The Ringer NFL Show - A Heavy News Day in the NFL: Aaron Rodgers, OBJ-Browns, and Henry Ruggs III

Episode Date: November 3, 2021

Jason, James, and Ryan start by discussing Henry Ruggs III being cut from the Raiders and the repercussions of his fatal car accident (01:22). Then they talk about the news that Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 (15:17). They wrap up by discussing the trade deadline, what Von Miller does for the Rams, and the OBJ–Baker Mayfield drama in Cleveland (22:46). Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, and Ryan Shazier Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's happening, everybody? It's me, Jason Gough. And it's a long-time Chicago Media dude. I'm on 10 to introduce you to the full go. A new podcast at the Ringer and Spotify dedicate to all things Chicago sports. We'll be coming to you on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights with all the reactions to the locals.

Plus, I'll be chatting with my friends and people who matter in town. If you want to ask a question or fire off one of those absurd barbershop takes, I'll react to your calls on a listener voicemail line too. So whether you're in Lakeview, the Wildhundredk, town, the burbs, or a transplant, make sure you follow the full go on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. This is the Ringer NFL show with me, Jason Garf. Ryan Shazier and James Jones. We normally join you every Tuesday, but we're on Wednesday this week because we've had the NFL trade deadline yesterday.

You can check out Kevin Clark, Nora Preciati, and Stephen Reeves' reaction pod on this feed to get more on that. Let's get right to it, fellas. Fellas, let's get right to it. We start on a tough note. I'll give you the bad news first, and then we trend on to what's happening in the world of football. but Henry Ruggs, the speedy, deep threat, Ricky receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders, had an incident where he was apparently under the influence

and a person died in a fatal car crash in Las Vegas early in the morning. This is a tough one. This is a tough one. On November 2nd at 3.39 a.m., Las Vegas police reported and responded to a traffic collision involving 22-year-old Raiders-wide receiver Henry Ruggs III. Ruggs was driving a Chevy Corvette and collided with the back of a Toyota Rav-4. According to police, Ruggs was driving at a high rate of speed and veered into the lane where the Toyota was traveling, causing the crash. Police

said the Toyota caught fire and the passenger was trapped inside. So some grisly details. Of course, there's going to be an investigation to be done. But fellas, as former NFL, players and guys that I've been around as well. You know, the NFL PA reaches out to you guys, Ricky orientation. I mean, they try to try to give guys as much of an opportunity to not be in situations where they may be driving impaired or just giving you the lay of the land as a professional athlete.

This is a tough story to read. Our prayers go out to the victim and the loss of life that their family has suffered. Also to Henry Ruggs, who his life is going to be a lot of different than he planned on it being at such an early age. So James, let's start with you. Ryan, move on to you. We've seen, unfortunately, we've seen this happen in the NFL before. And each time it doesn't make it any easier. Yeah, man, it's just sad, man. To be honest with you, it's just sad because, number one,

I think about the victim, you know, 23 years old, you know what I mean, young lady, you know, daughter, you know, so, I mean, it's just truly. sad. And number two, I feel for the NFL because the NFL really gives us everything we need to make sure we stay out of situations like this. And I played in Green Bay, you know, so it's not a bunch of Uber's and all that stuff flying around, you know, but you're still able to make sure you get home safe and all that type of stuff. But in Vegas, I know it's even a bigger priority to make sure that these dudes have the right access to people. you know, to make sure that, hey, you get in the Uber, you get in a taxi, you're getting car service,

call somebody to pick you up. You know, I just think it's a eye-opener to a lot of people that make sure you utilize these resources if you're going out to Hassel farm. You know what I'm saying? Like the NFL has all that stuff in place for you to make sure you utilize this stuff. Make sure you utilize it because if you don't, situations like this can happen. And not only is Henry Ruggs changing his lives, but the victim. family, man. You know, he, he has changed the victim family's whole life, you know, her mother,

her father, you know, her brothers, her sisters, you know, cousins, you know, whatever, you know, he's really changed the whole life of them. I mean, they lost a young lady at 23 years old, man. So it's just sad, man, when I first heard it, man, I was sitting here and I was just, I was just struck to the core, man, because I'm like, dang, you know. And the first person I thought of was Delaney Walker. I don't know if you guys remember Delaney Walker story, but Delaney Walker after they had won after they had lost the Super Bowl to the to the Baltimore Ravens, his family is, his, I want to say, his auntie and his uncle was driving back in the game and a drunk driver hit them and killed both of them. You know what I'm saying? So I just, I just really feel for Henry Ruggs and the other family,

you know, in this situation, because I know how much the NFL was trying to get this out. I know how much the NFL was trying to help with the drunk driver, the DUIs and all that, all the ads, everything that they was putting on to try to make sure they can erase situations like this. So it's just sad. You know, I'll let Ryan talk about it, man. But, you know, I'm just sick to the core, man, for the victim's family, man. And, you know, for Henry Ruggs, you know, his life is about to totally change, man, on a little mistake that, you know, could have been fixed before it even happened.

Yeah, preventable, preventable. Yeah. Yeah, like James was saying, I really feel bad for the family. It's a sad situation. I feel bad for Henry Rugg because with him being so young, you know, everybody's made mistakes, everybody's drunk before. But the thing is the easy thing to do is to get in your car and drive. The hard thing to do sometimes is just to flip up your phone and, you know, swipe Uber, swipe lift.

Or even call a friend like, hey, man, I've been drinking a little too much. Can you help me take... Come get me. Yeah. And then, you know, sometimes one minute or one minute decision, a five-second decision can change your life forever. And that's what happened with Henry Ruggs and this young lady. And this is a really sad situation.

Obviously, Vegas is going through a lot this season. And this is going to be another big hit for them. He was a huge part of their team. But, like not even when it comes to the team, the NFL, like James was saying, they do so much. Like, you have discounts on Uber's. They have, they let you know all the, car services in the city.

