Can the Broncos Offense Get Going? Plus, Jerry Jones’s Wild Tales and More NFL News.
00:03 What's up, everybody? It is the Ringer NFL show. Wednesday, October 14th. Tom Pellisero here. Sheal Kapadia, Billy Gill, along for the ride, as always. Talk to talk about getting set for week six in the NFL season, an intriguing one Thursday night, Broncos Seahawks. This is the week Denver's offense takes off. What do we make of Seattle? We'll get into all of that. Billy is back. No jury duty this week for a Wednesday. He'll take us around the gridiron. Stories of moonings at Lambeau Field. What's going on with the Saints right now? Brock Purdy approaching a significant statistical milestone. We'll dive into all that stuff as well as suspensions, helmetless headbutts, quarterback injury updates. It's all right after this. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by Fanduil. Make every NFL
01:01 week more rewarding with Fandual Rewards Club. Just bet like you normally would and earn points on eligible settled bets, win or lose. Keep collecting points, level up and unlock bigger rewards. So keep an eye on your rewards club progress and see what you can unlock. This is your most rewarding season ever with Fandul. 21 plus select states, 18 plus DC or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800-800-9-77-7-7 or visit C.combing. GCPG.org slash chat in Connecticut. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to see Broncos Seahawks in a matchup are in the same sentence and not immediately think Russell Wilson.
01:55 It's two teams that are just like intrinsically tied together, even though that obviously led to in Denver's case, the Bo Nix era, the Sean Payton era. And for Seattle, it was setting them up to gain a ton of assets and kind of reboot and what ended up being the Mike McDonald era. They meet here Sheel, week six, Thursday night football, whole country watching this game. And as much as I think I know what Seattle is, you know, they had a bunch of just absolute gong show moments in that game, including the fumble in the end zone last week in San Francisco. They're still in it.
02:31 They're still one of the best teams in all of football. They need to figure out their running back issues. With Denver, I know they're talented. I know this is a team that is largely unchanged. if anything, they've added from what they were a year ago when they went to the AOC championship game. And yet there's so many questions about what exactly this 2026 version is going to be. What do you make of this matchup and where the Broncos stand here now one weekend to Sean Payton returning to calling the place? Yeah, I'm with you.
03:00 You look at both teams and you say Super Bowl contenders going into the season coming off of great years last year. They're both three and two. I do look at them a little bit differently. and we can get to the Seahawks in a few minutes here. But the big question with the Broncos is what you said. You looked at it and thought, all right, can they make a leap offensively this offseason? You make the Jalen Waddle trade another year for Bo Nix in this system. You had a lot of continuity on this offense where I think if you predicted that,
03:29 hey, the Broncos are going to be a top 10 offense this season before the year, that was a perfectly reasonable stance to have. And it just hasn't happened. We've spent a lot of words on Davis Webb and Sean Payton replacing. game. Payton takes over play calling last week and they win the game, but that was not a good offensive performance. I mean, that was, that was
03:48 bad. Bo Nicks threw for a hundred and 23 yards. They had 224 yards, and Peyton kind of admitted it afterwards. I don't know. Did you, did you guys watch the bear? Have you seen the bear? I've seen it. I kind of gave up in the final season just because it ceased to be a comedy. It was just sort of a depressing
04:06 show about laying out forks, right? But go on. Yeah. Okay, Billy, you? Bear? No. I thought you were talking about Chris Felica. No, not. But, you know, we could. I don't know if he's a, you know, a two or an instead for you, Chris Felica. But the bear. Back to the bear. Sean Payton said that he was talking about Bo Nix and he told reporters, this is from the athletic. That old TV series, the bear, they just say, let it rip. I want him to make sure, hey, let it rip about Bo Nicks. And we got to give him a clean pocket early in the game. Because when we don't, he gets. it's, quote, juiced up a little bit.
04:42 So speaking very honestly about kind of the state of his quarterback there. Now, first of all, I see Billy making a face. The bear is not an old TV series. I'm with you, Billy. It's a recent TV series. But Sean Payton's showing he's attuned to pop culture. And now you go up against this very tough Seahawks defense on national TV. I'm very curious what it looks like for the Broncos.
05:04 Because I'm not that confident that they're going to get it right offensively. I need to see more. I don't like, and this is, you know, I will be judged for this comment, and I'm sure fairly. But I don't like when the present coach is showing, you know, personality and I have a life outside of this. Like, let me not know what TV shows you're watching Sean Payton. And like, let this be a Mike Tomlin situation where after you're done coach and we find out like, oh, he had a life and he was actually not like a crazy person. I like the lore of like, this is a person who's only obsessed with football and the only film he's watching. is not, you know, FX shows or whatever.
05:40 It's like game tape. This matchup seems like a nightmare for the Broncos, right? Because the Seahawks' strengths are all of the Broncos' weaknesses, where the Seahawks' defenses, fewest yards for games allowed, and that's where Broncos rank last, second to last in league of yards for game. They're struggling on passing yards per game. That's the Seahawks' strength is fewest passing yards per game.
06:02 The one part of maybe a weakness in the Seahawks defense is they allow, you know, a decent. an amount of rushing yards, but that's the Broncos weakness on offense. They can't rush the ball this year. So on paper, it seems like this isn't going to go well for the Broncos, and they did make that change last week, and it didn't really seem to have a ton of impact, but now you have an extra week of that. I think the unsatisfying part about this game
06:28 is six months ago, eight months ago, whatever it was, this is a Super Bowl match of people we're longing for. And now you have this game, week five, week six of the season this year. And it's not really a game that I think people are longing for just because of how much the Broncos have been struggling. And the Seahawks are trying to figure things out too.
06:48 So very quickly they went from like the cream of the crop. And I feel like the Seahawks are still there. And the Broncos, if they figure it out, will be up there in the AFC. But right now, I don't think anyone's looking at this as a potential Super Bowl preview where eight months ago, this is the game they wanted to see. I still think it can be. And frankly, if Bo Nix doesn't break his foot on the next to last play in the, you know, divisional playoff game, that might have been the Super Bowl last year.
07:16 Like this Broncos team, they don't have Jonathan Cooper right now. He's on the exemplist. I would think they get him back at some point that's really impacted their pass rush, which to this point has just not been what it was last year. You know, flip side of it, to me, one of the most disappointing players so far this season is Jalen Waddle. He had one big game in week two. the Jaguars. The other four games combined, I just double check this. Four games combined other than that week two matchup, Jalen Waddle, 10 catches for 66 yards. Total. That is his total in the other
07:48 four games. And there's a bunch of drops in there for Waddle. Like that was, you trade your first drawn pick form. You're expecting as much as yes, his hands have not always been his number one asset, but he's had the speed. You're thinking this guy's going to be able to change how he play offensively. Whether it's just Waddle, who's not quite, you know, as locked in as he needs to be right now, just not playing at as high a level as he needs to be, or it's still figuring out how to use him. That's the guy that I want to see take off for this offense. It won't be easy against Seattle and all the things that they can do to you defensively this week and the quality of the players in the secondary. I am entertained by Sean Payton, you know, citing the bear
08:26 because he's, he's, he's, he's carmy. He's the main character of the show, the absolute genius who struggles to not control everything. and has such brilliant ideas and it's constantly trying to pull people forward. I mean, that's why the guy now, you know, he tried to kick it over to the sous chef for a month. And then he's like, I got to take it back. The food's not as good.
08:48 I got to make it better. You know, and I think that that's part of it. It's figuring out how do you best use your playmakers? I mean, where is Evan Ingram? Where's Cortland Sutton? Where's Jaylon Waddle? That's where you'd like to see them get better over the course of this season.
