The Ringer NFL Show - Teams That Can Actually Win the Super Bowl. Plus: DK Metcalf!

Episode Date: June 2, 2021

Kevin and Nora are joined by The Ringer’s Danny Kelly to talk about which teams they think can actually win the Super Bowl (8:53). Then Kevin and Nora are joined by Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf to talk about running in the Olympic track trials, what he’s been working on in the offseason, and more (1:14:44). Hosts: Kevin Clark and Nora Princiotti Guests: Danny Kelly and DK Metcalf Production Assistant: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen up all you New York fans. Veteran New York sports talk host, John Dostromski gives his unique take on all the big stories in the Big Apple and beyond, including guest conversations, gambling picks, and reactions from you, the listener. Check out New York, New York with John Dostromsky on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. It is the room around a fell show, part of the Ringar Podcast Network. I am Kevin Carr, joined today by Nora Prince Gadi and Danny Kelly, fresh up a two weeks vacation, hung out with his child.

What was the best football thought you had in last two weeks? week's, Danny. I try not to think about actual football. I'm doing a lot of rookie dress right now in my dynasty leagues. So trying to get a lot of Devante Smith. Love Devante Smith. Sure. Yeah. But I didn't think about actual football that much, to be honest. So this is going to be a fun kind of a refresher. I like that. So we have two Seattle legends on the podcast today because we have Danny Keller joining us for the first segment. And then we have D.K. McCaff, Superstar. The other D.K. We have two Seattle D.Ks.

And so we have, you know, it's a star-studded lineup today. Nora, what's going on? Not much. Really good Memorial Day weekend. I hung out with some friends. Had a nice time. I just shared this story with Danny and Kevin offline. The gang?

I was over the weekend asked by just a stranger, a passerby on public transportation, if I was familiar with Tom Brady, which was just a real highlight for me. So if any, if the guy on the wave bus happens to be a listener, yes, I am indeed familiar with Tom Brady. Wow. The context was, and it's funny because we were talking about this with mortals, the context was this guy was trying to settle a debate with his friend over who the actor equivalent of Tom Brady was. Somebody had alleged Tom Cruise.

When my opinion was solicited, I said, yes, I am familiar with Tom Brady, offered no further context. that and just said it's probably Brad Pitt. But if you wanted to add in a little bit of Cruz or a smidge of Daniel Day Lewis, I would accept that. Dana Day Lewis, explain that part very quickly. Accolades and intensity. Plus, there's a method, you know? TB12 method, method acting. Oh, that's good.

This is not exactly rocket science. I mean, look, if you're going by awards, I don't know. I don't think he's a Nicholson. What about a Clooney? Clooney, I don't think... Clooney tracks, but Brady never had an ER period. The first couple of years weren't? I guess that's true. Now, who would Clooney be? I feel like Clooney is too universally beloved.

I don't think Clooney has the necessary edge. Yeah, because there's no like Clooney haters. I feel like we've just wasted a perfectly good segment having not prepared for this. Like, I kind of feel like we need to put a pin in this and come back in a different podcast. because I need to think about this a little bit more. Again, if the guys on the bus happen to be listeners, there's actually the guys on the bus. You don't think so either.

I don't think so. At one point, I was giving an answer. I was giving a very short answer. And one of them goes, kind of seems like you've thought about this before. Well, yes and no. All right. So what we are going to do is not actors as quarterbacks. We're going to do how many teams to win the Super Bowl.

It is June 1. There are 100 days. until the NFL season begins with the bucks and the Cowboys. For Sourkept purposes, June 1 is a total game changer, although I do think sometimes it gets a little bit overrated, especially in like February. People are like, oh, they can just wait till June 1 to make a trade. And it's like, well, nobody ever.

Like the magic day. Yeah, yeah. Teams are just sitting around waiting for five months. But for the purposes of, say, O'Hulio Jones or an Aaron Rogers, it does have some impact. Although, you know, obviously, Julio is much more likely to get traded the next couple of weeks and months than Aaron Rogers. So what we're going to do is how many teams go in the Super Bowl? Again,

I think this is an informative exercise. It just kind of sets the table on what needs to go right for certain teams, what should go right for certain teams. A little bit of house cleaning before we start. Number one, Adam Venetary retired guys. Yeah. How many years did they play in the NFL? Like 25? Tackled Bo Jackson at some point. 25. Played in NFL Europe and Amsterdam for a little bit. A league that has not existed for a number of years. His first, he was a, he was eligible for the 1996 draft. Jeez. 24 seasons. 24 seasons. Holy cow. Yeah. Belichick calls him the best kicker of all time. I tend

to agree with that. I think that it's part of the problem with kickers. I don't want to do kickers here for next 20 minutes is that in order, it's like a closer in baseball where you just, you would get more famous if you're put into big spots. Yeah. You know, like, Mario Navarra was an incredibly valuable closer, but he's been drafted by Cincinnati, where it's a different conversation with him. Having said that, incredible career,

tip of the cap, anybody you can make it this long in the NFL deserves our applause. Anything else, guys? How about this one? Peter King says that the NFL wants to play in Germany in 2022. Oh, that's fun.

I feel like Germany likes the NFL. They love football. They love football. The aforementioned NFL Europe at one point was basically just a German league. The Germans were like, Yes, absolutely. That's exciting.

Is there a country the NFL hasn't played in that you guys like to see it? Ooh, that's a good question. Well, yeah, a lot of, I mean, any tropical locale that they want to settle down in. The British Virgin Islands, I think. Yeah, happy to go on location. That would be totally fine. There was a guy on, who got drafted by the Patriots a couple years ago,

was from Denmark. And that was super fun because there was just, a horde of Danish media that descended upon Patriots training camp. And they were just delightful. I really liked having them around. But to your point, they really knew their stuff and there was a pretty established, you know,

it's a niche thing. But it seemed as though there was a very vibrant NFL viewing following community that was very excited to follow the progress of Yalta Froholt. Forre Holt is now on the Texans. Speaking of strange roster constructions. Tough situation. Didn't want to bring that up because it seemed like a downer. What I like about the international games,

I've only covered one game outside the country. It was in London. Is that those guys are just so jazzed on football that I went to a Dolphins Jets game. And you would see all, you know, every country was represented. There was, you know, so many cool people in the crowd. But it would just be like there'd be Vikings fans there who would just like, like, I know it's a Dolphins Jets game, and I'm wearing my damn Vikings jersey. That's where I liked about it.

Yeah. I covered one of the Mexico City games. It was Patriots Raiders. And I think the Raiders have a really good following there. So it was a little bit skewed in that there were definitely a lot of like silver and black. But it was the same thing where it was just, you know, Jaguars jerseys. Yeah. You'd be like, what's going on here, guys?

I wear magic. So into it. I sometimes wear magic shirts, magic shirts to NBA games. I have no affiliation with. That's nice. What's your overall take on people who do that, Kevin? I assume you're for it since you do it. I'm fine with it.

Just, just, I'm not going to wear, I'm not going to wear like a Penny Hardaway jersey and like one of those big foam fingers to like a Clippers net scheme. But I will, if I have a magic shirt, I'll just throw it on. Please clip. I'm not going to wear a big foam finger.

I live, my wife and I live four blocks away from the Barclay Center, where the Nets play. And we've been here for about a month. And I saw my second person in Nets gear today. I had to go buy a tablet the other day. So if you live in the area, like the shopping stuff, like Target and Best Buy and stuff, are right next to the arena.

And I had to go buy a tablet like 30 minutes for one of the games. And there was just no evidence whatsoever. There was a playoff game. They're like a block over. And I was like, isn't it kind of weird? Anyway. If there are Nets fans, I'm sure going to. There are Nets fans.

I just don't, I'm not seeing them right now. That's all. I'm sure they have a vibrant community. Longer line when a new ice cream place, like gourmet ice cream place opens up. They're hanging out with Chargers fans? As someone who roots for the island of magic, which does not have a huge fan base, I am very sensitive to these sort of things. All I'll say is that I just literally have not seen a lot of Nets fans here in Brooklyn.

That's all. All right. Let's get to what we're doing here. We've gotten to a lot so far. But we're doing, how many teams going to the Super Bowl? and it's a list first, it's a number. And to be honest, guys, I think I have my lowest number ever this year for an offseason. And part of that is because there's just teams that have transitions to quarterback or there's teams that always have hope that don't have hope this year.

And I'm willing to be talked into certain teams. There are a handful of teams where I'm hoping you guys actually have a case to be made so that I can feel better about this team. Nora Prince-Di, how many teams are on your list? Nine. Wow. Wow. Because normally it's between about 14 and 17. For most,

from we've done this exercise a handful of times over the past, I don't know, four or five years. And I, normally it's about half a league. I feel like there's a handful of reasons to be lower. Danny Kelly, who's on your list?

I got a big list. Yeah, I think you're an optimistic person. Nine, 10. I got 17. Wow. That's more in line.

That's more in line with the exercise. Okay. And then there was a few that I wanted to keep on there. So let's just say like two thirds of the league, I think. I have, so I have two that did not make the list, but that I made special note of. But I just think the real answer to the question is a small number of teams. Yes and no.

I mean, that's where we're going to have this debate. That's what we're going to have this debate. All right. It sounds like Nora, you should go first. You have nine teams on your list. All right. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Okay. It sounds like it might be an order here.