Yep. And then being in Vegas, obviously, it's a very tempting city, but you can't walk out of any building without seeing a hundred cars outside. So, and the thing is, I know I like going to Vegas. So I definitely know about, you know,

there's always car services, always people there to help you be safe. So I feel really bad for this situation and this bad decision is going to change his life forever. So I just pray for him. I pray for the victim. and I just hope everything turned out okay for him. But I just pray that, you know, the victim and their family are able to get past this

and just, you know, not get past this, but just figure out a way to, you know, be able to cope with this. Because you never can, once you lose somebody, you don't get them back. Yeah, yeah, hoping for strength and light for the family of the victim and conduct. Olinson is obviously from Ringer and the Ringer NFL show. From one wide receivers bit of news to another wide receiver's bit of news, Michael Thomas. It seems like it's a wrap this year for Michael Thomas. He went on Twitter and posted this to his Twitter feed this morning at 8.52 a.m. I've always been a man of faith in these past few months.

My faith has truly been tested. As many of you know early last season, I injured my ankle and worked extremely hard over the next few months to get back in time to finish the season. Unfortunately, the rehab didn't go as play. and earlier this offseat as it was apparent, I would need to have a procedure to repair the injury. Since then, the team and I have worked diligently day and night to rehab and get me back on the field. Unfortunately, there has been another small setback, which we will have to address.

To my displeasure, I will not be able to make it back in time for this season, but we'll do everything in my power to get back to the player I've always been. I know God doesn't make mistakes, so I would continue to following his path and can't wait to be back on the field in front of the best fans on the planet before we get into what you guys think. I'm going to get these jokes off. And man, so I take some hill at quarterback and was like, I'm cool.

He was like, oh, I'm cool. I ain't coming back off a broken ankle to that. You ain't going to send them murder balls to over the middle for me. Now, I play it. Everybody on Twitter again calling that man Slant Boy. Like, remember when that happened, James? And it's like, all he does is run slants. You know, he's not a real wide receiver.

Yeah, hating on the dude. But this has been a nasty situation in New Orleans the last year and a half So where that man went from considered to be the best wide receiver in the top two or three to his own fan base, hating him because he can't get back on the field with his ankle injury. When guys shut it down, James and Ryan, what's the feeling in the locker room? Obviously, you don't want to ever question another man's pain threshold or, you know, how tough he is, whatever the case may be. But setbacks happen.

And we don't often report the setbacks. I watched that happen here in Chicago with Derek Rose, where everybody was like, oh, he's practicing. He should be in the games. It's like, they're telling you what's happening when he's not feeling good. So how do you guys feel about not only the statement, but the fact, because I thought it was important that he sent this. I don't know if there's an official New Orleans Saints,

you know, a piece of information that's out there, but he let the world know before anybody else from the organization could. So how you guys feel about Michael Thomas having a shit? shut it down for the rest of this year probably as well. So, so James can attest to this, especially when there's guys in the locker room that get hurt. But I'm not, I'm not, I'm not saying any, you know, for me, I think Mike is hurt.

You know, he's not a type of guy, he's a competitor. He's a type of guy that's going to go out there. And you see every time he run around, he always chipping with somebody and arguing with somebody. Like, guys like that, those are competitors. Those guys want to go out there and show everybody their adult. But James will let you know when you're in the locker room

and, you know, you out there grinding every single day, and then you might see one dude that's not practicing, and then, you know, you'll go to the training, like, hey, yo, what's going on with Joe? What's going on with, you know, with Mike? You know, what's going on with Tom? And then they were like, man, he got an angry injury.

And you be like, how bad? And then, you know, they're going to let you know. They're going to let you know. It's like, it's bad, but I don't know. he might can do this, he might can do that. Then now the locker room, like, man, like, is it, is this, like, is he, is he, is he, is he, is he, is he, and I'm not saying, Mike is. Right. Just to the example.

But sometimes, you know, when things started linger for so long, guys just started to get that in the back of the head, because you got to think about it, man. Practicing is not easy in the NFL. Games is not easy in NFL, you know, so after a while, you know, like, seeing somebody off off the field for a while, It can bother your teammates. But to me, I don't feel like Mike milking it. And if his teammates see him out of grinding and they see he can't run no routes, then it's totally different.

But if you see somebody just walking around a facility and they don't seem like they hurt, but they're not playing, then that's when you start questioning stuff. So I think Mike hurt. I think it's kind of important for him to be able to jump out there right away because then now Mike is letting everybody know,

like, hey, this is how I feel. instead of because one thing with the NFL is next man up but it's also whatever you put on film that's who you are so somebody's going to be back this week and then now they rushing them back and then now the fan's already mad he ain't playing and if he ain't going out there playing like Mike Thomas then everybody going to be like man who this dude out here and then oh now Mike sorry or this and not so with Mike when Mike's saying the tone he basically like I'm out for the year

I'm not healthy I'm gonna see y'all next year you know so I think it was important for him, and that's the way people are doing things nowadays. They take control of their own story and not allowing everybody else to control the narrative. You know, if it was anybody else, you know, I might think about

the, you know, all shoot, he's tanking it, he's trying to put it in, but Mike is a dog, man. Yeah. Mike, Mike is a dog, and the reason why I say that is because before this ankle injury, he was always available. Oh. Before he had this

ankle injury, he was always on the field, playing her, playing in, he was always available. He was consistently 100 plus catch a year. He was always there. But for me, this is an organizational decision. You know, Mike is not going to come up in here and tell the organization, I'm going to tweet out and I'm done. You know what I mean? I'm sitting, this is, let's sit down in the room. You know, they already said this offseason or whenever he's going to have another surgery. You know what I mean? So for me, it's okay. James just tore his AC. it, right? I'm not saying we tanking it

because we have a winning record right now, but it's going to be hard for us to win a Super Bowl with Taysam Hill and Trevor Simi. Like, just, if we keep it in the buck, we have the bucks, we have the Rams,

we have the Packers, we have a bunch of good teams in this NFC that we are going to have to go through. You know what I'm saying? So if we got Trevor Simeon out there and we got Tatea Hill out there, it's going to be tough

for us to go win a Super Bowl. football. There's no need for you to come out here with a bum ankle and mess it up and they mess around and linger and go into next year and we're missing you again next year. So I love what they're doing. Listen, you're not 100%. It's stuff still in there messing with you. Look, let's go get this stuff cleaned up. Let's come back. Let's get ready. And let's come back for next season and let's get this thing going. But for him to tweet out this, they had to sit down. This had to be an organizational decision like, all right, let's just put him on ice. And, and until next year and we'll figure out,

we'll let him go work next year and compete for this thing. You know, so that's my input on the situation. But it sucks, man. It was a dude that was playing at an extremely high level. Yes, sir. Arguably the best receiver in the game, one or two. He wasn't even in the three conversation. Yeah, for sure.

