The Bill Simmons Podcast - Summer Hot-Air NFL Story Lines With Mike Lombardi, Tate Frazier, and Joe House (Ep. 246)

Episode Date: August 11, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by The Ringer's Mike Lombardi, Tate Frazier, and Joe House to discuss the most ridiculous NFL offseason talking points, including Andrew Luck being overhyped (14:00), Odell Beckham Jr. being overrated (26:10), Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson's relationship (32:32), Kirk Cousins's contract (37:00), and Cam Newton's scrambling style (45:30). Then, they make a few sleeper predictions for the 2017 NFL season (56:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast brought to you by SeatGeek. That is our presenting sponsor. That's the easiest way to shop for the best tickets, thanks to the revolutionary grading system. Buy and sell tickets in just two taps on your phone. Everything fully guaranteed. Lombardi, you been to a Dodgers game yet? Not yet.

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It's too hot. You were there. It's too hot. Download the SeatGeek app today or go right to SeatGeek.com. We're pleased to announce that the newly relaunched TheRinger.com. I hope you've been that the newly relaunched theringer.com.

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Patriots Week. I think we're on pace for 16 pieces. Tate hates it. Tate hates Patriot Week. House doesn't care because he's been here in LA all week eating food and he's in a coma. Well, I'd like to drink a case of Miller Lite to cope with Patriot Week. It's the only proper way. I love Miller Lite.

You and Jay Gruden should have your own week together. Yeah, Jay Gruden Week. He's going to drink a case of Miller Lite watching Kirk Cousins this week. And finally, we're brought to you by our two newest podcasts, Ringer FC, Soccer Podcast, Chris Ryan, Ryan O'Hanlon, Micah Peters, eventually. He's not on the first one, but they're talking about soccer

for the soccer fans, by the soccer fans. Not much different than House of Carves, for the hungry, by the hungry. And also the rewatchables we launched this week. I'm on that one, the first one anyway. A Few Good Men. We broke down. We broke down A Few Good Men to the point that, like, it got to the point of what position did Tom Cruise play in the softball team?

That's how deep we went. I said softball. I'm sorry, shortstop. But I think the other guys on the team resented him because he really should have been second baseman. I thought I was going to say second baseman. No, but I think he put himself at shortstop. There's always that guy that runs out to short.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, all right, dude, just play second. He was definitely that guy in that movie. All of this is brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, including this one. Mike Lombardi, Joe Haas, Tate Frazier, all coming up.

But first, Pearl Jam. All right, here we go. Tate and Mike Lombardi were about to do GM Street. Yep. And we just started talking, and I needed a podcast. And Joe House is here, and we've been eating food all week, which you can watch our food journey on our Instagram account. At Ringer? That's our Instagram, right?

Yeah, no V. Joe, people don't believe how much food you've eaten. I don't believe how much food I've eaten. We went to San Gabriel Valley and had Chinese. We went to K-Town for the best patty melt in the world. We started the whole thing off with burgers. Your mom made berjolles and meatballs. My mom made berjolles and meatballs and sausages.

What was the other thing you had? When? Oh, then we had two other burgers. Oh, then we had the pastrami. Pastrami for dessert. And we're not even done yet. It's Thursday, so you might die. Marie Osmond and you doing a commercial.

I could see this together. Perfect, House. I lost 50 pounds. I can't believe that. Just like that. How old is Marie Osmond? I don't know, but she looks really good in those commercials. I'm trying to grab her butt.

I'm sorry. This is a bad start to the pod. All right. So every week on the Ringer NFL show, you guys do GM Street. Right. Tate and Lombardi. Yeah. House and I were like, just put some mics on.

And then all of a sudden it turned into a BS podcast. So do your thing. We're going to chime in. But then at the tail end, after you go through whatever Tate's show structure is, I want to talk just a light sprinkling of football bets that we can talk about but Tate, take over you do the Steve Young

I'm Montana, I'm just sitting on the sidelines of the clipboard this is going to be a weird one, I feel like it's strange, I'm usually sitting right there but now I'm sitting right here in the normal Bill Simmons seat, Mike Lombardi GM Street, you're back this is the first time we've had Lombardi in the studio

in quite some time. He didn't even know that we moved the podcast studio. We tricked him. You were just wandering around the lot at that point. He's super tan. Yeah, and he's got a New Jersey shirt. I didn't know Italians got that tan. He's got a New Jersey home shirt on.

He's still repping. This is the shirt of the summer. I bought one for my grandson. It says home. It's right there. He's the only two of us born in the state of New summer. I bought one for my grandson. It says home. It's right there. He's the only two of us born in the state of New Jersey, so he claims that, Dominic. And so I had to get him a T-shirt that would bear the name.

I'm wearing it proudly for him. So you went to a lot of camps when you were on the East Coast, obviously. What was the number one highlight while you were on the East Coast? You went to the Jets, Eagles, Patriots, of course. Can we just get one highlight, one story? I think a highlight is the Giants receivers. Watching Beckham in pregame work out going through his routine is a little bit like it's really impressive. Chris Carter always stuck me as a guy that when you watched him catch the ball in pregame warm-up, it was remarkable.

His hands were like, there's nobody should do that with their hands. I thought Beckham was like that. I wasn't like, i'm not sure what's he doing like the one-handed like you know punts coming off and he catches them behind his back i mean that's like really weird things he can do his eye hand coordination is really remarkable this is the difference between basketball and football yeah in in basketball you celebrate this stuff and it's like Steph Curry's warming up oh this is amazing watch this he makes 8 straight 35 footers

in football it's like don't take your helmet off don't put any of this stuff online I would love to watch Adele Beckham grab footballs from some gun or some punts backwards and why can't I watch that is it online it's probably not probably I don't know maybe somebody in the stands was filming it.

But I mean, that's like what they get early to go. They try to let people in early to watch Kerry shoot, right? And the Warriors were trying. Yeah. They were trying to get people. Yeah. And so you could see it during camp. But to me, there's some guys that have such unique skills catching the ball.

Like Chris Carter was like, really? Like he was amazing. And watching Beckham, he was like that. Jarvis Landry. What's the list, by the way? Is there like a Mount Rushmore for that? A hands? Yeah.

Like just guys warming up. You know the guy who would be on the list? House, you may remember this guy. We signed him as a free agent when Belichick and I were in Cleveland. An old plan B. Kenan McArdle. Might have had the greatest hands I've ever seen. Really?

Not Chris Carter type hands, but close. And he was slow. That was the rhythm, right? He was not slow. But, of course, we were so stupid. We let Tom Coughlin come into our practices to let him evaluate. This is in 95, before the Jaguars became a team in 96. And, of course, he stole Keenan McArdle from us.

And he went on to have a really good career with Mark Brunel. But he had hands. Everybody grades hands on a scale of one than one to nine right and the six and the four hands are pretty much the same they're just inconsistent you know i watch you one day you look like a six i watch house the next day might be a four they're about the same but they're inconsistent pounds after the end of the season but like seven or eight hands like carter has and mccardle has those are rare to find. What do you think Tate has? I would probably say Tate's a five. Oh, right in the middle.

What's Beckham? Beckham would definitely be a seven. Seven. I would say Tate could have the spectacular catch every once in a while, but then maybe also drop the third and eight. Like, just high swings. So like OBJ in the playoffs. Yeah, the tall, big receiver who can make the highlight film play. Yeah, Braylon Edwards type.

Yeah, I'm the guy who's alligator arming over the middle. I just don't want to get hit. Just don't hit me. The contact would play into effect here. Absolutely. Anyway, so I think that fans see that, and that's what makes Beckham so spectacular as a player, is his uniqueness in terms of how well Jarvis Landry catches it just as good.

I mean, Jarvis Landry's got incredible hands, too. I can't wait for the Pats to sign him in two years. It's going to be incredible. Did Blake Bortles give you that kind of feeling? Blake Bortles has never given me any feeling. In fact, I'll double down on Blake Bortles if you want. I love all this talk about how Blake's turned around. I'm going to double down and say,

I think Blake's going to have a worse season this year. How can he have a worse season? What needs to happen? I'll just say, they're playing tonight, and I don't care what he does against New England. I'll tell you, if you're a Jaguar fan, I don't think your team's going to be very good because you've got Blake Bortles, and that's it.

Lombardi is right on cue right now. The whole point of the podcast today is to do summer hot air storylines, so these are bold predictions that are being made in the summer. Lombardi just started off with his main one. I can't read the paper anymore. His favorite player, Blake Bortles, just took him down. It's impossible. predictions that are being made in the summer. Lombardi just started off with his main one. I can't read the paper anymore. His favorite player, Blake Bortles, just took him down.