It's in no particular order, but it's not. I don't know that it'll seem unforeign to anyone who's familiar with. Seems like you might be doing a little power rankings. It seems like you might be sneaking into power rankings or no. I'm not sneaking in a power rankings. And I will not be accused of such. All right. Tampa, Kansas City, Green Bay, Buffalo,

Cleveland, Baltimore, Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams. the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys. Oh, interesting. Okay. So who are the two teams you made honorable mentions? San Francisco and Atlanta.

Okay. I feel like the Atlanta part of this is completely, completely wild. Yeah. That's a good, that's a good, I have talked myself into the Falcons so thoroughly.

And I didn't put them on the list but in my heart, they're kind of on the list. Okay. So here's my problem with Atlanta. Is it there are a handful of teams that I kept off of my list. One of those teams being, for instance, like I don't have any AFC South teams on my list. I don't have the dolphins on my list. I don't have, obviously, I don't have the Patriots in my list. I do have the Chargers on my list.

All of these teams, I'd rather have. than the Falcons. I just don't, I guess I'm not seeing the path here. So, so, you did this a couple weeks ago when you said Arthur Smith, it's going to be coached the year.

Is this a, is this a, there's more talent than we think their argument? Is this, there's just, you believe in Arthur Smith so much. Like take us, walk us through the scenario,

because the list is how many teams going to win the Super Bowl, the scenario in which the Atlanta Falcons could conceivably win the Super Bowl in your honorable mention category. So one thing that I should outline here, I really, really don't trust.

rookie or particularly inexperienced quarterbacks deep in the playoffs. For instance, if the question was who's going to win more games, San Francisco or Atlanta, I would pick San Francisco. I reflexively, if the assumption there is that if they really are ready to make a run this year, it would be with Trey Lance's quarterback. I reflexively cannot choose that team to win the Super Bowl. I just can't. I really, it's not the time.

type of thing that I tend to like to base analysis off of, but I just think we've seen it. We saw it with freaking Patrick Mahomes, right? Like, it's really, really, really hard to get to that game and to win it. And I think that's real. So that to me is something that's actually disqualified where I would much, much, much, much, much rather see what happens when you put Matt Ryan, who loves play action. in this offense that Arthur Smith will design that relies super heavily on that

will bring out the best in him and is giving him you know a generational talent like Kyle Pitts I would really like for them to keep Julio actually I think that would that would make a difference and does it change if Julio's gone yeah I mean a little look again like I I yeah

I think a little bit yeah because Because what I'm banking on in part here, and I do think that their defense will be better this year. But what I'm banking on is, look, defense does not tend to be super sustainable. It tends to be really variable year to year. Offense is something that you can hang your hat on. And I actually really like what they have. And if that gets hot, the experience plus coaching that I really trust, a scheme that I think is really, really exciting and a really good fit.

I'm just not sure that there are worse recipes is all I'm saying. All I'm saying. I didn't pull the trigger. I didn't do it. But that is in my heart of heart. That is how I feel. Danny. Yeah.

You just spent two weeks on staycation. You hung out with your child, your adorable child, who doesn't even play with the gift I sent from what I hear anymore because he's no longer a baby. But not anymore. That was his favorite toy. I'm not even kidding. When he was little, when he was real little, I should say. Yeah.

What happened? Oh, he just grew out of it. He cycled through toys. Kids have short attention spans. It happens. So the first thing you get upon your return is Atlanta Falcons might win the Super Bowl talk. Okay. To be clear.

Not on my list. Probably going to win the Super Bowl is what she's saying. Probably, yeah, number one. No, she was sneaking in power rankings and the Falcons are number one. I feel like that's pretty clear. So I've got 17 teams. I've got 17 teams on my list, which is really generous. You know, as Kevin mentioned, I'm an optimist.

I'm probably way too nice when it comes to, you know, doing this type of thing. The Falcons were not on my list. Okay, but they're number 18, though, right? Danny had 31 teams on his list. So I have Falcons. He thinks the Falcons are going to win two games. I did. No, that's not true.

He might be right. That's not true. I am often wrong. Nora. Nora, let me, let me put it this way. I have four, I tiered it out. So there's four tiers. I got the obvious favorites, the obvious contenders.

I got my third tier is if a bunch of shit goes right. And then tier four is, if you could see it if you squint really hard. And then my tier five, which is where I put Falcons. And it's not included in this list, really, but is my favorite long shots. They're, plus 5,000 according to a fan duel, I think I saw. And so they're among the long shot teams. And I think if you want to take a bet on a team like that is not in the consensus as like a favorite or whatever. Like I think that they're a good one because I think like you said, the offense, you can bank on it.

And especially if they keep Julio, they could be one of the best offenses in the NFL. I don't know. And then like let's just say the defense is average. I think that could make them a contender. But I think there's so much stuff has to change. I agree with that. But if they can. I don't love.

I don't know how they're going to get. at a ton of pressure. That's my worry with the defense most of all. But for me, they would be in, I assume how this would stack up in your actual rankings. I would feel that this was a little bit high, but your tier three of if a bunch of stuff goes right, that's how I feel about them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. I would say if a bunch of shit goes right is one tier. And then for the Falcons, if everything goes right. Maybe. Maybe it's the distinction.

I think that my problem with that is that's true of like 27 teams. Right, right. That's, it's like if everything goes right, then, I mean, the damn Raiders can win the Super Bowl. Well, okay, but sure.

No shots at the Raiders. However, pretty much everything, let's remember that a lot of things went wrong for them last year, right? It was there one score games? Yeah. It's bad. They were outscored by just 18 points year long.

So their Pythagorean win expectation was seven and a half, and they won four games. Yeah. I remember seeing that, I think I saw it sat somewhere that they lost a bunch of one score games. So like, you expect that to kind of even out next year, or at least in theory. Danny, take us through your tiers. All right. So moving on from the Falcons, I think I like that one.

I think it's fun. Tier one, my obvious favorites would be the Chiefs, Bucks, and Bills. But I think, I mean, obviously the Chiefs have my homes and, you know, one of the most dangerous offenses. The Buccaneers defending champs, extremely complete roster. The Bills, again, extremely complete roster.

For Tier 2, I've got the Ravens Packers and Browns Nets, so obviously assuming that Aaron Rogers is back with Packers. Tier 3, if a bunch of shit goes right, I've got the Rams. Obviously, we need to see Stafford be, like significantly better than golf. And I think that could be, you know, enough to make them to put that in that tier. They have to have their defense still be good and, you know, divert or, you know, really confuse a lot of opponents from what we saw last year.

Obviously, it's going to be a little bit different this year after losing their defense coordinator. The 49ers, I think it, I'm with you, Nora. Like, you have to kind of like picture Trey Lance being like a standout rookie and a guy that like I don't I don't expect strong play from rookies you have to have I just I would love to point out that the last time that the Niners were healthy they were went to the super minutes away from winning and then we're a few minutes away from winning the Super Bowl we don't have to imagine trail ends doing anything there is a different pathway there but that we'll put a pin in that

yeah and then I've got so I've got Rams 49ers I also have the Seahawks I think you know if everything goes right for them they're always kind of in it and then the saints obviously the big question is the quarterback's, but I think they have a good defense, good coaching. If they can play balance, football, run the ball, play good defense, I think they're always kind of in it. And then tier four is a big tier. You can see it if you squint really hard with the Colts, Cowboys, Broncos, Dolphins, chargers, Steelers, and Patriots. So that's my list. I don't feel great about tier four, but I do think that you could make arguments for all those teams that, you know, there's just a shot that these these teams could be sort of like the Cinderella of the playoffs, but, you know, I feel

better about the first three tiers. Kevin, historically when you've done, because we've done this episode before, and you've done it a few times, I think. We have, yes. Do you tend to usually have the Super Bowl champion on the list? Does it usually correlate with one to ones where it's like, yeah, that team could and should? Yes, yes. But, and there've been, there have been, obviously, we started with Mays, and there have been times. where we've both had like real contenders that we've argued over like I remember the first time we ever did it I thought the saints were going to be really good and he didn't and then uh I was right on that one but then the next time like I think he had the Eagles no no no the year that the Eagles

won the Super Bowl he was really high on the Eagles and I wasn't um in the Austin so so like those sort of teams were like everything breaking right those have been points of contention where one of us is right one of us is wrong whatever um normal I was I was a say we probably have not had a year where the team that won the Super Bowl wasn't on the list ever. I think even the Eagles when they won the Super Bowl, I think they were on my list. They were just much lower. Sure. And so it's just like, because you're dealing with projections here and you're dealing with just

like what has to break right. Like a good example is the Atlanta Falcons. We did not. The Falcons were the NFC champion the year that we basically started the ringer. I actually just saw Slack message from Sean Fantasy said it today is the five year anniversary of the ringer. Does it feel like five years, Danny? It's flown by.

But yeah, kind of like it's really, it brings back memories to think about that that Super Bowl. Yeah. It's crazy that it's been five years. So anyway, enough anniversary talk. But the, uh, 20 seconds. Yeah, it was good. That was good. By the way, it was a good.

It was a good trip to. Enough of that. Were you June 1? I was June 1 of last year. Wow. Thanks guys. Congratulations, buddy. But enough anniversary talk.

No, you were on their move on. On a film show like twice before that. I think just once. Well, it felt like twice. Is that a good thing? All right. Felt like twice as many. I don't know.

