The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The MVP Case For Saquon Barkley (feat. Dianna Russini)

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Stugotz is going to be distracted all day as he monitors the sales of his Personal Record Book, but he's not going to apologize for that. That said, he does have the time to tell Lamar Jackson to do it in the playoffs even if he's headed toward winning a MVP. Speaking of MVP, Greg Cote thinks it's a shame Saquon Barkley has such low odds to win the award. Why can't we appreciate great running backs? Then, Tony delivers his Tony's Top 5 from the highest point in all of South Florida: the hill at Tropical Park. Tony touches Barkley and Brock Purdy and somehow celebrates a whole bunch of quarterbacks who lost games over the weekend. Plus, Dianna Russini is here to break down just how good Barkley and the Eagles are, Lane Johnson's impact, a QB who played like a "little chicken," Aaron Rodgers' market for next year, and tell us how she accidentally made Eric Mangini answer questions about coaching the Jets next season. She also offers praise for Stugotz's Personal Record Book and reads her blurb from the back cover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We'd love to talk business. Welcome to the Big Sui presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants

just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries that if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face and the habitual liar. Stugatz is in full self-involvement mode. They're counting down and he's just yelling,

I'm counting sales, it's doing great. And he just, he's very excited and we're excited for him. What were you saying as I had to wave you off because they were counting us in live and you didn't know and you were counting your numbers? When they're, Dan, when you write a book and you become an author and hopefully you'll be able

to experience that one day, you get something called an author portal and I have a username and a password and today I remembered it for the first time because today the book is on sale. I am telling you, there are a few things better than watching a live count of your book selling. Like watching the number go up. It is fantastic. Audience, thank you so much. I did this for you.

Yeah. No, I do the same thing every week. Yo, chicken thigh. That's not right. I didn't know he was. That's not right. That's what you do. Of course you would. I do the same thing every week with the Greg Cody Show podcast numbers. I'm counting them. They're going up. Of course you would. I do the same thing every week with the Greg Cody Show podcast numbers. I'm counting them, they're going up,

they're rocketing, they're rocketing. It's good for your self-esteem. You know what else is a thrill? The day that, and it happens with every book, Dan, you don't know this, but it happens with every book that you write. You get a shipment, a box of 40 or 50 books arrives at your house. Yes. And you open that box and you see stacks of the book that you wrote. It's

a thrill. It really, it was emotional when that happened to me. I'm serious. We'll see if Stanzyk picks up those books for Stugatz and brings them to his house so that Stugatz won't be home when he comes over. I have them in the car right now tony i don't want to for you for the staff i did i did i'd like to see it please uh... tony is joining us now diana russini is joining us in a little bit we're gonna go football intensive i miss my brother last night because you had the mannings over here the hardballs over there the kelsey's over there a lot

of brothers dominating our media airwaves. And Tony and Diana Rusini are gonna carry us through. Baltimore ends up beating the Chargers. And I feel like I have this right, right? For as unpredictable as that sport could be, we're like all just sitting around, you can give me all the metrics you want. And Baltimore's a little bit better than the Chargers. I don't know why I know that.

Charger defense is great, but yeah, Lamar Jackson is going to do that to everybody except like a couple of teams. They're like a couple of teams, but they're important teams that he's got to do it again. It's the Chiefs, Steelers, or playoff teams. But I'm saying any team seeing Lamar Jackson for the first time, it's like a spaceship has landed on the field, except the ones who play them all the time. Yeah, that's true. Pittsburgh has his number. That was the best defense in the league. Lamar Jackson did that too. Yes, but I would say 18 yards at one point in the second quarter. I think he's on his way to his third MVP Lamar Jackson is the

guy in sports now. He is the guy across all sports that needs to do it in the postseason. He is. He's the new guy. Wait, Josh Allen moment bought him nothing because you forgot about him during a bye week. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Not excellent. Like an MVP performance. No, it was, we all saw the signature moment. Mike, he has two MVPs. He's six and six in the postseason. Like he just had good. It's gotta be Josh. We're, we're obsessed with quarterbacks winning the MVP awards. Saquon Barkley is the MVP of the NFL at this point. And you know where he is in the betting odds? About 14th or 15th. That's ridiculous. You know what? No one's ever come around and corrected

