The Ringer NFL Show - Titans Fire Their GM, Jimmy G's Injury, and More NFL Headlines, With J.P. Acosta | The Scramble

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

Sheil is joined by J.P Acosta from SB Nation to discuss the weeks big story lines including the Titan's firing of GM John Robinson (2:07) and the conflicting reports surrounding Jimmy Garoppollo's injury (10:39). They then examine the Lions' chances to make the playoffs and dissect the obstacles that may prevent the Giants from postseason action (19:23). Next, they look forward to the Week 14 slate with a special focus on the Jets overachieving season and their bright future (29:57). They end the pod by digging into the weekly mailbag (39:26). Host: Sheil Kapadia Guest: J.P Acosta Associate Producer: Chris Sutton Production Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Ariel Hawani. And I'm Chuck Mindenhall. And I'm Pizzie Carroll and together we are three-pack. Join us on the brand-new Spotify Live app immediately after all of the biggest fights in combat sports. And also during the way-ins because that's when the real drama happens. So what are you waiting for? Follow the Ringer M-M-A show right now on our exclusive Spotify podcast feed. And come join the best community in M-M-A.

Peace! We're out of here. Come to the Scramble. I'm Shiel Kapadia. They're coming to you on the Ringer NFL feed every Thursday with the guest. And today I'm excited to have a new guest. You can read his work at SB Nation where he writes about the NFL. He writes about college for all things football. I mean, you go to this guy's author page and he is just grinding away. Content creation, his name is J.P. Acosta.

J.P., how we doing? I'm doing great, man. Thank you for bringing me on. This is kind of like one of my bucket list podcast. I was like, hey, when I graduate from Northwestern, this is going to be one of the podcasts I want to be on. So now that I'm here, it's like, oh, let's have some fun. I'm excited. There you go.

Yeah, no, I've enjoyed your work. You're established the fun column, your tweets. You're doing good stuff. I've enjoyed it. So wanted to have you on today. So we do a different sort of format every week on the scramble. And this week I was like, there's kind of a lot of news happening midweek this week. So I wanted to get into some of this.

So I guess people call it a grab bag. I don't really know what a grab bag is, but I've heard other podcasters say it. So we'll go ahead and call it a grab bag. We're just going to go five topics off the bat here, stuff that's happening around the NFL, looking ahead to week 14, some of the games this weekend. And we'll get through those five topics. And then we'll, of course, end with the mailback.

By the way, I'm going to have a mailbag question for you because a little weird thing at the gym. Listen, I just need some input on it. It's on my mind. So we're going to go a little off topic at the end. But let's get started. Topic number one, the Titans, in what was sort of a stunner?

you should don't see this happen. Week 13, week 14, a team firing its GM, especially an established GM. They fire John Robinson after seven years. I mean, this is a team that had never had a losing record under John Robinson. This is a team that looks like it's going to make the playoffs this year. I'm sure when that happened, you were probably a little surprised. I'm sure you've read up on it and formulated some thoughts. What did you kind of make of that move that John Robinson gets fired at this point in the season?

So at first I really was a bit stunned. When you look at where the Titans are, considering they are winning the division, they're coming a few weeks off of almost beating the Chiefs in Kansas City without Ryan Tannahill. They're still in a, they're very established football team. But to me, it kind of looks like they want a new guy to lead in a new era of Titans football. When you think about the timeline of this Titans football team, it kind of feels like this year and next year are their last two years to actually try and go win this thing. If you look at their 2024 free agents, it's Tannehill, Derek Henry, Taylor-Lewan,

Jeffrey Simmons, DeNico Autry, all those guys, those core people are going to be free agents in 2024. And it kind of feels like with the AJ Brown trade, it felt like John Robinson wanted to go towards, all right, we know these guys aren't going to be around for very much longer. We know we're kind of maximizing whatever is left of Derek Henry. It's time to start to revamp. It's time to start to rebuild the Titans football franchise. And it kind of feels like Tennessee comes like, okay, we're going to try and rebuild, but you're not going to be the one to do it. They went and drafted Malik Willis. They got Trailing Berks with the A.J. Brown trade.

