The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Damar Hamlin update, Jim Harbaugh’s NFL talks, Commanders QB indecision & more

Episode Date: January 5, 2023

Mike Sando and former GM Randy Mueller begin the show by discussing the latest with Damar Hamlin as they reflect on the tragic situation earlier this week. Then, they discuss a potential return to the NFL for Jim Harbaugh, their impressions of Jarrett Stidham and the Commanders QB indecision. They also talk about what’s going on with Lamar Jackson, the Eagles' injury concerns and much more. Damar Hamlin's foundation GoFundMe page:https://www.gofundme.com/f/mxksc-the-chasing-ms-foundation-community-toy-drive1:13 Latest on Damar Hamlin16:34 Will Jim Harbaugh return to the NFL?20:44 Impressions of Jarrett Stidham26:42 Commanders QB indecision30:40 Lamar Jackson situation 37:29 Concern for the Eagles?43:00 NFC playoff predictions47:34 GM Notebook54:11 Week 18 picks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome, everyone, to the Football GM podcast, heading into 22, Week 18 already. Mike Sandow here from The Athletic, along with the GM, Randy Mueller. Randy is certainly an unusual and a difficult week around the NFL, but maybe the news has been a little bit better on DeMar Hamlin lately, and at least that's encouraging. Yeah, I'm sure glad it has, because I'll be honest, I didn't know really what to formulate in my own mind before it even got to my lips to say about it.

You know, it's just been, it's such a unique set of circumstances that I think we all needed time to process and figure out what it meant to us and then how to relay any of our thoughts to anybody. So you're right. It's been, it's been a weird week. It absolutely is. And we are going to talk about a number of interesting subjects around the NFL. You can see that, you know, as you look at our podcast and you can see the little table of contents there. We will definitely start with the Damar Hamlin situation. We're all monitoring it closely, turning kind of on every report.

And the latest news available as we tape this on Wednesday suggests maybe some cautious optimism is in order after Damar Hamlin was in critical condition, still is, following cardiac arrest. But he's made some strides. Since that incident on Monday night, we sure hope the news gets better and better. Randy, you and I have watched hundreds and probably thousands of games. more than I have seen some scary situations, but I've never seen, I don't think I've ever seen in any sport that I've been at or been watching, something where CPR was performed on the field. That is another level of concern. And you just, I don't know, you just had that helpless feeling.

Like, I don't know if you've been in a situation where our relatives in dire situation or there's an accident and suddenly you just realize how out of control we all are of this thing. and you really rely on those medical professionals. Well, no question. I have not been around any type environment like that. I was obviously like millions of others watching from my couch, and it shook me up. So could you imagine being one of those players or coaches right there and watching their brother, their teammate, having paddles put on him to get his breathing back and to go through the CPR and everything?

I did hear this, and I think this is probably true, though. I found comfort in that because they did such a good job with that, the medical people, if you were going to have cardiac arrest and you weren't in a hospital, which is probably the best place to ever have it, I find that maybe an NFL football field might be second best because they have within steps everything to save your life. And I think we saw that. Within mere seconds and steps away, we saw what should be lauded, in my opinion, as unbelievable planning. great execution. And it should, once you get beyond what we really are all felt, the comfort of, hey, these

people know what they're doing and they're going to do the best they can to save people's lives. And we saw it 100% right in front of us. Absolutely. And I almost think in some cases this could be better than a hospital because in a hospital, if you're in the hospital cafeteria, there may be a 30 second delay or a 60 second delay. There wasn't a five second delay. I mean, these guys are on their toes out there quick.

and just administering, you know, and they know what they're looking at, right? They know immediately what's going on and get them. That was the hope without having any medical expertise. My hope was they got oxygen restored quickly because that's the biggest concern beyond surviving is what kind of damage could you have and that sort of a thing. So we are hopeful. Yeah. I thought really from an overall standpoint, the whole process, and I know we've heard some chirping

from the cheap seats about the NFL taking too long to do this or that. I thought everybody, Mike, handled it A plus. I mean, I don't know who you could criticize for what. I think you've got to dig deep and hard and be a little negative yourself. If you don't think that that was handled about as good as it could. From a communicative standpoint, from getting everybody on the same page standpoint, communicating is hard in normal times, much less when you're dealing with 200 emotional people right next to you, you know, all having different feelings and different states of emotion,

it's a mess, it's chaos. And I thought they handled the chaos pretty darn good. And it even goes to as far as once he was revived and in the ambulance, and you may know more than me about this, I was told that the ambulance slowed its path so that his mom could get on board as well. Yeah. And that to me was, hey, they knew they had the thing under control at that point. and they waited for his mom to get there to ride to the hospital with him. So just lots of little things. But overall, I think for as bad as the situation was, and I totally understand everybody's reaction and wanting answers quickly.

But I thought everybody, including the league office, the TV people, everybody handled it pretty darn good. Yeah, there was a little bit of uncertainty at the beginning of, hey, is the game going to be resumed all of that? People have latched on to that. And I think that it would be difficult for everybody to know. exactly the severity of everything, you know, at the same time. And to communicate that in real time, you know, I was just impressed by, you know, the leadership of the coaches on the field.

They seemed to, you know, they met there. Sean McDermott and Zach Taylor. They seemed to really have the best interests of everybody involved. And they, you know, you know, the way they addressed their teams and the way they handled everything was a big part of the appropriate response. this situation wasn't too big for those guys, you know, that you really need leadership in this situation. And I wondered, Randy, just as, you know, you've been in the GM chair, what kind of crisis type planning exists? Because, you know, we know, we know, coaches try to be prepared for, you know, what the other team's going to do in every situation. And PR departments have to have, you know,

kind of mock statements ready for when somebody's in trouble with the law or caught in a bad position or or whatever it's going to be, they can be anticipating that. And the medical people, we talked about that. They're ready for an event like the one that happened in Cincinnati. But organizationally, as a GM or team president, owner, executive, do you have to kind of anticipate these sorts of crises? Do you have general plans, philosophies to deal with them? Because in the moment, like you said, emotions are high.

And maybe your judgment isn't always what it could be because you don't have time to reflect and figure out what the best path forward is. I think the short answer is yes. You try to forecast. You try to understand the craziness of what could happen. But I'll say this. In this case, I don't know that anybody foresaw anything like this getting to this level that would unfold right in front of them. So, yes, you want to have thought through things.

