NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Top-10 MVP Candidates after the First-Quarter

Episode Date: October 3, 2018

In a room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling – react to the latest NFL news, including – Le’Veon Bell’s potential Week 7 return (7:05), ‘Suspension Return Week’ starts and which returning players will have the biggest impact (10:00) & is bowling still in vogue…who bowls anymore (17:05)? The heroes are then “treated” to Marc’s latest “Banned Phrase” (21:50), the heroes then dive into Wess’s Top-10 MVP Candidates after the season’s quarter mark (27:20) & lastly, the heroes preview Thursday night’s match up (44:10).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody. The NFL app is back this season, and it is completely reimagined. Whoa. You can live stream your local games and get all primetime games live right on your phone along with the all new game center for breaking news, highlights, stats, and real-time insights from around the NFL, not this around the NFL, or for your favorite team, download the NFL app. NFL podcast is part of Project Pink Pony. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal.

What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. There are plenty of legs to that, by the way. So why? From day one of this show, Project Pink Pony, which essentially is the Patriots sending people out throughout the league as, you know, quiet Trojan horses that will lift up

the Patriots organization while, but never looking that way overtly. Right. Can you cite an example? Hence the lions, you know, beating the Patriots down in week. We just made the point right here. Greg immediately jumps in with a pro-Patriots argument.

So he's part of it? I mean, for 700 plus shows, he's quietly apologized and made and massed over anything that the Patriots have done that looks at all ill to the viewer. Why do you guys think I live in Santa Monica and you guys are in Culver City?

Well, that's for other reasons. Like I get in that Belichick cash. He's just sending me in the mail. Hi, everybody. Let's talk about football. Okay. That's random. Today's show, good one.

Good one. A lot to get to. Speaking of the throne of slees, the Patriots and Colts, will play on Thursday at football this week. So we're going to preview that. Also, Chris, Wessling. wrote a banger.com backslash members password, cool cats about the top 10 MVP candidates at the quarter poll.

I'd like to see where that link goes. Maybe you don't want to know. Rep Whistle. Oh, the great news is you don't need to pay a membership. NFL.com and Chris Wesleyan's articles and everyone here. It's free. Absolutely. So you can't complain about it.

And Mark's reference there, a good ref mark. If you go to any suspect sites or gambling sites or, God forbid, adult sites, you get sent if you're on the NFL media network to a referee blowing a whistle image, which is kind of amazing. No, bro. When's the last time you got ref whistled, Dan? About six times a day. Really?

Haven't you, like, learn what you can do? I always, I just hope one day to break through. You're like, whoa, can't go to brobibble.com again? Come on, man. I just want to surf the web, man. Oh, Bible. That's a thing? I think so.

I think it's like a bar stool type of thing. You can't even get on barstool on this. It's like a lads. On this network. True story. I mean, I'm not going to lose any sleep over that. Right. I'm not saying.

I'm just saying there is a pretty stringent policy. Well, there's a human coming up and expanding the list and maybe dropping items from the list. That's a weird job that someone has. It's same thing with the player of the week. It's nebulous. Super. How do we? About who is making these decisions?

And I'm not necessarily comfortable. Probably someone not in the right. I would not. It's not going to be the right person. It seems a little like almost petty that you can't go to NBA.com from the NFL's web. Yeah. Like, come on. Have a little more security.

By the way, I did a little as the ATN Media Insider. Did a little digging on the player of the week? Oh, I did some digging too. Yeah. And I do know. I do too, but I don't think I'm at liberty to disclose. Really? Sometimes you...

Well, that is a worthless report. Give us something. No, is it true? Yeah, that's a bad insider job. Like, whenever Ian Rappaport eludes that he knows something and he doesn't tell the public, you're like, that is just, it's like a humble brag again. I don't know what they know. I would suggest looking in the realm of PR people.

Well, I knew, yeah, I could have guessed it. That's a nugget. This is the thing. As an insider, half the stuff you learn is not for the public. That's true. But you just brought it to the public. That's what insider. keep it to themselves.

I'm a different type insider, okay? You know? Anyway, I want to address a couple things from the Tuesday Twitter show. I just want to hit that for a second. And if you're not watching it, please do. It should be pinned on the top of our individual pages. And I believe even on the around the NFL Twitter page, you can watch it.

It was a gay time had by all. And one of the topics was a debate club, an ATN debate club, a call back to the original name of this very podcast. And it was West and Sess moving company against the hot boys, Reggie and Greg. Watch the show just to see Reggie and Greg. Reggie Bush. Try to do a celebration high five together or a fist bump or whatever that was. We recovered.

We recovered and it was smoothed the rest of the way. People are still debating whether you recovered or not. Street stocking, Greg. But West Sess, very upset. The win went to the hot boys and you thought you got sandbagged on the last question, which was what is the better fan experience tailgate and stadium

or couch and flat screen and you thought that because when we went to the Rams game last week that is what I prefer that's actually not true I just miss it because I never get to do it but I actually think the better fan experience now in 2018 is couch

flat screen. So you're just saying that Greg and Reggie argued better than that. That's the point. It was never about what I what I believe. I don't believe that. It's not about what's right. It's about who debates better. By questioning what Dan likes better, you're questioning his integrity.

Absolutely. I'm way more upset about Dan just handing you the victory and claiming it was about argument. You are the one. We have to argue for like yet another one-handed catch from a wide receiver versus the play that everyone's going to remember for 15 years from Patrick. All I know is Wes was commenting early on that the chemistry between Reggie and I was like stocked into Malone and we were setting each other up. I mean that.

