The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1401 - NFL KICKOFF THURSDAY, Cowboys vs. Eagles Preview, Adam Schefter, Peter Schrager, Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys preview tonight’s NFL kickoff game between the Cowboys and Eagles, which currently sits at Eagles -8.5, and break down everything about the game before making their picks against the spread. Joining the show to chat about all the last items that need to be covered before the start of the season including Nik Bonitto signing a massive extension with the Broncos, other extensions, his thoughts on tonight’s game, how the Eagles were another suitor for Micah Parsons, the Giants selling 10% to the Koch brothers for $1 billion, and more. Next, ESPN NFL analyst/insider/host, and host of the new podcast The Schrager Hour, Peter Schrager joins the show to give a few predictions for the season. Lastly, Super Bowl Champion, former Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers and most recently the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy joins the progrum to discuss tonight’s game, what he likes about Dallas’ roster this year, his perspective on the Micah Parsons situation, and to announce that he’ll be joining the progrum every Thursday this year. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our Humble Abode, the Thunderdome, on this NFL kickoff Thursday, September 4, 2025. This program begins now. Football! It is happening tonight for the NFL. It has been 207 days since the Super Bowl, where we saw the Philadelphia Eagles become world champions in a dominating fashion over the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, tonight, they will have their banner celebration as they have. host, the Dallas Cowboys, in an eight and a half point spread, kickoff to an NFL season that is going to be the greatest in the history of the National Football League.

Dak Prescott and the boys head into the city, a brotherly love to take on Jalen Hertz, an offensive line that has been touted as the greatest of all time, and Sequin Barclay with Coach Siriani locked in for the future. Are the Philadelphia Eagles in the middle of building a dynasty? We shall see if they kick off in a great way tonight. so many storylines, so many things to talk about, so many things to be excited about because tomorrow, Chiefs and Chargers down in Brazil. We get Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Travis Kelsey, Taylor Swiss, future husband. That's right. And Jim Harbaugh, all on television for

something that matters. And then Saturday is going to be a packed day of college football greatness. And then Sunday, we have a full slate. And we have Scott Hanson in the Red Zone Channel all the way back. Now, we made some news yesterday. We had Scott Hanson. on the show. Got a chance to see the setup that he has behind the scenes, the green screen, the podium that he stands at. Turns out there was no bottle or catheter in there. That's right. Look like there was a tube down at the bottom. Something weird. That he may be peed into, but he promised that it was just for electrical purposes to keep maybe a light on the podium or whatever. But he confirmed that there would no longer be seven hours of commercial free football

starts now. It'll actually be seven hours of red zone football starts now. Obviously that became a firestorm across a football viewer's world on the internet. A lot of people were saying they're pissed off about that. I responded to Scott Hansen was saying, we don't care. Now when I said we, I did think that I was speaking for a large portion of people, but when I said we don't care, what I meant was we're still going to watch. We're still going to watch. And the only reason why I say that is because they started rolling in advertisements in the Red Zone channel last year. Started with LRAPs. They had Christian McCaffrey out there looking cool. And as soon as I saw the Christian McCaffrey LRAP on there,

which every once in a while we'll do here on this commercial-free, Pat McAfee show that happens every single day whenever we're alive, Monday through Friday, hour-long commercial-free. But if you look right around us here, that would be considered an advertisement. That's right. So I think what had happened was whenever the Red Zone Channel started running this, which is run by the NFL, by the way. I was called an ESPN and a Disney show for saying we don't care about the commercials being at it.

What I don't think I said properly was, obviously, it's not as good if we're at. adding commercials, whenever it was just pure with no commercials, and we had paid for an upgrade of a product so we don't have to see commercials. That was better. But as soon as they started seeing a little bit of money from those LRAPs, I think all of us that have seen or been around the NFL for a long time just assumed that the commercials would be on the way. I was calling the ESPN at Disney Shill for saying that. Look at this tweet. I mean, look at this tweet. I miss you. I miss when you weren't paid by ESPN to lie since Kenny with a middle finger to me, okay? With a middle finger. There was thousands of those calling me and ESPN.

And ESPN and Disney don't even have Red Zone channel next year. I think it's two years they might not even have it. So ESPN and Disney aren't even involved with the Red Zone channel at this exact moment with this commercial being added. It would actually, I think, be Google in YouTube TV. So unless Disney called Google on YouTube TV and say, hey, can you guys add some commercials? So that when we get it in a couple of years, when our show, this show right here, might not even be with ESPN and Disney whenever the time comes for Red Zone to be with ESPN and Disney. so that would be like Google would be the one making that decision if you thought it was the advertiser or the networks that were making the decision

the red zone's an NFL operated thing the NFL is the one deciding who's doing that they were just licensing the content that's coming through so I was attacked a lot different ways I'm out of touch okay because I say I don't care about it it's like what I meant to say is we'll still watch sure because we will yeah yeah don't get it twisted the red zone now they're saying it's going to be a play through method where they're going to run a commercial while you're still going to be able to see everything happening on the right side. Golf started doing this a lot. Yep. A lot of the play-through stuff. Brian Rollap, former head of the media of NFL,

now actually the president of the PGA or the chairman, I forget his title, whatever, he has moved over to the PGA, a big golf fan. So maybe there is a play-through type situation that's happening. So I'd like to apologize for saying we don't care. And pseudo-representing a lot of people, what I meant was, we're going to watch. And if you had a brain, you knew the NFL was going to do this. and me shilling for ESPN or Disney. That's interesting. Just listen to the show kind of every single day. The toxic table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt.

One half of the Hammer. Cowboys AP Tone is here. Connor, I'm going to start with you buddy. You've been floating as you've been rolling around this Thunderdome. You woke up this morning just singing a different tune. You were flapping your wings pretty damn good. What an exciting day. 207 days since the last

time we got to say there's an actual NFL football game. That one was the Super Bowl. This one kicking off the greatest season of all the time. a beautiful day con man yeah it's the best and really nothing can bring me down today you know i drove into work this morning and i was feeling great at the windows down i thanked a soldier for his service he told me basically shut up because the way i look which if you could picture in the morning i also have purple sunglasses on so i was really feeling myself and i got all the happy dogs on because it just feels like this is what today's all about the more i thought about football coming back it's just

the more you think about the emotion of the game you know it sucks when your team is terrible. You know, it sucks when your team you think should be better. And it's great when your team is amazing. And it feels as though everyone on this stage, everyone in the back, everyone in this building, everyone in the world thinks that their team can be good this year right now.

Hopefully. The athletic actually put out an opposition meter and they pulled a bunch of NFL fans from around the league and asked them, you know, if they're optimistic or pessimistic. Up there. Broncos fans, 99% optimistic. Now, once again, these are people that signed up to do this survey. Sure. Probably very active on the internet, if I had to guess. And also very active fans online. Broncos most optimistic Philadelphia Eagles, 98%. We'll see if that continues. Yeah. We like the way Philadelphia fans kind of easy come, easy go. What have you done for me in the last 10 minutes type fan base?

Remember the last time they had a banner night in Philadelphia? The team was getting booed into halftime. That's right. Won a Super Bowl last year. What have you done for me this first half? Nothing. That could happen again. Siriani is saying he didn't even know his banner night because he doesn't want any of the distractions. Love that their fans are at 98%. Ride in the high of the Super Bowl World Championship, you should do that. Buccaneers, they love Baker down there. Ravens good, Lions good, Bill's good, Rams.

They were like, hey, everybody's talking about how great the Philadelphia Eagles were. How about us last year in the playoffs? We were one possession away from beating the Philadelphia Eagles and ruining that entire story. Chiefs fans, I feel like always going to be optimistic with Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes to them. Texans fans back up there. We had a bad year last year. That's not going to happen again. Vikings, Bears, fans, okay, outside of Chicago.

I don't know if there's as much optimism inside Chicago. Love that there is optimism. Seahawks fans, never talk about Seattle. We appreciate that you guys are jacked up. Patriots fans, we see that. The 19% I think are just naturally always going to be a 19% around the city of Boston and New England area. Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

There's always going to be a 20% group of people that are like, nah, shit ain't good. Like that's going to happen, I think. Then you just start rolling through the rest of the list. Who's down there at the bottom? Oh, no. Oh, shoot. 93% pessimistic.

Indianapolis, Colts fans. I will say the people that are taking these surveys, I think, are probably big-time believers. Okay. Because we ran into a lot of these people, not from Indianapolis. They picked up the Colts as their team, I think, because Anthony Richardson came here and how exciting Anthony Richardson was going to be, young group of Colts fans. I don't think they know a lot about anything that has happened before or didn't experience it before, but they were very passionate, and we respected and appreciated that.

And then when it goes the way it goes with AR and everything kind of happens, they get very pissed off at everybody else but AR. sure you know so they're mad at obviously chris ballard they're mad at coach stuyken for not developing him they're mad at ownership in the building so obviously i think they are very upset with the indianapolis colts as a whole and hey i don't think the colts have done a lot over the past i don't know how many years it should say you should be that optimistic but i think there is certainly a group of fans that would definitely take an online survey that would say this colts team's the dumbest franchise in history because they potentially believe that ar was going to be the greatest quarterback of all the time and you can pull me down as a believer at the beginning sure and at the end In the middle when I was hearing things in the way it was going, I wasn't necessarily all in. Still young, still has a chance, but Colts fans that jumped on board because of him, they certainly think that everything's downhill.

Danny Dimes knows the 93% is betting against him. Exactly. Same with DeForest Buckner and the boys. But what we're saying is all these teams, no matter how optimistic your fans are, all have a chance to win a Super Bowl. One half of the Hammer, God. Cowboys AP Tone is here.

Your Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance this year, it feels like, got to beat the Jets. Oh, yeah. Gotta beat the Jets. Got to beat the Jets. Got to beat the Jets week one. Aaron Rogers is locked in. He's giving interviews talking about it's just the next game.

It's the first game. Let's keep it moving. Let's talk about tonight's game. Eight and a half point spread. That's big. That feels very big for an opening night, especially a banner night. Something that can play a little cagey.

What are the people on right now, and why do you think it's so big? Yeah, so it opened the summer at seven, which, you know, it was a classic, you know, Super Bowl hosting, a team that didn't make the playoffs. Seven felt good. A lot of people early were on the Eagles. It got bet up to eight and a half.

It's kind of settled in there now. 62% of the people are on the Eagles. It was as high as an eight. percent at one point, so there has been some Cowboys money coming in as of late. I think it's just, I mean, we looked at the graph right there, and like, yes, that's the fan base, but that's also the total

NFL fan base. I feel like right now, just because of what's everything that's happened over the offseason, everyone is still very, very high on the Eagles and very, very down on the Cowboys because of everything that's happened with Michael Parsons, everything like that. So yeah, everyone majorities on the Eagles tonight, eight and a half that's a hefty line. It's a hefty line for sure.

Yeah, opening night eight and a half is crazy. A lot of people would say, why would you pick the Cowboys to be the Eagles opponent on opening night, if it's going to be more than a one-score spread in the sports book's eyes. And Jerry Jones will say, because, because, because you do put the Cowboys on opening night if you can. If you haven't been seen the documentary, yeah, if there's a division game, that's going to be a kickoff opening of the NFL season, the Cowboys are going to be in it. You're welcome. And the sports book saying, well, that's good, but it's not going to be a one-score game. Eight and a half point spread is how it's going to look. And I know that the

Philadelphia Eagles are obviously the best team on paper and in the NFL right now. So I don't want to say they're North Carolina. But everybody at that game was talking about North Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina. TCU had a lot to pull from. Sonny Dykes had a lot to pull from. That entire team had a lot of chips on their short. And they just steamrolled UNC. Is there a chance that this Dallas Cowboys team, who's been viewed as the dumbest team in the NFL?

Kenny Clark has been brought in there. Who cares? what does that even what does that even mean Mike is the only player that matters to this team is how shoddy could spell this that is how he could spin this to his team it's like eight and a half is a lot of points for any NFL game let alone an opener with a division rival now shoddy's first time doing Thursday night football first time as a head coach obviously kicking off the entire season seriani is three and one on Thursday nights uh I believe four and O in openers Jalen Hertz is four and O in openers so there's a lot of stats saying that the philip on

Philadelphia Eagles should be good. Now, being an opening Thursday night, I don't think it's the same as like a middle of the season Thursday night because you only have four days to prepare. This one, he had 207 days. Okay. And it's literally how long you had to prepare for this particular game. So it's tough to look at what stat matters the most. But like this Philadelphia Eagles team loaded. And the Dallas Cowboys have been told that. And they've also been told that they don't matter because number 11's out of the building and he's in Green Bay. A lot of motivation potentially from the Cowboys tie. Yeah, I mean, talking about it in terms of like the parallel with North Carolina, I think, is good because that's like a bunch of college kids who we don't, we have no idea, like, and I've never seen them play. The Cowboys have a lot of good players on their team still. So it is interesting that it's like you lose Michael Parsons and it's like, hey, it's the worst team in the NFL. These guys are going to get killed. Like they have DAC, they have CD, they have George Pickens, Kenny Clark, you mentioned him. They still have a lot of good players. So, yeah, we don't see this in an NFL game very often, at least going into it.

Like you mentioned, everyone. understands how good the Eagles are, but a lot of people thought the Cowboys, before the trade of Micah, a lot of people were picking them to win the division and go deep in the playoffs. So it's like, let's not sleep on the Cowboys. They're obviously still very talented. Yeah, their fans are sleeping on them because if you go by the athletic, I think Cowboys had the third lowest optimism rate from their fans, which could also just be people on the internet saying they're Cowboys fans, saying his team's ass. You know, you never know what's real and what isn't whenever you have anonymous surveys. But I think it is,

pretty telling on how people feel about the team as a total. And Dallas Cowboys, everybody's out on. I mean, we turn on TV and we were included, Jerry Jones, this guy's the dumbest guy of all time. No doubt. Two first rounders and Kenny Clark? And people are saying to Kenney Clark, Kenny Clark. Long and the two? Yeah, exactly. Two first rounders? What? Yeah, right. You got a dumb guy running a team. You got no talent on a team. And you got a head coach that has no idea what he's doing. That is literally what has been said about the Cowboys. Now, if the Eagles come out and just smack the Cowboys around. Which is certainly possible.

Eagles have done that, two teams in the past. And what they can do with their front four, the Philadelphia Eagles defense, they can make any team look stupid. You could have the best pass game in the entire league. If their front four are just destroying your offensive line, it doesn't matter. You might have a great run game,

but if those two, Jalen Carter and the boys in the middle, just two gap and hold that thing up, you have no run game. It's like if those front four want to demolish and destroy your offense, they can do that and they have proven that time and time again will tonight be a night that they can we shall see and then whenever you think about the offense it's like that offensive line is still the philadelphia eagles offensive line right oh yeah yeah and that landin dickerson was full

participant in practice right we'll talk to shaftor here in about a minute or two to see what the update is on him but if that offensive line's back that's been around and if saquan barclay's back happy because he got paid right they paid him two years early and jalen hertz is now Super Bowl champion. It's like they could be very confident bunch walking on to that field. It's like Philadelphia Eagles could just smack the Dallas Cowboys around. And then tomorrow morning, Jared's the

dumbest of all. Oh, yeah. Oh my God. It is going to be incredibly loud. That's why this is a perfect kickoff to the NFL season in my eyes. Yeah, so juiced. But you brought up the Cowboys defense. Like, Iberflus being there, I would assume helps definitely to start. But without Micah,

they still have digs and bland at corner. That's got to be one of the better cornerback duos in the NFL. Kenny Clark, people saying he's long in the tooth. He's got to be the most angry guy in America because he essentially got the Anthony Davis treatment during the Luca trade, except even more so because the team that he's going to is so stupid for doing what they did. And he's the guy that is getting traded for.