And my theory always is, I don't care if you're drafting a player or if you're making a decision. You don't want to have time me of this and you don't want emotions to be in. involved. This one, everything was involved, time was involved, the emotions were involved. All kinds of things were involved. So you can try to be ready for it. I don't know how realistic you can really forecast something like this to this level. So, and I think everybody is so different, Mike. And everybody, you saw the range of emotions just from the players and coaches. Oh, yeah. You saw some guys breaking down and I didn't know if we'd be able to get back up. Others handled it a little different. And nobody's right or wrong because all of us handle it different. Shoot, it took a lot.

It took me two days to formulate in my own mind, what I should think about it, you know? Yeah. So I don't know that you can forecast. There is no chapter in the GM book or the head coach book for something like this. I can tell you that. Yeah. And it is such a fluke kind of occurrence. It wasn't like it was an amazingly big hit or something.

You couldn't. No. You almost can't anticipate it because, I don't know, there's probably been a million plays in football in the last 25 years. you know, with multiple collisions on every play, this just doesn't happen. This is just, maybe we're going to find out more of exactly what it was, but you're right. You can't anticipate that sort of a thing happening because it just doesn't happen. No, in fact, it kind of set me off a little bit earlier today when I heard a couple people, and maybe it was something I read on social media, but the reminder of how violent this game is,

well, understandable, it is a violent game. understandable, there is no cap on the risk that players take every day. Oh, yeah. But having said that, this to me, I'm not sure was a football injury. I mean, I see this happen a hundred times in every game, a collision of this sort. So I'm with you. I think there might be something we don't know, the knowing of which might change everything. And I've heard a couple doctors explain exactly what happened.

And to be honest with you, it made a lot of sense to me. And it could be that it is a perfect storm. It happened that the exact. moment in a heartbeat that does actually stop the heart. And I'm far from a medical expert. Oh, yeah. No, I've seen that too. But I heard the explanations from the experts and it did make sense to me. So maybe there's something to be gained from that as well. Well, I've thought of that because what we're talking about, it's got a two, it's two words that starts with the sea and I don't have it off top of my head. I'm not a doctor. But the idea is that if you're, if you get hit in the chest, just right, not even, doesn't

even have to be overly hard, but just right in the, and a millisecond of when the, when the heart's beating, it can stop your heart. And I know just from being a parent of kids in sports that, you know, that's a deal in baseball and hockey. They sell those little chest protector things. Heck, my own son's a pitcher, you know, and I've thought about that. Like when he's pitching on fat, Gall, you know, you always, obviously accept a level of risk in sports, but you think, well, you just don't want that line drive, you know, right up the middle

because you've heard of that. That can happen. But in football, there aren't 90 mile an hour fastball's coming. You know, you take hits, but you don't really, I can't think of that happening. So hopefully it never happens again. Yeah, like you said, I haven't seen many plays like this where you'd say, wow, that was quite a collision. We've all seen hundreds of collisions. This was kind of just a football play.

You know, I'm not pooping it at all. I'm just saying it's, I don't know if we can blame this on the violence of football. That's for sure. No, there's a lot of other things that, you know, the concussion issue and all of that. and the repetitive hits and all of that, but this seemed a little bit different than that. As far as the game itself, I'm curious if you would replay it, because I would not.

I would just probably move on to Week 18, call it a tie or a non-counting game, you know, because I wondered if you were the Bills or the Bengals, would you feel differently about that? Because I think as much as the focus appropriately remains and has been on Demar Hamlin and his health and his recovery, the season is going to continue at a certain point and competitive considerations are going to have to be made.

Maybe it's a little early to decide it because the outlook for DeMarie Hamlin is number one, and it's still a little uncertain. But I'm just curious what you think when it comes to that. Would you have a strong opinion on what to do? Well, my opinion would be not to play the game either. I totally agree with you. I think they need to expunge the whole game, the whole memory from our mind if we can, and try to move on.

And I know that creates a lot of, unintended consequences. I get it. But I'm with you. I would move on. If I was the league, I'd figure out, I'm sure they already have a committee of people in the back room in Park Avenue trying to figure out how to do this, use percentages, not wins and losses. The other thing is there's so many other things like players contracts, incentives, playtimes, everything that doesn't exist in there, you know, that you can't now total and count. So there's a lot of layers of numbers and money involved. then you would never want any of that stuff to be a dictating factor. And if you played this game, I just think you've got to deal with it.

You've got to find a way to work with it. And everybody's going to understand, trust me. But I would not play the game. I would move on. And, hey, I don't know how everybody feels or how everybody's going to complain about whatever result the NFL comes up with. I really don't. So I just think it's extenuating circumstances that cause for, you know, things for us to decide things that we've never done before. I think you just got to face it.

Do you think the league and the players association get along better? I was just kind of struck a little bit throughout this thing early on that when there was an opportunity to really criticize the league or, you know, remember when, oh, what are they going to play? Oh, it's taking forever to cancel this game. It felt like a unified statement that the players and the league seemed to be on the same page. And I just, I wonder if the league takes, has been forced to kind of take into better account. count the players' viewpoints on things. It feels that way to me. I don't know if this was that type of a situation. Well, I would hope so. In this day and age of conflict and people wanting to draw lines in the sand, I think it's imperative that Roger Goodell and, you know, the union work together.

I think DeMor is trying as much as he can as well. I know they've had some differences in the past, but I just think it's bad for the game when they're always at each other's throat. And in this case, that I do think it was a unified effort. I would love to see any of these decisions be as unified as they can for the good of the game. And I've often mentioned this and I've probably even done it on the podcast, so I apologize to the listeners. But back in the day, Paul Taglibu and Gene Upshaw always had, and Gene Upshaw was a leader of the union, obviously Paul was the commissioner, they always had what was best for the game at heart in all the decisions that they made. And so I think we got away from that and maybe we're still not back to where we were before. But Gene Upshaw being a former player, he always had the good of the game at the end of all these decisions.

And I think Paul did too. And that's something we missed for a lot of years after those two moved on. I don't know if we're quite there yet, but I'd love to see a move back toward that. Yeah. And I think we've seen the league have to acknowledge what players think. It's happened in the last few years. And so that would be my hope that there could be some unity in working together, especially in a situation like this.

I wanted to say before finishing the segment on DeMarie Hamlin in the situation, the handling of it, just how heartening it is to see the support for Damar and the league and the teams and the fans rallying. And we've seen things, pictures from the hospital and a Bills fan out there and Bengals fans doing this. And I'm sure you saw DeMar Hamlin's charity fundraising for children. He had a thing on GoFundMe years ago. And it had raised about $3,000 in donations. before this game.

It was, when we went to tape, it was pushing close to $7 million. And I went in the little donation list, and there's 25 grand from Jim Ursa, 18,000 Bob Kraft, 12,000 Matthew Stafford, Detections 10,000, Russell Wilson, and Sierra Wilson, 10,000, Tom Brady, you know, Mike Evans, Devante Adams, the commanders, Josh McDaniels. I mean, you could have just kept going on and on. That's an awesome thing to see, almost $7 million. Yeah. No, I totally agree.