It's impossible. I go to theredzone.org every morning to try to start to read something with an open mind. This guy's having a great day. Nobody's having a great day. Everyone's exceeding expectations. Sean McVay just proclaimed somebody has a stranglehold over the backup running back.

They played four practices. He's giving them a stranglehold against two. Yeah. Todd Gurley's going to get the ball. That's all we know. That's the backup running back. They played four practices. He's giving them a stranglehold against two. Yeah. Todd Gurley's going to get the ball. That's all we know. That's the Rams offense. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you.

No, it's just the whole point of today is we're going to do a lot of summer hot air storylines. We're going to play some quotes. We're going to react. Well, explain what the hot air storylines is. I mean, part of this is from mid-July to mid-August, there's nothing to talk about. Nothing going on, right. And that's when people start looking at each other and going, I'll tell you what. I think Blake Borders can make the Super Bowl. Yeah. There's nothing to talk about. Nothing going on, right. And that's when people start looking at each other and going, I'll tell you what,

I think Blake Borders could make the Super Bowl. Yeah. You got nothing to talk about. Right. He went to see some guru this summer and he's going to turn his game around.

He's scared to get hit. He's getting the ball. It's like a hot potato in his hand. Like there's no chance. I know David Caldwell, the GM there. He's just,

he's going, I call him John Smith. He's going down with the Titanic. Edwin Smith. He's going down with the Titanic. Tate, little tip for you. Yeah. House, you would love this Twitter feed. He's going down with the Titanic. Edwin Smith. He's going down with the Titanic. Tate, a little tip for you.

House, you would love this Twitter feed. There's a Twitter feed called Blake Bortles Facts, and it's all facts that are actually true. I've got to follow this. Lombardi runs the account. The tweets are like, if Blake Bortles throws eight touchdowns in week one, he'll set the record for most touchdowns.

It's all things Blake Bortles can't do. And it's like, Blake Bortles has thrown 88 touchdowns to nine different teams. So he's figured out a way to make fun of Blake Bortles while just presenting the Blake Bortles facts. It's kudos to that guy. He only has 3,000 followers. Oh, I'm following. All right, Kate, Let's hear it.

Hot air. First one that we have up, Andrew Luck, a guy, quarterback that a lot of people love. Everyone thinks he's a good guy. He's basically become a star at this point. We all remember the playoff game against the Chiefs when he came back against Andy Reid. It's probably his biggest claim to fame. Stephen A. Smith and Jeff Saturday were on the program first take this summer, and they had a heated debate.

They had a heated debate? A heated debate. I don't know. Embrace it. Are you kidding? It happens every week. Has Luck lived up to the hype was the question, and we're going to play their response right now.

Has he lived up to the hype? Oh, wow. Just because most teams would take him does not mean that he's lived up to or surpassed hype. Nobody's saying that Andrew Luck is a scrub. What hype has he lived up to? What that he's not a stud in the making. What Hype hasn't he lived up to? What has he not done? I just told you. Well, they're 9-12.

Wait a minute. They're 9-12 over the last 21 games he's started. The AFC I'm talking to Jeff Saturday here. I'm with you. Jeff Saturday and I have been on the air together. I'm just answering your question. Jeff Saturday and I have been on the air together. Absolutely. I'm just answering your question. Okay. I'm just answering your question. Jeff Saturday and I have been on the air

together in the past. You know what a stud I believe he is. But as it pertains to the specific question, in terms of the hype, there have been times where we sat up there and even though we pointed to the level of protection he's not getting, we also pointed to his decision

making. We also pointed to the absence of growth. We also pointed to his decision-making. We also pointed to the absence of growth. We also pointed to the fact that he needed to really go about the business of imploring the organization to come up with mechanisms to protect him better. We've talked about a lot of these things. All of that comes with the most important position in the game, which is the quarterback position. But here's my issue, is if this conversation happens last year after the,

after last season, I mean, after the season, two or two seasons ago, I would get it, but he's come back from that last year. He had 4,000 plus yards, 30 plus touchdowns, 13 interceptions. The guy has played as well as you can ask him to play with what you've surrounded him with. Can I add something to this? Just, just to stir the pot a little bit. It's reliably reported to me. and I mean this is fact, that Ryan Grigson, the general manager,

who basically they're all criticizing in the thing because they're basically saying that luck's no big deal. It's the rest of the team around him. It's the rest of the team, and Grigson has been the architect of this bad team around him. Yeah. Thinks he's never made a mistake, thinks he was justly unfairly fired. And so that's reliably made a mistake, thinks he was justly unfairly fired. And so, you know, that's reliably reported to me,

and I find it fascinating since, you know, I'm not sure whose side I'm on after listening to all that, but the one thing I do know, one thing I do know is Luck has yet to prove he can have a signature win. And the reality is the team around them, when you have little receivers like he has that can't run with the ball after, I mean, they make plays down the field. They've made this offense to where he's prone to get hurt it's all seven step drop throw the ball down the field because they got little receivers they want to

throw it down the field and i think the guy is overhyped i really do i think he hasn't proven out to be the player because i can't find a signature but what does overhate mean though well because i think everybody and go because i was at nfl network at the time yeah all right when he came out with rg3 you mean over hate like for what he was supposed to be four years charlie casley was proclaiming as the next john i sat right next to charlie and he was saying the next john elway and i you know no time out wait they both went to stanford but he's not the next john elway like okay he's a great player and i think every franchise would love to have him as their quarterback no no doubt. But I think he was projected to be this incredible player when in reality, look at his road record. Look at the interceptions.

I can make a reel. In fact, I had it. It's still back at the Patriots. Of interceptions he could have thrown that were dropped. They weren't just like bad. They were just dropped. I mean, he takes a lot of chances. I think he gets away with a lot of things because he is overhyped in that.

Well, it's Andrew Luck. It's okay. It's okay. So I do think there is some, but I think the team around him was bad. And it was badly designed for his skill set. I mean, they did make the AFC title game. That's good. Yeah.

They played behind by just so many times. My memory of the Andrew Luck era is just them being down by 17. It's like 28-3 every game him trying to come back and him almost coming back or coming back takes a lot of hits the funniest thing when they're talking about I think that was Jeff Saturday

talking about the stats and he's comparing Luck's stats, I don't think you can compare anybody's stats from this decade to anybody last decade nobody gets hit anymore the interceptions are way down you sent me that list of anybody's stats from this decade to anybody last decade. It's so nobody gets hit anymore. Right. The interceptions are way down.

Like even the most out, like you sent me that list of trying to guess who was who between Matthew Stafford and Andy Dolan. It's Andy Dolan. Stats are good. If you look at him, he just look at everybody, even bad quarterbacks have 4,000 yard passing. Like I grew up,

I grew up with Steve Grogan. Steve Grogan would have years. He threw nine touchdowns with 17 interceptions. That was his whole year. Right. So, I don't know. I think it's really hard. Well, Saturday's over there saying he doesn't have a running game.

That's why he has so many yards passing. I mean, you know, it's the chicken and the egg thing. I mean, so it's about winning. I mean, in baseball, they put pitchers' win-loss record up there. Okay? And Luck's done a good job of winning. I grant that. Well, now they put WIP and XFIP and whatever that is.

ERA plus. Yeah. I don't know what that means. I just think to me, luck is a guy that needs to have a better supporting. He needs receivers that compliment what he can do. Well, let me ask you this.

If Manning's first five years had been with luck's team and coach from the first five years, he would have had the coach fired. Yeah. There's no way he would have. There's no way his dad would have. the first five years he would have had the coach fired yeah there's no way he would there's no way his dad would have there's no way he would have tolerated luck when you need him there's no way he would have tolerated all this seven step all this down the field i mean there was going to be some sophistication what he wanted to do i mean one thing about peyton peyton was very good at understanding what he had to do to be effective get the ball he couldn't get sacked i mean peyton didn't take a lot of hits now. He did get rid of it. He got rid of the ball.

The offense was designed to tail it around him, and that's what made them so successful. I don't think they've done that with Luck. I don't think they have. As an innocent bystander, I'm sure you've gambled against Andrew Luck in your day. Are you scared of Andrew Luck when you've gambled against him? I have been scared of him.

Does he put fear in your heart? I have been scared of him. Does he put fear in your heart? I have been scared of him. Because I think that's the case for Andrew Luck, right? I've been in situations going against him where it's like, oh, shit, Andrew Luck's getting hot. He can get two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He does have that. That's something.

And T.Y. Hilton makes plays down the field. So does Dorsett. I mean, they have guys that get explosive plays. But remember, they're playing in the Dome, so that's a huge advantage. I mean, nobody talks about that. Playing play. But remember, they're playing in a dome, so that's a huge advantage. I mean, nobody talks about that. Playing in a dome is a huge advantage. I talk about it. Nobody listens.