But it kind of feels like they wanted to go in a different direction. And they want to go in a new era of Titans football. But I think in the grand scheme of things, you also have to consider they're trying to build a new stadium. They want to try and get so many different things done in the city of Nashville. It feels like they want a new guy to bring in kind of this new style of Titans football. Yeah. And there's always, I think that's well said. And there's always power dynamics at play.

just from my days as a beat writer, you kind of learn about, listen, it's the NFL. There's a lot of egos at work. There are a lot of people who think, I want to do things this way, and somebody else in the building says, I want to do things this way,

and they try to work together. That's why, you know, like the Pete Carroll, John Schneider thing in Seattle, like, that's just impressive that those guys have worked together for so long. I know they've had disagreements. I'm sure they've had disagreements, but they've made it work.

And so, like, usually there's a timeline on these relationships, and you look at Mike Rable. Like, Mike Rable is a fantastic, coach. I mean, if you're just putting yourself in ownership shoes and if there's any type of power dynamics at play. And listen, those haven't been reported yet. I'm reading between the lines here. I think eventually probably some of that stuff will come out. But when you have kind of like an alpha head coach like Mike Vrable and then you have a GM in John Robinson who's handling

personnel, they work together. But if they start not seeing eye to eye, to me, it's a pretty easy decision if your ownership. Like, Brable is a commodity. You know, like you're going to have a harder time replacing Brable than John Robinson. And so I wonder if that's really at the heart of it. If Mike Brable was, you know, maybe, I'm sure it wasn't one thing. It wasn't just AJ Brown going off last week against the Titans, although that timing is kind of, you know, I don't know if hilarious is the right word. But when you think about it, but maybe it's something that's been building. Maybe they haven't seen eye to eye. Maybe, you know, seven months ago, Mike Brable's saying, we cannot trade. I mean, he said that publicly, right? As long as I'm the coach, we're not trading AJ Brown.

and then you saw his reaction when they traded AJ Brown. It's literally on camera, him stepping up, taking a walk in the draft room. And so that's sort of what it feels like to be. You know, like Mike Rable saying, listen, I've done more with less with this roster for years now, including this year. And I want more say in personnel or I want to be the guy with the final say or I want to bring in somebody who's making those decisions, those kinds of things. Now, the timing is weird because, again, usually that type of thing would happen right at,

you know, right after the season, if it happened, you could say, all right, that makes sense. I get it for it to happen in season is a little strange. So you wonder if there was some type of boiling point or tipping point or incident or, you know, anything like that that might have happened. But that's kind of how I read it. And you're right about the roster. I mean, this isn't, I don't think it's a great roster. And even like those best players you mentioned, I mean, Derek Henry's entering his age 29 season.

I like Ryan Tannahill, but like Ryan Tannhill isn't, you know, Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. you know what I mean? And so you just look at the roster and I was just looking at them on offense, who are their blue chip players? I mean, you can say Henry, but at his age, like, that's tough for a running back. And after that, I don't see anybody. So I mean, what do you think that this roster is not in great shape, right? Yeah, and I think it goes back to that point of Mike Rabel doing more with less, especially when you consider like how John Robinson, the Titans have drafted. If you pass in 2019, after they got AJ Brown, Jeffrey Simmons in that draft, you look at the misses like Isaiah Wilson. You look at Caleb Barley, who was meant to be another big physical

corner but just cannot get healthy. You look at all these guys. And now after AJ Brown is gone, after you miss on the Julio Jones trade, you're looking at a wide receiver roster that's Trailerblerks, and we still don't know what Trailerborks is. He's starting to have a few more good weeks, but it's still a rookie. You're still trying to figure out who he is. And then you look past you're going to Nick Westbrook Aquina, Robert Woods, and Des Fitzpatrick. And that's not a really good crop of receivers. You even look at the DB group and you're going towards a Roger McCreely, who they just drafted as a rookie. You're looking at they had to go and sign Janores Jenkins a few years back and whatever Janores Jenkins was at that time. So it's really about how the

differences in like how they want to be built. And I think that's kind of where, of course, like you said, they weren't seeing eye to eye. It didn't feel like they were seeing eye to eye. And I think a lot of that was due with, one, the AJ Brown trade and two, possibly the Malik Willis selection. It felt like John Robinson wanted to go in a new direction. It felt with the restructory of Tana Hills contract to be, okay, you're going to be a free agent in 2024. It felt like he needed to get somebody ready for the future. And Mike Vrable just wasn't ready to do that yet. He was ready to put all the chips into the table.