It makes you smile, puts a smile, and you. face and it makes you proud to be part of something like that in the community, the fact that you can make a positive from such a chilling event. And again, I hope the news continues to trend in a positive direction. Yeah. We've seen utter cases of the, if it is what we think it is, we don't know exactly what happened, but we have seen other cases in hockey where guys made full recoveries and even played. So that is certainly what we hope for on that front. And we'll be watching for all the news and hopefully good news. To our, I heard your shuffling of papers there as we transition into some of the other topics

we wanted to talk about. One, let's just talk a little bit about Jim Harbaugh. I've got written down here. Jim Harbaugh, is he coaching in the NFL next season? I had to laugh today, Randy, when I saw a quote from Jim Harbaugh. Although no one knows the future, I think I'll be coaching at Michigan next year. and I was like, good is gone? Let's say you, Mr. GM.

You've seen a few quotes before from coaches. Well, yeah. I was with Nick in Miami when he was not going to be the Alabama coach too. So I've seen it firsthand many times throughout my career. And I would tend to agree with you. I do think if given an opportunity, Jim remembers how they made him take a pay cut, how he remembers the flak that he's taken over the years

at Michigan. He did what he could for his alma mater. He served his time. And I think he's been itching to get back in the NFL for a couple years. The fact that he took the interview last year with Minnesota in what maybe was less than an ideal fit for him, but was willing to put what he had at Michigan at risk and go through with the interview and go through with some other things, I think that told you right there that he at some point is going to be back in the NFL. So I would not be surprised if it were this year for sure, just my opinion. Hey, one of the, the word on the street at that time was that he was kind of a little, that he sort of maybe turned off the Vikings a little, that he was a little presumptuous

and that he was going to be offered the job. They ended up not offering it to him. And so now, obviously, we've heard Carolina, Denver. The interesting thing to me about that is maybe it doesn't matter. I'm curious what you think. So George Payton is the GM of the Broncos. And look, he may not be making the hire. The owners are involved there too.

He may, but he may not. because the owners were there and made it clear the next coach will report to the owner. But I wonder how that experience, if it was a negative experience at all in Minnesota. Obviously, George Payton was in Minnesota all those years. That kind of stuff matter or not one ounce, Randy, what do you think? I don't think in this case it would. In fact, George was already gone when this happened. So he wasn't part of that.

He would know those guys. But he'll definitely know him. He'll know the process that they were going through. I think this is a total new day. It's a new set of circumstances. a new owner that George's doesn't really even know. Let's just say what it is. So I think they're going to uncover whatever they can to make it comfortable for the next coach.

And I think in their case, Mike, and we've talked about it, they've got to go for a coach who is a proven commodity, a head coach. It can't be a risky hire of an assistant, even if you're familiar with them. They're really options to get what they need are few and four. far between. So I don't know how they jump through the correct hoops to get to it, but you're talking about a Harbaugh, you're talking about a Sean Payton. You're talking about some guys, you have to hire somebody with some skins on the wall, in my opinion. So if you're Denver, would you rather get Sean Peyton and have to give up a first round pick? They have one from Miami if they're Bradley Chubb

trade and maybe something else. Or would you rather have Harbaugh? I think there's some questions that would need to be answered before I chose, for one thing. I think you do have to ask yourself with the amount of compensation you have to give up and the financial commitment you're going to have to make to Sean what exactly you're going to get. Because I think that people in New Orleans would probably say, hey, Sean needs to coach and not be the GM as well. And, you know, there's an impulsive part of coaching that does not equate well to the GM chair. And so, you know, yeah. I mean, you tell me, but I don't know that that's the smartest thing to do is just to cower down and give Sean everything he wants, you know.

Some things they have to be talked off the ledge in week three when you're one and two. Just say. We can't do that. Just say. No, we're not getting him. If you hadn't blown up the building yesterday, we'd have a place to meet today. That's right. Hey, I was interested staying in the AFC West with the Raiders.

They're out of the playoff picture. but, you know, we talked about Derek Carr situation last week. I wrote about it Monday in my column because I was really turned off by the idea that he wasn't there for the final two games. Yeah. Really bothered me. But I don't want to go overboard off of one game, Randy. I remember my first year covering the NFL, you were with Seahawks 25 years ago or so. And I just remember being lectured of, hey, don't these are preseason games, Sando.

Don't act like it matters, you know, those reminders. So I've been around a while now, and I know not to overreact off of one game. But as I was saying before we were on the air, you know, when the Colts won Jeff Saturday's debut, you were saying they're going, hey, don't get too excited about this. They don't mean crap, okay? So I don't want to anoint Jared Sidham after his debut start for the Raiders with 365 yards passing, three touchdowns, putting the gas pedal down against the 49ers's really good defense and just making a ton of plays.

But I need your counsel and perspective here, Mr. General Manager, Because to me, Stidham delivered in this game exactly what Derek Carr has never quite delivered consistently. I don't know if that's fair, but he stood in the pocket. He took a huge hit outside the pocket, made an incredible off-scheduled play, I thought, to Devante Adams for a 60-yard touchdown. And left and right, Waller Adams, these guys are making plays. He was a playmaker out there. Nine explosive pass completions in the game, a season high for the Raiders, seven more than they had against the Steelers in Carr's final game. most against the 49ers this season. Only the Chiefs had more. You can tell Randy, I'm getting

worked up. I'm not going to go overboard here. But what did you think of that? Do you not like Stidham at all? Can he be a factor? Does this tell us something about what Carr wasn't doing? Or is it just one game in week 17? It ain't going to matter anything in a month. Well, I think 500 yards against the league's best defense is something to get worked up about. So I hear you. They put it on San Francisco for whatever reason. But I'll say this, don't forget Stidham has been in this offense for two or three years. So he is clearly more understanding of it than I think their car even could have been expected to be. So I think the learning curve was short for him.

I do think he's got a chance to be a good player. I think you could equate him to a Mike White coming out with a flash and we'll see where it goes with Jared. But I think obviously when they went and got him, and really they got him for a cup of coffee at the into preseason. The coach knew him. And he knows his pluses. He knows his minuses. I think he was probably thinking he wouldn't have to play him under these

set of circumstances. But I also think this team is better than they performed. And whether it's Derek Carr, I don't know. I was like you put off by the fact that Derek Carr wasn't around. I mean, let's just be a pro. Okay. Let's be a big man. And let's be a pro.

