The Ringer NFL Show - 'GM Street’ — No, the Patriots Are Not Back (Ep. 168)

Episode Date: October 25, 2017

The Ringer’s Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier debate whether the Philadelphia Eagles are the real deal (0:20), question how good the New England Patriots actually are (8:10), wonder if the Pittsburgh Steelers will trade Martavis Bryant (10:50), and discuss Joe Mixon’s recent comments (13:25). Then they speculate how top draft prospects could impact the pros (19:35). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to GM Street, part of the Winger podcast network. I'm Tate Crazier and on the line, not sitting across from me on this wonderful Wednesday. Mr. Mike Lombardi, Lombardi, how you doing? I'm good, Tate. I'm doing really good. Good week. How's your week? You're doing good? I'm doing all right. We had a great Monday night football game. Actually, great is probably a stretch to say, but we had a fun Monday night football game at NFC East, a game where we thought we may see Washington go in and maybe shake things up in the NFC East.

but the Eagles hold on and your man, Doug Peterson, is now six and one on the season, and the Eagles fans, they're just chopping at the bits to come after you, Lombardy. That's good, let them come all for them. Tend you get tackled, stay in the pile, and then burst out for 15 yards and get a first down. I never thought of that. It's good coaching. That's what it is, Tate Fraser, that's just got to be what it is. Look, I think the guy played remarkable.

I mean, the team's in third and long all the time. If there ever was an MVP candidate, he certainly has obviously looks like it at 6 and 1. And, you know, as Bill Parcells always says, nobody's a quarter mile post of the race. But blind, the Eagles have third downs, but he seems to come out of the third downs really well. I don't know if anybody can watch the game, even you included who want to bust on me and think that the Eagles are a well-oiled machine offensively. Well, the thing about the Eagles offense in general, we're going to go into this a little bit more later. But obviously, they lose Jason Peters last night. they were hoping it was just an MCL sprain.

It comes out this morning. It was reported by Ian Rapporteur. I believe that it's the ACL and the MCL, which obviously makes that. You know, they never take you off in a cart. The kid was absolutely in tears, okay? And then they never really brace your leg up if it isn't really bad. Like all those reports that came out, they don't think it's that bad. Come on.

I've seen a guy. I saw Johnny Dawkins play for the 76ers. You're Johnny Dawkins. Oh, God. Please do not say my Johnny Dawkins. That is farthest from that. I saw him walk off the court, and he had an ACL, it tore his ACL. So I never buy those immediate reports.

I think they're just people just trying to make a case. But anyway, let's talk about Washington. Let's talk about what was it talked about. Did you play that game on Monday night? What's funny was before the game, I said that we joked about Jay Gruden, you know, doing the work for his brother as far as putting it out there, the narratives and the beliefs on certain players. And one of the guys we mentioned it as a joke was Jameson Crowder.

And Jameson Crowder, for people that didn't see, he fumbled a punt return. Third of a year. Yeah, and Jay Grude was the first thing. He's like, yeah, that's something that they've been dealing with with him. You know, you know, we're not sure they can trust him. He's not sure handed back there. It was right on cue.

Let me ask you this question, Tate Frazier. Yeah. Like, Tate Frazier, if you were coaching the Redskins, after James and Crowder fumbled twice, would you put him back there? When do you get fired? Like, at some point, you lose your job, right? At some point, you would hope, but he went to Duke, so a lot of those guys just keep their jobs just because of the, you know,

their university he went to. Well, then we had, I mean, we literally needed to call John Walsh last. night at America's most wanted because we had the Terrell prior missing person that we couldn't find him and ESPN was refusing to allow us to know where he was. I saw him on the second half. I tweeted it out. I saw the second half and there was number 11. Oh, there he is. Over there and then he dropped the pass and then of course, you know, the game went, well, you know, they're really disappointed him. He's not catching the ball with his hands. But what got me the most, what got me drove me over the edge was that really the Redskins have control of the game.

They're playing pretty well. The Russian went really effectively in the paint. They're doing a good job. I can't tell you how good Tom Asula has done for the Redskins. I mean, he's really made them a better defense, even though they gave up 34 points last night. But anyway, that's, you know, they got a third and one and the Redskins go empty. Like, look, I will say this a thousand times between now and the Super Bowl. When you're in a big game, okay, when you're in a game that determines your future, whether it's a playoff game or a regular season game that really matters, you have to spend an extra five minutes every day on Wednesday, every day on Thursday, every day on Friday, and short.