I mean, you were good teammates. So there we go. You were a formidable opponent. It was a tough match. Don't hit out at the moderator. Just, you know, go back to the web. Look. Or the warehouse of the moving company.

This facade that you have, this was somehow a real debate is interesting. But I think if you go back, watch a tape, there were mistakes made. On your end? No, I was just. Not on your own. All right, Riveron. A bastion of. integrity. All right, let's get to it. Let's start, of course, with some news.

But obviously, DJ Hayden, there's going to be out, week to week, and four nets out. So go ahead, tweet. Hold on, I'm just saying. At least you appreciate I know what you guys have to do. Doug Marone. Oh, Dougie. Let's get to it. Levion Bell. Big news came out of Monday report from ESPN's. Jeremy Fowler that the Steelers running back is expected to report to the team during their week seven buys. Steelers are one, two, and one. They definitely miss him.

And Bell, looking for a contract, has not gotten it yet, but also looks like he intends to play. He even spoke to Fowler on the record. So it seems like this is what the situation is. Mike Tomlin, for what it's worth, on Tuesday said, I have not talked to Levion, and I really have no Leveon update. Greg will start with you on this one. The Steelers could use this, man. And it's a way for Bell to let them know when he's going to be back.

It makes sense. He gets two weeks of practice before two straight division games. There's only two more games before that buy. But if I'm a Steelers fan, I'd be worried about these two matchups. Atlanta is not your average one-win team, and then you're in Cincinnati in week six. It's tough. And I think there's absolutely a chance the Steelers lose.

both of those games, and you're one, four, and one, and Bell is returning too late. So I think that these next two weeks, and really the next stretch of the schedule, all the way through week 11, there are no gimmies. It's tough matchups for the Steelers. That whole division has a tough schedule with its own division and the NFC. Absolutely. So they need to win this game, especially against the Falcons at home, so that they're not stuck going to Cincinnati at one, three, and one in a totally desperate situation.

I get that, like, it's become tiresome for people to. question the business side of what the players doing here. But it's, the football's unique in the sense that, like, what if one of the four of us decided to be selfish enough to, A, be offered an incredible amount of money and comfort to do a job you like, and that include your abilities in theory? But then you need to hold out until midway through the season,

while the other three people must toil a wind day, do all the work, and then show up, like, you know, on December 15th or November 20th, be like, hey, I'm back. Like, I mean, how that does not work. But apparently it has to work for an NFL locker room. Right. You're trained to approach it from a business standpoint and a cold, calculated business standpoint. But as a teammate, I think you naturally question someone like that.

I would if you guys did that. Well, I think what's fascinating about this is it's not even necessarily a business decision. I think most people that really study the business of it all said it's not a good business. He's ultimately going to lose money. It's about money, which makes it a business decision. Well, but I think they think he's probably going to lose money in the end by doing it, but it's a health, it's a health and quality of life. It's because he didn't get a contract, which makes it a business.

It's a trade-off with the Steelers that he doesn't want to give his carries to them. He wants to give him to his next team, essentially. And it's not a terrible idea to take off some time in the middle of his career. You just shouldn't do it while you're on a team like this. Moving on, this is Suspension Return Week, a host of players, many of them. important players to their teams are back in action after missing the four weeks of the season, either due to personal conduct policy violations or the drug policy violation. So here's a list.

And it's a team that could take on the graybeards. Yeah. It's the players here. Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman. You're excited about that, Ricky Hollywood. I'm so excited. You love that, man. Saints running back.

Hey, hello. Saints running back. Stay in control, please. Ingram. Bangles linebacker, Vantes Perfect. Cowboys defensive tackle David Irving. Robert Turbin of the Colts. Jimmy Smith of the Ravens, Darryl Worley of the Raiders. A lot of big-time players back in action-wise.

Yeah, I was looking at this list to see who the best player is, and I think it's probably Jimmy Smith. But the Ravens' defense has done pretty well without him. Julian Edelman might be the most needed player on this list because the Patriots just haven't been able to move the ball through their wide receivers this year. Thomas Davis will be back soon. The Panthers had the buy week,

so I'll be back in a week. That's a big addition. But Jimmy Smith to me is the one that stands out because the Ravens right now are the hardest team to pass on in the league already. So you're adding a number one cornerback to a team that's the hardest to pass on in a league where everyone can pass.

That's the ultimate weapon. Kind of feel bad for him. Rand and Carr will probably get less snaps. Marlon Humphrey's playing too well to lose any snaps. That Robert Turvin, I never would have thought that the Colts needed him so desperately, but he should come in and start immediately. I like David Irvin coming back alongside DeMarcus Lawrence against the Texans' offensive line on Sunday night. One of the Cowboys' defense events will be suspended by noon tomorrow.

No doubt. There has to be one at all times. I think Vante is perfect, too, for a Bengals team that has been destroyed by the run weeks in a row. They miss Paul Gunther, their defensive coordinator. been a quiet story that their defense is way worse, especially their linebackers and their secondary than they were compared to a year ago. Just remember, don't get too comfortable with Vante's Barfick on the field. He'll get suspended against.

Oh, no doubt about it. But, I mean, we'll see him for 30 or 40 minutes. He might do a flying spear launch on his first tackle a year. We'll get him for a quarter or two. He got suspended all the time before the new rules. Exactly. Like, do it in practice. I'll just take out of code.

