NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - What's More Likely & ATN Mailbag with Steve Wyche

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, and Steve Wyche preview the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Steelers and Patriots. Before the preview, the heroes get you caught up on news from around the league including an injury update for Trevor Lawrence (07:05) and the starting QB situation for the Vikings (09:15) and Jets (11:53). The heroes then play a round of "What's More Likely" (18:58), preview the Thursday Night Football game (49:00), and open the ATN Mailbag (53:00).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. It's another show with Levi. From the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. Got heroes here. Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler.

And yes, you are in the iconic Levi jacket. You're lucky that I, you know, complied from a wardrobe story. Right. I had to been here with more time, I was going to switch into a button down. What a coincidence it is that you're wearing the jacket when that drop hits. Yeah, it's a day that ends in Y. We lucked out. And also with us, listen, it's been a while since he's been on ATN and we're happy to have him.

If Rich Eisen is the face, then this man is the conscience of NFL media. You know who it is. Yes. Steve Weiss. Boy, yo. He's the one with that white hair, man. I think it's like wisdom or something. Ooh, yo.

Steve Weiss. Oh, man. Steve Weiss. You guys, man. Knows a bit about football. This is awesome. I have to say, we've had so many great songs submitted by our listeners through the years. Yeah.

But I don't know if there's anything better than the Steve Weiss team. I mean, I am just so like... It sounds very professional. It sounds really professional. We have to get Tua to play this on the end-season Hard Knocks. He's a big reggae fan there. He was great on the Manning cast. He was great.

Playing the guitar? Yeah, some guitar. I would roll around town listening to this on Loop. Yeah, nothing like tears of heaven to really bring the party going. Evan Hornsby with that. Well done. Banger. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, it's very good. All right, we got Steve here. I love it. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited. Big show. A little housekeeping before we get going. We got so much you get to.

We're going to do open up the mailbag. We're going to check in on that TNF banger. What's the over under at now? Is it in the 20s? I will check. I believe it. They kept it at 30. It keeps sinking.

Pittsburgh, New England. We're going to play. It made it to 30? It fell down to 30. Yes. Oh, it's down to 30. Oh, my gosh. We're going to get some news, but just so little palace intrigue for around the NFL.

Today, Steve, was Picture Day for around the NFL. I love it. Yeah. And Greg and I were here. Mark wasn't. And you told us you had a perfectly good reason not to be here. Yeah. So do we, we're good with that, Greg.

Are we cool in house with Mark? I mean, we have to be, right? We were here. We took the pictures. And we, and it was supposed to be head shots and then group photos. Which I did not know that that second part, but I couldn't have changed my. Right. It was right there in the email.

It was all very clear. But we got you. So, uh, we asked, uh, what was her name? Maddie? Maddie, who did an awesome job. Uh, we did this. We got, we got one of the shots. Check it out on YouTube.

Uh, we made sure to kind of leave a spot for Mark. And then I went ahead. Thank you. And I, I took care of this and did a little Photoshop to get you. And I know camp happiness is your favorite era. Uh, so here is the other photo. there we go. Yes.

So this will be the photo. Unbelievable. We'll send it out. Oh, then I don't need to. No, you're coming. You're good. We got you. All right, cool.

We got your back. Slightly ominous that the first group shot in about a decade doesn't include me. I don't know what that means for the future. But I took a child to the dentist today. So I hope that it works as a. We got your back. All right. We're good.

That was from high school, that picture, by the way. That was not from summer camp. That's not from camp happiness? No. All right. I'll get back to work. Ridulous field near my. House.

You do look like you could, you know, use some lotion or some sunscreen. Yeah. Yeah. No. Dangerous sunburn back then. All right. Steve. You can Photoshop.

Sorry, Steve. I mean, on the promo, on the, on the, hey, on the photo for NFL game day preview, it's Photoshop. So like Andrew Siciliana and I are at the same height. So they can get you in there. You'll be fine. I was like a new photo. They've got the skills. I was saying we took some photos of Greg and I, and we're not a good match in photos because

it makes me look bigger and Greg looks smaller. Of course, Greg's like, no, I don't see that. I was like, we look good. We look great. I thought you looked stunning, the two of you. Nice to know. Here we go, Steve. Yes, yes.

You have a Darwin James interview, so we can't be like pussy-footing around here, you know? It's all right. Derwin to wait? Yeah, yeah, you can wait. Let's do it. We've got so much to get to. Let's start, though, with some news. You see DK set the record.

This year, basketball, we know. Over 22 miles an hour, still as fast as ever as ever. fifth year in the league. 22.6? I hit 23 my rickie. I probably won't never hit that again.

That is Tyreek Hill from the hard knocks in season which is amazing. Which is spectacular. I have not checked it out. Great. It is great. And as I've said many times in the show, next gen, big next gen,

doesn't want people to know that everyone goes 21 miles per hour. But we're starting to see, we're starting to see, some cracks and movement there because DK on Thursday night on that 75-yard touchdown cracked 22 and there's Tyreek.

I believe him when he was a rookie before he got a little older and some injuries was hitting 23. So we're starting to move away from 21 miles per hour. That's good. This is a big Dan's been on this beat. I can tell for a while. He's hung up on this. What about you? Steve, you ever have like a pick six

or anything in college or the pros and you were able to get? Never in the pros. The pros. Come on. What are we talking about here? You never know. Did you ever hit, do you ever hit 20, you think? No,

because back when I was playing, everything was kind of being measured by sandials. There was no such thing as next gen sports. So maybe, you know, if a shadow moves a little bit in front that worked, you know, I was on the Sophocles time scale.

We were definitely, Socrates, not Sophocles. But no. All right. Good to know. Did you have a pick six, though?

In any time in your point? In high school, yeah. That's pretty cool in front of all your classmates They're watching you achieve that way I've had some big house I've had some big rules Quarterback about a 65 yard quarterback sneak to the house

Oh hell yeah I've got I've got nice little If they gave Jake Browning a full segment About his high school exploits a few weeks ago Why don't we just drop it into game day morning I don't know if I should have 91 touchdowns in a season But No I don't have 91 touchdowns in a season

I'd have 91 touchdowns in a career And again there's probably video Of Jake Browning right mine was like on tape that has warped and Steve is a hundred and fourteen years old based on uh the development of it's yes all right let's get to it we'll start with Trevor Lawrence the Jaguars quarterback who suffered that high ankle sprain on Monday night man it looked bad when it happened but here is the good news the injury is not one that ends a season and on top of that there's a report from Jeff Howell

of the athletic that he is going to quote rehab around the clock this week to give himself a chance to play through his high ankle sprain per sources too early to know how the ankle will respond and whether he'll be available Sunday but they are not ruling it out here is Doug Peterson on the situation so starting with Trevor obviously it's just a right high ankle sprain everything's stable everything looks good and and we'll see where he is here in a couple of days one of those injuries that you just don't know how right serious it's going to be because there's different high ankle sprains Kenny Pickett required the surgery. Trevor Lawrence isn't getting that. I even think of Ryan Tannahill. He's had multiple high ankle spraints. Some he just played through, essentially. Some he's missed, you know, two, three weeks. This week seems like a stretch,

but they do have a Raven Sunday night game in week 15. So maybe he's pointing towards only missing one game. It's still just the way that they were talking today, he's definitely not going to practice. Cleveland. That would be a big surprise. And they could potentially lose their lead. in the division if they lose

two games with that. Sitting at 8 and 4. That is a nasty two pack of games. The Browns are pretty banged up too. But without if you have C.J. Bethard in there who didn't look terrible in relief. But that that's a completely different situation. Trevor Lawrence is very tough to prepare for. Well, I mean, look, they're playing Cleveland, which is

going to be either Flacco or DTR. The Jags defense can come up and make a couple plays, which they should be able to do. I mean, it gives them an opportunity. This is one where you say, okay, we're playing a backup quarterback. One way or another, one's coming out of concussion protocol or one who's playing in a second NFL game. So our defense