09:04 I think they will. I don't know that it's going to happen on Thursday. day night, but I do think this game's going to be just absolutely full of haymakers and it'll be fun. The Jayland Waddle experience has been weird in the NFL so far, right? Because in Miami, he had the cover of, he had Tyree Kill on his team. So Tyree Kill was the number one. He became the number two, even though the Dolphins were paying him like the number one. But again, you can say, well, Tyree Kill is there. But when he was in Miami, he had a lot of non-injury injuries. And by that, I'm saying, like, he wasn't on the injury report for things and he wasn't missing games,
09:39 but he'd get tweaks and he'd get hit early in the game and then he'd be missing for two quarters and then he would come back and he'd have dropped passes. And it was a frustrating experience down here, which when they traded him to Denver, a lot of people were like, well, the dolphins have punted on the season. It's like, well, they got a lot in return for Waddle and this is a rebuild anyways. So it's not the worst thing in the world. But for a six overall pick. I'm not saying that he's a bus, but he hasn't exactly lived up to what I think everyone thought he would be in the NFL so far. I thought he was pretty productive and it wasn't always a great situation. Even when Tyree Kill was injured, he still put up good numbers. It wasn't the best
10:18 quarterback situation. Even last year, they're playing with different quarterbacks over there. So when the Broncos made the trade, it's one of those where you just give the new coach the benefit of the doubt, like to Tom's point. It's like Sean Payton's been one of the best offensive coaches of the last 25, 30 years. It's like, you're right, Billy, they gave up a good amount for him. It's like, if you're going to give that up for a player, I'm just going to give you the benefit of the doubt
10:41 that you know how to use him and you know what he's going to bring to your offense. And it just hasn't materialized yet. I think there's still hope that they're going to be able to figure that part out. I don't know that it's necessarily waddled because when you look at the whole offense and Courtney Sutton not getting, you know, and not producing, it's kind of like it's been everybody.
10:58 I don't think there's anyone on that offense. Even the offensive line, I think you would say has not been as good as some anticipated going into the season. It looks like the best offensive line in football. So they make the play caller change. I think Peyton will figure it out eventually. I don't know that he's going to figure it out in this game specifically against that Seahawks defense, which if you look at it last week, Purdy had great moments.
11:20 Mike Evans had great moments. Christian McCaffrey had great moments. When you look at it on the whole, that wasn't like an unbelievable 49ers offensive performance. Just statistically, it was actually very good. for the Seahawks. There were just a lot of turnovers in there. There were a lot of possessions in there. So they had a tough time. So I'm curious. I'm curious to see what happens with this Broncos offense, not only in this game, but the rest of the season, because that's going to determine whether we get to December and we're saying, yeah, they are a Super Bowl contender or you know what?
11:48 This was a little bit of a step back from what they did last year. But I got to say, Tom, I like the car me, Sean Payton comparison, you know, Davis Webb as Sydney. Do I hand over the keys? if I not hand over the keys. I'm handing over the keys. It's the whole storyline for like three seasons. Yeah, I wonder if Payton was thinking about that. That doesn't feel like an improvised line in a press conference. That feels like maybe something he's thought about over the off season or, you know,
12:14 God forbid, according to Billy, that the guy watches a TV show once in a while to unwind. He just got to sleep in his office. Do it on your own time. Every single day. Changing the menu every single day. You got to get the Michelin Star. Like, that's what they're aiming for here, Billy. Is this a show I should watch?
12:30 I haven't watched this show. Should I watch this show? The first season to two seasons, I think you can, to me, you can kind of skip over some of the rest. Like, you'll see that it keeps winning the Emmy
12:42 for Best New Comedy, and it's like, it's literally about how do you plate an egg? And that's like a whole episode. There's like no words. And it's just like, how do we drizzle this right?
12:56 I, it just, it lost me. I just, I couldn't take the pacing. I'm a, Once I start the show, I'm watching every episode. I don't stop once I start.
13:05 I thought it bounced back last season. Now, I think you might get a little bit bored, though. I think Tom is right. In between there, there is a strong chance that you might get bored. And don't expect kind of, you know, slapstick comedy that's going to have you rolling on the floor. There's a lot of dark times in there. That was like the pivot where it was literally a whole episode about how do you properly roll the silverware into the napkin? That was the whole episode.
13:29 It's like an hour. It was a power of that. The one I didn't like that the, you know, if you're more hipstery, I know our friends at the watch, they like it. But there was a whole episode where it was just no words and it was just kind of like a flash. That's how they opened an entire season where I kept thinking this is just the beginning and they're going to get to the stuff and they didn't get to the stuff. That one I didn't enjoy. But, you know, if you're more artistic, I suppose, you might have enjoyed that one. It's like you show up to watch like a 90s sex comedy and instead you get an art film.
14:05 Like that's, that was the type of transition that they tried to make in the show. And again, they kept winning. I'm not saying it's a bad show. I'm just saying it's not the same show that it was out of the gate. I've, I've just come to a point in my life. Maybe it's because I'm getting older. If I get to a point, I'm just like, I don't want to watch this show anymore. I'm like out.
14:26 I gave up on Ted Lassow at some point. I heard that's one that's fallen off. It's the same episode every single time just with different combinations of things. The bear went just completely off the rails. I just don't have time. If I, if I reached the conclusion that I am just out on the show, I don't want to give any more time of my life to it.
14:47 I don't have that type of time. Huh. I'm like that with movies. First 20 minutes, if I'm there, this isn't for me. See ya. I'm not sticking with it.
14:55 That's crazy. You finish every movie you start, Billy? I try to. I mean, I'm more like Sheel, honestly, on what he's talking about with shows and I am with you and I envy this quality in you, where I look at it probably a dumb way in which I'm like, I've invested eight seasons in this. Like, there's two left. I'm going to finish this. If not, I'll feel like I wasted the eight. But in reality, I could have enjoyed six of those eight wasted two, but now I'm going to waste another additional two to see this through because I see it as wasted time if I don't finish it through even though I'm not enjoying it, which is not the way to do it. I wish I was like you, but I need to know how these things ends. And by the way, more often than not, unsatisfying how it ends. And it's like, I really did just waste this time.
15:39 This is also why football is king, not just in sports, but across all media at this point. It's not just that people sit down and watch a whole game, including the commercials. It's also that you can have a total dog shit game for three quarters like we had on Monday night. And then the final quarter and overtime are the greatest thing we've ever seen. Like, you can stick around. It's not like, you know, the players like it's. some point they pull it up, but the writers have all these opportunities to go, you know, this show is sucking.
16:04 This script is really, what are we, 100 pages into the script? This is what we're doing. No, let's start over. You can't start over the game, but at some point, the best people are going to elevate it, specifically when you get guys like Josh Allen and Matt to Stafford on the field. Speaking of quarterbacks, multiple updates, this, this could be the week of the quarterbacks returning to action. If you're reading the T-Leaks here, so you got Baker's,
16:29 Mayfield, who at least is going to see how well he can grip a football. That was the key. He got the stitches out a week ago, as I reported in the sweep. Now it's getting that grip back and being able to throw the football. Don't know yet. They initially said it was going to be at least three weeks. He's two weeks in. He wants to play. So keep an eye on his participation throughout the course of the week. Lamar Jackson, from everything I was told, has been in every meeting. He's around the building. It's not a, you know, a long-term type of an injury. Do we see him back this week? Michael Pennix Jr., according to Kevin Stefanski, just as we started to record this, should start this weekend against the Bears as long as everything goes accordingly,
17:07 which is a big deal based upon how quickly that fell off the cliff when Pennix came out of the game the other night. And then how about this one? Ben Johnson, moments ago, says Caleb Williams will be a full participant on today's estimated injury report. Full participant, Sheel, as we know, means not just you're doing all the practice, but you're taking all the first team reps. So if, in fact, Caleb is this as a full participant partner to setback to me that says he's back this week. That's a big deal on a Wednesday. And that's great because Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson, that first week, they were the story. And I want to see more of that partnership.
17:43 And that ends up being an intriguing game in week six here. Bears at Falcons. If Pennix can play, if Caleb Williams can play. You know, the Falcons offense has looked very good since Michael Pennix, Jr. got in there with Bejohn Robinson and Drake London and the way they've been playing and we know what that Bears offense can do. So I have questions about that Bears defense.
18:03 Montez Sweat had the suspension this week. I was already a little bit concerned about their talent level on that side of the ball. I thought they overachieve the first month of the season but kind of got exposed last week against the Packers. So yeah, that Bears defense is also something to watch. And it might be fireworks, Bears first Falcons. Billy?
18:25 I mean, I'm just preparing my notes. I'm getting ready to go around the gridiron here. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm getting excited. I'm a little nervous. I don't know how you guys are going to feel about this situation. So just been taking notes, just kind of getting ready. I don't know.