Distractions, you know, the NFL is a distraction every day. day, you've got to deal with it. So that was a hollow excuse. Don't be a distraction. That's right. You get to determine if it's a distraction or not just by the way you handle the question. So that did kind of set me off the wrong way as well.

I don't know the answer if after one game, Stittam's the answer or not. I'm anxious to see what you think, or we all get to see and then decide after a couple games. I can't imagine that the Raiders wouldn't look for a bigger fish in the offseason or some way. to upgrade even from a stidim, at least of all, Josh McDaniel should know what he is.

The rest of us, what we don't know, he should know. He's been with the kid for three years. So it's totally going to be on him to figure it out. All right. So I got to follow up. Last week, we were talking about Tom Brady's film, not looking that good. He comes out, he must listen to the Football GM podcast. I'm sure Brady does.

I'm sure he did. He listens. He's a big listener. Hi, Tom. How you doing? Tommy. But he goes for 432 yards, a couple hundred to Mike Evans. So maybe he's odd.

Maybe he got to. fired up seeing there's an opening in Vegas, huh? Yeah. If he can get those two corners that played for Carolina to travel with him each week, it'll be like the, it's like the New Jersey Generals, okay? We're playing the Harlem Globetrotters. Just get those corners to travel.

Tell J.C. Horn to stay home. You're hurt. We're just going to travel with these two guys everywhere we go. And by the way, Mike Evans played finally after two months of not playing worth a darn. I mean, it is what it is. I'm not degrading the greatest of all time, but

There were some circumstances there that I'm not ready to anoint him the king after one week of 2022. Outstanding. That was great. That was really good. You got me, got me, you got me right, set me straight there. Now, I don't know. But, hey, another funny one I had to laugh about on the Raiders was people following up

with Devante Adams about, hey, I know you came here because of Derek Carr. Does this change anything? And I just am like, what are we talking about? Does it change the way I go to the bank every two weeks? That's what I would want to know. I think I'm going to deposit. every two weeks still. And yeah, he might be my buddy, but I...

And by the way, he caught seven passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and he was throwing, he threw a lot of balls to number 17. He got a lot of targets, and I think he completed every target he threw to him, so. Wow. Yeah, that was just a fun game, a surprisingly fun game. I'm anxious to watch the Raiders this week against Kansas City because maybe it's a little shot in the arm. I know that it's a meaningless game and everything, but a shot in the arm to

go that the offense did so well. I mean, I wonder if the guys will, you know, go out there and play decently. Those at AFC West games, and especially that rivalry, aren't a do-nothing game. I'm telling you. It may not mean anything on paper, but those teams have rivalries, and they really, none of them like each other. So I think you'll get a full effort from both sides in that game. All right. So you had on your list this week as we texted back and forth in our incredibly intense in-depth preparations for the show. Commander's quarterback indecision, take it away, Mr. Mueller. What do you got?

Well, I just kind of, in reading the tea leaves of how they've now come to Sam Howell being the quarterback, I just want, I wish I could have followed the steps, right? I wish they would have dropped some crumbs so I could at least follow their line of thinking because it's came out to us publicly that first off they named Taylor Heineke, the quarterback. And he just didn't think. like he deserved it. He thought Sam Howell deserved it. So he went to Ron Rivera and said, we should start Sam Howe. Now Taylor Heineke's the GM. He's running the show. So I don't know who's

in charge. I mean, I love Ron, but he didn't know that they were eliminated by a loss earlier in the day last week. Yeah. I mean, that reeked of, does Ron ever talk to anybody in the building? I've never been around an NFL building where he didn't discuss every scenario leading into a week, especially that had playoff ramifications. So I felt like, gosh, maybe he's in some tower somewhere and doesn't talk to anybody. So that gave me pause in that the line of communications are all over the place in the commander's office. Who's determining who the quarterback is? What is our plan?

We've changed that about five times. We don't even know who's eliminating this or when we were eliminated. Just a lot of, whoa, what the heck is going on? Yeah, it was almost like Ron Rivera was kind of behind getting Carson to Went. So he was kind of with season on line. prove that this was the right decision. Oh, no, he made it clear. He was the impetus behind getting him.

Yes. Yeah, I know. And it's like, well, careful because Carson Wentz did about exactly what he did with the season on the line last year for the Colts, almost identical. But he did. And then he played one game and now we're going to shuck, chuck that. I don't like the change, the flip-flopping. I mean, you can't blame the whole loss on Carson Wentz.

I know he threw a couple bad balls, but you had to expect some of that. This team is not good. Let's just face it. They're up, down. Their leader. It's all over the place. I hate seeing that players always get the blame, and it seems like that happens a lot with the commanders. And the problem I have with that is that's what you were brought in Ron Rivera to avoid.

Ron Rivera, steady hand, been around the game for 40 years, 50 years. This is a guy who's been there before. Shouldn't we have a more coherent operation? And there's all that noise on the outside around the commanders always, with the lawsuits and investigations and all of that. but the football thing should be pretty coherent and it just hasn't been. Well, it hasn't been maybe because Ron is wearing so many hats. I'm not sure if I wasn't the new owner, whoever that might be, that they might hire a football czar. And so Ron can coach.

I think Ron is a really good coach and he's a good guy. I like him. But I wouldn't necessarily want him half of his day to be running a complete franchise. And I know some other people have titles and this and that, but Ron makes every decision. I know that. So he hired the GMs, their friends and family. He hired these people. So I'm not so sure that I wouldn't bring in his czar over the top to fix it or at least

have some accountability within our own building. We've seen accountability issues with this organization the last two or three years. We're holding coaches, holding players, holding decisions accountable. It seems like it never happens. And that could be that Dan, the owner is out of the building now. And I understand that. But to talk about a team that probably does need some new direction here and maybe a new owner might start that process.

Yes, yep, absolutely. We'll see, we'll see what happens this off season. I sort of feel like they've been not just sort of not accountable even publicly. Like we're not even really analyzing them the same way because we're waiting for the ownership thing to change, you know. But there needs to be some scrutiny. There's seldom as questions that are pointed and answered, and maybe that's why we think there's no accountability because it's like the emperor's new clothes. No one ever calls them out on some of the craziness they've done, you know? Yeah, no, with you. So let's shift gears to the Baltimore Raven situation.

Baltimore's got a good record. It hasn't felt like a great season. They do have a good record. But Lamar Jackson's situation, still not practicing. So he missed weeks 15, 16, 17, and 18 last season. He's missed 14, 15, 16, 17. This season might miss 18 as well. Little bit of a history here, Randy.