When he was playing, it was one or two. Who you want, Mike or whoever. You know what I'm saying? Mike was always in that one or two. So to see him had his ankle injury man and put him on ice something last. last year and then put him on ice all season this year, man, it's tough because, you know, he's in his prime time, just signed that big deal, you know, was playing at a high level.

So I'm hopefully this second ankle surgery, you know what I mean? He'll be able to bounce back and get back to himself, man, and get back on that field. But like I said before, Mike, Mike's a dog. He always been available, man. I think this is an organizational decision, man. Let's say, let's make sure you want 100% right before we put you back out. All right. It's been a newsy day or a newsy couple of days.

So another piece of news that we got. this morning right before we jumped on this pod. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not play against the Chiefs on Sunday. Jordan Love is going to be making his first career start against the Kansas City Chiefs. Fellas, if there's any team you want to make your first career start against, is that Chief's defense.

So this is obviously, it's a tough break for Aaron Rogers and for the Green Bay Packers. They were two and a half point favorite, I believe, before Aaron Rogers was ruled out. And now with a guy who's been sitting on the pine for the last couple of years, it's his first chance to get in the game and show what he's been learning

and what he's been, his apprenticeship, how has been going in Green Bay. James, how you feel about this situation? Because the Packers, Packers are one of the, I'd say what, three or four best teams in the NFC right now, You know, the way guys have bounced back from COVID and some not having bounced back from COVID. A lot of NBA guys right now are talking about, you know, their experiences with joint pain and not getting their win the way they used to in recovery time.

So and Cam Newton and Ezekiel Elliott spoke about what COVID kind of did to them. So hopefully Aaron won't have those symptoms or any long-haul issues going forward. But you got one week, Jordan, love. Here's the stage. Yeah, well, like you say, God is good. God is good all the time because you talk the Chief's defense. You know, you got this Chief's defense

who really ain't stopping nobody. Come get some. I truly believe that we could have one of those Cooper Rush. We could have one of those Cooper Rush moment. You know what I'm saying? And him come out here and really move the ball and play at a high level. Cooper Rush, Mike White.

You got all kinds of doing football around. You no doubt. They really just do enough, you know what I mean, to make sure you keep. this game close in the fourth quarter and, you know, we have a chance to go out there and win it. But just like I said last week against the Cardinals, even though we had AR 12, I said, it's this defense's time. Yeah.

You know, like, nobody on the defense is hurt besides Alexander. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, you got, you got, you got the other Smith brother who had the back surgery, but the defense has really been in core and really got the guys out there flying around playing football. Everybody's given the blueprint on how to stop Patrick Mahomes and then drop seven and force them to run the football. They only want to hand it off one time and then they want to go for the shots and all

that. They don't want to go down to field 10, 12 play drives. Keep everything in front of you. Don't give up the exposed to play. Force them to go to distance, you know, so the defense is going to have to step up. But as for Jordan Love, listen, he came in the preseason and he didn't. look very well. You know what I mean? He was moving the ball. The ball was coming out of his hands. He's had a chance to watch Aaron for the last two years, you know. So go out there,

take what the defense gives you. You'll have Devote Adams back out there to be able to help you, you know, but take what this defense gives you. Obviously, heavy dose of AJ Dylan and Aaron Jones run the football, but I still think the Packers have a really good chance to win this game. And I think the young fellow Jordan Love will go out there and play well. What does that mean, though? What does that mean for the Chiefs? Like, we're giving another loss to the Chiefs. Chiefs with a backup quarterback in there. The Chiefs, are we saying that the Chiefs on the brink of not making the playoffs this season or how are you feeling about that?

100%. This man just said last week that the Chiefs go into the playoffs. This man just said it last week. I did. I did. Hey, I didn't even go a lot. I was, I was on the- And they just got Melvin-Ingram.

Come on, James. They just traded for a dude. I was on the Chief's bandwagon. Hey, I'm a Pat, I'm a Pat fan, bro. Like, for real, like, you got Pat, you're going to get to the playoffs. But when I seen them against the Giants, the Giants should have won that. And I'm sitting here looking at these boys against the Giants.

As I'm watching them, I'm just like, man, they're not that good of a football team. Like, straight up, Pat Mahomes are not. This year, they're not that good of a football team. Like, you see them go out and they score three points against the Titans, and you're like, okay, I was one of the ones. I ain't going to say, y'all, I was one of the ones like,

Pat can to come out this next game, he'd been to throw 17 touchdowns against the Giants. They're going to get back on track. They're going to beat the Chief. But to see how badly they struggled against the Giants, I'm like, man, the Chiefs ain't that. They're not that good of a football team, and they struggle both sides of the ball,

the offense and deep. So, I don't know. Yeah, it's going to be tough for them to get in the playoffs. I told you all, man. I told you all. Yeah, he tries. No, no, my homes is that guy. My homes is that guy.

The thing is, he liked to go, he liked to go for the gusts, though. You can't, you can't always go for the big shot. You can't always go for the big shot. It's not going to help you. And a lot of, a lot of teams are starting to figure that out. But the thing is that really got me with the Chiefs, the Giants' offense has nobody right now.

They're all hurt. Everybody's hurt. And these boys still moving the ball on the Chief. And that tell you something, if somebody can move the ball on you, they don't got their number one, two, three, all running back, and they still moving the ball on you? That Chief's team lost his soul. Yeah, they defense bad.

Hey, and Willie Gate caught a pick. I know y'all, hey, remember I said? There it is. There it is. And they'll break his elbow to pat himself on the back, don't he? Hey, no, but I think, I think y'all have too much going. Like, they, the coaching staff at Green Bay is too smart. They're not going to let Patch them a Homes, beat them over top.