18:38 Maybe your camera froze again. That's what I thought was happening there. She was going to bear. No, should I watch the show or not? He's so locked in. Well, no, on today. I was also, I was distracted because you made a point off the top about Russell Wilson and how both teams are in this position because of Russell Wilson.
18:55 that's like, well, can you put someone in your ring of honor for just being total dog shit for your team? Because it led to like this run and then you get your coach and you get a quarterback. And like even the Seahawks, I mean, this is a conversation that people were having, which is like, do Russell Wilson play himself out of the Hall of Fame because he kept going too long? Which is not a conversation we'll have today. We can have that conversation another day or never. But he was great at the start. And then at the end, he was bad.
19:18 And he was holding them back. But then they go and they win a Super Bowl without him. And now the Broncos have figured things out. So, I mean, it's the opposite of the. kiss of death, right, is what he's given these teams, is he leaves and then all of a sudden they figured out, it hasn't worked for the Giants yet, but there's still time on that. But I mean, I was thinking that we put him in the Ring of Honor,
19:35 but then I thought, you know, Tom doesn't want to talk about that today. There's important stuff happening. We won't bother him with this. Won't burden him. Well, I don't want to take you away, Billy. You got your head so down in your notes. Yeah, yeah. For around the gridiron.
19:48 We're going to talk about people dropping their pants and I guess other stuff after this. The Ringer NFL show is brought to you. by Fandul. Fan Duel. Fandul is now available everywhere, seriously, everywhere. For the first time, sports fans across the country, including California, Georgia, and Texas can get in on the action because there's more to sports than just the final score. There are the players you follow, the matchups you circle on the calendar, the stats you know
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20:44 Product availability varies by market. See fanduel.com for eligibility. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. Billy is back after missing last Wednesday for jury duty. He was missed. She'll had to do more work than usual, which let's be honest. She'll usually carries the show, but Guillermo Mirkelates returns. Time to go around the gridiron.
21:08 Billy, what do you got? Hola, amigos. How are we feeling today? We bien, me too. Bien, gracias. I see, you notice, you threw in there the two, not the formal Ustead, Tom. Do you not respect you? Your friends.
21:19 That means your friends, right? I like it. Wow. A big progress for our relationships. No, this is great. Friends. One time I had a coworker that I thought I was friends with because, you know, him and his wife had gone out with me and my wife.
21:35 He's met my kids. I met his kids. We did all this stuff. And then he was not from down here in Miami. He had moved here for the job. So he was back home in California. It was with his family. And then his father walked and he's like, who are you talking to?
21:46 And he said, a coworker. And I was like, whoa. Like, this is insanely rude and disrespect. I thought that we were more than this. So Tom, I'm glad because of that experience and others, I never presume I'm friends with people. I just, you know, I'm very vague when they say, what's your relationship? So I'm going to take friends and we're going to work towards best friends here.
22:03 I thought we were on a nosotro's basis. Are we not? No, we are. I like that. I didn't know. I would have said, listen, still to my mother-in-law sometimes. And I've known her for over a decade now because we, you know, dated for a while before we got married.
22:17 And I will still say, Ustead to hers, like she'll say, have a great. great day and I'm saying, Ustead, them being because I just, you know. Well, that's a sign of respect, though, you know, like an elder,
22:28 yeah. Elder. Not to presume she'll, come on. Yeah, come on. What are we doing here? She'll, geez.
22:33 Anywho. She's younger than you, then we got a whole other conversation to have. Yeah. Yeah. She's not younger than me. She's definitely not younger than me.
22:42 Anyways, so, so, Sheila, what did you do in my absence? Because I'm going to be honest with you, I was feeling the pressure today for this segment because you filled in last Wednesday.
22:50 And then, And in addition to it, I think you've established yourself as king of the bit on this show. You know, like last week or last episode we played the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I'm like, do we play a game? Do I just give headlines? And then we react to the headlines. And I was feeling the pressure. I was like, do we play red light green light?
23:07 Like, what do we do here? But I can't kind of match up to your level of bits on the show so far. No, it wasn't great. It was very cookie cutter. How seriously are we taking some of these teams? It didn't have the creativity, the spontaneity, whatever other descriptors you want to attach to a typical Billy Gill segment. So we're excited.
23:28 We're excited to go around the gridiron and see what you've unearthed for us this week. All right. So this week what I did, we'll have another edition of Around the Gridiron. So what I've done is I've gotten four stories. I've kind of looked around the web, see what it is that people are talking about. Some on the field, some off the field, and just kind of present them to you guys to get your thoughts. Ready to play? Absolutely.
23:49 All right. So the first one, Gail Benson, Saints owner, Gail Benson says the Saints start is unacceptable. So Gail Benson was at a lunch at the Greater New Orleans quarterback club, which sounds quite prestigious. So she was there,
24:04 and she said that Saints 1 in 4 start is not acceptable and vowed to the audience that better results are coming for the Saints fans. And then she went a step further and was just calling people out. She said, quote, Kellyn Moore and his coaches are responsible for preparing our players to perform.
24:21 Mickey Loomis and our football staff are responsible for building a roster capable of sustained success. Our players are responsible for their preparation and execution. She also was not happy with Monday Night Football, the 20th anniversary of the return to the Superdome, and she was not happy with last week's game where they were honoring Drew Brees, and they ended up laying a goose egg, not a goose egg, but they ended up losing to the Vikings.
24:46 These have been embarrassing performances. She is now vowing better results and calling out the general manager and the coach. So I ask you guys, friends, what did she expect from the Saints team? Like, why are these unrealistic expectations for what they have? And is Kellynne Moore on the hot seat unexpectedly now? Like, what's going on here? Well, I also was surprised by the timing here. I had the same reaction as you.
25:13 It's just like since Sean Payton left the Saints, Have they had a plan as there have been a season where you look at them and go, oh, okay, this makes sense. They're in a good spot here with the roster building. I would say the answer to that is no, but that was like five years ago. So I don't understand why after this start now all of a sudden she's this upset about it. You know, I haven't looked at them as a team that really is committed. So we've got to do everything we can to build a winning organization and a class organization that's going to compete for titles. Since John Payton left, I mean, they're 28 and 45 since Penn.
25:46 bait and left. That's 26th in the NFL. That's worse than the Browns. They haven't had a playoff appearance. Their best season has been nine and eight. They've had a losing record four out of five seasons. So yeah, you know, you looked at it this year and said the NFC South is wide open. Like usual, it is kind of embarrassing to not have a playoff berth in the NFC South though for five straight seasons. You feel like you might luck into it. So I don't know. I don't know why this was sort of the breaking point. Maybe because of that rivalry against the Falcons, it's national spotlight. Maybe Billy, you know, what did you say? It's called the Greater New Orleans Quarterback Club. Quarterback club, maybe she, you know, they were just putting the heat on it. I don't
26:24 really know what that is, but maybe they're putting the heat on her. And that's why the timing, she got upset and called out some people. I don't know. Maybe Tom has some insight. Tom, I don't know if you're familiar with the Greater New Orleans quarterback club. I looked up how this works. And I got, you know, conflicting reports. It's either a weekly or once a month lunch that they have. And you can pay, I think it's $30 or $40. and then you pay like an annual fee to be part of this quarterback club. And then they'll have people from the sporting world come in and address the Greater New Orleans quarterback club.
26:55 But Tom, I also kind of am wondering, where did she expect these wins to come? Because they lost the lions, they beat the Ravens, which was unexpected. Then the Raiders have been good. The Falcons have been good with Pendix back. And the Vikings, it's been a tough schedule. Like, at least seem, really. It's the hardest schedule I've ever heard, Tom.
27:14 You know, Falcons? of in terms of the timing, I don't think we need to overthink this. She probably said this now because she was scheduled to speak to the Greater New Orleans Quarterback Club now. And if you're in a room full of people who are paying to come hear about the team, they don't want to hear, hey, we got this. Two straight, just non, I mean, not really that competitive performances. They were non-competitive in the Falcons game against the Vikings. That was a closer game. But the Minnesota offense was operating at easily. highest clip that it has been the entire season.
27:47 And it's just felt like, you know, for the team member, this was like one of the sexy playoff picks that everybody based on how they finished, Tyler Shuck, take it over. Everyone's like, all right, hey, who's your sleeper? All the Saints, they're going to be in it. And they don't look that way. They got a big win in Baltimore. Other than that, they haven't played great.