because the book on Lamar Jackson was, you gotta get this guy help. Look at the amount of first round draft picks as help that they've gotten Lamar Jackson. They got him one of the greatest running backs of all time too in the off season. They have done a great job building out that roster. Mike, that organization quietly, because we can have this conversation around Lamar Jackson every year,

move the goalposts, yeah, MVP doesn't matter. I need to see see in the playoffs quietly the ravens one of the best-run organizations in all of sports but had the misfortune of playing with the patriots were grabbing so many of the championship and we're changing the entire shifting culture in the men third-placer loser if your third best even if your third best for fifteen

years with different quarterbacks, loser. Tony, where are you? You're standing somewhere and I don't recognize it. Are you on the top, on the highest hill in all of South Florida? Dano, in the shadow of the Palmetto, in the shadow of winter wonderland or whatever, the Ferris wheel, we're at the top of the highest point in Southwest Miami-Dade. We're at the top of the Tropical Park Hill. As you can see, we've got everything around here. Kids learning how to ride bike. We've got a bunch of kites and trees from kids that failed to fly kites in Miami. We've got vultures flying around. There might be a dead raccoon somewhere. I am feeling extremely grateful to show you guys one of the hidden gems of our city, the Tropical Park Hill, Dan.

Right there is where John Ruiz's stadium is going to be, right behind Tony. Right over, yeah, right over my right shoulder, right over there. Billy, weren't you supposed to, as a grid of death punishment six years ago, supposed to run to the highest point in South Florida? I've never seen video of that. Did you ever pay that punishment? Well, I mean, I've done it many a times. They asked me to do it this morning because he was going to be there. But they said get there at nine. And I was like, the show needs me. I can't just be here at nine and show up to the show at 1030 after I finished doing that. So we're going to get to it in a later date.

TBD. Well, six years old. Yeah. Well, I mean, what do you want me to do? I'm going to just miss the show today to go run up the highest point. It'll take all day. I want you to pay your penalties within six years. He's getting to it. I'm going to just miss the show today to go run up the highest point. It'll take all day. I want you to pay your penalties within six. He's getting to it. I'm trying Tony. Oh, I Dan. Oh, first I want to say that Tony's top five is presented by door dash.

Get all your game day faves delivered. Head to DraftKings.com slash door dash to play for free restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Dan, we're going to start off. Like you said, in the OLI, it's Thanksgiving week. And what I wanted to do as part of the OLI is to stop and appreciate the football we had on Sunday

with four incredible games that went down to the wire. Dan, we're going to be missing this in June. So I wanted to give a shout out, wanted to give flowers to the NFL for providing incredible games going into Thanksgiving. Which is it? Are you shouting or are you giving them flowers? Are you doing both? Are you shouting or are you giving them flowers? Are you doing both? Are you shouting them out while giving them flowers?

Yeah, I'm shouting out cause they're kind of far away. So I'm shouting out here. Okay. As I extend the flowers. I get it. Yeah. How high are you? Oh, look, talk to that guy.

You want to interview that guy? Look there, a jogger just went by somebody. Look at these mountain climbers. Look at them Yes, look at me Louie guys having a good workout Good workout. Yeah Yeah, they suit so Dan if you if you look over behind me There's some kids that are gonna struggle mightily to try and get their little bikes up this rocky terrain because there's actually no Grass there. It's straight straight gravel. I think a bird just wear a be just for my mouth. Excuse me. It's

gonna be tough. Yeah, again, it's high up here. They're pollinating all the flowers. No hive around. Okay. Oh, well, I'm vultures in the back over there to you've mentioned that. Do you smell the raccoon? Is there dead raccoon? Is it you smell the raccoon? There might raccoon is it you smell the raccoon there might be there's Obviously being upwind we smell something and they're circling above me, so I'm gonna try and make this fast Maybe it might be me then that they're trying to be yeah Little lazy bum yeah, they made it though He's got an electric bike man a ride on the bike

Come on. Oh look. They're helping. He's helping a ride up on the bike. Cheater. Come on. Oh, look, they're helping. He's helping them. Let's not zoom in on the kids, please. Hell yeah. All right. That's a good job by that kid. Good job by the executive producer. That's a good job by that kid, Cody's kid.