That's the Brady Manning argument. Manning had how many more home games in a dome? Like 80? It's unbelievable. And then when you go outside, the team slows down. It's funny. When we were working on the Top 25 Pats Wins pod, or I should say me, watching those old games, and two years in a row,

Manning comes to Foxborough in January in shitty weather. Right. And, you know. And Polian's influence was so powerful. He got the field changed. Well, and then the Pats were mugging them in those games. And the rules changed because they were really mugging them. I mean, that really opened up.

The reason the passing game is where it is today is because Polian got the rules changed to benefit. And I think it helps the game. I'm not being critical of Bill Polian here. I think it helps the game to let this. Let's be critical of Bill Polian, the ultimate Patriots hater. Yeah, I mean, he's so good. He hates the Patriots. You know who we should ask?

Andrew Luck. Oh, Mike, thanks for defending me. This is my Andrew Luck impersonation. I'm not sure I did defend him. I'm so stunat after hearing all that. I don't know if I defended him. It's a great Italian. But why can't he be like John Elway, right?

Like the winning part of the Super Bowl. The Terrell Davis, like once he gets that running back, that no-name running back to come there and finally give him a running game, they can't compete. They just don't have that. That's the one thing that they don't have. It's not like he doesn't have the talent. Flip that question around.

How many quarterbacks would you trust with a B-plus team to actually win the Super Bowl? He's on that list, at least. Yeah, he would definitely be on that list. So how many guys are on that list? Like eight? Here's the list he's on. If they don't win and Chuck Pagano loses his job,

he will be a desirable player. Everybody will want to come coach him. Everybody will want to come coach him. Everybody will want to come coach him. If you were GM, how many first-round picks would you give up for Andrew Luck? Three? Depending on if my team was good. If I give up all these picks for Luck, I don't have any.

What's your Minnesota last year? You would at least give two up for him. At least. Yeah. I mean, you put him on that team with the right offensive line in a dome in a dome david griffin would give up like five like he doesn't care about first round picks just what would billy king give up billy king would give the whole team billy king has lost the franchise uh next one we have odell beckham jr uh my guy yeah you're we mentioned him earlier in his great hands uh jason Whitlock says he is the most overrated player in NFL history.

And we're going to play that clip now. You've fallen for the okie doke. Odell Beckham Jr. is the most overhyped, overrated player. And he is a great player, but he's overrated. And his celebrity is completely overrated. You put him and Carmelo Anthony in the same room and watch what happens. Oh, it ain't even close. If Odell's not for the blonde hair, people wouldn't even know who the hell Odell Beckham Jr. is.

But he does, and they do. So Jason Whitlock says this about OBJ, says he's overrated, says it's about the blonde hair. You've seen him in practice. We obviously mentioned earlier. But you can't really believe that, though. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. That's the whole point of the summer storylines. It's all in practice. We obviously mentioned earlier. But you can't really believe that though, right? Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. That's the whole point of the summer storylines.

It's all fodder. It's all entertaining. But that's like particularly crazy. I find it unbelievable to think that they're going to make him the highest paid player. To me, which is the most ridiculous thing I heard all summer was making him the highest paid player in the sport. That's a separate discussion. Because I agree that that... That's ridiculous. He proved against Odell twice a year. Yeah, well, because I fear him.

I can't believe that I'm going to come to Jason Whitlock's defense. That's an absurd thing. But I do think the point that Whitlock was making, which I think I kind of understand but don't agree with, is that he's overhyped. He's a media presence, a self-propelled media presence. But I think that is, you know, comparing him to Carmelo is an interesting comparison because football players don't have that opportunity to self-promote. There's only five basketball players on a court. You know what a basketball player looks like.

You can see his face 82 times over the course of a season. No helmet. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's like basketball is a naked sport. Football, they have a helmet on most of the time. looks like you can see his face 82 times over the course of a season no helmet yeah no right exactly so it's like we bet basketball is a naked sport football they have a helmet on most of the time hey this is like the baseball argument too if mike trout came in right now i'm not positive all five of us i'm including jim cunningham our producer would know what mike trout looks like carmelo comes and you know he's tall he's carmelo odell i'd know because of the hair it might take me a second but what if he was bald what if he cut all the hair off right but i'm gonna flip it around though

because i actually don't think he's overhyped because i think uh two two things one he really resonates with kids like i see it yep with my son and people in his school like they're in the they're in the schoolyard they're pretending to be odell beckham like there's no other career football yeah there's no other receiver you would pretend to be. And I'm not even sure there's a running back you'd pretend. Maybe you'd pretend to be Le'Veon Bell. So that's one. And then the other is, like, that's fucking scary.

Like, if you're rooting against him or, like, the Giants fans I know, and it's like they're down three with two minutes left, and they're like, throw the ball to Odell. Odell's going to get open. Get us. Like, he does have greatness in him. And I think, think to me that's why he's not overhyped yeah i mean the guy scored 35 some touchdown he's got over 30 touchdowns in three seasons so you can't dismiss that i mean he puts the ball in the end zone he makes plays the question i mean you you worry about

his uh he's just a lot of work off the field and at some point point, in football, that does not work for a long term. And I think they magnified the problem by saying they're going to pay him. I think it just creates more of a bigger issue within their own culture. But if he's overhyped, look, he had some drops in that Green Bay game that were critical on third down. I mean, they kind of get passed aside. I was going to say, the big case against him is he sucked in that game and they had a chance to beat Green Bay.

And Pete went to Miami and all that before the game. But to me, he's got 288 catches. Landry has 288 catches in their career. Both came out of LSU the same time, three years. And I think – So who would you rather have? Oh, well, Beckham's got 14 yards a catch. Landry's got 10.

Beckham can make more plays down the field. But Landry's not a problem off the field. You don't have to worry about him. Landry's a really good player. He's a solid player. Beckham gives you that dimension that, you know, if he's open in the three line, he's going to make it. I think all these wide receivers, for the most part,

are divas in some respect, except for the guys in the pads. I think if Odell had the right culture. The amazing thing, and House will direct it. I mean, how did Les Miles not put the ball in the end zone with driver slander? It's incredible. That guy should never coach a football team again. He should never coach a football team again.

There were other good guys in that team, too. There's more than first. You could make a team of them. It's incredible. He couldn't beat Nick Saban. He was trying to play a 9-3 game with Nick Saban. What would Belichick do with Odell Beckham? I think it would have started from the beginning.

I think he would have had to buy into the culture and certainly the culture there isn't about paying and promoting you're going to be the highest paid player in the game. I mean, if that's what you want, you're not going to get it there. It's a team sport and everybody's got to kind of fall in. Look, the guy's a talented player. The one thing I admire about Beckham, he likes football. He does. He

comes to play every week. There's no dog in Odell. He plays. He takes great responsibility. Be interesting to see how it all handles this year with Brandon Marshall over there in his ear. They got to get the ball to Evan Ingram. They got to get the ball to Sterling Shepard in the slot. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. Are you pro Odell Tate? Yeah, I was going to say I was at that Giants-Panthers game in 2015.

Josh Norman, when he had the bat before the game. Yeah. The drama that, like in the building, the drama of watching Odell. The Giants fans love him to death. Everyone was talking about it. They love him. And the Cam Newton, OBJ, the Panthers fans, Cam's our guy.

It's sort of fickle. When Cam's doing well, he's our guy. But the Giants fans, they were down 35-7 in that game. They're like, OBJ's going to bring us back. And he gets a slant, takes it to the house, and then he scores another touchdown back-to-back. And that place was going crazy. That was the most insane thing I've ever seen

in a football game. It's a little like what the Wiz fans had with Gilbert in the mid-2000s. This crazy person who was also great. Yeah, I mean, a meteoric talent. I think, you know, the thing that derailed Gilbert was the injury.

Yeah, just knees. And John Wall looming. I do think this about Beckham. I think Beckham is symbolic of understanding millennials and not understanding a millennial. And there's a generation of people that understand millennials and then the ones that don't. And so there's that. It's really whether you don't like Beckham or not, you're really going about. It's more about the millennial,

how you feel about that than it is about the person. He can play the game, though. It's like he can do the manners. So OBJ was at the National Championship game, and he's talking to these old Carolina fans that are there with their, you know, shirts tucked into their khakis, and he's shaking hands, saying, you saying yes, sir, no, sir. Like he can play the game, too.

And I think that's why he can. That's why they give him all the money to market the shoes and stuff. They're like, this guy can do it all. When I was at Celts Wizards Game 7. Sorry, House. As the game was winding down and the Celtics were going to win, this guy, you know, a couple people left to beat the traffic. And this young guy came down, who was like probably 22, by himself and stood in front

of us in the now empty seat. And he had his phone. And he kept turning around to me and my dad with his phone, but then taking pictures of himself with the court behind him. And my 69-year-old dad was like, it was like a classic, I just don't understand this generation. Like, what's he doing? Is this guy going to stop?