Because in the games that matter, like you just can't say, oh, it's third and one, let's go empty and throw a half a yard pass over here and in a couple, oh, let's do it again and we'll go empty. No, like, I'll get you. If you're playing the 49ers this week, you don't really need to spend time on third and one. But if you're playing a conference, a divisional opponent who you have to be, you've got to spend more time on third and one, because if you don't, it's going to bite you in the ass. It bit Jay Gruden right in the ass. Absolutely. And I just want to flip it on the other side of third down. When you look at Carson Wince, they had a nice little tidbit, John Gruden.

I'm going to give him a little bit of credit in the booth. He was talking about Wince. When he was at North Dakota State, he had these plays on the goal line, like these little wheel routes, and they scored a touchdown on it last night that he was really comfortable with, really familiar with. And Gruden basically said that Wins went into the offensive, the offensive room once he got there. And this surprised you? This surprised you that Wince is putting plays. and this surprised you? I was just more impressed that something from North Dakota State would translate to the NFL so well.

You know, we heard so much crap about Chip Kelly trying to bring his offense to the NFL and all these spread guys trying to make the move and make the leap. But who would have known that the offense of North Dakota State would, you know, be so heavily implemented in the NFC East and in the national football. I was just happy for the state of North Dakota. I mean, we made a big deal of it. Everybody runs the play. It's a double post.

Now they just did it out of time. two tight ends and the back goes to the flat. Okay, and usually what happens is because you're in those two tight ends and that stack look, the mic, the backer has first to the flat if you're so on the route route, okay? So, but then what happened when it's got so much pressure that they couldn't protect them in a wheel route, which he converted it because he didn't get the ball in the flat so he converted it down the field. Then Wentz made one of the most incredible throws I've ever seen.

Beautiful, throw. Under pressure. Like, do you think, let me ask you this, be objective. Do you think that Wenz is going to be able to stay healthy this entire year, taking the punishment he's taken? I personally believe that he is big. Like, he reminds me of Rathlisberger, not as big as lumbering as Rothesberger, but he takes hits.

I think he is as big, though. Yeah, he just bounces right back up whenever he takes. Like, it doesn't look like he doesn't do the Sam Bradford, like ride around on the ground and look like he could actually be out. Or, yeah. I mean, if Gronk would have taken any one of those 17 hits he took last night, do you realize Wins in the NFL? And it's because Eagles protections are atrocious.

They're horrible. But he is incredibly talented, and he makes throws down the field that he bails everybody out. He's the deodorant to cover up all the sins. I give him all the credit in the world. He's been great. And now can they overcome these injuries? We'll see. Yeah, the Peters one will be something to really watch for people that don't know how.

I mean, Jason Peters is so important to that offensive line, and he's obviously holding up the blind side for wins. So without him, it'll be very interesting to see. Why do you think people blitz them all the time? The reason people are blitz and wince all the time isn't because they don't think Wins can handle a blitz. They just, they know the Eagles back can't protect. So now you have backs that can't protect. You have a backup left tackle in the game.

This is really going to stress him. And, you know, last night he was the leading rusher on the team. And so therefore, you know, he's the leading rusher. He had 63 yards rushing, or Monday night it was. his leading rusher on the team. I mean, it's going to be hard for him to keep doing these kind of things against the better teams. But look, and, you know, if you're Washington, you've got a good team,

but look, they had the buy week. The Redskins are 0 for 5 on first down. They had the coming off a game against the 4-9th. 0-4-5 on first downs on third down in the first half. I mean, you can't win games like that. You just can't. And those third ones killed them. Yep.

I'm excited for Norman to get back and see if that defense can really get back to what we saw earlier in the season. And now, Lombardi, let's move to our favorite segment. To quote Bill Walsh, if we're all thinking I like no one is thinking, and a lot of people right now are thinking the New England Patriots are back, and they are now a Super Bowl contending team once again. I think you have to stop thinking that way. Like, if you really study the tape closely, Matt Ryan played horrible.

Like there were guys open on the tape if you watch it closely. Did the Patriots play better? Yeah, they play much better. But there were guys open on the tape, and I think what happened is I think we've now seen Steve Sarkesian declare once his 15 plays are up during the game, and he has to go off to happen. And so I would just say, look, I think if I'm a Patriot fan, which I am, I would say great.

We did a much better job. Dionne Lewis helps our football team tremendously when he's the main running back, him or Burkhead. But those two guys competing for the job or playing alternating time, it makes us a better team. But don't think for a minute that the defense is back because it's not quite there yet. Do you think James White will break a tackle this season? No, you will never break a tackle. In fact, when you and I watch the next Patriot game together, and I blow on the screen, he's going down.