Team players. All right. Last of the OLIs. It was a beautiful Disney Channel moment for Bryce Young on Sunday. He lost. The reason why I say Disney Channel, yeah, but it's a Disney Channel moment, Dan. The reason why is because Bryce Young is the kid that nobody wanted on their

high school football team. All of a sudden the star quarterback gets injured. He gets thrown in. He's playing the big bad team from across the city and all of a sudden you think they're gonna win. They're trying. They're fighting hard. He's making incredible plays. They end up losing, but we all know the heartwarming story of you never give up and you always fight till the end And that was a beautiful Disney Channel moment for Bryce young. He was the number one draft pick with the kids Kids made it down the hill by the way Nice, you got to roll down the hill. That's what we used to do as kids at the tropical park hill you roll down sideways Get dizzy. I'm not gonna lie, I expected more from this hill.

You guys really built this thing up. No, you're not seeing it. You're seeing it from the top. It's a lame hill. Yeah, I'm at the top, person. Those trees behind him are probably- It's a thousand feet down. Yeah, those trees are probably like 150 feet tall.

If Jay Leno fell off of this thing, he wouldn't live to tell the tale. Se muere. No, se muere, se muere. Number five. Number five Jaden Daniels new nickname Dan the magician. Do you know why I don't know why what because he makes victories disappear. He always seems to pull a rabbit out of a hat when the commies need it most

They lost what he didn't do this always does but but he did They lost because of the long snapper the long snapper through a past that back down snap The the holder did it tried to do his best seabird missed it by a mile Jaden Daniels at the six yard line through a 94 yard pass to Terry McLaurin for the game tying touchdown. A game they never should have been behind it. He threw like a 12 yard pass to Terry McLaurin who did all the work. Tony, how can you celebrate Jaden Daniels after that particular game losing that game? How does that get into your top 5? The magician, Dan, always pulls the rabbit out of the hat.

Somehow, someway, he just always just always does accept the last Hail Mary that pass great last time Guy Greg Cody hates that as an option. I mean, you know pick a game when he's actually the hero in a nice victory I mean come on the hammering Number four. Thank you. Number four. Stu gots is going to love this one.

Baker is the Al Horford of the NFL. Yeah, trifecta guts. Guile Moxie. If you give me 11 Baker Mayfields across the field, terrible team. I'm winning that football game. My God, you're getting crushed in the trenches. You're going to get bulldozed. Did you see the Baker Mayfield block 30 yards downfield?

It's the second time he's done that. It's crazy. 56 yards. Yes. And I will remind you, I'll hoerfer to the NFL. I will remind you, he's got experience. He was running scout team DN for the Carolina Panthers. I think I'd put him like a two spots on the field,

like quarterback and maybe tight. Your defensive line is getting bulldozed if you've got four fake heels. Slow as receivers too. Yeah, but the vibes are gonna be immaculate. Exactly right. Zins are gonna be overflowing boys. Number three.

There's the guy we were promised. Caleb Williams special on Sunday. Dan, did you see the throw to DJ Moore over two safeties to force overtime? Do you have any winners in your list of top vibes? Like anybody who won a football game this weekend. First off, yeah, Baker one. Thank you, Mike. It's your list, Tony, but Caleb Williams. Thank you. He made four plays that were incredible

plays. Did you see him roll out of the pocket, jump over a guy, throw the ball 45 yards down the field over the shoulder to Deandre Swift. Did you see that play down? Yes. Yes. For play game when he played game, when he played, that's a winning play. How about the one where he was in the pocket? Money pocket broke down, jumped over a defender and then got a first down. Winning player. Another game. None of them were winning plays because they lost their winning plays in my book.

Your personal record book. You're talking about results. You're talking about results. I'm talking about the process. The pass over the middle to DJ more was an absolute laser It had mustard It was I don't know if you guys will get that reference a great throw. I don't know if you guys will get that reference but somebody will ah

Thank you. Okay, perfect number two Saquon Barkley's is on pace for the greatest statistical season in Saquon Barkley is on pace for the greatest statistical season in running back history and is making it look easy. Week in and week out. He should win the MVP. Thank you. He should win the MVP, but he won't because we love quarterback stamp. That was Greg Cody's take. No, no, No. Yeah, I heard it. I heard it. I was here at the top of the hill climbing for 40 minutes. It's cool. I was at the top of the hill climbing for 40 minutes. Oh, did we keep you waiting? Sorry.