Wait, can I ask Danny a question about his list? I have many of them, but yes, please. So you have the bills in the top group, which I agree with. Is that based on, does that account for potential Josh Allen regression and you think that they've added enough around him where it can make up for some of that or just an extra year of experience makes up for some of that or are we thinking Joshy just steamrolling on through. Joshy. I mean, I think it does account for a little bit of regression. I think if you're putting them in that in that tier, which I am, I'm not expecting a massive regression. You know, maybe he's not

going to be as crazy efficient or whatever, but I do think they have so much talent on that team. and you can expect some big, not big jumps, you can expect some jumps from other players that like young talent on their team, like Gabriel Davis just comes to mind, for instance, he was really exciting as a rookie I thought. He could really add to that receiver core.

You have two young running backs that I think they're running back, or their running game could improve significantly from last year. It was pretty bad last year, honestly. And so I've baking in, you know, sort of improvements, marginal improvements from other stuff while expecting, you know, Alan's probably not going to be as crazy efficient this year as he was last year.

What did you think of their draft? I thought that was good. Like Rousseau and then Boogie Basham. Yeah. I liked those two things. I've always said Basham, but I would certainly defer to you on that. I think it's Basham. I just said it wrong.

Yeah, I think, you know, that was a big need for them. Their past rush group is old and getting older. And I think, you know, getting some youth in there is definitely a good thing. I trust this staff to coach those guys up. So I liked it. And then I'm trying to remember who else they picked like later in the in the draft. But I think those two picks definitely sort of define their draft. And, you know, it's not like a flashy.

It wasn't a flashy class, but I think those two guys can contribute. And, you know, come in. Last year they drafted AJ up. And I said I think he could take a jump this season and be like a bigger contributor. So, yeah, it was solid, I would say. That was in some ways why I asked is because this was just something that I needed to sort of go back over and, and think about their offseason more holistically to realize. But one of the things that I think was,

they were so good last year, but one of the things that felt like it was always a little bit touch and go was the pass rush just because like one, Mario Addison, Jerry Hughes, both over 30. And it just seemed kind of like, okay,

beyond those guys, like who really is there. And it didn't hit me initially. But when I went back, that was one thing that I, really, really loved was that they kept adding there and that in combination with the possibility of more from like, I think AJ App andessa had one sack last year. So let's say that there's maybe more there. Who knows? But that was just something where I was like, oh, I don't know that

I kind of put together that this team that was already really good like genuinely could have gotten better in a way that could make them stronger even if Josh Allen doesn't play quite to the level that he did last year if there is some regression. Right. So I was curious. What our draft guru thought. I like both those guys a lot. Can I interrogate the Bills part a little bit more? What in your mind makes the Bills a top tier team

and the Packers with Aaron Rogers' second tier team? On we? Oh, that's a good question. Is it vibes? Is the answer vibes? No, well, not really. I trust the Bills defense, I think, more to start out. I trust.

That tracks. I don't know. I think that's the main thing. I think it's close, though. Like, you could throw the Packers in that top tier, and it wouldn't shock me. I think there is some uncertainty right now, whether Aaron Rogers will be back.

And that's also kind of contributing to this. If he's not there, obviously, they fall down about three tiers. So I don't think they're on the list. Yeah, exactly. They're off the list. So I don't know. I think those are the two things. Like, I just trust the Bill's defense.

It's been solid, like, for a couple years now, I'd say the coaching staff there, obviously. has a big focus on that. I love their offensive coordinator. I love that they were just like unabashedly pass heavy and just like, let's just flinging around. You know, I think all that stuff, you know, tracks. And I think the Packers had,

the Packers were one of those teams last year where it seemed like everything went right. And so you have to bake in a little bit like exactly like we were talking about that. You have to probably bake in a little regression from that offense. And I don't know, is the defense good enough to make up for that?

I'm not sure. Okay, I need to talk about the Saints here because the Saints are not on my list. Yeah, yeah. And the Saints were an early cut for me. And so you're off the Saints this year, huh? Well, it's interesting because the Saints are an example of a team that I think was always in the list in perpetuity since they got to a breeze. Okay. And this is why the list for me is shorter this year because you always have to put a team like the Saints on here who have an elite quarterback but had at times of the Sean Payton era.

holes in the roster, right? And maybe they were destined for 8 and 8,8, but if a couple things broke right and they had a good draft or whatever, they were destined for 13 and 3 or 14 and 2. Drew Breeze is the shortcut for a lot of things. And he could have, he erased a lot of things, and we saw that. Without Drew Breeze, I don't see a path. Help me out here.

Is this, is this Taysam Hill and James Winston? Yeah. I just, honestly, I'm not trying to be, I have an extremely open mind. I probably can't be talked into the Saints, but I at least like to hear the pathway if we're including them on teams like wins the Super Bowl. Yeah, yeah.

No, I get that. I guess my question would be like, my response to that would be, do you think the Saints were 12 and 4 last year because of Drew Breeze? That's a good point, but I feel like he could, he could have,

he could make some plays. He certainly was, he's very efficient. He has, like, he has been obviously throughout his whole career, but like last few years, you know,

his arm strength has fall off, completely and more of like a ball control dink and dunk offense where he's very efficient, but they're not getting explosive plays, things like that. I could see the same. I kind of just picture a similar offense this year is why I put them on my list. And, you know, not to say that Taysam Hill or James Winston is Drew Brees, even late in Drew Brees' his career. But I just, I guess I trust Peyton to manufacture a reasonably efficient ball control offense, play good defense. I love their secondary. You know, they got some good pass rushers and obviously this

Peyton Turner guy, if he comes correct and is really good as a rookie, that's going to help. I like his, I like his tools a lot. But yeah, they're a team to me that like, you know, if they went, what is it, eight, not eight and eight, nine and eight, nine, it wouldn't be like a huge shock, but also to me, if they win 11 games, it's not going to be a big shock. And I think, you know, they're the kind of play, they're the kind of team who, I don't think have changed all that much from last year.

I don't know. I guess maybe I'm just underrating what Breeze was late in his career. But I just didn't think that Breeze was the reason this team was good last year. I agree. But it's not like Breeze had was awful. It's not like Breeze was big. No, that's true. That's true.

December last year. He wasn't making terrible mistakes. Right. He was six. And obviously past rating is just a snap shot, but he was six in the NFL and pass the rating. And I don't put any stock in that except to say that there were, there was some baseline of performance there. This wasn't Peyton Manning 2015 or whatever.

The other question we should probably address is like who the starter's going to be. Right. I was hoping one of us would answer that instead of just. I think that I was hoping somebody other than me was going to answer that. We could bring Sean back. You mentioned like not making big mistakes. And obviously I guess that was like a allusion to Winston. James Winston. Come on down.

I think Winston's going to start the year and then get benched. And I think so. I think Tayson Hill is going to be the guy at least for a part of the season. He has to cut down on his on his fumbles. Obviously, that's another way of turning the ball over. Winston's a pick guy. He throws picks. But Taysam Hill has been a fumble machine too.

So I don't know. James occasionally fumbles as well. James. Okay, James is bold. Taysam Hill is less of a. James is good for the occasional fumble machine. I don't know. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm like completely overrating what they can do with either of these guys at quarterback. I'm starting to waver a little bit on my conviction, just talking it through.

Well, no, but I do think it's a, it's a really interesting kind of Roershack test for how you look at these teams. Because I think, and I like Kevin, tell us if you agree with this or not, the Saints have one of the, if you take quarterback out of it, definitely a top five roster. Yes. Well, top five, I don't know about top five. I haven't sat down with the rosters, but they have a great, great, great roster. And, you know,

we're going to get into this a little bit with the Browns a little bit later, but they also have a great roster. And they don't have an elite of the elite quarterback within the Super Bowl discussion because they have Baker Mayfield. And I don't think you need, there's a,

there's a wide variance between, you know, Drew Breeze and Taysam Hill. And you don't need to have Drew Breeze in order to be in the Super Bowl discussion. If you're in New Orleans, you just have to have a little more than Taysam Hill. Yeah.

I mean, what if Taysom Hill makes a little bit of a jump or James Winston starts turning into a guy that can just take care of the football? I don't know. I think that it's more if it's me, like every I think the conversation right now is like James Winston is the assumed starter. Everybody seems to be assuming that. I think that Saints beat reporters are saying that. I'm aware of that. But what I'm saying is that if it's James Winston, they're even more not in the conversation. And that's, I think that's kind of where I land too.

It's like, I think if James Winston is the starter, I'm less confident in this team than if Taysome Hill is started, which is kind of crazy to say. But like, I think that Taysam Hill is going to end up the starter because James Winston is just still going to be James Winston. I feel the opposite of that. But I'm happy for you guys. What have you seen out of James Winston? You're more confident in James. He can run. I think that if it's Tasem Hill, it is a move towards something that we haven't seen in the modern NFL.

and it's going to be a lot of trickeration and interesting kind of a, you know, we've always joked about how we've always thought that Belichick and Peyton were bored by the fact that they were two of the best quarterbacks of all time, right? And of course, it's a nice problem to have. But, and obviously when Bill Belichick had a guy he could scheme with and Kim Dune last year, it didn't work out all that well for a variety of reasons. But nice problem to have. But I feel like those guys such football dors that they would like to.

I mean, I remember years ago when Belichick was asked about Tebow when Tebow was playing for the Broncos, I think. And Belichick just went on and on about the single wing and just like how they're just running the single wing offense. It wasn't that he was wanted to run the single wing with Tom Brady or wanted to take Tom Brady off the field. It was just that I think that these guys have a deep reservoir of football knowledge. And there's something that and I think that they can do a lot of different things in the field. And so I think that if it's Tayson Hill, and again, I'm with you, Danny, and the tea leaves seem to be saying James Winston.