Let's do a little investigation here. Let's just try to figure this out. So when Lamar Jackson sprained his. knee on December 4th against Denver. John Harbaugh, coach of the team, said, it's not a season-ending type of knee. It's going to be a number of days to weeks. We'll see if he can get back this week, if not,

sometime after that shortly. Next day, you know, Lamar's unlikely to play this week, but more and more likely after that. Three weeks later, day after Christmas, Harbaugh is asked if he's still optimistic. Jackson will play this season? Sure, of course. But he kind of said it in a way that made you wonder.

It was a little bit unconvincing, a lot. mincing. So this week, Monday, Harba says, I don't know, I don't have an expectation until I hear more today. Wednesday? Are they going to have them for the playoffs? I'm just probably going to leave all that stuff alone, focus on the game. So should we be reading between the lines on this one or taking things at face value, Randy? Sometimes it's hard not to keep the Lamar Jackson contract thing in our mind and wonder about what's going on underneath the surface. Where are you at on this? Well, I think you've documented it where words are important, but I even think to the next level in this case, John Hobbaugh's tone, his body language, his look even tells you that it's worse than that.

I think for the first time in this whole contract debacle of whatever it's been the last two or three years, I sense frustration with the coach beyond anything he's shown before. You know how they used to say, don't let him see you sweat? Well, I think I see him sweat, right? I see the body language now. there's something haywire. He thinks clearly Lamar should be back. He's trying to stay out of it. He's trying to take the high road. I get it. I think there's, you know, I heard players on television killing the Ravens for not acquiescing and giving Lamar everything he wanted. And it's the Ravens

fault. They should have caved in and paid him whatever he wanted last summer, you know, before the contract talks broke off. I don't disagree. I disagree with all that. I don't think that's true. I think they put a value on him and anybody does when they negotiate. That's, you know, that. And he wanted a fully guaranteed deal off of Watson. So that. Well, he wanted it, but he's not going to get it. He has no, you know, he doesn't have, uh, uh, the threat of Watson where Watson

could go anywhere he wanted. Jackson's not like that. So it's, yeah, it's a different deal. It's a different day. He's not going to get a complete guaranteed deal. I think the bigger question in Baltimore is, what do we do with this offense? Can this offense be sustainable? and at the end of the day, is it good enough?

Is this what we want to be? I don't know. I mean, you said it. They have won more games than I guess we should give them credit. They've won a lot of games. They've been playoff teams. But I'm not sure this is set up to make deep Super Bowl runs or to get them any better than what we've seen.

Just my opinion, I think I would have some options if I were the GM, if I was the front office. And it seems like everybody's really afraid to say, let's explore some other options because they don't want to maybe hurt Lamar's feelings? I don't know. But Lamar turned down a lot of money too. So you can take the other side of that tack in the negotiation is he turned down a crazy amount of money. He could have made this just as much about, hey, I'm going to do what's right for the team.

I'm still going to get my $40 million a year or whatever it is. So there's fault to go around. I'm just not sure at the end of the day this is the offense that I would want to run. So I might be looking for some other options, not to necessarily replace. him, but to cover myself for against these kind of issues still cropping up, like the end of last year, like the end of this year. Yeah. And, you know, obviously, I think they're the average, you know, 26 or 28 points a game when he's played and then way less when he doesn't play. But this is all coming to a situation where he could be returning for the playoffs rusty on a team that's not

that great and have a bad game, you know, and just go into the offseason. If that happens, to me, it really, and it makes it easier for the Ravens to, just from a kind of a, you know, a perception or political standpoint in the offseason to be, to look at other options to line up other things. Yeah. And then we'll see what happens with the offensive coordinator. We've talked about that with Greg Roman. Is he going to, you know, go join Jim Harbaugh somewhere or is he going to be part of the plans? Is he going to be back?

What does Lamar Jackson think of all this whole thing? It just feels like there's a lot moving under the surface. And, you know, I read something three weeks ago in the Baltimore Sun. There's a writer at the Baltimore Sun, Mike Preston, who's been working for the Baltimore son since the 80s. And he wrote kind of a mailbag type column that really nobody picked up on. But he had these, he was asked about Lamar's rehab. And he said, hey, it's a quote, it's no secret to any of the coaches or top members

at the front office that Jackson is a slacker. I mean, that is a hard word. And needs to have more due diligence and get adequate rest. and it went on and on about all of this stuff. And again, nobody picked up on it. Well, then like a week ago, same reporter has a story headlined. Lamar Jackson working diligently on track to return this season, source says. And I was like, and then it went to detail that, hey, he hasn't missed anything this season,

this off, this, during this rehab, he's doing everything. He should be back, you know, within the four to six week recovery window. When I see that type of stuff, I mean, sure, it could be a one-off report, unreported. To me, that's emblematic of their stuff going on, like the message or the word or what people are saying behind the scenes. It just makes me more curious about what really everyone thinks about everything. Well, your terms of there's something going on underneath the surface is true for sure because it's causing cracks at the surface. And whether these cracks can be sealed or whether they become canyons, I don't know. But there's enough smoke now being thrown around.

And I'm not sure who's at fault. But it's the first time that the frustration is really shown. And it's got out there. And I'm sure Lamar is frustrated. I'm sure Harbaugh's frustrated. You see it now more than ever before. They really should be credited for the last couple years of not choosing to cause cracks. But I think the cracks are appearing.

Time will tell if they get solved. It's such a weird thing because their offense isn't nearly what it has been with Lamar in there. But they've won enough to have. to have a good record. It's just a little bit of a convoluted situation. So we'll see how that comes down. Hey, another playoff team, the Eagles, have some injuries now, Randy. Jaywin-Hertz has been out.

Maybe he comes back this week. Maybe he'll be great. Maybe he'll be rusty. Maybe he'll be banged up. Josh Sweat, Levin Sack, defensive end for them, had a really scary kind of neck injury. Maybe he's going to be okay. He tweeted that he should be back this season. We'll see.

But, you know, the up front, they've lost some people, you know, from Derek Barnett, Robert Quinn, they've got a defensive tackle. Marlon, Tui Poloto. Lane Johnson, right tackle's been banged up. Probably their most important or best offensive lineman. Nickel corner ofante Maddox has been hurt. You know, they stumbled against New Orleans. What do you think?

You're worried? I'm a little worried, but I would say this. The roster is built so that they do have depth, but the amount of injuries just listening to you and the amount of issues they've had by losing a game here or there now, it does make you pump the brakes on momentum. And momentum is important. And there's enough question now that I think the Eagles momentum has been at least paused for now.