should be able to get us there. If we're as good as we think we are defensively, if you want to win the division, you win these type of games and you have your backup quarterback. Yeah. Oh, I would say they probably felt the same way about Jake Browning and that was a bit of a national surprise. Well, yeah. You think? I mean, Browning was pretty spectacular

in that game. It was. In other news, Vikings quarterback, Josh Jobs will start on Sunday against the Raiders. This, speaking of palace intrigue, I think it kind of went on. Everyone's attendance a little bit. After the Monday night lost to the Bears before their bye week, O'Connell came out in the post-game presser and was like,

yeah, you know, we're going to have to evaluate everything. Who makes Justin Jefferson the most dynamic? Here is Kevin O'Connell after making the decisions to stick with Dobbs. I want to address the quarterback position. We will be starting Josh Dobbs in the football game on Sunday. Feel great about kind of our by-week process of really, you know, two layers to it, evaluating kind of where Josh has been as far as immediately providing a spark and helping us win two football games and then, you know, transitioning to some tough, you know,

tough outcomes where there's all kinds of things that we could, we could do better, we could coach better. Josh's continued comfort in our offense and how we play, but also our offense and our staff's ability to evolve and help Josh thrive. He added that Nick Mullins, the backup will be ready to go. There's also a rookie in the mix, Jaron Hall. Gregi, I liked your theory. This is the team around the NFL, by the way. So this is an important decision being made by the head coach.

I liked your theory. Throw it out there. Now, this isn't based on any reporting, but I kind of was into it. No, because he caught us off guards, Kevin O'Connor, right after that game. And then the Monday after saying how he's got to have to look at everything, including the quarterback position and changes could be made. And my theory was in that game when Dobbs was. throw an interception after interception.

Maybe at that point, they're having a conversation. It's like, whatever you do, just like, just don't turn the ball over anymore. Or, you know, be careful this or that. Like, he, and Dobbs, that fourth interception he had in that game was one of the worst interceptions anyone had all season. He's just like falling down, James Winston-style throws it to nowhere. And I think it kind of blew Kevin O'Connell's mind there for a couple days and he had to calm down emotionally.

But I'm glad to see Josh Dobbs over Jaron Hall or. Nick Mullins. Nick Mullins leading the team of around the NFL podcast. Just doesn't have the same vibe. Things grow dark at that point. Well, I mean, the Dobbs also. I mean,

when the guy came there, I mean, look, he's moving, he's doing all this stuff. It gives him the immediate spark. But that's when our coach has to say, okay,

this is one where my guy got the yips in a game, where everything this came, the snowball came downhill. It was a total collapse. If we start seeing it in the next game, then we can go to Nick Mullins. But right now we're going to give him another show. And build an offense around him.

He's a very different quarterback, and this gives him a week to do. that by we came at the ideal time it really did in other quarterback news uh more palace intrigue this one out of florin park in new jersey oh boy uh the new york jets uh dealt with a major major drama around zack wilson uh we talked about the back story with this uh that word had gotten out and reported by the athletic that wilson was apprehensive about returning to his starting role two weeks after he had been benched by the jet citing uh concerns about his health and you know an uncertain future that likely doesn't involve the Jets.

Bob Sala, that's poor guy. I know I'm coming down hard and Sala and the Jets in general on the show lately, but I really do like Robert Sahl. He seems like a really good and decent man and he's not in a good situation and just things are snowballing on him

and he's the face of it. So it's just kind of I can be frustrated as a fan but also I feel badly for Sala. So now here he is announcing that indeed Zach Wilson will be his quarterback on Sunday. gives us our best chance to win and giving him

another opportunity to go prove that. How did that conversation go when you told him? He was good. He's fired up. Like I said, on Monday, he came into my office. He wants the ball and he's excited about getting this opportunity to finish the season strong. So is he your starter the rest of the year, no matter what? God willing.

Oh, man. Steve. God willing is not where I would have gone with that. Aaron Rogers on the McAfee show. On Tuesday, he kind of scolded the whole Jets locker room for too many leaks this season and ESPN reported that what

likely happened per source is that Wilson asked the teammate for advice on the risk or reward of playing a late season game with no playoff implications and from that word got out that he had reservations so someone in that locker room Steve kind of snitched on Wilson based on that reporting or somebody

in that building right somebody snitched on Wilson and you know just an ugly situation it's terrible I mean this is one thing you know look I love Robert Tala I think he's a fantastic man. And he has been putting it in a very bad spot because your organization sold out for Aaron Rogers and he got hurt.

Like no one saw this coming. And so now when this reporting happened that, you know, Zach Wilson was reluctant to play, I'm like, tell me a time when a player has really had an option to say, I really don't want it back in there and not get cut. Right.

That was what was up there. Robert Saw says, we will cut you or suspend you without pay and basically shame you to where no other team is going to want to touch you to make you look like a quitter, or you're going to come back in and start because we need you right now. We know we've yo-yo you back and forth, whatever. So it's just multifaceted dysfunction with this. Either Zach Wilson just comes off looking as somebody completely ungrateful, spoiled, doesn't want to play, or he comes off as looking. He has every right

to feel this way. But at the same time, you're getting paid handsomely. You have to go out and do your job. You think Garrett Wilson, some of these guys want to be out there? We see Jonathan Allen with the commanders be like, geez, it sucks going back out there and getting their luck kicked every week. But they are in a profession that they're compensated for. Most

people, very handsomely. And a bunch of people would love to have their pain, their dysfunction to go out there and do it. It does feel like for, you know, the season started with such hope I've never seen Dan kind of feel that way about

his jets, and it obviously quickly fell off a clip, but now the team feels, it feels like last year where there's just fractures. And I don't like the fact that, yeah, I don't like what Zach Wilson. I don't like where he's coming from, not wanting just to go play like anyone should. But if you go and tell a teammate or you seek advice or counsel,

you're a young player. Again, I feel like a lot of Zach Wilson said over the... That also sounds like spin. I feel like for it to be as widespread as it was. It was like, people knew it. Yeah, I think you're right, but it's not, if it was a teammate or something like that, and then that person went and just told someone else right away.

It just sort of speaks to, like, the whole thing is falling apart in such ugly fashion. They don't want to play. A lot of these players, you know, especially as skill players, they've been done with Zach for a year now. Yeah. Yep. So you could kind of see why it would get out, but it's also, it's like it does show. And, you know, I was saying Rogers, what has he actually done for my team so far? So I have frustration with him.

But he's right. It's like, if you want to actually be an organization that has it together, the first thing you got to do is stop leaking things to the media and creating more of a circus. Clean up everything. So much the judges leaked it. Well, and real quick, I'll tell you this. Two teams that were on the same dysfunctional organization track that have tightened it up are the Browns

in some ways and the Dolphins. These were two absolutely disastrous franchises. They've got leadership in there that buttoned up the leaks. They parked the clown car away. Yeah. And it can no longer be found. That cannot be said about the Jets right now. And it's, look,

no one talks about it, but the Giants are actually a more disastrous football team, talent-wise, and things like this, same record. But the Jets just outshine them at absolute absurdities in the same market. Never mind. Yes, it's bad. They outshine them in absurdity so that the Giants get overlooked for all the bad stuff that's happening there. We do this every, we do this, I do this every December where I hit this frustration level. And then I also have to think to myself, but the Rogers thing had so much the injuries,

blew up everything. So just kind of, I'm trying to, like, take a step back. Emotional on the show the other day? This is a loss season. Oosa. And let's see what happens this winter. This is your place to be emotional.

Not practicing Wednesday and doesn't seem like there's... Everybody take a deep breath? That probably was never happening. Take a step back. Yeah. It's time to wipe this season away and see if they could fix things next year. All right. Again. And again and again.

Finally in the news, My favorite coach, Mike McCarthy, he had appendix surgery or has that coming up after experiencing abdominal pain Wednesday morning. As a result, he is going to be in a hospital and getting a procedure done. And the hope and the plan is that he will be coaching Sunday night against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. Well, I mean, appendicitis is not going to knock Zaddy out of the picture. Oh, Zaddy, what's wrong with your insides? What? I like it.

