The Ringer NFL Show - 'Hard Knocks' Episode 3, Dez Bryant's Hello, and More Preseason Speculation | GM Street (Ep. 286)
Episode Date: August 22, 2018The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss HBO's third episode of 'Hard Knocks,' Dez Bryant's abrupt Cleveland visit, Bob Wylie's Maserati, Josh Gordon's return, and Nick Saban's passion p...oints. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Good news NFL fans. Direct TV has expanded NFL Sunday ticket this season. If you live in an area where Direct TV service is not available, you can now get NFL Sunday ticket without a satellite. To see if you are eligible, go online to NFL Sunday ticket. TV and stream every NFL Sunday ticket game this season to follow your favorite team no matter where you live. Use promo code ringer, R-I-N-G-E-R at checkout to save 15%. Exclusive discounts are available for students. Again, that's Pro-Bone code Ringer, R-I-N-G-R. And we are also brought to you.
by Yahoo fantasy football.
This NFL season, be your own GM, be a winning GM.
Turn this season into a fistful of epic wins by joining a Yahoo Fantasy Football League.
Yahoo has spent the offseason making serious upgrades to enhance your experience.
So when you play fantasy football on Yahoo, the wins are as epic as the season is long.
Yahoo! Fantasy is also the only app where you can manage all of your season long and daily fantasy teams in one place.
Create or join the league now at Yahoo.com slash GM Street Fantasy Football.
And now, GM Street.
Welcome to GM Street part of the Ringer Podcast Network.
It is Wednesday.
It is August 22nd.
And I am joined by Mr. Michael Lombardi.
Lombardi, how you doing?
I'm great take phrase.
You know what Wednesday is?
Wednesday is hard knocks review.
Can't wait.
I've never watched the show until this year.
And, you know, my son's Mick and Matt, they've been on me.
Like, they love it.
And I refuse to watch it because I thought it was just too, I don't know.
Maybe I was just being arrogant.
Yeah, I don't know.
Maybe I was just being arrogant and just like, you know, like I can't imagine it.
somebody's going to let you come in and tape stuff that's real, you know.
And then I watch this year.
And, you know, and I got to be honest.
I mean, it's like, it's, it's been insightful, maybe not in a great way, but in a way to
where at least you get a look on the team.
Yeah, it's a riveting entertainment.
We get to see the Cleveland Browns in full form.
And I think just the drama that we get to witness every single week, the amount of characters
that are on the show.
I mean, just in this episode this week, we're on week three now.
We get Brad Paisley, a fan of the Cleveland.
Cleveland Browns will show up in this episode.
We get a white Maserati.
We get Greg Williams.
How did Bob Wiley?
They should have showed Wiley like getting in the Maserati.
Look, I'm a fat guy.
I understand.
Getting in the cars are hard for fat guys.
So like how does he get in there?
Like I don't understand it.
Like that was weird.
Like I don't understand like that like that like the got to show me how he gets in.
Does he have a shoe horn?
Like what happens?
How's he like, you know, like does he parachute in the damn thing?
Like it can't be comfortable for him.
We're going to get to all these mini characters.
Right.
Right. And I want to start this podcast by saying, I don't hate Hugh. Okay, I know a lot of people on Twitter think I hate Hugh. I don't hate Hugh. I don't. I respect coaches. I do respect coaches. However, that being said, it's hard for me to not be critical of a guy who's got a winning percentage of 188. And it puts him in line with the likes of Norb Hecker. Do you know who Norpecker is?
Yeah, just the name. Nothing else about him. Okay, Norpecker was the Packers coach for a while. It didn't win. Hank Bulla puts him in with Phil Han.
Handler, Rod Dowhauer, the great Marty Morning Wigg who's now the offense of court.
I mean, like Hughes in some really bad company.
Like, so, like, it's hard for you to say positive things when you're talking about the Norb Heckers and the Hank Bullas.
I mean, these are guys that had bad head coaching records that got fired.
And Hughes sitting over there, like, everything's good.
Everything's fine.
And you're, and I'm not supposed to say anything, like, I don't hate them, but I think you have to evaluate it honestly.
Well, we got into the, you know, Hugh did come out and say it's been hell for two years, right?
We did get a little bit of insight there.
Let's work our way back just through chronologically what happens in this episode.
So we open it up.
We get Jarvis Landry.
This is the intro to the episode, you know, with the classic, don't start that bullshit with me boy, you know, going up, trying to be the tough guy in practice.
We see a little scuffle in practice.
Can we debunk the narrative about fights and football practices being a big deal, Lombardi?
How many are there every single practice?
At least three.
from what I can tolerate it.
If you tolerate it.
Well, I mean,
if you fight,
you're going off the field.
Oh, really?
You're going off the field.
First of all,
this is a culture conversation.
This is a culture conversation.
Like, so the first team meeting,
you get the training camp.
Look, here's the rules of practice.
No fighting allowed.
If you fight, you're done.
You fight, you miss practice.
You're going inside.
You're going inside.
Nobody's fighting and staying on the field
and talking about it.
You're going inside.
I talk about it major fight in the book.
I'm not going to give it away here.
But during the 2014,
2014 season by gridiron genets is available on any of your
Get that pre-order.
Yeah, pre-order it, please.
And so my publisher's happy.
But anyway, so like, you go off the field.
That's it.
I mean, Brian Stork was an offensive alignment for us in the Super Bowl,
49.
We drafted him in the fourth round.
He'd like to fight all the time of practice.
He was getting thrown off the field every time.
Like, you're either coaching it or allowing it to happen.
And when it happens, like, that's not like, there's to me,
it's very clear there's no discipline and order.
on that team. Is there also one of those, maybe Stork is smart enough to know that he didn't want
to practice so he gets in a fight and gets to chill out for a little while? Yeah, but here, you go inside,
you're paying a price for that, right? You're not coming. It's going to come back. Belichick's
going to come back around. It's just not going to, okay, here it is. You know, it's conduct detrimental
to the team. Yeah. So it's not going to work for you. Just going inside, you don't get the day off,
you know, you don't come back and assume your starting position. Like, there's consequences to your actions.
And let's talk about, we just talked about, you know,
what they were talking, you know, basically the fighting part of this practice.
But we're going to talk about, we don't stretch, we dance.
So they don't stretch.
And then Wiley, who became really a celebrity in this episode, the offensive line coach,
a cartoon character.
Bob Wiley.
I would call him more of a cartoon character.
I think he's like a walrus.
You know, I like Wiley.
Wiley is, so people know, Bob Wiley's a long time NFL head coach.
He's, he organized, and I think he's originator of the name, the Mushroom Club.
So what he would do is he circulated a newsletter for all the offensive line coaches
around the NFL and called them the mushrooms.
And so, because they're always in the dark and with a bunch of shit on top of them.
So, you know, and so he was the organizer of that.
And he's kind of bounced around a little bit in the league.
He kind of got this job coming back.
But look, you know, it seems to me that, you know, most offensive line coaches that I've been
around, you know, are somewhat unique characters.
And Wiley clearly is a unique character.