And he just didn't get it. The guy's taking videos and going, whoo! Put the phone. And my dad, it and going, whoo! He just put the phone. And my dad, it was just, he never felt so old. And I think that Odell was part of that generation. Odell was like, if anyone was ever going to take a selfie as they're running for a football touchdown during the game, it would be Odell. Hey, speaking of injuries, House has an injured stomach. Let's cure it with Blue Apron.

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This is my favorite part. Basil pesto chicken with summer vegetable panzanella. Oh, that sounds wonderful. Sauteed shrimp and green beans with globe tomato, spinach, and orzo pasta. We're keeping it light in the summer. I enjoy this. Whole grain pasta, summer vegetables. Heirloom tomato caprese salad. Oh. You love the caprese. The caprese. You can go a lot ofloom tomato caprese salad

oh you love the caprese the caprese you can go a lot of ways with the caprese miso butter salmon and lo mein noodles with cucumber

and charmed tomatoes oh the asian touch and finally the meatball pizza with fresh mozzarella cheese and charmed tomatoes you cannot F up a meatball pizza

that sounds delightful right now you can get your first three Blue Apron meals for free with free shipping just go to blueapron.com slash bs blue apron a better way to cook what else do we have tate i feel like this is almost like a house i'm gonna ask him a question like where

is the best pizza in dc like is there like one boy dc pizza is on the come up you know we had david chang on the House of Cards a few weeks ago and we were talking, we asked him, you know, what next kind of comfort food thing? Where's there innovation in a traditional kind of comfort food? He said pizza. Pizza is still, there's a lot of ways

pizza can go. And the question was put to me, what do you think about pizza in D.C.? And I had a hard time coming up with a good answer on the spot. But upon further review and consideration, there are a half dozen really interesting, innovative joints going at pizza. And everybody's coming back to a traditional Neapolitan kind of delivery, the old Italian way. You can get, you know, the perfect wood-burning oven. You know, all of the tools you need to generate good pizza are available

because the whole world is available to everybody now. You can get the wood. You can get the oven. You can create, recreate. You're not answering the question. This is like a politician. I'm supposed to name a place? I'm just saying.

I don't know. Name a place. He's going to D.C. He wants to get a slice of pizza. You're giving him a pizza lecture. Wise Guys is outstanding, and so is Timber. I'm going to mess up the name. Wise Guys.

I mess up every name. Don't worry. I mess up all the names. Is it by the slice? Do you realize the number one meal on Death Row is pizza? Is that true? That's true. What a tidbit here in the BS Report presented by GM Street.

The number one meal requested on Death Row is pizza. Wow. It's comfort food. It is. meal requested on Death Row is pizza. Wow. It's comfort food. It is. I guess you're getting comfortable before you go. I have no idea. I hope I'm never there. My wife decided that her last meal on Earth is the Cabot's hot dogs and brown bed with

baked beans in Newton, Massachusetts. Wow. She said that's how she'd want to go out. Incredible. Yeah. That's how good it is. That's different. Like, last meal on earth versus death row meal.

Those are two different ideas. She was like death row lab, whatever. Okay. She wants, that's her last thing she'd want. All right. Yeah.

Hot dogs. This hot dog was hot dogs on the list. Lombardi. No pizza. That's a pizza. That's such a bad last meal. I agree. Yeah.

It's like some meat or something. How can you go wrong? Pizza, bread and gravy. I mean, it kind of sounds like they panic when they asked them, you know, they didn't really thought about it yet. some meat or something. I mean, how can you go wrong with pizza, bread, and gravy? I mean, it kind of sounds like they panic when they ask them. They didn't really thought about it yet. They're like, I made pizza, I guess. Yeah, that's a fact.

It would be funny if it was gluten-free pizza. Yeah. I'm really watching myself before I go. Next up, the Seattle Seahawks. Richard Sherman. We've talked a lot. Mike Lombardi, early on GM Street, if you go back, sort of reported that Richard Sherman was being shopped.

It was acknowledged that he was being shopped at one point. Maybe possibly. He said that he's always on the market. He said everyone's on the market. It's a business. But he also comes out and he says that he and Russell Wilson are phenomenal as far as teammates. There's no way that's true.

That's what he said. There's no way those guys have ever hung out. Do you think they've ever hung out? No. What would they do if they hung out? What does anyone do with Russell Wilson? What would you do with Russell Wilson? Read the Bible.

Is that what he does? I don't know. I mean, maybe. I don't know. Would you watch like a, I don't know, sit down and watch Siesta Key on MTV with him? Like, what do you do? What does he do? I think he's a good hang.

I'm coming to Russell Wilson's defense. I've watched him on Nickelodeon Kids. My kid loves Russell Wilson. See, this is so cute. The house is in this mode now, which I remember being in. When the pro athletes show up on the Disney slash Nickelodeon shows, like Chris Bosh, I love for life. He had a great episode of Jesse.

See what I'm saying? So now you love Russell Wilson because he made your kid happy for two minutes. He makes my kid happy and you can see how good he is with kids. There's something about his personality

that makes people want to be around him. He's got a magnetic personality. I think he could be a good head. Tate totally disagrees. Yeah. Tate does not find it magnetic in the least.

You think it's a little bit of false? I've seen Russell Wilson do a lot of things on a football field that are amazing. Off the field, you know, that's what it is. Put it this way.

If he went to Duke, Tate wouldn't have been surprised. Yeah. Yeah. It's deeper than just a hit. This is so deep. We don't have enough time for this. That's like a North Carolina rivalry. Yeah, it's a lot.

That goes back. Not to interrupt this Sherman Wilson thing, but I heard that we're driving in the car today and they said Mike Krzyzewski had his knee replaced. And I said in the car, I was like, if they start at two and five, Coach K is going to take time off because his knee hurts and Tate's going to go crazy. So you're on the record with that one already, right?

He got the exact same thing last year on the other knee, right? But he went to the Olympics anyway? I just don't think he wanted to go to the Dominican Republic. So if you're in the Dominican Republic, Coach Cal loves you. Coach K does not love you. Take that. Tate thinks all of Coach K's medical decisions are based on

where he wants to go and how his team is playing. It's an ability to maneuver in a situation. Control the headline game. It's the best. Tate's hatred for Duke is my favorite Ringer subplot. Anyway, go ahead. What was the way you would describe your relationship with Russell Wilson? Do you remember what word you used?

Professional. Yes, it was professional. Why did you specifically choose professional? Because we're pros. We hang out from time to time. You know what I mean? We get along. Everybody gets along.

But is my relationship with Russell the same as it is with Doug? Or the same as it is with doug or as same as it is with bobby no but is his relationship with me the same as it is with with um no we are brit or you know what i mean it's just different dynamics but as teammates we're phenomenal i think he answered it right he's professional yeah but it wasn't a weird i mean not to go into this anymore but just the basically the way he sets it up is like, yeah, I mean, we don't get along necessarily. Like, we're not the best of friends. We're professional. And then later turns around and is like, but we're phenomenal, you know?

It's just like the funniest way. It's like, yeah, you know, all this stuff. It leads all up. It's like, but we're phenomenal. I don't know how you answer that question. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know either. I mean, it's so hard.

Look, the most important thing, they share a common goal goal and i think the one thing about practice at seattle it's competitive and and pete's teaching competitive i mean pete's the guy driving this machine so pete loves this kind of conversation this is what makes pete fuel this fire because it gets the competitive juices going this is what he's coaching i mean it's completely opposite of new england right new eng England's players say nothing. Seattle players are outspoken. It both works. It just shows you that it can work. I think that

Sherman's pretty clear. Malcolm Butler and Brady aren't hanging out. Even though Brady gave him a car, they're not hanging out. Brady would hang out with him if he did TB12. And lived his life the TB12 way. But they all... They're all even better there. There's no doubt.

Brady's way of eating has kind of changed the whole, it kind of rubs every, because you see a guy who's 40 years old, look at the way he looks. Yeah. He's throwing 55-yard spirals to Brandon Cooks. I mean, it's unbelievable. Hitting them in stride. Yeah, it's literally unbelievable. Stop the house.

We will shut off your mic. Almost not believable. The house will shut off your mic. With Dr. Who. It's a unbelievable. Stop the house. We will shut off your mic. Almost not believable. The house will shut off your mic. With Dr. Caruso Guerrero, whoever his guru is there in the corner. Sure he does. House. Come on, house. It's Patriots week.