Y'all have, you have good DBs. Alexander hurt, and he top five DBs in the league, but he hurt. But everybody else on their DB court understand, like, we just can't get beat deep. And on the offensive side of the ball, you all have everything y'all need to have Jordan loves to see. Yeah, get the ball to Aaron. Jones. Yeah, throw the Devonte Adams.

They double DeVante Adams, they double DeVante Adams, throw to the Lizar. It sucks that tying his out because he has somebody right in the middle of the field, but all your receivers are big anyway. So I don't think the chiefs are, they're sad to me right now when it comes to offense and defense.

And if their offense can't score, their defense giving up 30 points. And I won't be surprised if Jordan Love dropped 31 on them. That's what I'm saying, man. This defense is built. This Kansas City Chief's defense is built to play with the lead.

if they don't have a leave, which they haven't had in a lot of these games, and they got to stop this run and this pass, it's going to be tough. Yeah. They can't do that. You know what I'm saying? The guys is getting paid the most money on their defense haven't played well this year, right? I'm going to tell you who the chickens. Hitchens and Chris Jones and Frank Clark.

I mean, Tyron has played well, but he's been out a couple of games as well. So the guys you pay the most money to when they're not either available or giving you the production you need, this is what it looks like. Speaking of something crazy happening, fellas the trade deadline. NFL trade deadline was never a thing, right? So years coming up when I was a kid is like, hey, the trade deadline passed and no moves were made again.

But now they've moved it up and tried to, you know, make it fun like the basketball and baseball trade deadlines. And a team that, and I know people are going to think that this is just some Rams podcast because how much we talk about them all the time. But the team, the team that made themselves better. Oh, man. Obviously are the Los Angeles Rams. But I was looking at some of the events.

advanced stats, right? Vaughn Miller has actually defended the run better than he's been a pass rush to a passer this year. And obviously with, you know, when you got a lead, you can rush the passer a little bit more, Denver Broncos. Thank you. Denver Broncos haven't had many leads, right? So now he's going to a team that has Leonard Florida on one edge, Aaron Donnell in the middle, Jalen Ramsey behind him. He's going to be on the other edge. If there was a weakness to that defense, we would think it would be the second level with the linebackers. Now 58 is going over there.

I believe he's wearing his Texas A&M number, number 40. Yeah, it's like you saw him tearing up on the way out of the facility because he spent his whole career there 10 years, Super Bowl MVP, all that good stuff. But that man, getting ready to go from Denver to Los Angeles to greener pastures right now. So pretty much are the ramps cheating? Man, you know, when I was actually at the gym when I sent that Von Miller thing

pop up there. And the first thing that hit my mind was, is everybody playing for second. Like, straight up. Like, we know what they have on the offensive side of the ball at McVeigh. You know, they got your favorite player over there, Cooper Cup. Right. See what they do, right?

See what they do, right? All my ass, one podcast. This man, where Cooper Cup is. Now he's my favorite. They got Robert. They got Robert Wool. You know, they're starting to run the ball well. They're getting the ball to the back, but forget all that.

They, they score them points. They find ways to score 30 plus points every game. Then you got on the defensive side of the ball, the best player in the National Football League in Aaron Donald. He already, a problem stop. And you add, arguably, one of the greatest pass rushers in the last 10 years and Bob Miller on the other side of him. So this team is going to be playing with,

leads. I don't care who you playing. They are going to be playing with leads the Rams are. So, Bob Miller, Aaron, Donald, Leonard, Floyd is going to be having their ears pent back basically all game long. Good luck, man. If you Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, Jimmy Garapolo, Trey Lance, whoever, man, good luck, man. Like, these boys is coming. You know what I mean? So it's going to be tough. But like when I first seen it, I'm like, man, is everybody playing for second, man? Because this team right here, if they stay healthy and they're able to have Vaughn and Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd and Jalen Ramsey on the field and all that, they stay healthy, I don't know how you block these dudes or stop this defense from creating habit. At the beginning of the year, man, this is just a podcast about Ryan being right today.

Beginning of the year, I said the Rams are the team to beat. Did I not say that? We both did it. We both did. All right, all right, good. I thought you said Green Bay. No,

well, when we had the conversation, and we both said the Rams is the best team in the NFL. Oh, right. You're right. You're right.

You're right. Let me say this. Honestly, I think that trade was actually fair for both teams, though, because if you really think about it, Broncos,

they're not about to win nothing this year. And they're thinking about building. And to me, I felt like they were like, hey, Vaugh, we know you in L.A. A lot.

but we also know that you can win a Super Bowl at this team. We're not going to trade you somewhere where we can get something better for you, but you're not winning as well. But then also the Rams, obviously, they don't care about the draft at all, ever. They're just constantly trading for older dudes and trying to win Super Bowls like that. And it's been working. Well, they didn't win a Super Bowl yet. But obviously they've been winning.

So they're selling out for a Super Bowl right now. The thing is, this is all I got to say. For all those people that's Ram fans right now, in five years, I hope y'all still, I hope y'all still are here. Because y'all have, y'all team going to be bad, bad in five years. But the thing is, with Von Miller going there,

it's going to open up so many opportunities for Aaron Donald, for Vaughn, for Leonard Floyd. Because the thing is, now everybody has to get a one-on-one. Everybody has to get a one-on-one. Because if you double, Double Aaron, Vaughn, he's going to be his guy. Leonard will be his guy one-on-one. And the thing is, the guy that people don't really talk about a lot is Day.

And the DeLaman Day, he's a good D-Laman. Like, he's good. If you get him a one-on-one, he can win too. So, like, like, the biggest thing for me with the Rams, obviously Deshaun wasn't getting the ball much, but I think it was still important for him to be on that squad because it's kind of a deep threat. And obviously he wasn't getting the ball much,

But I feel that's one thing that for that team to stay where they want to stay at, I think it would have been nice to keep him just to have everything on offense. But I think this team still the team to beat this year. You know, this trait. Go ahead. So I just want to put it my little two cents in on this. We played the Broncos at the time. The Packers was 6 and 0.