Yeah, I think he's played three career games, actually. I like that. I give you a look it up on NFL.com. Preston Brown, a Bengals linebacker? Fontes Berkvict was looking a little fat around the sides. I like that. Ooh, kicker update. He couldn't fikin' do it.

Oh, Sam. Is it ficking? I think it's fickin. Yeah, but I like what you did there. But it's over. Sometimes you've got to stretch the pronunciation for the joke. He's been waived by the Rams. Not a surprise.

Last Thursday night against the Vikings, he struggled again, missing two of three field goal, attempts. Excuse me. He missed two of three since taking over for Greg Legg-Zerline, who's got that injury, but he missed one on Thursday night that would have salted the game away. It was a bad miss on a short kick. And you had a feeling it was over for Sam. And now it is. So Cairo Santos is signed. And what is going on? You want to talk about collusion. You know, let's be real here. Kai's Kai. And I get that. Kai four-bath should be the kicker of the Rams. He tried out, though. So they gave him

Cairo Santos has been a better kicker throughout his career than Kai Ford. You can get a... Ooh, kicker hate. You take that back, Wes. No, you look at... You can say, oh, he had a better workout. Maybe Kai missed one off the upright or something. Whatever.

Go back to the tape. Watch a tape in Minnesota last year. Kai had a nice year. Yeah, well, things change. Things change. He was struggling this year. There's tape for kickers, Wes. There's tape for everybody.

Has anyone ever watched one of these kicker tryouts? Because a lot of times the guy who wins is surprising. Well, yeah, that's true. but as a 5-8, he's listed as 5-8, Cairo Santos, 160 pounds, which means he's probably 5-6-150, and he went to Tulane. So I feel a special connection. He's the closest thing I'll ever have to an avatar in the NFL.

My memory is faulty, but before they got Harrison Butt Kicker.com, Cairo Santos was one of the best kickers in the league, and then he went through groin problems for a year or two. Yeah, well, you know. Named after Egypt's capital. A lot of Santos stock on this job. Yeah, it's like, you can't get this from other shows. You bring Kai in the building and you don't take care of them.

That's disrespectful. Interesting that it's Kai versus Cairo. Interesting. Hey, New York Jets malcontent updates. No suspension for Robbie Anderson, which was quite surprising for a host of issues that he had in the offseason, including a salty exchange with a police officer while in the back of a cruiser. and the problem is that's good news for the Jets and their fans, but he is completely evaporated in this offense,

which does not like to throw the ball down field, and Robbie Anderson is most dangerous as a deep threat, but he'll be on a lot of 108 yards this year on eight catches. Right. Not much of a year. He's no Naim Hines. He's been a complete afterthought, and this was a guy that was on pace for a 1,200-yard season

before Josh McCown got hurt last December. Also, Jets running back Isaiah Crowell, If you remember in that Thursday night game after scoring his second touchdown, he pretended to be cleaning himself in the bathroom after a deuce and then he threw the football into the crowd apparently unhappy about how his Brown's tenure ended or went. And he gets fine 13 G's for that.

But he probably got the money back because we learned that he signed a endorsement deal off this with the company. What was it again, Greg? Dude wipes. Dude wipes. I'm not going to buy Dude Wipes and encourage that. I don't know who is buying that.

I mean, I would say he's responsible for the psychological turning point of that Browns Jets game, which was won by Cleveland. I hope he got money from Dude Wipes and not just the 17 boxes that he displayed in his Instagram picture. Because, like, he hadn't enough to do Wipes the last of a lifetime. You want real money out of even being assigned to that pitch. I mean, in terms of, like, gross touchdown celebrations, it's pretty good, though. The ball was his toilet paper, and he threw it to the fans. Why is that good?

And there's like a personal. I mean, if you're looking for something really gross, that's gross. We're supposed to be looking for something gross. I mean, if you were like 11 years old, you would. That's what he was going for. The bowling. Generally not attracted to unattractive things. What's that?

The bowling touchdown really gross me out. Oh, really? Yeah, that touchdown dances. Just because most bowlers are gross? Yeah. Yeah. Moving on. Michael Kendrix is.

That is a hot take. I mean, I don't, I didn't have a feeling about bowlers in general. That is classist. Yeah, it is, actually. Keith Hansis bowls. You got a problem with him? Oh. No, me and Keith go way back.

Every bowler but Keith Hansis. Okay, that feels like a really solid theory coming from behind the glass there. Every guy with the name tag that says Earl is not happy with you. You got a problem with Keith 186? No, me and Keith go way back. We're good. How are bowling alleys doing in 2018? They're fine.

I was just that one the other night. They're fine. They're not doing great, but they're fine. They appear to be. No, I'm just curious. You don't see a lot of articles like, oh, the death of baseball. No one wants to go. Well, they attach them to nice diners and bars now.

Are young people bowling? I was there the other night, and I did not see young people. Probably not in Santa Monica, Greg, but in other parts of the country, which are sometimes ravaged by economic setbacks. Some people do go bowling because it's less pricey than taking 15 people to the Mets game or something. That's true. It's an economic. Right.

I used to go bowling all the time. Especially before I could drive. My parents would drop me off at the bowling alley. Well, you're right. I mean, there are tons of bowling alleys everywhere in L.A. It's not like they're not there. But a lot of those that are like shishi, like come in like a dress and like a button-down shirt. I have a martini.