If it's Taysam Hill, I feel like there are more options there for what the Sands could look like. I just don't, until I see evidence that James Winston can take care of the football, I'm going to assume he's the same James Winston we've seen time and time again. Okay. What about evidence that Taysam Hill is a legitimate NFL quarterback? I would like to see some evidence of that. They're not on my list regardless. They're not on my list regardless.

I'm just talking about different variants. There is not a scenario for me in short of signing a different quarterback in which the Saints would be on my list. No, not. And I'm someone who I said the Saints on my list all the time. I am a Saints backer. I love Sean Payton. I love that roster. I just think until I know exactly what I'm going to get out of the quarterback position,

I cannot have the Saints in my list for 2021. I think that I all 22, I have full faith in Sean Payton. I'm just saying we just got done with one of the best runs in offensive football history and if the Saints take a step back, that's okay. Not everyone's going to have to be perfect. All right, let's, let's, I want to ask real quick, Danny, because I thought I was interested in you put the Rams on tier three

with the Niners Seahawks and Saints. And I actually have the Rams as as a little higher, almost on that, that second tier for you. Is there a reason that you dinged the Rams a little bit when I actually think that they actually deserve to get a little more credit? I mean, don't get me wrong. I think the Rams are going to be, like, as a Seahawks fan in the NOS, I think they're going to be a scary team, especially if Stafford proves to be like demonstrably

better than Jared Goff, which I think the odds are very, very strong that he will. However, there's just a lot of moving parts. I think the thing that's holding me back from like putting them in the same tier as these other teams is there's just a lot of moving parts. you know, their new defensive coordinator, Rhea Morris. New often, wait, I guess McVeigh still around. That doesn't matter. But like, I don't know.

I just think like things are changing new quarterback, new defensive coordinator. McVeigh is a full-time podcast host on the regular NFL show. Yeah. Is that going to be a big distraction? I don't know. No, I think I, to me, like the biggest thing is just the, the changes, especially on defense, like how they're going to adapt to that if it's going to matter. I think that's one thing.

then like obviously you're throwing in a new, you're throwing in a new quarterback into the scheme. Will it take him a while to learn that scheme? Or will he hit the ground running? I don't even think I don't, like I don't feel that I'm low on the Rams. I guess I probably should have put them in tier two. But,

um, you know, I just think like the moving parts thing is what kind of like killed me back there. Nora Rams. What do you know, let's just take the NFC West as one kind of blanket thing here. and workshop this out because I have the Rams a cut above the other teams, but I also, I think very highly of all of these teams.

Where are you in this norm? I also have the Rams as the top team. However, I don't know that I would say that they're automatically a cut above the Seahawks. I just have a lot of faith in Russell Wilson. The Seahawk, do you have the Seahawks above the Niners? Yeah. When we're talking about who can win the Super Bowl, yes. Okay.

Is that because of this quarterback position? Yeah. Danny, you have them in the same group. What would do if you were, if you had to bet money, would you bet more money on the Niners at the Seahawks win the Super Bowl? Odds of the same in this hypothetical scenario. Ooh, that's a good question. Probably honestly the Seahawks just because I don't know what the quarterback situation is with the 49ers. I think the 49ers are going to be really good defensively.

And I think their offenses is going to get scary when when Trey Lance kind of, kind of, comes on to comes on but like it could take a minute so i i'm not really that i guess that is creating enough uncertainty in my mind i think the seahawks you know they're just like 10 11 wins every season it's like you can just bank it and so um there's some stuff that has to go right and that's why i put them in the if a bunch of shit goes right if if if you know their offense looks more like it did in the first half of last year which i think it's gonna i don't think it's going to look as crappy as it did in the second half of the season. I just don't think, I think that was the outlier really for, you know, the Russell Wilson era. And so I think they're

going to get back to being, you know, more explosive offense and doing their thing there. I think they could improve on defense. And I just think they're solid, like, they're always just a solid team who could, who could be. But I think the 49ers have more variation. Like, there's more variance there in terms of what they could do. I'm sorry. I just, I think the 49ers highest ceiling is with Trey Lance. Trey Lance was born in the year 2000. Like, he's just not allowed

to win the Super Bowl this year. I've just decided it's not allowed. What was your favorite memory of 2000? My memory of the year 2000. We had a big bubble, like orange bubble computer. And I think sometimes

my dad would let me play neopets on it. Oh. I think that's what I remember. I'm being here in 2000. My memory comes in right around 2001-ish

is like when I start to become truly sent to. When you start to have memories? No, no, no. I have earlier memories than that. Like, I have memories from when I was two years old. But that's where I'm like,

okay, I generally kind of know what my days were like. Everything before that is like I have vignettes. That's funny. Like my first real sports memory was the 2003 ALCS. when the Red Sox lost. I thought somebody like might have died.

I was like, whoa, people care about this stuff a lot. Yikes. I turn out to be true, including people on the Nantucket bus. True. It turned out to be true.

Yeah. But yeah, no, that I feel the same way about the 49ers that you do about the Saints in some ways, Kevin, where it's like,

20, 22, let's freaking book it. Like, awesome. I just, I'm a little, like,

I really like Tray Lance, but he's a shot. All right, Danny, I need your help on this. So Nora, you did not have the... So of the tier four teams, so Danny has the Colts, the Cowboys, the Broncos, the Chargers, the Steelers, the Patriots. Nora, the only team you had...

And Dolphins. Okay, good. I'm glad you had the Dolphins, because I do not have the dolphins. The only team you had of those, Nora, is the Cowboys, correct? Mm-hmm. Okay, so I had the Cowboys and the Chargers of that group. And again, I haven't even done my list yet. So let's interrogate this. bit. So, Nora, why did you not have the Colts? Because I bet we have the same reason.

The quarterback? Yep. Okay. Good. Good. On the same page. Danny. Is this, is this that everything breaks right? Carson Wentz? Yes. He's on the same page with Frank Reich and then he takes advantage. Because I think we're all in agreement here. The Colts have a great roster. The Colts are one of the best run organizations in the sport. There are individual blue chip players there that I love who are good enough to win a Super Bowl. I just have to see what this quarterback thing looks like because Carson Wentz was extremely bad. I think it takes a handful of logic leaps here to see the Colts as a Super Bowl team. I do think there's a, there's a chance. You could have several things break, right? Like we said, Carson Wentz has to make a big improvement from what he's done

over the last few years. He has to say healthy. Like, who's their backup quarterback? Jacob Isson. Jacobison. Yeah. And Sam Ellinger. Yeah. So, like, There's the quarterback situation is by far like the biggest question mark for them. If if Wence plays well and kind of turns into what everyone thought he would be earlier in his career under Frank Reich, then that's great. And then I think this team could compete. But they also, I think, need big jumps from like Michael Pittman. They need Paris Campbell to stay healthy. They need a few different things.

Like they have a great offensive line, but there's just big question marks on offense, including the left tackle spot, by the way, which is still kind of, you know, in flux. Eric Fisher has to get healthy, all that stuff. I think defensively they're a solid, solid unit. I don't know if they got a lot better this off season. I'm still kind of curious, you know, where they're going to get their pass rush from the edge. So I think there's just... But they were good. They were seventh and DVOA on defense last year.

Yes, very, very, like, talented group. And so I guess, like, my question is, you know, did they do enough over the off season to, like, turn into a Super Bowl team? I don't know. It's questionable to me. And obviously, quarterback is a big one. Can I ask you a sort of unfair apples and oranges question that directly puts you on this body? Please.

Please. Nor, that is what the engine that drives his entire show is unfair apples and orange's question. Let's do this. Which who, who, uh, who takes a greater stride if they reimagine slightly their relationship with taking unnecessary sacks? Russell Wilson or Carson once. Wait, so what's the question? Who makes a bigger jump? Yeah.

like for which player does it make more of a difference if they occasionally stop like sprinting around back there like maniacs? That's a great question. I think Wilson's floor is so much higher that I would, I guess I would lean Carson Wentz. It's going to be more impactful if he could stop doing that. But I also think if Wilson could cut down on sacks, he'd be like God mode. You'd be like Patrick Mahomes. So that's like the one thing holding him back. It's kind of hard to answer that.

doesn't it do you think that because I think Wilson has indicated um and I forget where but I think he did a couple interviews in the last month or so uh where he said a couple things along the lines of like I get that I'm part of that I get that I'm part of the sack numbers I'm upset with how many sacks I've taken over the last few years but like I understand that I am in some ways a part of that what is that do you hear that and go like few as a Seahawks fan or are you like I'll believe it when I see it? No, I think that is, it's, it's definitely somewhat, I guess, like, relieving because, you know, earlier in the offseason, he got, he, he would, I don't know if he took a dig. Like, people, people kind of interpret it like he was taking a dig at the offensive line by saying, you know, he wanted to get sack less and all that and like, wants the Seahawks to invest in the offensive line, all that stuff.

But, you know, I don't know if they're going to need to, like, do a code red on him in the, in the locker room or whatever. this offensive line come in and like set him straight. But I do think, you know, it's certainly showing awareness that he realizes, you know, he needs to get the ball out faster. And I think that's a big focus this year. It's been a focus multiple years and it hasn't really happened consistently for him. So I think, you know, if he did do that and if he could start to cut down on that sack rate, you know, even like marginally, I think it would be really impactful for the Seahawks.

So it's definitely a good thing that he has that in mind. he's not completely oblivious to it. Okay. One more. One more apples and oranges question about the Seahawks. Yeah. Russell Wilson takes fewer sacks or general good vibes, which is more critical for the 2021 Seahawks success.