Well, if you must know, Frags, it was an abdominal pain, and it's appendicitis. So, there you go. Get well soon, Zaddy. There's going to be kids listening to this. That's what's happening in the news. Do you have anything to add? It was not. You top that.

Yeah, you can't. You got to leave it. with frack you don't want to be the next person to speak after she speaks yeah and play by play terms just let it breathe exactly um all right let us take a break and then we'll get into everything else hey this matt jones i'm drew franklin and this is nfl cover zero we're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different did you see the colts pretzel that was my other big takeaway from that what was that oh my we think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I don't even remember this one. Welcome back to around the NFL. Stephen Weish. There we go.

Does anybody call you Steve Warsh? My wife, my mother. Like when they're mad at you? You guys would say, Stephen might be. Stephen. A hot water there. It depends. Yeah.

It's a fluid situation. It could be like Stephen or it could be like Steve. Ooh. That's true too. Bring Frags back in here. All right. So, with Steve Weish with us, I thought this is a perfect time to bring back one of the War Horses segments for around the NFL.

It's been a while. We've done it on the live show a couple times, but it's been a while since it's been in the studio. Hit it, Robbie. Live from Englewood, California, it's time for everybody's favorite game show. What's More Likely! Right, yes, What's More Likely, a game where we're. We present two realities in the NFL, and it's simple. I mean, which one is more likely to be what occurs?

And I kept mine in the regular season, but it's anywhere you want to go with it. Steve, you are a guest, so I defer to you to get us going. Oh, I got. This is a 2024 off season. More likely. Okay. All right. More likely.

The Jets pass on a quarterback with their top draft choice. or Robert Sala and Joe Douglas will be the ones making that decision whether to pass or draft. What's more likely? Oh, that's a tough one. I thought on our last show that Sala, it was kind of the end of the road for Sala

because I thought, based on the, it was kind of the wonky reporting, it was just a sloppy day, that Wilson had told him he didn't want to play and was kind of, you know, putting Sal out directly like that. I don't think that's what happened now, that we have more clarity.

But I still think if they lose out, I think I got a feeling that Woody is going to potentially act off that. So that said, if they have a top five pick, they got to take a quarterback, right? This is a tough one. I don't think so. I think it's...

The quarterback's 40. I'm going more likely Salah or, wait, it's more likely Sal or Douglas are making the pick or not. Or making the decision. whether to use the pick on the quarterback. I guess I'm going to go quarterback then. I don't think either is particularly likely. I think either Salah or Douglas or both will be gone if I have to guess.

But I actually think Aaron Rogers being there, I guess it depends. I'm thinking first round, if Aaron Rogers is there, he's not going anywhere. Right. They're all in. They're all in. And he answered the question about the coaches a little more noncommittal to Pat McAfee this week than I maybe would have expected. It wasn't anything. noteworthy, but it wasn't like a full-throated

on the boss, they better be here. It was kind of like, that's out of my hands. And to me, he's there, so you're not taking a first-round quarterback. Maybe you take a developmental guy later. I tend to think the latter that Sala and Douglas will be making the decision. The reason I think

they'd stick around, they look like a disaster to all of us on the outside. I don't know what the owner thinks on the inside. There's been so much change there. It's like the flying the ointment is with Aaron Rogers attached on Nathaniel. you'll hack it attached to big chunks of the rock like certain wide receivers that are there it's like if you want to keep erin rogers happy over the offseason which was a chore for the packers um do you want

it to it's it's it looks bad right now but if a so if a whole new org comes in and blows a lot up and says we'll build around errs rogers but forget nathaniel hackett forget all his buddies i don't know if that's what you do with one more year of rogers do you try to say sala's defense has been good the thing he was brought in to do he's done a pretty good job with do you give it one more try well he's brought to be the head coach that's part of the problem like he's right he needs to be more they need to be more globally successful at this point after three years i'll say it's more likely all they have to do is like fall into one or two wins and i think that will give johnson enough to say all right just wipe this path wipe this whole thing they lose out i think everyone's gone here's why i think sol and douglas

are back who's going to take that job knowing that you got erin rogers for one year and you're not taking a quarterback to build on you could also spin it you know you got aaron rogers in a very good defense is waste of again who's going to take that job for one year a lot of job openings too we'll get to that a little bit later in the show um all right here's another one uh what's more likely the Kansas City chiefs uh get the number one seed

in the AFC and they've gotten it how many years in a row now five five in a row Patrick Mahomes has played very few road games in his life zero yeah postseason games I believe what about the New England AFC title game I was in Kansas City wow he's never played

on the road in the playoffs. So the Chiefs get the number one seed to keep that streak intact for Mahomes or the struggling Kansas City offense does not score more than 31 points the rest of this season. What's more likely? 31 points in a game versus total. That would be a real problem. Okay. They would not make the playoffs.

The Patriots would challenge you on that one. I'll jump in and say it's more likely they don't score 31 points. just because they have the bills this week, and maybe I'm projecting too hard. I think that's a tough game for them. I've been high on the bills making a stretch run. That would get them to five losses. At that point, the Ravens in the Dolphins,

but I'm thinking especially the Ravens are in pretty good shape. I think that I just haven't seen the team, and I know they scored 31 against the Raiders. They did it against the Chargers. They did against the Bears. So it's happened three times a season. They have some pretty, easy matchups at the end of the season,

Raiders, Bengals, Chargers, and they might be needing to play. So those are pretty bad defenses. It's close, but I'm going to go more likely they don't get the one seed. Okay. Hmm. That's tough, though. I just believe that they're going to wind up

with the one seed somehow. I look at the other games, though, they've scored in the last five, like 9, 17, 19, and 21. I don't see their offense, like, figuring this out just because there's five more games. Like, the part of the year where it's like, they kind of do what they do well. and what they don't do well,

I don't know how you fix it with the personnel not changing. Yeah, I mean, I think they get to 31. I think the AFC goes to Florida, either Miami or Jacksonville. Whoa. Yeah, I mean, look at the Dolphins schedule. They should click off another three

before things get really nitty-gritty. Raven schedules a murderer's row. Mm-hmm. And so I think they get to 31. I think they have a couple big games. And I also check in the previous 31. I think there were some defensive scores in there, too. I think the question was the chief's office.

but I still think the Chief's offense ends up getting a 31. They will not get the number one seat. Although I am looking at the tiebreakers, which is a point in the Chief's favor. They always seem to find a way. Six and one in the conference, so they've had three losses and they beat Miami.

To the NFC North. And they beat Miami and they beat in Jacksonville head to head. Right. And they have the head to win. So I maybe already would change my answer. If it's too late. Need an official answer now. Now that I'm going to go over 31 points. All right. Greg, you're up. Okay.

I will look at the MVP award and say a non-quarterback wins the MVP or the Bengals make the playoffs. What's more likely? I think it's more likely, and we should cross-check these before the show because something similar will be coming up, but I think it's more likely the Bengals make the playoffs.

I will not be pivoting. I wrote this in a defense. I think on the fly we're, you know, performers. I did it my way. You'll see. Let's see. Let's see. Well, Cincinnati 6 and 6. They are obviously in the mix from that standpoint. 10th right

now. 10th right now, they win the tie breaker over Buffalo based on head-to-head win percentage. Right now Denver's ahead of them. Houston's ahead of them. Indies ahead of them. Cleveland's ahead of them. They're 2 and 6th. They get to play a bunch of those teams. Pittsburgh's ahead. But again, you're

looking at this rationale versus what the other more likely scenario. Right. So the other one, I'm saying all these teams I'm mentioning, don't, they don't frighten me in like, oh, how are they going to hop scotch past them? I think this is more likely. And I don't want to, you know, sniff too much of the Jake Brown and glue right now. But that was a fun watch. And I'd like to see where that goes. And, yeah, Tyreek, CMC. Probably those two guys. Those are the two guys. I just think a quarterback's going to take that, whether it's Brock or two or whomever. So, yeah, I think it's more likely Cincinnati finds away. Yeah, more likely with Bengals get in. They're not going to. give the MVP to a non

quarterback. It's just not going to happen. People keep saying that as if they are not the people that are deciding. So it's not, let's decide it. We're the people. Greg, why do you think there's an offensive player of the year to give it to the non-quarterback? I get it, but I keep hearing that, but it's from

the people that, like, essentially that decide it. Because all these people, these are like if we, and by I mean the media, like they kind of, we kind of decide on some level, it becomes consensus. If If people are just stumping for it, then it can happen. Not us, because Bob Glabber wouldn't let us into the pro football writers.