We were doing a show. Yeah, yeah. Apologies. Apologies. It's okay. No, it's all good. It's all good. Number one, Brock Purdy. Congratulations on the 2024 NFL MVP. It's all yours, buddy. Dan, your buddy Charles Barkley talks about bus drivers

and bus passengers. When did we figure out, I think it was on Sunday, that Brock Perdy, bus driver for the 49ers. We thought it was all the weapons. We thought it was Debo. We thought it was Christian McCaffrey. We thought it was Trent Williams. We got a coach that's great in Shanahan.

It's incredible, everything's great. Until you sub in Brandon Allen and you're like, ooh, that looks terrible. Why? Oh, maybe Brock Purdy might be the MVP of the league. Who knows? Dano, that's Tony's top five from the top of the Tropical Park Hill,

the hidden gem of South Florida right here where families come to enjoy, vultures come to scavenge. All you want, all you need right here at the TP thank you Tony we appreciate it a celebration of losers there with the 49ers at the end what he says of Saquon I don't really want to do that show but can you explain to me as a group why it is that Tony and Greg and every time I look up at any of the NFL programming, they're arguing who should be the MVP of the league every week for the last couple of weeks of programming and why can't we just say that there are five or six really valuable players?

Well you can't do that. You have to pick someone. That's the job. It comes with the territory. It can't be Saquon Barkley. I just can't, I'm sorry. The Eagles made the playoffs the three years prior to getting Saquon Barkley. The Eagles made it to a Super Bowl without Saquon Barkley. The Giants would be no better with Saquon Barkley. It has to go to a quarterback because that position is simply the most important position in sports, period.

If I may hold up a stat to counter argue getting 200 plus touches no one has had this yards per carry outside of Jamal Charles and Jim Brown okay NFL history so far his yards per carry is insane when you consider his output he's having an insane season I'm not doubting that or questioning that I'm just saying the Eagles were good before he got there they were a play away from winning a Super Bowl without him. And they were also figured out. And he's provided them a much needed extra dimension because they didn't have much if

they didn't get that from Saquon Barker. Okay, but they got there with Miles Sanders, who's playing in Carolina doing nothing now. Different team, they've been figured out. Yeah, they're 1-7 in a row now. I think other than Detroit, I think they may be the best team in the league. It's a refreshing season when Patrick Mahomes has not given the MVP award. I don't think he's even in the top 10.

This is an extraordinary season for Saquon Barkley. He could rush for 2,000 yards. I'm just saying, if you have a season where he's doing that and you don't have a quarterback having that extraordinary season, and you don't have a quarterback having that extraordinary season and you can make an argument for Josh Allen or whoever you want. I think it's absurd that he's 15th in the betting odds. That's all I'm saying. Alright guys, the seasons are changing. You know what that means? Time to layer it up

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See sportsbook.draftkings.com slash promos for additional terms and responsible gaming resources. Don LeBretard. Ron, I can't walk around my house naked because I fear that the cat would be traumatized. Stugats. Like if your cat or dog suddenly saw you nude walking around your house, how would they react to that? What would they think?

Probably wondering why I don't have spines at the end of my penis. Yeah, like a cat. This is the Don LeBattar Show with the Stugats. Let's do this here. Diana Rossini is on with us. She is married to a Lunatic Eagles fan. And if that Lunatic Eagles fan were listening right now, he would say to us, hey, you guys

do realize you guys have been talking a lot about the 49ers skill guys for a long time. But she told us about five weeks ago when people were questioning this, hey, the Eagles are obviously one of the good teams in the league. Whether you think they've figured out Jalen Hurts, whether you believe in Jalen Hurts or not whether you believe Jalen Hurts is Brock Purdy Those skill guys are crazy. Those wide receivers are crazy and you add Saquon Barkley to that I'm talking about when I say crazy I'm like I know Goddard's not Kittle but I wouldn't want to try and be covering that dude like I don't know how you they've got one of those mutant tight ends and they don't need him very much because

Their other skill guys are so good and now they've got a of those mutant tight ends and they don't need him very much because their other skill guys are so good And now they've got a running back that has made the entire Giants organization collapse in his wake the whole thing fell into the sewer the moment that he left and we watched on television on hard Knocks how they got rid of say Quan Barclay trying to save dollars and coupons over here as you lose your locker room because they're saying Why'd you guys pay Daniel Jones before you paid this guy? We know the freaky is the problem with the giants is it's not letting Saquon go. Again, they weren't very good with them. The team wouldn't be any good with him this year. It's who they let them go to.