Let's go and try and win this thing with the core that we have. And John Robinson was like, okay, we're going to go in a different direction. and now the Titans are going in a completely different direction away from John Robinson. Yeah, it's a bravely doesn't strike me as the type of guy who's ever going to utter the word rebuild. You know, I think he's going to want to just go for it every year. And I get it, you know, like, to their credit, they've been a very competitive team without that sort of elite level quarterback. That's hard to do to have a winning record every season without that elite level quarterback. And I have a weird theory that like, I think most GMs are pretty much the same, you know, like, listen, you have some guys who give their teams an edge.

but like if you look at draft record, it's always hard because you need like a big sample. You know, you go off two drafts. That might be 12 picks. You know, are you really going to say this guy's a good drafter and this guy's a bad drafter off that? But your point is a good one. I mean, they had back to back first round picks at premium positions and those guys aren't contributing at all.

And they knew that this is kind of their window. When they signed Tannahill and they signed Henry, it was like, we're going for it in the next three years. And then the AJ Brown move doesn't make sense with that window. And if you're going to trade a 24-year-old player at a. premium position who has a Hall of Fame ceiling. Like, there better be a good reason. And there didn't seem like there was a great reason.

It seemed like bad relationships, bad negotiations with the agent. If you look at the contract AJ Brown got, like, AJ Brown didn't reset the market. Like, AJ Brown got fair money for what great wide receivers are getting right now. So I'm sure they were frustrated with how that happened. So we'll see going forward. I mean, I think the one thing we can say for sure going forward is this is Mike Rable's team. Like, you know, once we get to May, he can't be going well. the GM pick this guy or the, no, this is like, when this move gets made, it's now we can all

see. Like, you've got the keys. Let's see what you're going to do now. And the last thing I'll just say is we don't know if there's some other, listen, sometimes there's mystery to some of this stuff, whether it's, I don't want to say, like, off field. You know what I mean? Like, there could be something that happened with John Robinson that comes out eventually that we learn about that we don't know about now. And the only reason I say that is just because of the timing. Like usually this doesn't happen at this time of the year. So we'll see how that goes. But interesting time, certainly, for the Titans where it's like, all right, you're in first place. You're probably going to make the playoffs.

And now you fired your GM. All right. Topic number two. Some Jimmy Garapolo and 49ers news this week. So after he gets injured, Kyle Shanning comes out and says, yeah, he's done for the season. Then Adam Schaefter has a report. Hey, Garapolo didn't need to have surgery. He's only going to be out, you know, maybe seven weeks.

Maybe he can come back late in the playoffs. Then he goes back to Shanahan. Of course, he gets asked about it at the press conference. And he says, quote, way outside chance late in the playoffs. And he kind of notes that it's seven to eight weeks for the foot to heal, but not necessarily to return to football. So I don't know how you make sense of all that, but certainly it seems like it's going to be Brock Purdy for a while here.

And it's been fun listening to the different takes this week. Like, are the 49ers cooked? Is it over for them? Or is there a chance that the 49ers with Brock party can get deep in the NFC playoffs, potentially get to the Super Bowl. Where do you kind of come down on all the stuff going on with the 49ers this week? So first, I think it's extremely funny how they attack the timing of the Jimmy Garabolo. Oh, he might be out for the rest of the season.