Well, I get it, though, but I think it's the people that have microphones, people on shows as influential as this one and people as influential as you. Well, I mean, look, if Tyrant Hill goes for 2000, we're like, wow, that's never happened before, but he wouldn't got 2000 without Tua. So Tua is the MVP. That's just how it's just how it goes. Because there are definitely people, non-quarterbacks who should have been MVP's before. because some people were arguing how can he be an MVP if you're not the best player

on your team? I think that's legit. Well, is it though? I mean, who are some of the people who've won it? I guarantee you right now if Dak Prescott wins MVP, is he the best player on their team?

This year, yeah. No, he's not. Michael Parsons is the best player on the team. I think he's the most valuable. Now you're throwing. He's the most valuable person on the Cowboys, though, Dak Prescott.

Every quarterback is. Tyree killed this year. That's the argument that no, like, non-quarterback's going to win it. Yeah. On some level. Then that's why the quarterback is going to win the award, even if the Bengals finish 10th.

It is a unique year that there aren't any totally crazy quarterback seasons that, you know, are going to sweet people away. But maybe it ends up being DAC. I think that's more. He's like fourth or fifth right now, and McCaffrey's like seventh, I think. They're not too far off. By the way, good one.

Yards per route run. which is kind of a weird step, but yards per route run. Yes. Like, how many yards do you get every time you just go out for a route? Right. Tyreek Hill this year is about four and a quarter yards per route run. That is more than a yard. So that's like 25%.

It's more than a yard better than any wide receiver in the last decade. And basically more than a yard better than any wide receiver ever. I mean, like in the last like 20 years. And in the next closest people, by the way, are Tyreek Hill. like last year like but still like he's this year his season is that far ahead in terms of like efficiency of him on the field

then like it does it I feel like every time I'm watching Tyreek Hill catch the ball he's 25 to 30 yards downfield frying a secondary personnel one of the smartest personnel moves that any player made in the last decade is Tyreek saying I'm not going to the jets I want to go to the dolphins and I don't know if Mike

McDaniel is there yet it might have been maybe but that couldn't have worked out better for him in all ways. All right, Mark. This will be a study in relativism because there is a similar concept here, but let's let's just go with it. Jake Browning, what's more likely? Jake Browning goes Brock Purdy on our ass and in nothing short of a visual feast on the

gridiron unfurls four wins down the stretch falling in a thriller to the chiefs. They don't get that one. But executing backup on backup crime and wins over Minchus cults, Josh D's Vikings, Trubisky's Steelers, and Flackos Browns. It goes 10 and 7 and prance into the wildcard. Or before he is named coach of the year, Dimeco Ryans and his star pupil, C.J. Stroud, take out the Ravens and Dolphins in January

before facing the Chiefs in the AFC title tilt. TBD on that result, but the world becomes attuned to the unusual skill set of former PFF numbers bod, turn play-calling wizard Bobby Sloick, who arm and arm with Ryans wins assistant coach of the year. Stroud, no shocker, wins offensive rookie of the year, and the three immediately buy a string of Houston-based

four dealerships to funnel passive income into their checking accounts for years to come. Stroud also becomes the new face of a Dell computer ad campaign attempting to tell the nation, hey guys, desktop computers are cool again. Clear off that oak desk and plant one of our three-foot

by two-foot-hulking technology centers where that Quickbook used to be. In the ad, Stroud comes across as a capable and easy-to-believe, Thespian. I think? What's more likely? I'm going to A, just because C.J. Stroud, you can't go to Dell

because it's a Microsoft League. That's a good point. See, Steve just knows these things. I mean, I'm just saying. I mean, look, you know, you put a whole bunch of, you know, addendums on there, which nicks out the latter scenario.

Right. If it was just Texans making the conference title game compared to the Bengals winning four straight and then making the playoffs at 10 and 7, I mean, you could base it there if you'd like. They were very, well, I can't because you read a lot of specific things that I, I personally don't think, I mean, even if the desk is not oak, it all falls apart.

It all falls apart. That is a problem. I would say this, though, like coach of the year, assistant coach of the year for what he's done with Stroud and Bobby Sloke and Stroud winning what he should win. Like if not MVP at some on some level it keeps going, but offensive rookie of the year or player. This does, this is my principle that all segments with Cessler all end up in the same. exact place. There's like everything kind of just funnels to the same spot every time. I do like this is your new thing.

The Texans are your team. They're not going to win the division. They're going to win a playoff game. Good luck to you. I hope it works out. I think that's more likely than the Bengals. Yeah. Winning four out of five, which also could happen.

But the Texans... We can't get too sucked in by the Browning thing. It was one game. This is a weak year. It's reminded me more and more. I keep thinking of 2011, which I always think about. There were no good teams in 2011.

By the time you got to the playoffs. And I don't think we're there because the 49ers are great, Cowboys are great. But in the AFC, we'll see how it all shakes out. Like, you could see a surprising team

in the AFC championship game. Sure. Would not be crazy. Yep. I see you trying to minimize that second Giants title. I see what you do. I...

Multiple shows in a row. I point, it's not the Giants. I said it off camera, I believe. You've said it many times. I've let it pass each time. No.

But now that you've said it for the third time in about a week. That was one of the worst Patriots teams of the Belichick era, and they were like a drive away from winning the Super Bowl. And it was a huge disappointment, but that was a bad, bad Patriots team,

one of the worst defenses in the league. And they were like a drive away from winning the Super Bowl. Some years don't have seven of the teams. Oh, there were no good teams. So that must mean the team that won the Super Bowl actually wasn't that good that year. You got your point.

You got them. He did go like nine and seven. Another Zinger from Rosenthal. They also became better and better, though, as the, they're past rushed by the super, you know, they were the worst rushing team, I think, in the league, too. Steve, back to you. They were outscored that season. I think

it's fair to say they weren't like a dominant team. I mean, they weren't an all-time great team, but that was a great run. It was a fun Super Bowl. I enjoyed the playoffs, a lot of good games. Well, save for the 2011 podcast. Can you imagine living with me? Thirty-second, I think,

in DVOA defensively, the Patriots that year. Were we even using that metric back then? I was. I know. I think they go. They go back in time with it, too. All right, Steve, next one. Well, this dovetails beautifully into my next one. More likely, Bill Belichick retires because so few teams pursue him. Oh, wow.

And the offseason to be their head coach. Whoa. Or Mac Jones remains in New England in 2024 as their quarterback. Oh, man. Geez, I mean, Steve. That was a good one. Does he have to start Mac Jones, or is he? That's on the team.

No, there's no starter. He's on the team. I'll go back Jones then. Yeah, I find it, I would find it almost impossible to think. And sometimes, you know, fans and analysts and people on the outside aren't seeing what's really going on inside the league that maybe there wouldn't be a big market for Belichick. But the idea that he would almost be blackballed out of the league. No, no, no, I didn't see blackball. Honest to God, do you think there are going to be teams lining up?

Do you think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? I think absolutely there's an owner out there or six that would say, I would love to have Bill Belichick running my team. Explain this facial expression, Steve, is making. You brought this one up. What's going on, Steve? Oh, no, there was definitely an ulterior motive behind this one. Come on, Steve.

I think we're going to have as many openings from the coaching angles as we've had in a long time. It just feels like we're heading there. But I do wonder, because like every, like, Belichick biography talks about how it was drilled into his mind and heart and Cleveland. ownership matters so, so much. So, like, some of these teams that are out there that might want him, he may not want in reverse.