I mean, let's look at some of these quotes that we get in this episode from Wiley.
We get, I'd rather watch a plank road in the stretch, which is very nice.
he said that, you know, and he repeated this, two World Wars.
We got that two World Wars doing pushups, jumping Jackson running.
We won two World War II World Wars doing that.
And then he's a zoologist as well.
You know, talked about base of Boers.
That was a big thing that he had going on.
So I just wanted to point out these great things that Bob Wally brought to the table.
Look, I admire the guys to land.
I admire the guys that land.
The better it is.
I do.
I admire the guys that landed on Normandy.
I do.
I admire them and I think it's great.
I just think this.
When I was worked at the radio,
I had a large sign put in my office because it was important to understand this.
The sign said if you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.
Because I was hoping when Al came into my office, he would look at it and say, you know, maybe I do need to change what I'm doing a little bit.
Because we are becoming irrelevant.
Subliminal messaging.
Yeah, exactly.
It didn't work, but obviously it was your form of inception.
You're right.
It was by Eric Shininsky of the United States Army, the former chief of staff of the Army.
And so like I get that, you know, back in the 40s we didn't do, they did calisthenics.
but change is good for the league.
Change is good.
You've got to be able to keep up with it.
So I don't understand Big Bob.
I want to talk about the culture that we brought up.
And obviously we see the Landry fight.
That was sort of the climax,
the pinpoint of what the Browns are going through right now.
Gibral-Peppers is on the sideline.
A star.
Everyone remembers Drewill Pepper's recruitment,
you know, when he goes to Michigan.
And he's sort of, you know,
I think we don't talk about him as much as we used to.
But we see Beppers,
and he is peppering Baker Mayfield with a lot of compliments.
and Baker Mayfield shows some good signs on the field.
Brad Paisley is in attendance.
He lets us know that he has been a Browns fan since he was in third grade.
This is a dream come true to watch this team practice, apparently, for Brad Paisley.
We find out Jarvis Landry is a fan of Brad Paisley because someone he wrote his school with and high school loved him.
So then he then fell in love with Brad Paisley.
All this is all happening.
And then we have the fight.
And you brought this up last week.
We were trying to figure out who was going to be the leader of this Brown's team.
And it's, you know, Hughes, obviously there.
And Dorsey, all these different characters that are on the other side of things, but on the field.
And Kirksey shows, right?
We saw Kirksey show that he is the guy.
He goes, Jarvis Landry gets in this fight with Mitchell over, you know, getting pushed down after the play.
Kirksey was right there.
He tried to break up the fight.
He wasn't able to do it.
But he comes right over to Jarvis Landry and said, we can't have that.
You can't have him breaking a hand.
I can't have you breaking a hand.
We got to be on the field.
We know that we're playing for the same thing right now.
And I thought that was a good moment to show that Kirksey really is going to be that force on defense.
Yeah, I mean, because that's the message that's coming through, right?
Kirksey's trying to deliver the message.
It happens all through the episode.
You know, like the message is not coming from the leader.
There's a lot of rhetoric coming from the leader.
There's not a message.
Like, let's just take, for example, the penalties, Tate Fraser.
So, Hugh's talking after the game about how we can't have the penalties,
and the penalties have to stop.
Last year in the preseason, they had 47 penalties.
They went four now.
So they had a lot of penalties.
They averaged over 10 penalties last preseason.
This preseason, they have 20.
They're averaging 10, two games.
Like, okay, so that's clearly a case that it's not talking about it.
It's how do we change it?
Like, how do we change it?
And some of these penalties now this year are unique because of the head first rule and the tackling.
And of course, they're calling offensive pass interference dramatically.
And then the Jarvis Landry, the crackback block.
A lot of people are talking about that.
So, but my point here is, like, to me, like you've done nothing as an executive of the NFL.
You want to see, you go into the offseason, you say, hey, here are the things we need to work on.
This is what we have to get better at, okay?
And so we were horrible in penalties.
Are we improving that?
Because that's got to be a point of emphasis.
You just can't talk, hey, guys, we need to cut down on our penalties.
Like, no, no.
Players should pay a consequence if they get penalized.
Look, you know, I can remember we had a game.
We had this linebacker, Eric Martin, who was a good special teams player, you know,
and he was probably having the best summer camp we had in New England.
And he was covering the first game of the season.
He had four penalties.
Belichick cut him the next.
He said, I've never been around.
a player had four special teams penalties in my life. Like, he cut them the next day. Like,
you can't play. If you're going to get penalties, you're not going to play for me is what he's
saying. And so, like, that's the reality of it. Like, you can't, and you're coaching it. Like,
it's not like this problem just sprung up today. Like, this has been going on since last year.
And you've done nothing about it. Yeah. All we, all we got after the game was you talked to the
team and he says, we got to cut down on them. He said the discipline has to get better. That was the
message. That comes from you. That's why you're in the same category as Norb Hecker. And
Hank Bola and Rod Dowher our morning, morning week, because these guys couldn't correct it either.
And that's my point.
It's like at some point, you just can't talk about it as a coach.
You have to.
It's all hyperbole.
I mean, look, go back and look at Hughes quotes after the 2017, 4 and O preseason.
We're headed in the right direction.
This team's way different than last year's team.
I mean, they're all the same that he's saying right now.
Like, so why do we believe them?
It's called there's four areas of leadership.
Again, I wrote about this in the book.
And one of the areas is called management of trust.
what you say I have to trust, right?
What you say, I got to trust that you're going to do it.
If you're going to do something, you trust.
You can't.
What is he saying?
I can't trust that.
Let's talk about what you're saying and what you're believing and what you're buying and what's real.
And let's talk about a guy that they bring into the building that John Dorsey was very excited to bring into the building.
And that is Des Bryant, of course, a Cowboys wide receiver for so long, a man that was a part of a core group under, you know, Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones.
And he comes into the building.
and he is talking to Hugh Jackson and he is asking for realness.
He is not only, not only is he just walking around the building,
he's going and shaking hands of every single person in the building,
making comments like, we'll see if I get signed.
I look good in orange.
You know, I played in Orange Oklahoma State.
All these little things are going on.
And then he finally gets to Dorsey's office and has the conversation.
And then eventually goes to Hugh Jackson, but he's looking for realness.
And what does that mean?
This is bad on every level.
I mean, this could be, this could be a documentary in itself, really.
I mean, you could just take this Hugh coming in the building, this Hugh, Des, Doors, all these, I mean, first of all, I've been in a league 35 years. I've never seen this in my life. I've never saw a player walk in and just all of a sudden just go roam around the building and shake hands with everybody. Like I know, no, it's a professional atmosphere. It's a building. He's coming in to meet with the head coach. He's coming in to meet with the general manager. He's got an it it itinerary. You know, the guy who picks him up at the airport brings him to him to. Des came in like a pop star. He thought he was a pop star. Like Justin Bieber or something. I mean, it was unbelievably shaking hands.
Hit the barbershop.
Kissing babies.
Yeah.
You know, like, and then, you know, like, okay, here's the agenda.
He's coming in here.
We know that's going to be a little bit.