I have a martini and French fries. Your mom would just drop you off with your daily gallon of milk. Yeah, she'd say, go have fun bowling, sweetie. Michael Kendrick suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Tuesday following a review into his September guilty plea to insider trading charges. Mike Garofalo report, he's on the Seahawks now. He's even been a starter for them. But the Browns cut him immediately after his arrest,

and now the Seahawks will not see him. And it's quite possible. It's kind of a bummer, but he's got a federal prison sentence probably looming here that he's played his final down. That's why you don't inside trade. Don't do it. The deep get banged.

There's a good... Uncle Sam's going to come for you, baby. Yeah. It's a really interesting story. There's a long form which I'm forgetting who wrote it about just the story behind it is pretty fascinating. And it was fascinating that the Seahawks signed him, knowing this was almost certain to happen, that they just decided, whatever, three games was worth it. I think they were quite short-handed at the time. Or it gets delayed or whatever. He made a difference.

He helped that team. He helped that team for three weeks, and now it's over. But with one thing on insider trading is I feel like since the age of like 12, I'd heard of it and I don't know what it is at all. but I basically know I should not be doing it. But then do you suddenly, if you're one of these people pulled into this, you realize, oh, I didn't even realize I was insider trading. I was doing something nefarious that I thought would make money, and I've already on second base of this issue.

Well, if you don't know what insider trading is and you're working in that realm, you probably deserve whatever. I mean, he basically went along with... Do you sign a paper says, now I'm insider trading, and now I'm in that world. It feels like you get pulled into it. He went along with someone who knew exactly what he was doing. Yes, and he knew what he was doing.

Yeah. There is, just to answer, because I know the industry, yes, there is a note that you sign. I will now be an insider trader. You know this industry, you have the figures on the bowling industry. I mean, it's widespread. That's what's happening in the news. You may or may not have heard, but Lowe's is a new home for craftsmen, which means that at Lowe's, you'll find an ever-growing selection of mechanics, tools, tool storage, and more in-store and online,

ready to help tackle projects throughout your home. If one of those projects happens to be in a really tight space to get to, then you definitely need to check out the 122 thratchet. It has a three-degree arc swing, you guys. Don't you know what that does? Oh, yeah. What does it do, Wes? Gives you more leeway.

You can go around things. You can swing it out. You can go around. A three-degree arc swing. And twins. You can loosen or tighten bolts with less movement in those hard-to-reach spots. Correct, Wes. That should make it easy to tackle.

tackle any auto or D-I-Y project on your list. Shop the new home of craftsmen today at Lowe's.com slash around. That's Lowe's.com slash around. Greg, I think it's toolbox time, baby. I rent. I'm not fixing someone else. I rent, too. You rent it as a toolbox.

What? I'm in my toolbox almost every weekend. I just little things to take care of the house. Every weekend. Even like a bathroom doorknob gets a little loose. You just get a little, you just. Some nails, hammer, your screwdriver. your power drill right picture falls off the wall yeah that's what your wife is for you know

oh oh or or your phone or your phone to text the owner of the house come come fix it owner of that is what the wife is for you know sometimes you got to let you got to let the girls it's okay to have non-traditional role absolutely that they can but to suggest that they always would it's whoever has a free hand right you can it's called a partnership it passed a sniff test for me that comment by Greg you're up mark All right, so we have another, a ban phrase for me. I'm adding another one. It's like, oh, it's like, well, why would we keep adding ban phrases?

Like, did Miriam Webster building his dictionary decide after like eight words? We're done, we're good. We're building a compendium of things that we, I don't enjoy, and you're always willing or allowed to add your own. Where is this? Anti-diction. Where is this blowback that you're adding too much? I kind of just pre-pre-pre-pre-paring for it.

Like, why is this still a segment? Well, it's not a segment. It is refining what we're trying to do here. And a lot of it has to do with Twitter behavior. And sometimes this is one of those words that wouldn't like catch all of society by Storm. It's a phrase. But it is especially rampant within the sports media and sports writing community, which I know gets on everyone hears radar and starts to bubble up.

This is one where you'll see. It'll be Thursday night. And it will be someone from a distant NFL city flying into a state. and it's that very typical boring picture three hours before kickoff of their laptop in front of a feel. It says, my office for the day. So it's a phrase that's going. Are you going to say anything or? I'm always told I don't let the sound effect play out, so as long as it's going on.

Really picked a doozy to let play out. You want the listener to enjoy that. We did. This came from a Twitter follower, and I'm going to retweet his tweet when I find it here. It was a great suggestion, and it's a great suggestion when you realize, wait a minute, that has annoyed me for a very, very long time. And if you're doing this, just stop doing it. In fact, you are ordered to stop doing it. Okay.

This one feels a little esoteric. Not all of them are like grand slams. If you go open a dictionary, some words are a little more nuanced and focused at certain people. Not every word is like a five-star word. I couldn't agree more. And the problem is there's something inherent, I guess, about being a sports writer that just makes you do it. Because we all sent out the same somewhat boring picture from wherever we were sitting of a blank. But we don't say my office for the day.

No, you don't say that. You don't say that. But I don't need those. I don't need those pictures. They're boring. I know what a football feels like. I don't need the picture either. But the picture alone, I would forgive because if you're at the Super Bowl and you're taking a picture of the stadium, every human is doing that.