Yeah, it's so strange to me. He's a tremendous player. See, that's what happened, Tate Fraser. They got carried away the Super Bowl game for the season. Everybody in New England knows James White's not a tackle breaker. He's a great, and I mean a great catcher of the football. And he can make somebody miss,

but if there's contact, he's going down. They had him in was a really good role. And when you expanded that role, which they did the first month of the season, he can't handle that role. So all those third down runs where you want to try to get, you want to try to tempt somebody to run the football and they're there and Brady to hand it off, they can't make the yards they have to make with White as the back because White can't really break a tackle to get that extra one or two yards you need.

So that's basically... Yeah, that's a pro tip for every single defense that when it's third and one and James White's in the backfield, it's either going to be a Brady-Cubey sneak or, you know, it's going to be a pass play, basically, at that point. And look, that's been the Achilles heel for them. They're four for 16 on third down in the red zone this year, and their third and ones have been horrible. I mean, they have hard a hard time struggling to

convert third and one. So, every team that's bad at third and one come play, those are the, you should add this, to remind this to Simmons in this playoff manifesto, teams that are good, they're going to advance in the playoffs, just like teams that have a quarterback play, and that's where you clearly see the Eagles as a challenging team come playoff time, because

their quarterback plays good, they convert on third down, and their defense can rush to pass. Those are three good things you need to have to be a playoff team. Let's talk about a team that, is a playoff team, but they have some things you don't want to see from your team. And that is a very upset and outwardly aggressive receiver. And if we're all thinking of like, no one is thinking that Martavis Bryant is available and on the trade block, Mike Tomlin came out and said that is not the case.

But Martavis Bryant is pretty adamant that he wants to get out of town. He wants to get out of Pittsburgh as soon as possible. Podcast. I think this is really important to understand that if you want to be traded, the way to guarantee yourself to not be traded is to ask to be traded. or go to the media to be traded. Because what happens is if you do that, if the club trades Brian away,

now it looks like you've given into his demand. So now the rest of the locker room, anytime they're upset, so when you scream you want to be traded, even if you wanted to trade the guy, you can't. Because you're just sitting there saying, well, this will create chaos in our locker room. And I think that, look,

I think Brian is being just really disrespectful of the people that stood by him. I mean, does he forget the year that, you know, they could have easily cut them, walked away from them, and they tried to help them every way they could. and he just walked

he's kind of like turning all the people that did everything with him if I'm a GM in the league and Brian's available why would I want this headache he's got right and then the other thing is

he's going to if he doesn't get the ball I got to worry about him complaining in the locker room and for people that didn't see this it was basically on social media for the most part him tweeting things there was some sort of incident

where and he deleted some of them yeah he deleted some of them and someone responded one of the rookie receivers on the Pittsburgh Steelers doju Smith Shuster out of USC he's been getting probably some of the targets

that Martavis is, you know, beckoning for in trying to garner from Big Ben. And basically he said that he was better than Judeo Smith-Schuster and that wasn't even a close competition. And when you're getting to the point where you're defaming your other teammates and then Mike Tomlin's now having to do damage control, he came out and said that Brian's not available in a trade and that he has, quote, unquote, bigger fish to fry with this team.

Basically, it's just created this whole distraction for the Pittsburgh Steelers who literally their whole season has been a lot of these distractions, but somehow they're still five and two and complete control of the AFC North. It's really a nice time if you're Pittsburgh. Like really, do you need to start talking about this Bryant? I mean, like at this point, you really

want to start, like, we're winning. We finally got this thing turned around. Like, why don't you make a play on the field and help us win? And Schuster might have a concussion this week, so now it's going to be his time to step up. Let's see what he can do. Yep, yep. It'll be interested to see. And now we're going to move to one of my favorite segments, and that's not for nothing.

You insulted him a little bit You got a little out of all of yourself I didn't insult him I didn't insult him a little bit We're going to do a little bit of insulting And first up The first guy that needs to get insulted just a little bit from you, Mr. Lombardi

Is Joe Mixon I like here's another guy Like Joe just keep quiet Like your team's losing Like you just started playing in the league You're lucky to be You're talking about a guy Who's fortunate to be lucky to play in the league

Like he should just stay in his lane And I think Joe Mixon's a really talented player But I have a problem guys kind of sprout off and they think they have the answers to what's going on with their football team. Like, just worry about what you're doing. You know, he needs to show maturity. I think Marvin Lewis is right. Like, I think you can't let this guy, like, you've got to nip this in the bud.