Like that adds into it too. It just feels like the college thought as well. Like if this was a college spread and it was eight and a half points, you could kind to see it, but the NFL spreads being that much any time, or not any time, because sometimes those 14-point spreads, and the Lions will beat, you know, some

dog shit team by 50, but these big spreads and these big games and a divisional game, it just never feels like they get covered. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, that's all. Okay. I had a crack open a can, so you don't want to, I don't air. It is the biggest spread of the weekend. It is the biggest spread of the weekend. Week one,

normally KG affairs. Yeah. Yeah. Normally people trying to feel it out early. But will the Philadelphia Eagles try to fill it out? Well, will they go for it? There's a clip coming out of NFL films. America's Game, 2024. I forget what they call it. There's a clip coming out, though, of Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani.

On basically the dagger of the game, the play call was dagger. And Philadelphia, tell me if this sounds familiar. Guess who called the play, basically. Go ahead, run it, Foxy. I go to Coach Siriani on Thursday practice, and I pretty much have given this list. And I'm like, hey, I'm just letting you know, you know, like, you call these, something good is going to happen.

And the dagger was on that. I go into the coach's office at halftime, and I get an opportunity to talk with him one-on-one, Coach Siriani. And I say, hey, don't forget about the dagger. Don't forget about it. You come up with these plays together. You talk through things for hours for a five-second play. It is cool just to think about all the preparation that went into getting that call at the right time.

We score this moment. Yeah, I don't, just, just call it. I see the video him saying, just call it, and that excites me. The confidence to call it, the execution, being able to put the dagger in the game. the dagger in the game and ended. The Eagles get it back. We're gonna run some clock, or maybe to throw the dagger.

Hurts, going deep for it all, Devonka Smith! He has got it! Touchdown! Almost gets clothes on right here. Watch this. Look, oh, wow. Wow! Yeah!

From the call to the protection, from the pass to the catch, the dagger was how to the catch, the dagger was high. you win pretty. Great quote. I love when they doubt you. They can't f*** with you.

How about that? Listen to the offensive lineman talking to Jalen in the Super Bowl, by the way. I assume all that is carried over. Joining us now, Senior Insider for the NFL at ESPN, ladies of gentlemen, Adam Schefter. Sheffey, I just got like chills watching that back yet again because, you know, an entire season leads to that moment. And then you hear about the finer details.

You can't help but love the sport of football in the NFL. Tonight, Landon Dickerson, I guess is a big question there for that offensive line that obviously is a pivotal piece of the Philadelphia Eagles offense. Full participant yesterday, I do believe. A couple weeks ago, he's drinking beers with Cleveland Brown's offensive lineman. Thought that was an indicator that he's going to be back. Where do we stand with him? And what about the health around the Eagles as a whole?

Well, he's off the injury report. He's going to be out there tonight. I don't think there's any questions out there tonight. It's amazing because we go. back to the night he was hurt. He was hurt in a practice at the link. It was a late night practice and everybody went down and I remember Eagles fans being desponded. They may have just lost this behemoth of an offensive line. And maybe the best guard in all of football to a season ending knee injury. That was the fear at the time. He went, he had knee surgery, orthroscopic

surgery, got it cleaned up. And a month later or so, he's going to be out there tonight. Is he to be a full strength? I would guess not, but he's going to be out there playing, just as he played in the playoffs last year when he wasn't healthy, just as a lot of these offensive linemen do when they're not fully healthy. And Landon Dickerson will be out there trying to open holes for Saquan Barkley against a Cowboys defense that has struggled against the run in the past and has made a move that we've heard a little bit about in the last week to try to upgrade that with the addition of Kenny Clark. That's literally all Jerry kept saying. I know we're going to run the ball.

Playing against the Green Bay Packers are going to try to get the lead. We're going to run Well, okay, that's what we're going to try to do. Jerry Jones has been very adamant about not being able to stop the run and saying, hey, that's what we have to do. Iber Fluse, first year back. How's the defense responding to him behind the scenes? And what shall we expect from Kenny Clark, who's probably highly motivated to make a great first impression here with how much he's kind of been cast aside?

Yeah, well, I think that's where the Cowboys hope is, right? That Matt Iberflus has done a really good job in the past with defenses, and he can come in and implement his scheme and his system. and you hope for the type of improvement that Dallas has been seeking. And again, when Jerry sat down after the Micah Trade to explain this thinking on it, that was really one of the big takeaways is that they felt like they really had to do something with their run defense. And it was interesting because they didn't really draft anybody in that area until I believe the seventh round. So if it was such a priority now, it should have probably been in April as well.

And they didn't address it the way they wanted to or needed to in the draft. so by training for Kenny Clark they feel like they got a run stopper and you know of course I think Matt Iber Fluse knows Nick Siriani well you guys would know this probably better than me I'm guessing this up to time I hey weren't they both coordinators

in Indianapolis at the same time together yeah Frank Reich yeah Siriana and Iber Fluss they know the way that each other thinks pretty well and Ibrufluse will be up to implementing his system and it's up to him to make sure that this Dallas defense

which is really poor last year is much better and look they've been worried about their own defense we'll find out tonight because they're going up against a team that runs the football about as well as any in the league yeah better than anybody in the history of the NFL most rush yards for an offense after Super Bowl obviously got to count the playoffs and everything like that in the history of the NFL for Saquan Barkley and also if you were to just account for Saquan Barkley's yards before contact last year he would have been a top five rusher in the NFL so saying that they got to stop the run is not just because they feel like that

That's a weakness for the team. That is also the strength of the team in their division, who is currently the Super Bowl champion. I remember stories from back in the day. Houston Texans took Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. And the GM. Charlie Casselley, he got fired. And he said the reason why I got fired is because he drafted Mario over Reggie Bush.

But he said, Reggie Bush isn't tackling Peyton Manning. I'm trying to beat the Indianapolis Colts. I'm not trying to do anything else. I'm trying to win the division to get into the dance. So I got Mario instead of Reggie. and nobody the fans didn't really care they didn't want to hear that but that is really how a lot of these people are putting teams together

think is if we win our division we're in the dance we get in the dance we're good who's at the top of our division oh the best in the world and they run the rock all over the place I can respect Jerry Jones saying that I think he could have got another one I think he could have I think he could have lean on him at the very

end hey you give me one more one this deal's done you know but well you say that it's funny I had somebody call me yesterday and they're like, you're going to tell me that Jerry Jones at the last moment had said to Green Bay, okay, you're giving us two ones at Kenny Clark. You know, to close this out, we need another three. We need another three.

Another one. Green Bay would go with that one. They were throwing it in. Yes, definitely. I actually said the exact words this morning as I was in here. It was like, Jerry maybe has lost his fastball. Because at the very end, everybody's happy. We're almost close to a deal getting done.

And then it's like, second gets this thing done. right now. Actually, another one gets his deal done right now. We're going to throw this away over a one. You guys got a deal done with Micah. You already got that figured out. We already got the other assets figured out. One more one, three years from now. That ain't going to be. Well, I don't know if they would have got three ones, Pat, but I think at that moment, you make a request for one more pick. The way that somebody explained to me was I would have asked for a third. And I think that that's plausible. You want to ask for something, but not a ridiculous amount. You have the trade and plate. Hey, guys, to close it, I need another three. I'm

talking about my people. Just throwing another three and we'll close it down. Mike is yours. Okay, so there was also a report that another team was involved. I think that was, was that you that reported that? I'm not 100% sure. And it was the Eagles, the Eagles, how he calls in and goes, hey, heard you have a problem over there?

Didn't know if you wanted to trade them in a division. Is that real? That's real. And, yeah, I reported this story. Basically, the way I understand this is, is that the Eagles definitely were in on Micah. Now, again, I want to be very clear.

I don't think the Dallas Cowboys ever were going to trade him. But that was not for a lack of effort from the Philadelphia Eagles. And there are a few things that I found really interesting about it. Number one, there are a lot of teams out there that say, look, we'd love Micah. We just can't afford it. We can't make it happen. Well, here's the Philadelphia Eagles who have paid Jalen Hertz, who have paid Sequin Barkley, who have paid A.J. Brown, who have paid DeVante Smith,

who have paid people on their defense like Zach Bond, and they're saying, you know what, I know we can't pay, but we're going to, it's Micah Parsons, and we're going to find a way to pay. And I don't know what they would have done, but I think it's common sense to think we're just talking about what the Green Bay Packers wound up giving up to the Dallas Cowboys, two ones in Kenny Clark. I don't know the Eagle's specific offer, but I would bet anything. It was a richer, more lucrative offer than what the Green Bay Packers offer because it had to be, because if the Eagles were even going to get the Cowboys to think about trading him in the division, which I don't think they would have done for the record,

it was going to be an offer that the Cowboys couldn't say no to. And even then they would have said, no, probably. So yes, the Eagles tried. The Eagles tried on Michael, but they were told no. Jerry, I got to tax you. I mean, in the division, no way. We've got to go double everything if you do that in the division, especially with the robbery. You know, the Eagles, Cowboys, rivalry over the years Cowboys fans would, I mean, it was loud to begin with going to the Packers, you know? Yeah.

If Micah would have ended up with the Philadelphia Eagles. Oh, man. They would have. I love that Howie's just snooping around, though. Hey, how's everything? What do you got going on down there, Jerry? Everything okay.

I don't know what hotel you're staying in whenever you come up for opening a night. I got a new place to open up. I think it'll be great. Also, Micah, what are we? You guys moving on from? Jerry going, I can't. I can't.

No way. Can I. Well, what if we? Imagine Micah back in Pennsylvania, where he grew up, playing with Saconne Barclay. I mean... They'd rioted. On that D-line, with that D-line already? I mean, it would be...

They would go to Jerry. This is Kevin Durant heading to Golden State. You know, that is a... Because he would just be able to do whatever he wants on that defense. Hey, we'll take care of everything else. He's not good against the run. Okay. Yeah, don't need him to be.

That's not why you're here. He just got to go do whatever you need to do. It is a... That would have been insane if that would have... happen in the division. Obviously, didn't. Green Bay Packers now have Michael Parsons. How will that work out? We shall see. We'll talk to coach Mike McCarthy in the second hour. Can't wait to catch up with him on his thoughts on everything. Tone has a question for you. Chefty. Yeah, Shepty. Another pass fresher got paid this morning. Nick Benito got a four-year extension, 120 million, 70 million guaranteed.

We were talking a little earlier before the show that 70 million guaranteed 120 total is quite the discrepancy. Do we know anything about the situation there as far as incentives or anything like that? And then also, do you know any other team besides the Denver Broncos that everyone is so high on coming into this season? Well, they certainly are one of these picks that's a little bit trendy and a little bit hot right now. And I think part of the reason they're hot and trendy is because they have done such a great job of keeping their own players. They give Bonito that deal. It comes out to be the highest paid non-quarterback in Broncos franchise history. They went and paid Cortland Sutton this offseason this summer.

they went and paid Zach Allen so they've kept their core guys that have been important to this team there are some people that are picking them

and when you're in a division with the Chiefs everybody is usually an underdog so you know here's where you can pick a great team and you say okay well they're an underdog

to Kansas City they're in a division with Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers Harbaugh five in games I mean that division's loaded and the other team

is coached by Pete Carroll who will become the oldest coach in NFL history on Sunday when he goes up against the Patriots. So it's a great division, and the Broncos have done all the things they want. And again, I don't know the specific incentives, Tom, but I would just say this. That's a lot. It's 70 million guaranteed. So, you know, read into that whatever you want. Like, I'm sure maybe the deal isn't exactly, but it's going to be a damn strong deal.

And these owners in Denver, Greg and Carrie Penner, they are going to make their mark and they are going to be around a long time and they are going to be amongst the best owners in not only just football but in all of sports and the pockets that they have that enable these deals to happen

they're building their own training facility they're going to get a stadium built there in Denver these people are big time and they're going to mean a lot to that city and that franchise Walmart pretty pretty good little business yeah not bad yeah it ended up being okay didn't it

Yep. He's slashing prices. The Walton family, that is the daughter, I do believe, who you just referred to, who is acting owner of the Denver Broncos. I'm happy they're investing in football. I like that. I appreciate the fact that they're investing in the NFL. We also saw there was maybe $106 million in total from Spotrack, but he had a year left on his contract.

That's still a lot of incentive-based money. You know, like I'm excited to see it. There's a lot of ways you can look at this. And I know Tony asked that question, and I saw it last night, we reported that the Niners sweetened Joanne Jennings deal. And I want to bring that up for tone on purpose. Because I think it's a situation like that. And there's the deal.

Basically, Joanne Jennings had wanted a new deal. He's going into the last year. 49ers offered a multi-year deal. He opted to take this particular arrangement, which is 3 million more of incentives this year, which could boost his salary to about 10.5 million, which is still for a number one receiver, a great deal for the Niners,

but if he balls out this year, he's going to crush it on the free agent market and have a chance to really get paid. But I bring up this deal for Tone because I wonder, I wonder, if the people in Pittsburgh... Yeah, of course. Paying attention.

Yeah, well, people in Pittsburgh are looking for a wide receiver anyway they can get it. But whenever you talk about that Joanne Jennings deal, that's $3 million in incentives. That's a lot. $3 million is a lot of incentives based each year. $5 million, a lot. over $10 million

in incentives each year is crazy that is a crazy number like I'm what is cure cure cancer like what is the cure COVID 35 sacks what it like 10 million is a lot of money in because he kept saying up to up to up to up to

I think that was AJ's first reaction whenever you read the thing up to like that's a lot of money 50 million dollars that's being reported is a lot of money it's almost 100 I mean what is 80% of what but not but you know no defensive player against his

full deal guaranteed, so up to $120,000 guaranteed. I mean, I don't know. 70's good. 70's good. I just didn't know if we knew the incentives. You've got to win a Super Bowl. You've got to have three touchdowns. The devil will be in the details, but... A couple pick-sixes. It'd be a strong deal.

Need a pick-six in the Super Bowl to pick up $2.5 million. You need it like that. 10 million's a lot of money. Nick Benito is certainly a game record, and I don't love that this was the first highlight. Sure. I mean, I just got to run every single thousand. That's a good read. Okay. Rookie here. He was looking at any guy popped up out of nowhere.

He said, is that Troy Paul Mall or Ed Reed out there? Who the hell is this guy? Why would you do that? No, it's Nick Benito out of Oklahoma, and he's a dog, and he just got paid $70 million guaranteed. Schefter, was some of these players, did they have to tell them last year? Like, hey, we're so strapped for cash because of the dead cap, like you need to wait till next year and we'll take care of you? Well, which players are you talking about? Broncos.

Yeah, Broncos. Like, Cortland Sutton, Zach Allen, like all these guys, they paid. A lot of them, you know, vet leaders. Is that why they? this is the choice that I think all teams make right like you try to figure out when is the best time to sign your guys and the price if you wait and the guy performs and he stays healthy usually goes up and look by the way let's look at it at the flip side too right sometimes it goes the other way Elijah Beera Tucker is going to be a free agent here and he tears his triceps and practice on Tuesday it's not ideal so now you know when you're Elijah Beera Tucker next year in the free agent market you're probably going to sign a deal a one year deal and get back to that point and then try to hit the free agent market again in 27. So sometimes it makes sense for players to wait.

Sometimes it makes sense for players to sign an extension. Everybody's different. You have to factor in the player. Their history, what the offer is? There's a lot of different factors at play. There's no simple answer to any of that. There's also, what, $60 million in dead cap for the Broncos last year or whatever. Yeah.

By the way, that's probably a big part of why they had to wait to pay these guys because Russell Wilson was getting his lion's share. And by the way, I think there's still money left over now this year on Russell Wilson. 32, 32 million. Good question, O'Connor. Yeah, well, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it, you know. Any other? Excellent insight from Pat, bringing up, that was very good, Pat.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, we try to do a little bit of that around here. You know, try to do a little bit of something. People don't believe it, but we try to do. We're just a Disney show for something that isn't on ESPN for two years. When we might not be on ESPN at the time that that is even happening for Reds. zone. One of your thoughts on the red zone news, the commercial. I accidentally said, we don't care without context of like, we're still going to watch whenever they put the play through red zone commercials in there. LRAP and play through commercials is what they're saying. Obviously, it would be better without any of that. Sure. Give me the, give me the shit. Yes.