That is the problem. Letting them go to Philadelphia is a problem for the giant. My point is though, where we talk about the 49ers for the last five years and talk about Trent Williams, that offensive line has been the best unit in the sport for many years now. And so you put all of those skilled guys behind that offensive line and Diana,

your husband has a lot of reasons to be happy because he knows how good his football team is. Yeah, things are good over here, especially with that offensive line in Philly. You make a good point because I thought that they would regress without Jason Kelsey. That was the biggest storyline about Philadelphia headed into the season of how would Jeff Stoutland, the offensive line coach, figure out a way to make this team good. Oh, we've got Mackay Bechtin now from the Jets. He stunk there. Guess who's good now?

Mackay Bechtin, right? Really good coaching and being in a locker room with really good skilled players has improved his level of play. Right. Really good coaching and being in a locker room with really good skilled players has improved his level of play. So, yeah, things the idea Sunday in general, like just Sunday as a whole for Philadelphia and New York, it just it was so entertaining to just watch the collapse of one team. But and the celebration of another because of that one team, because of the other team, because of their rival. I mean, New York by four o'clock, by the time we were having dinner, I was just thinking, man, this is so hard for the Giants right now. They moved on from Daniel Jones, something I think we can all agree here on the show that was probably the right thing to do.

They believe that Tommy Cutlets, Tommy DeVito, who we talked to his agent on the show last week, was gonna be that spark. He was the animal, right? The Italian stallion. Well, not much of a stallion, more like a little chicken. He wasn't great. Wow, wow, she called him a little chicken. She called Tommy Cutlets a little chicken.

I was sticking with the Rocky theme. I was sticking, I was thinking Rocky, Rocky. Oh, a little chicken, she called him. You know, the chicken that runs around. Yeah, I know. But I don't put it on him. I don't even put, the guy was the third string quarterback and the Giants thought this would be the answer.

This is gonna be the guy to give us the spark and try to recapture what we saw last season It is so difficult to do that. Meanwhile, you got Drew Locke who is on a, you know, five million dollar contract to be the backup quarterback. He's sitting there like... Wait a minute. Diana, what is that in front of you? I can't believe I've taken this long to get to it. What is that in front of you? Right in front of you. Near your right hand. Yes, there, Diana. Oh, wow. Look at that.

Oh my God. There it is. There it is. A live copy outside of the studio. Show us that it's not a prop. Show us that there are words in it and there are pictures and there are things in it. There are words in this thing. Just happens to have it. Yes. Look at that. Yes.

I go to my mailbox and I see this package and I, it's like Christmas at my front door every day. I get so excited when I get stuff, even though I bought it for myself and I ordered it most of the time. So I opened this up and I see that it's Stu's book and I've heard a lot about it. And he had asked me to write a review about it and just sort of pump his tires about how great this book is gonna be.

So I see this like little note in there. And I'm like, I'll be damn, John wrote me a personal note. Like he he's good. He finally opened up to say like, just thank you thank thanks for being you and supporting me all these years. Yep. This note was sent to every single person. It was not handwritten. It was handwritten one time and then photocopied. That's correct. Probably 150 other times.

Small budget. Not even a signature. My name wasn't even on it. I threw that thing right out. But I have had some time to take a look. My son, actually, my three-year-old son, Michael, lately, this is not, I'm not being funny, brings this in his crib.

I don't know why, but he's, I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get a picture of this thing tonight and send it to you guys. He sleeps with this in the crib. I don't know what's- This is because you've dated a bunch of Shawns, as you told us last week, and then you married a Philadelphia Eagles fan,

and you will absolutely give birth to a baby StuGods. Yes, you will. Yes, you are going to try and raise somebody who is more evolved and the Eagles fan is in your crib and he's going to get bigger. Now look, the question you should be asking is what other books are in there and what has he done to those other books?

He rips them. So he enjoys in the middle of the night when he can't sleep. He knows he's not allowed to get out of his crib, so he entertains himself and he just rips them up. He has not done that yet though. I just go in there, I get them out and it's there. Diana, did you write anything for this book? Is there anything?

She wrote a blurp for the book. It's promoting the book. I have her peg for chapter 12 of the next book, just so we're clear. Nice. And she had top for the book, it's promoting the book. I have her pegged for chapter 12 of the next book, just so we're clear. Pretty nice. And she had to pay for the book? No, she didn't have to pay for the book. I'm sure I did.