I think Hertz is going to play this week. I think they should go out and try to win this game this week no matter what. I think they've got to try to create some momentum. I don't think you ever want to limp into the playoffs, figuratively, you know, literally, whatever. And I see them kind of limping right now. This is what we talked about most of the season is how good of a job Howard Roseman has done in building depth of this team. They should still have the players, at least on paper, that you can go win games.

And we just haven't seen that the last couple weeks. I'm a Gardner-Menschu fan. I get it. I think he's a really good player. I think he could probably do better for himself even elsewhere. And we may see that because he's a free agent at season's end. but I don't think he can do what Jalen Hertz does. The identity this team has seems different when Jalen Hertz is on the field.

So I'm assuming that he's going to play this week and that identity can reappear, which with that will come some momentum. And that's important. I think they need momentum because they are likely to get a buy off the next week. So that'll, buys even jolt momentum a little bit too, but it does give you a chance to heal. So I'm not totally concerned, but I am with all the things, the litany of things together that you just read off.

Yeah, and I think for this team, you know, that's a good team, had a good year, but they really got rolled in the playoffs last year. I think that it would be nice to go into the offseason with some real, or into the playoffs with some real confidence and just feeling like, hey, we're not a little jittery here. We're not, we're in, and, you know, all it could take is Jaylon Hurtz comes back and it looks great. And that's really, if he comes back. They need some momentum. They need some positive.

Some positivity. Yeah. So I think he can solve it, right? I mean, just immediately can make a huge different and everyone can exhale and go, okay, you know, we're fine here. So given all that, who do you like in the NFC? Right now, if I had to pick, I think the 49ers are the team to beat. Because of all the things that you said, kind of the momentum has been, at least the brakes have been pumped in Philly. I just think the 49ers give you harder.

It's harder to stop the 49ers offensively because they can win a lot of different ways. They can win throwing the ball. They can win running the ball. Their defense, provided they don't give up 500 yards like they did to Jared Stidham that we just went through. I think the 49ers right now present more options. And you know how everybody used to say, Belichick will make you play left-handed. He'll take something away. I think the 49ers offer about three or four hands. So you can take one away, but they're still going to have a couple more hands to beat you with. So I just like their versatility and the options they have offensively. And we didn't even mention Brock Purdy. You were okay with? him, huh? I mean, it looks like it looks pretty good so far. I think he's gotten better every week. I think his comfort level has gotten better. His confidence has gotten better. The players have backed him from day one, but that confidence has even gotten better. So I don't think he's holding them back. From what I've seen, Mike Shanahan is, not Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan is not calling a different game because Brock Purdy's in it. I think he's, he's expanded the game

each week and the things he's asking Purdy to do. And Purdy's passed the test so far. Yeah. It'll be interesting. Their defense has been so great. They've had two one-off games, really bad games on defense for the Ford Natives. One was against Kansas City. One was against the Raiders. So I don't know if there's some kind of kryptonite for them or you just, hey, you have an off day every once in a while. But in the playoffs, you may be playing a good Philadelphia team or somebody like that that has a good offense.

I think that will be interesting to see it for the Ford Natives. But I'm with you. I kind of like where they're at. They'll be, you know, getting Debo Samuel back. They've got, I mean, you saw shoot both. Mosa wins the game really against the Raiders. I mean, just takes it over. You know, a couple drives the tackle back into the quarterback forces the interception.

They've really got the firepower up front defensively to get after you. I think the Eagles maybe at their best had some of that too, but they're not quite at their best. So we'll see. I think it's going to be an interesting post. I think McAfree, the acquisition of McCaffrey is probably the move of the year. I think it's probably what, you know, separates them is the ability to make plays and score from anywhere on the field. They kind of lack that a tad bit, especially in the absence of Debo.

So McCaffrey's been the guy, right? So I think that move going to be lauded throughout the playoffs is maybe the move of the year. Yeah. So because we have little time, we're doing well in time today. I'm going to ask you on this NFC because Green Bay, you know, feeling its oats a little bit here. And I was laughing after the games on Sunday thinking, well, here we go towards a Brady Rogers playoff game, right? You know, I'm not quite to that point, but both teams could be in the playoffs.

The bucks are already there. The Green Bay just has to win at home against Detroit to get in. I thought I was a little worried for them against the Vikings even because I don't think the Packers are great shakes. But, you know, they score on a kickoff return. They get a pick six. The week before, they picked off two a three times in the fourth quarter. Those things don't always strike me as the most sustainable hang your hat on things. But they're happening.

Are you buying in it all? them as a dark horse team in the NFC, or do you think they're just going to be exposed the minute they play someone good? I think confidence is hard to measure, and they definitely are confident. I think their defense is finally playing like we thought they would play when the season started. Joe Barry, for whatever reason, has pushed and pulled the right levers and buttons to this point the last few weeks, and that's been a difference. Their defense is there.

The other thing was in the game with Minnesota, you knew Minnesota couldn't keep winning the lottery every week, right? They were bound to have some things go against them. And in this case, Green Bay kind of was the other fashion. They got some breaks. And yeah, I don't think it's sustainable to have touchdown returns and interceptions for touchdowns and the whole bit. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do to win the game.

So I think for whatever reason, Green Bay is confident now. Again, momentum is a thing. And we'll see. I mean, they've been there. This group, a lot of them have been there come thick and thin. and for a lot of years, especially the quarterback. So we'll see if he can kind of carry him in a game against upstart Detroit, who you're not sure from week to week sometimes what you're going to get from Detroit.

I mean, we thought they were on a role, and then Carolina ran for 320 on them. So we thought their defensive woes were fixed. We'll see. I think sometimes the running game can take your heart away. And if Green Bay wants to win this game, I think they're going to have to run the ball. Yeah, and I could see them following that path and winning it in that way. and you take Detroit, put them on grass in Lambo,

and just having it go that way. But, you know, the first game between those teams this year was interesting to me because the Packers were so bad. I mean, it was only a 15 to 9 loss, but that was the game where Rogers threw a couple picks, and remember he tried to throw the little pop pass to Boktiari, and he underthrew like a five-yard pass that was intercepted. And a couple of things from that stood out to me for the rematch.

One was just the idea that, Green Bay looking at that film has to just be aghast and might look at that film and be like, oh, man, we are so, let's make this thing right. You know, this was probably the worst film we put out there the whole year. The other side is Detroit where, I think after that game, Rogers was like, yeah, can you believe losing to Detroit like this? Like it was, he sort of couldn't believe that they would lose a game to Detroit, you know, the way he said it. And, you know, Dan Campbell being the motivational guy and all of that. I wonder, I'm kind of intrigued by the game because on top of that, if Seattle wins, Detroit's out anyway.