Give me the full shit. But we, you've been around the NFL. How long now? This is my 35th or 36 year covering the league since 1990. Okay. So you've been around the league for 36 years. I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is NFL. had a very lucky opportunity to be a part of it. I feel like my brain operates in like a little bit more of a business fashion than some people. So as soon as I saw the NFL get

a little bit of cash from those L reps on that Red Zone channel last year, I was like, oh, they are starting to, oh, that is starting to. They were definitely going to put something in there is what my thoughts were. But I'm just saying the NFL makes the decision to charge for the current, or to put

in the current. It's not ESPN. It's the NFL. It's not on ESPN for two years. It's happened last year, too. Yeah, it was happening last year as well. So it's like the amount of things that I had said to me that were very, very rude. I would like to let everybody. Shocker. They're very rude, but I'm built for it.

I'm supposed to take these things, I guess, because I signed up for this. I'm supposed to just be told things that aren't true and terrible about myself on a regular basis. But it's like, I did say we don't care. We do care. We would much rather it not be in existence, but we're still going to watch. I guess people are saying they're not going to watch. It's like, okay. Prove it.

Okay. Red Zone has become a necessity basically, which is why it's the most ingenious concept that the NFL or any sport has really come up with. And I do think that people are such big fans of it, like we are like, don't ruin it, you're going to ruin it, you're going to ruin it. Well, if somebody ruins it, it's the NFL because it's their product and it's a genius product. And I think we all knew they were going to try to profit a little bit more off of it, which is not great, I'm saying, but I'm just saying I'm still going to watch. Yeah, and you can also say that. And we'll see what you're doing when that first Sunday comes along when, you know, your local affiliate isn't carrying a game at 1 p.m. So you got nothing but, like, news on.

And then guess what? The 4 p.m. time slot? Oh, no, that game sucks. It's shit. You know who you got? Seven hours of Red Zone football with Scott Hansen. They got us. They know they got us.

They were definitely going to try to profit more off of that. So I, when I said we don't care, I missed it. I should have said, we would rather it did it. It's not the end of the world. But we are going to watch. Yes. And they know we're going to do it. We're part of the problem.

But we are definitely going to watch. And people who watch the Grum know what you were saying. Like when you, if you don't follow the program, then it would be hard to understand that. But the way you said it wasn't like, well, nobody cares. There's commercials. Everyone is okay with that. Like that's not what you were saying. And people who took it like that, I'm not going to say the word, but it's a word they use in England and Australia.

And I'd like to use it. But those people suck. Okay. Okay. That's gross. baby it rhymes with yeah yeah i think so in other countries very normal yeah yeah ain't good descriptor yeah of these particular situations but here we will never do that okay let's talk about tomorrow chief chargers heard just bad practice field down there these boys are trying

to walk through down in Brazil and they can't do it because the field shit it is absolute shite now whenever we wanted played in england we're staying at a hotel slash golf course we did our practice and walkthrough on like a field that was kind of in the back. It was obviously not a desirable football field, but it was kind of like a park situation. And we weren't really going hard. I mean, it was just like kind of test out the legs a little bit. Let's move around.

They're probably doing walkthroughs out here, still have to get work done. What is the conversation around? That guy is locked in, by the way. That guy is not, don't even think about it. Don't even look at the grass, actually, with that guy. They're lucky they're filming with that guy on patrol, to be honest. what is the conversation about Brazil?

How does everybody feel about how the game's going to go? Because obviously the track last year a little slick during the game as well. Well, it's a repeat of last year as what it looks like. I would think that it should be and would be better this year. I have not gotten any firm reports about the field condition being an issue, but if there are early complaints, as you're saying that's not an encouraging sign. That doesn't look great right there.

But I think you understand that when you step outside of our country into one of these games, just don't know what you're going to get. And the elements are different all the time. Remember the teams there last year, this year, they're told to just stay in the hotel. They don't want them leaving. They don't want any security concerns. They don't want any security risks. It's a strange thing. And I think week one is such a unpredictable, challenging week for so many people. And when you introduce a game like this, it becomes that much more challenging and difficult to navigate. But here you have two great teams where they have excelled and shined in spots like this. Andy Reid has been superior when he's given extensive times, prepare for

an opponent the way he is in an opener with the Chargers and Jim Harbaugh's 5-0 in opening day games in the NFL. He's done a great job getting his teams ready. So two AFC West juggernauts going at it in probably a little bit less than ideal conditions. But the league wants to continue to grow the sport all over the world. They were very pleased with the experiment. in Brazil last year. They're backs again this year, and I would imagine they'll keep going back there and keep growing the sport. I remember we were doing some business with the zone, and they talked about countries that love the NFL that they have the international rights for. Brazil was always one of those countries, that they were like, hey, they love the NFL down in Brazil.

Last year, you know, had a green team involved. That was a big conversation. This year, they said, we're not doing that again. Smart. Send a blue team downer, send a red team downer. Let's go ahead and get this all cleared up. We appreciate the fact that our game is being spread throughout the world. And shout out to the boys. They seem jovial over there. Here's Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey in their opening press conference from Brazil. We've had a plan for this all summer long and now we're just ready to play football game. Travis, what was last night like at the airport? Oh man, it was crazy. It was a lot of fun seeing all the fans there. He had that one coming for telling everybody. I didn't know where Brazil was on the map.

There was a little geography conversation between Pat and Trump. Sounds like they're jovial. And I think they get it too. Like, hey, we are the current, we are the team. Like, the NFL is going to want to shop us. Yeah, the world's team in the kingdom. They are going to want to shop us around. They're going to want us to be on opening night. And if we're not on opening night, because we didn't win, okay, we're going to create

a Friday night game and you're going to be playing down in Brazil showcasing it to the world. I think they appreciate that honor and opportunity. Justin Herbert, Derwin James, Harbaugh and the boys out there. I'm excited to see if this is the year they all piece it together. That should be a fun Friday night.

You bring up all these football stars, and they are football stars and football standouts. But when you take a step back and look at it, is there any bigger celebrity in the NFL right now than Travis Kelsey in all honesty? No, but I think he's worldwide popularity right now exceeds Patrick Mahomes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. Which is crazy to think about because I think the reason why he was perfect for Taylor is because he was in Patrick Mahomes' shadows.

for so long. Like, tight ends don't care about being the star. Tight ends are literally offensive linemen. They're never going to be the one that is being promoted, which is why I thought he was perfect for Taylor. It's like he's not going to be scared that his lady is a lot more popular and powerful and influential and liked way more than he is because he's a tight end.

Like, that's how that goes. So I thought that was all good. But now that you mention it, yeah, I do think he's probably more well known. Yes. Well, especially if he's out on a date night in anywhere. in a world. Yeah, they're going to be tracking him. Congratulations, just Kim from Cleveland. Yeah. I hope Mahomes

doesn't mind. Oh, you think Patrick Mahomes could be a little sorry? I think there might be more worldwide interest in Travis Kelsey than any NFL player. He's more inscrime. Travis has more inscrime, Paul. So I don't know if it's Oh, but then if we start doing that, then we start getting into all the soccer players and then nobody really matters. Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne Johnson.

That's a cricket player. Julian Joel. Yeah, super fan. We're talking about those to it. Yeah, but as they grow the game, there was a thought maybe Australia. As somebody that did that trip, I think Australia would be great for the NFL. I think they would love our sport. I think it's a combination of both their sports that they like with a little bit more padding and everything like that. And a lot of Aussies have been doing American football because of the similarities to Aussie rules football with punting and how good it is to get into our sport.

So definitely going to grow in popularity in Australia. How would that work? It's so far. It is so far. That's 16 hours from LA, you know. The one thing that I've learned with the NFL, like I went to Australia back in the late 90s when the Broncos were playing an exhibition game there against...

Oh, this has happened before you're saying. Okay, got it. Oh, yeah, no, no, they've done it. It was in the preseason. I went to Australia with the Broncos. When I covered them back in the early 90s, they played a preseason game there. So look, here's the deal.

If the league feels like it's worth its while and it's going to make enough money to go play a regular season game in Australia it's going to go play a regular season game in Australia and I would think that it's only a matter of time. The time difference they'll figure it out. Maybe there's a buy on the back end. Maybe there's a

Thursday night game the following week or like they'll make it work so that it's doable if it's attractive enough and produces enough revenue. I would say nowhere, nowhere. Nowhere's off limits, Pat. Nowhere. I are saying worldwide. They're on the moon if they're. Yeah, and they're going

try they're going to try i think we're going to get Elon's trying to get them up there to do a game you know at least to Mars in this entirety if we could do more with australia i think that'd be good australia is beautiful country it is just so far so far it is so far and the time zones are completely backwards i mean they're winter right now going into spring okay we're obviously summer going into fall here just everything completely backwards i'm i was a day ahead of everybody I was letting him know what tomorrow look like when I was talking to people back here in Indiana. So it's like

figuring the logistics that would be crazy, but I think that country would be a great football fans. Now, let's talk about the NFL a little bit with some more injury information. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Shifty, CJGJ got hurt during training camp, and I think we all assumed that he was going to be out for the year, was reported as a very serious

knee injury, and then you reported this week, I forget if it was yesterday earlier in the week, that he's actually going to be playing on Sunday. against the Rams. Is this another Wolverine blood situation when it comes to healing quickly or did C.J. G.J.

not have as serious of an injury and is the rehab facilities at the Texas is just better than everybody else? Well, first look kind of, I love that C.J.J.J. Like, that is an awesome thing. It kind of flows off your tongue. Yeah, I just invented it, brother. Put on a T-shirt, patent it. He should patent that right now.

Okay. But when he went down with a knee injury in training camp, I believe it was Thursday. August 8th off the top of my head. And there were some reports that he had torn his ACL. The team was concerned. He tore his ACL, but that was never the injury. The injury was such that it just wasn't as bad as some people thought it was. And they always felt like there was a chance that he was going to be back in the opening game. And obviously, a credit to CJ, GJ, that he made it back this quickly. But he could be out there for the first game of the season for the Texans. He'll be playing

safety. I'm sure he's going to be starting, and he's going to be looking to make some plays against a tough Rams team. Chefty, I don't know how big the Rock is that you live under so that you can do the job that you do, but I do appreciate it, don't we? Oh, yeah. Yes, we do. Always. You never hearing CJ, G.J. It just means you're so locked in that you don't even got time. I don't even got time in this entire thing. He's a tone setter, though. He's a guy that when you bring him in, you know exactly

what he's bringing. When he's absent, I assume not only can you feel it on a football field, locker room, sideline, everything. What a boost he brings to everybody. the other team hates them. Yeah. Immediately. By the way, and conversely, if we're going to tie it all together, the Texas have CJGJ on Sunday and the Philadelphia Eagle. Oh.

Bill's are like without CJGJ. Oh, we caught the tail in. You froze there in the middle, but we still got the punchline. That's good news. I will like to see Vic Fangio's Philadelphia Eagles defense without CJGJ. He was a beast. I'm pumped for tonight. What is your – we have another question, but like just as we're talking about the Eagles here,

What is your feel for tonight? I think this can go both ways. I think this can be a very close game. Dallas Cowboys can pull a lot of motivation from being, hey, this is the dumbest America's team has ever looked, and yada, yada, yada, they haven't won. And I think the Eagles could maybe blow them up. Like, I have no idea how it's going to go,

which I think is a good thing. Sportsbook saying eight and a half, that's the biggest spread of the weekend. That being opening night is Jerry Jones saying, doesn't matter. I am on opening night, the biggest numbers you need me. What are your thoughts from talking around the league

on how people see this all going. I think that opening weekend is always very difficult to predict. We go back a year ago. I remember my father, I'll give him a little shout out. Jeff Shefford telling me, are you kidding? I got my survivor figured out that Cincinnati Bengals are a lock, and lo and behold, the New England Patriots go in and beat Cincinnati in Cincinnati. So the one thing about opening week is really these teams,

there are some results that always come out and shock people. Now, maybe it's Dallas going into Philly tonight. I think Super Bowl champions since 2004 have a 15 and 5 record in this game. Dak Prescott has played very well against the Philadelphia Eagles. He didn't play in either game against the Eagles last year. And so, Dak, when he's played against the Eagles, has been at his best. So I think Dallas is going to play with him tonight. And I can tell you that some people in the Eagles organization are uneasy

because you just don't know how this is going to go. It's the opening game. Everybody's going to be fired up. you know, is Dallas going to be fired up to prove a point without Micah or is the defense going to suffer without them but they have obviously Kenny Clark so it's just a lot of changes, a lot

of unpredictability, a lot of uncertainty as we go into the opening. Look, Philadelphia is at home. There should be a ton of emotion and energy. They should find a way to win the game. But I don't see it being a blowout at all. Eight and a halfs, a lot of points, especially for the opening week. But what if they all come out fired up

the Eagles and their offense line just picks up the Dallas Cowboys D-Line and just walks him down the field and Sequin Barclay's doing his shit from night one. There's a chance. There's a chance that that's going to happen. I mean, that can certainly take place. Kenny Clark, though, can say, I don't think so. Excited for tonight.

It's going to be beautiful. Last question, here, let's stay in the NFC East. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Chefty. It was reported that the Cook Koch family is buying, you know, 10% of the Giants for a billion dollars. We've seen this happen a couple times now. with a few teams. Why isn't

every team currently doing this? And are you surprised that the Giants are now what the second most valuable team in the NFL if this is to be correct? Well, I am surprised that not every team is doing this. Some teams have done it. Jeffrey Lurie with the Eagles

did it and made it such that whatever he paid, he got back more and still retained 90% oh, by the way, back to before, it's got to text that the league announced Super Bowl week that they're going to play multiple games in Melbourne, Australia, beginning in 2026.

Okay. Yeah, that's what we're saying. So how is that, uh, never mind. So, but, uh, you know, Trams are the designated team, but back to the Giants. Yes. I'm surprised that there aren't more teams. Like every team is not selling 10% of their team, getting back a billion dollars or whatever it is, putting that money in your pocket.

There are some teams that could absolutely use that cash. Um, a number of them have done it. It seems like the sharper teams have done it. And they still control, you know, 90% of the team. So it's a no-brainer with some of these private equity deals and these companies that are now allowed to buy into the NFL. I don't know why more people aren't doing it. Yeah, as soon as they pass the rule that, yeah, you can take VC money.

Right. Up to 15% if you want. That was them voting. Hey, we're allowed to just snag a few hundred million, maybe a billion dollars, right? Yep. Okay, deal. We all say yes. Yes, I thought it was just going to be everybody kind of doing it.

Now, the Cook, is it Cook brothers or Coke brothers? How do you spell that? How do you say that, I mean? I don't know how to pronounce it. I think it's Cook. I've heard both. I've heard Coke. So we had a cook, John, that spelled it that way at our high school.

Sure. K-O-C-H. Could you shoot the three-ball? Could it be touch? He was a beast. He was a beast on a soccer field, too. I mean, he was way too big to be a soccer player. Yeah, he was, John Cook was older than me.

He looked out for me as a freshman soccer player. I appreciate Mr. John Cook a lot. I think he's just outdoors right now. He's probably into woods trying to kill something, as we speak with a he's probably got I would assume top and but maybe he's sitting across the top and cope across the bottom

if I had to guess with him but he said cook K-O-C-H you never really know they're saying it's coke though in the bad yeah I thought I heard it cook could be kutch it's not cock yeah except those coke industries and like that people would

like a cola yeah exactly and that that was the confusion no is it no I'm no I'm serious Whatever. Welcome to the NFL. We have no idea who you are, but way to go. Way to go. We're happy for you. And congrats to the Giants. Mara might not be able to sleep, but his team is now valued up over $10 billion in actual valuation, because what he was able to sell it as opposed to just, you know, pontificating on what the value is.

