NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Who Popped and Who Pooped in Preseason Week 2

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

In a virtual room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler take you through the second week of preseason action and tell you who they think popped and who they think pooped. Did Russell Wilson pop or poop (09:06)? Did the Falcons pop or poop (15:06)? Did the Steelers pop for a second straight week (23:10)? The Buccaneers sure aren't popping (40:00). The heroes also look ahead to the Monday Night Football matchup between the Ravens and Commanders where the Ravens try to extend their preseason win streak to an absurd 25 games (01:05:50). 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. Wins in the trenches. Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. We are remote because California had some scary weather over the weekend and we were told to bunker up.

Even though it's sunny out right now, we are bunkered in. It was a wild weekend, you know. We had a little hurricane, a little tropical storm, a little earthquake. I was out in the garage and felt everything sway in there for a second. That was kind of fun. Walker was out here and I have a live studio audience here for the show. So you know I'm going to keep my mouth. cleaner than the Raiders fans who are sitting behind me at the Rams Raiders preseason

game on Saturday. I got to say, though, this storm. Now, look, I didn't scan the whole city. I don't know if other places were more affected than where I am, but, you know, watched some local news yesterday to find out what Hillary was up to, and they're acting like al-Qaeda's coming to takeover, Los Angeles, and I thought the storm sort of came and went, and it was like, I don't know. Have you ever lived in another part of the country?

we were like that rainstorm would have gotten zero pop. I mean, it was, you know, rough day, rough day in August. Depends where you were. If you were in the mountains, you got 10 inches and you got crazy flooding. We had flooding here, but it wasn't any. I think it, L.A. is so massive. It's almost silly to call L.A. like one city. It feels like it's a state.

It's like Rhode Island. It's so silly. It's ridiculous. It's funny you should mention that about the game you're at because my weekend was annoying. I drove down to San Diego with, my boys on Saturday morning and the hurricane obviously was bearing down on San Diego. So good timing on that. There was like four bros, like 31 year old bros sitting right behind us. All just like, and one guy's just like going nuts with the F-bomb. And it's just like, do I have to do

the thing? Do I have to do the thing? Do I have to turn around and do the thing to this guy? And I didn't because his buddy next to him had the good sense to be like, dude, you can't be saying that. You can't be just screaming out F bombs. There's just so many idiots in the world. And then I was in San Diego and I was at the Padres game. And I can only imagine. So Daniel Jeremiah, you know move the sticks,

longtime enemy of the show. He and what can only to me seem like an effort to pin every unsolved murder in greater San Diego on the old. Zusser offers up three tickets, beautiful seats to this Padres game, to me and my two sons. Like, can you get a load of this guy? And like, whatever he's trying to do, I'm back in L.A., deal with it. You didn't get me. I get a hotel to stay the night. I get back from the game in the gas lamp district. And all the news is telling me, if you don't leave now, you're going to die. And now I have to decide as the dad, am I going to risk my two son's lives because I don't want to take a bad beat at the Margaritaville Hotel that I checked into?

Am I going to stay the night and leave in the morning because I don't want to get banged on that $350 that I paid for this hotel room? So I left in the middle of the night and I got banged in a big spot. And then you're in the weird spot of like you kind of want the storm to hit hard. So it makes sense that you didn't leave the hotel for nothing. Um, so just very conflicting when it was just a very, uh, you know, it was a sizey rainstorm in the end, ultimately for us. You're pulled in many directions there, Dan, but I think that, you know, your, your kids see the effort. Um, you put in a big effort, big effort to get to the game. Um, Hillary said no. Hillary got in the way of some of your plans. And, you know, I don't know, I don't know how they come up with the names for these storms, but I, I just thought the most hilarious thing was that we're like concerned about Hillary, like, descending upon our berg. A lot of people were concerned about Hillary. That's how he ended up with that other guy.

But what was Jeremiah up to, by the way? I don't know. It feels like psychological warfare on a deeper level than I could comprehend. Well, he is, you know, the wholesome assassin. A god-fearing man, too. Maybe he has connections with the higher powers here that he set up the whole weather event to get. But yeah, I did not turn around at the Raiders fans either. These were not gentlemen.

I think that you would have wanted to. One, did apologize when he. spilled an entire nacho cheese cup on my daughter's sweatshirt. But other than that, they were freely saying whatever they wanted. And after the game, the kids were just like, I like it much better when we go to the games against the Chargers. Their fans are much nicer. They don't exist.

All right. So last week, coming out of the first round, full round of preseason games, we had who popped and who flopped. And Mark bless his heart always behind the scenes saying, how could we come up with names and things that take the show to the next level? He came up with a banger. So in honor of Mark Sessler, today's rundown of preseason week two is who popped and who pooped. congratulations mark and thank you for your help yeah i like to contribute um you know in multiple ways

to the show and uh that was something that came to me while driving to work to sophy uh when you suggested the uh initial title we had from a week ago i thought i'm just going to make a little little uh little adjustment to that and um bring the maturity level of the show back to where it needs to be it's good 11 years in that we're not just just coasting we're not just resting on our lures we're always trying to push push it further push the envelope gc gc all right so what we're going to do is uh uh we all um even with all the distractions of tropical storm hillary whatever daniel jeremiah was up to behind the scenes um and the fact that we couldn't go into the office today because the sunlight was too glaring on our windshields

we did study the games that were played this week not because the games matter because let me remind you they do not and almost impossibly the games were worse this week than last week I shudder to think how bad the last week of the preseason could be I'm almost looking forward to it to see how much I hate it I know I'm not allowed to say this but I can't hold it in anymore I need some real football in my life we're going to talk about this because this is what we do but I can't do it too much longer at the end of my rope Sessler this is the exact week you say that every year. Everyone feels that way.

It is the week where it's like, okay, yeah, let's move along here. Well, it used to be like such a sort of a code of what teams did week to week in the preseason. I think what we're seeing now is that, you know, the cults put no starters out there while the other team has, you know, on both sides the ball dotted with first stringers. It's just like, I guess these coaches are going to go and take their own personal philosophy. So it makes the game really even wackier. There isn't even that typical week three where all the quarterback battles like come to a head. No, you need to go into those joint practice reports, winners and losers write-ups.

That's all we got. That's the new thing or the newish thing. So-and-so didn't play because there was a double joint practice and that was deemed to be enough in terms of what was needed to be seen for a player such as Anthony Richardson, who gets named starter after the first preseason game, very raw and talented rookie. And then he doesn't play in the second preseason game because of the joint practice explanation, which just drives me crazy because you feel like that guy more than any other QB, just about entering the league as a starter in week one should be on the field and getting reps all three of these weeks. And yet he doesn't because the games don't matter. The coaches and teams are telling us that. I'll say no more. Let's talk about it.

Let's get into it. Greg, give me some enthusiasm. Give me some pop. Yeah, I like these because you're right. It's, we'll try to hit as many as we can. I got, I still scraped out 88 nuggets on, uh, this week's, uh, preseason. 88. I mean, a lot of them aren't from the preseason.

They're from news. They're from the week and whatnot. Uh, but let's start with a double banger in Denver. Just because I thought it was interesting to see Javante Williams back on the field, uh, coming off a torn ACL, MCL, everything. He's out there. He got seven touches in, in a brief amount of work. Didn't see like a ton of pop.