I'm sure I'm gonna see some charge on my Apple Pay somewhere, I'm just like, 23.99, Stu, like what? I don't know if I misheard you, Stu Gotts. What do you think she wrote for your book? A blurb. Oh, okay, I thought you called it a blurp, and I wasn What do you think she wrote for your book? A blurb. Oh, okay. I thought you called it a blurb and I wasn't sure whether you knew what the name.

A blurb. Diana, what was? Joe Buck wrote one, Diana Rossini. My thought was too, Stu knows I work for the New York Times now. The athletic was purchased by the Times. And my thought was, I know what he's doing. He's gonna try to get me to use the relationships I have

with the New York Times and try to see what Magic I can make and create to get him on the bestseller list. That's what I think this is about. This isn't about genuine You know thoughtfulness for me to have an enjoyable read or me to be part of this experience that he's doing This is this is about Stu getting on the best sellers list I I have to be honest with, that never dawned on me. I had no idea the athletic was owned by the New York Times

until you sent me a link to your column and I had to fire through a paywall and pay for it just to get to that column. But now you have me thinking. So I will call you after the show. We will discuss how you will go to your bosses at the New York Times and get this thing on the best seller list, which I think it already is.

Well, Diana, help us with this would you please do a commercial right now if you don't mind just read your blurb uh... to the camera with today is the big official selling of the books will help us sell the book read your blurb do a little commercial for the stew gots book which is available in bookstores now beginning to get today it is a real thing it exists it is one of the great achievements in the history available in bookstores now beginning to get today. It is a real thing. It exists. It is one of the great achievements in the history

of modern media, not just sports media, modern media. I gotta tell ya, I didn't even know what the book was about until they just opened this up. This is great. This has been sitting in my, you really wrote a book. I thought this was just about just dumb stuff. You have really good things in here. I like this line.

He even invites some of the biggest names in sports media, such as Scott Van Pelt and Mina Kimes to offer their rebuttals. Forgot about me maybe? No, I told you, next book, chapter 11. Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Yeah. Everyone who feels left out because I didn't ask them to write in

this book I promise you there's an next one. Diana that's not much of a commercial can you give me the commercial read your blurb on the back is your blurb on the back? Oh my gosh it is! It is on the back I just noticed that. Okay everyone go out this is the perfect holiday gift to give your family members, the biggest sports fan in your life. It'll keep you entertained. And I can tell you from personal experience, reading this book at least five times by now,

that it's like going on a lazy river of Stu Gotts' mind. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I didn't want the ride to end. Go out, purchase Stu Got gots his new bump. Wow. Chicken time! What? Hey, enough of the chicken!

Enough of these chickens! Stand afraid of the weekly fantasy contest! Long blurb! The weekly fantasy contest? You called him a chicken, you called Tommy Cutlet a chicken, and it reminded me of the scarring yesterday of Mike and Billy bullying me into that damn listener league by calling me a chicken. Diana, Lane Johnson, and I don't want to obsess

about the Eagles here, but when I see the stats on Lane Johnson in terms of never has a holding penalty, never allows a sack, and is just a beast who at one point had a steroid problem that needed a babysitter because he's, you know, he's a violent person who I wouldn't want to be blocked by. Is he Trent Williams for the Eagles? Is he exact?

Because Trent Williams, everyone says that he is the best lineman in the league, but the stats I see on Lane Johnson are nobody ever gets near the quarterback around him. Yeah, I think it's okay for them to be their own, to be individual, to compare them is also fair, because you're right, in terms of what they're able to do for their team and how they're able

to protect their quarterback and the offense that he's been able to really handle over the last year, which we've seen some bumps. And I think that's where you gotta give Lane Johnson a lot of credit here with all the different quarterbacks he's had to protect. And now you look at what Trent Williams is doing and he's still consistently the best in football. But if we're going to debate this and argue it, Lane Johnson needs to be in the conversation as one of the best left tackles in football without a doubt. Diana, the Jets found a way to lose the bye week,

it would seem, and there seemed to be some residual stories that sprouted out of this story that came out earlier in the week about Woody Johnson saying, perhaps at one point in the season, arguing to bench Aaron Rodgers. What's going on out there? How does this story end? Yeah. Let's go backwards a little bit. So remember they play the Denver Broncos, end of September. It's that rainy day at MetLife field and Bo Nix stinks too.