The only thing is there is that Don Schuller record sitting out there. Yeah, you know, and I know people say he wants it like this, but does he want it that bad to kind of go through? Because first off, if you've seen how great he's developed quarterbacks in the past couple of years, why would a team like Carolina want? You're stuck with Bryce Young, right? Okay, so then, all right. Tampa, they're going to go

through a cap cleansing. They're going to have to get a, like, are you going to bring it? Maybe. Like, that's one of the few teams. But of all of these other things, I think the fact that you said, Mark, ownership is huge to him. Everyone's going to want the Chargers job. And that's where, like, Ben Johnson or someone's going to come coach this quarterback. Again, that's what I think.

Guys like Ben Johnson, believe it or not, Dan Quinn, there's going to be some defensive coaches. Guys like Dan Quinn, they are going to be on shorter list than Bill Belichick. So that's why I think this, to me, is the bigger story, not how the parting is going to happen, but how many teams actually are going to give him a call saying, do you want to come be our coach? I think there'd be more teams saying,

come be our director of football operations. And I could see a team like the Giants doing that, especially since they take his advice so much, some of their coach hirings and other hirings. Come run our overall operation. That's his roots. Right, instead of being the head coach. Well, and he has a long-time assistant

is coaching the team. Yeah. They always sort of forget about with the Belichick tree, that Daveo was there for like 14 years. Yeah. And, you know, I think he, Belichick and Parcell's careers

are so intertwined. That's what Parcells did at the end. He was off the sideline and running from upstairs as well. I could see that. But Elsie, he's such a, like Belichick, such a student and a lover of the sport,

like having the opportunity to have that number one. So was Don Shul. Like, how many people came after Don Shul? Right. So is Tom Langer Belichick will require an ownership

humbling himself a little bit which is not always easy for ownership to do and possibly clearing out the entire front office structure that exists and that's hard that's a pain in the butt

maybe people don't want to do that and I can't quite imagine Belichick's like oh yeah I'll go work for you know Scott Fitterer it's like that's not happening no no no no all right here we go

what's more likely I don't know this one we'll see we'll see what you guys say about this one What's More Likely, the Green Bay Packers, Mark's ears perked up, steal the NFC North or the Buffalo Bills steal the AFC East. Whoa. What's more likely?

Bills. Why? I just believe that we haven't seen. What if we just moved on? Because I think it's kind of self-explanatory. The answer is like they've been doing this for years. and, like, you'd need the dolphins to kind of collapse, obviously. They play week 18.

They play week 18. The bills beat the Dolphins 4820, so they would clinch the head to head if they beat him a week 18. So that means they just got to tie them. They got to get to within one. They just have to tie them in the standings and they would win if they win week 18. Three up is rich. But I do feel like we're going to get another version of the bills.

So I've been very down out of this buy in this whole situation. How about Detroit? They may be a little more vulnerable than we could have thought a month ago. and the Packers is heating up. I can see it's getting tight. They're also separated by three games. So, you know, I would see, I would see the Packers making the run because they're starting to play in all facets, especially defensively.

Great situation of football. Jordan Love looks real. I don't think the lines will collapse. I think they're getting ready to regather. But I just think Miami's just going to go ahead and click off, you know, the rest of the way they may lose once. it would be a pretty huge collapse. Well, they have Titans Jets the next two weeks,

which, you know, they're going to be heavy favorites. But then they have Cowboys Ravens. Yeah. Their bills in this scenario would have to run the table. They would have to win every game. I think they're capable of it, but at Dallas, home for Cowboys, that's tough. What if they split those games and then one else?

Probably not. They play four out of five at home. They would need it. And you better believe they are going to, they are going to be playing for home field advantage. Right. They do not want to go anywhere else. Unless the bills went out,

the dolphins would have to stub their toe against the Jets or the Titans and lose their hard games. They'd have to lose three out of four before even facing the bill. They've done that a few times this year. It's been a weird year. I think the likelihood of one of these things happening is probably greater than people think. I don't have a hot take on either. But to me, the lions are a little more crickety. Is that a word?

So I'm going to go that's more like a rickety. Yeah. Just like the foundation is a little rickety. Their defense is not being. Yeah, like they were quite like, you know, when was the last time they played a good defensive game? Like, it's, it's been a week. It's like seven or eight weeks. It's like a fortress that's on like wooden planks like, you know, at the base.

Yeah, it's like. I know what I know what rickety means, but like, uh, is that the, I don't know. Is that the lines? I mean, I know you were, you went crickety. So it's, yeah, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. term mighty you get you get blown out you get the doors blown off you by the ravens you have to win on the last possession against the chargers you know you have to win on the last second against the bears same thing against the saints i mean these are not great teams so just a little

rickie yeah this one's pretty simple kiler murray is the cardinals quarterback next year or a rookie quarterback uh is the cardinals quarterback Yeah, I thought that these, you know, they're genuinely looking at Kyler Murray with new fresh eyes. You've got all new people there. And they've done it quietly, like beyond the tanking thing this year, they already like accrued a bunch of draft picks in the previous draft. I always thought they were like, no matter what happened with this season, they were in good position to leverage those to get the quarterback that they want. I think new coach, new quarterback buys you time, buys you years. Like new coach attached to

but Kyler Murray experience that's always been kind of up and down and weird is a little more perilous. You could get assets for him. I think he's very tradable. And I think they're going to go rookie. I think it's like we're starting this experience over. I put Kyler in the same category, Steve, as Justin Fields, where

they have maybe some control of their fate, but they are going to have to ball out to end the season and change some minds in that building. I think it's more likely he does, though, get traded and they start over. I think it's more likely Kyler's back. I mean, everything I've heard is at him and the O.C. really get along. They've kind of designed some things.

And look at Kyler Murray's win loss record. When he's on the field, he wins ball games. Doing two this year. Yeah. I mean, he wins ball games. So I think it could be a situation to buy them more time to say, let's get other pieces around him. We've got one more full year to evaluate, Kyler. But if we've got to move off, move off of him after 2024, we at least have pieces around and where we can go out into free agency or something or trade up and get a quarterback because now we've got all the other pieces we need or more of the pieces that we need to be competitive. It's like it's telling that they, you know, with very clear eyes and comments said

he's going to come back and play this season. We're going to get a look at him versus, you know, some sort of phony thing where, oh, we're not sure he's ready and he's quietly, never appeared. The contract makes it trickier to two trades. I think it's what I'll be talking about him a little. on NFL plus this Thursday in our remitory. Check it out. I think the way he's playing, he's cementing

his spot. I agree. Because he's just playing too well that they're not going to want to deal with what's behind Doorn and 2. And oh, by the way, it's a great receiver draft. Maybe you have the third pick. Maybe you get Marvin Ares Jr. You could give him a nice weapon. All right, last one, Mark. Okay. All right, A,

this is a three-parter, and it's not as long as the other one. I'm not going to make you sit there for four minutes. A, the Super Bowl features a backup quarterback. okay not a not a person you went in thinking with your starter there's a lot of that going on um or uh either one of two people dan or mark pass away from what the NFL reports as natural causes while sitting through Steelers patriots on Thursday night um or dan mark die okay yeah or pros pro reporter and noted wine connoisseur this off season announces the unveiling of his own handcrafted pino noir it's coming yeah a zesty rich blend of northern Californian grapes. Wine drinkers go utterly bonkers for this new offering

entitled First and Drunk. Ooh. You know what? I think Steve and his wife are a little bit too classy to have drunk in the title. I thought about that, but I think it's a marketplace.

I mean, when you go look for wine and you're with like some friends, it's the label, it's the name, and you like, you try that at least. It's Steve, you know, holding a football on the cover. Yeah, we're drunk. We could sell it in, you know,

your corner market stores, bodegas around, you know, if we're putting drunk on there. And by the way, I'd be getting the grapes in the Central Valley. That's where the Pinot grapes grow. See, this guy. There we go. You know. I challenged him with a wine concept and he came right back with facts. I've been drunk with Steve and D in the past. We've all been there.