Uh, the guy who stood out to be. more was probably Russell Wilson that like Sean Payton was saying it was 15 pounds, maybe more that he, and he did move quicker. So that is something where you get eyes on a guy in the preseason and you saw that 17-year at scamper that Russell Williams had, Russell Wilson had. But when watching Devante Williams, I just think for fantasy and just for life, like, I don't necessarily expect him to be the lead back early in the season. It might be Somaget P. Ryan who in that game looked better and it would make total sense

if he's better than Giovante Williams to start. This is no longer a trope alert with Russell Wilson. because now we really see it. The man who was called a sack of potatoes in December, he looks lighter. He looks like it's 2013. Not saying he's going to be that guy again, but on that scramble,

you could just see his body type's a little different. And he, if anybody in the league was more humbled and is coming into the season with more to prove, it's Wilson. And you know, Mark, he's a maniac in terms of how he sees himself, how he preps,

the way his life revolves around ball. Like, are we kind of maybe, Is it time to start buying into the Russell Wilson Renaissance season? I don't need to buy into it at all yet. But I will say this, like quiet and husher tones on his demise, just because I think the addition of Sean Payton is massive. You know, I think when you come back from the summer and you see that these players' bodies have been transformed, I think running backs, you can see it.

You're right up on that, on that scramble with Wilson. He just looked out of it last year. And so arrow up, but, I mean, I feel like there's a long way to go before. we get too excited because I think what we saw last year was an absolute collapse of an athlete. And I don't really trust the rebound situation in those situations sometimes. I also thought Brock Purdy looked pretty good. Like, Trey Lance dug himself out of some trouble in that game. I don't even know if Trey Lance even has an argument to be the number two quarterback on that team

because Sam Darnold is a better fit, it seems like, in a Shanahan offense. And I thought it looked pretty good for the second game in a row. relatedly circling back to bodies. Is there any head coach out there that came back looking trim, doing the old fit in July, not so fit come November? Aren't there so many more fit coaches in general? Like you've got more Kyle Shanahan's than you do, you know, Rex Ryan's circa 2011. Yeah, Shannon's a thin guy, though.

I mean, he's in good shape. He's no Salah. You know, Lefleur looked like he might have packed on some muscle? I mean, he's always been a trim guy. but might be bigger than ever. I'm still not convinced about Russ, by the way. Yeah, they ran an RPO for him, though, which is like, wow, they're believing in the athleticism. But the rest of it's been pretty uneven, I would say, through two weeks in terms of, like, trying to drop back to pass.

But the announcers in that game noted, which I was shocked to realize, Russell Wilson, I think, has more rushing yards than any quarterback in history other than Cam Newton and Michael Vic. He's like, wow, he's played football a long time. I'll throw out two pops related to the running back depth charts of two teams. Is this the year that Mike Brable asks for just a little bit less from Derek Henry? There's so much hand-wringing about is it finally time to fade the big dog, you know, entering an age 30 campaign or 29 right on those there. And is he going to keep it up? well remember taj spears third round pick out of gregg two lane too late i put the poor mute on

because walker was having a sneezing fit bad job anyway uh he gets he gets some run um this weekend and looked really good um he had a 33 yard touchdown run um he he hit over 20 miles per hour on that run 57 yards on seven carries uh that's uh that's saucy. And that doesn't mean that I'm saying Derek Henry is going to start losing serious work or this is going to be a 50-50 split. But it just makes sense. If Rabel does have a young dog that he feels good about, the big dog could still be the guy. And Spears can take that touch count down from 400 to 350 and then maybe everybody wins. And then the other one is in Jacksonville where we keep hearing about Tank Biggsby.

And it looks like it might be a thing here. Another third round pick. He ran well. over five yards of carry. 122 yards on 22 carries in six quarters in these two games. And Greg, you and I differ a little bit. I think Travis Aetian is somebody who could still take his game the next level. But again, different leadership from when he came onto the team. They obviously like Tank to bring him into the building and he's played well now through the summer.

That could be something different. Could be a more closer to a 50-50 split potentially, depending on how Tank. looks early in the season. Yeah, I like him, and I always keep in mind, like, who brought these players in? That makes a huge difference to me. Not that they don't like ETN, but they brought in Bigsbee. They didn't bring an ETN. I am a little worried about the Jaguars in general.

Their offensive line might not be opening up, like, big holes for these guys. They have the suspension to start the season. Their right tackle, Anton Harrison, who was a first round pick, has had this shoulder injury that isn't going away. So I feel like there's, and there's a few other injury things where I feel like there's some warning signs with the Jaguars early. They're really deep at running back because I think people forget about Deerness Johnson, who in a spot start for the Browns came in on Thursday night and looked like Nick Chubb or was as effective as a starter in a big win for them. And everywhere he goes, he produces. And I thought even in these games, like there's these little moments that I'm like, I think Deerness Johnson will be a starter someday or certainly can be a guy that gets me.

much more committee work. And so that's one aspect of their offense. Like they're suddenly very deep and very interesting at running back. Uh, somebody who pooped, Mark. Well,

I actually wanted to mention a pop if I could. Oh, you could. Absolutely. Mark. Yes. I've been waiting to see the Falcons. He just doesn't want to wait.

But, uh, no, I just, there's plenty. There's lists with like 7,000 things on it. We'll get to it. But, um,

I've been waiting to see the Falcons and, um, you know, right away, Bijon Robinson had that run that went viral. You just see him sort of like cross-sectioning through a bunch of defenders. And I think that was like a 15-play drive. They didn't score because it ended in an interception.

But Drake London got involved. Bejohn Robinson had a one-handed catch. Then Kyle Pitts had a one-handed catch. And it kind of just went up and down the field. And I thought also that, you know, we've been waiting to see if the floor falls out with Desmond Raider. I thought it looked pretty good. You know, the interception was not entirely his fault. And he made some good, had good chemistry with Drake Lennon like he did at the end of last year, too.

So I don't know. I think Arthur Smith is on to something here. They just seem like if they stay healthy, they have so many different types of weapons and can play different styles of football. I don't know. There's no NFC team I'm more interested in right now. Yeah, I didn't need to see Bijan break four tackles and four carries to think that he was criminally underrated at the bottom of the first round in fantasy. But I saw it. And one of the reasons, because I think.

he's underrated as a receiver they just didn't use him that way in college that much because they were so talented they have uh you know great backup for him too rocheon johnson but man he caught a one hander like i'm in and kyle pitts all systems go which is a good sign nothing's bad has happened with kyle pitts they've ramped him up slowly but he was out there he's now healthy enough to play in a preseason game so he he's all systems to go for the season which is good i missed out on a bjean by one pick in my fantasy draft last night one almost made it back to the back end to the second round that's insane Jeremiah that's insane well that's on well I guess you had the top pick then so you know I'm not going to kill you for I did I was three overall I would take him in the

top five that see that seems a little rich for me but if he was if he was there for me I was going to grab him up so that that one hurt that one hurt but um yeah that's it's going to be fun to watch him I don't know about the full people are waiting for the floor to drop out on Desmond Ritter mark I just like there is no floor even yet it's he's just kind of like a total unknown and and we'll see if he can play the guitar it's the entire season kind of hinges on his ability to at least be a game manager which i that's fair i don't think people are like you know suggesting total doom but he's sort of like he's the reason they might win four less games than they would with uh ryan tannohill or someone in some people's

minds and i i don't know i don't hate i don't hate what i see um at the end of last year and this year if they come out in week one who do they have week one is that the same week one panthers panthers in week one and desmond ritter plays very well and all these other guys are looking good yeah they have a shot here that's going to be fun

if i'm a falcons fan and i get a good desmond ritter week one performance i am flying thinking i'm winning this division like exciting times how about gregg pop poop what do you got i hate to um put poop on uh these great young quarterbacks, I believe, are going to be great, C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young, because it certainly wasn't all on them, but we're talking preseason. What are we talking about that really matters?