Congrats to him. Congrats to us. We made it to NFL season. We appreciate the hell out of you, Shephti. Guys, have a great week. Enjoy the first game of 272 tonight. It should be awesome. When you say it like that, it's going to go so quick. Don't put a number on it right there. There's only 271, tomorrow morning. The countdown to the Super Bowl begins. That's the way it works. But you know what?

Then there'll be more next year. So that's 272 regular season, Pat. Then we get the playoff games too. So there's even more. So don't worry about it. Okay, good. We don't need to be thinking about it. Yeah, what the hell?

Yeah, all right. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. We'll see you on Monday, Adam Schifftor. Yay, Shifty. Love Shifty. The man. I love Shifty a lot. You know what else I like?

What's that? We don't take commercial bricks, but there are a couple of advertisements. That's right. Only for companies that we really like. Sell it. Certainly. Somebody's got to pay for this fucking set. Yeah, exactly.

Ram truck. Let me tell you what. The V8 is back. What? It's not just a V8. No, what? Same. A hemavio.

Oh, no. Fired up in Ramar, Rambra, Rambra. Get in on it. Motor Trend has chosen the RAM-1500 as it's truck of the year for 2025. Wow. Let's go! Motor Trend's hand out awards. These awards matter. That's a big deal. Motor Trend says, hey, who's the greatest?

Boom. Ram trucks, $1,500. Take the Oscars of trucks. Yeah, and those matter. Oh, big time. Legacy Definer. The people that are voting on it, no. They do. If they would ask us that we would have said, ram 1500 truck, that thing is like you're riding on clouds. It's got all the technology you need,

but still can haul anything you want. That $1,500, whenever I hit that gas pedal sounds like a rammer. but it's not obnoxious you see i still want to be able to go down main street stop at a little cafe then i want to be able to hop back in there and go to the farm i want to be able to pull some hay i want to be able to pull a truck and i want to be able to live large and ride high that's ram trucks to a t that's 1500 hemmy v8 ram truck available now uh ram trucks are also back on the track and returning an askar craftsman truck series of 2026

go luck to all the other trucks in the craftsman truck series I'd also not even show up. You're screwed. I wonder if your truck's going to quit once it hears the ram-bram-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r. That's the best truck down the line. Get that, the truth. That's ram-trucks. All right, some things we did not talk about.

Damon Payne, who currently plays for Michigan, defense alignment. It's not good for Kailen DeBore. He was allegedly in a conversation and said, yeah, man, I feel better this year because we actually work out at Michigan. That's basically what he said. Alejandro Zuni. Ja? I don't know. I don't say the name. It's 100% on me. Michigan D-Line coach on Alabama, transferred Damon Payne. We talked this week because we're playing Oklahoma. They played him last year

when he was at Alabama, and there's a couple clips of him on tape, and I said, man, you look different on Alabama team versus us. And he goes, coach, we run a lot more here. We work out differently. I feel way better. Man. Uh-oh. The hits keep coming for Kayland DeBore. This is Michigan, Oklahoma. Kailen DeBore's in his office down there. Very clean. Just the whole world is spinning around it. Boosters are reaching out to On 3. We're about tired of this guy. He's just sitting in there trying to figure out how to win a game.

Gets all the way through the week. And he's like, all right, I got everything Alabama related out of the way. We got to have a big one this weekend. I get it. But at least last week's done. And then bang, from Michigan, Oklahoma game. Wow, Alabama doesn't work hard down there questioning their entire culture out there. This is just one hit after another for Caitlin DeBoer.

And whenever you lose, especially at one of these high-profile schools, they're going to be looking and seeing everything. This is a story, though, because Alabama fans are going to see this and go, what we do is? Michigan? They don't work. They don't work hard under Kailin DeBoer. And then they immediately go, you think Sabin's boys ever said we're not working hard around here?

No way. Sabin's in that building still. You know, that's because he's so addicted to ball, still addicted to his routine. I don't think he wants to have all of the responsibility of being a head coach anymore. He's 70s feel like he's given enough to the game. He's already won enough. He wants to help. He wants to be around.

But Kael and Boar walks down that hallway and just sees his office and goes, that's the ghost I'm hunting. Yeah. Yeah, the guy was good. He walks on his way. Then he comes back. How'd you do it? How'd you do it?

How am I supposed to do it? And then just puts his old visor on. And then just walks away. All right, coach. And Nick Saban's like, all right, you've got to fucking at least work a guy. You've got at least have them working out out there. This guy's got to be in shape. I just look, they've had the same strength coach since 2020,

so it's not like DeBoer brought in a new guy, but did he tell the old guy, hey, let's not work these boys as hard as saving it did. Well, with that being said, I think we have same strength coach from when Neil Brown was there now with Rich Rod, and I do believe there has been a little bit different direction to strength coach. Yeah. Hey, you know, C.J. Donaldson had to lose 20 pounds when he got to a high state. Let's not have that happening.

Sounds like that. That's close to what happened with pain here, from Bama to Michigan. Kalin, we're fans. We're sorry you're taking shrapnel, but also, heighten up. Yeah, and no pressure. You lose another game, it's over. There's a lot of pressure. We're back on the other side.

That's Alabama football, baby. Amen. Roll tide. You've seen the headlines. Heard the debates. The three-point ball has created a monotonous rhythm to the game. Has the three-pointer? ruined basketball.

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or at stream.esPN.com. Sign up now. Football. It's majestic, and we're so. incredibly lucky that tonight we have an NFL game. The Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys to kick off the greatest season in NFL history, an eight and a half point spread for the home team. Will they be able to cover and be dominant like they were in the Super Bowl 207 days ago? Or will this scrappy Dallas Cowboys team who's been counted out all offseason

without Michael Parsons go into the city of brotherly love and keep this thing close? That's what we're all trying to predict as we lay down our wagers on this NFL kickoff Thursday. The toxic tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. It's glorious day, Ty. It is glorious day. You know, listen, the last several weeks I've been trying to kind of keep my mind occupied and saying, hey, listen, I still got the Yankees. I'm excited about that.

I got Iowa football. This is great. I woke up this morning and I felt alive. I really did. And listen, the Packers aren't even playing tonight. We have NFL football back. I mean, you hate to say it because a lot of what you do in your life. matters clearly but it feels almost like nothing really matters until you wake up this morning

and you understand that the as well we've been waiting on Thursday night that's is that debut on the night new sunday night football song that's hope because sunday night football is on this evening it is uh we love the off season we love sports we appreciate sports derby was fun derby was home run derby was a lot thank you to the MLB for allowing us to be a part of that NFL season just feel special. Let's go to one half of the hammer Cowboys AP Tone. Happy NFL football day to you. And to you. Thank you. What are your thoughts on tonight's spread?

Tonight spread, I think it's a... I was going to say, I think it's a little high, but as we've talked about it... What's your chatgy P. Tone say? It's funny you say that. The NFL one started processing this morning. It's not done yet, so... Oh, Tony! Chatgy Pton! Late to the dance! You're confused! A little late to the dance, you're right. You know,

caught up in college football. I will, if it finishes by the time the show's over, whatever, it's still, you know, percolating in there, I will let you know. What? What's that? Are they shoveling coal at the chat cheap? Listen, oh, I'm sorry. There's somebody doing the math.

There's something doing the math. Oh, boy. You are, they're not going to like you. Yeah, you should watch what you're saying about these things. These things listen and these things like the gossip. I talk to mine every day, and we're on a great relationship. I'll tell you what, mine wasn't bad. I asked it how many days it was since the Super Bowl popped.

up 207, then I immediately don't believe it, so then I go search it somewhere else. So I feel like I have trust issues with my potential AI. I operate with GROC. I haven't gone to the GP tone yet, but I do appreciate that you're over there trying to get the books for us. If I had to take a guess, I would assume it would have the spread be more than seven just because right now it's using stats from last year. And last year, DAC didn't play, okay?

They didn't have a running game. Their defense was terrible. All, I mean, but this is a new Cowboys team, okay? when you have CD and GP and Ferguson and Giovante Williams comes over with the Broncos and you got DAC back I think the offense is I'm actually

that's not who I normally am I might take that over. Whoa! Oh, really? We're going to score some points even though normally opening game a little bit of a cagey affair on the offensive side as everybody tries to feel it out. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who has the most tackles in the history of the Green Bay Packers.

Mike Parsons is going to be chasing him. Yes, he will. He's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion in a Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawk is here. Happy NFL football day to you, AJ. Yeah, it's a beautiful day for everybody. But is anybody going to pick the Cowboys tonight?

And do you? For what? For spread or straight up? Straight up. Is anyone going to pick, you know, when we see the things, the pregame shows, are going to be all Eagles? Over the past two days, I have not seen a single star pop up on any of the predictions. It's not just this game, though.

There's a lot of games where everybody feels the exact same way. And I think that goes back to what Schefter was talking about. and we all agree with him. Early in the season, we have no idea. That's like why Coach Lee Corso going perfect. College football, week one, is insane. Because nobody has a clue who's going to show up, except for Coach Corso. Nobody has an idea of what team's going to be what.

Of course, you assume the Philadelphia Eagles are just going to pick up where they left off last year at the Super Bowl. Of course, you're going to think that the Philadelphia Eagles learned who exactly they were during that playoff run when they were very dominant, and they're just going to carry that into the season. There's still a bunch of new pieces, there's new operations, there's a new feel, it's a new time of year. There's so many different new things that you have to have a question mark around all the things that we assume to be true. And for the Dallas Cowboys, it's like they can be very motivated. And motivation is a big deal in football, especially with how physical it is, especially on opening night where things can be a little bit ugly, maybe not put together. It's like, Shottie, getting his opportunity to lead the Cowboys, it's like you're welcome for the amount of shit that you could just pull from and motivate the boys.

I have no idea what's going to happen tonight, genuinely, but I think the safe thing and the easy thing to do is just the Eagles are going to win. And that's what everybody has done on these games shows or on these shows that are picking, AJ. Yeah, I mean, the Eagles that believe me, they are absolutely stacked and loaded when it comes to talent and where everybody is. But the Cowboys, this is like a win-win situation. They could have a moral victory if they keep it close and look pretty good. So I think for the Cowboys, like, they have great things.

Hey, guys, nobody's giving us a chance. Here we go. We can shock the world here week one. But what if they lose by 20? Yeah, that's when loose. It'll be loud. It'll be loud, exactly. And I think that's a possibility.

Like, I think there's so many possibilities for this game. Like, UNCTCU, I actually said Doran might pick. This could go very different directions. You know, like, could Bill Belichick figure out how to out fundamental and out scheme TCU? Maybe. There's a chance. That first drive, here it is. It's happening.

We knew TCU's offense was going to score, so were they just going to battle possibly? But then for TCU to blow them out, I was like, that was always a possibility. Nobody had a clue who was on this North Carolina team. It feels like for this game, anything's possible. This Dallas team has won, right, on a regular basis in the regular season. Oh, yeah. That is what is that.

This is a regular season game. Getting eight and a half points in of itself disrespectful. The entire world calling your team dumb for letting one guy leave the building. And I haven't heard a lot of people coming out saying we miss them. No, no, not at all. Nobody has. I haven't heard that. Now, nobody's been asked.

Maybe they've been told not to say anything. think DAC was like nothing needed to be said and like just kind of move along we don't want to cause any more drama there's already been enough drama there's a chance that that is very real but it feels like both sides happy with the trade team included so if you're shoddy you're sitting in a good spot for things that you can put up on the bulletin board to let the boys know about yeah like aside from the broken heart tweets from from a couple of them there really hasn't been the glowing like hey without micha we're going to miss him so much he meant so much to this team there hasn't been any of those. But even just looking at the Cowboys' offense as a whole, it could be

Dax's best offense he's ever had. You know, we've never seen Shottie as a play caller, but just when you're thinking skill, George Pickens, C.D. Lamb, both. I mean, you could argue CD CD definitely already in his prime. George, you could argue kind of get in there, maybe. This will probably be the best quarterback he's ever played with George Pickens. Ferguson just got paid a bunch of money. We always talk about that year one to year two jump for rookies. their rookie old lineman Booker from Alabama. He's supposed to be their dude this year up front. So who knows?

Eight points is a lot. Connor's heavy on the Dallas Cowboys, as you can hear through him talking to the first hour and eight minutes of this show. Once again, we are commercial free for this second hour. What? Terrible guy, Cowan Sellout. Commercial free. Now, it doesn't mean we're advertising free,

but we are commercial free. It's almost as if that is what we would prefer, you know, in most things. As if we stood on a table for that to be a third. to be a thing, and we do it every single day. With that being said, the ESPN bet is taking bets now. For anything that you would potentially want to wager on this evening's NFL kickoff, ESPN bet is there for you. Bet $10, get $100 in bonus bets.

That's what it says. You should look into it entirely to see how you get that $100 in bonus bets. That is your smart. And use promo code, get 100. Yeah. Definitely look at the asterisk, though. See how you can get that 100. Without a doubt.

And whenever you're betting on that, know that this first week, it's going to be tough to predict anything. A lot of heart betting here in the first couple weeks. And that's not where you want to be if you're trying to really be cerebral in your sports gambling world. But right now, it's all in your heart what you think. Do you believe in Nick Siriani and the boys? Yes. Yeah. Do you believe Shottie will have the boys be able to keep this a fight?

Connor says yes. Does everybody else we shall see? Well, that's the thing. You just said it right there. You know, you bet him with your heart early on. This isn't heart. This isn't like, hey, Cowboys have so much. bowl it from. This is an Eagles, you know,

fall off Super Bowl. This is strictly like eight and a half points in an NFL game. We talk about it all the time. When it's week 12 and one of the teams is two and you know, 10 and the other is 12 and 2 and it's a 14 point spread. Okay. But it's week one.

Like we have no idea. So saying like, oh yeah, definitely this year's Eagles team is the eight points better than this year's Cowboys team. It just feels like with the Micah stuff, with the Jerry stuff, also with how good the Eagles have been, it's easy to do that.

The year we were 2 and 14. I think it was nine games. There were one score games. So if we end up winning those ones that we lost, like we have 11 wins right there. You know, and it's like if the ball bounces a different way, happens to bounce up into deep. I don't think DeBo was on the team.

No, he wasn't on a team. He came afterwards. Happens to bounce up into Dura Power's hands. And he scores a touchdown late. We win. It's like it's very difficult to blow people out in the NFL. because everybody's professional football players. But boy, you listen to the internet a little bit.

It feels like Dallas Cowboys are going to get absolutely murdered. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, and this stat that I'm going to give you is not 100%. It is 60%. Since 2010, when teams are underdogs of six points or more, they have covered 60% of the time. Now 60% not 100%, okay? It's not 100% stat, but gambling, we like to live.

This feels like the fourth down graphic on the screen saying 60%, go for it. We like to live in the margins. 53% will get you, get you home. home and get you a winner for the season. So joining us now, ladies and gentlemen is a man who has a prediction special airing at 3 o'clock on ESPN, friend of the program, former guest host, Emmy Award winner, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Schrager. Yeah.

Shraggs? Shrags, good to see you. Happy NFL kickoff day? It feels so good. It feels like a holiday. I'm in Bristol, Connecticut, where Pat, AJ, you'd be happy to know. I already got a corner office with a view and everything. Is that Foss's office?

It is. It's just the Foss. office. We're here with the big boss's office and I'm using it as my studio here for the Pat McAfee show. Yeah, well, we appreciate Foss lending that corner office for you. He does have a good view. I believe right outside that if you look to your left

right there, there's a wall of windows and then there's a bunch of people out there. Those people, huge fans of ours. Tell them we said hello. All of those people. We could see him. I'd rather not, yeah. Hey, good to see you guys. Foss. Good to see you, Foss. Foss. Don't make any noise out there,

Foss. Foss is the man. Everybody behind Foss, massive fans of ours. Yeah, it's good up there. Oh, come on. Happy family. We're on Tom here. This is it. Everyone's been very nice.

Yeah, to you. Sure. So let's talk about tonight's game. And let's talk about the prediction special that you have at 3 o'clock. Is it predicting tonight's game or what exactly does the prediction special with Peter Schreger at 3 p.m. on ESPN and tail? So every year when I was on Good Morning Football, I would bring out this Super Bowl prediction with great pomp and circumstance. And I have been very accurate. I had the Rams winning the Super Bowl.