We've all been there. So I'm not saying they're above, you know, getting loose and having a good time. I think that's the most likely that Steve has some type of wine operation in his future. I hope you and I survive Thursday night football. I am concerned, but I think that's the least likely. And I think it is certainly possible we get a backup in the Super Bowl, but I'm holding out hope we're going to get a super power

matchup with healthy stars. I guess I'd go back up. You could also get it, have him injured, like, in the playoffs or conference championship. And I just think Steve's at a point in his career. He doesn't need to be adding jobs right now, do you? I mean, you've got a lot going on.

Yeah, there's too much horticulture and farming that have to go on. I just feel like that's too much. But did you put a time on this? This could be the, you know, It was a pretty amazing. I said this off season. And I think it would be a situation where you're not, you know, stomping grapes, like that news person that felt thinking.

You're like, you're, you're out-out, down, down, down. Yeah, you'd outsource the operation. But it would be, like, your name and your powerful brand. Oh, all right. Well, I mean, that might be possible. I'm still going to go back up quarterback. I still have visions of Nick Foles in my head. So it could possibly happen.

How about Teddy Bridgewater for the Lions there in the Super Bowl? Teddy's been off the grid this year. Then, Dan, Mark, well, a lot of teams could use a Teddy right about now. The Lions did that well. They haven't needed one. And drafted one. It's good to have somebody. That'd be a long Super Bowl week.

All right, good stuff. Good. What's more likely? Do we have the grapes lady, by the way, still on the board? I don't think so. We had grapes lady. What do you mean? I don't think so.

Do you know? I just mean it's so long. Isn't that like seven years ago? It wasn't actually that long ago. Oh, really? We used it for a segment. I can't remember what it was. It was a grizzly set.

It wasn't that long ago, actually. I feel like it was just a couple years ago. No, it was it? All right. Let's get to that Thursday night football game. that Mark and I will be co-helming on around the NFL tomorrow evening. It is the New England Patriots 2 and 10 traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Steelers got to have it.

Steelers, you know, Steve, as Tomlins want to do after a really bad game, he comes after the team hard. He puts himself in front of the line. I need to be better, but we were JV. And I just wonder, here's my curiosity, because I almost want the game to be really bad. now? Oh, me too. Yeah. So it's like do the Pittsburgh Steelers play down to the level of their opponent with a

backup quarterback themselves now, Mitch Trubisky? I could see this one getting real grizzly, low scoring, going down to the wire. Maybe that's giving the pets too much credit. Yes, it is. Okay. So we were just talking about stomping grapes. So let's pretend that

Tomlin and the Steelers defense is the winemaker. They are going to be dialing it up to stop some grapes. Okay. Well, you know, Bailey Zappy. He's going to see a lot of Alex Highsmith, T.J. Watt. It's not going to be kind because the Patriots can't move the ball. There it is.

This poor woman. Oh, ow, ow, ow, stop, oh, stop. Happy. Or Bailey Zappy. More Bailey Zappie. See, you got to outsource the grapeons. We're going to outsource it. No, there will be two defensive scores by Pittsburgh.

Two. Two defensive scores. Fire up your fantasy deeds. you know, Mark knows that the Browns week, too. Oh, it happened. So it will turn out to be a something sloppy like that. But defensively, I think the Steelers, no, this is one. And no Romandre Stevenson, Greg.

That was the only thing they could do on. He's got a high ankle sprain. I don't know if we're going to see them again. Here it is, baby. The last five weeks, Patriots scoring, 17, 17. I don't even know if there's a defensive score in here. 17, 17, 17, 670. Right.

You mentioned the over and the loss was 30. they're the games that they've played the last three weeks haven't gone over 17. Because their defense is playing pretty well. They actually have the number one rush defense in the league in terms of yards per carry allowed. So that is what Pittsburgh's best at is running the ball. That's what I'm saying.

But offensive, and Zappi was an upgrade. It shows you how bad they are that they didn't, they literally didn't score a point. And Zappi was unquestionably a little better than Mac Jones had been. They had two drives, which really just to me typified where the Patriots are at. A 13-play drive that didn't pass the 30. And then an 11-play drive that ended at the 43. That is where they are at.

Whoa. It is just, yeah. I'm going to go Steelers 16 Patriots, 11. They cover the- They get on the board? Yeah. Okay. I think that's how it projects.

And so that's why it probably will be like 31 or nothing. It's like I- I mean, that's under. That's under even. But when it's like, I mean, the Patriots just are so inept and hard to watch on offense. Like they've gone 41 straight possessions

without a passing touchdown. We're going to get 25 carries from Ezekiel Elliott. It's going to be a lot of Ezekiel Elliott. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be a lot of Alex Highsmith, too. I mean, they're giving up 12 sacks the Patriots in the last three weeks. And like, he's been, they're more numbers wise, productive pass rusher.

The one thing he doesn't is get rid of the ball. He just sort of hold. He holds it. It's, it's not going to, it's not going to go well. Here, here's, here's, here's, Here's the good news, everybody. And again, I said it on Monday, and I'll say it again. You're thinking yourself, I listen to ATN every week.

I listen to every episode. But you know what? I'm going to clear my Thursday night, played my Friday morning. I'm not going to listen to the recap of that game. No, no, no. Mistake. Because me and the sest dog are going to cook something up as an auxiliary seg. As long as you survive.

Well, that's true. But that would be just like sharing memories of what the other guy. It's such a flexible operation that early in the week, we had come up with what, would have been a killer seg. But then the news cycle forced us to talk about some of that in real time when we bring the news to them very quickly. So we're just pitching. We're coming up with new ideas now and we're,

you know, we're stopping. We're drinking the first and drunk wine. We're doing it to do. All right. Don't blow this. They've got to get Malie Cunningham in the game. It sounds like he's been taking some snaps.

It would be visible. Don't blow this, Belichick because I want that top two pick. And he has, you know, it would be a callback performance to some very big, like owning of my. like Tomlin in this Steelers Operation

moments, which dotted much of the 2000. Belichick's going love you, Smith, man. He's like, I'm not making this pick, man. I am not giving them. He is trying to get this win. All right. So check out Thursday night football on Amazon Prime

and, of course, game coverage anchored by Colleen Wolfe, not with us today on NFL Network. Okay, here we go. Before we say goodbye, always fun. Steve's here. It's special. Let's open up the mailbag and you know. Oh, this is going to be great.

All right. Producer Eric, who by the way, producer Eric is more likely to start for the Patriots next season than Mac Jones. I feel confident saying that. Yes or no? Well, not more likely. I mean, he's missing a large part of one of his fingers. But not his throwing finger.

You just got to spin it with the right hand. It's a good counter. Is it? No, it is your right hand. It is my right hand. But don't they say it's the index finger that is the important one? Did you know that our producer lost part? of his thumb in a slicing accident in the kitchen? I didn't.

And has the growth on that, by the way. It's, dude, I was actually having to talk to my wife about it yesterday. It's, it looks pretty normal. Like, it looks like as a little gumbie point to it, but not too much. Yeah, but... Did you know that body parts grow back if they're cut off? I didn't know that. I, I, didn't I know, like, you know, your liver

can regenerate. I didn't know that, like, a finger. If I took it to the nub, like, the knuckle, I'm assuming I wouldn't be like in the same situation, but, you know, I took off a slice, and it is, and it is, you know, I looked at the picture the other day of the actual incident. And based off that to this, it's night and day. It's kind of crazy, to be honest. Any chance you could grow a second thumbnail?

That would be something. We'll check back in a couple months. I'm holding out hope. I'm holding out. We could charge for that. A little side hustle. All right, let's get to it, Eric. First question up.

All right, this is from death metal minivan. Niners are clearly the best team, but the universe refuses to let Kyle Shannon and have nice things. So how are they eventually going to lose? I do think the Niners are the best team, but it's a little bit too much to say like, oh, what could possibly get in the way?