We've got to manage this.
We didn't even work them out.
Yeah.
So is he in shape?
I don't know.
Well, we saw he went on the Cleveland Brown's radio show for, you know, like 15 feet from the mic
and said that he was excited about being there.
And then they said he looked in shape.
Yeah.
That was all we got.
He looks in shape.
Like how, like, why wouldn't you put him up around?
I mean, we worked out Reggie Wayne, who's, you know, one of the best receivers in football.
He went through a workout.
Like, like, if you're bringing, this is a professional, this is a billion dollar industry and you're going to sign this player, you're not even going to work them out. Like, why not you take him in the indoor facility? You don't have to let America see him. Take him in the indoor facility. Let him do things to move around. I mean, it's like, I've never seen anything like it in my life, Tate. It's so unprofessional. Like, I don't think fans should look at this and say that's how the other teams behave in the league because they don't. They don't. They have an itinerary. The guy comes in. He meets with this. You bring a player in. Like, let's just hypothetical.
that guy walked into New England or walked into any place. He's going, here's what I want to do.
I want to work him out this time. I want this. He's going to meet with, I want him to meet with,
I want him to meet with the Jimmy Haslam, the owner. I want him to meet with, you know,
the wide receivers coach. Okay. And then we're all going to get together. We're going to sit down
of it. The meeting with Hugh was so bad on so many levels. It was if you're, if you're a cowboy
fan, you're wondering, like, what does real mean? Like, right? Like, all he was looking for was real.
Like, I don't know what does that mean.
You're a millennial.
Tell me what that means.
I think he says he wants to be sitting at the table.
So I think that was the whole point of Dez's, you know, he was basically like, I've never
been able to sit at the table with the head coach like Jason Garrett, like I'm doing with
you, Hugh.
So this is real to me because you're sitting face to face.
Granted, they're not saying anything real face to face.
But they are, I guess he's just saying, I want to see to the table.
I didn't get that in Dallas, which, I mean, that is, you know, what it seems like
the setup is in Dallas a little bit.
Jerry is making decisions in Jerry World.
And so Des was saying that, but it's not like Hugh was talking real to him, right?
Right.
So it's a facade under the premise of being real.
Right.
Like this is the way the conversation should have been.
Okay, if you really believe in your culture and you're building your culture, right?
And that's the most important thing because you have to change the culture in Cleveland.
That's what everybody talks about.
We've got to stop.
We've got to change a culture.
Then Hugh should have had this conversation with it.
Des, great respect for you as a player.
Here's where I'm concerned about.
Okay.
I'm trying to build something here.
I'm trying to change the culture.
I'm trying to make players accountable.
I need players that are going to compete, work hard, be unselfish for the team, and do the right thing.
Now, I heard a lot of things about you.
I'm an open book here.
You know, but I can't, if we sign you, I can't have you showing up late for meetings.
Because that's what I hear you were in Dallas.
If we sign you, I can't have you not knowing what to do in the playbook.
I can't have you not studying the playbook, right?
Because that's what they're saying down from people that know you from Dallas.
So I'm just telling you, that's the word on the street.
Okay.
and I'm trying to build a culture. If I bring you in here and we make that decision to sign you, okay, and you start to behave like you did in Dallas, I'm just being real with you, man. I'm just being real with it. If you behave like you did in Dallas, we can't tolerate it. We're not going to tolerate. It's not going to work because that's not what our program is about. We're about being on time. We're about efficiency. We're about doing the things that put the team in the best interest. That's the conversation. See, here's the problem with most coaches in the NFL. And this is why we have.
have such a discrepancy between the great teams and just average teams. And that's why we see it.
They don't want confrontation. Nobody wants to look. Des was asking to be real. You want to be real?
I'll give you real all you want. And you know what happened when you do that? Des would have walked
out there. At least you would have been able to say, you were told. Now, maybe Des would have said,
hey, that Lombardi guy's a crazy MF. I mean, I don't know. I would never want to work there. Okay,
great. Fine. That'll sell some newspapers, no big deal. All right? I am. But if you're, if you're
believe in the program and you believe you're developing the culture. You got a guy that's sitting
in front of you that, yes, that has led the NFL and touchdown catches, which is remarkable
that Dorsey didn't know that, right? You know, he's coming in and that kind of called him.
Like, wouldn't you have done your homework on this guy before he comes in?
That's sort of my question was this became, this is the first time where I think we really realized
and maybe the Browns realized that they're on a TV show. This felt like a reality TV move.
It really did. It didn't feel like it had any sort of football.
ball angle to it, other than let's get people excited about the idea that we could bring Des
Brian here.
Right.
Like, if I'm Dorsey, I'm sitting there saying to myself, like, how, like, every clip they
showed on the tape, right?
Every clip that HBO showed, Des was covered.
Yep.
Now, he came down with the ball a couple times, but there was always-
Jump balls.
They were all jump balls.
Okay, so how are we going to utilize this player?
Like, tell me how we're going to utilize this player.
If we have Josh Gordon lined up on the outside and we have-
Jarvis in the slot.
Jarvis in the slot.
Guess where Des should be in the slots.
So he and Jarvis are in the same position.
They're the same.
So how's he going to play for us?
And he's never played it.
Like to me,
Des has a position that could be valuable,
like we talked about on Monday,
Anquan Bolden's type thing,
but he does never play in there.
Now, I don't even know if he's in shape or not.
Like, he hasn't worked out.
We're going to have the third preseason game tomorrow.
So he's going to start getting game checks.
He's going to start getting game checks when the season begins.
His contract's going to be guaranteed.
He don't even know if he's in shape.
Nine times out of 10 guys.
that haven't done this, they pull hamstrings. It happens all the time. I mean, look,
Rokhan Smith, unfortunately, what's he have? He missed most of camp. He's got a hamstring, right?
It happens all the time. They're just not used to the wear and tear on their body.
Like, this is a professional football team, act professional. Like, I don't understand it.
Like, this guy's coming into your building, like, demonstrate that you know what you're looking
for. Like, does, we're not going to tolerate that, okay? Here's what I heard out of Dallas.
I'm being real. They say you're late. They say they had to go wake you up a lot of times.
say you fall asleep in meetings. That's the word on the street. Whether people want to hear this or not,
that's the reality. That's what every GM I talk to in the league is talking about about Des.
Yeah, that's why no one's bringing him in right now. That's why nobody wants to sign him.
I mean, Jerry Jones came out today and said he shocked that nobody signed it. Did he watch the tape?
Like, Des is always covered. Now, could Des get in better shape? Could Des be a better route runner?
Maybe there's some way to help him. I don't know. I'm not picking on Des, but to me,
I think Des wasted a trip.
It's really bad.
You know, and I don't know.
I mean, it was irritating because I don't think this is not the way most teams operate.
I'm just telling fans that.
I'm not saying the Patriot way is the only way because that's what I know.
But when we were in Cleveland the one year I was there before I got fired, we brought a player in.
He was going to wear a certain uniform.
He was going to come in.
He had a meeting.
He had an itinerary.
We're going to go through it.