I kind of get that. but it's the my office for the day where it's like a humble brag we get it you're covering football or you're covering a baseball game good for you we'll figure out that you're covering it by the context of your information right show us something that proves that it was helpful to be there and we'll we'll figure it out what would you say to the people i'm with you 100% thank you what you say to the people that's fine i'm fine have thrown out the theory that this is just your gateway to banning social media altogether that eventually No, because, well, I think that's, those are alarmous, because that would take a lot.

There's a lot of stuff happening on Twitter that I will never get to. I am just finding, banning his own social media. Well, that will happen in some way, but certain things that I just find annoying, I find sometimes that at least 75% of other people also find it somewhat annoying. I mean, Mark's not getting off the gram. He's the most social media savvy guy. You never know. Like the whole thing is at some point just ghost entirely and turn it all off.

Turn the shop lights off. You're definitely quitting Twitter before Instagram. Mark's not quitting any social media. Twitter? That's my guarantee. I think you like it. You love the social. Not post working here.

You like to complain about it too. Post working here, I did. Twitter would probably be deep in the rearview mirror. All right. There you go. Band. You can no longer say my office for the day. Local journals and national journals.

It's out. Gone. Gone. I like when the cannon fire fires it away. I don't know. I think Eric could kind of drop the ball. Just giving us. There we go.

Get it out of here. Let's get so bored, by the way. Top 10 MVP. She's just mad that her insurance went up $800. I'm so upset. I'm going to punch that little gecko in the throat. I mean, that's what happens when you hit someone with your car. Literally, you hit a woman.

She ran into my stopped car. Okay. All right. I hate to do this, but we have some. One minute ago, on Twitter.com, Erica Tamposi has sent a tweet out that says, My Office for the Day with a picture of the four of us. Oh, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's rich.

Mark, what are you going to do? What are you doing this situation? You're dealing with someone that at every turn in the road is looking for self-promotional items, self-promotional tweets, anything she can do. to get on any microphone anywhere. And for her good qualities, I'll endure this part of her personality. Wow.

That was a good tweet. That was too real. That was, yeah, that was really upsetting. What? That was a little bit cutting. Yeah, like every microphone I can get on. Are you speaking into a microphone right now? Yeah, because you make me.

I don't make you. I don't want to be here. Erica, your good qualities far outweigh that one little bullet point that needs somewhere. Check out the broadcast drops every third. day make sure you subscribe and download right now you you left it open for the top 10 MVP candidates after week four chris wessling rode a banger oh it's a beefy one too i'm gonna say i'm gonna say it's about 1,200 words of action it's over 2,000 baby oh whoa that is a lot of content and that's because west went methodically through each of the 10 and really dug into it this is no one-liner

And there are certain people in this industry, maybe even in this company, that get a list assignment and they knock out the column clearly in about 25 minutes. Wes, burn in the midnight oil. He didn't even get a lot of sleep last night. Look at this guy. He's wearing his glasses. He looks like hell. Not quite, but you look tired. I'm conflicted about list articles because it feels like the entire industry has decided just to do slideshows and whatever.

That was like seven years ago. The slides have kind of died. Yes, I'm not. Greg. Ever the contrarian. I'm just saying. We have like 30 slideshows on our site right now, by the way. Gennaro, our editor, called it rank it and bank it.

That's the approach that most people take toward it. But I like, where else do I have to put my game pass notes? So that's what goes in there. But here's the, I'm with you on that, but don't you like reading lists? That's the thing that's a catch-20. I enjoy it. Ultimately, I like reading them. They are my guilty.

Pleasure. All right. It's good to it. I don't even know what to do with Dan right now. Number 10 on your list. Wow. Defensive linemen, Tennessee Titans. This is, I think, a lot of people, you know, that maybe don't dive as deep into the tape as West, would not have Drill Casey anywhere near an MVP list.

Tell us why he's on yours. Well, symbolic of the Titans, and there were about 10 different guys I could have thrown in there at 10. To me, the analysis is more interesting than the number. while the Titans were going through their backup quarterback and missing a couple of tackles and the ride receiver is not making plays, the defense carried this team for weeks two and three and then they showed up big in week four too.

And Jarrell Casey is playing as well as any defensive linemen in football this year. I don't care what PFF's grades say. He's up there with anyone. They've got them very high. And I'm sure they do. But this is a guy who's been possibly the most unsung star. in the NFL for the last half decade.

I like that you put him in here against the other 10, probably nine of them running backs or quarterbacks or whatever. It will, because the whole way that MVP voting happens and there hasn't been a defensive player picks since Lawrence Taylor led the league in Sachs in 1986, 25 franchises would need to fold for Jarrell Casey to win MVP, but I will say he belongs on this list. Yeah, I don't even think he's going to be top 10 consideration

by the end of the year. I just want to give him some friends. credit that he's been due. Maybe he'll get the defensive player of the year, just conversation, he'll be in that. He's one of the rare guys that's probably as good against the run as he is against the pass. And he's a good reminder. And Gino Atkins this year is too. Sometimes with defensive linemen or offense, you just kind of like assume they're at the same level every year.