Broncos was 6'0. They had the markers aware. they have Vaugh Miller. This is the year they won the Super Bowl. And I'll never forget in the tunnel. We're coming out for the game. And Aaron said, if you're around at 12, running at 9. And I'm like, what you mean?

How are we getting open at 9? You know what I mean? He was like, these boys, is coming. I got to get rid of that thing. And boy, he won't lie. One week when we came out of our routes, he either was running or they was sacking him, and he was trying to throw that thing away.

Like, I'm just imagining, man, Aaron Donald Leonard, Floyd, and Bob Miller, man. These quarterbacks in that tunnel is going to be telling they do, hey. Break that joint off. Hey, I know our old line talking about, we got you and all. Hey, they're coming.

A lot of lookout blocks being thrown. They're coming, all right? So, hey, let's make sure you got your head snapped around quick, brother. Everybody think they're going to win, too. Like, I got them. Oh, yeah. I can't. I mean, I can hold Aaron one-on-one.

No, you can't. No, you can. No, you can. You get one and a half second before that chip or that lookout block coming. Yeah. Hey, but check the joint, though. To me. who this trade is really about is Matthew Stafford.

If Matt Stafford can't win with this team, like, give me a number one pick who's Dodge scrutiny more than Matt Stafford over the last 10, 12 years. Well, it's tough. This is coming from a Bears for. This is the thing. I've always been a Matt Stafford, too.

Like, I argue with my man Vinnie Goodwill at Yahoo Sports about Matt Stafford all the time. I always, because I was a Georgia fan and a Michigan fan as a kids, right, an SEC team and a big 10 team. And when Matt Stafford was throwing that thing in Georgia, I'm like, oh, this is next level. Like that kind of armed talent you can't find. And then he would eke out a few games in division with the lines,

but you knew the lines was trash. Now he's in a way different situation. He's where he wants to be. He's with a terrific coach. He's a terrific team. This thing, this year is about. So he has to win this year. Man?

Oh, yeah. He must be, man. You can't give him like two years? He has to win this year. Not what this team he has. Dog, you ain't going to get this again. They healthy. Not what this team he has.

But to be honest with you, the reason why he hasn't took a lot of the heat that a first rounder would take is because he's in Detroit. Like even right now, when people see Jared golf and they see Detroit and Jerry golf go out there, throw a touchdown, throw five pick, everybody just look at the TV and go, oh. But Jared got, Jared got to smoke, though. Like, Jared, they were shitting on Jared from the beginning. Like, yeah, like, but I'm saying it in LA.

He was in LA, though. But now he in Detroit and everybody's kind of like, uh, he tried. And we've also seen, yeah, right, right? It's kind of like the Jets and the Dolphins to it. It's like the Jets to the Dolphins. See, but we, but we see those guys get the flat, right? He was in, he was in L.A. and they were like, I mean, hell, you know, there's no bigger indictment than Sean McVe saying, you know, my sister to make this.

issue. He needs to go get a quarterback. He went on vacation with that man and trying to talk him and to coming to the Rams. And he had to do much talking because Stafford's like Detroit versus LA, we're on our way. But and it's not, and trust me, I think Matt Stafford can play, but we going to, like we haven't, because it's been Detroit, we haven't seen those moments. Like, we haven't, playoff legacy hadn't been built because there ain't been no playoffs. He's been to playoffs. But not only that, beyond Matthew Stafford, the Rams are letting the whole league know. We are all in. We ain't got no draft picks to build on. Les Needs said there's going to be somebody else team in three years.

Yeah, we ain't got no draft picks to build on. We are trying to win a Super Bowl now. But I absolutely love the way the Rams is doing it because I tell people all the time. When I'm a GM, I'm going to do it just how the Rams is going. Why am I going to go in the draft looking for a Vaugh-Miller when I could go get him? And I could go trade for him.

Take these draft. I can go, why am I'm going in the draft looking for a Jalen Ramsey and the Jags is trying to trade him. Well, it depends on where your trajectory is too, right? Because when you build a building and you move, you got to throw the box office out. But at the end of the day, if you can win one or two Super Bowls and have a bad, but I have a bad football team for the next 10 years, I'm taking that all day. So Bronco is cool with that.

Huh? So Bronco's cool with that because they were all out, they got their two bowl, and they're struggling right now. They struggle right now. The Jags did that too, but they didn't win. But now you rebuild that thing, right? And you try to get back to that. You know what I'm saying? But as for the Rams, you have Bob Miller and Aaron Donald for next year, too.

You have a chance to go win a couple of these things. And, yes, Matthew Stafford could be gone. Ramsey could be gone. Miller could be gone. Right? I'm just saying, your team could be guards for the next team, but you have won two Super Bowl. Number one, that's going to get everybody in that.

building another job once you're flashing their rings around. You know what I'm saying? And I'll take those two rings and 10 years of average play any day. Yeah, no, I see what you're coming from. But if they don't win, though, now you, hey, because the Jags did that when they had, when they had Ramsey and Boye and Coleris Campbell and all them boys, then the boys.

They had a quarterback, though. You know how much You know how much life they brought to Duval Just get to the AFC championship An AFC championship that they should have won too But to be honest with you know Jacksonville like That was that was really draft picks

The only people But Denver did it the most though But I'm just saying like The only person they really brought over there Like through free agency was Kalea Yeah Everybody else they really drafted Well at Boyet

But everybody else it was really just draft The Rams, man, you, you Rams, Bob, Matthew, like, you're going to get these dudes to go try to win this thing. You know what I'm saying? So they got to find a way to win it this year, next year. They got to win one of these. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Speaking of On the Way Out, this is from Josina Anderson.