I mean, it's going to be a professional.
Yeah.
And nobody's going to, at the media.
When you pick the guy up at the airport, you know, if his agent wants to come with him, that's great.
The agent could sit in the lobby or wait there because there's no sense in you come.
We're not entertaining you.
Like, this isn't the casino.
We're not hoping you play the slots here.
You know, we're not going to comp your room food and beverage and hope you go play the poker table.
Like, this is a professional operation.
I think this all can be epitomized in one moment when we're on the field.
And Hugh Jackson is, you know, he's having the celebratory moment.
And he's saying the phrase, the bird has landed.
He's laughing.
He's walking around, you know, gleefully, the bird has landed.
The bird, of course, he was referring to his flash gorge.
Josh Gordon is going to be in Cleveland.
He's coming to report to camp.
And Todd Haley is right there who is, you know, I think the voice of reason.
For the most of the show, he seems to just keep his mouth shut because he, you know,
was just trying to do his job.
But I mean, he couldn't, he couldn't bite his lip at this point.
And he says, has he been working out?
You know, he makes it.
He's like, has he been working out at least?
And then Hugh, you know, kind of taking it back.
You know, he thought that, you know, Todd Hale was going to give him a high five and like, you know,
skip around with him.
And he's just like, yeah, you know, like, yeah, I hope so.
You know, and that goes back.
to we're bringing in Josh Gordon
and he's coming in and
you know, he hasn't been working out. He looked. He looked
huge though. He looked like a big man, didn't he?
I'll tell you this. Josh Gordon might be one of the
most naturally gifted players. We have
in the National Football League. Everyone knows
that. Everything else that's outside of the
football field is unfortunately what the problem is.
And Josh Gordon, we didn't even see him
touch a football. And at the end of that episode,
they play the song, Get Right, and he's just
working out running around. And if that didn't
inspire you as a Browns fan, I mean, that guy's
a, it's a pro bowler. Look,
A guy who had his best season the year I was there.
I mean, 2014.
You know, threw the ball, made plays down the field.
Four years ago.
So, look, I think Haley, I would bet I would bet a lot of money that Haley's wondering
why they didn't work out Des Bryant.
And Haley's wondering, like, who was working out Josh Gordon?
Like, wherever Josh Gordon was and it was top secret and whatever he was doing and that's
top secret, the Browns knew where he was.
You can do some fact-finding.
He's wearing an Anaheim Angels hat.
He's most likely in California.
I don't know what he was doing, but you could have sent somebody there and trained him every day.
There's no law against that. He could have had a train. You could have sent somebody there and watch him.
Couldn't you just send like a regional scout or something that's out in California?
You would probably want to keep it confidential. So you would want to send somebody that you know, you trust and you could watch the kid.
And even if you can't get near the kid, you could sit in the stands and watch them.
You know, but that's just to me, it just goes back to the whole thing. There's no plan.
Oh, we got Josh Gordon coming in here. What's the plan? You know, he's in shape.
You know, I just think to me, Haley, you know, Haley gets it.
I mean, Haley gets it when he's talking about, how about this?
Again, this is another, and I hate to sound like an old man here, but I've never seen a conversation between players and coaches, like the one with Nassiv and Haley.
Like, to me, that shouldn't happen.
Like, shut up, you know, like the coach come over.
Just shut up.
That's enough.
Like, they're going back and forth on it.
Like, that's not.
That's what I'm telling you.
the reality show and the fact that they are on camera plays a lot of,
I think it plays a big portion in a lot of these guys,
and they're all leaning into the car.
Like, Roeback, you know, is like doing this whole, you know, whatever act he's,
you know, everyone's like leading into being on TV now a little bit more than they were before.
Oh, they love it.
Yeah, they all know.
I mean, I think Bob Wiley was like, look, I got a Maserati.
Yeah, exactly.
Come watch me.
He was just in Winnipeg, right, a couple years ago.
Bob Wiley.
So now he's back on TV.
He's like, I'll show you my white, Maserati.
Yeah.
Come watch me.
You know, it takes a shot at his poor mother and
all. I mean, come on. That's not fair.
You know, and so...
He's an amateur magician, though. We did learn that.
Yeah. I was pretty impressive.
But look, I think to me, to me, the whole thing is just...
You know, the star of the episode was?
Was it Miles Garrett?
No, the quarterback? Oh, Moose.
Moose. I love moose. Although I have a rule. I'm going to tell you my rule.
If Cat Stevens comes on any radio I'm listening to, it's immediately getting changed.
I have a cat... I have a strong fast cat... I'm not listening any of a song.
I'm not going on the peace train. I'm just telling you right now.
I'm not doing the peace train.
So that destroyed the whole dog thing for me.
Poor moose.
Can't even get a music for him.
It's horrible.
But let's go back to that Nassup and Haley thing.
That's right.
Discipline and order.
We don't touch the quarterback.
That's discipline and order.
Haley shouldn't have to say it.
It should have been said from the beginning.
And this whole conversation between Haley and Nassup is really about how segregated the team is
offensively, defensively, and special teams.
Like, there's no unification.
Like, Greg Williams is doing what Greg Williams wants to do.
He's the head coach of the defense.
Yeah, Todd Haley's doing what Todd Haley wants to do.
And Hughes just sort of roaming around blowing the whistle.
Like, I've seen, I mean, we got killed in Kansas City on Monday Night Football at halftime.
I didn't hear Belichick ever.
Like, it was about getting things right, trying to correct it.
It wasn't about screaming.
I think somebody should do a research project and count how many times Greg Williams says,
I in all of his talks.
Because, I mean, like, look, it's, you're on a team.
What word does he see?
say more fucker I at this point.
I think I.
They're both on the same page.
Like we had, you know, we had five sacks, three of them were unblocked.
I had the blessed, you know, we designed the best, like not we designed the blessed, but I designed
blitzes that and you guys didn't execute.
Like that wears on players.
Like you can't like, we're all in this thing together.
You know what I mean?
Look, the Nate Orchard, like nobody's talked about, which is fascinating.
Okay.
So Nate Orchard missed three sacks, right?
But both times he missed sacks.
He lost containment of the quarterback.
Yeah.
Which is the complete violation of any rule you have as a defensive player.
And it was good to see Josh Allen step up in the pocket and make those throws.
Exactly.
If we don't contain the quarterback, forget that sacks are irrelevant.
Sacks are for guys looking to become head coaches.
You know, we had 57 sacks.
No, no.
If you contain the guy in the pocket and force him to throw the ball from a tight pocket,
you're probably going to get off the field.
Forget the numbers.
It's there.
And I just think the eyes with Greg Williams just wear me out.
Well, that's also, I mean, you just got to look at someone like Russell Wilson,
who literally in college at NC State,
the reason he was so dominant was he liked to let people rush up
and then slide in underneath him.
He wanted guys to get back at him so he could go up.
The coaching point there is not you missed a sack.
You blew it.
The coaching point is we can't lose leverage on the quarterback.
There's a coaching point.
It's a preseason.
The kid needs to get coach.
Nate Orchard.
We need to contain.