You know, there are some really good teams in the NFC alone atop that conference. I think for maximum pain, it's a Ravens 49ers Super Bowl rematch. Oh, you're going there. just like relive because that to me seem it wouldn't be painful necessarily for shanahan related to the 49ers but for the the fan base to have the same team kind of beat you maybe it's in the exact same way where they get down inside the 10 yard line late and they throw

it would be fresh pain to lose to the chiefs which just happened under shanahan that's true too right they i think yeah you get you get there all the way that's how i see that would be I can't deal with that. Can you just picture it's like stone-faced Mike Shanahan with that shock of white hair in the luxury suite on the Super Bowl? Just looking down at a son

like, do not disappoint me again. I have multiple titles. When you're doing one on your own. Like one of those things? Yeah, I could see that. I mean, based on, yeah, if that were this scenario. Can you see that, Steve? Yeah, I could absolutely see it.

I could absolutely. The most painful ways for Rock Party you could hurt again, the NFC championship. Oh, don't put that energy in the air, Steve. All right, next up. Then we get to the same. Sam Darnold starting to see a ball of the backup quarterbacks. Kevin McCarthy asks, who will be the vaunted team?

No one wants to meet in the playoffs from the NFC and AFC this season. So this is a team that is, I guess, to make this work is right now on the outside looking in, right? Well, it's just sort of the, to me, the bills pop up as like, you don't want to a team that has to get hot and like really, really catch fire. It's not the number one seed right now. Right. I mean, I've already, I think it's Texans personally. I think they're going to keep just going around.

one playoff when you said maybe more i said two in that in that scenario that they went to the a fc title game maybe i didn't say what would happen in though and green i guess green bay would work as the packers would be the team i would have high level quarterback boy yeah a couple weeks ago i would have been you know super into the uh the vikings in this case now we got to see what dobbs looks like but think about this it's a good call don't get down two down on the vikings i know it's been rough couple weeks the team around the NFL is getting justin jefferson jeff back and that is going to maybe be a difference maker and then they get hot again and yeah the d's so much better with flores this year all right what's next all right this is

from white hans van der morrow uh can i nominate tua to be considered for the superstar club debate next summer at current time which qb would be considered to take off the list all right steve i'm going to say i know you have a connection to tua um so i want to tee you up on this one the Superstar Club. Steve is an article I put out every summer on NFL.com where it's a zero-sum game. If I put someone into the Superstar Club, I have to take someone out. So

here's who's currently in the Superstar Club if you are going to consider taking, putting two in. Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hertz, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rogers. Is this based on just like

whatever the upcoming season? Kind of like how we choose the 100 for the upcoming year, but we've reflected back on what they've done the previous year. So I take Aaron Rogers off. Right. Yeah. I take Aaron Rogers off. It's kind of easy in a way.

But he is such a superstar as he's, you know, made sure to remain throughout. Hey, after seeing two on the Manningast rock the guitar. Right. He's very versatile. Two is there. A surprising person. Oh, I took out DAC last year.

Freck. Okay, I got to put DAC in, too. So I got to take somebody else out. Yeah, I don't know if, I don't know if. Can't think John. Fans fans hate it, but I feel like I still need a little more from Tua here down there. I think the rest of two in season will tell the story a lot. For a superstar, because his, his wide receiver is kind of the superstar and his coach.

You're putting them in the Brock Purdy category? No, no. But which name am I taking out? Yeah, Rogers would be a good one. But I would maybe put Dak if Dak ended up winning in the TV. There's no shame in that one. No shame in that one. And I don't know, I'll throw it out there.

I know nobody wants to even talk about this. I know. Well, yeah. Herbert? I mean, I think he's, yeah, it's like, it's been on the road, like the shine is off the rows this time. I mean, he's the one in the, he's got commercials. He's got TV commercials. Got that.

Magnetic subway. It's not, it's not just, it's easy, it's not as personal skills that have, like, changed this year, though. I think it's just, he's in a mess. It's almost show, it's time to show it. And I think this 12 inch foot long is going to be delicious. They didn't know where you're going with that. All right. Next up.

All right, Eric Blasel. I think I got that right. What do you think, Mark Blazell? Blazell. Eric, let us know. Who is the most under the radar? Wikidit delete. Offseason free agency signing.

I like this one a lot. Gregi, this is your world because you do the top 101. Who is the one that kind of maybe you had lower in the list and then ended up being a star this year? Who is it? I went back to look at the list. WikiLitelite. Man, that top 20 is terrible compared to the list. like 20 through 50.

How about Bobby Okariki? I don't know if we've said his name. O'Kareki. O'Kareki. We haven't said his name much on this program, but he has been dynamite. We mentioned... Has he been Wikileetalindi?

Ebenezer. Maybe the answer's nobody. Ebecom for the Colts has been great. They all have to be very difficult names also. Zach Allen for the Broncos. Although I had him, I had him ranked quite high, but he doesn't get a lot of pop and he's been fantastic.

I mean, to be fair, Travolta didn't know how to say that woman's name. So that fits with the first two. It wasn't in the only. Nadal Azim. All right, what's next? Jesse Bates, by the way. That's a good one.

Kaiser Whiteout, T.J. Edwards. Hardin Key. Parker Stewart asks, hey, Dan, new dad here. Thoughts on kids growing up as fans of their parents' team. I'm a Packer fan, but I live around D.C. is it cool slash fair slash acceptable to make the kid follow suit with no other connection?

Thanks. Is he like the Orioles or the Nationals or? Yeah. So I can only tell you what I did because I'm obviously a new New York, a transplant here in L.A., and I did not push the Jets on them at all, because I knew, first of all, the Jets are a very difficult fan experience. And two, if all their friends are fans of, you know, a local team, I'm not going to take

that away from them. So my eldest son, and, you know, the dad juice is still powerful. So it's like they're going to be what is dad like. My eldest son, I would say he's kind of a Jets fan. My youngest son has gravitated toward the Chargers, another... Payne franchise. And they're also building a facility nearby to where I live. So I'm like, okay with that.

And they have a franchise quarterback. Maybe he's a superstar. Maybe he's not. So let them do their own thing. And that's how I've played this. Because if you try to force it, bad news. Right. My initial thought reading this question is kids are, have their own minds.

Like you can't make your children necessarily do anything. You can try to mold them if you wish. It's not the healthy move to do. You can try, but it might not be successful. And more importantly, like, every kid is different. Like, some kids, yeah, they might be down with it. Some, they're going to have their own thoughts. And then it also could change.

Like, what they like at eight might be very different from what they like at 12 because of a lot of things. Like, they're going to have their own opinion. My daughter is diehard Rams. And my son is more with the Patriots with me and kind of like comes and goes or whatever. But they're kind of going to do what they want to do, I feel like. My dad let, he didn't never. He was a Giants fan, but he never pushed the Giants on me. We watched a lot of Giants games together,

and it was just kind of like doing that with your dad was awesome. But I wouldn't be here if I hadn't gone and picked the Browns back then. A lot of what happened there turned me into, turn me on to like writing and journalism and the story of those teams and everything else. It's like, so I think you've got to not get in the way of the destiny of your child, whatever it is. Yeah. You know, let them like Walker is a fan of Scott Hanson and Red Zone.

That's in his fantasy team, like, which is like a lot of kids. That's his biggest team. Yeah, my oldest son, you know, I told him, hey, when I was a kid, I loved the Vikings. And I lived in Minnesota. And so he's decided like the Vikings. But my other two kids, since most of their lives are in Atlanta, they love the Falcons. They love the Atlanta Hawks. But the one thing I do not allow, I do not allow, Greg, pardon me.

There we go. Any Celtics fandom in the house. It is not allowed. I cannot tear for the Celtics. You could go outside, but in the crib, not have. I like that. I think there are things that you'd say that won't be part of our family.

You can't be a Red Sock fan of my house. Yeah. I pretty much put the cabashe on Lakers. That was the only thing I really put down. But it's funny. Like that kind of is in opposition of everything we were just saying. Right. But there's something that's not

no, it's off limits. Off limits. You cannot have it. It does not work. All right. What else? Brandon Lorry. I love this question. If the NFL started a franchise overseas next season, who would he who would he think would make the best head coach for an international audience? Steve, take this one.