28:04 Week one got away from them. But then, you know, it's playing in the Superdome, playing in front of your fans and not playing at the level that I think it's under everybody's skin. And listen, Miss B fired Dennis Allen a couple of years ago. You know, she's not afraid, too, if she feels like it's the right time. Based on the statements, if you remember from Mickey Loomis at that time, it did not sound like this was Mickey's idea. It kind of sounded like he begrudgingly went along with what the owner wanted to do. Mickey's been there 25 years.
28:33 The Super Bowl at this point is 17 years ago. They've been obviously, you know, a good team for a lot of the Sean Payton era. They had a dip there for a few years. They came back toward the end of his era. and then Breeze walked away, and they've been trying to stabilize the quarterback position ever since. Tyler Shuck, second round pick, seven years of college football, was supposed to be the guy.
28:52 I don't think Shucks played bad by any stretch, but it does raise those questions. How equipped are they to move forward in terms of getting this entire thing on the right page? You know, the Saints have, they've had a really unique roster building plan for a long time. And everybody knows it's you're constantly restructuring contracts, you're constantly kicking the can down the road. You're constantly just saying like, all right, our cap problems,
29:17 we're going to deal with them years down the line. There's been a couple of occasions where those have kind of come home to roost. They're still doing it. They still have Alvin Camara in his 30s. They still have a late career Cam Jordan on the team. When you're bringing back guys like that, you'd like to think we're a contender.
29:34 You know, we're in the mix. Right now they don't look like that. It's still pretty early in the season. I think that as much as anything, she's trying to deliver the message that, hey, I get it. Everybody's ticked off, especially those home games, like big moments. Yeah, 20 is the anniversary of the return game after Hurricane Katrina and then honoring Drew Breeze.
29:52 You come out and you don't play like the teams that people remember from that era. I'd say to everybody is disappointed with how things started here. But I can't sit here and say I'm surprised that they're not world beaters at this point. It always felt like maybe we were getting a little bit ahead in terms of them developing in the second year of a new head coach. the roster building thing, it's not a bad strategy if you feel like you're contending. You know, it's like if you're pushing the chips in and kicking the can down the road, like you said, you're expecting, all right, we're doing this because we feel like we can win right now. When you're doing that and you haven't been in the playoffs for five years,
30:26 it's just you look at it and go, what exactly is the plan for this football team? So I think that's been the case. You know, I think this time last year, I was just like, the Saints are the most irrelevant franchise in the NFL because they have no ceiling. and they just feel like a team that is not even that interesting to talk about. Now, at the end of last year, it was shug. And coming into this year, it felt a little bit different. And because the NFC South was wide open.
30:50 But yeah, maybe you're right. I mean, if nothing else, though, when you're an owner and you make comments that are somewhat strong like that, it does put some heat on some people, specifically probably here, the head coach where you just keep an eye on it the rest of the way. But, Billy, as we were discussing that, I did do a little bit more research for you on the, greater New Orleans quarterback club just in case, you know, New Orleans isn't like that far
31:15 from you. You're in Florida. An hour and a half flight, maybe. Okay. So the weekly cost is $30 for members and $40 for non-members. That includes lunch. But the annual membership is just $25. Yeah, it's a bargain.
31:30 This looks like it's one of the better deals I think out there in terms of sports fandom. You're getting the Saints owner to come talk to you and that's all you got to pay. I mean, that seems pretty good. Well, in every meeting, I think someone else comes and speaks. So, like, this is a good one, but who knows who may come up next time to talk to, you know? So it could be a Livy Dunn might be there.
31:49 Other people from the New Orleans world. Maybe Jada Daniels comes back at some point. They're also very upset about the Saints performance so far as... Really? I have no idea. I mean, Arch Manning is the thing looming over this, right? If the same... I know I say that for every team.
32:05 I don't know. I should probably start a chart. How many teams has she a link to Archmanning? But you know, you got the New Orleans connection there. If this thing really goes south the rest of the way, I don't know, something to keep an eye on. Can I ask an indelicate question? And I've had this text in the chamber for some time,
32:23 but I'm afraid to send it because I know that it's going to be a negative reaction. So I've become twos, as you would say, on a Guillermo Miracle is, with former quarterback and Texas Longhorn Chris Sims. So I've been meaning to text him to ask him, like, is Arch really good or not? Because everybody's saying, like, we want Arch, we want Arch. And in college, like, Orange isn't exactly getting things done in college. So I don't know that this is like the quarterback that you want if you have the first pick or a high pick in the draft.
32:54 And I've been meaning to send off the text, like, is he good or not? But I know what's coming my way is you're an idiot. You don't know what you're talking about. And then he'll break down all this film and just go after me. Because, to be honestly, Chris Simpson's is quite rude to me. even though we're some twos, he is quite rude to me. So is Arch going to be the answer for the Saints? Like, I don't know.
33:14 Tom, I thought he meant he was going to ask us, you know, but he was afraid because we do have a group chat. I thought he was going to ask us about, but he just used that as a platform to name drop and brag about the podcast with Chris Sims. No, no, no, no, because there's the Texas connection and he's the quarterback. I understand.
33:32 I'll ask you guys, do you guys think Arch is that good? I mean, do we think he's great? I don't know how lock. You guys are so locked in on the NFL. I don't know how much energy you're spending on college, you know? I would say this. I would say there is going to be some really interesting debates going into the spring about is he in fact the number one pick.
33:51 I mean, shoot, back in 1998, there were people who would have had Ryan Leaf as the number one pick too. And that was a point of debate, you know, with the way that Dante Moore, his career has gone at Oregon. I mean, he would have been in the mix to be the number one pick this past year. if he had come out. You know, Trinidad Jamblis is going to really intrigue some people. You know, there's other, you know, C.J. Carr, there's a bunch of quarterbacks that all have fans. I don't know that any of them, you know, surpass Arch for the number one pick.
34:19 But I don't think that if you pulled 32 teams and all their scouts, their area guys, their college directors, their GMs, I don't think you'd have like a pure 100%. Well, it's clearly arch and then everybody else. I don't think they were there at this point. He's got all the intangibles. he's a better athlete than other members of the, you know, of the Manning family have been. But there's some other really intriguing quarterback prospects. Like, what style of offense do you want to run?
34:44 Where do you think that he can have success in terms of the play style? This is all going to come up through the, you know, the January, February, March portion of the program here. I think it's going to be an interesting debate. And, you know, from the people that I talk to, I don't think it's an open and shut case right now. Sheal, you know what I took out of that conversation? It sounds like Tom should be on ring or tailgate every once in a while. You know what I mean? He's locked in on college here.
35:07 That would be great. I would tune in for that second. I only have the NFL lens. I know what the NFL people think about the college game. My Saturdays are mainly filled with juggling kids and news and everything else. Listen, around draft time will need that NFL lens. So I'm going to put a pin in that. I'm writing this down.
35:25 Yeah, write it down. I'm a casual to answer your question, casual college football fan. So it's like, yeah, if I'm home and I have time to watch, I will watch, I'll watch the night games. What's your team? I don't have a team. I just watch whatever the big games. But from me like, hey, I'm just watching a football game.
35:42 Do I think this play, do I get it with this player or not? Trinidad Chambliss passes all my. I'm just like, this guy's really good at football. Every time I watch him, he seems really good at football. There doesn't seem to be many limitations on what he can do. So you heard it here first, Billy. When Tom's coming to us in the spring, saying this scout, this GM told me this about Champless, you could say, shield from those like three games.
36:02 he watched, you knew it before anybody else. He's a really fun player to watch. He's very fun. All right. Well, speaking of quarterback since we're going around the gridiron, this one's on the gridiron. Whoa, I know. So this week, after he throws five passes,
36:21 Brock Purdy will be the all-time passer rating record holder. So all he has to do is throw five passes. Right now, he currently has the highest passer rating, but he doesn't have enough qualifying passes. He's off by five. So he presently has a career passer rating of 105.4, which is higher than Lamar Jackson's 102.7. But again, he doesn't qualify.