We need to contain.
You need to play outside his shoulder, move him in.
The guy's going to run around.
He's a big strong guy.
We've got to keep him in the pocket.
Okay.
And when you get a chance to tackle him,
here's how you have to tackle them.
And here's how you have to handle it.
Like I don't see them ever practice and tackling.
I know they were going through the bags.
But, you know, for a league that's changed their tackling rules.
And maybe they're doing it in Cleveland.
I don't know.
But for a league that's changing their tackling rules,
you would think they would practice tackling every day.
But, you know, I see them run through bags.
I don't see them tackle.
The interesting thing to me, you're talking about the defense and it being very,
it's the Greg Williams show.
We talked about Kerksey, who's leading this defense right on the field.
He is their linebacker.
that they're looking to.
How many times have we seen those two guys talk to one another?
Which goes back to, you know, if you want to have it from the top down,
every single person has to have a check and balance.
And if Kirksey feels like he's a leader on the field but has no say and what we're
actually going to do on the field, that doesn't build trust.
And you talk about being real, it all kind of plays out that way.
Look, I mean, they were four and oh in the preseason.
Hugh said they changed everything.
This year, they're one and one.
I mean, when you look at the numbers, look, I just think at some point,
if you're going to be the head coach of the team and you're not calling the plays
And you got Haley to run the offense.
You got Williams to run the defense.
You got your own special teams coach to run special teams.
Then you should be the head coach and act like the head coach and coordinate the team and organize the team.
And give the team information that could benefit them.
Like, look, okay, if we're going to cut down on penalties, like, if that's going to be a major theme of the offseason, because obviously it was bad for them, then show clips on penalties before.
Like, emphasize what we're talking about.
And maybe they are, but I would think HBO would have showed it.
If they were had it.
Like it would, and it would have put Hugh in a better light.
So for me, like, every time I watch this thing, I'm like, can it get any worse?
Seriously, can it get any worse?
All right, Lombardi, we're going to get one more point before we get to break here.
This is why we want the Browns on HBO.
This is why we have the show Hard Knocks.
But, you know, we're talking about, you know, Dorsey and Hugh and, you know, their outlooks on
Des and Landry and this whole situation.
And then let's just, let's just explain this.
Well, I think it was like Dorsey's hired a bunch of interns and he's trying to train them.
train them about pro football and what to do when you bring a guy in.
Yeah, taking notes, research and doing all that, which is remarkable, which is great.
Look, the best thing we could do in life is mentor somebody, you know, and teach somebody and
like, show them like, this is the way you do it.
But, like, for me, it was bizarre because, you know, John's sitting there and he just signed
Jarvis Landry.
And he answers the question of who's led the league in touchdown receptions from 2012 to now.
And he answers Jarvis Landry, who A, never scored more than 10 touchdowns in a season.
Yes.
Okay, B.
B, was drafted in 2013.
So it was not in the league in 2012.
Exactly.
You know.
And the thing is, you just signed them.
Like, you just dealt for him.
Like, okay, here's the thing about Jarvis Landry that's always been resonating with me.
And we kid about Ferris Bueller, Beckham.
But what you can't kid about Beckham about is he scores touchdowns.
Like the answer.
He's a playmaker.
Right. He scores touchdowns, right? So Landry has as many receptions as Beckham did going into last year before Landry, before Beckham got hurt. That was a big conversation. Who's better Landry or Beckham? But the touchdown discrepancy was enormous. I mean, it's 35 to 10. You know, so like, how could you put Landry in that group? It's like, did you not watch this before? Like, and then to me, if you're letting HBO film this, don't put yourself in a bad light. Like, like, like,
You know, do the...
You had to have a stat packet, you know, when you signed the guy, right?
You got to have something there.
You know, it reminds me of, like, if you're going to let HBO do this, it happens on golf all the time.
You ever watch much golf?
Of course.
Play golf my whole life.
All right.
So when they, like, when CBS or ABC or NBC, you know, they show some obscure golfer who we haven't seen for three hours.
He's lined up over a put from 45 feet.
And you're like, what are we watching this guy for?
Well, he's going to make the putt, right?
Yeah, of course.
You know, and the announcer's pretending like, oh, it was a 45-yard put here.
but like they're pretending that it's live.
You know, even though we've recorded it.
This is Luke Donald and Luke Donald has a 45-footer.
He's minus one on the day, but the leader's minus six, but we just need, you know, some fill-up time.
He's not America's Most Wanted.
He can't, we can't find him, right?
Like, he's been somewhere lost in the abyss.
And yet he goes line up for this 45-yard, 45-foot putt, and he makes it.
Oh, it's a mar.
Like, that's how you should set up your way.
Like, if that's, if that was, if you have approval for everything on HBO, on HBO, what you do?
Like, if you're, if you're John Dorsey,
Wouldn't you want to look a little, like, make it?
I'm not saying you should have guessed as Brian to make it look good,
but guess not Jarvis Landry, who doesn't score touchdowns?
I think it's fact-checking, right?
I think someone probably gave him that stat one of those guys that's doing the research.
He probably liked the way it sound, pat himself on the back,
and then continue to spout it out to the world.
And got a fact-check, folks.
Oh, well.
That's all I can do.
We're going to take a quick break here, and we're going to come back
and continue to talk about our favorite team, the Cleveland Browns.
For over 20 years, DirecTV has been the,
exclusive home to NFL Sunday ticket
the only way to get every live game
every Sunday. Good news NFL fans,
DirecTV has expanded the service. If you live in
an apartment or area where DirecTV service
is not available, you can now get
NFL Sunday ticket without a satellite.
To see if you're eligible, go online to NFL Sunday
Ticket.tv and stream every
NFL Sunday ticket game this season to
follow your favorite team no matter where you live.
Use promo code Ringer, R-I-N-G-E-R-E-R-E-E-R-E-C-R-C-E-R-E-C-R-E-C-E-R-E-Cout to
to save 15%.
Student discounts are also available.
Use promo code Ringer at checkout
again to save 15%.
And we're also brought to you by MyBooky.
People always ask me for advice.
Usually it's what the team to bet on this week.
The truth is, I don't know who's going to win.
But if you think you know, you've got to check out My Bookie.
I always tell people to bet with My Bookie.
Trust me, guys, they are your best bet this season.
They've been in business for years, have great reviews online, and their mobile site
is easy to use.
Not to mention, they have in-game live betting and the most rewarding player perks in the business.
Plus, for you fantasy guys out there, you can even bet the over, under,
on how many fantasy points a player will score each game.
So lay down some cash and win big today.
You win.
They pay.
Join now in MyBooky will match your deposit dollar for dollar.
Use the promo code Ringer NFL to activate the offer.
Visit MyBooky online today.
That's M-Y-B-O-O-K-E.
And don't forget to use the promo code Ringer NFL when creating your account to claim the bonus.
You play, you win, you get paid back to GM Street.
Well, Hugh said it will be the greatest turnaround in sports history.
This is when he was talking to Des Bryant about what they expect from the Browns.
He says it would be the greatest turnaround in sports history.