Man, everything is breaking. She says on her Twitter feed, quote, I'm told Brown's wide receiver, O'Dell Beckham Jr. Has been told he's excused from practice today. per league source. Additionally, it is my understanding that OBJ was ready to attend practice per usual. So the trade deadline has passed. What do you guys read into this, if anything? Because that Odell Beckham, Jr., was there one catch for six yards, the lowest total that he's had while completing a game. So it's not due to injury or something like that. And of course, they got the

super cuts of every one of his routes and they show some disinterested routes as they always do. But what do y'all think about this situation in Cleveland? The Baker-Mayfield situation with him, the relationship with him is Odell done. People around the league are trying to say or are saying that this isn't the same Odell Beckham Jr. due to injury or due to whatever, you know, attitude. I'm not in his head. I haven't watched a whole bunch of brown stuff outside of the whooping. They put on the bears. So how do y'all feel about Odell Beckham Jr. and his, his viability as a lead receiver. Is he still in that category for y'all? I think that the whole

situation toxic. And the reason I say that because Odell's a great player but if they if they wanted him out of there, they should have gotten him out of there. You know, you can't have somebody planning on coming to practice and then now you excusing them. But also

like Odell, dad, posting all this stuff now LeBron tweeting and get him out of there. It's too much. And I feel it's too much. And then now you got Baker over here thinking like, all right, I know this dude don't want to be here. You know, I have to give him the ball because everybody says I got to give him the ball. You know, I think Coach DeFansky probably just like, man,

this whole situation is toxic. I don't know how to deal with it. I ain't trying to deal with it today because he basically probably was like, man, just go home, bro. I'm not trying to deal with this today. I don't know. I'm not a receiver. James is a receiver.

So I'm going to let him handle this situation. Well, for me, I tune in every week and I watch the video copies of these games. And I see Odell Beckham. And Odell Beckham is Odell Beckham. He's still that guy. He's still that dude. Okay. When you watch him run routes and you watch him get off the line of scrimmage

and you watch him get in and out of his breaks, he is still that dude. Now, the opportunities are not there. You know what I mean? We are eight weeks into this season, and this boy has 17 catches. Come on, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, for me...

So would Baker not be thrown to an open dude? Like, what's happening there? For me, it's not even on Baker. Okay. If I have one of the premier receivers in the National Football League, as a head coach, me knowing that I have a two-headed monster in the backfield, and I know Kareem Hunt just got,

got hurt and he'd been out the last two weeks. But before that, you have Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb back there, which means 97% of the time OBJ and Jarvis Landry's getting man-to-man coverage or zone coverage. How are we not creating ways to get the ball into Odell Beckham team? That's really hard for me to understand. You know, because if I'm coming up with some plays and some schemes to where Odell is the first look and the first read, you know, like,

if Baker get the downside hike and get the ball and he's looking at, oh, his first read, I don't understand how he's not getting more reps. And I know everybody's seeing the little video as dad posted of him being wide open. If he's the first read, how is he not getting this rock? So what's the issue then, James? I'm trying to figure out if they're not winning as much as they should,

and he is open and there isn't a problem between he and Baker then why isn't it manifesting itself in production? Number one, I just don't think it's a priority. The priority is to run the football, right? Okay. And then the priority is everybody,

whoever Baker throws to, whoever Baker throws to. You know what I'm saying? Like, when Aaron Rogers and Matt LaFleau put together this game plan, yes, you got your run plays. All right? This is the run.

This is how we're going to tack them in the run, game. Yes, we got our past play. Where's Devante? Yeah. So like a package. How can we get Devonte involved, all right? Okay, we got this. We got, we got, we got, we got, we run in Denver in the past game, all right? We run in Tampa in the past game. All right. Tate needs to be the number one. You got me? So the thing is, that's what I need to be looking number one. And then not only that, when you get out there and you see 19 men in the box and it's man-to-man coverage. Aaron looks out there at DeVante and gives him a signal and say, let's go to work.

How is none of this happening? So there is an issue then with Baker and Odell or... But for me, the issue is more with the coach. Like this needs to... And that's why he came out the other day and he said, I need to do a better job of getting Odell involved in the gameplay. Yes, it's your job. I knew real quick I knew all right and I know everybody big in fantasy

my buddies just to call me all the time how the game playing live I used to tell them I used to tell them I used to tell them straight up I'm gonna get seven balls this weekend yeah I used to tell them straight up too though don't put me in this weekend bro you know what I said hey I ain't the number one on a lot of stuff I don't know how I was going look you know what I'm saying then I used to tell them other weeks hey bro it's about to go dad. You know what I said? Put me in. I'm on the front side of a lot of this stuff. You know what I'm saying? Me and Aaron cooking. You know what I'm saying? Aaron been checking routes to me and practicing all that type stuff. Like we go like, I'm going to have a big one,

bro. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm like, I don't, I don't understand it. So for me, that's on the coach. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, I coach, I coach you use football. You know who to get the ball to? 100%. And if your quarterback ain't eyeballing them, y'all going to have a little conversation. Man, if he ain't doing that, I'm running on the 15th over here. You ain't even looking over here. You know what I'm saying? You know?

So, like, I feel like that's the fansky, man. You have to do a better job of getting OBJ involved in the passing game. And I remember, I remember one thing Coach Mike told me, right? You know, Ryan, after every season, you got exit interviews, right? Yeah. Whether you win the Super Bowl or not, you go, you do your ex-ed. I remember one of my exit interviews, Coach Mike told me, JJ, straight up. Coach Mike told me, JJ, when we get you the ball early in the game, you're a beast.

When you don't get the ball early in the game, you're sorry. And I said, I looked at dead eyes. I said, you're absolutely right. Because if I go in the game and I get me a couple of catches in the first quarter, I'm like, oh, wee, I'm going to kill these boys today. Facts. If I get me a- Every route, Chris. Yeah.

If I go out there and get a ball in the third quarter, I'm like, man. They don't love me. Yeah. I'm like, Ryan, you see this man right now? Hey, I used to be the same way. Like, if I jump out the game, I got a tackle and two in the first time, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm about that. It's probably be a good day. I'm about to have me or I'm about to have a few of them.

It'd be halfway through the second quarter. You're like, man, I didn't get a tackle. The ball don't love me. Hey, no, bro. Jason, I'm like, man, if I get three a quarter, I got 12 a game. That's, you kill it. You know what I'm saying? So like every series, I'm like, at least get one or two.