36:44 He needs to throw five passes. And I know what you guys are thinking? Well, what happens if those passes go awry? What happens if somehow Brock Purdy throws five straight interceptions? Surely he can't be the all-time passer rating record holder? No. not so fast because if he throws five straight interceptions,
37:04 his passer rating will fall down to 103.7, still above Lamar Jackson's 102.7. So after five passes this weekend, Brock Purdy, who we labeled as one of the top 13 quarterbacks in the NFL presently, will be the all-time passer rating record. You labeled as one of the top 13. Don't put it on us.
37:24 No, Sotros. No Sotros labeled it. I've been the one who every time this comes up points out The moment that he is a qualified passer, Sheel, he immediately, by a lot, becomes the most efficient pastor in NFL history. Nosotros said that on a past episode of this show. So, Tom, I will ask you, and we can go over the list of all-time passer ratings if you really want. I have the list of who's at the top. But you've kind of made your case for him.
37:49 Sheel, a little softer on him, if we're going to be honest with you. He put him in the top 10. Do we put a lot of weight in this, Tom, the all-time passer rating record? I do because it still is the best metric. It's not perfect. That's why people try to invent all alternate things. You know, QBR, obviously there's EPA and other things that you can look at. But it's still been the standard for a very long time.
38:12 And I do think that it matters. You know, maybe this is like your on-based percentage, but now people are like, no, it's OPS Plus. But it's still a pretty good stat just in terms of how much you completing passes, how deep are those completions, what's your touchdowns, what's your interstations. It takes the core stuff into account. And the fact that Barack Purdy is up there, it just cuts against so many different arguments for him to not be in that conversation. Sheel is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
38:40 I mean, how many times have people pointed to Lamar's passerating and said, well, look at Lamar. You say he's, you know, a runner, it's like, well, his passerating is also impacted by the threat that he might run. You constantly have to spy Lamar Jackson. You basically have to play, you know, a lot of single high against him because you just can't have the possibility that he's going to take off and run. Like Brock Purdy, no one's really scared.
39:01 He can move, but no one's scared of like designed runs with Brock Purdy. He's doing that working with a coach and Kyle Shanahan, who's as good as anybody in the NFL at getting people open. And even when things aren't open, Brock has demonstrated that ability to extend plays, get outside the pocket. Occasionally put a ball in harm's way, but for the most part make good decisions.
39:20 Like all that, that's, that's weighty stuff. That's what makes a quarterback, different playstiles with guys like Lamar and Brock Purdy, but both as passers on paper, they're both highly efficient. Now, my question is this, because Billy did address that if Purdy throws five interceptions, you know, on his first five passes,
39:39 it's still going to be good enough. But what if Lamar Jackson has, like, like, we don't know as of this recording, whether Lamar Jackson's going to play or not, but what if Lamar Jackson comes in and throws like eight touchdowns, Billy, Are you still sure that he can't do anything to stay in a front of Brock Purdy in a one-game sample? That was my follow-up question.
40:02 I think that he's played too much to have that much of an impact in one game is my guess. But there's also, if you look at this, I think that this stat has gone back to the 70s. So it's not, you know, as we're basically not getting guys from the 1930s in here because they weren't measuring them that way. But in the 1930s, guys would be like three for 12 passing in the championship game and win. Well, I was going to say... A little different game at that time. The stat is also favorable to modern-day quarterbacks. Because if you look at the top 15, eight or nine of them are active players now.
40:38 And then the ones that aren't are Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Tony Romo. And then Steve Young is really the one that you go back to furthest. But a lot of the guys in like the top 15, even the top 30, are guys that we've seen since the 2010 is playing. So it's more geared towards kind of the way the position is being played today. Well, yeah, the big thing is, you know, it includes touchdowns interception ratio and quarterbacks are so good at not throwing interceptions anymore. Like, just go back and look at the stance of guys in the 80s and 90s, even guys who were very good quarterbacks and just look at their interception total at the end of the season.
41:13 And now you have guys like, like, what did Lamar Jackson have a couple years ago? It was like 40 touchdowns and like fewer than 10 interceptions or something. and we barely were like, oh, yeah, then Rogers started that because Rogers was like the first. And then he actually came under criticism in portions of his career, especially in Green Bay of like, you need to throw some, like you need to take more chances.
41:34 You're just, you're dirtying the ball all the time to preserve your, you know, your pass around, your numbers, even though I'm sure he was being coached to do that. But, I mean, he would go whole seasons,
41:41 yeah, with just like ridiculously low interception totals, which is why up until Lamar passed him and now, Purdy, he was up at the top. How about this? So you mentioned one of them, So the pre-2000s, guys who didn't play at all in the 2000s, highest pass rating.
41:57 Number one is Steve Young at 96.8, which if you wanted the frame of reference of how much the game has changed, the fact that was the best pass rating of all time entering this century should tell you. Number two is Joe Montana. Pop quiz, top of your head, Billy. Who is number three? Highest passer rating of any player who didn't play from 2000 on? I have the list in front of me, so I'm not the best person to ask. Dan Marino?
42:24 That's where my mind went. Dan Marino is fourth. Two percentage points behind Otto Graham, 1946 to 55. So Otto was the exception back in the day. Hall of Famer, I'm looking back at some of his stats, what his numbers were. Numbers were pretty good.
42:44 He did in 1952, 952, he threw 20 touchdowns and 24 intercept. And by the way, to your point, so Dan Marino, who's 52 Autogram is tied at 50th. Autogram's 86.6. Dan Marino is 86.4. We're talking about someone who's going to be at 105. And these are 50 people behind him and their Hall of Famers. There's so many names in between here. 174 career touchdowns, 135 career interceptions. It was a little, it was a little different. Jeff Garcia. 40s and 50s. Jeff Garcia is ahead of them.
43:21 Chad Pennington. Chad Pennington is not bad. Ryan Tannahill, Derek Carr. Like, there's names here in the middle. They're like, this. Okay. Steve Young, though, every time Steve Young's name gets brought up,
43:32 I have to just give a shout out to Steve Young. Because, like, you don't know how many times in the last 10 years, I'm looking something up. Like, has a quarterback ever done this before? And the quarterback who's done it before is Steve Young. He really was ahead of his time. And maybe in that group of like, all right, this guy should get more credit when we,
43:50 We talk about the greats of that. I know it gets a lot of credit. I don't want to be that guy. He was like, no one's ever talking about. He was the dual threat guy too. Yeah. I mean, he could run threat as well as the past threat. You know, I mean, it was the closest thing for the mold of Josh Allen,
44:03 even though, you know, stand Josh Allen next to Steve Young, and there's a slight physical stature difference between the two of those guys. Lamar Jackson was 41 touchdowns and four interceptions two years ago. And we're just like, yeah, that's normal. Like, that's not normal when you look at how, you know, You look at these ratios. Okay, Brock Purdy. So maybe now the question everybody's wondering, Billy,
44:26 and you know, Tom and I sometimes we have to be the conduit to the audience. When someone's listening to this in their car or working out or on their walk and they're yelling something at their phone, we need to make sure we're asking those questions. If and when Brock Purdy does, you know, become the all-time leader in passerating, does he bump up the Billy Gill quarterback tiers maybe to like a top? top 11, maybe even a top nine, or do you just need to see a little bit more
44:54 bigger body of work this season before making that move? Now, here's the issue. And we tried to address this that episode. But Tom, you know, because he's my friend and he wants to hold me accountable for what's best for everyone involved. No, so true. Yeah, exactly.
45:10 So he said, you can't change this now. Like, this is the rankings, and you say you do them once a year, so those are the rankings headed into the year. Are things going to look different when we do the rankings and the tiers next year? We're trending that way. We can't say for certain because the season's not over yet. Anything can happen.
45:29 But we're definitely trending in him moving up at least one tier. Maybe two. Maybe two. Something to keep an eye on for later in 2027. Yeah. We'll have this conversation in September 2027. We'll see where he falls. I'll add it to the Kapadi family calendar right now just to make sure.
45:46 We're learning a lot. So you're going to write that down. We're going to write down that she'll discover Trinidad Chambliss from three games that he's watched. And Tom, we have them down for being on ringer tailgate in April, late March, early April, let's say, for the NFL draft. Very productive episode so far. So far, so good. Okay. Here's a less productive thing.