That is no hyperbole.
That is the words that he chose.
He said the owners have given the players everything and we have to give back winning.
This all goes back to sort of the same.
You know, it all sounds good, right?
But what is the plan to put that in action?
Yeah.
And I never see him condition either.
And so, you know, yeah, they're opening up with Pittsburgh,
the first game of the year in Cleveland will be hot, humid.
And that game's going to come down to the last 10 minutes.
It'll probably come down the last 10 minutes of the game.
And who's in shape?
I did notice that they tore the hill down.
So there's no need for the hill there.
You know, the Belichick Hill that was built back in 1991.
That's no longer there.
And that's like the punishment you're talking about in practice.
Well, that's like, look, look, I think this.
And I see this and I watched every preseason game very closely this summer.
I think that teams that condition are going to be the teams that have good
september's.
It's going to come down to their.
ability to win in the fourth quarter. There are a lot of close games early in the season because
nobody gives up. So it's going to come down to your overall conditioning. And every day in New
England, they're running hills. It's not a punishment thing. They're just running hills. They're
conditioning every day. Good teams have to run. It isn't every other day. We're doing gassers.
You got to run. I remember when we practiced against the Redskins in Washington in Richmond one year,
RG3 is like, man, they look like some Catholic League school the way they practice over there. They
run after practice. Meanwhile, the Redskins, they're just going inside of it. You know,
the AC zone.
Yeah.
Got a little bit inside.
Yeah.
I mean,
they're just going inside.
And I wonder why,
you know,
that's a whole other conversation.
But that goes back,
I mean,
even going back to the lowest forms
of any sort of sport.
I mean,
it does come down to conditioning.
That's why all these teams
have conditioning tests.
And that's why you see sometimes in college,
some of these guys
when they go to the NBA and you're like,
why isn't so-and-so
what he was at this point?
It's like,
because there was regimented conditioning.
It was mapped out.
We don't talk about it.
We don't talk about it.
I mean,
we don't even talk about it on TV.
It's like we don't even get to hear.
Like, you've got to get in shape.
You know, and how you get your team in shape is vastly different, right?
The Rams are taking a different approach this year.
It is sort of ironic because fitness is such a thing that is very talked about in, like, personal life.
You know what I mean?
People talk about fitness and trying to do things to stay fit.
But when you talk about it in the professional ranks, we end up just saying, well, they have a nutritionist and then we move on.
Right.
And then he looks fit.
You know, but what's his conditioning?
I mean, what's his, you think Des can run, think he could run all day long?
Like, wouldn't you want to know?
Like, here's what I would want to know about Des.
I want to have that heart-to-heart conversation with them.
I don't need to be, you know, like jiving and josting with the guy.
It's a business, right?
I want to have that.
Then I want to go watch them.
And then I want to be able to sit down with the receiver coach, with the offense
coordinator and say, okay, if we sign this player, when do you think this guy would be ready
to play?
Like, wouldn't you want to get, if you know going in that Des has trouble learning the
playbook?
He did say he wants to learn, which is good.
That's great.
Yep.
tremendous, right? So wouldn't you want to get Des into a room and have him explain to you what Dallas does on offense?
Show us, let's go through a couple of your games last year. I think Todd Haley would.
Right. Let's watch a couple of your games last year. Okay, tell me what you're doing here. I want to see what was your thinking here. Okay, here's how we do this. Let me give you a couple of concepts that we're going to run. And then we go out in the practice field later today when we have your workout. We're going to put these in and I want to see how you handle. Like, I need to know. Like, I need to know what I'm getting. What am I buying? Like, I'm just not right.
and checks here. Like, I need to know what I'm buying. And everything needs to be handled in a certain
way. You know, but like, okay, Des is coming in. There should have been a meeting. Okay, Haley, Hugh,
you know. Do we think Haley talked to Des? Des talked to the towel boys. He talked to every assistant
in the building, but it doesn't look like he saw Todd Haley. I have no idea. And who knows if
Todd Haley even knew he was in the building at the time? I have no idea. I mean, look, if Dorsey's
going to bring the guy in and Dorsey's got to say, here's the plan for how we're working the guy out.
Like to me, act like a pro.
Like, and maybe they did.
And maybe they worked them out and they didn't want to show it on the tape.
So forgive me for that.
But it didn't appear to me that they worked them out.
It didn't appear else people would, you know, if they worked them out, they would know more about him.
He wore cut off shirt though.
So that was enough to get the interest peak there in Cleveland.
I just want to talk about just some random things that went on with the Browns, just some random talking points.
We had Brad Paisley at practice and he's with John Dorsey.
and they're watching Baker Mayfield, which Pepper, as we talked about, was bringing up how great he looked.
And Brad Paisley said he reminds him of Brett Farrf.
You know, I think they're doing, I mean, look, if players are believing what Baker's doing,
and you're hearing all this positivity, how see he the third string quarterback?
Like, it just doesn't add up.
Like, are they promoting Baker?
Like, what's going on here?
You know?
Like, last year, Kevin Hogan was, like, I want to say Kevin Hogan last year, had 109 quarterback
rating.
You know, and so, you know, Baker's having a good summer this year.
You know, he's got a 104 quarterback rating, only completing 54% of it.
Those numbers are insignificant.
Like all these, like I tweeted out yesterday, you know, your boy, Mitchell Tribesky
had 106 QB rating, three touchdowns, no interceptions, you know, and Deshawn Watson was just
a disaster, right?
And who had the better year, right?
It wasn't even close.
So this is all just, so like, if he's this good, how are we waiting this long for him to
see him?
And what's the wait for?
I don't know. That's sort of the, I think what everyone is sort of wondering.
We've seen it sort of sort of self out in Buffalo with the injuries with McCarran going down.
And now it's, you know, Josh Allen.
This is probably going to be his team.
We've seen how it's played out with New York and the Jets.
I mean, they picked Darnold.
So Donald's our guy.
Now we have Teddy as a trade chip.
But in Cleveland, we have the Tarad Taylor, which is now how it is pronounced it as Tarad Taylor.
We found out that Lee Corso was the reason he was been Tyrod Taylor this whole time.
So congratulations, Lee Corso.
You made up this man's name for the past seven or eight years.
but that's all in due fun.
But we're in a situation now where what does Cleveland want to do?
Like, what is the message to send?
Because if you put Baker as your third string,
you put Drew Stanton as the number two.
I mean,
I know Baker seems to be like he's playing ball
and everything is fine.
But I mean,
you're the number one pick, right?
Does that come back at any point?
Well, you get the number one pick,
but you also got,
it isn't like you're an expansion team.
I mean,
it isn't like when Troy Akeman went to Dallas.
I mean, he was one in 15.
Peyton Manning was one in 15 when he went to Indianapolis.
Like you're the first pick over all.
This is a year.
John Fox is talking about last year.
He wished that, you know, if they start Glenn and they go one and three and then they bring in Trubisky,
not saying the tables turned by a large amount, but he said, you know, he'd only start in this amount of games.
We didn't put him in because of that.
But maybe if I were to go back, I was just throwing the young kid out there just for the energy around the team having a guy like that.