And it's like, no, great players go up and down at those positions just like any other. And Drell Casey's playing better this year than he's ever played. 7-8-9 on this list is three incredibly important skill players to their. respective teams. Zeke Elliott running back Cowboys, nine, Tyreek Hill, wide receiver, Chiefs, eight. Todd Gurley, running back Rams,

seven. Tyreek Hill, West, you've been singing praises of that wide receiver all season. Thought he might even be a little higher on this list. Yeah, I originally had him higher, and then he kind of disappeared for stretches of the last two games. I do think he's very valuable for what he does, even when he's not touching the ball,

that he really opens the spacing for this offense, and they have as much spacing as any offense in the league. And I think that's why. I think he has a Randy Moss-like effect because of his speed. And that's why Alex Smith was an MVP candidate. It's one of the reasons why Patrick Mahomes going to be an MVP candidate because of Tyreek Hill's presence out there. And there's no other number one type of receiver that,

I guess maybe there are, but they don't make plays like Tyreek Hill, where when they needed a play in the punt return game to be made the other night, that's when you put Tyreek Hill back there. He's only returned a handful of puns this year, and three of them have gone for big distances. He set them up to start making that comeback the other night. One other MVP note, like I think Ezekiel Elliott, no matter what he does,

probably faces a little bit of an uphill climb, even though he's on the team that gets more celebration than any other team combined. Because if they go seven and nine or six and ten, or they don't make the playoffs, again, if you look at the way the MVP voting happens, nine out of ten times they're attached to a high-flying winning team. I have even more respect for Zeke Elliott

through the first four weeks than I've had in the past because he's doing this. He's showing this year certain guys will disappear. Running backs will disappear when they don't have quite the cast that they need around him. And he's still a badass right now, even with the Cowboys kind of

going uphill on offense. He's a great guy to think about what would the team would be like without him. They'd be terrible. It's like no they might be going for the number one overall pick. The Rams would be fine without Todd Gurley. They would figure it out. The Cowboys would be one in 15. They'd be a hot mess. The play that won that game, other than the field goal, of course, is

Zeke going down the sideline and taking a ball over his shoulder and bringing in it. Not a lot of running backs can make that play. Let's move to number six. Aaron Rogers and number five, Drew Breeze. So two quarterbacks, two mainstays, two future Hall of Famers, still getting it done. Yeah, I wanted to point out that Breeze missed a couple of touchdown. in week two, but has otherwise been just about perfect. He didn't have the greatest game against the Giants,

but he's still completing about 76% of his passes, which would shatter his own record for a single season. 76. That's insane. And Aaron Rogers, I mean, what he did week one, the largest fourth quarter comeback in the 98-year history of the Packers was amazing. And to me, like, I think some of the prettiest throws of the season have been drops by Packers-wide receivers,

including a pair off one foot with just the flick of the wrist that were perfectly placed in Devante Haddam's hands and Geronimo Allison's hands in the end zone in the red zone last week and this game should have been way better than 22 to nothing in the Packers. Like a seasoned bullfighter out of a Hemingway novel. Yeah, I sort of went to the bank twice on that.

Is it a grizzled veteran a couple of days ago? If you got a good line in the podcast, you got to use that right. Well, you let me finish the sense. I'm enjoying the sense. Is a grizzled veteran playing 24? First Century America's most iconic athletic position with style and flair. You don't read this on SB Nation, folks. Randomest.

You don't read this on Bro Bible. Or not loud on Pro Bible. Or bar stool. You only get it from Chris Wessling at NFL.com. And I should note that Aaron Rogers, even though their offense did not play very well as a unit last week against the bills, moving better, which is a good sign that perhaps his legs are getting back up to speed. We'll move to number four. Alvin Kamara, running back New Orleans Saints.

Mark, he is super impressive this season because this is the year, the first quarter of the season, he did it on his own, and the Saints didn't skip a beat back there. He can do it all. And I guess with this whole pull the player from the offense thing, I would struggle a little bit. If you pull Alvin Kamara from this offense,

you still have what they've had all along, which is Drew a Breeze and the parts around him. But Alvin Kamar, to me, is such a different kind of player than they've ever had. But if you pull Drew Breeze and you put in some other no-nameer. What happens to, you've got two MVP candidates on that offense for a good reason. But to me, Alvin Kamara is doing things that no other running back in football can do right now,

and he's doing it no matter who else is on the field, and he's a special player, and they know it. The touchdown that he scored, the balance that he showed last week on the goal line, I think that's what really separates him, is that he can be that receiver, essentially running routes and beating lines. linebackers like a receiver. But he can also withstand linebackers crunching him on the goal line and keep his balance. That's why I call him an alien.

He has like a balance that. It's hard to measure that, but it's better than any running back I can remember. I'm just glad he was born when he was. He said crunching. Oh, yeah, I didn't know where that could. You mentioned, you mentioned his goal line abilities. Do you believe that now that Mark Ingram is back, that they'll have a similar role to last season? or do you think Kamara is kind of the lead dog here as opposed to a one-two punch?

I think he was the lead dog by the end of last year. And I don't think his role has to change too much because he's only run the ball 56 times this year. You probably won't get games like last week where he had 19 carries as often. But they've been pretty conservative with him running. He's caught the ball more. He's third in receptions. So on pace to break Matt Forte's single season record for receptions by a running back. He's going to go over 100 unless he gets injured.

It's a great problem for them to have to fit. figure that up. The top three, Khalil Mack, linebacker Bears. I think everyone has been tracking this guy's season, gets traded from the Raiders, and has just become a monster. He's on pace with 20 sacks and 13 force fumbles and

is the face of that defense right now. And then you have Jared Goff at number two. Getting some love. This has been, it's been funny that Jared Goff narrative in this NFL season. The first two weeks, you had the, after the second week, you had the game manager narrative rolled in.

Now the last two weeks when he's been lighting it up, it's like the totally opposite side of it where it's like Jared Goff is actually a superstar guys. He's closer to that, Wes? You'd have to be blind to watch Jared Goff the last two weeks and think that he's a game manager when he's making what Jim Murray once said about Dan Marino double keyhole throws, not just putting it through one keyhole, but two keyhole.