Come on, guy. There's only one answer to this. And he's not coaching in the NFL right now. There you go. He's coaching at Ole Miss. Laine Kiffin. How much of a superstar? I'm going Ted Lassow here. I'm going a complete

super handsome guy who doesn't care what he says or tweets. He's overseas so he can stick shots at everybody. He would completely engage with the international audience. We know he's, you know, he will up and leave whatever. Lane Kiffin.

That is a wild one. That would be, you know what he is? So spectacular. Which I think would pop is he's like Uber American. He is the best and the worst of what our country has to offer. Like he would represent us in a way. You know who would have been good to? No longer with us.

Mike Leach would be a good guy to send over there. He would have been great. I think I'd go Uber American in the sense of like, chip Dan Campbell over there. And he'd be out. It would be a star. Scones and, you know. The hooliganism would come back.

Yeah. I thought of, which who knows, maybe he will get a coordinator and a head coaching job someday. Henry's friend, Aiden Dirty, the defensive line coach of the Cowboys, who's from London. That's right.

And is legit, you know, grew up there, played in NFL Europe. Hometown Hero angle. I like that. Having a very successful run here as a position coach right now and move up the line. ladder.

There we go. That's a good on as well. Had some hard knocks pop back in the day. All right. A couple more. What we got? Oh, Steve, this is another one I pick for you because you, uh, you, uh, you're still working with the Falcons?

I am not. I have not. Okay. So now you, you could be completely, completely objective. Here we go. Tom Marshall, is it the scheme in Atlanta or is Kyle Pitts just not lived up to the height? It's both.

Both. Because look, I mean, we could sit there and say, oh, Falcons, they don't know what to do with Kyle Pitts. Well, he's been targeted 68 times. He has 41. catches, right? That's 27 non-catches. Now, that could be bad throws part of it. They

still haven't figured out how to fully incorporate him, whereas, oh, you know, Lions get Sam Laporte in as a rookie, and he's like an anchor of their offense, right? They figured that part out. And meanwhile, Johnny Smith has 20 fewer targets and only four fewer

catches and one more touchdown than Kyle Pitts. Part of that is on Kyle Pitts, right? He's got to He's got to do something better to make himself more of an attractive option and make plays when they come his way. So I think that's a dual issue when it comes to Kyle Pitts and the foul. And he's years into his career. Correct.

I wish I could remember who said it. And he's still only 23, which is great. Correct. We'd love to see him with a fresh start. He's one of those guys. He's going to be the next Sammy Watkins that you're like, he's still 27. We always joke that Sammy Hawkins was 27 years old for like seven straight years. And I wish I remember who had said this, but I looked out for it when they said it.

In this last game, Pitts is showing some frustration at times. And the thought was me, he's frustrated about himself, that he is not as explosive as he was coming out. And I do think if you watch, like, he still looks like a great athlete, but is he next level crazy athlete that we sort of thought he was before those knee and trees? I don't know. I don't know. All right. Last one. Last one.

Here we go. and it comes from faux real. So faux, so real on X. Could you update the current hot butt rankings, please? All right. So, and Greg, just to qualify her here, I'm not celebrating the job, lack of job security for these men, and I know their staff and the family is involved.

This is just the reality of the sport. Okay? This is the coaches under fire, not actual. Yes, I, yes. It's more the sound effects. that really, I think, doesn't underscore the point you made. That's show business, baby. All right.

So, like I said, weeks ago, and I've been proven correct, and I think even Schaefter reported on it a couple weeks back, this could be unprecedented in terms of how many dismissals we have come Black Monday and around that. We've already lost two coaches. I have a list of 10 here, and I'm going to put in an order of hottest butt to pretty hot butt. Ron Rivera won. Stop me whenever you disres.

agree, Steve. Brandon Staley, 2, Dennis Allen 3. Belichick at 4. Ibrahim Luce 5. Sala 6. Artie Smith, 7. Ooh, yeah, he's not going to get fired. Okay.

Todd Bowles, 8. Brabel at 9. He's not going to get fired. He's not going to get fired. And Sean McDermott at 10. And the McDermott's going to be real, and a real interesting one to watch. Well, this doesn't feel like, now there are always surprises.

Like, Vrable, you know, fulfilling Patriots fans' dreams and, like, somehow going there and getting traded or something would be a surprise. A good young quarterback, man. I don't know if you want to leave that. I don't think that's going to happen. So maybe there is surprises. But then now I look at this list, and it's like, actually, the overrunners around eight, which is normal, right?

I would put Dennis Allen slightly lower than who are the ones right below in Belichick and Iber Flus, they feel like they're almost certainly God. I think he's... Whereas Dennis Allen... No, I think he's about the final 100 meters of the Green Mile. I tend to agree because I don't think they'll win the division, but if they won the division... But here's the thing,

maybe. If you guys are all in that... So Rivera Staley, Alan Belichick, Iberflus, that's five plus two already. It's already up to seven. That happens. Forgive me. I forgot about the two or guys. I think he's... Well, I think he's done a good job. Is Todd Bulls like a rock solid? Like,

sticking around guy. No. Yeah, I just think it's like, it depends who helps becomes available sometimes with these situations. Correct. Correct.

If you have that many openings, how deep are you going into the well? Yeah. Also, where do they view their development? If they view next year as a little bit of a resetting.

Yeah, they've got to reset. Do we just want bowls to get another chance for that year and then save it? That's a lot of years. I mean, like teams don't spend two years just sitting around. I mean, there wasn't a lot of, like, a purpose to this buck season so far.

Well, I think, I think they felt they had enough veterans and their cap was in such a way, like, okay, let's give this a shot. But they've got to, them and the Saints have got to have their final salary cap, older player reckoning going up in the next year or two. And I think that's when you clean everybody out. And I'm just going to say, Arthur Smith, do you think he's got enough rope there to survive three straight seasons without the playoffs potentially? If they go 7 and 10, I think for a third straight year, I think he's in trouble. But I think they'll win enough games this year to contend. I think they'll give him an opportunity to get a quarterback. You know, they stifled the process by flirting with the Deshawn Watts and stuff one year.

And I think kind of, you know, they didn't end in not getting him. Yeah. But I think he will get one more year because I think he can coach. I think, you know, organizing the overall team has taken some time. But if they get a quarterback, they're going to be, they're going to be a dangerous football. Their schedule is quite easy, too. It's very, but there is a hunger games feel to this, the end of this NFC South season, because it's Tampa, Atlanta, New Orleans, all playing each other in feeling like maybe only one coach,

you've got to win the division to truly feel safe. Yeah, I still think Arthur Blank could be patient when they're, He's been patient with most of his head coaches. Well, luckily for him, I think he's, they're the most likely. They got a game up and they got the most talent. Hunger Games. I would have went with, what's that, the Japanese death show on Netflix? Being a little more current, Squid Games.

I would have went with Squid Games as the pop culture reference. Oh, wow. Or we can go classic Lord of the Flies. Go with that. Throw back. All right. Steve, you've said it all. Please plug, Steve, where can people see you, hear you?

We go on Mondays and Thursdays with James Palmer. It is the NFL report on... Check it out. Good guests on that stuff. You're a good guest. Good show. This week we'll have Al Gingold and Derwin James, along with Steve Smith and Brian Baldwin on Thursday.

Finds on Roku, 2B, Pluto, and all of your fast channels. And as a podcast. There's so much better for us. Yes. And then on Sundays, a game day preview with Andrew Sicilian, Cynthia Freeland. I don't know who our fantasy guests will be this week. I think it's Adam Rake.

Not quite sure, but that's a very good show. Great reporters are up to kick off. Getting good information there. So good stuff. There he is. Thanks for having me, guys. Always a great time. Really fun.

And we'll be back Thursday with our Thursday triple header. Stay tuned for that. Until next time, heed the call. Turn this up in my headphones. Steve Weiss. On the ATN podcast, and everything is all right. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that guy, I know you're talking about.

This is an I-Heart podcast.