Lombardi, is there a documented case in the last 30 years of a defense versus offense feud that actually submarine a team? Because I remember the Eagles in the early 90s. Remember they had that great, great defense and the offense wasn't good enough and there was a great book written about it by Mark Bowden. I think that the Houston Oilers when Buddy Ryan was there with Kevin Gilbride, I mean, one of the tragedies

of the NFL and Mike Holovac was the general manager of the Houston Oilers, should be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, that's a collection of some of the NFL. And Mike Holovac was the general manager of the Houston Oilers, should be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, that's a collection of some of the greatest players that have ever been put together. And for them not to win, I mean, they won one divisional game and got to a conference championship game and had a 35-3 lead and lost it.

You know, I think that that team had a lot of bad chemistry about it. Do you think it hurt the Seahawks the last two years? Yeah, I do. It seemed like it hurt them a little bit. I think what happened was, here's why I think it that team had a lot of bad chemistry about it. And I think the offense. Do you think it hurt the Seahawks the last two years? Yeah, I do. It seemed like it hurt them a little bit. I think what happened was, here's why I think it hurt them. It made the Seahawks offense try to be something they're not. Yeah. And it took them out of their personality.

The 49ers, when they were great with Walsh, the Walsh's genius behind the offense made Seifert and the defense become more creative. So it's a little bit of, you know, if you're playing against somebody every day and they're kicking your ass, you're going to try to figure out a way to do it. Well, that's what the 49ers. Well, Seattle was trying to do something different to beat their defense, but they just weren't good at it. And it made themselves worse as opposed to just stay with who they are. Don't turn the ball over, run it, run the outside zone, play action. This is Russell Wilson's game. I think sometimes if you lose sight, that's why the head coach has got to keep things under control. But doesn't that come back to the Russell thing? So we had that five interception game against the

Packers. That was probably the most vulnerable he's ever looked. And it was because he couldn't move because his ankle was messed up. His ribs are all messed up. He was basically injured last season. He's not the same guy. He goes this whole offseason. He was 225 last year. He's lost all this weight. It says he's in the best shape of his life. It said he's not chubby anymore. He's not the same guy. He goes this whole offseason. He was 225 last year. He's lost all his weight. He says he's in the best shape of his life. He said he's not chubby anymore. He's got a whole new TB, his own version of TB12. It's like he completely has flipped the whole narrative.

And now Richard Sherman's great teammates with him. It just seems like it's the old Russell Wilson as far as the golden boy. The golden boy image is back with him. And that's what they need in Seattle. I'm told by a lot of people in the league that Seattle this summer, I wasn't out at their camp, but I think Seattle this summer is back to the Seattle of old. And I think Seattle's 13 and 12 and 13 teams, 14.

I think they'll be that. I think they're going to be hard to play. Look, they've got San Francisco, which will be better, but they're still not any good. Seattle. Come on. They're not going to be any good, right? No.

And the Rams, I know everybody. Oh, God, no. Summer sensation. I know our boy Goff is having a tremendous time in May and all that. Okay. And, you know, and Arizona's got a quarterback who I think is going to go back to what he always was, which was last year. Still don't have a corner.

I think Seattle wins that easily. Who's in better shape, Byron Lefkowitz or Carson Palmer? I'd give it to Carson. I love Byron. I shape, Byron Lefkowitz or Carson Palmer? I'd give it to Carson. I love Byron. I mean, Byron was just happy. Nobody was happier than he was. He's calling plays for Carson. I'm happy for him.

I don't think Byron could play as much golf. What do you mean? He's a QB coach. Byron Lefkowitz? Yes. I don't think he could play as much golf as Carson plays. I think the walk-in would get to Byron. Yeah, that makes sense.

But Wilson, right? So if everything goes right and he has this great year, he's got two years left on his deal, I mean, is he getting the largest? He's getting the Andrew Luck contract, or now that we're seeing all these other quarterbacks. Well, it's going to be the Matthew Stafford contract once that comes out.

Yeah, or the Matt Ryan contract. Or the Kirk Cousins contract. Kirk Cousins is going to be the first $100 million man. $100 million a year. Can I? Joe House just fell back in his chair. Can I give an early opinion on the Matt Stafford contract extension? Yes, please.

Ooh. Nah. Well, it's facts. I mean, you could. Baltimore is in this spot with Flacco, right? Right. They had to. They had to.

Detroit's going to be in this spot with Stafford. They have to. I know. But it's. But at some point? They had to? They had to. And Detroit's going to be in this spot with Stafford? They have to. I know. But it's... But at some point, you have to say to Stafford... It's like fantasy. You can't pay $53 for a quarterback.

Look, you can't have all the money. You can't have it all. You know, if you want to be... Well, if you have it all, here, go look at Joe Flacco. Go look at what happened to the Ravens the last few years because of this contract.

Because I... Go ahead. Step in. This is my... Your Kirk Cousins argument? Probably my hottest take of the summer. the last few years because of this contract. Go ahead. Step in. This is probably my hottest take of the summer. Ooh. Should we have Jim Cunningham cut his grunt roll? I think the Washington Deadskins, through their own sheer ineptitude and incompetence, have done exactly the right thing with Kirk Cousins.

Okay. It's a series of one-year deals that they're not too... They've done show-me contracts, and they're paying a tax for that, right? They're paying the franchise tax. But what they are avoiding by way of these one-year show-me deals is the franchise submarining salary cap hit that you get by paying the guy. Now, if they could have signed him two years ago and and you know had it rated out over four or five years um if that was an option that they missed an opportunity that they missed then they

properly deserve the criticism but i think they they kind of stumbled themselves into this corner where it's a show me contract each year and at the guts of it what you know they have to believe is he might not be that good. He might not be that bad either. But here's the reality, though. I think, look, when the Sixers signed J.J. Redick to the $23 million deal, after I got up off the ground, I felt good about it because at least it was only one year. Right. So I get your point. But the problem is they've done nothing to draft a quarterback to come in and say,

they keep getting taxed again. And at some point, if they would have picked a quarterback or done something, I would say, you know what? There's a plan there. But without doing that, there's an absence of a plan. Like what Kansas City did this year. Exactly. Right.

Exactly. Like, okay, look, we're going to pay you, Kirk, but we're going to go up in the draft and we're going to take Deshaun Watson or we're going to get Mahomes or we're going to take somebody. But we're not going through this. Blake Bortles will be available for you next year. I can see that. I can see that. Poor Blake.

It's the most dead skin's move ever. Wait, does it hurt them to do the one year, one year? Is there some sort of tax? It's expensive. It's expensive. It's more expensive to pay $130 million. Next year, the only way you can franchise someone three years in a row, you have to pay 44% of his last year's salary.

So his number, whatever, it's what, $25 million this year? Right. 44% of that. So what's your alternative now? So that's $100 million? Well, no, it won't be. I can't do math. My math is horrible, but it's going to be somewhere in the 30s right it's 290 million dollars

on a one-year deal that would make him the highest paid quarterback in the league by a lot right would you like that well that would mean that he proved that he deserved to be franchised again which means we might have made the playoffs i mean but if you're his agent just say house you you become priority sport, and you now represent Kirk Cousins, and just hypothetically say he has a great year. Okay? Why would you not just sit there and say, pay me 44% increase? That's exactly the correct answer.

It's a great deal for Cousins. This is a win-win, a rare win-win in Washington. You know what else is a win-win? Stamps.com. I still use them, Bill. Convenient, easy, reliable, flexible. My favorite words to describe them. You don't go to

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Cameron Newton, quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. Cameron Newton. I like that. I've heard of him. Yeah. He was an MVP once upon a time, and now everyone's back on the, are we sure he's good? Are we sure he is an elite quarterback?

And a couple of guys, Willie Colon actually came out. People remember Willie Colon from the Steelers when they won the super bowl he came out and said that cam was a system quarterback and uh said quote unquote we're not sure if he's that smart and then after that that's tough i hate that that's tough colin coward came after that and said that cam is a running quarterback and that's the easiest job in football. I heard him have a whole take about how bad his MVP follow-up year was, and it would be the equivalent of Russell Westbrook shooting 38%. Do you have that take? Is that what you're playing?

No, no, no. But he said that, and then goes through this whole thing, and then somebody else on the set with him, because I was listening on the radio, was like, but Colin, it's a team sport basically like you know russell westbrook shot 38 he's by himself cam newton could his stuff could go down but yeah other players of all the things i would think of cam newton the word system would never come into play like i wouldn't like i don't like willie cologne's critique of cam to say he's a system, like I just don't see that.