It's rookie quarterbacks. It's, it's rookies. And I've, I've been underwhelmed, not just by the quarterbacks, but by the teams around these top two picks, partly because like both games, the coaches were so positive and the local media was so positive. They were like, oh, progress from last week, like, things looked much better. And I'm just thinking, I don't know, DJ Strouds played, I think, five drives, and they've had three points, and the only three points came because there was a roughing the passer penalty. And he did make two really beautiful throws that reminded you of why he was taking second overall. But the first drive of the game, he has a delay a game that was totally on him at the goal line.

That was a huge sort of rookie mistake. And then he airmails a touchdown pass. It's just been uneven. The offensive lines for both teams haven't been great. And Bryce Young just felt a little hesitant to get rid of the ball. the numbers didn't look that bad and his left tackle for the second straight week, Ikea Conmu, who opens up against the Falcons, by the way, slight correction, the Panthers Falcons week one. He hasn't looked good either. So I just, you didn't come out of

this preseason and they both might play in week three of the preseason, but so far it hasn't been great. I feel like we have such a small, viewable sample size of Bryce Young. He barely played last week. And it just, it wasn't, yeah, I don't think you can over pump it up. It's like, what a return effort. I don't see J. Stroud, though, because. the one thing watching some of his tape coming out of college is just the way he throws is just it's something beautiful to watch. And I thought that the 14-yarder to Noah Brown, it kind of put it on display. And I get with some of these guys, I just want to see what you can do. And I mean, a lot of it, a lot of it is just happening in a weird situation.

You've got weird guys out there. Your lines all over the place. You don't know who's on defense. But when I see him make that throw, I'm like, I know we can do that at this level. And it's just like, that's exciting to me. Yeah, small sample size on Bryce Young is right. but that's two weeks in a row where I've watched him. He's kind of getting his ass kicked and taking big hits in preseason games,

games that don't matter before opposing defensive coordinators or even like putting in any real scheme or, you know, diagnosing ways to attack the opposing offense in any real way. Like, you know, we don't need to dwell on his size and all that. But if this offensive line doesn't figure things out, then I just worry about him. Stroud will see and I think he has a little bit more around him. I really worry about Bryce Young being in a tough situation this season because he doesn't

really have anything proven around him in terms of weapons and then an offensive line that's a work in progress. It's so far not so good, but it's preseason. Same thing with I just said about defense. You got to give the offense the benefit of the doubt that they're going to be showing up differently come week one, but there are some red flags here for sure. sure it's a little hesitant just holding the ball just like not not reacting quick yet looks like a rookie in the second preseason game that's what happened um let's see let's go with oh my favorite the most

preseason summary thing i've ever read in the in the follow up to one of these games let's talk about the miami dolphins um played the texans this is from marcel louise jacquez A VSBN? I'll read it in full. Perhaps perhaps the biggest relief for fans and coaches came when Tungoviloa took a hit from Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins after an incomplete pass. Possibly tapping into his off-season jujitsu training, Tago Viloa rotated his body on the way to the ground to avoid hitting his head on the turf.

It's been a big one, man. Where you at, week one? I can't imagine why that's tiresome to you. Where are you at? This has been all month. There was like a practice where he did like a roll off of a sack. Like he sort of went into like a flip or something and people were going nuts about the, uh, the jujitsu. Hey, whatever keeps to a, to a healthy.

I'm happy. I'm just, I'm just saying the speed of the game is probably going to overwhelm this, uh, trading camp notebook lead. That's, that's all I'm going to say. My concern there is that this probably. in real speed games won't matter. So I guess I would say that I'm pooping on that as something to worry about. I'll also threw a pick on his very first throw. So like his season last year ended on a pick and then, you know, bad one.

Mark, I'll tee you up on this one. The Steelers popped again on offense. We can get juiced up about this. If we choose, it's against the bills who, by the way, saw their 10 game. preseason winning streak snapped. Nailed it. Um, so you have Kenny Pickett looking good with the first team offense. Um, Jalen Warren looking hot and, you know, Najay, Nogh Harris is officially, I think I noticed, another guy who I think is going to be in some danger of losing substantial touches, another former first round pick. Um, keep an eye on that situation because the

Steelers seem like they're ready to, uh, really rotate in and, and make that a different different situation. So Pickett's still looking good. The backfield looking good. Pittsburgh's offense two weeks in a row looking good. Not a real defense, not real scheming, not a real game, but it's worth noting. Well, I will say this though. I mean, I like it when a team has these like glowing practice reports. And specifically Kenny Pickett, that's been the case since back to OTAs. And it's like, do you really see Kenny Pickett as a quarterback that like physically, a physical specimen is going to make this giant leap? And it was like, I don't know. That sort of sounded like he probably is who he is, but there's these like symbols and signs that suggest he is and he has grown. And like it went from practices to two very clean games. And the bills had their starters in on defense for a big chunk of that first half. And Pittsburgh just dominated them. At one point, Tomlin's just like, let's get the starters out of here. That's two weeks in a row where they're making my multiple, you know, double digit potentially 12 win prediction for this season look more and more solidified.

I feel like they're August champs. I don't think anyone's gotten more offseason slash preseason hype than pick it. And then for him to realize it. And people who are usually a little crusty, the Steelers beat writers and stuff who usually don't want to, I don't feel like they're cheerleaders there, if anything, they're kind of hard on them. And they've just been saying since the first day at camp, like, he has been incredible. And then he does in the preseason, I'm falling for it a little bit. And I do like me some Jalen Warren.