Because he needs to just keep his mouth closed. Because really, at the end of the day, he's fortunate to be playing in the league. And he got to help them win. He can't really mouth off. I don't think it makes any sense. It's a really strange thing because basically, so they play the Steelers this weekend, obviously, the Bingot, do they lose to the Steelers? And then Joe Mixen sees Levyon Bell have this great breakout game.

And then he comes out and says he feels like he can do more than Levyon Bell if he was given the opportunity. And we've discussed that Bingles backfield quite a bit this whole season about how, you know, jam-packed it is. You have Geo Bernard, who's a guy who's proven that he can be a starting running back in the NFL. You have Jeremy Hill, who basically has been the Bingel starting running back for the past two years. And then now you have Joe Mix in there. So you have three guys that are all, you know, vying for enough touches in the NFL. backfield and you go and call us this there as a rookie it just it the optics of the situation it says a bad message right it says it's a bad message to your whole team and it also makes you as a rookie there has to be

some sort of concession you know as i'm the young guy in the locker room and when you come out and you say things like this i just feel like that has to rub people the wrong way especially you know a jeremy hill or a geobinard i'm sure when they see that stuff yeah i mean like look just grow up i mean like look if you if you could prove you could pass protect and prove all the things you can do to help us win, then we'll put you on the field. But, like, know your role. Like, know your role. And then the last thing you want to do, look, if you have a problem about your playtime, don't go talk to the Cincinnati Inquirer. Talk to the damn head coach's offices down the hall. You don't need to, you know, if you want to get on ESPN prime time or whatever

that show is they do, then make a play. Right. Like, make a play to get on it. You don't have to just, don't spout off to get on it. I just ask you as a, obviously not being a coach, but being a general manager, being in a front office, when you have a young rookie that you've invested in that is going to be, you know, a part of your franchise, you know, a big part of your franchise moving forward. I mean, what do you do in that situation? Do you call them in and just say, hey, that's not how we handle things here? Or do you let it play itself out and sort of let them learn, you know, because he's already getting the backlash from it, of course, from saying that stuff. I think you got to call them in. I think you got to educate them. And I think that's

what you have to do every single day with the team. That's why you have team meeting the team, and you've got to educate the team on how they have to behave. Because if you don't handle the media, they're talked about what's going on. And if you want to do something that's outside the box and you want to go and be an independent contractor, then you've got to face your peers in the meeting because you're going to get called out on it. And so that's, to me, is being part of a team. You've got to help the team in any way you can. When you act as an independent contractor, that's not a good thing. Yeah, and it's one of those things, too, where that Cincinnati Bingles running back room, when Hugh Jackson was in that room, I think it, you know, they have things sort of nipped in the bud with the way it was run. And now,

you know, without a strong voice like Hugh in there, and now it's going to, fall back on Marvin to be the guy to step in and say something. Yeah, who he is. And Hughes got enough of his problems on his hands. And isn't Hugh working for the organization that just said that Wince wasn't a top 20 quick. I love Rich Eisen. He's going crazy on this. I mean, Rich Ises is demanding resignations. You think he's over in England. He's demanding resignations of the prime minister. Go Rich Go. Go, Rich Go. That is great. Before we move on, we're going to take a quick break to get a word from our sponsor, Wish. Want to say big? Over 300 million smart and

thrifty shoppers have discovered Wish. the mobile mall app that connects you to thousands of merchants, which makes it easy to shop fashion, shoes, electronics, kitchen gadgets, and more directly from the makers. That way, you pay 60 to 90% less than what you pay in a store, no markups, and no overpay. They even have an outlet section complete with products from amazing brands like Polo, Champion, Rangler, and Haynes.

And if you can wait a few weeks for delivery, you'll get lower shipping prices than almost anywhere. You ever heard of layaway? Well, this is better. No wonder, it's the number one shopping app on the apps, store and Google Play and the highest rated mobile shopping app in the world. Plus, all you basketball fans out there will be glad to know that Wish is the official mobile shopping partner of the LA Lakers.

Congrats to you, Brandon Ingram. And now for our listeners, Wish is offering all new users a free gift with purchase, but dedicated Wish Lovers. Don't worry about being left out. All listeners can get 20% off your purchase by using My Code, Ringer, NFL. It's actually our code. Just download and open your Wish app, find things that you didn't even know you needed, and enter code ringer NFL for 20% off your purchase.