He's got like 60 yards passing, but Aaron Rogers isn't that great either. And everyone panics after that game, right? They lose to a rookie quarterback at home. What are we gonna do? So the next day is essentially the meeting of the minds. Every important person with the New York Jets organization, including the coaching staff, met with ownership. And they sat and they just each individually had to go

and explain to the room what they are doing to improve this team, how their units are going to get better over the next few weeks. And Woody Johnson has a tendency to blurt out ideas and things that are often read as suggestions as things that he wants the team under him to do. So he said, well, we should bench Aaron Rodgers. Now people in that room that are close to Woody Johnson have shared that he was saying that in jest. Bench Aaron Rodgers to get a reaction out of the room.

The coaching staff took that seriously as the owner of the Jets wants us to bench the guy that we moved mountains for to make happy and to get here in New York. So at the time the head coach was Robert Sala, the GM was Joe Douglas, Nathaniel Hackett was the offensive coordinator at the time and they essentially were able to have a conversation

with Woody to say, this is not what we're gonna do. This isn't right. One coach even laughed and questioned, is he being serious right now? So after that, Robert Sala got fired a week later. From what I understand, one had nothing to do with the other. It's not like Woody fired Robert Sala because he did not listen to that suggestion the week prior.

But now here we are. They're coming off the buy. Obviously, Joe Douglas is out. Robert now here we are. They're coming off the buy. Obviously Joe Douglas is out. Robert Sala is out. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich spoke to the media yesterday and he said that Aaron Rodgers is going to start against the Seattle Seahawks this weekend at MetLife Stadium. But there's a lot of conversations being had right now around the league about what the Jets are going to do in regards to Aaron Rodgers. There's some people who think that because he's dealing with some injuries

that aren't all out there, he's pretty banged up. Like a lot of people are this time of year. Is there an option to put him on IR? Is there an option to just sit him? Diana, hold on a second. Wasn't there a report that he refused to do anything with scans? Like this seemed like some convenient

leaking all of a sudden as we're talking about benching him. Now he's all banged up with an assortment of injuries that he refuses to get scanned on. To your point, Diana, who gets away with just saying no to scans? And also, like Dan said, that's awfully convenient. There's this narrative of him being hurt, but there's also no proof of him being hurt. Yeah, I had heard all season that he was banged up. Everyone was telling me about this. But you're right, nothing has been formal or on the injury report or even spoken about from the New York Jets about what Rogers has been dealing with. And look, I look at it as a

bit like when you're going through a breakup, it's a little bit of a chase of who's going to get there first to say that I want it out first. That's the way it feels to me at this point, because I think the Jets are ready to move on from this chapter. I think Aaron Rodgers is ready to move on from this chapter. He wants to keep playing. I just don't believe that Aaron Rodgers wants to play

for the New York Jets. And the New York Jets are now in a position where they're hiring former GM Mike Tannenbaum to come into, you know, they're essentially going in the past to improve their future here. And they're going to try to figure out that part. Funny to get Rick Spielman and Tannenbaum the higher Rex Ryan to fail Dolphin. Daniel love this because you get annoyed with me about this stuff as well. So I write a Saturday morning column

that you guys always read every morning. Thank you so much for the feedback on it too. Every Saturday, not every morning. It's not every morning. I wish it were every morning. Oh, I don't have time for that. I do write a newsletter every morning. You should subscribe to it, it's for free.

Just gives you everything you need to know around the league. But Saturday morning I write a what I'm hearing column at the everything you need to know around the league. But Saturday morning, I read a, a what I'm hearing column at the athletic. It publishes around 10 a.m. And this past week, I wrote about Rex Ryan's very public campaign to be the next head coach to the Jets, which good for him. He knows where the bodies are buried.

This is somebody's believes in what he can do. He knows what this team needs, but I looked at as somebody that has watched his organization for the last 20 years, never seemed to have the answer. And I suggested if you're gonna go back and retread, get Eric Mangini. The guy drafted Hall of Famers, Daryl Rebus, Debricka-Shop Ferguson,

like there's so many players that he was able to find. I know we laugh at that like Mangenius error, but when you look back at it, a lot of the success the Jets had with Rex Ryan came from the building blocks of what Eric Mangini was doing back then. So I make this suggestion. Well, well, well, well.