as a as a third down back like his numbers he was an undrafted guy a year ago but his like numbers some of his advanced metric says when he was on the field he was one of the most effective third down guys in the league you've you've learned some things from the Steelers this preseason like they're not starting Broderick Jones their first round pick and then this kid it happened again someone let the Steelers get like a great edge rusher in the middle rounds if this always freaking happens Nick Herbig he's in my mix for defensive player of the year for the preseason he's got to be in the mix, two and a half sacks and a force fumble. It's a big honor, but Nick Herbig has been lighting it up and he's going to be

it. They have like Kim Highsmith. They have Watt. They got a lot. They're just good up front. Mark, what do you got? You got some poop? I, well, I would say that the Arizona Cardinals represent a giant pile of

excrement after what we saw this weekend. I'm not surprised. I get us the Cardinals. But I really, my takeaway, though, was that the chiefs, I think Andy Reed has been trying to find a way. And, you know, this is just what he's, you know, this is an annual thing, but to kind of flip the switch on saying goodbye to last year, coming in and having everyone just kind of dial into their intensity. And I'm just watching this, like they have their starters in for a bunch of time. And their offensive line is utterly dominated Arizona. They're

just so dominant. And they had 18 different players caught a pass in this game. Rishie Rice, their rookie, who they traded up into round. two to get, had eight catches for 96 yards. Mahomes completed a pass to nine different teammates. And it's like, I'm not trying to break news here, but like Shane Buegel, it may be a better backup than playing Gabbert. Like, I mean, this is like, this is sort of what we'd expect from the chiefs for a little, a little bit. But to see how dominant they are and how organized they are, and it just seems like there's an intensity level that suggests to me that it's like, there's going to be no hangover from the Super Bowl. I think that Reed has found a way to get to

the heart of this club. And they just looked utterly insane. wildly better than the Cardinals. You're just like, you sag the poop right back into a pop. Yeah, it's a verse, you know, you can't have one without the other. I didn't hear much about the Cardinals there. And if the takeaway is the Chiefs are better than the Cardinals, I agree. No, I think the Chiefs are better than everyone, anyone. And the card, like, it's confirmation that the Cardinals look to me about as floating as

lost as we could have expected. You came up with this, the segment name. when your first poop comes and we just say, oh, the Cardinals suck, but how about the Chiefs? People want it. People want some real excrement from Newark.

I'll give you some. Next time around. Well, I do think they got caught. I'd sometimes see in the preseason, like if one team is a disappointment one week, especially a good team like the Chiefs, they always come out the next week, especially if their starters play when we used to play starters in the preseason.

Then they come out extra fired up the next week. I think the Cardos were in a tough spot there. But they lost Denham. Dennis Gardock, who's one of the few decent edge rushers. They lost Marco Wilson, who's supposedly their number one cornerback in this game, injury-wise. And Colt McCoy, who I guess is the starter, had three drives, and I think only one of them had a first down.

They didn't score any points. And listening to the people there in the Cardinals' website, like Clayton Toon, our guy, the fifth round rookie, I wouldn't say he's lit it up in the preseason. He's just like, okay. Some of these late-round rookies have looked great, but he's looked okay. he ran for a little bit. He scored some points and McCoy didn't. It seems like they haven't even given the job to Colt McCoy yet.

They're kind of leaving that open still, that Clayton Tune could be a weak one starter against the commandos. Colt McCoy is going to get you too many wins and you're trying to get the first overall picks. So he's too dangerous to put in there. Let's take a break right here and come back with more pops and poops. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now I'm Drew Franklin.

And this is an effort. 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 game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

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All right, we are back. Greg, what do you want to go? What direction you want to go? Positive, negative. Do it, buddy. Let's go positive. Let's go with kind of a... The ballroom or the bathroom.

Where are we going? We're making it positive. Lots of positive things happen there. Okay. It's important. This one, you guys could take it and run with it too because it's more than just one story, but it's the backup quarterback situations going on,

but especially these late round, rookies, but I'm just going to combine them all together because it's kind of weird. Aiden O'Connell, I watched them in person, pitch a perfect game. It was Aidan O'Connell versus Stets and Bennett. That was a, you know, a K.O. in the third round by Aiden O'Connell. He is your preseason MVP through two weeks. Tanner McKee. He's got the radio stations buzzing in Philadelphia looking way better than Marcus

Marriota. That's a sixth-run pick. Doria Thompson-Robinson. We've talked about him. He's been good. Malik Willis appears to have beat out He's not a rookie But he appears to beat out a rookie

Will Levis We got this kid from Shepard University, Dan That's a D2 school His name is Tyson Badgant And he's been lighting it up in the preseason All these rookie late round rookies Have been the story of the preseason I don't know what it means

They're playing against third stringers They're playing with third stringers But they might be winning these backup jobs Against some veterans I think Brian Hoyer's career might end because of Aidan O'Connell. I think Marioada might be the third stringer if Hertz actually got hurt. I don't think they'll cut him. But like these are things happening and it's kind of fun to watch.

The Malik Willis thing is interesting just because he was he was so bad and limited play last year that they're bringing a guy off the street late in the season with everything on the line for Tennessee last January. Um, Will Levis did injure himself in the joy practices leading into that game, which, uh, led to Malik getting all that playing time. But obviously it's, it's setting up well, um, for him, uh, to be the number two. And, you know, whenever you're backing up a guy, it's getting up there and age and it's a bad offense on potentially in Tennessee. We might see these guys. Or if the season doesn't go well and like zooser hits on that under, which I'm not feeling good about, uh, from Thursday's episode, uh, you're probably going to want to get these guys in the lineup in the second half of the season to get a look at what you have. So I think that's a backup quarterback situation that's more intriguing to me than others. You were at the Rams game, Greg, you said. So I got, we're going to head to the bathroom. The Rams defense, I know Aaron Donald's not in the mix, but over 200 yards on the ground by the Chargers last week. And then Jimmy G and the Raiders, uh, roll over them early in, in this game, they, they put up 34 points. Um, you know, it's a reminder that Donald and

this team have little hope unless some of these guys become guys. Uh, did you see anybody that kind of jumped out at you, uh, for the Rams? I mean, I like this kid, uh, Trey Tomlinson, because he's Ladanian Tomlinson's nephew, and he's wearing a number six, and my son Walker's got a number six Rams jersey, too. But when we're talking about like sixth round, you know, five, seven cornerbacks that are popping, it's not great. And they were playing a lot of guys who will contribute for them. They are a mystery, but on defense, they are as underpowered other than Donald as any team in the league.

I mean, and I was at the Chargers Rams game, and I mean, that was the first, test for this defense, this Rams defense. And they gave up like 200 yards rushing and had no answers for what was coming at them. So it's like it's a really nice story to have all these young players. But in, you know, in real life, the variance is massive because it's very possible that eight or nine of them are like a year away from being serviceable defenders. And since since I mentioned him, I'll go with a pop. I feel like expectations are so low for Jim. me Garapolo that maybe he'll end up surprising people and the Raiders will be more proficient, at least on offense. Also, Josh McDaniels, I feel like his stock is pretty low in general

entering this league. So there's just a general idea that it's not going to work. And certainly that's within the range of outcomes here. But Agarapolo did look good in the drive he was in. And if he stays healthy, remember, he does have Devante Adams. The idea is that Josh Jacobs is going to report at some point, even if it's sitting out the entire preseason and training. camping camp and be back on the field. Michael Mayer, they go and get that tight end. So maybe he contributes in year one. Are Jacoby Myers, who a lot of Patriots fans wish was still up in New England. He's there now. Is it possible? And again, not reading too much into this game, but it did look nice while they were all together that we're sleeping on the Raiders being proficient and maybe

even frisky on offense. I, well, okay, because I think I get annoyed when I see these lists where like Jimmy G is just sort of casually shoved down as like the 30th best quarterback in the league. Like the good version of Jim, what? Let me just say. I just did that fantasy draft in a two quarterback league and a 10 team league. And Jimmy G doesn't even get drafted in my league. Just to back up your point, go on there. People are just like out on him.