I mean.
Right.
Well, because again, I keep saying this constantly.
It's like you've got to build your team around the quarterback.
Like, what can he do?
Yeah.
Like, he can't do everything.
So, like, what are we going to do with?
I mean, if we got this great skill, we have Josh Gordon coming back.
We've got, we've got Jarvis Landry, we got Carlos High.
We got Duke Johnson.
and we've got this offensive line that we've spent some money on.
Like, why wouldn't we put them in there?
We got a good defense.
Okay, so here's how we're going to play the game.
Like, here's how we're going to set up the game.
We're going to be better this way.
Look, I don't understand what they're doing.
Whether they win six games or whether they win five games or whether they win eight games with Tyrod Taylor,
there's going to be enough bud light for everybody.
Like, what are they worried about?
There's a lot of bud light.
A lot of bud light.
At least we have a lot of refrigerators open with the bud light.
But Paisley, like to me.
Is he going to buy the RV?
That's the other question.
Like, I think it's great that, you know, I love that Brad Paisley's a Browns fan.
First of all, I love old Brown fans.
I mean, because I was there for the, I mean, I was there for the fumble.
That was a cool little montage when they brought in the, you know, the Cleveland, you know, training camp from like the 1920s or whatever.
Yeah, look, Paul Brown, he's in my book.
There's a lot of, there are a lot of things that Bill Walsh did that go back to Paul Brown.
It all started there in Cleveland.
All calisthenics.
All calisthenics, the 40-yard dash, all that.
You know, and so there's great history.
Cleveland. I mean, when I see that town of Berea, and I see that I can think of when we lost the
fumble game. I mean, Jim Brown. And when we beat New England in a playoff game, I mean,
the town was energized. It was great, you know, and I remember when we moved the team and how
deflated the team was. So, I mean, it's a great city and they love football. And so I admire Brad,
Brad, for that, you know, I mean, if you guys are going to talk to the team, you know, you just want to
make sure the message is like, hey, Brad, just talk to them about what it's like to compete every
single day. Because look, Brad Paisley's going on the road, right? He's got to sing every single song.
It's my whole theory about, about born to run. It's about my theory about, like, give him the
message you want to tell the team. Like, tell him, hey, Brad, here's what you need to talk about.
Because we talk about 10,000 hours of practice creates, you know, greatness. And that's what Malcolm
Gladwell wrote about. But I believe it's 10,000 hours plus the born to run theory, which is
you've got to have passion. When you see Springsteen, when I saw I've seen Springsteen in different
countries, he plays Born to Run like it's the first time he's ever played. Now, he's got 10,000
hours and he's got passion. That's when you know you got greatness. Tom Brady's the same way.
So give Brad Paisley the message, hey, man, I go on the road. Every night's my Super Bowl.
I got to play. You know, here's what I got to do. Give him the- It's the Michael Jordan thing.
There's one fan here that has not seen me play. And I want to give them the show of their life.
So every day you guys come out here. I hope I'm like you guys because every day I'm trying
to admire what you do. Give him the message. Give him the message to give to the team.
It's not his fault. He's, you know, he seems like a good guy. You know, he just, thanks for being here.
I'm really, you know, but he's an entertainer.
And all these guys on the field, they're entertainers too.
So teach them how to entertain.
Teach them what it's like to be a professional to entertain.
Absolutely.
I want to do a quick tangent.
I don't know if you've watched any of this, but Alabama has been, they've been doing
all access on ESPN.
So they've been in Tuscalo with Nick Saban.
They've had the cameras on.
It's sort of the same thing.
It was hard knocks, same sort of premise.
They're just there all the time.
So Nick Savan is there.
They bring in Kobe Bryant.
And Kobe Bryant, you know, comes in and speaks about, you know, the chase for
greatness and how you have to be obsessed with it, yada, yada, like, giving all these notes.
And, you know, all these guys are in the room.
You know, there's, you know, not in their heads, paying attention.
Nick Saban has a notebook.
And it's like, you know, he's in sixth grade.
And this is his first, you know, big week of class.
And he's like, writing down all the notes is fear.
You know, he was completely locked in because he was like, I have to take bits and
pieces of greatness from other places and try to continue to mold these guys all the time.
So when you, you talked about that 10,000 hours with the passion, like Nick Sabin,
a guy that, I mean, think about these national titles.
He should be worn out.
Should be gluttonous at this point.
No.
He's the same thing as Kobe Bryant.
I mean, think about the story than Kobe Bryant called the coach up and said, hey, can you meet me at the gym at five?
Yeah.
You know, and the guy shows up there at five and works him out for two hours.
And then the guy goes back to sleep.
And then he shows up at 2 o'clock in the afternoon for the practice.
And he asked Kobe, hey, do you get any rest?
He said, no, I've been shooting here all day.
I mean, like Kobe's like, he is passionate about his 10,000 hours.
You know, and that's, and same thing with Nick.
I mean, look, you can watch Alabama and you can watch Cleveland.
you guys make up your own mind. You know, if you think I'm being too hard on Hugh, watch Alabama.
Because that's what I've been a part of. That's what I've watched. Since that time I saw Bill Walsh coach,
since, and they're all different. Bill Walsh's way different than Belichick. Belichick's different than
Parcells. Parcells is different than Sabe. They're all different. But when you watch a great
coach lead the team, he's demonstrating these four areas. And it's all about, like, that one area,
would you just describe as management of self? So that is, he is, he is managing the tone for
everybody else around. Exactly. If Coach Nick Sabin's going to sit here,
here and take notes like this. I better be taking notes of pay attention.
Right, because look, they're watching me. Yeah. I'm the leader. Lead by example. I'm the leader.
And they're looking to see what I'm doing. If I'm jerking off, they're going to jerk off.
So, like, you know, and that's what's so disappointing about, look, the NFL is a difficult profession.
It's the end to become a head coach in the NFL, Tate Fraser. It's a harder job to get the United States Senator.
There's 52 of those, right? And it's not as simple as this owner wants to hire this coach.
It is a very, it's a process. Now, we understand something. It's not a selected position.
It's an elected position. It's an elected position because you got to carry the popular vote. You got to carry the columns on the online. You got to win favor with the fan base. You got to sell it. Got to be the hot name. Even though you may not be qualified, you got to be all that. But then when you get in that chair, you better have something to you to handle the job. And that's what when you see watch Sabin. I mean, Sabin's learning from other people too. And it never stops. Is there anything else from this episode? I think they're talking to a bunch of people around the league. Everybody's looking for receivers. It's. It's,
It's really kind of a remarkable position.
I mean, you know, everybody's looking for a receiver.
You know, I mean, Green Bay wants the receiver.
I mean, I think if you offered Green Bay something for Annel Cobb,
I don't know what they would take for him, but I think he's available.
But I know his name's being shopped around.
I mean, teams are looking for receivers.
I think it's fascinating how the league is.
It's one position that everybody, like take, for example,
the other night, Monday night, we didn't talk about this on the pod because it was after the game.
But when you watch Andrew Luck play, everybody's kind of obsessed with his arm and what, look.