I had the Bucks going. I had the Chiefs all these years. And I came to ESPN and I said, I kind of like the flavor of that. Can we put a group together and can we do a special around actual official predictions? And it's not just a Super Bowl prediction, Pat. You got to tell us your seven teams in the AFC and your seven teams in the NFC. See them out and let's go. And guess what?

When you do that, there's going to be a lot of fan bases. They say, hey, wait, you said all offseason, we were going to be good. Why didn't you pick us? It's easy just to say, every team's going to be great. Now you put your money where your mouth is and your name where your heart is and I have got my seven teams in both conferences and I have my Super Bowl pick which I will unveil at 3 p.m.

Okay, I can't wait to see that. Who all is doing this with you? Just you? Who's signing up to get their shins bashed by? That's exactly what it is. It's like, it's not pleasant. Like I was going to ask you guys. I'm like, there's no win to doing this.

But here's the group. We got Jason McCordy who's been through this wreckage before. He worked with me on Good Morning Football. God Orlovsky. He said he's going to do it. He doesn't know any better. Dorn in the dark, born in the dark. Definitely. I would love to do that. Let me piss off how many people? Yes, I'm in.

That's it. And then Field Yates is smart. I'm like, let's get with him. He will say no. He didn't say no. He's like, yes, let's do it. So Field, who is maybe the nicest guy on the universe is going to do it and he's going to find some hate on line after he doesn't pick everyone's team to make the playoff. His hair, though, is going to be tough for people to hate on him with how he looks right now. He is truly phenomenal. Cannot wait to watch that, see all the predictions from everybody and see who they pissed off or omit. Let's talk about tonight's game, Shregs. How do you see this evening going? Obviously, you talk to a lot of people. We know that whenever things get close to actually happening, that's when you have the most information, okay? Yeah, and go ahead. Go on.

No, no, I was going to say, I was going to give you credit and flowers for draft night and everything about a week before draft night. You might not have all the answers. Draft day, you have all the answers. Before kickoff day, maybe don't have all the answers how everybody feels. Kickoff day feels like you have it all. Feels like you don't try to rush your shit. You just say, hey, when I get it, I'll have it.

What are you hearing about tonight? What are your thoughts on NFL season kicking off as a whole? I so appreciate that. It's why I don't do a mock draft in December. It's why I don't make my Sewell prediction until about three hours before kickoff because I like to see everything and I like to know. I will say this.

Yeah. As much as this network and every other network has been destroying Jerry Jones over the last two weeks for this trade and maybe rightfully so, the Cowboys don't feel like their defense is going to be 32nd in the league. In fact, the Cowboys feel pretty darn good with their defense

even without Micah Parsons. Now, there might be egg all over that face of theirs, but I have heard a lot of people in that building tell me, you know, you guys are underestimating what Dante Fowler can bring, what Sam Williams can bring. We drafted a kid of the second round at a Boston college who can rush to pass her. There are several different voices who feel like this Cowboys defense might be okay without Michael Parsons,

and this isn't going to be the worst trade in the history of the NFL. There's a lot to pull from if you're shoddy, and Iberfluse, obviously, his first year back with that. Dallas, and obviously they got stars on their team still, but they've been disrespected heavily. And the point spread, eight and a half is certainly just the latest of the disrespect that the Dallas Cowboys can try to spur some motivation from. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Shreggs, when you're looking at this Cowboys offense, I feel like DAC has kind of flown under the radar throughout this offseason, and I think he might be poised to have a big

year. What are you expecting this offense tonight? And ultimately, can this offensive line hold up? Because I feel like they have so many weapons on the perimeter that they could do some great things. That's going to be the big question. They've got such a young offensive line with all those first round picks that are going to be playing, whether it be Guyton or Smith and of course Booker now. You've got youth all over that offensive line. If they can hold up, this is going to be an explosive offense. They've continuity with Brian Schottenheimer now as the head coach. He was the obvious play caller last year when he was doing it with McCarthy. And then now you look at this and you add George Pickens, who has a carrot at the end of the season of you can get a monster

like you just saw Terry McLaren get or you just saw D.K. Metcalfgat if you have a good season. George Pickens is in the final year of a contract. They did not renegotiate his deal. The wrap on him is that he is a bad vibes for the locker room guy. So far in Dallas, he's been great in the locker room. He goes out there and he takes some of the pressure off CD Lamb. There is a great reward for him, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And Dak was second in the MVP voting two years ago. So, AJ, I'm with you.

Like, I don't know where this thought of Michael Parsons was the entire. cowboy's identity. I know that thing was ugly and it got weird and when they traded them it was like well the cowboys aren't doing anything. They don't feel that way and that's all I can say as far as the vibes coming out of Dallas right now. And Jerry said we got four first round picks over the next two

drafts. Don't think I won't just do something right now. Stay tuned too. We'll see how it looks on Thursday night. Say we need another pass rush or maybe I go hunting. We got full first round picks. Chad, did you watch the doc, the Jerry doc? I've seen seen portions of it. I have not gone all the way through it. Darius is watching it for a second

time. Everybody in here. Peter Berg, Peter Berg said it's the greatest sports talk that he's up there. I mean, really, yeah, there is. There's a lot of people that really, really love it that have been telling me I need to watch it. And I'm like, all right, I'm going to try. I'm going to try. But I want to really commit to it before Sunday, you know, because I think. Yeah, now that. The season is starting, yeah. I have to get into it. Yeah. So I'm going to try. I think a lot of what you're seeing the last two months with this mic, thing is explained in this documentary with how this man lives his life, how he goes about his business, and how when the haters and those who dismiss get louder and louder and makes him

want to zag even more. It's not stubbornness all the time. Sometimes it is ingenuity, but sometimes it is stubbornness and sometimes it is. I'm going to do it my way through hell or high water. And it worked early on. Question is at 82 years old, is this trade going to be their undoing or not? They don't think it is. He was 50 million. in debt and he was still trying to get more money. Jerry Jones is going to sit in the pocket. I think that is a trait that he certainly has from the

parts that I've seen. But yeah, I think it's all been on display. And even on the red carpet of the documentary out there on Netflix, he goes, if they're not talking about something, I'll give him something to talk about. It's always nice to have the Cowboys in the conversation, which then leads to Cowboys fans saying, Jerry,

maybe at one point when you were trying to build the business, that was good. Now we are an established business. Let's try to win the Super Well, their fans voted allegedly on the athletic. Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Shragge, we have a hopometer article, and this was taken a survey basically from people who do surveys online, and it's basically just optimism for the season and then pessimistic season.

The good teams, I assume, are great, but is there anything for the bad teams that you got here? Not the Colts, because we know, hey, the Colts are obviously, you know, they're going to figure it out. They're just upset with the believe our. but what about these teams down there? I think you see the Cowboys. Cowboys are third lowest. I mean, that's not good.

Go ahead. That's ridiculous. Cowboys are a good team. They're going to compete this year. I see two other teams that I'm very high on that are awfully low on this thing. Yeah, the fins, your fins are up there. That's what you said last time. My fins are 82% in the tank.

I mean, come on. The Miami Dolphins bring back just about everyone on offense. They have a healthy team for the first time. They had 100% participation in their offseason program. And they get their two great veteran defensive players, Bradley Chubb and Phillips, back from injuries who didn't play last year, in addition to Chop Robinson. I don't know why everyone's so down on the dolphins. I like the dolphins.

I'm high on the dolphins. The other team, a couple matches above them, why would people be down on the Bengals? They did everything you asked them to do, and they finished it, and they got it done before the start of the season, and they're finally healthy. So Dolphins and Bengals, I'm very high on despite what this athletic confidence o' meter D-Doo-Doo-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D. Yodel, yeah, people are up there. Now, I do have to add in because one of the only classes I went to

is a sociology class with Professor Nancy Feather, and I appreciate the hell out of her. Nancy Fow-out? Yeah, that's a great name. She was great. She was awesome. She was G. Massive class or like small 20-person lecture?

What are we talking? Pretty big class. Pretty big class. I'm sitting, like, left hall there. Professor Feather. Professor Feather. That is so cool. She would be able to hand or, or,

or passive? Uh, me, I'm not in the room. Yeah, I'm, I'm hands down like this. And I'm just, I'm learning. I'm learning. I'm learning. You know what I'm learning? I'm trying to learn. It's not my world. I should not be speaking in here, you know. I would like to understand what's going on here. I don't go to a lot of classes. I've heard this one's interesting. I would like to hear you speak.

She was. She was very interesting. I appreciated sociology as a whole. I think it's helped me out as I've kind of moved on. But one of her first classes was about polls being an absolute bullshit, basically. She was like, you just need to understand that polls are. absolute bullshit. If you were to go and survey 100 people here in Morgantown versus 100 people in Pittsburgh and then you just said you surveyed 100 people don't you think both those people would have complete opposite answers. So you always have to think about who are the people that were filling out the

poll like who was going to the athletic reading the athletic and then deciding to vote on this. You know like you have to you have to categorize the human who is the poll and then realize that's how these humans feel about the poll but I don't think you can just dismiss it completely. I don't think you could just say say like, nah, those people don't represent the rest of the fan base. I do think this was a pretty good take on how basically... The teams make sense. The vibes of the team.

I do think it was very, like... So my natural reaction is normally, polls are bullshit. That is normally my reaction. But whenever I looked at this, it was like, feels like you could certainly find a significant group of every fan base that does feel this way. So I... I'm going to think it's good. A feather collar area.

What is it called? The color area? Ty Schmidt's smarter than me. What is it? What do you call it? Like corollary, yeah. Corollary. I'm going to go with a feather corollary here, and I'm going to say, this is all BS. It's all before the season. And every year, Pat, we get turnover of four to five different playoff teams, and we never go back and revisit what the August vibes on ESPN talking head shows were, right?

Like, to me, I look at the rosters, I look at the continuity between the Bengals and the dolphins. I would also add in that conversation, the Cowboys, that with the exception of Micah Parsons and Zach Martin, they pretty much brought all their stars back and they're healthy. So I would feel better about those teams. And as for the Broncos, look, Sean Payton's one of my closest sources, sorry, gave it away, one of my favorite people. Sean Peyton's been doing a victory parade all offseason about how good they are.

And it seems like everyone just went with that. And it's like, well, if Sean Peyton says to the local media that we feel pretty good about Bo Nix, he must be going to the Hall of Fame. So I'm going to put the pause signal up there just for now and say, let's see it before we go all in and say, they're 100% optimistic. They're going to be thrown the Chiefs this year. AFC West obviously loaded.

Broncos, everybody likes. I think your interview with him in the Schrager Hour didn't hurt anything. I think it went over pretty positively. Congratulations on the Schrager Hour being announced and happening. New podcast. 2025, new podcast is the right time. That is the right time to do that. I felt like there weren't enough out there.

Like, it's just this kind of little niche thing, the podcast, where the marketplace hasn't fully been, so I figured that's what people need, another football podcast and that's what I'm going to do. Well, Shreger, anything you do, we're happy about, we're watching. And listening, and I think a lot of people feel that way. But I do appreciate that, like, there was a big announcement for another podcast.

For another podcast, yeah, it's like, yeah, I appreciate, Shrakes, anything you do, you're going to be great at. We want you to know that. But you interviewed Sean Payton, it was good, and I think it was super positive, but that AFC West is crazy. Chiefs Chargers Friday night. What are your thoughts going into that? Obviously, Harbaugh is looking to

Institute is full culture. Andy Reed and the boys are trying to get back on track after getting blown out in the Super Bowl in the biggest stage. They're still the AFC champions. You know, they're still the best in the AFC. They have been, will be. Everybody has a sour taste in their mouth because of the Super Bowl. Is that what you're thinking whenever it comes to the Chiefs? And how do you feel about Friday night? I think people forget that, you know, Patrick Mahomes last year for the majority of the season was throwing catch with Sky Moore and Justin Watson and, you know, a beleaguered offensive skill set positions that he usually had loaded rosters with.

And that's nothing against those guys, but DeAndre Hopkins being acquired midway through the season. And, you know, Kareem Hunt being taken off the scrap heap in week three and being asked to start and play big roles. That's not ideal. I think this year you come in, you got a fresh and, oh, can you hear me? Yeah, you're still on.

You're still clear. You're still very clear. I got a, we've got a fresh, you know, fresh Hollywood Brown, a rejuvenated Isaiah Pacheco, who's coming off the injury and it's apparently looking great. Like, I think they feel very good about their team. And just because they lost to the Super Bowl, to the Eagles and lost that way, doesn't mean that they're suddenly off a cliff. They still won the AFC. That said, this thing is a wild card. The fact that it's being played in Brazil, and we don't know the playing surface, and we don't know the travel situation, and we don't

know it's the ultimate neutralizer when you go to a field in a stadium and a country that's 12 hours away like the NFL's promoting this international stuff big they want this to work and it's great this is not arrowhead or so far there is a giant variable and whatever team adjust quicker and can make a couple plays early on and get their footing i think is going to make a big impact in this one you would think back to back years for the cheese probably helps them out a little bit right having to go on a road play to something like that you think it would help them they seem to be pretty jovial they understand that they are representing the NFL everywhere they go. And I appreciated the fans last year.

Place is packed. So let's see if it happens again. Let's see if it happens again. All right, last question here from a team you're also very close with out there in Los Angeles. Go ahead, Tone. Yes, you are, Shregs. And it was reported this week that Matthew Stafford is fully healthy and ready to go. What do you think the side of relief is with that Rams team, especially with now they have Puka and Devante and that offensive line, running, everything that that team has? What's your vibe coming out of Los Angeles? from that from that staff if matthew stays healthy they've got a shot to win the whole thing and that's the

huge if and as much as he's healthy week one we don't know if he's going to be healthy week four week 10 week 15 this is a long season and people know now that there is a guy who's got back stuff going on underneath under center so that is going to be the topic of the day for them every time they go and take the field can matthew make it through the week truth the matter is jimmy g was out there all summer well matthew wasn't and was lighten up defenses too they did the intercamp practice with the Cowboys, I told you guys, Jimmy G looked incredible during those few days and they feel like they've got a really capable backup.

But to your point, Puka, Devante, Williams, you got 2-2 as your speed guy, they feel like the rookie at Oregon at tight end, Ferguson's going to be a star. They feel very good about this team and this offense and the defense exceeded expectation. So it's really

to me just who's standing at the end of the season and if Stafford's under center, I wouldn't want to face them. All right, you want to give us a couple little sneak peeks at some predictions from the prediction show at 3 p.m. AJ, don't you think we should maybe get a couple little predictions? Yeah, maybe one or two, I think, Shregs. Yeah, let's go, Shregs. AJ, a couple predictions.

Number one, I don't have the Detroit Lions making the playoffs. Wow. Oh, what happened? Whoa. Whoa. They're the number one scene in the NFC. Wow. Number one.

Had a hundred injuries. Yeah. I was playing defense. I don't hate him. I love them. I think that NFC North is loaded. And I think the loss of two coordinators is not being discussed enough. Those two men are absolute G's at what they do. And that's Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, arguably the two best coordinators in all of football last year.

And I think we look at a healthy Aiden Hutchinson. We look at a healthy, you know, a couple players. We say, okay, well, they're back. I think there's going to be a steep drop off without those two men calling plays on offense. He's done on Detroit. Wow. They did not see that coming. This is why we do the prediction show, because it's easy to say,

here's my Super Bowl teams. I like the bills and I like the Rams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Piss off the Tray. Yeah, number one seed in the NFC. You take big swing. Welcome to ESPN, Shreggs. I hope you don't see the ESPN, Shregs.

Yeah, take the hat off. Let me see you in your eyes. Let them see your eyes. All right, do you have another team you want to piss off or a team that you want to make happy or anything like that? I'll make, you want another piss off one. I'll do another piss off one. Jeez.