And that's not all. We're also brought to you by our friends, MyBooky, the industry leading website for all your betting needs. With their great odds, fast payouts, and decades of expertise, you can bet with confidence. Your team doesn't even have to win. They just need to cover the spread. Where you bet is just as important as who you're betting on.

That's why I'm urging you to make your way to MyBooky. They have in-game live betting and a mobile site that makes wagering on the go even easier. And if you'd just rather roll the dice and craps, you can check out their online casino as well. And now's the time to get in on the action because due to popular demand, MyBooky's 100% bonus will be available for only one more week. After Sunday, you can kiss a goodbye. So get it before it's too late. Join now and MyBooky will match your deposit with up to 100% bonus for the last time this year. Use promo code Ringer NFL to activate the offer. Visit mybooky.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid. Let's talk about some college football. All right, Lombardi, we are back and we're talking about college football.

The Saturdays, not the Sundays. This is one of our favorite segments. We do a little lottery watch. This isn't specifically about players, but there will be a lot of players in this game. As we know, the Georgia-Florida game is coming up, and it is one of the best rivalries in football. It's a great game that is played on a neutral field. People lose their mind for this game.

People wake up at 6 a.m. at tailgates, and it is quite a spectacle, but this weekend it will be a lot of fun because Georgia is probably one of the top teams in the country, if not the top team in the country. Have you been to one of these games? I have never been to the Georgia-Florida game proper, but I have watched quite a few back in my day. It was a rivalry that I really appreciated in football. Most people in the South, you know, Michigan, Ohio State gets the rap as the top premier rivalry in college football. But for me, when I was a kid, I always watched Georgia, Florida. You know, it's incredible.

I mean, there's so many good players on the field. and, you know, obviously, Florida has a lot of suspension, and guys are missing games and, you know, and all that. But, I mean, for the most part, I mean, it's the largest cocktail party in the world. It's when Jacksonville, before they had a pro team, they would play down there. I mean, it was, it's really incredible. And this is going to be a fascinating game because Florida's coming off the two losses, haven't really moved the ball, haven't played well,

and Georgia just looks like they can beat any, they look like the only team that's going to slow them down is Alabama. Yep. I'll do respect to Penn State, and, you know, and I understand Penn State's really playing well, and they really are playing well. I don't understand it. I mean, I watched them kick the shit out of Michigan. So, I mean, everything you think about Georgia is, many times do you think in this game has Georgia been over hard to find? And Florida just doesn't have a quarterback. I mean, Florida, it looks like they have a lot of skill on their team. They still have a quarterback.

Yeah, when you look at Fromm, right, for whatever reason, I mean, I think we mentioned this before. We talked about Florida football. They've had all these great guys that have passed through the program that weren't their actual quarterbacks. I mean, the main guy that was a quarterback was a guy who ended up not being able to be a, you know, a professional quarterback. and that's Tim Tebow. But the Cam Newton's of the world, the Jacoby Presets of the world. I mean, even a guy like Jeff Driscoll has gotten a shot,

and they've all come through this program. Will Greer, right? Yeah, Will Greer is a guy from Charlotte, North Carolina, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I watched him play. I mean, you just wonder, and I mean, if they don't get this quarterback thing fixed, it's going to be hard to turn it around. But this is one of those games that I don't care

what the point spread is. Usually they're better because the Florida's coming off the buy week. They've got time of a pair. But Georgia looks like they could be, I mean, Georgia looks like they're one of the few teams that I've watched that could match up with Alabama and hold on. I mean, I'm not sure.

We'll know more about Penn State. I think Ohio State's a sneaky good team. I know they got beat earlier in the year by Oklahoma, but Ohio State's defense is pretty good. I think their offense has improved. They'll be interesting to see how Penn State handles them. And then, you know, everybody wants to give Sequin Bradley the Heisman Trophy. But have you watched his Bryce Love or is he passed your bedtime?

Do you still watch, you're able to watch college football this time? Yeah, I've checked out Bryce. I mean... I'm saying that sarcastically, see, at State Traser, because I would be... If I was still living on the East Coast, I would even know who Bryce Love was other than having to watch tape, because there's no way I would be able to stay awake for his games at 1030 at night.

You know where Bryce Love is from, right? He's from Raleigh, North Carolina. He's from Raleigh, North Carolina. Wake Forest High School, the high school of Keith Marshall, who was now on the Washington Redskins, formerly of the Georgia Bulldogs. What I find fascinating about this kid is that he wasn't really, like, I know he was a four-star recruit, but he had Tennessee, he had Stanford.