I think he's a loose play quarterback. I think he can be hot. I think he is a running quarterback in this era. And I think that David did a really good job. I utilized David Shula, did a good job utilizing his skill set when he's healthy. But they didn't have a lot of guys healthy last year. I think they had trouble blocking. I think he got banged up from the first week he was messed up, and they didn't really have enough weapons. I mean, he's still

banged up. I saw him last night before I left to fly to LA. He stayed on the sideline eating sunflower seeds. I mean, you know, so he's still not able to play out there. I think he gets a lot of criticism for, you know, that are not fair. I mean, the guy is hard. If you're going to go play, if I'm driving to the stadium on Sunday

morning and he's the quarterback, you got to worry about tackling him, you morning and he's the quarterback, you've got to worry about tackling him, you've got to worry about catching him, and you've got to worry about throwing the ball. He's not going to be great on third down, but a lot of guys aren't great on third down. We keep judging quarterbacks in one-size-fits-all, and you've got to take a step back. They're not going to be that way.

The thing about Cam is a lot of the stuff that he gets, right, is from not being able to stand in the pocket and make a throw, throws off his back foot a lot, but he's one of the few guys that has enough arm strength to throw off his back foot. I mean, that's sort of what he's good at. I mean, he just chunks it up as hard

and Ted Ginn tracks him down. So we should take Dirk Gnabitsky's one-legged shots that he made in his life and throw them out because he didn't shoot them like we did in Catholic school? I mean, come on. It's a joke.

Running is an easy, lazier way to play quarterback. It'll beat you up physically, but it's easier. You don't have to sit in the film room forever to run. You've got to sit in the film room forever to be a pocket quarterback. You've got to read a lot of tape. Cam Newton and the coaches in Carolina are trying to help him. They're trying to make him more of a pocket quarterback.

Less shots, more wins. I get how hard it is to do radio or tv whatever it is the coward does in the middle of the summer to make stuff up that's the stupidest shit i've ever heard that was like 35 seconds of just dumb thing after dumb thing well that it was what was his ultimate point the whole point is that cam newton is basically taking the easy way out right he's saying that He compares it to Tom Brady. He says Brady, when he goes home, all he wants to do is watch film. Or Aaron Rodgers, all he wants to do is watch film.

Cam Newton doesn't want to watch film. And all this is conjecture, of course. But basically the whole point is that he doesn't want to do it the hard way. He wants to rely on his athleticism. I feel like Cam Newton is his John Wall proxy in football. This is the thing. This is why I know it's rubbing me the wrong way. I mean, it's lazy to be a running quarterback.

He doesn't want to put in the work. I can't stand that kind of stuff, and I know that I'm... It's a trigger! I've been triggered! That's why you're here. Because of the John Wall thing. We set you up. You really did. We set you up. The John Wall thing we set you up we set you up we set you up the John Wall thing everyone in in Chocolate City loves John Wall and then it turns out do your spiel about how screwed up John Wall's

knees were well no it's not my spiel we came to understand that you played a whole season I didn't somebody we heard the story wasn't my spiel oh that's right yeah somebody else told us yeah they showed the picture of his knees before he got them fixed. And the doctors were like, holy shit, how'd you play with this? And they fixed his knees. And he was like, oh my God, I can run fast again. And, you know, I don't know. John Wall is a lot of heart.

I think that sometimes we... I have trouble with the whole narrative of this guy doesn't work that hard. How do we know? We're not there with him. Well, I know he works hard. I mean, everybody I've talked to in Carolina says says he does work hard i mean the coaches there they're not bitching about him if your quarterback doesn't work hard the whole organization will be talking about that non-stop exactly we're in the effing super bowl two years ago i'm pretty sure he works

hard it's sort of like when they were 15 and one yeah pretty good yeah they almost were a perfect season that year and it's like when br, everyone was like, he's done. You know, against the Chiefs game when they lost that Chiefs game. He's done. He's done. Thank God I wasn't on Twitter that week. It's like, that's Tom Brady. That's Cam Newton.

That's the MVP two years ago. Like, what's the point? And they poke and prod him. And like, the guy, he reads all this stuff. He reads it. He gets in his own head about it. Well, he shouldn't read this stuff. If I'm a quarterback, I'm not reading anything.

Well, because first of all, Tom Brady reads jack shit. No, because the people evaluating don't understand it. They don't understand what you're going through. They don't understand all the hardship you have, whether it's the injuries or the thing. They don't really get the big picture. And even somebody that knows the game, you make judgments on. I remember the one year I was watching Logan Mankins play for the Patriots, and I'm like,

God, he doesn't look very good. He can't – well, it comes out he was playing on a torn ACL. He didn't look good either. I don't know that. I'm not privy to that. And so there's sometimes you're going to make mistakes, and you judge a guy. I just think sometimes we're way too hard on Cam

because he doesn't do it the way we visualize a quarterback should play. Aaron Rodgers, just for the record, doesn't do it the way we visualize a quarterback should play. Aaron Rodgers, just for the record, doesn't do it the way, because the way they call plays there and the way they're set up, he has to make plays with his feet too. He just doesn't run for it. He makes a lot of loose plays. Here's my best point of the summer. I almost want to give this a sponsor. I was talking to Chris Ryan about this.

It's really interesting because when I was growing up, basketball, I loved the NBA the most of all the sports. And everybody's like, the NBA is too black. They couldn't figure out how to market it. This whole thing, and there's all these crazy stories about it that if you reread it, you just can't believe it. And then things started to flip. Bird of Magic come along.

Jordan comes along. NBA is doing great. then the late 90s hit now all of a sudden it's like we can't identify with these guys they're all making too much money they're all complaining then it starts flipping again with the lebron era now you see it this decade it's flipped where the nfl is where the nba was where these nfl guys get no benefit of the doubt you look at like the nba right Who is Westbrook's doppelganger in the NFL? It's Cam Newton, right? Interesting personality, one-of-a-kind athlete, flamboyant, beats to his own drum.

If Cam Newton was in basketball, people would fucking love Cam Newton. He would be treated the same way Westbrook's treated all these other guys. And if Westbrook was in football, what would they say, Mike? What would they say about Westbrook in football? I'd say he's a loner, shellfish. Yeah, he hasn't really bought into the team. Bought into the team concept, yeah. He plays really hard, but he's all about his own stats.

But he works his ass off. He's in shape. I mean, you know, at some point you have to not – this is the hardest thing, my generation, if you're evaluating to Alanis, you can't judge players through your eyes you have to go back and understand what millennials do and then you have to kind of put because nobody's going like that's the hardest thing for Tom Brady he's 40 years old all these rookies are 21 right he can't react to how they are well we brought Braxton Miller in

for a work for a visit and this really taught us a. Braxton Miller's a flamboyant millennial, talk about himself, the selfie guy. And it kind of turned off people in the building because he wasn't exactly a patriot kind of quote-unquote guy. But there's a deeper lesson to learn there, and that's when we all started to learn about what it is millennials and how it all changes. Because if you're just going to cast a guy aside because you don't really relate to him from your generation, you're going to make a lot of mistakes. Yeah. I mean, Aaron Hernandez. No.

Come on, Mike. Come on. No, but I do think like Odell Beckham. Yeah. If you put Odell Beckham on the Los Angeles Lakers right now and he was the basketball version of Odell Beckham, people would be having a jerk-off session about it. They wouldn't be talking about, oh, Odell Beckham,

he wants to be the highest paid player. Oh, that's crazy. He'd be like, yeah, Odell Beckham wants to be the highest paid player. It's the position, too. Quarterback. It is weird, though. I think some of the racial stuff's overrated, but like, Rodgers scrambles all the time. All the time. Roethlisberger is

always trying to prolong plays and taking crazy hits. Nobody's like, oh, he's got to change the way he plays. Nobody stays in the... I mean, Brady does. Phillip Rivers. There's a few guys. Brady gets rid of the ball is what he does. But he gets rid of the ball.

He doesn't take hits. He's quick-minded. He might not be quick-footed. He's quick-minded. And that's a difference. And the game is now spread. The game... The quarterbacks are moving around.

Yeah. So that's... The day of Jim Plunkett standing back there and taking a beating or Steve Barkowski are over with. They can't hold up. But the quarterbacks are moving around to buy time. They're not necessarily moving around so they can become a running back and get hit by three guys. It is.

The way he was described, the way Colin was described, it was almost like Cam's running the wishbone. Right. That's not what he's doing. Well, so, all right. So here's a play that Cam does that not a lot of people do, right the the little dive play that they did over and over again on third and goal from the three take the five steps back and then he goes into the line like a battering round it's like a t-bow play yeah you can make a case yeah maybe he's getting a little older maybe take

that one out of the playbook or use it in the most special circumstance possible but brady took some huge hits last year and brady had big scrambles in the super bowl like that he's running around he got nailed by a couple people and if brady could run that play that quarterback draw they would put it in but he can't well you know he's 539 out of 540 on qb sneaks he's the best qb sneaker he got like i stopped once but i think they called a threw a flag on it but yeah but anyway but yeah i do think if you shift your brain and think about football players like basketball players and vice versa like imagine blake griffin was like a you know let's say he was a tight end on the philadelphia eagles who was

getting paid a ton of money and kept getting hurt what would they say about blake griffin oh they'd run him out of town they'd run him out of get rid of this guy this guy's a bum he can't stay on the field he hit hit him, he goes down. Meanwhile, the Clippers gave him $180 million. Yeah. That's the difference between basketball and football right now. He's going to be good. I believe in Blake.