And then through a turkey hole sometimes. And then through a turkey hole. Bang. So many holes. He is putting the ball right on his receiver's hands, 20, 30, 40, 50 yards down field. What more do you want the guy to do? Even in that week two game, he was making plays under pressure into tight windows.

I think that was the one thing that I wondered about Jared Goff. Can he move away from pressure? But he shows that he's not Tom Brady, but he shows that ability to move within the pocket that Matt Ryan's also very good at to get away from defenders and deliver while he's about to be hit. And I don't think that was really there the first couple of years. He's just getting better. I agree.

If Khalil Mack keeps this up, and again, this award is always on my radar because it only goes to two positions for 29 years in a row and then it goes to a third. I don't know how he wins MVP based on what J.J. Watt did over previous seasons. I don't know how they don't just slide him into defensive player of the year, but if he keeps this up, there's such an argument to change the way we look at MVP because he is, I get that if you're, they threw six touchdowns, the quarterback's good now. everyone's all on that bus, Matt Nagy can run the offense. This is their quarterback. He came in and changed this team from the absolute minute he stepped on the field, and they would not be who they are without Khalil Mack. He's what an MVP should be.

Yeah, if not for that miraculous Aaron Rogers' comeback, the Bears would be undefeated, and people would be talking about him more as an MVP. And I think you'd have to go, some of those Watt seasons were just outrageous. I think they might have fallen on some of those crazy Peyton Manning years and Aaron Rogers seasons. But some quarterback's going to be crazy. crazy this year. It's such a high bar, though. Right. And I think the quarterback ultimately is to me the most important

player in the sport. So I get what you're saying. But Matt could make a real strong push. What if they change the name of the award from defensive player of the year to defensive MVP? Would that make you feel any better? It would make me because I think what we do is we automatically take it's easier just to understand offense if you're half these voters. I understand a wide receiver going for 2,000, a quarterback doing with Pat. But when your look, Dorel Casey will never get consideration because who's watching Dorel Casey? And even with Mac, you can hear that Mac's great and see it on highlight plays,

but you don't see the nuance of snap after snap most of these voters. And I think reporters and voters have gotten much more knowledgeable thanks to services like PFF, but still it's a stats-based award more than it should be. There's no replacement for watching the games. And if you're watching the games, I mean, these writers just don't have enough time to, but if you're watching the games, Kaleel Mac would certainly be in your time. If he got, if he kept up this pace, I think he'd had a legit shot. The problem is this pace is outrageous.

I mean, if he gets a force fumble every week, I think he'll do it. I think you'll get it. Number one on the list. Yeah, you can guess it. It's not Tom Brady because Tommy didn't make the top ten. Number one, Patrick Mahomes. That was for you, Erica. I didn't read the article.

Yikes. When is the last article you read on NFL.com? Uh, your Brown's Belichick article about a year ago. Ooh. Okay. Oh, the Belichick one, not the recent one about being a fan. Two years ago, but no, I didn't, I, I, I tweeted about it how great it was, but I didn't read it.

I do that all the time, so I really can't kill you. Patrick Mahomes and Wes, you can give us, we've talked a lot about Patrick Mahones. Why is he number one? Well, beyond the numbers, the way he's played, the style in which he's played, uh, the fact that Andy Reed, you know, to his everlasting credit, had a perennial playoff contender with Alex Smith, a guy who could run his offense, who could be safe and conservative, which a lot of coaches like. Don't go out there and freelance. Don't go out there and mess up the game plan. Patrick Mahomes is out there freelancing and doing it well as a guy who's only made five NFL

starts. And then guys like Bud DeBree from the Steelers say, we really underestimate this guy's pre-snap intelligence. He was out there deciphering us before the snap. He's doing all of that plus the L-way far-like ability to improvise and play sandlot football when the defense makes you do it. Put him in the hall theme. Let's do it. Patrick Mahomes, the leader, everyone's leader for MVP, including Chris Wessling. You check it out, NFL.com slash Wessling to read the entire piece. Great work, Wes. Ad time. G Suite is a suite of cloud-based productivity tools that includes Gmail, docks, slides, sheets, and drive.

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All right. Let's close out the show with a look at Thursday night football. The New England Patriots 2 and 2 got back on track by wiping out the dolphins, humbling the Miami Mashers. 357, I believe, was the final. It was not competitive. and now their treat is another home matchup. This time against the Colts who are now one and three, Mark Sessler, and they need a dub, and it ain't going to be easy to do on the road in Foxborough.

What are your thoughts? It's always when I look at the schedule and they put these short week games in New England. It's a double extra challenge. A, you're a first-year head coach in Frank Reich. You've got an out-dual Bill Belichick, a Bill Belichick team that gets Julian Edelman back, and I think we're going to get more snaps from Josh Gordon than what did you have 18 last week or something didn't do a whole lot for them

and we'll find out about Grunk he's a wait and see at this point I trust that he'll play although Greg you do not you think he may not we'll see it's a short week and he hasn't practiced I know they're saying it's not a major ankle injury that's been reported

that's been reported widely but why why risk anything with Rob Grunkowski's long-term health I think it's a smart week to have him sit down because you need a win because you're only two and two and if he can play he plays you get a long

you get a basically a mini buy if he's good enough to suit up I think they can use it yeah you start I don't know to me that's a well the Patriots are one of the teams that generally err on the side of caution in terms of they're going to preserve their guys'

bodies if they can't I feel like that's the approach the Vikings took when they got the clocks cleaned by the bills oh we don't really need Dalvin Cook this week let's be cautious I don't think that they would make the decision any differently against any team. It's just the fact that it's a Thursday night game.