He really didn't have, like, it wasn't like Georgia was on him, but none of these guys were on him, though, right? I mean, what would Mac, let's just, we should have like every week, we should have a Mac segment. Like, we should, what would Mac have thought of this one? Well, Mag, this is just a,

this is a normal four star for Mac. This is something you don't go, you don't do it, you don't blow it all out to try to get this kid. He's sort of a plus tour of backfield, you know? He's just standard four stars, so he's not going to give him too much credit,

but if he was a five star, we'd be talking about him forever. I think Bryce loved, speaking of a four star, did you watch Sam Darnold this week? Can we put the, Can we put the bed? He might be an unranked juco.

Can we put the bed that he's coming out? Can we just put the sleep that he's coming out? He's not coming out. He's not coming out. I mean, he's not, there's no Asian in America is going to recommend him coming out. Oh, come on, stop. He's not coming out. Can we talk about a guy in that game that should come out, and that's the running back for Notre Dame, Josh Adams? I don't think I've seen. I've never seen anything like it. I don't know how you tackle him. He just runs over people. He looked like Chris Ivory playing on that field.

He reminded me of Trent Richardson at Alabama that the last year. year he was there where when they played against Notre Dame in that national championship game it just looked like no one could tackle him literally like that just physically they could not bring him down he just ran completely over USC a team that you know has plenty of athletes and plenty of talent and uh I don't know how I I know that running backs are devalued at some level but if I if I had that kid I mean I would have to take him in the first run I feel like I don't know what I don't look him up right now I'm gonna check his grade what he was his rating scout had him as a four star so Mac

have never touched it. Yeah, Mac doesn't even know who he is. Never heard of the name. Yeah. He wouldn't have been on Max list. Only five stars. Only five stars. Yep. Yeah. But this kid, I mean, what, he was from Warrington, Pennsylvania. The kid was like, I mean, this is a kid that, I mean, I had really noticed him last year watching the tape, but I mean, you know, he started out, he was a backup there behind C.J. Prows. Then he tore his ACL, but I mean, no, he didn't know the backup that he was playing behind Tours A. A.C.L. So that's how he got a chance to play. That's right. That's the story.

Yeah, and they have a lot of guys in that back field. I mean, they have Tony Jones, Dexter Williams, and Josh Adams. So, I mean, it's hard to find the carries, but once he gets the ball, I mean, it's hard not to spot this guy. I mean, we're in number 33. He just runs over people. He's an impressive back. I mean, Notre Dame was impressive the other night.

I mean, they threw the ball well, and they ran it hard, and their defense played good. So I think Notre Dame, this will be a, no, they got NC State's a sneaky team. NC State's really good. I like NC State's team. It's going to be interesting to see how Notre Dame was. plays NC State. That'll be a true test. My roommate is a huge Notre Dame fan. Parents went to Notre Dame. His brother went to Notre Dame, and he's from North Carolina. We watched the game,

and he was like, this is the perfect trap game for Notre Dame to get on a big high after beating USCU like this and go lose to NC State. And that is exactly what NC State does. Yep. That's what they do with people. Andcich, it's really good. Yep. Well, your roommate, I should introduce him next time Barbershop, Mike comes out. My father, he's a Notre Dame fan. Every time he puts $20 in the Catholic Church tilt, he thinks it's going to Notre Dame football. So Barbershuff, he loves them, too. Yeah, yeah. Well, my buddy's, yeah, his name's Mike too. So there you go. It'll be perfect. A bunch of Catholics named Mike hanging out. It'll be fun. Lombardi, is there anything else in college football? Anybody else that's really stood out to you that you want to touch on?

I think that's it. I think I want to put the Sam Darnold to bed, and I just want to keep asking people the question, how good is Josh Rosen? I just really want to know how good Josh Rosen is. Like, I really want to know. Tell me how good he is, and then just keep watching them. Please. Yeah. Is he better than Deshawn Watson from last year? Like, stop trying to say how good he is. and compare them to guys we've seen before. I think that's the most important thing. I'm 100% on your side. And I know we got sidetracked on Bryce Love. For people that haven't watched him,

if you enjoyed Christian McCaffrey last year with Stanford, go watch Bryce Love. He's a lot of fun, too. He's better than Christian McCaffer. I agree. 100%. I know that I rip on Christian McCaffrey all the time, but he's at least better than Toby Gerhard.