Pick them up as a third. Don't you want another quarterback on your bench or you can't do that? Three max. Three max. I think part of it is, you know, it's like, oh, you're in Shanahan system. so anything that you do is going to get downgraded. You know, he's won playoff games. He's been to a Super Bowl.

Like, when he's good, he's really good. I thought he looked sharp in that opening drive. So I'm with you in the sense that, like, I write off the Raiders as a team with severe confidence. But I don't, I think that, like, Jimmy G is not the reason. And that is, that does peak my annoyance when I hear that. I'll tell you something, though, because, like, I think one thing about this preseason, it's like, I want to see, I wanted to see more of Jordan Love. And, like, I'm kind of impressed with what he's done over two weeks. You know, there are some moments where he's kind of like, I think even anything,

he's had some tough moments where he's had to, like, work his way out of it and put together a good drive. And he did that against New England. I know that game was, you know, canceled early because of the situation with Isaiah Bolden. He's out of the hospital. That's great to know. But Jordan Love had a couple of lasers in that game. And I just look at this whole offense because it's like, we don't know what the Packers are going to look like this. year. It could go south and maybe these players are too young, but like Christian Watson, Romeo

Dabbs, Jane and Reed looks good to me. Luke Musgrave is already essentially a starter at tight end. And Love has had these moments where I'm like, I think sitting for a while like he did, did have some positive impact on him. Now he's got to play. And it's like I kind of could just see this offense growing more formidable as the year goes along. And I mean, I don't have a problem with the idea of Green Bay winning 10 games if Love can play the guitar, as you'd say. yeah i agree i'm with you i uh i don't have strong takes on jordan love yet yeah but if it uh i would say what would lee how would we rank like what grade would we give jordan love uh gregg based on camp reports and what we've seen on the field so far be yeah that sounds right that's why i feel

i almost feel muted in how to feel because you're kind of seeing both sides reporting in both ends and And it's like one of those guys I really want to see when he's the man, capital T, capital M week one. That's, but no, I don't, I don't have a problem with that. I think I'm sort of saying that the overall Green Bay offense and there's a lot of young players here. But I kind of just am excited more than I've been about the Packers on a long. They were the same thing for so long.

And it's like, this is interesting. You've got my attention. You just wanted them to get rid of the whole Farve to Rogers dynasty always annoyed you. Yes. I, uh, I, I'm with you though, because their preseason, I would give their offense, though, like an A minus or A for this preseason in camp because you don't really know if Musgrave and Jaden Reed. Jaden Reed is a rookie who's going to be their starting slot receiver. You don't really know how they're going to look in their first camp in preseason. They went out and

earned those jobs and they've looked quite good. So they're rookies. So we don't know how it's going to translate in the preseason. Dobbs is making plays. Love, we've seen him in a bunch of preseason. He makes really bad plays and he makes awesome throws. To me, he's going to be a very entertaining player like his big time throw rate will be through the roof his turnover worthy play rate i have a feeling will be through the roof and so it's going to just be like huge ups and downs but i think they've had a nice a nice little month unlike like let's say like i do kind of pay attention to who's getting hype and not like i kind of expected just in fields to have more hype this preseason i'm not giving him a poop or anything but it's just like second year in

this offense they built all this stuff around them and the vibe you get from the bears is incremental growth if that it hasn't been a Kenny picket big big jump at least in terms of camp pipe um cycling back raiders six and a half over under it's put that's in a good spot you know what's interesting throughout camp they've been saying their defense has really been a surprise like surprisingly good they really think the defense is better it's been kind of beating up the offense and then when they went to have those joint practices with the rams that continued they beat up the rams offense but the offense was starting to get better maybe the rams just stink but it was a good week i think for the just like i would do anything to pivot out of my uh titans under i just i wish i could

go back and and and change time packers at seven and a half hmm well i want to bang in the over there i want to get my fifth choice into the show i know that after the fact you guys beeped it out i just want to let you guys know all the um all the gregg heads out there who really want this um for the money you know that they could potentially get into um in our season preview episode we could circle back because we can tell you what we what we really like a team that we like just sure that seems that seems fair unfair was you trying to cram in another over under you asked i didn't say anything i left the time and you were like you got more time to fill you got more time to fill i didn't say to give another over under i just said if you i wanted to

have anything else to say not i mean just you kind of try to take it to planet greg and we're not going we're not getting on the spaceship and going to planet greg with you every time greggie i i have regrets i wish i had made that my uh my fourth pick too i'm going to go poop uh let's send some some poop i what are we doing here with the poop i don't know let's uh take it to the sessler department i like it mark i like not the sanitation i like it i just don't know how to phrase it or introduce it. I'm going to give this for Todd Bowles' press conferences talking about these quarterback battles.

It's over. He picked Baker Mayfield, but he won't say it. Thank you. I have this written down. Todd, Earth to Todd, we don't need to be, you know, we don't need to be tricky about this one. It's not as if this idea that Todd Bowles can go and not play. way Baker Mayfield in this game this weekend, even after the third string quarterback hurts

his neck. And then after the game, all the reporters want is just general confirmation. And you can't give us that? We don't have any more time for these games, Todd. Like just, just be real about it. Do you really think, Todd, that the Vikings are on the edges of their seats worried about how they're going to prepare for two QBs ahead of week one, because they can't discern where Todd is going to go on this. Enough. Also, wasn't Kyle Trask like 21 for 41 in this game?

You don't see that too often. Obviously, it's Baker and starter. I don't know what, I don't even understand. It's like a 1996, you know, dueling with the media. I'm with you. It's tiresome. Fast forward 14 days, please, Earth. Yeah, they made their choice.

And Trask played like pretty well in that game. But yeah, when Wulford went out and they, and he even said, he's like, I didn't want to risk Baker behind the second string offensive light. We didn't mind risking Kyle Trass. There was one other nugget there that I put in the, in the article that I think has been under the radar. Like, I don't know if Ryan Jensen, who was an all pro a few years ago, pro bowler with Brady. Like, I don't know if he's, I know he's not going to play week one. I'm wondering if he's going to play football again.

He, like, rushed back to play in that Brady playoff game. He tore his ACL MCL and dislocated his knee, then rushed back to play 80 snaps in that doomed playoff game. And now just the vibes, the vibes coming out, like, it wouldn't surprise me if you hear this announcement that he's retiring or he's missing half the season. And they've got a lot of offensive line issues. They move Tristan Wirth to the left side.

That's supposedly not going great. they've got rookies uh it it's a tough situation there we talked about russell gauge like i fit you know out for the season i think i hope you're wrong about that because if that's a failure of the team if if he somehow aggravated or put himself in a worse spot uh by playing and again a terrible bucks team that wasn't even over 500 in the playoffs and and credit to him as a warrior that wanted to protect brady and what looked it was his final game but i hope he didn't further hurt himself or a mess himself of. He's 32 years old.

I know these guys age in different ways on the line, but, you know, he should have good football ahead of them, but yeah, that's scary. I've got two quick pops.