Well, and you're, it's a cult, no T.Y. Hilton for the cults, it sounds like. No Jack Doyle, it sounds like. They are short-handed in the passing game. We already know what we think about their run game. Nice to have Robert Turbin back, but Robert Turbin is not the second coming of, please, and Ezekiel Elliott right here. So it's like, you get like 28 yards from him. I'm enjoying your analysis.

No, you have no, it's like, I just think this, watching them against the Texans, they can do one thing and it's throw the ball. to a bunch of no-nameers outside of T.Y. Hilton. Can I ask a question? Has Andrew Luck ever beaten the Colt, Patriots? No. Has it ever been a close game? The average margin of victory since Luck has played for the Colts

is 19 points in the Patriots' favorite. This is such a different Colts theme and such a different Patriots team. If the Colts were healthy, I think it would have been a lot more interesting. Because the Patriots... But of course it won't be. Wes was right that on paper,

last week was a strange week, and they're still working through things. But especially seeing the Patriots offense against the Colts defense would have been interesting. But they're also missing Quincy Wilson. They're missing Kenny Moore, probably their best two guys in the secondary. But this is the first Colts defense since before the Ryan Grigsin era that has had a backbone. You can't just line up and shove it down their throat this year. I think it could wind up being kind of an ugly game where there's a little bit of grumbling

just because it's 18 to 10 going into the fourth or something. I want to see the Patriots offense get going. It's going to be a lot of James White, a lot of Sony-Michel. Trent Brown is really struggling to protect Tom Brady. The Nate Solder departure is starting to come home to roost, and that's a big concern. Maybe it's not a huge one this week, but Tom Brady is getting hit a lot,

and Tom Brady is not hitting any deep balls. He's statistically, maybe the worst in the league hitting deep balls right now. Colts had seven sacks last week, and that came against the Texans, so you can take a few off that. They are second only to the Bears and sacks, and they are leading the NFL and tackles for loss. There was an old adage, which I know you were aware of, Greg, that you would never bet against Peyton Manning in primetime.

And Peyton Manning's heyday, he was a beast. Andrew Luck has struggled in primetime in his career, one of his last six games, the cults of won. So I'm going to be really surprised, especially with them being short-handed if they go in there and compete. A word in Andrew Luck's favor here. We expressed quite a bit of skepticism about his arm, then he went through for a career high with T.Y. Hilton on the sideline in the fourth quarter.

He's got a comeback attempt, sends the game to the last seconds with Zach Pascal, Marcus Johnson, Chester Rogers, three undrafted receivers, and a former basketball player undrafted named Mo Allie Cox. I don't want to hear any more Eli Manning excuses. I just don't. Don't give me any more. Especially while JJ White and Debbie and Clownie are coming after him. Like, if Andrew Luck can get 464 yards with an arm that's not quite right. They weren't all six-yard passes either. I have no idea why we're talking about Eli Manning right now.

I'm just saying, like, all the excuses that are constantly made for Eli Manning, and Andrew Luck did that. By the way, I do think, as Mark mentioned, we'll see more of Josh Gordon, and he made a big impact. I feel a little more excited about Josh Gordon after these 18 snaps. Didn't play much. Mark doesn't want to hear that. I mean, I don't.

That's great, Greg, that you have multiple Lombardi trophies, that you're just walking around, one in each arm. Erica's carrying the third. Now you're getting to be excited about Josh Gordon. Oh, there's five technically. Come on. But he made of two tough catches. He drew a penalty.

He also drew his Xavier and Howard. He broke a couple tackles. He made a huge block. In other words, he's a monstrous talented wide receiver. Right. So I'm seeing. We are finally connecting the dots here. Well, we haven't seen that in a long time, really.

This guy is from another. You talk about someone else being an alien, Alvin Kamara. Josh Gordon, when he's healthy and good, is unstoppable. And you got him for nothing. How about that Eli Manning, though? I mean, this is so predictable. What's going to happen here? Let's cut through the BS.

I got 3817. Pats in this game. What do you guys got? I don't think the Pats score that many points. I'll say 24-20, Pats. I'll go 26-19. 24-13. I like what I saw out of the Pats defense, especially at home.

Good stuff. All right. We'll recap this game. No one's lock. up the Patriots this week? I would suggest not, but listen, it's a mirror check. That's all. Just look in the mirror. None of us ever, I never think about locking

this early in the week, so the Thursday. You can, though. It is eligible. None of us do, except I did it with the Browns two weeks ago. So none of us not accurate. I said, I never do. All right, let's send this podcast where a fight breaks out. We will be back tomorrow night with a recap of the game we just previewed

and then a preview of all the rest of the week, five games. That's what we do. And again, if you're not watching our Twitter show, we're having quite a lot of fun over there. So the video show, you could find it pinned on our pages and pinned on the around the NFL Twitter page. So make sure you check it out. Give it a gander.

Gander is a term people use. I like it. For look at it. To peer at to look. Yes. Thank you. All right. Let's go.

Stan Hansa signing off for the Quiet Storm, the Mailman. The old boss and Ricky Hollywood. Behind the glass. Go Yankee until Thursday. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.