We do know that. All right. Let's move to Word on the Street. The Words on the Streets from... First up, we have your favorite quarterback in the NFL, Mr. Joe Flacco. Somebody sent me a name for him that we should call him D.B. Flacco.

Because I think that's what he is. I think he jumped out of the plane and he took all the money. And it's such a perfect mystery because, you know, there was so much potential there. Exactly. It's a mystery. It is a mystery. It's wrapped in a riddle. It's perfect.

I mean, it's ideal. It's the perfect nickname. It is the perfect nickname. We should get someone to do an illustration. You know that famous DB Cooper picture where he has the sunglasses on and you can't really tell you. You should just put flacco in that. Like, I think we should get Joel Solomon on that, too. He would be perfect for it.

We could make a whole segment out of this. I am 100%. Did you expect me to know D.B. Cooper? Are you impressed that I knew that? I am really impressed. But, you know, I mean, you watched America's Most Wanted all weeks, because, you know, I had a lot of time. You know, I'd fake sick from school, and I'd watch Mari, cops, whatever it was, all afternoon television.

Barber shot Mike can't believe America's Most Wanted on television. He would go home every night at 8 o'clock on Saturday night and watch it. He was devoted to it. He still can't understand how it's not a lot. There's only people over 80 watch the show. You know, I mean, they're the only people, and they're dying off, so the show's going to die. Well, they're getting less tips, so maybe that's what it was. That's probably what it was.

That would have been the best. We always kid barbershop about somebody coming in the barbershop that would have been on America's most wanted. That could have been a sitcom. A little cheer spin-off. Yeah. That'll be good. I like it. No, but Flacco's perfect for D.B. Cooper, Tate Fraser.

Perfect. We'll get that illustration out there to the world. Next up, we have tackle for the Texans, Dwayne Brown is returning to the lineup. What will that do for Deshawn Watson and those guys? I think it really helps. Houston's offensive line hasn't played well all year.

I mean, this is a huge upgrade for them at left tackle. Now, I don't know if he can play to the level. Got a tough challenge going into Seattle this week, coming off the by, going to play up there. But, you know, they get a little bit healthier on their offensive line with Brown coming back. I mean, look, it'll be interesting to see. this will be another game this week where we'll see where Deshaun Watson's growth and maturity level is.

He's going to know what the coverages are. He's going to have coverage beaters, and they're going to be able to read. They'll do a good job of reading his eyes. They'll be able to break on the ball. It'll be really interesting to see how he performs against a really good defense. This will be a true test. But Duane Brown back, I think really helps them a lot. Before he came back, I would have thought the Eagles would try to trade for Duane Brown.

Like, look, we'll give you this. We'll give you – because that's what you've got to figure the Eagles are doing, right now. They lost two key starters to their team. They lost Jordan Hicks, who they can't really replace, was the best linebacker on the team. They didn't have Michael Kendricks last night. He played, you know, so really they get, the Redskins let him get away with it. Can you imagine you're an empty? Did I mention this? You're an empty on third and one. And they have two linebackers that rarely play for them on the other side of the ball. Like, wouldn't you just want to pound them a little bit? When they started the game last night, they did the opening, you know, the starting

lineups, you know, they ran through everyone. When I saw Kendricks wasn't out there, I just thought, wow, this is a great, like, this is a great steal for Washington to get a game without Kendrick's out there. Exactly, and then they just didn't get hurt the first play at a game? Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, going back to Dwayne Brown, I think the Eagles, look, the Eagles are going to have a hard time and play. Nobody, it's hard to lose

your left tackle and think you're going to win. It's really, because there's just not left tackles walking down the street. So the lose a really good player like Jason Peters. You know, they can't move Lane Johnson over there because Lane Johnson's having trouble with power playing it right tackle. I mean, you saw what Kerrigan did to him. So I would have thought that the Eagles would have

made the phone call. They probably have made the phone call to Houston. Would you trade Duane Brown and see if they would be interested in doing that? Because the Eagles are so close, would it be worthwhile to give up a first round pick? He's figure you could maybe win this thing this year, because there's really nobody in the NFC that looks like the dominant team. It'll be interested to see what move they make, but they're going to have to get somebody in there, and it's not going to be the H-man over there at left tackle. But Wince, he's remarkable, because he's got, like, he's got kryptonite in his body, like they just bounce off him. Yeah, he literally, it doesn't look he's phased by taking the big,

hits. For people that didn't know, Dwayne Brown was holding out for contract stuff, and that's why he's just coming back. It wasn't a suspension or anything. Were they fielding calls for him throughout this whole process? I know it's a weird spot to be in if you're no, because they don't have anybody. I mean, they can't replace him, and so I think that

they had all the leverage in terms of the contract. So I think they felt like, look, we'll just sit tight here and see where we go with it, and then, you know, he's got eventually come in to get his accrued season. Now we've got to figure out if he's in shape. You know, guys, just because a guy shows up, doesn't mean a guy's going to be in great shape and ready to play. Yep, that's very, very, very true.