Happened in the same game. The more I see from Jackson Smith and Jigba, it's just like, okay, this guy's going to be extremely productive from the first quarter of the first game. He looks the part. He just looks,

he doesn't look a rookie to be, completely comfortable. And, you know, they played the couch, Boys and Jalen Tolbert has been getting tons of buzz at camp from Mike McCarthy on down. You know, they they were short at wide receiver a year ago and like someone like this could be a big help. But like he just he's an exciting player. So I think the two two of the best like offensive skill position teams in the league like Seattle looks for real to me and Dallas I'm I struggled

that I'm not putting them in the NFC title game ever in my life. But it's hard to figure out who they're like Who has more talent than them right now? The JSN, he was an interesting one. You know, we just did the fantasy extravaganza last week because he does look like he's for real, but P. Carroll loves to run the football. He's got a lot of guys to do it. He's got a very locked and loaded one, two at wide receiver.

I think JSN can have an impact in a team way, but will he get enough touches to be really kind of jumping off the page in year one? That would be my only hesitation from a fantasy standpoint or even like in a bullish on JSN standpoint. Right. And you mentioned Tolbert. We saw him catch a nice pass. I remember on Stefan Gilmore,

well contested that day we were at. Camp, and he's kind of someone who the preseason's four and training camps for a very disappointing rookie season from him, but has come out and looked like a different player. And now watching him win on the outside, you think, okay, the Cowboys have at least three or four wide receivers. He might end up taking some time from Michael Gallup

if he can't play on the outside, but they're pretty loaded there at that position. I should have connected this one, boys, when we were talking about the Cardinals. But I read that Isaiah Simmons, former first round pick, who came into the league with, did he, did you bring him up, Gregie? No. Came into the league with just a ton of buzz. I remember Cynthia coming on our show and pumping him up. And it was always a little weird because it was like, yeah, he's a linebacker.

I don't know. Maybe he's on the edge. Maybe he's this. Maybe he's that. and then true to form like Isaiah Simmons has never really found a home and now they're trying to make him a safety in Arizona and they're trying to find a way to make this work and this is not something I was studying closely personally but a report from ESPN that he really struggled against Kansas City in that role so it's just like for this is such a transition role transition year for Arizona they're trying to find this might be the last gasp of trying to make the Isaiah Simmons situation work could he be somebody that you know i'm sure he'll make the team obviously but could he is there another team that if this safety thing doesn't work would they trade him for a low draft pick i don't know we'll see doesn't it feel like the kind of story we're like um he does end up on another team and

tells essentially the horror story that's occurred here over the past couple years in arizona because like you talk about negligence with like a ryan jensen um he's had how many coaches simmons and how many times they moved him around and tried different things with him part of it is like he's not hasn't been dominant editing those things but it's like he was always drafted at someone that's the right coach would need to find the right way to use them and now it just feels desperate and i could see him going somewhere else going right back to linebacker with a better coaching staff and some consistency and maybe we get a different version of him and this one is neither a pop neat nor a poop so whatever is in the middle it's like in the hallway between the

ballroom and the bathroom um mcky backton has finally entered the starting lineup conversation for the Jets. He saw some significant snaps against the Bucks in the preseason game. He got out of it okay, 25 snaps in his debut at right tackle. And it looks like he's going to get some first team reps. I mean, it's just, it's alarming that a team in the Jets that really is unsettled at offensive line that were this deep into training camp in the preseason. And Beckton is only now being kind of introduced to the possibility of being a starter. I think it tells a story. I also wonder Why do I keep on reading about Beckton? Like he'll be able to play a full round of snaps and with the first team when his body is right.

I mean, at what point does the body get right? He hasn't played in two years and had the surgery before last season really even got going. But he is going to, I think, in a best case scenario, play really well the rest of the summer. And he will be there right tackle. And then you cross your fingers that Dwayne Brown gets healthy on the left side for a Jets offensive line. That is by far the biggest question mark for this team. And read into it. It's okay to read into it.

Aaron Rogers does not play in the preseason. He's open that it doesn't matter. He's with the Zeus around that one. And yet he will be seeing snaps against the Giants next week. Why? That's the Jets telling you. They're nervous about this line. They feel like they need to get some live reps ahead of week one.

So hopefully Rogers gets out of that safe and sound. But the fact that he's playing, I think, has everything to do with not him throwing the football around, but feeling comfortable in the offensive line getting more reps together as they try to square this away. before a very tough beginning of the season. I mean, I can't imagine if you're Joe Douglas and you've gone this far and acquired all these players that you aren't on the phone line, nonstop, looking around the league for proven tackles.

I can see a trade going down at some point. They need depth no matter what. I want to bring up one other tackle who is a bit of a surprise. His name is Big Thanos. He's 6'8, 375 pounds, a fourth round pick of the Cleveland Browns. He's been on the field for 111 pass-blocking snaps

and not allowed a sack and has been pretty eye-poppingly effective. I don't know. You draft that player thinking that's a project. The size was there, and like he looks like he can play. And I kind of think that, you know, they get into a jam. He could start games for him down the stretch.

Like that's the count. To get that in the fourth round is huge. That's a great nickname. Yeah, Big Thanos. Circulate back on Rogers, quick. I did just want to throw a quote out from Rogers last week. And he was talking about the offensive line. Some things are out of my control.

Some things I have input on. Who's playing left and right tackle? I don't have input on at this point. I don't get concerned about things I don't have a huge role on. Now, that might change. At some point, I might say I need the five who are going to be in there to be in there with me for a solid week. Which I think are reasonable things all to say. I feel like if in a previous generation or if he was in Green Bay and said those things,

it actually might have gotten some heat of like, ooh, is Aaron Rogers trying to say he should be making the personnel decisions? And like I actually applaud the New York media for not blowing those out. But I think it makes sense. Like there hasn't been progress there. And at some point, it's going to be like, look, guys, pick the guys. Let's go. Pick the guys.

This might be the week, I think. I hear you. Who else's got something? Uh, let's, let's just sit some news. I, to me, this is a pop because I've been, uh, on the jadabian clowny, uh, bandwagon for too long. He's on the Ravens. It's where, it's where he should be. That's all.

It's they needed him. He needed them. They're very thin at cornerback. They're very thin in terms of their edge rusher, uh, production, you know, and just some young players. And they'll probably squeeze a good season out of him because that's what they do with like mid 30s. Watch him finally get that 10-sack season for the rations. Ravens at age 31 or whatever. I mean, he basically quit on his last team.

Yeah, that was not a great, not a great luck. But hopefully, if you're the Ravens, they could use him. It would be him, a job, O way. Now, that's, maybe that's an okay group. I'm going to throw in one more. I guess the pop here would be Joanne Johnson, who's looked great, the Saints tight end. A lot of hype dominated joint practices reportedly.

Look good in the preseason. But that brings up the tight end position there, which was just a strange story. It was hard to wrap your mind around this one, but we should note it. It's newsworthy, which is that Jimmy Graham was seen acting erratically at the resort they were staying at, and the police were called, and he was initially arrested, and then he was taken to the hospital, and the Saints released the statement that he had a medical condition, a seizure. And I believe that was known about Graham a little bit before that he had had some issues with seizures.