Headline, Fox yesterday, Eric Mangini candidate New York Jets, and he's on the show and they're asking him, do you want to be the head coach, candidate New York Jets. And he's on the show and they're asking him, do you wanna be the head coach of the New York Jets? And you see it in his face, like, I mean, what? Yeah, but what? And he actually had a great reaction live on the air. He was like, of course,

because the way it works in the coaching cycle, when you buy a house, you get fired. When you sell a house, you get hired. And he had just sold his house in New Jersey that he bought when he was the head coach of the Jets. That's how bad the market has been. He finally was able to get it sold. So it was a great lesson of just people don't read, people read what they wanna read.

And I do think the Jets, unfortunately, have been such a circus of dysfunction that I could have said Bob the Builder was going to be the highest recommendation coming out of Mike Tannenbaum's mouth. And people would debate if Bob the Builder could do a better job. Diana, you should float out there in a newsletter in one of your columns that Adam Gase is interested in and see if that gets any traction. When Tannenbaum got hired, I started to see some of that. in one of your columns that Adam Gase is interested and see if that gets any traction. Because he's still available.

When Tannenbaum got hired, I started to see some of that. And Billy, you're the perfect person to talk to about getting misrepresented in the spicy clips that our shows like to do. I know what they did to you. It's dirty. It's terrible. A crime.

I'm asking you guys, what is the answer, right? Credibility is my currency. It is all I have. So if I get misquoted, misrepresented, because somebody else didn't read it the right way, do you respond? Do you just put out your article? Like, I don't know what the right thing to do.

I try to be the bigger thing to do. Especially- I try to be the bigger person, Diana. Which is? I just let it go. I let my reputation speak for itself and then everyone else will figure it out. Yes, let the work speak for itself. That's it.

God bless football. The award winning God bless football. You guys did it to me too though. You did it to me too. I fought them on it. Remember we talked about Daniel Jones and I said this was before the players came back in the building. I said, look, there are some hard conversations

being had right now about possibly sticking with him, which was the truth, right? All I said was it was being discussed, that it was an option. We clipped you. Our social media people, they're assassins. They trapped you. You took me out by the knees.

Yes, that's right. Oh, I see trapped you. They did. They clipped you. You took me out by the knees. Yes, that's right. Total, yes. Oh, I see the comments. Asshole. Bro, we're seeing you in a Levitard thing. Daniel Jones is gonna start. That's right. Hate you guys.

Asshole, social media assholes. Thank you, Diana. Good seeing you. Oh, I'm sorry, Billy's got something else. Yeah, Diana, why is Mike Raible still out there? Is he just kind of waiting for the off season? Is no one reaching out to him? Cause like everyone mentions his name

every time there's a firing, but it doesn't seem to be getting any traction yet. Because most teams are, they want to wait for the season to end. No team is just going, like, let's say, let's say just for this example, the Jets get rid of Jeff Ulbrich. They're not going to fire an interim head coach

to bring him on. They kind of want to wait for this thing to wrap up. And remember, he's a consultant for the Cleveland Browns. So teams have to go through that process of putting in a request for him during the playoffs like we see every season or at least in January. Excuse me. So yeah, he's going to be, I will be shocked if he doesn't interview for at least three teams. Diana, how many teams, if Aaron Rodgers wants to continue to play next season but doesn't

want to play for the Jets, how many teams would be interestedgers wants to continue to play next season but doesn't want to play for the Jets, how many teams would be interested in Aaron Rodgers? I'm actually currently writing about that today for the weekend. I think this is one of those scenarios where first Aaron's got to figure out what he wants to do here. And really take a look at himself and his age and his injury situation. The reason why I also strongly believe Aaron Rodgers doesn't wanna stop playing is he does not want this.

Yeah, why would you? This can't be the way that it ends. Gigantic blemish. This is one of the great quarterbacks of all time. He chose this though. No, I understand, but you would also understand why he wouldn't want this as the ending. He chose it, but he's also looking at the scenario

and going through these experiences like, what? Like he can't believe the stuff that he's experiencing and seeing in the decisions being made. He's never dealt with something like this in terms of ownership down. So I think he's gonna wanna at least give himself one more season to just see if he's got something left in the tank to give an organization

that's run really well. Diana, thank you for being on with us she's the senior nfl insider for the athletic she's the host of the very popular scoop city and she is a blurb writer for still got his personal record book i did say it i know you did