Lombardi, before we wrapped this thing up, I just didn't know if you had a little Al Davis story for the week. What do you think I would have thought of Justin Timberlake coming back to be the halftime show? Can I just say this? She better be there, Janet Jackson. If J.T. can come back. Janet can come back. That's not fair. He did the act. He was the one that did the rip. She got blamed for all of it at the time, pretty much. Even though he did the thing, he ripped off the sticky or whatever it was. So I think if he comes back, she should come back, and they should just try it again.

Maybe this time it works out better. And who knows? We're less sensitive these days for stuff that we see on TV because we can see it all on the internet anyway. So maybe it's not that big of a deal. I don't know. I'm excited that it's happening, but I really hope that, you know,

Janet gets another opportunity to. It's all about redemption. That's what I want. Well, the one good thing about Al, one time we were in the draft room, and Al was hot to trot on this linebacker. wanted to draft him in the second round. And he just, like, was, the room just wasn't going to take it.

Like, nobody, he can get anybody in the room. And Al wasn't great at manipulating the room. So, like, when Thomas Howard ran a 40-time at the combine, I told Don Martindale, the linebacker coach of the Raiders at the time, I said, Don, you got two choices. You could like them, and then it's going to be your idea that we draft them. And so you have to take all the responsibility. And then you could not like them.

And then Al's going to like him at that point. He's going to fight you the whole time. then he's going to make you take him, and then it will eventually, if it turns out, it'll be good for Al, and if it turns out bad, it'll be bad for you, but either way, you can't win, so you just might as well give your honest opinion.

So this one year, he wanted to draft a linebacker, and I forget who that might have been Jordan Beck in the second round or something like that. He hated it. Love the guy. Everybody in the room hated the guy, and so we didn't pick him,

and when we got to the third round, he was still on the board, so somebody said, well, you know, Mr. Davis, you know, that guy still up there. Maybe we should pick him. Oh, hell, I wanted him in the second round. I didn't want him in the third, so we didn't take them.

One of these days, I don't know if Al Davis was involved, but I want to hear the story of Darius Hayward Bay being selected, because that was one of my favorite picks. I predict, look, when Darius Hayward Bay crossed the finish line, he was my favorite. When he crossed the finish line running his 40, I wasn't at the Raiders at the time. I turned to somebody and said, he is on the Raiders, you can count on it.

Just like the big tackle from, there was a big tackle, Bruce, I forget his name. He went to, like, he ran an incredible 40 time. he wanted to, he drafted him in the fourth round. Everything was by the 40th time. Like there should have been like every year a player should have just gone to the Raiders predicated on the 40th. Oh, there's so many, sometimes I have to remember what I'm writing in the book and what I'm not. There's one great story I'll tell later about him and how to work defense.

But that one's the, to me, I wanted them in the second. I didn't want him in the third. To me, I always think about that. Was it Bruce Campbell? Bruce Campbell, there it was. That's the one. Yep, I love it. Good for Maryland.

That was a nice plug for the Big Ten right there. just did. Yeah, there's two guys right there. Yeah, exactly, exactly. You know, Hayward Bay actually ended up playing better. Look, he's played better for the, for the Steelers than he did anywhere. He's actually, look at that, he caught that fake punt this week. Yeah. That was Hayward Bay going down the sideline. Yeah, how mad is Martavis Bryant that that he did that? That was supposed to be his catch. I would have loved you. I told you he could have done that. I told you. Oh, this has been fun. I'm excited. We've got week eight coming up. Unfortunately, we have six buys, but we're going to have a lot of fun.

You'll be back. We'll figure out the Saturday sit-down. You bet. Make sure they pay it. We're on a roll, Tate Fraser. You are. You are. You're making these picks.

You're making these calls for the people. Bill Simmons is very impressed. He's going to start relying on your picks. He told me that today. So you're in really good graces. You might get a raise. I'll probably get, you know, cut some more money at this point with what I'm saying. But it's been a good season.

I think Saturday sit-downs are fun. I hope people tune in. And we'll be back on Saturday. Thanks, Dave, Frazier.