General good vibes? This is just like a ridiculous way of me asking you to do like a Seahawks vibe check. Like how many big tops are we at? We're, you know, it's over the off season, it's varied between like three and four. You know, there was earlier in the off season, we had, like, Richard Sherman kind of like doing like the, the eyes thing on Twitter. Like, Doug Baldwin's weighing in. Like, you got, like, all the, all the Russell Wilson haters, like, showing up on Twitter. So the vibes weren't great then.

If they got Julio vibes through the roof, it's going to be awesome. And I think that's going to be, like, an exciting thing. Right now, it seems like the Seahaw are the favorite for Julio Jones, which is kind of insane to think about. And obviously, we're, we're taping this on too. Tuesday, so I don't know if anything has happened by the time you're listening to this, but that would be big for the vibes. But it also would make, it also probably would up the big top rating for the Seax just because they traded another early round pick up a guy with a massive contract who's aging and all

that. It's like Jimmy Graham all over again. So I don't know. Sorry. Sorry. This is not what you meant. I just want for the record, Julio's contract is not massive. Okay.

He's Holyo Jones. He's still really good. It kind of is. It's not that massive. It kind of is. It's like, what is? It's like $11 million a year. Can we bring back Richard Sherman to Seattle?

Or is that ship sailed? No. I think right. I think people want Sherman to come back. If Sherman comes back. Yeah. So like there's this famous thing. I think Seth Wickersham wrote this a couple of years ago,

how Shervin like told Russell Wilson he sucked at practice. I want that energy back on the Seahawks. I want like, I want like the rest of the rest of the rest of the rest of, like people need to like be fighting at practice and things like that. So I don't know. That's like when the CX were the best is they had like that that sort of mentality. Well, that's the thing is that like I think the Browns are good now because they're boring.

I don't think the Seahawks can ever be good and boring at the same time. Oh my God. That's so true. That's so true. It depends what our definition of boring is because I feel like if there was just a little better play calling in certain years, the Seahawks would have been better when they were boring. I don't know. That sucks.

That sucks to think about. I just a little bit better play calling. Oh, my God. I win. I love the Seahawks so much. Okay. All right. So let's go through the rest of your list here, Danny, because obviously I think we're all

in agreement on the Cowboys. Yeah. I'm having a tough time with the Broncos and Steelers and the Patriots. I know. Because of uncertainty of quarterback. Nora has the Steelers finishing last in the AFC North. She's just over it. So we don't need to get.

I think it's interesting. I think the Steelers are an interesting one. Expand on that. Expound. So they won, what, 12 games last year? Obviously, it was like, they did. The tale of two seasons, essentially, a tail of two halves or whatever. But, I mean, they still have a talented team.

They still have a talented defense. They have a very talented offense. Big Ben is a big question mark. But I don't know. I don't see them being one of the worst teams. I think it's in the realm of possibilities that they, like, suck or whatever. but I think it's much more likely that they're going to be really like a solid team. I don't know.

I don't know. I think they're going to like seven, seven and ten, whatever you want to call it. Really? Eight and nine. Don't make me, don't make me like a, a Steelers defender. Come on. Listen, I'm not the one to put them on the list. Can I read a Ben Rathlisberger quote from an hour ago?

This is via Brooke Pryor of PSPN. It relates to his deep ball. He says, you know, I had total reconstruction on my elbow that might have some thing to do with it, but no excuses. He also sarcastically, he also sarcastically said that the offense was going to be, was going to revolutionize things this year. And everyone knew it was sarcasm, which is, I don't know about that one. You'll see nothing that you've seen in the past.

I, once, you know, once you're in that zone. All right, uh, the Patriots. Is this just a Belichick thing for you? Yeah, it's a defense defense, defense and Belichick. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's like the main thing, you know, cam stay healthy. I think in this, in this, like, in my vision of like, if you squint really hard and see it,

like, Cam stays healthy. They do like what they were doing early on last season with him. Obviously, a lot of stuff has to go right. But like defensively, I think they're going to be really like solid. I think they're going to run the hell out of the football, do that like zig while everyone else dags type of deal. And I think that could get them into the playoffs. And then, you know, who knows? I don't have a lot of confidence.

that they're going to be like really good. But I do think they have a solid floor. It's like they're in the same boat as the Steelers. I think the Steelers, you're not going to see like super explosiveness or whatever from Rathesburg or offense, but there's so much talent on that offense. For the Patriots,

there's so much talent on defense. I think it'll give them, you know, that ability to kind of like stay in games, you know, all that stuff. Okay. So the dolphins are the last one.

Yeah. What kind of jump does it require from Tua for this to happen? It requires a pretty big job. Do you think the roster Do you think the roster is so good that the jump doesn't even need to be as big as maybe Nora and I think? Because they're not on my list. I'm baking in a pretty big jump from Tua. And I believe he has it in him.

I think that so much was. Like what does it need to be the eighth best quarterback in football this year? No, I think like I'm talking like a like an, you know, mid level like in somewhere in the middle of the group, I guess. So my point here is if Tua is the 14th best quarterback in football, they can win the Super Bowl. in your opinion? Because you think the roster is that good? I think the roster, I think the roster is pretty solid. I mean, this team won 10 games last year.

I love this team. I know that the quarterback play was up and down. And obviously, they switched back between Tua and Fitzpatrick. But I mean, this team won 10 games really well coached. I think they're defensively, they're going to be solid. I think there's a lot of really exciting young talent on this roster. I think their offense is going to be significantly better because I think they dramatically, well, maybe not dramatically, but they

definitely improve the past catching core, Will Fuller, I think he's going to be solid for them. Jalen Waddle, super exciting. You know, getting a guy like Preston Williams healthy might help the depth there. I think Devante Parker is still Devante Parker. I think, like overall, offensively,

they're just going to be much more, I think, explosive and harder to defend. I think, too, is going to, you know, again, like, we've gone over this ad nauseum, but, like, Tua came into a tough situation where he's coming back from a, hip injury. He didn't get to work out much in the offseason. You know, I'm guessing he wasn't fully healthy. The offensive skill group was like awful throughout most of the season with injuries and all

that. So I think they're a team. Like again, you have to kind of like have a lot of stuff go right. And you have to squint really hard to see it. But I think this team can make a big jump on offense. And I think they could be, you know, 10, 11, 12 win team. They were 10 win team last year. Tua also said last week to the Miami Herald that he didn't really know the playbook and that he wasn't comfortable running the offense. Or changing plays and that kind of stuff. And what I don't know is that I think, Nora,

it's interesting, you brought that up because I was going to jump off there because sometimes we, we confuse accountability for excuse making. And this might just be Tua just saying like, you know, like this happened after Mahomes won the Super Bowl, he went on the shop and was like,

you know, I didn't know how to read defenses last year. Right. And it's like, well, I think he did know how to it. You know what I'm saying? It's just like,

it's just an extra lay. of accountability. Maybe Mahomes wasn't where he needed to be. And he said, okay, you know, hey, I'd like to get better at reading defenses and then it becomes, oh, he didn't know how to read defenses at all. Right. And, and with Tua here, it's possible that he just wanted to improve on that. I think there's a big, I don't know Tua well enough. We don't know what he meant enough to where I'm not reading in anything to those comments because that could just be him saying, I need to get better at that stuff. I need to become a master of the audible or I need to become a master of playbook and not like I'll actually left my playbook in a in a quarter by my area.

I never actually looked at it. You know, there's a big, there's so much gray area there. And it wasn't the easiest on ramp, right? Going back and forth and with bits there, that was a tough situation. What he actually said was, I think the guys that were here last year were phenomenal. I just didn't have the comfortability of checking plays, alerting plays and doing that. I just rode with the play. Even if I knew it wasn't going to work, I was going to try to make it work still.

It didn't actually know the playbook necessarily really, really good. that's no one else's fault, but my fault. Our play calls were simple when I was in. I didn't have alerts and checks where now I feel comfortable and I can maneuver my way through these things now. If that's true, commend you to her for being honest. You know, like it's, it's in some ways a tough thing to admit, but that's, it's hard to be a rookie quarterback.

Like this is, this has come up multiple times. It's really, really, really hard. And particularly when you don't have the scaffolding of a full off season and, you know, a backup quarterback who's a. backup quarterback. Like Ryan Fitzpatrick in that situation, I'm sure they like each other a lot, but like that's the angel of death, right? Like that's tough. That's like you're going to lose some games because this guy's going to play. Yeah. You're going to lose some starts. It's just tough for me to know how much wish put into those comments. Also, you just hear there's so many stories

like, you know, pre-cancled Brett Farve didn't know what a nickel defense was. Like that's like a famous thing. It's like they'd always be like they're a nickel and Brett would be like, what's that? What's that? And yeah, and so I just don't, sometimes with these things. I've heard nothing since pre-canceled Brett.

Yeah. He wasn't canceled back then. He was not canceled when he didn't know what a nickel defense was. That's fair. That's a fair point. Listen, I love the Dolphins. I want to add one thing on two.

I think he might, he may, he may end up regretting even saying anything, but I don't think his, I'm on, I'm on the side where he's probably not all that different from most rookie quarterbacks where. Yes.