46:07 Jerry Jones may be making things up. So the Cowboys are playing the Packers this week in Green Bay. And Jerry Jones has a weekly. radio appearance that he does because he's Jerry Jones and because any radio station is like, sure, Jerry, you want to come on here and just say things? Absolutely. So Jerry Jones told a story, which I will now share with you guys, and we will decide whether or not we believe said story from Jerry Jones.
46:35 So this is according to John Makata, who was listening to 1053, The Fan. I think it's Machota. Machota. John's a great great ex-follow because he is perpetually transcribing everything that everyone in that organization says on all these platforms, which is a lot. So God bless you, John. I follow off.
46:55 He sounds like a new stead to me. It's not two category for us. It seems like John Machota. Anyways, so here's what he said. He said, quote, after the game against the Packers, maybe 25 years ago, all of my grandchildren were very small,
47:11 four or five years old, and I had a car full of them. It was so cold. We won, and as we left the stadium, We were in a long, big car, and I saw this lady headed toward the car. She comes up beside the car running. She was so upset as a Green Bay fan. She was pretty hefty.
47:32 And she turns around and pulls it all down and just plants it right up against the window. Everybody inside was in shock, and we couldn't believe it. And then her skin stuck to the window. It was so cold. When she pulled away, there was just a big print sitting there on the side of that car. There were about 10 or 11 of us in the car. We could still see it today. Now, I was on a Packers blog, the Acme Packing Company, and they were trying to break down this story to figure out exactly when this may have happened.
48:09 And it turns out it could not have happened because they were going back and they were trying to find games. So Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989, and Dallas is only won in Green Bay three times since then, according to their research. And those Cowboys victories were in 2016, 2008. Both of those were on warm days, 69 to 64 degrees, respectively. And then in 1991, they beat them. However, it wasn't as cold as they described,
48:39 and that game was not in Green Bay. That game took place in Milwaukee. Now you could say, okay, Jerry Jones just misremembered. Was it in Green Bay? Was it in Milwaukee? It could happen. It was a long time ago.
48:51 The problem was that his grandchildren were born in 1992. So it could not have been the 1991 game either. So Jerry Jones seems to be stoking the flames here for this rivalry between the Cowboys and the Packers and either is completely making up a story, is remembering a story that happened in an entirely different city. or I don't even know what the third option would be. But this story seems to not be factually correct at all based on the details he gave.
49:22 All right, I'm going to handle this one because I was covering the Packers for the Green Bay Press Gazette close to 20 years ago. So number one, I 100% believe this story is true. I think that Jerry may have his dates wrong. It may have been the game from 10 years ago, for instance. I imagine they all kind of blend together, how old people were. Stephen Jones corroborated the story, by the way, in a separate interview,
49:47 because of course, he's on later in the day and said, the most unfortunate thing was the person closest to the scene of the crime was my mother. So she got the closest up version. So Lambeau Field now, it's been renovated a number of different times. Now there's like this caged area on. It would be the south side of the stadium where the buses are on the inside of that. You still have the fans who can hang on, you know, it's just like one of those lattice fences. They can still hang on there. I've seen people yelling at people. I've seen plenty of other times people trying to get autographs, whatever.
50:18 But back then, the buses were just parked. Similar spot. But there wasn't like a true barrier. Like, you could get pretty close. And one of the traditions for Packers fans was you would moon the opposing team buses. When Randy Moss does the fake moon in the 2004 playoffs, that game I was at. And then Joe Buck, of course, famously says that's a discreet. adjusting act by Randy Moss.
50:43 He ends up getting fined. He says, what's 10 grand to me? Pay it in straight cash, homie. Next time I might shake my, you know that. I was also there for those quotes. But so the fact that he did that, it was all because they'd been mooting him for years. And so he scores a big touchdown in a playoff game.
51:01 And he does the fake moon. So everything about the description of the incident matches. If it was a colder day, I live in Minnesota. I've lived in the north, most of my, basically my entire life, you will. I've never put my cheeks on the window. But if you put, you know, you have somebody come up and just like put their face on it or like do the, you know, mouth on it and blow,
51:24 it'll stick there for a few minutes. I can't tell you what game it was or what the year was, but 100% I believe the story is true. Wow. What a breakdown. I mean, what a breakdown from everybody involved. with the first person account. Acme packing company, just going through the dates
51:45 and the temperature logs, John Lachota, getting the follow-up question to Stephen Jones, you always got to have that second source. I mean, what is, yeah,
51:54 you know what, what Tom said is, I felt like that aligns with me because it feels like a high of 68 degrees. Who knows how cold it was by the time he got in the car? You know, you could be 15 degrees colder than that cold enough
52:08 or you would describe it as cold if you're Jerry Jones coming from Texas. Wind chill, you know? Wind chill. Yeah, we don't know about the way it. Feels like temperature. Yeah, so I think that it seems like a story that probably took place.
52:21 Now, again, my follow-up here, do people still moon? Is the moon still a thing? Like, I don't find, I don't think it's from upon. Is it? Yeah, I think it's over. The mooning era is over, I believe. Once last time you saw someone just their ass cheeks out in public.
52:36 That's what I'm saying. Listen. I can't remember these. I live in Miami, man, like, all the time. We're not counting swimsuits that don't cover enough, Billy. I was going to say, like, Bonds have been very acceptable now recently. The identity of the moon involves the pants going down. So, okay, September 21st, 2008, the kickoff temperature was 64 degrees, which this was a night kickoff.
53:03 So they're probably leaving at 11 p.m. And at that point, I mean, it doesn't say, but the temperature was at the end of the game, but it might be in the 40s. Once the sun goes down in September, it might be high 40s. This could be the game. 2716,
53:20 Cowboys win. It was a, I mean, essentially a blowout. Aaron Rogers scored on a run in the final two and a half minutes to make it 27 to 16. I would guess this is the game 19 years ago,
53:33 September 21st, 2008. A game I would have been at. I don't have any recollection of that game. That was a bad Packers team that year. That was the year that Farve had been traded to the Jets. And it was a battle for Aaron Rogers. Everyone was booing Aaron Rogers. That was a weird year.
53:48 Imagine if you're the person that moved them. And now you're like, man, this stuck with Jerry for like 15, 20 years, whatever it was. Like, it's got to feel pretty good for that person, I would think. What a sense of satisfaction. Yeah. Mission accomplished. Yeah. And if that woman is listening, you can message Billy to corroborate the story.
54:08 and maybe if you want to give the details of the date is the date that Tom gave, was that correct? Billy's information is easily find online. My only concern about the veracity of the story was actually now, if you see a person, he said, what, 11 people in the car?
54:23 Yeah, 10 or 11. That would be a sprinter van, right? It would be like a Mercedes van. But that means in 0.8, he's probably rolling up in like a stretch limo. What other car are you getting 11 people in? It can't be a van. She's not tall enough to get up there.
54:38 So it has to be at ass level to truly get the full stick and the full effect of it. So it would have been easy to spot is what I'm getting at. If you see the limo parked outside Lambeau field, good chance it's Jerry Jones. I also am curious now thinking about the specifics because I didn't think too much about it, but now Tom, you have corroborated this. I feel like it deserves some attention. So if this by Jerry's account, hefty woman, put her butt, we assume, the window and it got stuck.
55:10 Does the limo driver like wait for it to unstick or is this just like a we drive off and then you have like an ice burn on your butt? Like did anyone care about this? This is the game. It wasn't like below it's not like licking the telephone pole in the Christmas story.
55:26 Like it's more like a it probably takes a second to unsuction. And this will be the last how does ass work on glass statement that I'm going to make on this. on this program. Before you move on, I got to say, you know, Tom's been breaking stories, doing a great job, Marvin. But that has to be his shining moment. That, that segment,
55:48 the analysis of the height of the butt cheeks, the temperature it takes to stick to the glass. I mean, just, I didn't know he had that in his bag. If I'm being quite honest, I didn't want to underestimate you, Tom, but I didn't know you had that in the back. Listen, nice job. I was there 07-09, living in Green Bay, covering the Packers. And again, this was, This was after like the first big renovation of Lambeau Field, which I think reopened in 2003. But it was not this Mecca entire, what are they called? The Title Town District now where like there's a very nice hotel and there's a brewery and there's restaurants, all this stuff.