Yes, love it. Oh, my God, Shregs. You just told Detroit that they're the same old lions. He's wrong. Not the brand new lions. That was the number one seed in the NFC last year. They're not going to make the playoffs. 15 and 2.

15 and 2. That's Peter Schroger. That's Peter Schroger's prediction show that you can watch the 3. It is so easy to go on any network and just pick the chalk. It is bold and it is fun to take a risk. And I'm going to take the heat from the Lions fans. I hope I'm wrong. Of course.

Sure. Now, another prediction. Another prediction. Here we go. From the office of Peter Schrager via Mike Foss. The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the playoffs, and Joe Burrow will be your league MVP. Let's go.

That's a big prediction. Paid a lot of money. Hold on. Hold on. Boom! Craig that's all you, boy, dog. Maybe a little bit more of a buildup on that one. Yeah, there you go.

You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, yeah, you got it, okay. You see that John Hark's jersey behind me? One of the great American soccer players of all time. He played with courage. He played with pride. That's what I'm going to do at 3 o'clock Eastern on ESPN on the worldwide leader. Good luck, Shragge. We're pulling for you.

Where are the shin guards, ladies of gentlemen, Pierre Shragger. That baby, see, all the boy, Shrags. Wow. Jeez. Wow. I mean, that's just a classic new school dude pick. He doesn't care about grit. at all. He doesn't care about Trenches at all.

All right. The Bengals are not tough, probably the least tough team in the league. And then he says the Lions, the most tough team in the league aren't going to make the playoffs. That makes no sense to me. Cincinnati's eating actual rubble for lunch at work. Who's on there offence of line? Shregger's doing this to Foxy right now. He's just playing him like a pubbing. He's got a big time. That's what you're doing to him, Shrakes.

You got Foxy just like this. He's playing you like an absolute puppet over there, folks. And you know what, MCDC is just going to show that to the team and say, look at this asshole on ESPN. He doesn't believe in you guys. Let's go beat Greenback. All right, Shrek. We appreciate that, Shrekz. I love you guys.

I love you guys. I love you guys. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, I, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Litt last one. Love them. Same old lions. Yep. Joe Burrow winning the MVP, that'd be a big deal. I mean, if their defense was pretty good, he would have won it last year.

And is that why they're going to give it to them this year if they made the playoffs? You earned it last year, actually, is a two-year thing. I want to let you know, a lot of chatter from the boys before we started this commercial free hour. A lot of chatter from the boys about your hair, about you sticking with it and how proud we are. Yeah, I'm firmly in the camp of, hey, keep going, brother. Fight the good fight, man. Don't give up. There's nothing to do either way. I'm just growing my sides out. Yeah.

It's going to be weird for a long time. A long time, yeah. But what we're saying is there's going to be a lot of mornings you're going to go and look at that mirror. You're going to go, Jesus, this Harris is just not doing anything that it should do. That's every day. Just take a compliment. I don't know if it was exactly a compliment. I don't know if you guys can tell.

I'm a bit sweaty. This room is 82 degrees. We're waiting on a few pieces for our furnace. So there's no window to crack. Yesterday. Yesterday it was going, I got a little thermometer over there. I see that that sucker hit 82, so I'm trying not to sweat profusely on here. Well, I don't, if you were to start sweating profusely, we would respect it.

Yes, I want to let you know that. 82 degrees, no window to crack, furnace has a couple issues. What's the issue? It won't turn off? Is that kind of the issue? You know, I'm up in the attic and it won't blow cold air, so the dude came out and had to shut it all the way down now to get the new part tomorrow. Okay, so you're just kind of sitting up where all the hot air rises to. Yeah, there's nowhere.

Yeah, there's no, like, if you could crack a window, it'd probably be all right. But, you know, I don't, who knows, where the closest window is. Well, probably right behind that book shelf. Behind the show, this is the shelf up in the attic. So there's no, you know, there's no windows around me. It's probably, and I'd be terrible actually room for a tornado. It's at the very top of the house. No one would be able to see you coming, though.

Wouldn't be able to see it coming, which is certainly an added advantage. I appreciate you being as gritty as you are today, showcasing that toughness, wearing long, thick sleeves. Get a sweatshirt up there. That can inside 82 degrees. This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant. You're building something big. And Square's there for all of it.

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A former coach of yours is going to be incredibly proud of you. Five, you guess. There's a Yenzer that has represented the city in football so damn well as a head coach for 17 seasons in the NFL. Most recently with the Dallas Cowboys, obviously you all came to love this man as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. He's a Super Bowl champion. He's a Yenzer legend.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us every single week on Thursdays. Well, Coach Michael McCormor. Yeah. You look awesome. Holy hell. This is, yeah. Thank you.

No, it's great to be on, Pat. I missed you guys. Hey, we. Go ahead. You look. Did you know this is how he was going to look? I am so sorry. I'm so jacked up.

I had no idea you were going to look this cool. The backdrop. Awesome. Beautiful. Super Bowl championship. The hat, the buttoned on. Kind of a loose, casual. With the night photo in the back.

Coach, you look. Come on. Awesome. We want to let you know that. We appreciate the hell out of you. Okay. I mean, I don't even know what to say. What the hell was you expect me to look like, AJ? Help me on it. You got a great camera set up. I think your production value is very high. You look great, coach. You look amazing. Oh, thank you. Well, I got a lot, yeah, a lot of people give credit to there. Obviously, my wife, Jessica, took care of me behind me. So I'm going to go to dance. Great artist. Great artist. We've been in there before, an incredible artist. We appreciate you joining us.

Today's a great day to have you on, obviously. Cowboys opening up the NFL season tonight, taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. You obviously understand that rivalry. You understand that NFC East better than anybody that would be talking into a microphone at this point. What are the emotions of this evening? And how much do you think Shoddy and the Dallas Cowboys are drawing on how much everybody has kind of counted them out since the Micah Parsons trade?

Oh, I think they're enjoying it clearly. I think just like anything, this is a huge division game. It's a rival game. I guarantee you everybody in that locker room is expected to go out there and win tonight. So I'm looking for a super competitive game. I know they're excited about it. You know, obviously last year, you know, the way the two games went last, you know, the outcome of the last year's two games. But, yeah, this is going to be a hellful football game.

I'm excited to watch it. If you're shoddy, are you thankful for everything that has happened during your short tenure thus far? Obviously, trading away Micah has created a lot of noise around the team. A lot of people saying this is the dumbest franchise, a lot of people saying they have no chance, a lot of people kind of burying them. If you're shoddy, do you like that as a coach that you can draw from it? Or what are your thoughts on having that be the start of your coaching career in Dallas with all the chaos that kind of took place outside? You know, I think the thing for Brian is he understands it. I mean, there's always two components that you learn when you work there.

And the pure football part of it's excellent. I mean, there's so much to love about this Dallas Cowboy football team. And I know he realizes that. And when you just keep it about football, like I said, this is a very good football team, a very young football team. And, you know, this is always a great game, you know, Philadelphia and Dallas. So I think you just got to keep it more about that. Now, all the other stuff that goes on, that's part of the environment there. You know, that's part of the content-driven business that Jerry's the master of.

And you just got to learn to separate that. And, you know, personally, it took me a couple years. And frankly, it was a conversation that I have with Jerry. I think it was after the 20, it was about 2022 where just, you know, everything we talk about right here, that's what counts. And all the other stuff is business. And I think when you, when you realize that, and I think the players there now realize that too, the current players,

because this is a hell of a locker room. I'm really high on these guys. I know we've talked about these guys doing a draft, you know, the draft visit. But I think this is a young ascending football team. I like the additions that they made so I look for a super competitive game tonight. Okay, go ahead, AJ.

Coach, anytime we've been around you, you're very high on Dak Prescott and everything that he does as a quarterback and as a leader of that team, I guess, what do you expect from him not only tonight but the rest of this season? Number one, stay healthy. He stays healthy. He'll reach every goal that he has set out for his team and himself.

I do believe that in heart of hearts. I think Dak is clearly what I would call full operational quarterback. You know, when you get into the, you know, the postseason, you start building, you know, your offense for the upcoming year, the concepts you're looking to, you know, build off of the variations that you want to change. He's full operational. There's nothing that you really get out of, you know, now he obviously ran more in his younger days.

And frankly, once he received a bigger contract, we try to be more selective with that. I'm not sure what direction they're going here in the future here. But he's full operational. I thought, you know, we increased the three-step emphasis. I thought he was excellent at that. So the play action, the keeps, and all that. So I really like him in the situations. Everybody talks about his leadership and it's hard working,

but this man's a hell of a football player. I just love the way he stands in there and makes those throws and doesn't blink. Okay, so let's talk about him standing in there and making those throws. You've obviously had to game plan against Vic Fangio's defense, this defense that is currently with the Philadelphia Eagles. What do you think, Shottie, Dak, and that offense are going to try to do tonight to this Philadelphia Eagles defense? How do you have success against them? Well, the biggest thing, too, it always

starts up front, doesn't matter who you play, and it definitely starts up front when you play against this Philadelphia Eagle defense. You know, when I view defensive lines, this is a group that can apply pressure inside and out. So with that, you're just got to be very aware when you're talking

about time clocks and expectations. And personally, I prefer to throw the ball on them up in Philadelphia on the grass than inside, because because I did really, I can remember a safety that Fletcher Cox had on the earlier games in 21, I think it was, where, you know, when you have that combination of inside and outside, you got to be smart with the way you throw the ball, you know, and I'm talking now particularly to your past sets, you know, you have to make sure you're short-set these guys more than you probably would think.

So, I mean, I think that's something that will definitely be the start. But I know that's what I'll be watching. I'll be watching the up front. I'll be watching the fits. I'll be watching the chipping, you know, the edges if they're making DAC throw off his back foot and so forth. But, you know, this will start in the trenches

and it'll start with running the football and having the opportunity to take advantage of that run game on first and second down. But when it comes on to the situational stuff, you know, you got to block them. And this is a hell of a defensive front. You said something in there that was kind of just a throwaway comment for you, but I think he's very

interesting. You said you'd prefer to play them on grass, that D-line, up in Philadelphia as opposed to maybe turf. Is that what you were trying to get at there? Because maybe the footing's a little bit more loose. Now, it's obviously opening night. Philadelphia Eagles and everything like that. Grass is going to be, I mean, it's going to be immaculate tonight.

But it does have the possibility to be a little bit more slick than like turf or maybe in a dome or something like that. Is that what you were getting at there with playing against this Philadelphia? Yeah, I'm not even talking about slickness. I just think it's the reality of playing on grass versus turf, you know, and compliments to the Philadelphia grounds crew, it's, they do a great job up there. I mean, the grass is great up here in November, December, when we went up there. So, but I just think it's more about we're at that level of a defensive front.

You know, when defensive fronts have the ability to apply pressure inside and outside, you've got to make sure you really change up the pass sets and those types of things. You know, it's not like, oh, I prefer to play them, I mean, I prefer to throw the ball in Philly and not a Dallas. I mean, that's, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying you just got to be conscientious in the game plan. and more particularly in-game to make those adjustments because, you know, I think you're sold into Super Bowl, you know, that game was on turf and that, I mean,

those guys, I mean, they were playing pressure from the first quarter all the way through. So I just have a lot of respect for their defense, a lot of respect for Vic, and, but it starts up front, always does. D.C. Fangio goes from Miami, where he was told it was Fangiover, basically. Yeah, we can't relate to the modern players. Then he goes up Philadelphia wins Super Bowl. that he's got everybody back and they got the Dallas Cowboys on opening night.

Are you guys going to be able to repeat the success you had last year? We shall see. Connor has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, another new OC for Jalen Hertz and the Eagles. Obviously, when they have a lot of success, those OCs are going to go and be head coaches. Callen Moore, you know, being the most recent one who you were with for some time. But what do you expect for Jalen to kind of struggle and go through early on in the game

if he struggles at all with the new offense. And do you see them just continuing to kind of lean on Sequin in the O line and no point to change what they have done, you know, the past two years? Yeah, I'd be very surprised if there's any struggle from a systematic approach. I mean, the first O.C. is still there, Nick. I think Nick's done a great job. You know, not only the overall football team, but keeping the formula for success intact. I mean, they definitely played their strengths.

I mean, ground and pound and control that clock, and they've got a dynamic. offensive perimeter group that can play with anybody. So I think that, you know, the operational part of it will be seamless. You know, the biggest thing in my experience is September football. The things I'll be watching for is, you know, just the fundamentals that, you know, the time clocks, the timing, the combination blocks, you know, the pad level and footwork and those types of things. And that's for both things.

But I would think Jalen would just, you know, I'll be surprised if they don't kind of pick up where they left off and, you know, hopefully they've had a good camp. But, yeah, I don't think the OC change is going to be huge, in my opinion. As we wrap up for tonight's game and move on to other NFL stories, we'd be remiss if we didn't ask you about the entire Micah's situation. Obviously, we assume you have a different view or perspective on this as somebody that was literally in the building in a very prominent role and have a relationship with Jerry Jones.

As you're watching this from outside in and kind of all unfold, what are your thoughts? Especially with the release of the documentary where a lot of people are learning that Jerry is the consummate businessman. and promoter and kind of learning his ways while all this is taking place in the news. What were your thoughts on it as former coach there? Well, I mean, honestly, personally, I try to get as far away from football as I possibly could since, you know, my time ended there in Dallas and was able to accomplish that

for the most part as far as much as people would allow me and just the quality time that I've had with my family is something I've never had before. But I will say this, I, you know, I did have an opportunity to meet with Jerry in June before we moved back to family, move back to Green Bay. And, you know, one of the first things we talked about, just the, you know, the off-season program, you know, how excited he was about the draft class. And he talked about Micah. I mean, he was, he was excited that, you know, he felt that him and Micah had a deal and in his future. And, you know, and he's earned that. And I think we all recognized, you know, the impact in, you know, the performance from a performance.

perspective on, you know, Michael Parsons earned his contract. I mean, there's no question about that. So, I mean, that was my position on, I'm going to say early June. So I just, and obviously being there, I mean, this is a contract, you know, from a cap management standpoint, you're talking about the last two years. I mean, then, you know, you got DAC, you got CD, and now you got Micah. So, I mean, these contracts obviously affect your approach or outlook on other contracts. So I always anticipated it would get done as far as, you know, that meeting in June. June, but, you know, one thing I've learned, and, you know, the old saying in business, you know, time kills deals. And, uh, and, and as training camp got going and people

were asking me and I was going as I was trying to, you know, get some boat time up here in Door County. I just, I just always felt, hey, no, they're going to get it done. They're going to get it done. Jerry's, you know, this is the businessman. Jerry, you know, keeping the, you know, the cowboys at the front of the news cycle and it just really didn't pay much mind to it. Um, but, you know, as this thing went on longer and longer, you know, I, I think, I think any time, you know, business transactions, you know, are held up, you know, the decision makers, there's, there's more emotion that comes into play here. Opinions are heard more and more. And, I mean, this is what can happen.

So this is just my opinion. I'm not acting like I have any inside information. But I just felt this was a deal that took too long. And then, and frankly, I think both sides will benefit. I think Greenville will benefit here in the short term. And I think, I like what Dallas is doing. You know, I love that Daron Blaine got a contract, Hunter. You know, these guys, I mean, he's, you know, as I'm looking here at AJ, he's, he's a perfect example of it, you know, the draft and develop process is built on second contracts.

You know, how many second contracts are done on your, on your draft class? And I think Dallas is now in that, in the, you know, on that, on that, on that, on that, on that, on that, uh, so, you know, where in a pass you may have, you lose a guy or two because you are projecting these big contracts. So I think these are two good young football teams. I clearly see, you know, Micah making a huge impact because regardless of what you think about him, when he gets off the bus, he's getting double-teamed, he's getting shipped, he's being identified. He's making the whole front, you know, the whole front seven is better because the opportunity that he's, he is creating for them. And that's just the facts.