And even like some veteran quarterbacks who come into a system year one and you know, you know the playbook. You know the plays. It's not like you don't know the names of the plays or whatever. But having it down. Like I'm picturing, you know, Matt Ryan, year one with Kyle Shanahan versus Matt Ryan, year two with Kyle Shanahan where you know the offense, you know the playbook, blah, blah, blah. And then you really know it. And you know exactly what to check to based on a certain alignment, based on like this guy's creeping up. from the side. Like, I'm going to change it to this thing. Like, that level of, of knowledge is,

I think what he's talking about probably more than just like, oh, I didn't read the playbook. I wasn't studying. Like, I think he'll regret saying it, but I think that's more what he meant. I honestly think he'll be fine because he had the benefit of saying it like over Memorial Day weekend and nobody cares. But he news he news dumps not knowing the playbook. Yeah. Right. If Tua, like if we take everything that he said here just to actually face value, what he's talking about is, is like pertains to situations where things are flying at him in split seconds, right? It's, it's not about a basic academic familiarity with what they're trying to do.

I'm sure Tua has got that down pretty, pretty pat. It's really hard for rookie quarterbacks to get up to speed so that, I mean, I really think that's why it matters more in the playoffs. It's because when your, your brain is stressed out by the situation, it adds an extra element. And this stuff is happening so rapidly on the field, it's really, really, really hard

when you haven't had the repetition of multiple years with coaches or multiple years in a system to just get used to it and not have to truly like process everything, to have some of the processing just happen automatically. Like, if what he's saying is on the field when things are happening really fast and he's not quite there,

I think that's kind of a big whoop. Yeah. It's, I think that there's a lot of rookies in general who don't know what they don't know until they get to kind of the middle of their first season. It's some positions where it's easier than others. But I don't, I, again, this could end up being a big deal. This could end up not being a big deal.

I don't know. I'm being completely agnostic about Tua's comments until I see, A, whether or not he knows the playbook in 2021. And B, I just don't know, I've never met Tua. You know, because of COVID, none of us were able to go down. there last year. I know that locker room pretty well because I was down there a handful of times before that, but I don't really know a lot about it. So I'm just taking a wait and see your approach

with those particular comments. But I'm also taking wait and see approach with that roster because as much as I love the process in the building and all that stuff, I just feel like Tua is actually going to have to be a little better than middle of the pack for them to win the Super Bowl this year, this year. I think that the future is bright there, but they're not on my list because of that reason. All right. Let's do my list real quick. We're not even going to we're not even going to entertain the Broncos. Is that an Aaron

Rogers pick? Or is that a Drew Locke explodes pick? No, that's more like a defense is really solid and good and Bridgewater doesn't turn the ball over. Pick. I'm being generous with these. You got to squint really hard, as I said.

But I think you can see it. Like, if the defense balls out, sure. I guess, but I just don't understand in the AFC how that gets them above the Chiefs. Someone else is going to like have to miraculously knock the Chiefs off, I think. But yeah, it's like I'm with you if it were

win 10 games. Yeah. Maybe that's like the distinction is like. Danny's exercise is how many teams could win 10 games go 10 and 7. Really exciting premise. There are, I feel like especially now that there's only

you know, two buys or whatever, two teams that get buys in the playoffs. Like, I just, I sort of feel like it's more anything can happen in the playoffs now going forward. Like, I don't know. Get to the playoffs and then see what happens is sort of how I approach this exercise. Survive in advance. It's a new March Madness.

Just get in. Just get in. Yeah. All right. Here's my list. We'll start with the AFC. The Buffalo Bills. I'm just going to the divisions here.

I'm not doing a power rankings like Nora. The Buffalo Bills. Didn't do power ranking. The Baltimore Ravens. the Cleveland Browns, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Buccaneers, and every NFC West team. Even the Cardinals.

Even the Cardinals. I look at this. I look at this from a what has to go right situation. And when a team doesn't have the capability to have an explosion of quarterback, there are so many other different things that have to go right. If Kyler takes the jump that we think that he's capable of taking at some point in his career, then yes, they need to be on this list. And that's why you have them here on it as an insurance policy.

They're the last team on my list, probably the Chargers and the Cardinals being grouped together there right at the bottom, but are almost an honorable mention territory. But if only one thing has to go right for you, you need to be on this list. And that's it for me. I was reading a really good piece on PFF this week or last week about how Kyler actually, you know, there was a lot of interceptions of the middle of the field that probably has something to do with height, even though he has, he's been obviously one of the most dynamic passes in football, but the data kind of points to a cluster of interception in the middle of the field and made the point that maybe being 510 contributes that a little bit.

But I saw parts last year. I don't think Cliff Kingsbury is a long-term coach there. I think that roster still has real holes. But when I look at what can go right there, I can see a scenario in which there's a path to Searoles in LA this year? Yes. A path to Los Angeles.

That's it for me. I don't want to spend too much time on that because I don't, this is not some hugely held conviction for me. They're kind of incidentally on my list when I was thinking about the paths. But that's it. So we all, Nor, you did not have. the Chargers? No.

Take us through this. I just don't want to spook them. You don't want to scare them. You don't want to, okay. It's like not talking during a no-hires. So this is like reverse jinxing them in? Yeah, okay. I'm reverse jynxing the Chargers.

That's it. I don't want to talk about it. I get so nervous about them. I honestly think that a first-year head coach on the defensive side of the ball coming into a franchise that has historically had some some sufferings there. I actually, that's a pretty big hill to climb in the first year. And I actually don't have that high of expectations for the Chargers. I just know if if history is any guide, the biggest jump for any quarterback is from year one to year two. And if Justin Herbert

has that and they've shorted up the offensive line, they have talent everywhere. We've known that for a number of years. If they have the jump and they have health, they are a legitimate contender. Are they better than the chiefs? No, because unfortunately, the entire problem with this exercise, especially in the AFC, is that the chiefs retooled their one weakness in February, which is their offensive line. And they might have one of the best going into the season in the conference. And that's why when you say, okay, we all have the Browns analysts. And when you say the Browns win the Super Bowl, that suggests, even though we all love

the roster, that suggests something happened to the Chiefs, whether that was health, whether that was just awful luck. Something happened there, right? And if it's not the chiefs, it's the bills. And when there's a top heavy conference like that, we're just sort of going and then the Ravens, obviously. You know, we can go through the pecking order here. But I think with a little bit of luck, the Chargers could absolutely be in that conversation. Luck and Chargers. Come on.

Well, maybe Brandon Steele is a culture changer. Maybe. Guys, stop jinxing it. Maybe he's a culture changer. All right. I want to talk about the Browns real quick. I feel like there's something here where we've gone from the Browns being historic joke for over two decades since they became into the NFL, since they came into the NFL again, to they're all on our list for teams that can win the Super Bowl. And we're just not even talking about it.

We're all just like, oh, yeah, obviously. Like the fact that Kevin Stefanski's changed the culture and Andrew Barry have changed a culture in essentially one. year in the hardest year to ever do it in COVID times to do anything is pretty remarkable. But I want to stay on them here for one second. And I'll add in the Ravens here as a secondary team here. Nora, in order for the Browns to win the Super Bowl, what has to happen? Like what happens that has to happen with Baker? I just, just walk me through.

I think Baker just needs to be a little bit more. He needs to create a few more plays. there need to be a few more explosive plays that you can assign to the quarterback. He needs to play like he played the second half of last season, essentially. O'Don needs to help. Yeah.

But I don't think that he needs to help a lot. You know? He's got to be a value ad. Because Baker Mayfield, and we talked about this on, I think the last episode that we did at some point recently, Baker Mayfield in the second half of last season

was one of the best quarterbacks in football. And yes, there are always going to be things that are impossible to divorce from scheme and the supporting cast because that's how football works and that's how quarterbacking works. But he was one of the best quarterbacks in football for not a couple

games at the end of last season, like from week seven onward, basically. And if that extrapolates over, if that version is the version that plays the majority of the what year is it, 2021 season? Yeah.

Who's to say? Troy Lynch was born in the year 2000. If that's the version of Baker Mayfield that they get, that roster is incredibly complete. And I think they are obvious Super Bowl contenders,

if that happens. Can they be like a playoff team if Baker isn't that good? Are they that good of a roster? Can they be a playoff team? Yeah. Sure, sure. Can I ask you a question, guys?

Can I ask both of you guys a question? If the chiefs are the chiefs, and we know what the chiefs look like. Is there any chance that the Browns could beat them in a playoff game? How windy is it? Weather might be a factor. Okay.

If they're playing on like a neutral site or something, I don't know. Tough to see. But like, yeah, like the Browns are going to play in the Alamo dome? What, what is this neutral site? Let's not even, probably play in Kansas City in January.

Let's not imagine the scenarios that would be required for that to happen after this last season. But yeah, no, I don't know. I think the Browns have a very, very solid roster. Are they good enough to stop the chiefs from what they do typically, which is just score crazy amounts of points and like out like outpass everybody? I don't know. I doubt it.

It's kind of, this is a cloud hangover for this exercise, which is we kind of know the four teams that are probably going to be in the Super Bowl. Anyway. But if you play the, if you play the game 10 times, Does Kansas City win seven of them? Yeah. But is there a game where the Browns get three

turnovers and are really stable and efficient? Also, yes. Nora, we've gotten, we're an hour, one hour and 11 minutes in, and Nora's giving the Herb Brooks speech from Miracle for the Browns for a January playoff game. All right.

We just didn't give enough talk about the, first of all, we're not ever going. going to address the fact that the defending champions can win the Super Bowl next year. We're all set there. Although I, you know, I'm sure there's some crazy argument that they can't, but we're not going to make it here. The Ravens. I kind of feel like we've forgotten them a little bit. Danny, if you had to bet a significant amount of money on either the Ravens or the Browns to win the Super Bowl, and you had to pick one, who are you picking? I think I'm picking the Ravens.