Compare his arm to Peyton Mannings when Peyton Manning's. Now, the different injuries, don't get me wrong.
Peyton had a neck injury. Couldn't really feel the ball. But, you know, did he have, but you could tell Peyton didn't have a lot of velocity, even on the short throws.
I think luck can throw the ball. I think luck's going to be able to throw the ball. I think right now they don't have anybody really Dion Kane getting hurt, I think affected the Colts team.
I think, you know, there's not enough, there wasn't a lot of skill players on there. And then when you're watching preseason games, what happens to you, because the scheme has to get players open. And there's not enough skill.
scheme in these preseason games, the offense tends to look stagnant.
You know, and so there's not a lot of, you know, spikes up and spikes down.
So when you don't do that, but that's what I keep hearing around the NFL, a lot of teams
looking for receivers.
And speaking of Andrew, look.
And Des is out there and nobody's signing him.
Yeah, that's what I mean, so that's the original point.
I mean, we're all looking for receivers and we have, you know, but I don't know,
red chip, blue chip.
I don't know what chip he is at this point.
But Des Brian is out there and has, you know, obviously a discernible talent that everyone
knows.
it just depends if you can put him in position to succeed
if you'll buy in.
Or they were all watched them.
I mean, if you need a receiver, you know, I mean,
in every,
excuse me, everybody's looking for a receiver.
So like if he's out there and he's free,
you can get him.
You know, I think, I would think that he would have more play than he has,
but I think people watch the tape.
Andrew Luck, speaking about him,
that was the big talking point.
He had this sit down interview where he talked about for the first time,
really, because, you know,
he had been so quiet for 18 months about process coming back,
how at one point he didn't know if he was going to continue to play football. He's happy to be here. It seems to be in a much better headspace. He went to a sports psychologist and ran the whole gamut on this whole comeback. So he seems to be based on his interviews. It seems that the first time he's been candid enough to talk about things. He seems excited about the offense, the direction of the new team. It seems like all signs are pointing forward for Andrew Luck, even though a lot of people are freaking out over preseason stats, which as we've said are. Just meaningless. Just meaningless. I mean, look, they're not scheming stuff. And I think once the season,
starts, you know, he looks like he'll get ready.
They need their players back. I mean, that's what
they need. They need their skill guys.
T.Y. Hilton's not out there, you know, so they need him
and they've got to be able to do it. Just like
I wouldn't carry it away that Joe Flacco's
having a great preseason because, look, Joe Flacco
should have a good preseason. He's a veteran quarterback.
You know, the coverages aren't that
complex in the preseason, you know, the game's
a lot slower. Like, really
does it matter, you know? So I
would say, to me,
I'm encouraged by Andrew Luck being back.
I'm encouraged by his arm. I think he'll
make all the throws, I think that there's no reason to think that it's him that the offense
is stacked. I think a lot of it has to do with the Colts lack of explosiveness on offense. And I think
that's the challenge. And I think that division in and of itself, the AFC South, is going to be a
lot of fun to watch because we have the Jaguars, Saxonville, you know, on top of the world right now,
the Titans show that they have some real moxie, getting into the playoffs. And then you have the two teams
that a lot of people always expect to be the teams to watch out for in the AFC South, at least in
modern times, Deshawn, Andrew Luck, and the Colts and the Texans. So it would be interesting to watch
there. One more thing before we get out of here, Sequin Barkley, I wanted to ask you about.
He has missed, I believe, eight practices, and he's nursing a hamstring strain, I think is what
they're reporting. So we talked about that. I mean, you know, the in shape part and just having
to deal with some of the conditioning stuff. And Sequin, you know, first year in the NFL, and now
he's been the darling, you know, going into the season so far. And right now, he may miss a week won.
Soft tissue injuries are the worst. I mean, because they can be prevented. It's about hydration.
It's really about hydration. It's about what are you doing with your body? You can avoid soft tissue injuries. I mean, that's, you know, in Parcell's world, in Belichick's world, soft tissue injuries are on you. They're not on anybody else. And what you're doing, you've got to hydrate. You got to make sure you're taking care of your body in between practices, you know, because then you can avoid it. And unfortunately, for this kid, now, you can look at it this way. Barkley, by missing all this time, he's not going to get hurt. So that's a good thing, right? So you're not worried about that. It's just getting him up to speed for the speed of the game. And hopefully this history, this hamstrassie, this hamstr
string doesn't linger all year.
And final thing, Teddy Bridgewater, I saw his surgeon.
This is one of the stories I read this morning.
His surgeon came out and said he is just an absolute awe of what Teddy Bridgewater looks
like on a football field right now.
He said he just honestly cannot believe that he looks like the same player before.
So that's all kudos to tell you.
I think that's an interesting comment by the surgeon because I think what happened in Minnesota
was, and this is just hypothetical on my part, but I have a sense from being in the league
that what happened in Minnesota was that the medical staff didn't tell the coaches that they thought this kid could play again.
They thought it was going to be really limited.
And so Minnesota passed on keeping them and put all their eggs into the Kirk Cousins basket because Minnesota loves Teddy Bridgewater.
They love Teddy Bridgewater.
I mean, they love them as a leader.
They love them as a person.
They loved them as a teammate.
They loved this work.
Everything they believed in in Minnesota, Teddy Bridgewater stood for.
And imagine if he could have been playing in the dome.
Right.
So somebody told them they didn't think he was going to be healthy.
And I think it was the team doctor.
And so now he's not healthy.
Now the doctor's watching him and they're saying, you know, because I'm sure somebody
in Minnesota said, you guys told us this guy couldn't play.
Yeah.
You know?
And so now he's coming out saying, well, he's going to defend his.
He's defending what it.
So he's shocked by it, which is fine.
I mean, we all make mistakes.
Like, I'm not trying to blame anybody here.
No, it's better when it's the positive of the situation.
And I love it.
And I think he showed the NFL that he's ready to play football.
And I think, you know, look, I don't know if there's two teams.
after him. I don't know if there's been any offers made, but I know this. Teddy Bridgewater
could lead a team to the playoffs like he did Minnesota in 15 and make them a better team.
I could see the Denver Broncos taking a shot at him. Yeah, again, I think if they get off
the Case Keenham train and they admit that, you know, maybe they would do it. I could see,
you know, look, Jacksonville's got to sit there and ask themselves the questions that keep coming
up. You could bring the Miami boy back down to Florida. Miami should ask the same questions because
you don't know where you are with Tana Hill. You know, Miami's in a little bit different situation.
their defense is soft. They don't play very physical. And if they get behind in games, it's going to be hard. That's why I think Miami will be the team, one of the teams that could be competing for the first pick in the draft. Because if they don't play a certain way and Tannahill doesn't stay healthy, it could be dangerous. We will keep our eyes peeled. This has been another edition of GM Street, part of the Ringer podcast network. We will be back next Monday to cover all things that are happening this weekend in the preseason. We appreciate everyone listening. And we hope you all enjoy hard knocks as much as we are this season. We will be back on Monday.
Thanks, tape.