Hold on. We got one more. We're going to talk about Princess Cruise. Oh. Yeah. Okay. House loves a cruise. I might like a cruise.

They have food and entertainment and drinks. You can gamble and eat. And gambling. Pretty sure. Take a vacation to anywhere in the world, where would you go? Where would you go, House? Sweden. I'd go to Alaska.

Sweden? There's some good food. There's some good food in Sweden. Good food in Sweden? Okay. Chances are, no matter where you want to go, Princess Cruises can take you there. Voted best itineraries, Princess Cruises sails to over 360 destinations worldwide. Plus the ship is equipped with a 300 square foot poolside movie theater where you can enjoy movies, concerts, and even sports.

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Why not? We're almost in range to really start thinking about football and fantasy and Super Bowl sleepers and all that stuff. In the preseason, we've learned to care about less and less and less and less and to kind of ignore it. On the other hand, like I was listening in the radio today, somebody pointed out that Terrell Davis would not have made the Broncos if it wasn't for a preseason game, which I thought was,

I'd never heard that point. I don't know a hundred percent know if it's true. And it was a tackle, right? It wasn't even like he was a returner or something. It was, it was like he something happened that he made the Yeah. If we got rid of preseason, if we just got rid of it and the season started with week one and there's just scrimmages

and then it leads up... Like college. Is football any different? Yeah, I think there would be a lot more personnel mistakes. More mistakes? Yeah, I think there would be. I think that, you know,

coaches kind of have their mind made up on guys and if they don't practice good, then they get in the game, they all of a sudden wait and the guy gets... And then there's the other way around. Guys guys the lights come on and it's a little bit too hard for them and what what you saw in practice because remember after you get through

the fourth or fifth day of practice okay you've practiced against these guys all the time they're smart so you know they learn your bad habits you're doing they learn what you're doing you're not playing the you know so say you're in a nine-on-seven drill. That's a run period. So you play the run. So you have to take away the evaluation, and now that becomes a toughness drill. So I think we need them, and I think we need them, and I wrote this today in The Ringer.

I think September is still the evaluation process for teams because there's not enough contact. I mean, guys have days off now. I mean, you know, and offensive and defensive linemen have to have so many reps to be ready for the season. They're like boxers. They have to spar so many rounds. And when they take days off, they're going to need to get into September before they

really get in shape. It's hard to be a defensive lineman and rush 60 plays if you haven't had a really good camp and practice two a days. It's hard. So September is aeman and rush 60 plays if you haven't had a really good camp. And practice two-a-days. It's hard. So September's a month where that's still going on. Out of the bandwagon sleepers that we tend to start hearing about right now, Tate, who is it? Like Tampa, Tennessee, tiny bit of Jacksonville. Yeah, people are trying to do it.

The Texans. Everyone's like, I like Watson. He's a winner. But the Texans were okay last year. The Texans in okay last year. But I see Tennessee, which I can see the case, but they haven't done jack shit yet. Do you believe in any of these

bandwagon cases, Mike? I'm not a big Tennessee believer only for the sense that I think that last year they got a chance to get to 10 wins. I know Mariota got hurt in the game against Jacksonville, but he was 8 for 20 in that game before it fell apart on them. So I got to see what they can do pass rush-wise.

LeBeau's system and schemes, I think people have a pretty good understanding how to handle Pittsburgh stuff. Pittsburgh's changed. They don't run it anymore. It's the triangle of defenses. Yeah, I don't know if they're really as sharp as everybody wants to make them out there. So they're out. Jacksonville, you're not going to be in because of Bortles.

No, there's no way. Tampa? I think Tampa's pretty good. They've got some blue chippers. Tampa's a funny team. Tampa's personality is like Winston. You know, he plays bad, throws interceptions, but they have this winner-type mentality.

They come back. They're like an unmade bed. They don't look pretty, but they're comfortable. You know, and they find a way to win. I wouldn't rule them out. Heston and I watched the Hard Knocks with them, and it's basically a Winston infomercial for six minutes, and he goes back, and you watch that dude for five minutes

just interacting with everybody, and there's teammates, and he really does seem like a real leader. It feels like we're going to hear from him in January at some point soon. I think that South is really good. I think Carolina will be better. I I think Carolina will be better. I think New Orleans will be better. I think New Orleans is excited about Peterson. But let's say McCaffrey's awesome. Right. Let's say

he's like rookie of the year. Right. Let's say he is this immediate triple threat from that position. This is the speed they need. They haven't had it. Yeah. Let's give them that and say Newton's more healthy. What does that mean? Is that an 11-win team now? I think so, if Keekly doesn't get hit.

I mean, if Keekly— Well, see, that tape, that's what's killing you. Keekly's one more—and how many times have we seen this in football? When the guy's one more hit away, the hit always happens. It's fucking football. He's going to hit somebody. He's become the new Dan Morgan where you're just waiting for that time. I hope it doesn't happen to Keekly, but that's what would concern me.

I think Carolina's better. So defensively, that falls apart if he's out of it? I think the way they run their scheme, it becomes difficult to do it. I think Buffalo's going to be a sleeper team this year. I think Buffalo's got a lot of things going for them. They have a legitimate guy running the program. They have a culture they're trying to build. QB?

The quarterback's not great, but he's a play action. I think they'll do some things with him. You want to say his name? Who? The QB. Oh, Tyrod Taylor? But do we think he's 100% the quarterback? I think he will be the quarterback.

Yeah, Tyrod Taylor will be the quarterback. Who's the other choice? I haven't done all my homework yet. Well, E.J. Manuel's gone. He's the backup. They didn't have another choice. It's basically tie-rod, yeah. But, you know, they got some nice pieces.

What a compelling case. No, I think defensively they're much better. They're healthier there. Well, fortunately they gave the Patriots their best running back. That helped. Right. Well, LeSean McCoy's their best back. No, I'm kidding.

But, you know, I think Buffalo could surprise some people. I think Miami's getting all the talk. We can get into a Jay Cutler conversation. I just really think Miami's. I think Adam Gase is probably smiling, knowing that he was able to kind of get away from Tannehill and actually get better. So when I heard the Jay Cutler, my first reaction as a Pats fan was,

this is great. Jay Cutler twice a year. This is great. And I thought it was idiotic by Miami. Hail Mary. And then I remember the Adam Gase. Cutler was good with him that year. 15, he was really good with him.

Yeah. And then I was kind of like, oh, crap. What if he's actually. Because Miami's good on offense. Now I've kind of talked myself into being afraid of it. Miami's good on offense. But I'm also in the AFC East where we never have to be afraid of anyone. So you talk yourself into Jay Cutler with Adam Gase.

Well, but Miami's problem's still on defense. How Vance Joseph got to become a head coach after that defense was so bad, that could be a documentary in itself. But the reality of it is that their defense has yet to prove that they're good. I think the coaches in the AFC East are better than people think they are. I think Bowles is a decent coach. He's got a bad team. I think Gase is a really good coach.

And I think Sean McDermott's going to be a good coach. So I think those three. I think Buffalo's actually going to get coached this year. I think it was a circus up there with Rex. So I think Buffalo's going to be much better. So that's one that we like to look at when we're looking at our sleeper teams. Lombardi and I always have a come-to-Jesus long three-hour conversation about it. You look at when we're looking at our sleeper teams lombardi and i always have a come to jesus long three-hour conversation about it you look at the coach upgrade um did they come off the season from hell where like houston's a good example of just a bunch of stuff just went

wrong i mean they're probably better than they are you put a legitimate quarterback in foxborough that night when they're playing the patriots and dion Deion Lewis, he doesn't make those plays. Osweiler has guys wide open in that game. He doesn't make throws. Other than the Super Bowl, that Houston-Texas game probably was the hardest game they had to play in the playoffs. Yeah, we were watching that game, and you were like, look how open. We could see receivers that were wide open, and Osweiler was just staring down.

Yeah, we did a podcast after that game. Yeah, exactly. Because it's like, I can't believe that these guys are so open. Because you were like, there's no way if these guys are so open, we're going to win a Super Bowl. This doesn't even look like our defense right now. Thank God Osweiler was just staring down his number one guy every time. Yeah, I mean, that Patriots defense probably should not have won a Super Bowl.

