenes Greg how many meetings have we been in at the old mothership and phone

calls and things that we usually try not to be involved with because we like to be a self-sustaining organism but we've been working hard as we look to figure out what is the next stage of around the NFL as we enter decade two and we're excited about what's coming up we're not going to share everything right now but we're excited yeah we have been we have planned more this off season maybe that's a sign of our maturity i think about what's coming up maybe not uh than any off season i can remember and uh if you like around the NFL i think it's safe to say there will be as much or more around the NFL content for you coming up this season as ever before if it's not if it's not crap to us It won't be crap to you.

We're going to put the work in and we're going to continue. We are one day. That could be an NFL slogan. You like doing that, you know. That could be your NFL slogan. Maybe. We care and we are looking to keep this thing going in an exciting way. So thank you everybody for listening.

Enjoy your time with your family. Mark Sessler. I hope you're good out there wherever you are, buddy. I think he's back on a boat. He's on the sea again, which is foreboding. shocking turn of development is mark becoming a seaman but all right everybody i like it um yes happy fourth of july until we meet again you know what you got to do heed the call This is an IHeart podcast.