I think that Lamar Jackson is getting underrated again because he was slightly worse than he was in his MVP season, obviously. I think that he'll have the opportunity to positively regress, kind of get back closer to what he was in 2019. Progress. Progress. Positively regress. It's a thing. It's a fantasy thing. Anyway, yeah, I think, you know, they have a good defense, as always.

I think their pass rush is a bit of a question mark. obviously, but I think with the additions that they've made in the passing game, hopefully that will help Lamar Jackson become a little bit more efficient as a passer, especially down the field. I think they still have, you know, the most dangerous running game in the NFL. Lamar Jackson changes the way that teams have to defend them. Obviously, all that stuff's pretty known. But I don't know.

I just feel like everyone's kind of forgetting about Lamar Jackson a little bit, or not forgetting about him, but underrating him. And I think he's going to bounce back strong this year and remind everyone why he was, the MVP two years ago. Nora, same question. I would take the Browns. I think they're more complete. I think that, again, I just put a lot of stock in how Baker played towards the end of the season.

I think the infrastructure there is just really impressive. And it's unbelievable that we're saying this about the Browns, but I really trust them. The thing that I do love about the Ravens, though, they've done this for years. Every year when you just go, okay, what is the sort of number one question? about the Ravens roster or what do they need? What do they not have? How are teams beating them? You can kind of say what it is.

Like you know. And then they just go do a thing that makes sense to fix it. And it's like, it's so satisfying. It just makes me love them. But that really happened this year, right? Where, okay, they enter the offseason. The number one question is what are they going to do to improve the receiving core? Sammy Watkins, Rashad Bateman.

I like it. It gives you something you didn't have. before. Are either one of those guys going to be the number one receiver in the NFL? Like, no, but or probably not. But it solves the question that people had, which is what you're supposed to do in the offseason. Supposed to exit off seasons with less questions about your roster. Entered them. And like, check flying collars, Baltimore Ravens very happy for you. I just really, this is not a knock on the Ravens. And I feel the same way about Lamar. I, just, I really like the Browns.

Okay. You love the Browns. You hate this to yours. In the middle of that, she snuck in. She really trusts the Browns. I'm ready to get her again. She trusts the Browns. Whenever you say something that, um, like positively regress and somebody doesn't know what you're saying, do you just say, oh, it's a fantasy thing? It's a thing. Don't worry about it. Do you say that whenever you just say words, don't aren't a thing. You're just like, like completely not related to football. It's a thing. It's a thing. in my head.

Oh, it's like, it's big in fantasy. You wouldn't, you wouldn't heard of it. It's very niche. Don't worry about it. All right, guys. What an exercise. I can't wait for the Raiders to win the Super Bowl. Washington.

WFT. Yeah. Atlanta Falcons, 2021. Is there a fan base that's going to get mad that we didn't mention them at all? The Steelers. I mean, we mentioned that. We extremely mentioned the Steelers. I'm trying to think Washington is a good shout, Danny.

Carolina is not going to do it. Minnesota? I don't think. I thought about the Vikings as a fan base, Mike Gimad. The Giants of the Eagles, I don't think, there's definitely not the Eagles.

The Eagles, nobody hates their team more of the Eagles right now. The Eagles fans will get mad at us for not creating time to trash the Eagles. I could actually see some Bears fans getting upset because of Justin Fields pops. Did we talk about the Titans?

Not at all. Titans are going to be. Titans fans are going to be livid. They probably should be somewhere on this list. Livid. I don't know. Upset. I don't know that I've ever interacted with a livid Titans fan.

That's true. They'll be mildly upset. Nashville's so nice. Yeah. I like Titans fans. I'm trying to think. I think they're a good fan base. I would like to be like Nashville's a great place.

It's one of those places obviously has gotten a little too expensive. Like it's one of the things that was like the Austin of the Southeast where it was just like, everyone's like, oh, this is cheap and nice. And then everybody moved there and it stopped being cheap. So anyway, is that pro Nashville? So are the Titan, is there any world in which the Titans could win? Super Bowl. Yeah, I mean, I think that this is a, you're paying a tax for losing Arthur Smith.

I like the roster. I love the roster. I just don't think that they're up to the standards. I mean, you had a much, I think, Danny, if anybody, if the Titans fans are going to come for anybody, it's going to be you. Because you listed 17 teams. whereas Nora and I were much, had much higher standards.

They were like the last, they were the next team. The idea, I do think it's, I'm going to put my, my Titans hat on here and say that the idea that you had the Broncos on your list and not the Titans

is offensive to me as as a Titans fan for the last 15 seconds. I think that's fair. It's very fair. They're one of those teams that's like really good. They're one of the teams, I think that's really good, but like got pretty like obviously worse.

this soft season. I don't know. Like, maybe that's the only reason. I agree. They're probably better than like four or five of the teams I have on here.

I think that they're probably better than the Patriots. Yeah. However, all those, I feel like all those other teams, you know, maybe the Steelers,

save for the Steelers, but like I feel like all the other teams have this path to getting like markedly better. Whereas I think the Titans, we kind of saw them at their peak last year. I don't know. That could just meet.

That could be total BS, but that's just kind of how I feel. I do think they are better than probably five or six of the teams I listed here. However, that I guess the ceiling floor thing is kind of what came into it. Does that make sense? Interesting. Oh, no, it makes sense. I'm just saying at Danny B. Kelly on Twitter is the handle. Thanks.

Thank you. For all you, Titans fans. Okay, guys, time to get to DK Metcalf. Danny, excited for that? Oh, yeah. Can't wait. All right, join now by Seattle Seahawks, Star Receiver, DK. Metcalfe, he's here, Matt Gatorade.

We'll get to that. D.K., first of all, thank you for joining us. So it's the middle of summer, 100 days till kickoff. Take us through what you're working on right now as far as your game, just in the middle of your office and sort of take us through what an NFL player does at this time of year. Well, at the first beginning of my all season, I was working on my speed. Yeah.

You know, just trying to get faster and mechanically, just my running. but now I'm transitioning in the football, so I'm working on getting in and out of breaks and catching the ball. Did the track help with your football, or was that a specific that was just you trying to get ready for the track, or was there some overlap there? No, it's definitely some overlap there. You know, with my running mechanics on the field, it just translates from the track to the football field. Interesting. With your track experiment, and, you know, Pete Carroll came out and said this week that he loved it and all that stuff, and I think a lot of people thought it was admirable.

What went into the thought process there? I know you wanted to try it. Is that just a philosophy that you have where you just want to try a bunch of different stuff and see what sticks? What went into that, DK? Well, after the Budapaker chased down, they added me on Twitter.

So I was like, all right, I'll come out there and run at one of your trial meeting. Sure enough, I mean, I didn't back down from a challenge. And from the moment that they added me on Twitter, I had my mind made up that I was going to do it. Is there anything out there in that vein that you would want to try that you have in athletic competition and experience? Is there something where you're saying,

okay, I actually want to do this next, maybe next offseason? I'm a very spontaneous person, so you have talked to me probably midway through the NFL season. That's a great philosophy to have. I want to talk about the NFC West and kind of the arms race that's going on there because, you know, obviously, Trey Lanska's the San Francisco. Francisco, Matt Stafford goes to LA. It's just a really interesting division right now.

How much do you keep up with that and how much you keep an eye on what that jockeying looks like in the offseason? Of course, I keep an eye on it because, you know, we got to play them twice a year. I think we have the best division in all of sports right now from, you know, offense to defense to competition to however many dogs are on the field at one time. Like, I think it's going to be, you know, very fun this year, you know, going against every team in our division. It's going to be a dog fight every week. So just very excited and looking forward to it. I want to go back just quickly because Kevin mentioned the Budabaker

Chase down. Did you have a favorite meme or like joke that people make? Because that was just like, I'll never get over that. And there must have been, I don't know how much you see of all of that stuff. But there were some really, really, really good ones. Was there anything, any joke people made after that where you were like, all right, that's pretty solid? I see a lot of. I see a lot of of them, but my favorite ones were during the presidential election. I don't remember Stephen, though. I think those are the best ones. That's a really good answer.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I forgot about that. That was awesome. Like, everybody's watching, like, CNN late at night and somebody tweets one. It's like, oh, yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, yeah, it was real funny. You know, back to kind of your offseason of what you work on. You know, obviously two years ago, there were so many questions about, you know,

It was the big thing was about your route running, and that's why you slipped. If you were now looking back on the draft process, we decided a couple weeks ago, and there's still folks going through that process now where they get criticized for things that don't really matter or aren't exactly accurate. Looking back on it now, having established yourself in the NFL, if there's one thing you could change about the draft process or how teams view prospects, what would it be, D.K.? Well, thinking that this is the first time I've been asked that question in my entire life, I have no answer for you. I'm going to stay in my lane as a draft prospect and let, you know, the GMs and the NFL handle, you know, how they run, you know, the draft. But, I mean, I just, I just, you know, it was in the moment.

And I just, you know, took every moment as it is. And, you know, I heard all the slander to, you know, my game. And I couldn't do this. And I couldn't do that. And I just used it as feel. So, you know, I think it made it made the beast that I am today, the whole draft process. So, you know, to the next. you know, superstar that's Horizon that's getting their name slanted right now.

Use it as fuel. And I know it's going to lead to a great career down there. I'm just happy I asked a question you never heard before. That's a hard thing. Okay. And we're clearly excited to have you here because I think we have a lot of questions where we're just saying like, D.K., we're empowering you. You can do whatever you want.