It's remarkable. I still can't believe it. I still can't get over it. It's on. Every time it's on, I start watching it. I still can't believe it. I still can't get over it. It's on. Every time it's on, I start watching it. I just can't believe it. I can't believe 28-3 in the regular season is insane. But then when you think about how Atlanta was moving the ball

and how they could run the ball, they could throw the ball for 10 yards every time, there's just no way. It shouldn't have happened. If you play it 10 times, Atlanta's it's it's gonna atlanta's gonna win nine it's like the falcons having not won a super bowl and then like if i was a falcons fan i i don't know if i i guess like the the closest i've come to that 86 world series like at that point i'm pretty young i don't but then like the 03 the boone home run and i just spent

the whole winter just rehashing it and fucking driving myself crazy about it that Falcons game I would never recover from that and Matt Ryan taking you know hiking the ball with 17 seconds left and I think when I said this to you before before we went on the air Matt Ryan had a season that was lights out like if he was a baseball player they would test him for steroids because he had one of those seasons that it was unbelievable. And if you're a Falcon fan, if you think Matt Ryan can duplicate that year again, wow, because there are nothing normal in his statistical career that shows that he can have that kind of season. Would you be shocked if the Falcons, there are some people that are like, the Falcons are going to go back, they're going to redeem themselves.

Would you be shocked if they made it back to the Super Bowl? I would be really shocked because I just don't see how they can be as good. Freeman got that huge contract. I don't see how they can be as good. Freeman got that huge contract. I don't see how they can be as good offensively. I think Kyle Shanahan wasn't given enough credit. I know he takes the rap for the playoff, for the Super Bowl loss because he didn't call run plays. That's not

his job. His job is to get first down score points. And they tried to run Freeman. People forget. They tried. He got one yard. He got two yards. Huge turnovers and dumb plays. I mean, they had first down from the 32 or the 22. All they need is five yards to win the game. Well, Atlanta Roberts doesn't cover Freeman out of the backfield when the ball's on Atlanta's own 10-yard line,

and Freeman runs out to midfield. I mean, at that point, you think there's no chance they can win the game, right? Yeah. And they still found a way to do it. Who do you think every year, new offensive guy either makes the leap? Or sometimes it's the defensive guy, too. But mostly it's an offensive guy. Where that first month they're like, oh, this guy.

And then this becomes the guy we're all excited about. Who is that this year? You mean like a quarterback? Or like one year it was Odell. One year it was Gronk. One year it was J.J. Watt as Super Human. There's always the one guy who makes the jump. Last year, people thought it was going to be Khalil

Mack, but it wasn't. But do you think, is there a guy, like just a blue, blue, blue chipper who's by October 5th, we're going to be like, that guy. That's a hard one. I mean, I'd have to go through it. I'd have to go through it. Go ahead, Tate. Tate's going to say McCaffrey.

No, I was going to say Alshon Jeffrey. I don't see it. I think Alshon Jeffrey. Alshon Jeffrey. He's a jump ball receiver. I don't see that one. He's been in the league too long. Oh, yeah.

What is it? Four years? Five years? Yeah, I would say he's got to be a year. Is he going to be a young guy? I'm just trying to think of that. I'm going to be like under 26. He's on that one-year deal.

I feel like he's trying to get a big contract. I think Dalvin Cook at Minnesota might be that guy. Oh, yeah. The running back. I think people are Cook at Minnesota might be that guy. Oh, yeah. The running back. I think people are like, oh, wow, they got him in the second. I think the second round, I think Dalvin, I don't know, Kamara, I think from Tennessee, the Saints are high on him. I think he's going to give them some plays.

Let me throw a name at you. Yeah. What about Mike Evans? I think Mike Evans. I was thinking about this during hard knocks, because with Deshaun Jackson on the other side, Jameis is going to be better. And O.J. Howard.

See, they have O.J. Howard in there. See, that's, to me, that separates. They had the other kid in there last year who played well. I forget his name. Austin Tavares Jenkins, right? Well, no, he went to the Miami. He was drinking and got cut. Oh, yeah, yeah.

He sobered up. He's actually had a really good camp. I'm sobered up, yeah, yeah. He's sobered up. He's actually had a really good camp. How sobered up, too. Yeah. Finally. But, I mean, they actually have some weapons down at – Don't you think Evans has the talent? Oh, he's unbelievable.

Yeah, no, I think he definitely does. Because it's right around with wide receivers sometimes. Like, T.O. had that Philly year in 04. They're hard to cover. Moss had the 07 patch here. They've been in the league a few years. They get rid of all the dumb stuff, and then just the athleticism takes over with the brains for that one year.

What about a Mark Cooper? I think the quarterback. Mark Cooper, that could be at some point. I think the one thing I like about Tampa is they've adopted his personality. They can shit down their leg, and they still bounce back. You'll see. They'll be like the first weekend. They'll be down 21-3 in the second quarter.

Everybody said Tampa was going to be good, and then it'll be a close game in the fourth quarter. It's like how the Giants have adopted Ben McAdoo's personality. Have you seen his haircut? When are you getting Ben McAdoo on House of Carbs? Yeah, you should talk about the Ben McAdoo menu. I think you should. I really think you're missing an opportunity.

I think you're missing an opportunity. Did we hit everything, Tate? Yeah, we hit everything. I mean, this has been a great GM street, little combo. It's been good. Carolina? It's a combo platter. Are you going to let Tate easy on the Panthers or what? Yeah, I'll let him go. Because I think

he thinks they're going to go 12-4 and he's convinced himself that they're going to stay out the ND. I don't like what the Panthers did to their GM. I think their GM was trying to build the right team. I think the owner wants to give away money. Jerry's like in love with his players. I think their GM was trying to build the right team. I think the owner wants to give away money. Jerry's in love with his players. I think he is. It's like a love affair. I think that'll affect them,

but I like Carolina. Who wins the NFC North, just out of curiosity? I think Green Bay will win the North. Give me Zimmer all day. The NFC North could be bad this year. Chicago's not going to be very good. That could be like a 9-7 type. I don't think Detroit's coming back.

They were falling apart last year. I think Green, Chicago's not going to be very good. That could be like a 9-7 tie. I don't think Detroit's coming back. They were falling apart last year. So I think Green Bay. Green Bay's a little better on defense. If they can stay healthy, you know, still Sam check down Bradford. I don't know if you're going to win throwing check downs. Sam check down Bradford. Although, you know, I'll say this. I'll end the podcast with this.

Bortles loves a good check down. Thanks to St stamps.com. Buy and print official U.S. postage for any letter, any package, any class of mail. Use your own computer and printer. They'll send you a digital scale. Automatically calculate exact postage. You will never have to go to the post office again. Sign up for stamps.com.

Use promo code BS for a four-week trial plus postage plus a digital scale with no long-term commitments. Click on the microphone at the top of the stamps.com homepage, type in BS. Thanks to Princess Cruises. If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go? House said Sweden. Sweden. We're going to analyze that. You know, House, when they do those shows where they go to the food, I forget what the

name of them, you know, where they travel and do the food things all over the place? Chef's Table. I love Chef's Table. I'm addicted to Chef's Table. I love chef. I'm addicted to chef's table. I gotta love it. Right? Like when they, if it's Sweden,

I'm not watching. Like I'm not, I can't. Like what are we going to eat over there? Tessa's number one princess cruises choice. What are we going to eat? 360 destinations worldwide.

There's never been a better time to plan a vacation with princess cruises than during their most popular sale of the year, sip and sale. Book a balcony or above get the best all-inclusive beverage package at sea for free enjoy everything from cocktails

wine beer to soda especially coffee and smoothies you you like all of those things i love all you like gambling we might have to get you in a cruise house as you explore world famous destinations visit princess.com slash bs for details so gm street that's going to be on the NFL, the Ring of the NFL show. We're thinking it's going to be during the season. It's twice, right? We're going to do it twice. Oh, yeah. We're doing it twice.

We're finding out things live on the phone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's going to be twice during the season. Whatever we want to do, I'm happy. And then we got Mays and Clark as well, Tuesdays and Fridays. Danny Kelly, right? Oh, yeah. Danny Kelly's involved.

Yeah, we got a producer. Yeah, we're blowing out Ringer NFL show this year. Website looks great. Good for that. House, can't thank you enough. This is awesome. What did I do? You joined us.

I loved it. I loved it, too. Thank you for inviting me in. Thanks, House. Thanks, Tate. Thanks for doing GM Street on the BS Podcast. This is awesome. Thanks, Lombardi.

Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks to everyone out there. I think we have at least two BS podcast. This is awesome. Thanks, Lombardi. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks to everyone out there. I think we have at least two BS podcasts coming this week. It's a little slow, but it's about to heat up once football really starts to get going. Enjoy the weekend, everybody. I don't have feelings within On the wayside I'm a bruised soul

I never was I don't have feelings within