And they didn't really fill in the blanks of how this was all connected. But it's not great. And they're not saying anything about his football future. He obviously didn't play in the preseason game. But I don't know. You wish the best for Jimmy Graham. And you're a little anxious if he was playing football. I think we were all, like, kind of stunned or at least surprised when Jimmy Graham resurfaced as a football player back with a team where he really became a star.

but yeah I would imagine just from a pure football standpoint he's not going to be on this team and maybe we're going to get some update on that in the next few days and I hope he's okay because that that sounds like at least over the weekend he was very not okay you know what else is not okay can we can you pull that up Eric Roberts has the thumb by the way Eric Roberts before we get to that to check that life little health this thumb now after a week yeah one week later after nearly or not even nearly chopping off the tip of his thumb while cutting goddamn potatoes it's doing okay i'm uh how we doing does it hurt it doesn't hurt that much anymore now it's just kind of living with less of a thumb so it uh no i mean the pain's pretty much

subsided you know it's um i'm walking around without a bandage on it now so that's fun to see um i see people kind of like catch a glimpse of it and then i see their eyes falling my my hand around I'm like, oh, let's try to have a nub over here. But it's all right. I'm surviving. But Eric, so that doctor told you that, you know, the thumb would grow back, which was sort of news to us from a ground level. What is the growth?

What is the direction does it seem to be going in? I will give it a little. It's a little, this is the decent side of it. This is not too gross to see. And then can you hold up your other thumb just so people can see what it looks like a normal thumb? Check it out on YouTube. YouTube. You can subscribe to the around the NFL podcast. This doesn't get you a little gooey and more healy. But this is just like, you know, a little Gumby look to it. You know, Gumby the little. I think some people would say to spin it in a positive way to pop more than poop. It looks kind of metal. Like it looks like you're kind of a bad dude. And they don't need to know the story, the backstory. You could give your own backstory. And I'll and I'll spin it even further. More pop. More ballroom. Less bathroom. A guy like Brian Baldinger turned his wonky-ass finger into a part of his personality and like a hook.

Like there's something here, I think, Eric, if you, if you, from a creative standpoint and turn, whether it's a thumbs up you give in every photo or there's a way to take this and take these lemons and make some. Well, I have started sending out emojis instead of the actual thumbs up emoji. I've created my own little screenshot of one with half of a thumb missing. So I have kind of started cycling in a joke. A reoccurring joke. I don't know. We'll see how long it goes. You're a masterful self-brander, and I think all this happened for a reason.

Yeah, you know. Our previous producer, Gravedigger, sometimes his self-branding would get on Sessler's radar. Are you okay with this, Mark, where Eric is trying to diversify his portfolio? I'm over any tension I felt over what Justin was aiming to do back then. And I don't feel that tension with Eric. I think that, you know, if anything, if you were, to pick 10 people out of a lineup to have their thumbs half chopped off there'd be a freak out level with a big chunk of those people i thought eric kind of took it in stride and was back at work

the next day and it's like sort of is a heroic um you know turn of events for eric i'll take that not annoying that's a good i mean he missed two days but like we're not counting i was typing i was you know i was half sentence something oh whatever we'll get hey can you can you throw it up it's great eric that you're going on i can't wait to see how that thing grows back. I want a science fiction film. All right. Go ahead, Eric. Let's see. Flash it up there. This pooped. This is poop. This is way worse than I even thought it would be. Gosh, darn. Teddy Bridgewater, the Forever Number 5. He played his first game as number 50. And it couldn't look any worse. It actually was worse than I thought, look at this. Check out the YouTube show. Greg, get the plug in.

He looks insane wearing number 50 as a quarterback. He took a snap from center. And it It looked like a fan had won a contest to play a snap in the NFL. I am horrified, but with the lines have done here, because a running back on the roster has his number five. It should have never gotten to this point. Teddy Bridgewater should never wear number 50 again. It should already be over. And yet it's not.

The nightmare continues. I love it. I mean, Teddy in that Honolulu blue with the two gloves in Honolulu blue and the 50, we've never seen anything like it. Don't now don't worry about his performance that in the field. Yeah, not too hot. It's the preseason. It's the preseason.

I did notice we did not discuss what Teddy actually did as a football player, which was. No, well, thankfully, in your hype from last week up. If he was worried about Nate Sudfeld, Nate Sudfeld, I think is thrown like four interceptions and like 16 passes in the preseason. Teddy, five of 11, 34 yards in the first quarter fumble. No biggie. Okay, guys, you guys want to throw out a couple more? I'll let you get it out. Go ahead.

Anything else in your little notebooks? The one that I wanted to make sure we got in there was a poop. Because I think most people, most teams have gotten through this month pretty unscathed. I think the dolphins have had maybe one of the worst months, maybe the worst month of any team. Jalen Ramsey is what started it. I know that was technically July. Taron Armstead, it's like, okay, he doesn't have a serious injury, but we're back on this cycle of, is he going to play this week?

Is he not entering another season like that? We don't know if he'll be ready for week one. Devin Acheon has looked great in the preseason. Suffered a shoulder injury. I don't know if that's serious. And then I saw an interesting report on SI.com that Agba, Emmanuel Agba, who they gave a lot of money to, just has not looked comfortable standing up in Vic Fangio's scheme

in that maybe they might even look around if someone wanted to give a trade, a draft pick for Emmanuel Agua, which would be surprising. He's very highly paid. I just feel like it's been, hasn't been a great. great month. But did you see the jiu-jitsu stuff? Yeah, that's jitsu. A lot of injuries in the secondary. I think they've signed five defensive backs this

month and they might have to sign a six just because they've had so many injuries. What's that Dolphins over under at? Eric. I think it's nine and a half. Yeah, it's nine and a half. Like a skyscraper. Looking up at a skyscraper. I mean, you're loving, you're loving

any drama attached to that team. We understand that. I love you, dolphins fans. Let's have some fun this year. Let's get the rivalry back. Jets, dolphins. Let's make it count. Let's make it matter. Wait, can I give one more pop? Can I give one more pop? They almost forgot. This is a big one. It's our friend Henry Hodgson.

He's popping. He's the father of the international player program. He's the only person, you know, he's out in Africa. He's in Nigeria. He's all over Europe picking out these players. It's all because of Henry Hodgson. He's personally scouting them? I love this angle. I mean, sometimes he goes to these things. Actually, Oseum and you are truly does that, which is pretty crazy.

But okay, C.J. Akoye made national news last week, the guy on the charges who got a sack in his first ever football game. He never even played a football game before. Nigerian defensive end, David Agoha, who just started playing football a year ago, recorded a sack on Saturday. And then Texans defensive end, Adadeo Odalei, also an IPP player, has two sacks this free season. Out of the eight players selected this year, six are from Nigeria. of them are pass rushers defensive linemen and it they're they're starting to pop and these are guys who didn't even play football last year nice little job by the IPP in the preseason it was always very american that um we just assumed that only people from our country could play football when like the

the span of the human body and what it looks like all over the world suggests that there would be football players as there are in other sports beyond american borders let's go it's i don't like that take why I don't know. It's just like pointing to it as American hubris. I don't get the vibe that we never thought anyone could play football anywhere else in the world. No one ever practices it. It wasn't like a sport that was being played. So that's what Henry does. That's what we do with our UK reach and the surrounding territories even beyond in places like Germany and Australia and Ireland, which is not part of the UK. We're just doing we're doing the job. We're carrying that water, Mark. I think we're a little late. to the to the to the whole effort i mean we could have started this a while ago i'm not trying to i'm not trying to go anti-american with my take i just think it's like we comfortably shrouded the sport for so long until people like henry came around um until our show came around until television changed yeah i can do that song and dance just like gregg you know prop someone up from across

the company we'll do a favor for me at some point later i get how it works it's dark man the best is the best thing with henry what is wrong with you the best thing greg is the best thing I wouldn't say I came at Mark there, but I just disagree with his take. But then you get, you get the knife right in the spinal column. I know. Whenever Mark gets a little annoyed, it comes out how much he clearly does not like me. That's not true at all. Damn.