I mean, there's no if some buts about it. So Green Bay now has that, you know, so now what does that all? have. I mean, Dallas has five real pass rushers. You know, I'm excited about those guys. You know, Sam Williams, it's his time. I mean, Sam was ready last year. You know, he had that big knee injury in training camp. So, I mean, we were excited to see Sam

and Micah, you know, line up last year. And, you know, it didn't happen. So, you know, these teams got depth, both Green Bay and Dallas, I'm talking. So it'll be exciting to see the course of the season. But I'm telling you, don't, you know, the emotion of what's surrounding the Cowboys

right now, I, I'd never put too much into that. I think when you just look at the brass, you know, the brass facts of football, I think Dallas Cowboys are going to go really good football team. Cowboys plus eight and a half tonight? Oh, I'm taking Cowboys all day long. Come on, go. All right. All right, let's move off of tonight. We appreciate you addressing Micah. And also you saying that in June when he talked to Jerry, Jerry was like, hey, Micah's going to be a cowboy and be a deal. And then you're saying time kills all deals. Feels like there was a lot of things that happened in that time and then a lot of avoiding each other it felt like anytime you get the public shit that

started coming out too that's never a good thing but hey jerry could have made magic at the end decided to send him to green bay and now packers fans are excited and now maybe he stays in your house up there tone has a question for you about another green bay legend yeah coach i do obviously you were with erin for a long time up in green bay and i wanted to hypothetically put you in uh steelers offense coordinator arty smith's shoes um they have a young old line they have young running back They have talented tight ends and obviously DK on the outside. If you were the offensive coordinator in week one, how would you handle this offense with Aaron?

And what does he do for a young offensive line in particular? I think the biggest thing is, you know, with Aaron, you know, playing with new members of an offense, is just getting the rhythm of it. I mean, you're talking about a cadence. It's probably one of the best weapons in offensive football that I've been around. I mean, he regularly used, you know, nine cadence. variations in our time together.

I just think the fact that you're able to use that. So, I mean, how much of that are we going to do is where I'm going with this? So just get into a rhythm, get these guys started, you know, get them off on the right foot. I'm excited about Pittsburgh because, you know, Lifetime, still a fan. I can openly root for him this year. And I'm excited to see Aaron, you know, in the black and gold too. And I like their formula, you know. I love what Mike Tomlin stands for.

You know, I think, you know, trust your tradition. You know, this team's been about defense since the 70s. So, I mean, I think they've got an outstanding defense, you know, play to that. And, you know, you're going to be in every football game. And I guarantee there's no one that's one more two-minute drills in Aaron Rogers. So I think they have a, they have a really nice formula to be successful. Going to be KG Affairs, the Cardiac Steelers, back for another game, another season. They spent a lot of money on a lot of people, seemingly going all in.

Hopefully Cam Hayward is a part of the entire things. Also, Chris Boswell, they have a couple things that have kind of been lingering overhead business-wise. But if they put that team on the field and everybody's there, very evident that they're trying to make a run this year. Steelers fans are pumped. But if it goes south, Coach, you know how Pittsburgh is. Go ahead, AJ. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Coach, you mentioned Aaron's cadence and just makes you think, like, what, you've been around some great quarterbacks, obviously, in your time.

What does he do that separates himself from other people? I've seen it firsthand. I know the defense is it drives him crazy, but what does he do? How is he using inflection of his voice? How is he different than other quarterbacks, maybe? Well, great, great as far as the variation, but the South Scott. I think he, I mean, all the way back to the early years.

I mean, obviously we built that over time, but, you know, his ability to self-scout throughout the season, you know, being totally on top of, you know, Chicago Week 1, you know, Chicago Week 12. So I think just the, because, you know, obviously since they put the microphones on the center and guards, I mean, it's the audio out there, you know, everybody's aware of it. But I think just being on, you know, the variations is one thing, but the percentage of the variations and more importantly, you know, the timing, you know, young, young defensive end in the game. You know, okay, great time to, you know, go double count, those types of things. So I just think his experience is, I mean, top of the line, been around a lot of great.

quarterback's I think his application of information at the line of scrimmage is is as good as anybody's ever played the game I mean his ability to to absorb information you know there's times and you've been there AJ he's he's almost on the sideline of the other team because he's over to listen to the defense you know coordinator talk to the you know to players and he's acting like he's over to BS and so you know he just his ability to gain information during the course of the game and apply it and I always thought was very unique yeah the last second time out too whenever he can't figure it out. That shit's dancing with one zero. Yeah, look at you. Yeah. Yeah, it does get real good. Yeah, I don't want to got blamed for this shit all the time.

Oh yeah. I just fuck that up. Hey, when he gets the three or two, can we make a decision as opposed to it every single time? It was fantastic. A Green Bay Packer owner who lived those rides with you. Ty has a question. Yeah, coach, the last several years, the only thing we've talked about, you know, with the Bengals at the start of the season is like, hey, Zach Taylor doesn't have these guys prepared. They don't start fast. And with how good the AFC and the NFC are now, a lot of teams can be shit out of luck

if they start 0 and 4. Is there any way going into a season you can ensure like, hey, we're going to start fast this year and we're not going to put ourselves in a hole where we have to win six or seven games down the stretch to get into the playoffs. Blame it on the CBAs. That's what I

would say. No, I'll tell you, it's tough. It really is. I think Trent Training camp is the most important time a year as far as training your football team. It's the only time, really, the offensive line who are at a huge disadvantage in the training, you know, in the training formats that are out there because they really don't get into the real training, into the, you know, the fifth practice of a training camp. So I think you have to coach September football a little differently. You know, September football is not the best of the year, you know, and I think that, you know,

the fact that you have 17 games, I'm actual thankful for it because you still have opportunities. these, because, you know, you see it every year. The fundamentals are, you know, they're just not as good as they were in the early days. And that's just probably a product that got us been fortunate to being in a league for, you know, for three decades. But, you know, I think some of that, and I'm not trying to make an excuse for any coach. I just think you do have some of that September football. And as far as being ready, you know, there's changed that, you know, each team every year. You talk about another great division, you know, I mean, that's a tough, hard-nose division.

as any in football too. So, yeah, I don't think there's a, you know, a right way and a wrong way to go about it because you've got to train your football team as hard as you can in training camp, but it's really you train them to the, you know, to the health of your team too. So that's the, you know, you've got the mechanisms of GPS and all those things that go into it. But, you know, that's, that's, it's, you know, your, your time, your timeline of training camp getting a team ready is, is a bit of a challenge for everybody. That's good.

Scott, especially with all the mechanisms that we've gone out there. Yeah. Coach, we appreciate you. This was wonderful. We know you're on the Cowboys. We appreciate your takes on that. And we can't wait to chat with you next week. You're the man. We appreciate the hell out of you.

All right, thank you, man. Look forward to next week. Have a great week. Ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion who looks very cool right now. Coach McArthur. Yeah, Coach. I love that. Did you expect him to pop up in front of a night time? No.

I think it was a big screen. Wasn't that a big old screen? big old story. He might change it next week. It's going to be something else next week. His wife is an actual artist, like a painter and everything. We had a chance to see her studio. She has a massive studio. And it's like, he's like, yeah, wife did all. It does look pretty cool, doesn't it? He didn't even see that. No. He sat down there, had no idea. We good? We good. I'm sitting here. He's the best, man. He was great with us at the draft. Yes.

Hanging with us, the whole thing. We're thankful he'll be joining us every Thursday. He's making selections. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know if he's planning on doing that, but we just got one out of him. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. We're going to see how it goes. We are one minute into a hard out here on ESPN. Remember, Peter Schrager has a super duper prediction special coming at 3 o'clock Eastern on ESPN.

We'll be live tomorrow overreacting to everything. I'll be live in Oklahoma. Nice. Tomorrow Friday, obviously, we're kicking off another incredible college football weekend. Oklahoma, Michigan is taking place in just a couple of days. Obviously, tonight, Philly and Dallas. kick off the NFL season. Tomorrow night,

Chiefs and Chages, Sunday night, Ravens, Bills. Are you kidding me? We're in it. We did it. AJ, it's a great time to be alive. We're lucky to be here. We're absolutely lucky to be here.

I mean, tonight, tomorrow night, everything. Yes, this is a beautiful time, and we are just at the beginning, just scratching the surface, so I can't wait. It is just the tip, isn't it? Just the tip. Not even yet. Not even.

It's about to be, and we're about to feel how great it's all going to be. We're very thankful for this. that. And remember, we don't love that there's commercials, but it was obviously it was coming and we're still going to walk. That's a red zone. Nailed it. I was getting attacked

for that. ESPN, Disney show, it's like, they're not even on Disney. It's not even on ESPN or Disney. And also, it's on Google currently with YouTube. They're not the ones deciding that either. It's the NFL's deciding that. And as soon as we saw the L-Raps, we all knew. Oh, here we

go. What was coming? People are fucking... Don't love it. I don't love. But we're still going to watch it. As long as you don't go to, like, even if it's like sometimes when they keep the game going and they split screen, I'm like, just do that. I don't. That's what they're doing. That's what they're doing. They're doing four of them 15 seconds along, allegedly over the seven hour period. That's it. Now, I did see Brandon Perna, Denver Broncos fan and YouTuber. I guess he came out and said, am I marketing genius? I think so. Bud Light should just say commercial free football presented by Bud Light. I think

Bud Light would have a lot of people that maybe were still about Bud Light? Yeah. Going, hey. Actually. You know what? All right. Maybe. You know, there's... Honey, Bud Light likes football. They don't want me seeing these commercials. There's a chance that that is

a thought. But if it's not Bud Light, another one of the league sponsors could come in here and really be a hero here. Great opportunity. DoorDash coming in and saying, hey, you're telling me people were mad about one minute over seven hours it's bullshit that's one more minute i could have had i got some terrible things said to me i got some very terrible things said to me for this i didn't not expect it and as soon as i was like as soon as i started reading them and they're like we don't care we do care you fucking chill and i'm like i obviously would rather not have it i mean my show has none the one that i negotiated the one that people were

pushing for it for me to have them. I obviously don't want it. It's not on ESPN, but we're still going to watch, aren't we? Are we all still going to are you going to not watch? They got us. They're not cutting away. They're not cutting away from Hansen will be on screen the whole time, correct? Yes. Play-through is

what they're saying allegedly. Hey, come on. When it's play-through, I'm all for it. Yeah, we all are, but we'd rather it wasn't, though. To be clear. Of course. How's the world work? To be clear. It's also not 1992 like where it goes to a commercial and you're just like fuck I got to sit here and just

watch this commercial now like you can take your phone out exactly go take piss you can go grab a beer you go get something to eat like how about the other quad bucks if you have exactly oh shit okay I'm just going to watch the local game or I'm going to watch this game that I don't once again we don't we're not

happy that it's happening no but we knew it was going to happen just by knowing the NFL so NFL's cash cow that's what they are that's what they're the number one league on earth players are getting a lot of money because a lot of these deals it's as soon as the NFL saw that they could sell maybe one game for a holiday to one of these streaming platforms.

It was like, how much money is this? How many hundreds of millions for this one? Oh, we can certainly cook up a Black Friday game. We got a Christmas Eve game. We got four Christmas games, don't we? Yep. What other days can we make up? Can we make up an NFL day?

Can we make up a Wednesday afternoon? As soon as, that's what the NFL is. That's why the league is headed where it's headed, which is why, you know, we don't love it, that they are just capitalizing on absolutely every dollar that they know they can get. and we're not going to change our watching style. Like they put those 15 second commercials up there and it's play through, okay? We're all going to still watch.

And they knew that. And they were like, how much more money can we get? Do we think these NFL fans are going to stop watching because of these? No. All right, so we're leaving money on the table? We don't do that. Give us that.

Now, everybody is worried that once the NFL does that, maybe they'll then start doing the break-in commercial. commercials. And they were like, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, keep going. Certainly a possibility. And at that point, we will certainly raise hell by, hey, we can't be doing this because we did a college football red zone. And it had a commercial every four minutes. And it turns out it sucks. Yeah, it does. Turns out it sucks. So I hope the NFL understands that that is why Red Zone is Red Zone. That's why people are

paying a subscription fee. But as soon as they started marketing on it, it was like, that was seemingly inevitable for the NFL. and I'm still going to watch. I don't love it. I don't love that I'm that easy and that I'm that committed and I love that they're doing it. But it was obvious they were going to do it.

You can have the best of both worlds. You can still watch and then when it goes to commercial, you can tweet like, it's fucking bullshit. Fuck the NFL. You got to have good service, though, because to get that tweet typed and sent 15 seconds.

Exactly. Exactly. But that's a fun little game. We should do something. We or, I don't know who would do this, but whoever, like the people that are super mad about this. If they go to take a piss at all during Red Zone, someone

should come out of their closet, just punch them right in the face. Say they're missing it? Yeah. Yeah, but it's on their time. Okay. It's not on there. It's not on Red Zone's time. And Red Zone, by the way, operated by the NFL, the NFL's one making a decision to do this. We all knew the NFL would do this if they could do this, which is

why. People mad about this aren't NFL fans, because... I don't think so. No, they're not. I mean, we're... Nobody who is actually mad about this will hear this and nobody who's actually mad about this will watch Red Zone every week the people who aren't mad about this you're talking about what I'm saying right now

explaining myself they did not hear it no no all those people on the internet whenever they go to get Red Zone the first week here and go Disney these fucking assholes and I say it's not on Disney actually it's on another platform wait I well fuck them still they thought about it yeah they would have

okay it's burly living God help us all exactly we're lucky to be here that's right we get to be here we do it's fun reading walk into traffic because I said that I'm still going to watch Red Zone this fucking guy likes commercials

you believe this shit this fucking piece of shit thank you dude sorry I said it this goes in they're not going to do any commercials okay boom that'd be sick high stakes

I'm trying make up for it exactly big shot big shot a big shot a little strong but good the NFL Making money off something?

They're going to do that. I'm bummed out. All right, let's run through the stories that we have not covered or given enough attention to, and then let's make our picks and let's enjoy the hell. Hell, yeah. Out of NFL kickoff day. Conman, what have we not talked about that we definitely should be talking about?

Yeah, there's one thing we definitely haven't talked about that we need to be talking about, and that's because you studied night and day yesterday to come up with your top five players of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys rivalry. That's a great call, actually. I was almost going to maybe not do it, just because it was so much pressure, so much pressure.

It is a lot. No doubt. How do you pick your top five favorite players that played for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys? Just in the history of the teams, your top five favorite players, combined, combined. It was not easy.

It's a lot of pressure. We don't do a lot of lists, but to kick off the season, the greatest season the NFL was ever going to have, I couldn't help but pay tribute to guys that have donned these uniforms, put on these helmets, and built these rivalry

in these franchises to what they are today. Let's start with number five, Jason Kelsey. Now, listen, Jason Kelsey's the youngest guy that's going to be on this list. I think it was all retired players. It's not active players. He's recently retired. We love Jason Kelsey.

Guy slams beers. Obviously, he's representing football in a huge way, not only with his podcast, but with everything he's doing. And he was a dog on the field. Undersized, but could outrun you and outgritche. He actually would gnaw on your Achilles. He would gnaw on your Achilles to get.

to get a good block. And then he would talk to the boys and he'd get emotional right in front of him because they're such a damn tight family. And then he would motherfuck somebody and then he would hop on a ball, score a touchdown. And then they would create a play called Tush Push that would be right,

literally his ass being pushed by other men that are being pushed and create something that's unstoppable. Jason Kelsey, phenomenal Philadelphia Eagle. And as somebody that is not an Eagle or a Cowboys fan, I would say he's in my top five favorite Cowboys and Eagles. AJ, do you agree with the pick

of Jason Kelsey in the top five? Absolutely. He's an absolute legend. And people, I think, because he is so, you know, he's out there and he's so good in the media, people forget this guy was an absolute monster on the field. Absolute monster. All-Pro. One of the greatest centers, if not the greatest center of all time. That's like Travis Kelsey, one of the, if not the greatest tight end of all time. Ed Kelsey's got two goats.