You know, I'm over here the second quarter. I'm like, I'm looking back at the stats. I'm seeing other people got six times. I'm like, clean jersey. No, I ain't got no clean jersey. No, don't do me right that. I'm going to dive on a pile or something. You know what I'm saying?

No, but I feel like the Browns, like, they trust Baker, but they don't trust Baker to win. Like, they don't trust Baker to, like, handle the game. He's more of a manager. So I feel like they're, to me, from what I see when he's playing, it's more about, all right, make their safe decision. And he might feel reading O'Dell first, might not be the safe decision because everybody

expecting me to give him the ball. You know, so I think he's more about like, man, I'm going into the open dude. Like, I ain't, I'm not out here. And that's the only thing I'm saying, Ryan and James, is like, and I'm really asking your perspective on this. If I,

and that offense and that team hasn't lived up to expectations. Let's just keep it funky about this season. That's what I'm saying. If this team was eight, no, whatever the could shoot, you know, was 7 and 1, 6 and 2. If that was the case and Odell wasn't getting the ball,

they would have reason and justification for it. I'm just trying to wrap my head around. If I'm the coach or if I'm the quarterback and we're not doing what we're supposed to do, and he still is O'Hale Beckham Jr. Like one of the variables can't be true in this thing. Yeah. I'm trying to figure it out too. Right.

If he's still O'Dell and we're four and four, what the hell we're not getting the ball and the open. And the only reason why I say that is because before I went back to the Packer, I was in training camp with the Giants. Okay. And Odell was there. And at the time, the reason why I chose the Giants is because the Giants had been McAdoo,

my old offensive coordinator from Green Bay. And he ran the same exact offense as the Packers did in New York, right? So when I got there, Eli called to play, and he looked dead at O. And he forced him this ball to O. Me and Victor Cruz,

cruising him over there like, man, like you ain't looking nowhere else. He's forcing the ball to O because he knows that O was special. He knows that O going to make these plays. Is he still special is the question? He's still special, but Baker ain't even looking at it. But Baker probably don't feel that way. That's what I'm saying. For me, for you not to look at it, no, he can't feel that way if we're looking at the

film and we see an O running wide open because now you're just playing stupid football. So that's what I'm saying. Like when you go in and you watch the film and you see O wide open, as a quarterback, it's like, okay, what am I doing? And then as an offensive coordinator, why are we not spinning it over here to him? Somebody needs to be fired then. Maybe that's why he's taking it.

So. I'm going to take that, y'all. But the thing is, though, like, Do you feel, I understand like he's open on these concepts, blah, like all this and stuff, all this and that. But say Baker started forcing into Odell, right? Odell, 100 yards, 150 yards a game, this and that, and they're taking L's.

What's the problem now? Well, I'm saying, I mean, the goal is to win, but all we're saying is is always one of your best players on the field. Baker probably don't feel like giving him the ball, make them win. I feel like Ryan, like I feel like I'm trending towards Ryan on this because if, if he's open. Yeah. If he's open and you're not giving the ball, that's not helping you.

Like I'm wondering if they feel he's one of the best. Well, number one, we can't sit here and say he ain't open because we don't see any hope. No, I understand. Right? So my thing is, is, is I'm going to Fansky first. and then Baker. Got you. Do a better job

of making O the first read in this past year. Baker, do a better job of giving OBJ opportunity. Baker, if you want to get $40 million or you want to get a contract, you better start spending

this thing to owe. So this is my mind. Like straight up, like he's not going to football well right now. So if you want to start, you got to start throwing this ball, man. This is how I feel. I feel the Browns were like,

hey, we had, We was cooking with gas last year. Odell wasn't playing. We turned everything around when Odell got hurt. If you had special, show up when we give you the ball. Like, that's what I think they're thinking over there because when it comes up. The boy comes out of the game with two targets. That's crazy.

First off, forget that. Odell Beckerman's making $100 million. Yeah, no, he need the ball. Any player that I've ever been around making big money at any position, They are going to make sure they get him to football. Well, the wide receiver position as it, like we always talk about wide receivers being divas and all that. And I've always tried to explain to people or had my wide receiver buddies

explain to people. They are the most reliant upon everybody doing their job right of anybody in the NFL and physically and sometimes figuratively the most distance from the ball. Like you furthest from the ball, you got to make sure that everybody up front is doing their job to get the ball out. And then you got to rely on the offensive coordinator and the quarterback to execute while you're in your break, right? So there's heavy reliance for why receivers on everything else going right. And then when you score, you know, you do your thing in the end zone. But O'Dell Beckham Jr. is relying on everybody to do their job correctly.

And I might agree with Ryan on this a little bit. people might be looking at like you ain't the same Odell Beckham Jr. So why should we force you to ball? But the thing is crazy. People, people ain't watching film. That's why people turning on ESPN and NFL network to watch the highlights. They're not watching film.

They're not watching Odell Beckham cook these dudes off the line of scrimmings. They're not watching Odell get five yards of separation. They're not watching an Odell fly down the football field. You know, so that's my thing. Like, we knew going into the game. that Aaron was going to give us opportunities to make plays. So I don't care what the game plan is as a coach. If you have a guy like Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham,

I know you're going to run the football. But when you come into the game, I promise you, you guys are going to see seven to eight targets a game easy. What you do with them? I don't know. But you guys are going to see seven to eight targets a game easy. we're going to throw the ball 30 plus tie. Right?

You get about 70, 80 plays in the game. We're going to run at 40. We're going to throw it 2530. You guys are going to see at least eight to 10 targets a game. How is Odell Beckham making $100 million and coming out of the game with one or two targets in every game? That is coaching. Ryan, you got the last word on this.

James. Odell has played the least amount of games out of all, like, the core dues on their. team. He lead the team in targets. And he's second in receptions. And Bacon throw the ball. The only person he threw the ball to more to,

no, the only person he threw the ball more to is the tight ends. Bro. Odell Beckham has seven, six. So first off. So he has 34 targets. First off, I don't like looking at them. I don't like targets. No, no, no. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't like targets because if

you're the closest person to the ball and the quarterback throw it away, that's a target. Oh. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's why, that's why, like, we always used to, hey, Aaron scrambling people coming and be throwing it out of bounds for you to be like, ah, mother. That's going to be a target.