What was that, Jeff Albrecht? Damn. That is not true. I have that ungood thought. Mark does like you, Greg. I just lash out. And, you know, everyone gets. gets a little bit of a helping.

I know, but we're not talking about some like VP in a corner office that we're talking about Henry and we're talking about football, you know, come on. I love Henry, but that wasn't in question. He already knows I love him. He thought there is a sense, Mark, and I don't totally disagree that you're doing a little back scratching here for Henry to get something. Maybe an extra, maybe a sweet when it's time for us to go to London again. Maybe, oh, weird, Greg got the upgrade at the hotel.

Henry helps us out, as you guys know, regardless of what we say. I think these are cool stories regardless as well. Yes, the International Pathway Program. If you are an overseas listener, this is right up your alley and is a huge part of the NFL's attempts to grow the game. Do some research. Check it out. Look it up. It's cool.

All right. That's it. Mark, anything else, bud? The only thing I'd say is that. that I think it's the Giants were swatted down in the over-under contest we did. I think in general, people look at what they did a year ago is slightly fraudulent beyond like a great coaching job, and they're expecting them to come crashing back down to earth.

They looked great on offense. Daniel Jones was totally on. Darren Waller was used over and over. I just think that the Darren Waller story has gone about as positively as you could hope. We'll see, you know, TBD on his health. that would be a big upgrade for that offense. And they got about 800 wide receivers for sifting through. It reminds me just a little bit of when they, you know, in Buffalo,

the way they built that offense up quickly that the Giants have attacked all resources. And if you get, you know, the better version of Daniel Jones, I'm tired of everyone, you know, just talking about one New York team. There's another New York team that actually went to the playoffs a year ago. I think that's fair. And I think I kind of had it in my notes and was going to sit on it. And maybe that's part of the problem here, Sessler. because Daniel Jones signs that huge contract and, you know,

it was met with some sideways glances and light mocking in general. And I think the general assumption here is that the Giants will, I don't want to say general assumption. But I think there's more than a few people that follow the sport closely that think the Giants may live to regret giving Jones that type of investment. But he did take a big leap under Dable in one year, in year one is if he does it in year two, it wouldn't be out of this realm. I don't think a lot of, you don't hear a lot of people saying, yeah, Jones is going to become a star this year. The Giants certainly think that's possible

based on how they paid him. And maybe we should give him a little bit more of a chance to continue to progress. It'll be, if I'm a Giants fan, I'm, I'm excited. I'm feeling good about it. I'm feeling this Darren Waller thing. As far as the summer has gone, it couldn't have gone better. Like the worst case scenario is you trade for this guy who's been hurt constantly for two years and he pulls his hamstring in the first week of training camp and it becomes one of those waiting games. No, he's healthy. He's been effective. Okay. Bring some juice to the G-Men. I like it. Who's in? I have one other thing to share. That's the big announcement horn, but it's a big announcement tease coming up later this week.

We're going to share our plans around the NFL, expanding our universe into the NFL plus realm. Okay. It's going to be fun. It's exciting. We're pumped about doing it. We successfully had conversations with shadowy league figures about giving us runway and man hours to make this fun and exciting, this new chapter for our show. And we're going to tell you all about it on Thursday's show. How about that?

It's a professional tease. We weren't doing that in year one. That's a veteran broadcaster. Now, my final thought on preseason football tonight. The Washington, D.C. area. Landover. the Baltimore Ravens they attempt to extend their

godlike preseason winning streak to a goddamn quarter hundred games if they beat the commanders 25 consecutive wins in the preseason it is no surprise that the game is on ESPN nationally televised because it's that big it matters

I just spent an hour telling you how the preseason doesn't matter this matters. This is DiMasio 56. This is the type of record that people will talk about in 100 years. Can they get to 25? That's a big number, Gregi. It's, you know,

what I'm thinking about all day today. By the time people hear this, maybe they'll know the result. Maybe we'll have an emergency pod. If down goes Frazier, you know, if it happened, down goes Tyson, I guess in this case would be a better example. You know, if the upset happens.

You guys are going to be ready if the commanders pull off the unthinkable? They won't lose the Ravens. If I'm them, though, I take this so seriously. Because look at, Buffalo has already been axed. The next second closest competitor, they're starting from scratch all over again. I start Lamar Jackson and every first stringer for four quarters and devastate. Break Washington's conscious. Just destroy them out.

I've got another streak. That's almost as crazy. their consciousness you know when the last time the Minnesota Vikings have won a preseason game guys I'll give you a hint it wasn't this decade they've lost 11 straight

you throw in the pandemic year they have not won a preseason game this decade that's a travesty let's get it going Minnesota Vikings that's a poop I get that but you can lose it's easy to lose games essentially on purpose in the preseason 11 straight that's a lot to win 24 straight without really trying

that is remarkable and I agree the fact that it's on ESPN the fact that it's so stupid it's so dumb and yet John Harbaugh does care and it's a big round number 25 there is zero chance I mean I won't say anything else if you want to those desert folk

there is zero chance that the Ravens lose this game and don't lay any wood you lay out they will chop that wood the ravens are going to roll over the commanders and uh if they don't on wednesday i will apologize to you but raven's going to chop wood i'll leave it at that indeed let's get out of here oh shout out to elizundo little league they are in the little league world series for the first time in town history little league elizondos on fire about this and uh they are playing again today, Monday. Hopefully they continue to roll.

They beat, you know who they beat up? They beat Ohio, those chumps where the Wesleying brothers hail from. Well, and we were, you know, we're on a text thread with the Wesleying brothers. And, you know, Nick Wesleyan especially, he's taking shots left it right at California culture and just described the whole thing as like a probably a bunch of soft kids that have never even seen a, you know, a cloudy day. And then they go, what are you doing, Ohio? You just got taken out by El Segundo.

If you ain't got no haters, you ain't popped. El Segundo, yeah. And you should know that Ohio got sent home their next game. They're out. They gone double elimination. So maybe the Wesslings can watch the working class El Segundo, Little League, grind their way. And then to stick it to Rosenthal and company to take out Mother Japan in the finals.

Let's do it. Let's shock the world. I mean, I'm rooting El Segundo there. I'm with you. I mean, you know, Walker's in like an adobe. adjacent little league like let's go soCal i'm a soCal guy after 11 years there you go i could guess who your wife's rooting for in such a game as well i mean probably not eliz is is japan even they don't get a buy to the finals they got to make it there too but that would

be good something tells me they will they're very good at baseball in japanese that's it good show good up good talk we'll be back uh wednesday as a group tuesday hard knocks podcast with me and Colleen Wolfe recapping episode three so be there for that and until then eat the call This is an IHeart podcast