Yep. Three, sounds like. Yeah. Hey-ho. Yeah, maybe many more. Who knows? All right. And the number four top five favorite players, Randall Cunningham.

Oh, hell yeah. Jason, Randall Cunningham, obviously, let's go through the stats here. He's a college football hallfamer. He's a four-time all-pro. Threw for 207 touchdowns. Had 35 rushing touchdowns. And, oh, yeah, at one point in his career, had a 91-yard punt down there at the Meadowland. Huge.

Third longest punt in NFL history. Backed up, got to get it off, Randall Cunningham says, don't worry about it. Let me fucking ball him on Don here. 91-yard punt, AJ, for quarterback Randall Cunningham, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl not to win one. But shout out to Randall Cunningham for all he's done for kicking, punting, and quarterbacking. I'm old enough.

You guys aren't old enough. I was old enough to remember Randall Cunningham and watch him play in person. He was ahead of his time, man. Super athletic and can throw the ball about 7,000 yards. I don't know if he made to a Super Bowl. Is that what we're saying? Oh, no, we were saying that wasn't a 91-yard punt. Oh, that was not it?

I mean, and that had to be it. Well, if you count from the end zone, if you count the end zone. Yeah, so basically if you count what they don't count. Oh, so it's an 81-yard punt. Yeah, well, the guy in the guy returns it. I don't know if it because it's, no, it's just gross, gross punt. Well, the ball kept going past 91 yards, then. Okay, so that ball snapped from the one?

Yeah, and I think it goes all the way down to, like, the seven. That's not. That's, yeah. Yeah. To the six-yard nine. Oh, well, they did count it to where he returned it to. It would be a 95-yard punt. And then he returned it to, like, the 13.

I think he has the record then. Because they counted it as a 91, I believe. Right. I think it's longer than that. Unless there is another clip of him hitting another. Another punt that made this a preseason one. I mean, it's close. So that's from the one-yard line.

So if he was to hit it to the end zone, that'd be a 99-yard punt. It gets stopped six yards from the end zone, right? seven yards from the end zone? Yeah, six-yard line. Right in there. So seven-yard. Seven, yeah. So it's 92 yards, right?

99 minus seven would be a 92-yard punt. So he got ripped off a yard. I don't think it would be record. Yeah, the record we saw was like 98 yards, but again, they're not including their return. Like, if you punt the ball. That would be your net punt. This is gross. Gross punt.

Gross punt. Net pun. Nonetheless, Randall Cunningham, AJ's gone. Yeah, he's sick of it. I'm tired of talking about punters. All right, let's go to the number three overall player whenever it comes to Eagles and Cowboys, Michael Irvin. The playmaker, absolute dog. Obviously, on the field, there's highlights galore,

all the way back to his draft night where he was told the Green Bay Packers were going to draft him out of Miami, and he said, I'm not going to just because he didn't want to go up there, told him he'd go back to school and he would not go. They kind of force his way to the Dallas Cowboys. throughout the documentary of Jerry Jones's business life and the Dallas Cowboys build as a whole

Michael Irvin's really a superstar in there because not only on the field was he tearing it up off the field he was as well guy was wide open he was always himself and then whenever he would transfer into television he'd be one of the most electrifying people on a microphone Michael Irvin has to be listed in one of our top five favorite players

whenever we're talking Dallas Cowboys in Philadelphia Eagles had him in number three I don't mind I like number three overall and I think people will respect where we put him at Yeah, I think it's perfect, especially when you look at the total players in this. It was very hard just to get down to five, let alone thinking about, you know, the legends that have played in this type of rivalry. Yeah, because, I mean, Tio is somebody that we respect and like a lot. Obviously, he's a big part of the story.

Terry Romo. Obviously, a guy that we spend every single Sunday with while watching games. I mean, there's just numerous amount of superstars that we could have picked from his rivalry. How about number two? Who do we got? Oh, yeah. The one, the only. Dionne Sanders. Come on, now. Dionne Sanders.

Now, he had five punt return touchdowns as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. He had a couple pick sixes. He had a fumble recovery for a touchdown. And he had a receiving touchdown whenever he was there. He was there from 1995 through 1999. Became an absolute problem. Mass a piece of the documentary as well, especially with them trying to get back onto the mountaintop, bringing in Dion Sanders and him becoming prime time for Jerry Jones'

as Dallas Cowboys. Obviously he just kicked some ass in the offseason battling an illness back on the sidelines for the Colorado Buffaloes. How is this season going to go for them? We don't know, but what we do know is this dude is certified. We appreciate the hell out of the problem. You look good, you feel good. You feel

good. You play good. You play good. They pay good. They pay good. You live good. You live good. You die good. Shout to Dion Sanders for what he's done for football and also as a member of Dallas Cowboys. It was awesome watching on TV every single week. Jay, I think this list is coming together nicely. Don't you think so, pal?

Yeah, you got me eagerly wondering who your number one pick may be. There's somebody to choose from here. Yeah, there's a lot of people that we really could have kind of gone with. A lot of people that represent both teams so perfectly. You know, a couple offensive linemen on both sides could have got picked. A couple defense alignment could have got picked. You know, it's strictly players, so we didn't think about that. You know, Big Dom could have been celebrity, but he's not a player.

You know, Nick Sirianney, obviously. Obviously, he's active, so we wouldn't have been able to pick him, but we loved his coach's style. Andy Reid not going to get paid. It's just strictly players only. And there was only one player that depicted its city and its team better than all of the others. And we searched and scoured every roster, every player, since the beginning of these teams. Our favorite player in the history of the Cowboys and the Eagles organization, drum roll, please. Pizzo!

Vince Papali. Yeah, that was a bartender. What? That was a bartender. Guy was a fucking bartender. In Philadelphia, worked his ass off, went to a tryout, made the team. Not only did he just make the team, the guy became the special team's captain for the Philadelphia Eagles. You're talking about the city of Philadelphia playing for the Eagles, reincarnated in one Italian man with a sweet name and a sweet flow.

NFL Films is able to give us some footage. maybe footage that you have not seen before of Vince Papali calling his own shot, calling his own number on a punt knew who's going to happen. Because earlier in training camp, he learned a vital lesson of if the knuckles are red or the knuckles are white, it means they're coming or going. He saw the knuckles, he breaks free, lets the guy straight at the punter, gets down the field, sees the punt returner, eyes it, times it perfectly. It's a catch, not a muff, that means that's a fumble.

Vinnie Popoli, the city of the city of, Phillies going crazy that's our god holy shit that's our bartender hey oh bar keep they're saying at the moment the pizons are losing their mind he scoops it no way this fucking guy is gonna score a touchdown the city of philadelphia from barkeep in barback to glory pay dirt Vince papali is the philadelphia eagles Vince papali is Philadelphia is Philadelphia as a whole and Vince Pappali he's a touchdown scoring captain of Philadelphia Eagles. So I think

that is really a tough list to put together. Other people that did not make the list but should have the garbage picking field goal kicking Philadelphia phenomenon. Great pick. Barney Gorman. Yes. Yeah. Barney Gorman almost made it.

It should. Okay, he was this close. I'm actually embarrassed that and push for him harder. Pre-show. This close? Yeah. Barney Gorman, okay, because it was a specialist as well. What position was Barney? He's the garbage picking, field goal kicking.

Philadelphia Phenomenon. I'm not familiar with Barney. He's a field goal kicking. Barney. Garbage picking mine from Philadelphia. Same story as Vince Papali, just not a bartender. Just a guy who happened to wear a boot, a working boot, and boot the shit out of a football for the Philadelphia Eagles.

So Barney Gorman almost got the call in the top five. other specialists that could have made it. David Acres, obviously, a dog, Savroka, an absolute beast out of Australia. So a lot of people almost in there, including Barney Gorman, but Vince Papali takes the cake because of how much he represents what it's all

about to be an eagle, I think. And then Dion, Michael Irvin, Randall Cunningham, who had got ripped off on a yard, I think, for his punt. And then Jason Kelsey wraps out the top five, AJ. And to be clear, I don't think anything's ever been more right. Yeah, I mean,

Credit to NFL films for giving you that footage we got from the field and all those amazing coaches. And shout out to the Eagles as well. They were ahead of their time. They had, look at this. They got field turf from like 1978. See the knuckles? Pretty amazing. We got field turf back in the day before it was even invented.

NFL films was doing great. Nah, it was grass. What are you talking about? It's natural grass. Yeah, open your eye. Oh, my bad. This is before all the seeds with all the shit in it. Oh, you're right.

That was pretty unfamiliar. genetically modified. And it's hard to call. that in the middle of a punt as well. I think modern day it's going to be tough to make a check like that. Is he playing wing or what position is he? He was a gun lined up at wing and then he lets a guy go right at the punter. He said you take the punt. He's just go ahead. He kind of just threw him at the punter. I'll tell you what, that'd be a one-way trip out of town if I was if I was stated back there in charge, which I would not be. But I like that he made the play,

knew that he could kind of rip and toss around, have a clear shot to returner. And then That ball popping out, that was nothing but the football gods blessing Vince Pauley for doing something right. Exactly. And we're thankful what happened. We're very thankful what happened. How long did Pupal played for? 10, 12 years, something like that? I don't think that is accurate.

No, I think it was like three years. I believe he played in 41 of 44 games for the Eagles. Oh, is this Vince from the Philadelphia Bell? No, he played in the Philadelphia Bell before he played for the Philadelphia. Okay, okay, okay. He was sharpening his sword because he had many on the show. His brain, his hands were... His feet, his hair.

Lightning. Tougher than a fucking $2 steak. Yeah, and then his feet, obviously, like, Shorebird. Yeah. If you need it. But he's going to bring the thunder right here, though. And he's going to say, gavazzi the whole time. Vince Polly number one, overall.

That was an easy decision. Yeah. He's a cake. Barney Gorman, though. No, yeah. No, that was, that's strong. I'm surprised Kelsey made it now when I look back on it and think of Barney. Yeah.

Well, that actually... I'm not going to say anything. That's my list. Barney Gorman, 5A. Yeah, I think so. Donovan McNabb, also in there. Sure. Reggie White, I remember him more as a Packer, but I agree.

He too. Should be in there. I love Reggie White. Should have made the list. He wasn't a bartender. Yeah. And that's Papua. Or sanitation work.

Not over Papepelle. Or Tony Danza. Tony Danza just edged him out for 5A. Barney Gorman. There's multiple 5As. Dorset, Pittsburgh There's a few of those guys Yeah, for the Cowboys, I like him

Yeah Terrell Moose Johnston Danooch DeNooch DeNooch Cooper Cush Cooper Cush Definitely

Andy Dolton had a run there I saw him the other day I like him Sean Payton Yeah Sharp Or Sean or what's Sean Lee

No not Sean Lee Jason Garrett Excuse me Jason Garrett You know Great quarterback On TV Yeah

Rabbit out of the head coming back, you know, the second time. Jason Whitten, yeah, unbelievable. T. Martin. T. Martin, yeah. Tennessee. Albert Hainsworth. A lot of great players. So many. Pac-Man.

So many. Pac-Man, Joe. Holy fuck. I remember him as a Bengal. I should have put him on. Yeah. That's on me. That's on me. Marion Barber. Yeah, but he'd be cool with it because you stood up. Oh, yes.

I did. Especially at the Vince Papalio pick. Nobody saw Vince Papalai's number one. But then once I explained it, it kind of makes sense. Yeah. All right, let's make our picks for tonight. Peter Schragger's super duper prediction show coming up in about 42 minutes right here on ESPN so bum for it now Detroit Lions not making a playoff sorry I love that he's just hopping right into fire I don't want to put you on the spot but since

Shragger's dude are you you doing Super Bowl picks I don't do that I live in a moment amen with that being said really like the Eagles but the Chiefs is still the chiefs okay and Danny Dimes don't let him look at the Hopo meter and get too much motivation, you know, and what is going to happen. Let's start with the toxic table at Ty Schmidt, your pick tonight is the Cowboys are 8.5 point

dogs on ESPN bet to kick off the NFL season. Yeah, I was on the Cowboys all morning, and the more I look at it, I'm just seeing the potential of Saquan rushing for 175 yards. So I'm going to flip it, I'm going to go with the Eagles, and I think they cover. Okay, you like the Eagles covering eight and a half.

I think so. A little bit too much positivity for the Cowboys on this particular show? Yeah, I don't I don't know. It's just weird when so much of the consensus is these guys have done everything wrong for the last several weeks. These guys fucking suck. This one player was their entire team. But then a lot of, I mean, we talked about their offense, their defense. They still got a lot of good players. I just, man, I can just see the Eagles really going belt to ass tonight. Okay. That is certainly a possibility in everybody's eyes. Boston Connor, you've had one pick all morning. Feels like all show you've been feeding that narrative. I don't know if he is kind of flippy floppy like you potentially had on this particular game. Conman, who do you like? No, I'm steadfast to eight and a half. I don't think anybody knows his team better than Mike McCarthy who's just there. So if he feels good about it, I feel good about it.

If you're going to bet an underdog that is greater than seven, though, throw in a touchdown for the other team. It'll help the algorithm give you better odds. So like a Cowboys plus eight and a half, Jalen Hertz touchdown will really give you a little juice for tonight. Okay, Jalen Hertz, we assume is going to get a tush push special at some point. One half of the Hammer, God. Cowboys AP tone. Don't want to give away too much for Hammer.

It's just going to be electrifying today. But who do you like in the game? I also waffled a bit. I didn't know coming in the show, but Big Mike really convinced me to ride with the puppies tonight and the Cowboys plus eight and a half. Okay, tones on the Cowboys plus eight and a half.

So is Connor. Ty says Eagles blow him out. AJ, your thoughts? I mean, Big Mike does, he does sway whatever you're thinking. I think when he's so die-hard on the Cowboys. But I was leaning Cowboys. I'm definitely taking the Cowboys plus eight and a half. I'm going to take the over as well.

Okay. I will pick the Cowboys plus 8.5 as well. Okay, I... You're going to jump in on that over? No, no, no. I mean, yeah. Sure, why not? Just so you know, 47.5. I think it was the same last year, and the score was 2720 when Isaiah likely ended up. So they're on it when

the over-underers early. Okay, well, I'll go with the over as well. I enjoy the over. I like the Cowboys plus eight and a half. I was Philadelphia Eagles as a show started. And then the more and more I thought about it was like, it's going to be a cagey affair, dude. Divisional game. doesn't matter. Like, it's going to be tight, I think. Can the Philadelphia Eagles blow them out? Definitely. We are big fans of Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia Eagles win. Cowboys keep it tight. Jalen Hurd scores a touchdown and the overhits. I mean, that is how I feel like the game is probably going.

Does that mean that's going to take place? Absolutely not. Could be the complete opposite. We could be in a bore fest tonight, or it could be anything. That's why the NFL is the greatest. We have some news out of the NFL. Amari Cooper has announced his retirement from the NFL. with the Raiders at the end of camp. It's as hopeful for a reunion with the team that drafted him. Now he is headed home from Las Vegas. Amari, hell of a career, buddy. Hell of a career.

Quiet, right? Yeah, he just loves ball. Super quiet, loves ball. Obviously, he was with Coach Sabin. We learned about him, through him. He's bounced around a little bit, but he's always a playmaker. We appreciate him coming to the decision of retirement. And if it's forever, just know you did great on a football field, pal.

And if you end up coming back, don't feel bad. you're allowed to do whatever the hell you want, Amari Cooper. With that being said, all eyes are on tonight. Let's get excited for tonight. Hell yeah. Let's get excited for the time that we are currently alive. There's a lot taking place over the next few days, and that just kicks off a season of wonder that we're about to have.

I cannot wait from the road from tonight all the way to February. I cannot wait to see who becomes a superstar, who becomes the villain. Who gets screwed over, and who defies all the odds. That's football in a nutshell. We're lucky for it. Tonight's going to be electrifying. Thank you to all that are covering it. Be a friend to tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life. We're in this thing together. And we're probably going to watch no matter what they do to NFL Red Zone. Yep. Sue us. Don't actually. Team on me. Team on three.

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