56:22 It was very much like there was a gas station on the corner that had a subway in it. And I used to get my sandwiches for lunch in this gas station. That was what was across the street from Lambeau Field. That stuff is long gone. But it felt there were a lot of things I saw. Let me just put it that way, going just to and from my car in those days, coming in before the game, walking through the tailgate, coming out after hearing the party still going on at Croles West. Like, you just, there are some scenes that are kind of stuck in your mind, like that ass on the window. And I can 100%.
56:56 I didn't see it. If I did, I've wiped it from my memory. But I absolutely have seen enough to 100% buy into the story. I was going to say, it sounds like you've seen too many. asses on glass that it doesn't even register for you. Like, that is 100% believable because I saw it every weekend. All the time. Moaning the buses was just every time it was just, it was the thing.
57:18 Again, I don't know that it's as effective when there's a fence between you now. But I guess some of the old, the hardcore fans are probably still out there, you know, giving it a, given it to the old two-cheek salute after a loss. Sounds like a town of degenerate if you ask me. Tom's words, not mine. Anyways, quick Jerry Jones update here before we move on. on to the next one. Jerry Jones also in said interview was ask about the driver that was screaming at Dak Prescott. You remember that was a story that we discussed last week where the
57:47 driver said that it was embarrassing. Dak then stopped and we were kind of discussing what would happen there. So a video of someone went out earlier this week where the person was claiming to be the driver and claiming to have been fired from the situation. I don't think anyone's verified whether or not that person was telling the truth or not, but that video does exist out there. So they asked Jerry Jones about it. And he said, quote, it doesn't impact me at all. The driver in question was not an employee. Fans can express themselves and should express themselves.
58:14 Whether he was our employee or not, he was a fan, it sounds like. So I'm for our fans expressing themselves. So Jerry has now said, you know what? If you're a driver, you're not an employee, you're just a fan. Screamer at our quarterback. I don't care. That's the Jerry that's always had the belief that all publicity is good publicity. whatever it is, good stories, bad stories.
58:35 He just wants you talking about the Dallas Cowboys. That guy calling it embarrassing. Definitely got people talking about something that had nothing to do with what they actually put on the field, which that guy wasn't entirely wrong. All right. So here's the last one here. Real quick, and this is, you know,
58:50 we were talking about Tom and he just did a lot of reporting here on the butt story and Jerry Jones in the old, you know, Packer situation, maybe a limousine, what game it was. We broke it down, I think, very in depth. Here's our fourth one. around the gridiron. As reported by Ringer and Netflix NFL insider, Tom Pellisero, the NFL has decided to reinstate defensive tackle Zavian Harris,
59:14 one of the players who left the NFL and attempted to play at LSU this season. Tom, what are you hearing? This is a totally unprecedented situation because no one had ever, I mean, in modern times, challenged the NFL NCAA rule that, like, once you're in the NFL, NFL, NCAA rule, you can't. can't go back. Some players, based on a legal ruling, attempted it. There were a couple players. Xavierin Harris, I believe, had already been released. There was also a tight end Dayquan Wright who got himself released in order to go back to school, both trying to go to LSU. In the end,
59:51 because, again, multiple legal issues, SEC, athletic directors, and the conference and states and turned to just a complete and total clown show. And in the end, Lane Kiven finally gave up because he was trying to get him there. I was just like, we're not going to do it. The roster said, we're not going down that road.
01:00:09 So the NFL then had sent out because the Packers actually worked out, Xavier and Harris right after this, the league sent a memo saying, hey, just to be clear, these two guys, Harrison Wright, because they signed, they went back to college, they're barred, you can't work them out,
01:00:24 you can't try them out, you can't have a visit, they can't sign anywhere. They're effectively, They've lost eligibility in the NFL for the 2020-6 season after not having their eligibility for the 20-26 college season. So then the NFLPA also got involved and working together. The league ultimately did a bunch of interviews and were able to come to the conclusion that Damien Harris never actually practiced at LSU. There's no word yet on right.
01:00:50 I don't know if that means he did practice or if they're still going through the process. But they were like, all right, you didn't practice. so we're now going to let you come back and play. These are weird things because they can be precedential. You can look at this and go, well, you said that. That means now anybody else, hey, it didn't get drafted. You went back to college. Now, you know, who knows?
01:01:08 Like what this means. The NFL has been treating this as this is a once-a-lifetime thing. We have no idea what the rules are in college. People in college don't know what the rules are in college. So we went through it. We interviewed everybody. We reviewed the records. We can't find any evidence.
01:01:22 He actually practiced. So, okay, you can come back now. It's weird, Sheel, but the whole thing is so weird that the NFL, as much as you never want to see anybody making up the rules as you go along, it's college football and the various stakeholders that are making up the rules. The NFL is just watching this and going, all right, what do we do because this does impact our business? So I guess he's not on an NFL team yet, right? He would just be free to, I guess if someone wants to sign him to the practice squad, but there's no guarantee that an NFL team would say, yeah, we have a roster spot for this guy. so he might just end up sitting out the entire season. And then I guess he would be a free agent, you know, in the offseason.
01:02:00 He's a free agent now. He's a free agent now. Okay. So he remains a free agent until anybody decides they want to sign him maybe this year or potentially after the season once the rosters expand. I don't know. That might seem more likely, I would guess, right? I think, no, I think someone will sign him this season.
01:02:18 I think someone will sign him. Okay. He was talented enough to be on a roster in training camp and talented enough that Lane Kiffin was willing to dangle some money and try to get him back out of LSU. You know, Packers just lost Javan Hargrave. That was my initial reaction of, all right, well, if you already worked this guy out, you could sign him.
01:02:32 But listen, there's not enough big men on Earth. He's a defensive tackle. Somebody, I would guess, I don't know for sure, but I would certainly guess that Davian Harris at some point that season's on roster. Good. He didn't practice. Let him play. You know, he didn't practice in college. I think it's fine.
01:02:48 Let him play. Who knows, man. It's the whole thing. It's just, it's totally ridiculous. That's it. That was my around the grid. How'd you guys feel about that? Great around the gridiron.
01:02:59 Fantastic. Went all the way around the gridiron and onto the glass. We still got some more, some more news to get into. We got some suspensions, among other things. We'll talk about that and more right after this. We had not one, but two suspensions come out of week five for non-football acts of unsportsman-like content. That's the catch-all shield that the NFL put in the letters to Drey Greenlaw and Alarick Jackson was unsportsman-like conduct, you know, violating those rules. One guy headbutted a guy without a helmet on and the other guy punched a guy in the face.
01:03:38 Both outside the context of a football game would be assault and we'd have way bigger things on our hands. This has been such a huge emphasis for the league. Again, setting aside what actually had just unsportsmanlike conduct in general. I'm not surprised. If anything, I'm surprised that they didn't come down even harder on Drey Greenlaw, who already got suspended last year for actions toward an official, or come down harder on Alarick Jackson, because the one thing you can't have is straight up street fights after a game.
01:04:08 It just, it's such a bad look for everyone involved. It's dangerous. Like, what if, what if he lands that thing on Bradley Chubb's chin and, like, knocks him out on the field? The actions themselves, like I saw some, people will say, why is it two games and not one game? I thought, if anything, it'd go higher than two games. Allard Jackson still contesting his suspension, appealing it, during Greenlaw, lost his suspension.
01:04:31 We'll see more of this shield. And it's as much as anything, it's a message to all the players that, hey, if you do this stuff that has nothing to do with the game, it's not on the field of play, you're going to be given exactly zero grace here. Yeah, it feels like, I don't know that this is one where anyone's going to take the other side, you know, for stuff like taunting or, stuff like that on the field. I'm always like, oh, come on, you know, don't worry. You're not impacting the kids by doing some type of celebration after a big play. It's okay. The kids are going to be okay.
01:05:00 This is pretty much black and white. I mean, you know, the Drake Greenlaw thing to, you have a helmet on. The other guy does not have a helmet on. And Ernest Jones, they're lucky that he just had a little cut. It's easy for me to say, by the way. But he just had a little cut on his forehead. He's able to continue playing. But that's a crazy move to do. The only other time I've seen that, I was a, you know, now we're telling stories of being young reporters, Tom, but I was a young reporter covering the Eagles. They had just moved offensive line coach Juan Castillo. I don't know if you remember this, made him the defensive coordinator.