But I don't even know if that matters. Does that matter? I mean, I just, I guess I'm just not sure we're going to learn a lot about these teams in this game because I think it could go any number of ways and I'm not sure who is feeling what going into it, you know. Well, you know how Green Bay is feeling. You know how they are, it should be motivated to play because they're fixing to shove it up everybody. You know what after we had all, you know, written them off for. a ship afloat in the ocean two months ago. So they're going to play.

We know where they are. Yeah, we know who they are now. They know who they are. I don't know what you're going to get from Detroit. Like you said earlier in the day, if Seattle wins, that could be a motivating factor for some lions. But I don't know that the lions really know how to react to being in or out. They seem to be pretty naive.

And sometimes that may come with, we're going to play hard and bite kneecaps no matter what. So I think you're going to get a pretty good effort from Detroit regardless. You've got to love the league and NBC, you know, putting that game in Sunday night. We'll just take Rogers. We don't care if other teams are eliminated at all of that. Have you looked at the ratings when the Packers are on? Yeah, that's all that is.

Competitive balance, all that stuff. Forget that. It's all about the money. Yeah, yeah. Hey, what's you got in the GM notebook this week? Well, we kind of have an abbreviated version. We've hit on a couple things. We talked a little bit about Arizona in our last.

couple podcasts, but I really, have you watched Hard Docs this year, the end season version? I have. I watched most of it, but I might have missed the last one or two. I have watched the whole thing and I find it fascinating. And I'll be honest with you. I think the episodes themselves have been boring. But you do get an inside look. You get to know coaches. You get to know people involved. And you get to know, you know personalities that I didn't know beforehand. So I think you can learn from it. I feel bad for the team because they fall on tough times, and they have no chance, right? But after watching this thing, to this point, I asked myself the other day is the only note in my GM notebook this week with all the other stuff we've dealt with in the league this week.

What would you do? And here's what I came back with. They've paid the quarterback. So he's going to be the quarterback. Am I not right? Yeah. He's going to be there. He's the guy.

Yep. He is the guy. So if he's going to be the guy, your only chance going forward is to keep Cliff and almost double down. And maybe you hire a football gazaar if indeed the GM is away from this for whatever reason. They probably have to make a move to shore up that. But give Cliff some help. Hire somebody who can maybe put some better people around Kyler the way it is. I'm not a Kyler Murray guy.

And I realize that there may be a jumping off point with his contract at some point. But as long as he's the guy, his best chance is to run Cliff's offense because I don't think he can run anybody else's. So you tell me. So what about that, you know, I think one thing that we would say about that is that it seems like Cliff and King and Kyler have been at odds a little bit, that they've clashed that this relationship has maybe run its course or doesn't feel as fresh. How do you fix that? Well, sometimes that happens. when when one side or the other thinks it's inevitable that there's going to be a split. If you brought him into a room and sat him down and this is just me as a GM and say,

hey, neither one of you guys are going anywhere. So you better figure it out. You are better with him and you're better with him. And really, I don't, again, I'm not a, I like Cliff having watched this show. I think he has a lot of qualities that you would love to have. He's pretty, he's a quarterback, even keel. He doesn't seem like chaos bothers him. I do think he could be a little more detailed with the right boss to really get some of his

better things out of him and to even make him more confident. Let's face it, he's only been in the NFL, what, four years? Yeah, not much at all. None. I mean, it's a cup of coffee. So I think a different accountability or a set of accountability, a different structure might help Cliff. But I just don't think you're going to have any luck if you replace the coach. And that new offense comes in and you've got to run a different.

offense with Kyler. I understand why he likes Kyler. Kyler gives him things outside the X's nose and outside the scheme of the offense that other quarterbacks can't. I get it. That's why he likes him. But for whatever reason, you're going to have to have a better plan with a backup for one thing.

You're going to have spent some money on a guy who can come in and do similar things. I don't think the mix, the mismatch of Colt McCoy or the kid, the third one that threw 45 balls two weeks ago. I mean, come on. Seriously, that's what we're going to do. Nobody wants that. So I just think the play. I thought McSorley was a hockey player. Yeah. The plan can probably be better. And I'm not taking shots at Steve Kime. I understand you have certain things you got to do. But I do think if we're going to have Kyler, we probably better off with Cliff and then a different philosophy coming from the top as to how we're going to structure and put together this team. I want a stronger voice and just watching this thing. I'm like, who's in charge of the ship? I feel like Cliff,

almost holds back when he's talking. Like, we're not getting to see the full, like he's not fully empowered or just doesn't. Yes, I agree with that. He seems hesitant. And I just want to see someone who, I want to be confident watching that this person has the answers. And I don't know how you get there, but just in watching, even when they've had the owner, Mike Bidwell talk or Steve Kime went up, those guys didn't say anything that was convincing to me. There's no respect there, you can tell.

There's no real, the players aren't going to sit back and take notice. they're not. Somebody needs to, I agree. Yeah, I want that to somehow come through. And I agree that I don't dislike Cliff Kingsbury when I watch him on there. I'm not convinced that he's, you know, the head coach I'd want to have. But, but with Kyler Murray there, maybe, you know, it's an interesting thing. You guys work it out. And so the criticism schematically of him has been that that's sort of all he's got. They've made some adjustments, you know, through his first year, but hasn't had the answer to the answers. And so I don't know, maybe that's a staff issue. Certainly, they fired the running back coach. They fired the offensive line coach for various reasons. Do you think we've had that discussion

internally, Mike? Have those questions been asked internally? That's what I would say is let's have this talk. And maybe it'll set you on a different course. But sometimes we're afraid to confront and we think that means you're being disloyal. But you've got to have the hard conversation. I agree with you. Is there a second pitch? Can we develop something beyond what we've done now? Because here's, this isn't my opinion. Here's fact. Here's the end of our seasons the last five years. And we can even go to Texas Tech if we want. So what are we going to do about this? Finish is bad every year. Yeah, I would have to be sold on that. So I'm not making this statement just as a one-off, but I think there's something there. And your course may be best off. Just stay in the course for right now.

If you can get these other issues solved. But I totally agree with your point on leadership lacking, a voice that people will understand the buck stops with, and it almost has to be a football person with a lot of experience because Cliff doesn't have that in the NFL. Yeah, yep, they need that for sure. Yes. Because it's just been a disjointed mess. Yes.

Yeah. Almost like you need a Bill Parcells to be in charge, even if, you know, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Somebody liked that. It's not going to be Bill, but somebody like that to come in and be the czar. Yeah, it's interesting.

I'll think on that one. That makes sense. It makes sense. So you want to head into our picks? Yep, that sounds good. If we have to. Well, you know, last week we both did have Cincinnati in that game. So that one we push off to the side, obviously.