Think about how they're thinking. No, no, but for real, because that's how other people think. That's why, like, I really hate targets. You know what I'm saying? Like, if Odell throwing it, I mean, if Baker throwing it to Odell and that thing get tipped at the line of scrimmage and it's coming toward, oh, that's a target. you know, so I don't like targets, but I look at the catches.

It's eight games and you got 17 catches. Cooper Cup, Devonte, and them got 50, 60. Like, that's coaching. Well, and Cooper just might be better right now. Here you go. We're about to end it. We're about to end it. Man, hey, thoughts and prayers to the Tennessee Titans playoff hopes

because Derek Henry. I don't know when we talk about Aaron Donald being the best in the league. He's obviously one of the more important players in the league as well. I don't know if you're going to get to six, seven names before you get to Derek Henry in terms of the most important players in the game. A tough blow. And I got to be honest with you, I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner because the way this man has been carrying the ball

is a throwback to 90s running backs. And we haven't seen a size speed. combination like him in a long time. So y'all thoughts quickly before we wrap this thing up on the Tennessee Titans and their prospects going forward with Ryan Tannihill kind of controlling that offense without Derek Henry. You go ahead and play the Taps music now. Yeah, it's a gut shot, man.

If I'm coach of April, man, it's a gut shot. But at the end of the day, you know, this is when we got to have guys like Julio and A.J. Brown step up, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I know you brought in all day. You know, all day will give you a little action. You know, Agent Peterson will give you a little action. But, I mean, you just lost the best running back in the National Football League that did everything for his team.

You know what I mean? I made sure that, I mean, really, like you said, man, I mean, he's the best player on the team, arguably the best player in the league right now. You know, with the football, he makes sure his guys on the outside get one-on-one coverage. Now the ball is in Ryan Tannenhill's hand. hands. You know, hopefully Julio can stay healthy. Obviously,

AJ Brown is looking fresher and fresher every week. Like, these two big boys is going to have to step up and make plays, but they have went from a running team to a passing team

spreading this thing out now and throwing this football with the weapons you have on the outside. So hopefully them dudes can stay healthy and make some plays. But if Julio can step up and be Julio and A.J. Brown could continue being A.J. Brown,

then this team will have a shot to get in the playoffs. Right. To me, I think they have a solid team still. They have a lot of weapons all over the field. Honestly, I don't see them not making the playoffs. They have the best record in the AFC right now, but they're not going to finish off with the best. They're not going to be the best team in the AFC.

But I think that they will, I think they'll finish. I think they'll still win in the division. I think the coach are good. I think they'll win their division. I think they're going to beat the coach. I think AP going to come out and just not be the way he used to be, but I think he'll run for about 700 for the rest of the season. And I think he's still going to give them the opportunity to just have a solid team.

And then hopefully Derek Henry can come back sometime during the playoffs to help them finish off his run. But Darren Henry, they said he has touched the ball more than any running back. Man. That's touched the ball in the first. seven games in a career, that's crazy. Yeah, that's a big. I was really thinking about making an argument for like Derry Henry for MVP.

Yeah, for sure. He was in the last year, yeah. That's an easy argument. Because that's turned into a quarterback award, and I don't like it's a quarterback award. For sure. It should be everybody award. But, man, that's definitely a body blow.

It's going to hurt them a lot. But Coach Vreba, a good coach. He's going to figure out how to get the boys in a little. the playoffs. And I think they'll probably get to, you know, the division around if Derek Henry don't play. But if you do play, they'll probably get to the AFC championship or something like that. They're going to have to lean on that defense.

Ain't no AFC championship having it for that team. No, Derek Henry, you got to go. Yeah, no, I'm saying, Derek, here you got to be back for an L.C. Championship. I ain't, you ain't know. That day. Shout out to Ryan Tannahill in the bag that he got. But, man, it's a different, it's a different beast when you can't hand it off to King,

King Henry. Yeah, that's a really, really, really tough break for them. And like I said, I'm surprised the way they've ran that man over the last two or three years, he can handle it, but I'm surprised it didn't happen a little bit sooner. We didn't get a chance to talk about James Winston and his injury. That was tough to look. That was tough to look at. It was a gruesome injury.

And, you know, Tassum Hill and Trevor Simeon, we're going to see what kind of coached Sean Peyton is for real, for real now because, It ain't looking too hot on the offensive side of things for the New Orleans Saints. All right, that's all the time we have. Shout out to Justin Fields, too, by the way. His best game is a professional. It's funny what happens when Bill Laser is calling plays with no veto power for Matt Nagy, mad at the crib, you know, getting over COVID, you know,

wishing the best for him and his health and his family as well. But it looked a little bit different on Sunday, even in the loss, in a loss, but looked a little bit different, you know. Justin Fields out there running 400 yards, responsible for a couple of touchdowns. That's my little bears infusion into the pod because I don't want to cry. James, James, guess who back on Monday night?

Not, Nick. Yeah, and the Steelers will win was it the third game in a row now or something like that? I think it's going to be our fifth game in a row. Is it five? Is it four? Yeah, I didn't think he was counting. I didn't think he was counting.

My bad, right? This is, yes, see, it all comes full circle. It was the James and Ryan Bowl a couple of weeks ago, and now it's going to be the golf and Shazier Bowl. I'll be there. I'll be there. Unfortunately, I know how this one's going to turn out. All right, fellas.

Thank goodness for breaking news. We had a lot to talk about on this pod. Well done to everybody. Next up on the Ring of NFL show is the Thursday show with Nora and Mallory. Next week we'll be back in our usual Tuesday slot. Check out the full go with me, Jason Golf, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You will be hearing Ryan Shazir

extoll the virtues of the Pittsburgh Steelers next time. Thank you to the associate producer, Stefan Anderson, for production on this episode with additional production supervision from our junior Ram Gapal for James Jones. Ryan Shazir, I'm Jason Goff. Thank you for listening to this

pod. As always, take care of each other and be safe.