01:05:31 I don't know that it's ever been done since then. Andy Reid fired Sean McDermott and made Juan Castillo as defensive coordinator. And it was a training camp. It was a practice. And he got so excited that there was a linebacker. His name was Keenan Clayton comes off the field. And Juan Castillo is not wearing a helmet. but he kind of headbutted Clayton because he was so excited about what he did.
01:05:53 He had a gash on his forehead when he did the press conference after the practice. So that's the only other time I've seen this. So yeah, I think Drake Greenlaw justifiably suspended. And then Alaric Jackson, to your point, I mean, if that punch lands, if it leads to a bigger melee after the game, I mean, that ends up being an even bigger deal. And by the way, Alaric Jackson has had multiple issues off the field, arrested on suspension of felony domestic violence in June, also suspended for two games in 2024. So I know those are separate incidents to this one, but there is at least a history of
01:06:28 kind of bad behavior here with Alaric Jackson. So I think both of those are totally justified, and I'm kind of with you. You know, I think if they would have made these even stiffer punishments, I still don't know that anyone's going to take the other side and been like, oh, come on, it wasn't that big of a deal. Like these were clearly big deals. I was going to say, you just pointed it out, she was there is that incident from June, which is domestic violence, where there was conversations headed into the season.
01:06:54 Is he going to be put on like the commissioner's exemplarist? Is Puka going to be on the commissioner's exemplar? So there is a history of bad behavior in which you knew he may or may not have been considered to not be eligible to play already. And then you do this on national TV, on camera in front of everyone. It seems like,
01:07:12 you know, while it seemed innocent enough, I guess, his history may have played a role here and why it is that he was suspended so swiftly. I have in my mind's eye and I can't, Google is not helping. Maybe some avid listener can follow up on this.
01:07:28 I have a distinct childhood memory this has to be like 30 years ago of Kevin Green without a helmet on headbutting his own teammates before a game which was like, it's one of those things you don't forget as a kid just like, what is he doing? No helmet on, bald,
01:07:44 kind of bald, but also kind of mullied. The one thing that comes up, and I had forgotten it was he got suspended in 1998 for attacking his linebackers coach on the sideline. Kevin Green was an absolute character in the league, but generally a bad idea. The one thing with Drake Greenlaw, this is not making an excuse for him, but there is something, and I don't know what you do about it, where one player from the other team is in the other team's sideline and 20 people gather around them. Like if that happened to you on the street, if that happened to you in a different phase of life, like you would be in a self-defense, fighter flight type thing.
01:08:19 Now, you can't walk up to a guy and headbut him when he doesn't have a helmet on, but like how the officials, because like, and then the officials, they're very good about it going in and trying to extract the player, but it's like,
01:08:28 it's this sea of people around you instantly. We're like, I don't blame anybody for being like, you know, get out of my face. I'm going back on to the field. There have been a couple of instances in recent years. If you remember where players got suspended, if they were like in street clothes,
01:08:44 it happened to one of the chief's tight ends in the opener in Brazil a couple years ago where he shoved a guy who was in the game on the sideline and he got fine for it. But those situations on the sideline, to me, that's a different category. Drake Greenlaw, he runs hot. We all know that.
01:08:58 The Allerick Jackson thing is just inexplicable. Like, he's clearly Bradley Chubb said something to him because you can see him going, what? What did you say to me? And then pops them. They clearly were having some type of a verbal dispute. But you can't walk across the field and punch a guy in the face.
01:09:13 Like, this is how a melee start and it's... Do it in the tunnel. Don't... Don't do it. Don't do it anywhere. Well, don't do it anywhere. But if you're going to do it, don't do it with a sky cam over ahead while the broadcast is to live.
01:09:25 That's crazy. If you ever go back and like, like my whole Instagram algorithm is always like old hockey fights and you see all these old images of like, it spilled into the stands or like they got like it went down the tunnel and they're just like fist fighting on land, you know, or there's a guy up 20 rows up attacking a fan. Like it's a little different in the NFL. It's generally not the fans. still, they want to be very conscientious about not having those things escalate within the game.
01:09:50 That's why I know people hate, shield, the taunting flags and unsports military conduct. You flexed on them. You drop the ball on them. Who cares? This is why. This is literally why they don't want it to happen. Not so much, again, the Drake Greenlaw thing, which is at least happening within the heat of battle.
01:10:06 What you can't have is things that spill over and become so personal and go beyond the game that you've got an actual physical attack happening after. It's just, it's bad for everybody and Alarick Jackson's going to pay a pressure. Incredible restraint from Ernest Jones, by the way. You can kind of see that split second where he's like, did he just headbut me with a helmet on? Like, I'm going to do something about this. And then he kind of put his hands up and like, I'm going to stop. And listen, Drake Greenlaw gets in that situation because there's a late hit, right, on the sideline that I believe he got flags.
01:10:37 Right. He bumped Arnold and everybody came to his defense. Yeah. But, you know, nobody laid hands on him. Ernest Jones definitely gets in his face. And I'm with you. Ernest, like, he gets it. He's like, oh, oh, not me. Yeah.
01:10:49 It's not me. Pretty good presence of mine, honestly, right there. They did also surround. I was impressed by the officials. The officials got in there and broke everything up. But, like, very quickly, a sea of Seahawks just went completely around. It was hard to even get him back to the field. But, like, the officials handled that situation pretty well because that could have gotten ugly.
01:11:08 Well, anytime you hear, like, ex-players talk about it when a quarterback gets hit late, I mean, there's nothing ex-players like to talk about more than did the offensive linemen get in that person's face. Did they stick up for that guy? Like, that is just kind of the code and the culture in football and specifically in the NFL. That if you feel like someone did something dirty to your teammate, it doesn't mean you draw a flag, but you let them know, like, that's not okay and watch out. And so the entire, I'm sure it's so funny, the coaches, you know, be like, all right, we got to be smart. I'm sure Mike McDonald are in their team meeting, right?
01:11:38 They probably showed that in a team meeting was like, this is great. Like you were all there immediately. Your instincts were to surround this guy. He hit our quarterback late. It was dirty. That's the culture. That's what we want to be. So, you know, it was probably a moment that the Seahawks coaches and teammates are proud of,
01:11:55 especially the way they did it where they didn't draw the retaliation plan. Yet they still reacted in a proper way. It's almost like teaching tape for how to react to that situation. And we'll find out when the fines come out on Saturday if Drey Greenlaw also got penalized for the hit. Was it even actually a late? hit that was deserving of a fine, or was it strictly the response that involved the headbut on the helmetless guy? All right. We're back on Friday. Hope to see everybody there. Good game on Thursday night. We'll get into the weekend. We'll have our main characters. Our ringer 107
01:12:29 picks, which hopefully Sheel hasn't been banned from as we have sunk from first to last. And that is, Billy, I guess, a Nisotros, but it's really more of a two or a suit, depending how much we have. I would go Usted on that one. I mean. I really want to back away from that one. How does Vosotros works? You know, you ever do the Spanish class? There's Nosotros and then there's
01:12:50 Vosotros, which is like, Usts, but it's a whole. Yeah, but you all, right? I think it's just proper, like, Spain Spanish, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know many people that say bothsotros. By the way, Arjuna, our producer,
01:13:02 just found the, yes, it's an Instagram post. There's no video, but it's my favorite Kevin Green moment. in his lone season with the 49ers while injured at the start of a game, he gave a helmetless head butt to the helmeted head of Niners quarterback Jim Drucken Miller, making his first career start. Didn't he also transition to wrestling after?
01:13:23 I think he did a stint at WCW at one point. He did. Yes. With Mongo McMichael. Yeah, there's all kinds of stories. There's a lot of threads of like 80s and 90s wrestling with NFL players. That's a story for a completely, different podcast. All right. We'll see you guys on Friday. Thanks to everybody for watching and listening.
01:13:44 Thanks to our June and Chris, our entire team behind the scenes for Billy and Seal. I'm Tom. See you. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. or Wyoming? Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or 1-800-mine-Reset-777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinema.m.m.m.m.m. or call 800-32750 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8778-N-Y or text Hope NY in New York.
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