You are the overseer and the czar of whatever. What would you do? because the next one I have for you is, I think we've been talking a lot or people have been talking a lot about sort of the off season. And, you know, some of that is is whether players are going to report to voluntary workouts or whatever. But I want to ask you just to sort of take it like big picture. What do you think the biggest purpose of the off season is? Like what is, don't think about the way that we've always done things. Don't think about what the rules are or what's in the CBA.

what for a football player between the last game you play of the season before and the next game you play of the upcoming season is the most important thing to accomplish in that time? Like if we reimagine to the whole thing, what would you say is the most fundamentally important thing to do during that time? I mean, I believe everybody's very different during the off season. Like some people can take three months off and then go to work. You know, the last two months of the off season and everything will be good for.

a person like me can only take like a week off and then I'm I have to be constantly doing something um every time so yeah exactly so um I mean last last year definitely proved that you know virtual off season is very possible to where we don't have to go back up there and you know go to OTAs or go to minicap but uh you know I'm I'm all for anything that the you know the lead wants to do if we got to report I'm going to be there if we don't then you know I'm just going to continue to work out. But I believe the league wants us to go report to OTAs and mini-camp just to check in on us to see if anybody's, you know, not doing what they're supposed to. I think they're trying to be parents in that aspect. But, you know, a person like me,

they're not going to catch me. Catch me like. I'm going to be good. What do you do in that one week that you don't train if you, if you even have a full week during the off-season? Yeah, I mean, of course, I got a full week to just play video games and just eat whatever I want. I have to wake up whatever. When you can eat whatever you want, what do you go to? I mean, I'm a big candy fanatic. So I like, I like, you know, gummy candy, like trolleys,

gummy worms. I like to put his llamas. I know I'm probably going out something up. I'm going to act like you didn't just ask that. No, I don't put them in the fridge. Oh, my God. Wait, no, D.K., you have to try this. Next time you get, like, you know, the peaches or gummy worms or whatever,

put them in the fridge. or the freezer. And then it's like this just chewy, cold. I swear, you won't regret it. I promise. Okay. I may try it. I'm not making any prompts.

All right. That's all I can ask for. I do. I follow you on Instagram and you're a great follow. So I wanted to ask, too, what have you been cooking and what have you been listening to lately? Because those are two things that I see pop up a lot. What have I been cooking?

I haven't cooked in a while. It's been a bit. I've been traveling a little bit. But what have I been listening to? I've been listening to Luke Combs a lot the past couple of days. Luke Combs? Okay. One of my favorite, favorite artists.

Very cool. Yeah. Is that like, are you a big country guy in general or is that recent? I wouldn't say I'm a big country guy, but I love country music. And Luke Combs is one of my favorite, is my favorite country, no artist. Oh, interesting. Does he have something new out? It's about to drop.

He dropped like a single, you know, just like a teaser after his marriage, but he's about to drop a big project. Okay, well, people can go check that out. Very exciting. Yeah, for sure. What's one thing about Russell Wilson and playing with Ross Wilson that we wouldn't know? Y'all probably think it's just a fake act that he puts on. Like on Instagram, how he acts on Instagram is directly how he acts in the locker room.

Like he's a very inspirational, high energy. Come on, let's get better today, person. Right. No matter where you're saying, like, I'm at his house. And he's like, all right, come on, what are you trying to do to get better? What we're going to do? So he's like that all the time. People probably think it's like an actor of a side that he puts on.

That's Russell Wilson. Like, that's him. That's 24-7. Yeah, that's 24-7, Russ. That's great. You obviously developed chemistry with him very quickly. And obviously last year was really hard, as you talked about with the virtual off season. and all that stuff.

When you're developing chemistry with the quarterback really quickly, what were the biggest keys? You have to have the same goals. And he wants to be the greatest at his position. And, you know, that's my main goal is to be the greatest, you know, receiver. So when two people have the same goals, you know, it's hard to stop them because the same, they're going to have the same work ethic,

the same mindset going into a game, the same way they play the game is, I'm not going to lose anything no matter what you put in front of me. Are there any changes that you talked a little bit earlier in the, offseason about the Seahawks offense and maybe, you know, obviously they play a particular, you guys play a particular brand of football. That hasn't changed a whole lot. There haven't been some tweaks within that. Is there anything that you're looking forward to doing within that offense this year that

maybe you guys could do a little more of or that you and Russell have talked about going into 2021, D.K.? I know that we got a new OC and Shane Laudgeon and just sitting in the meetings and, you know, trying to learn under his offense right now is going to be very, very exciting next year. just the product that we put out on the field. And our defense, you know, is just going to build off the momentum that they had during the last part of the season last year.

Yeah, is there, I mean, were you watching Rams tape and stuff like that last year? I mean, obviously it's going to be a little different because obviously, you know, golf and Russell with different quarterbacks. But is there a process now where you're watching Rams tape in the past few years and saying, okay, maybe this is possible?

Oh, for sure. We would watch, you know, the Rams offense the past couple years, and they had some great plays on offense in the way that they schematically ran some of the runs and the nuances to their passes. I'm excited personally just to go into the first couple of weeks of the season. I know it's the offseason when everybody's debating something like who's the best deep threat in the league.

And obviously, pro football focus comes out last week and says maybe Tyree Kill is the best deep threat of all time, whatever. There's a whole debate about it, Randy Moss, T.O., whatever. Big picture. What makes a great deep threat? You're one of them in the NFL right now. What are the skills that are needed to be an elite deep threat? You have to be fast and be able to stretch a defense and make those,

the safeties play 20 yards off the ball. So I think, in my opinion, Randy Malsh was the best deep threat. Deshawn Jackson, Tyree Kiel are tied for 2A to me. And those are just three that pop them to my head just off. the top. You know, Tyree and Dishon are still doing it today. They're going to do it next season. So, you know, just to be, you know, mentioned in that category is a blessing.

But, you know, just kind of try to, I'm still chasing those three guys. But, yeah, just to be a great deep threat in an offense, you have to ask you. And Randy is the guy. He's your number one there. Yeah, yes. Randy is the guy. You mentioned Shane Waldron, your new offensive coordinator. Have you gotten a chance to connect with him and learn anything about what you think he might bring for you guys?

Oh, for sure. We've talked on plenty of occasions before I ran in the track meet. He was sending me congratulations, and we talked about that. But he's a very, very smart coach, young, hungry, and still want to prove itself. So that's what I love about him. All right. Let's do it with some quick lightning around here. Tuffest cornerback you've ever faced.

the NFL. Jay LaRansy. What makes him so good? Just the way that he plays the game. He's just, he's a dog after our on the field. This might be the same answer, actually. Best trash talker in the league.

Yeah, Jay LaRansy. What does he do? What does he do to try to get it into a receiver's head? He doesn't stop. He just constantly talks. What's one thing you want to do this offseason that you haven't done yet? I've yet to travel out of the country.

So that's one thing that I'm still waiting to do. I don't think it's going to be accomplished this offseason. Neither. What's the first trip when you can travel out of the country? Australia. Australia. Oh, awesome. What's in Australia, the picture of interest?

I've never been, and that's one place that I really want to go. My PT, my physical trainer is from Australia. I love his accent. That's so cool. Give us a Pete Carroll story. we wouldn't have heard before about it just any any way you want to go with that he's he's a competitive dude he's trying to chase fumbles and rookie minicamp what's what sticks out when you think of p. Carroll um how young he is yeah i know he's 69 but it was a hundred down there but he's very young

um he hurt his knee in last year during the middle of the season and he wasn't supposed to be walking without a cane or a crutch or whatever and i see him at practice running behind me without his cane. And I'm like, Coach, what are you doing? Like, you better get your cane. It's like, no, I'm not going to let them tell me what to do or tell him to stop me. So just how young and fun he is.

When full crowds get back into the stadium this year, what's the number one thing you think will change or that you're looking forward to? I have no idea. I'm going to let the, you know, NFL handle that. Whatever way they feel is safe and healthy for everybody to come back. But DeMoyle on the lines, Did you feel like a lack of maybe juice without crowds or anything like that?

Or did not affect you? No, I didn't affect me last year. Some guys different. All right, tell us what you're doing with Gatorade. Well, it's a marriage, in my opinion. Not just a little partnership. They're stuck with me for life. So it's one of those partnerships to where they've had a ton of great athletes before me.

And I'm just blessed to be one of the athletes here in the present. Awesome. And we'll look for a commercial that comes out next week. Is that correct? Yes, sir, next Thursday. Awesome. Do you have a favorite flavor, color? Color blue flavor.

Same, cool blue. Cool blue. Yeah, cool blue, my bad. Cool blue. I think there's cool blue and cool rush, maybe. I don't know. You're the expert, but that's, that's solid. Love it, love it.

D.K. Metcalf, thanks so much for coming on the Ringar NFL show. Yeah. Thank you, y'all. You have a good day. All right. Thank you to D.K. Medcaf for joining us. Thank you to D.K. Danny Kelly for joining us, Nora Princiotti, as always. what a show, guys.

Sorry, I'm not a, I'm sorry I'm not a DK. That could have been. We'll get you there. We'll catch you. Now with that attitude, you're not going to be. Thank you to production assistant Isaiah Blakely with additional production by Arjuna Ramkobal. Next up on this feed, it's flying coach.

It's Sean McVeigh, Peter Schrager, and Cliff Kingsbury, probably just floating now that he knows that I think the Cardinals who win the Super ball. I'm sure that he's heard the news by now. This has been the ring around up. show on the Ringer podcast network.