I was two and three. One was Seattle. One with Pittsburgh lost with Carolina. Although I thought Carolina was going to be okay in that game against Tampa. They ended up losing by more than three. points I got. I was wrong on San Francisco. I gave seven, but tip my cap to Jared Sidham. I thought he played a great game. Minnesota. My gosh, I don't know why I've trusted them, but I

thought with the points. I just haven't been in love with Green Bay, so we'll see. Randy was one and one, one and one, right? Lost with Carolina, also one with Pittsburgh. So here we are. What are you thinking this week? Well, I'm stuck on the Pittsburgh deal. I have seen growth in the quarterback the last couple weeks that would get me excited. I've also seen growth in the Steelers' offensive line the last month. I thought going into the season, the Steelers would be better than they are. I thought the offensive line was improved.

But again, it was a lesson that they've improved on paper, but sometimes that group takes a while to come together. I think they're definitely playing better now. I saw specialness in Pickett the last two weeks when last second drives had brought his team back. And I think Mike Tomlin really does his best work when he's pressed against the corner and he's done that. So I'm a, I'm a Steeler, believe.

I'm going to take the Steelers, give the two and a half. I think they have plenty to play for and reason to not have the car running. And there are a lot of teams out there whose cars are running. I don't think the Steelers will be one of those. So I like them. And for the same reason, I like Seattle as well. Seattle, you'd have to give six and a half points over the Rams. I think the Rams probably have their car running.

They're ready to go fishing. And I think Seattle will beat them by more than the spread. So I like those two. I'm also coming full circle with Denver in that I think the Chargers are in the playoffs now. They're going to rest as many people as they can. And I think Denver will be motivated to play. I think Denver has been embarrassed. And I think they will play this week.

They're a one point favorite over the Chargers. And I think they'll cover that. So I'm going with Seattle. I'm going with Pittsburgh and I'm going with Denver. Yeah. Of those, I think I like your Pittsburgh one the most. I think that's a great. In fact, I should steal that one.

because I don't like any of mine, but I won't steal it. I'll let you have that one, but I think that's a good one. If it was in the GM notebook, would you steal it? Well, I tried to add in the GM notebook this week. I got vetoed, so we'll talk about that one next week. I was just helping you out. I know you were busy in the XFL today because, you know, Randy leading the sea dragons of the XFL.

What do you guys do today? You got your roster set, right? We finalized our roster, yes, and off to camp this week, so I'm looking forward to it. How many podcasts hosts, by the way, do you think settled their roster with 10 guys today, then come in and just hit it out of the park like Mueller here. Probably dozens, but it was in fantasy football. It wasn't for real. It was in fantasy golf or fantasy baseball or something like that.

If you were privy to some of these drafts we have in the XFL, you'd probably compare it to fantasy league baseball sometimes. Yeah. You mean like one guy doesn't have his laptop turned on and you had a wait for? It's not quite as structured as the NFL stuff, I can promise you that. I was in one of those. I've been in one of those, you know, leagues. And it's amazing how, like,

sometimes the guys who don't even put anything into it because of the way the injuries fall, they ended up doing okay. You know what the heck? My team fell apart. I hope that doesn't happen with my XFL team. I have spent way too much time on it, if that's the case. Absolutely. No.

That would be interesting. When's the first game? The Sunday or the weekend after the Super Bowl. So it's the 18th and 19th of February. Yes, that'll be our first weekend. Oh, I got to go. I can't wait. I can't wait.

ESPN, ABC, FM. Those are the network. So every game's national. So it'll be fun. Maybe we'll pick XFL games this year too. There you go. On the podcast. All right.

I've delayed my bad picks long enough. I don't, I wrote down a few. I don't love them. I'm wondering. I see some big numbers here. Big numbers you're tossing around. Well, I mean, I'm not going to take them. So Houston, I would just take Houston and two and a half against the Colts because to me,

that's just a pickum of badness. Because the Colts are bad. If I get two and a half points with anybody, you know. And we'll see, but I've seen a couple times this year Houston played hard. So whatever. I mean, I might take the two and a half. I don't like that. The Raiders tempted me to take nine with the Chiefs.

I mean, that could be a route. The Chiefs really could roll on them. But I might take the Raiders in nine just off of last week. That was a good showing. I could see them scoring with them being in it. I think you talked me out of taking Washington and seven. I just think Washington, I don't know. I mean, Heinekeke, coming back.

going to stay off of that one. And I'm going to stay off of Detroit with five at Green Bay. I think I'm going to stay off of it. That was one I was considering. So you're going with Vegas plus nine and Houston plus two and a half? Yeah. What did you think of my, would you take the year? Obviously or not, Detroit plus five, would you do that? I'm a little worried. Yeah, I just, I don't know what you're going to get necessarily. I just don't know if Detroit's good enough. That's my problem. I think I know, I shouldn't say that. I know what we're going to get. I think they'll play hard. I just don't know if they're good enough. Yeah. So I'll, I'll, take the Raiders 9, Houston, 2 and a half, and really probably be one and a while.

I'm not excited about this week. It's not excited about the picks this week. So, hey, we didn't talk about Tennessee Jacksonville. You think that the Jaguars are going to take that easy, right? I do. I think, I will say this, the, I want to say Lou Dobbs. What's the quarterback's name? It's not Lou Dobbs.

Joshua Dobbs. I think Lou Dobbs's brother, Joshua, gives him a chance. And for that reason, I think they have a fighting chance. I didn't give much hope with Malik Willis. So I thought Dobbs played good last week for him, for coming off the street, off the bench. And I like their chances. But I like their chances to improve, I should say. But I just think Jacksonville is a better team, more motivating, more confident, more momentum.

So, yeah, I'm with Jacksonville. I was really thrilled watching Joshua Dobbs get to play in the game. Yeah. I just think that idea of coming in cold from a week. And he had him in that game. Obviously, they lost to Dallas. but it was kind of cool. He made some throws.

And I just thought that's his big moment. He gave a chance. He was in a national game, you know. So we'll be watching that one. But that feels to me, I think Tennessee is going to be really interesting. You know, what happens if they lose this game and go out quietly. I'm just not sure. I'm still not really sure what's going on there.

But that's sort of one place to watch, I think, as we come out of this. Especially if they lose to Jacksonville. Yep, absolutely, which I think they will, but not picking it. So anyway, we'll. We'll wrap up this edition of the podcast there. Randy, people can find your work at muterfuthorfutball.com. They can find you on Twitter at Randy Mueller underscore. I'm Mike Sandow, The Athletic at Sando NFL.

We will talk to you next time. This was The Athletic Football Show.