Then Baker Mayfield gets signed by the Rams. And then Adam Satcher reports that Jimmy G is actually going to be back late in the playoffs. It feels like a Jedi mind trick that Kyle Shanahan pulled to get McVeigh to try and sign Baker Mayfield, just completely screw over the Rams. just as kind of one big little finger, that entire team. But I think right now, right now they're the three seed and they be playing the Giants at the playoffs start today. I think the Niners still have a very good chance

of getting deep enough to the point where if Jimmy G comes back, they can still have a shot at the Super Bowl. One thing that I really love about the Niners team is that it's built upon their stars having takeover games. And those stars can absolutely take over games. We saw against the Dolphins, the Niners' defense, took over that game. You saw Fred Warner, not only was he getting past the flexion,

but he was altering the way to it would throw passes. All the passes in the first half were thrown high. It feels a lot like an elite level shot blocker in basketball, where he's not necessarily every shot, but altering how shots are taken. And then, of course, Nick Bosa tearing off the edge later in the game and just forcing havoc, creating havoc for the Dolphus defense. But then when you look at the offense, you look at all the guys who can take over a football game. Christian McCaffrey can absolutely take over a football game as a primary receiver.

We've seen Debo Samuel take over football games. George Kill is still a monster in the run blocking and past catching department. And of course, you have Trent Williams. As long as he's healthy, you're going to be in every game that you're going to play. The biggest question I have for basically Kyle Shanahan is, how much are you going to let Brock Purdy go rogue? After watching Brock Purdy at Iowa State, He is not like the traditional game manager quarterback where like if things go wrong, he's just going to shut down.

If things go wrong, he's going to start getting the guitar solo, a free bird playing in his head. He's like, it's Brock Purdy time, baby. And Brock Purdy sometimes doesn't do really smart stuff. So really it comes down to can Kyle Shanahan keep him on the one, two, three. Here's what you look at. Don't go rogue. Because if you go rogue, you don't have the facilities to actually kind of make these stuff. that you did in college.

So I think they're kind of well off to be, to get deep in the playoffs until Jimmy G gets back, hopefully if he gets back. But it all really depends on if Brock Purdy can kind of keep the plane on autopilot instead of putting both hands on the wheel and trying to do flips in the air. Yeah, it's, you make great points all around there. I've sort of been on the fence with this. Like there's, there's a case for exactly what you just said, the 49ers, in my opinion, the best defense in football, Damiko Ryan's, the best, in,

the best defensive coordinator in football, and they've got talent. Like, you see it every single week. They're just a problem. They've got disruptive players. And then the offensive skill group, I mean, as long as those guys are healthy, McCaffrey, Debo, Ayuk, Kittle, and a smart offensive mind, you're like, if ever they, it's kind of like an experiment of like how much do the sort of middle of the road quarterbacks matter, you know, like we know Mahomes matters.

We know Josh Allen, like they're, you know, maybe six guys we know absolutely matter. then we know there are like three or four guys that you got no chance with like you throw them out there and you're going to stink no matter what. And then you have this wide middle range in the NFL right now where it feels like so much is determined by supporting cast, by coaching, by scheme, all those things. And so like there's a chance that Purdy's able to come in. And it's funny. Your point about him going rogue is such a good one because I always feel like Shanahan wants a robot. Like I've made the joke if he could just do a little, you know, artificial intelligence. and throw someone out there and just be like using a remote control.

Hey, read one to two to three. This is what you're supposed to do. That's what he wants at quarterback. But we kind of saw it in last week's game. There were definitely snaps where I go, Purdy looks just like Garapola. You know, like, all right, he's hanging in there. He's getting rid of the ball.

He's working in the middle of the field. We know that's what the 49ers do. And then there were like three or four snaps where it wasn't there. And he started to improvise. And you're like, oh boy, this, like you said, this ain't Iowa State anymore. It didn't get ugly in that game, but you could see it. Like, man, if this, like, there's a chance that gets really bad.

And this guy's turning the ball over three times in an NFL game. So I think there's going to be sort of a back and forth. Listen, it's a hard spot to be in a rookie seventh round pick. Like, we've seen top five picks come in, and they have terrible rookie seasons because it's really freaking hard to come in and play quarterback in the NFL. And now it's this situation where expectations are high. You've got the supporting cast. Like, people are expecting you to just kind of steer the ship.

in the right direction. So I go back and forth. I mean, listen, the case against it is just the most direct case. Seventh round, rookie quarterbacks, like, don't go to the Super Bowl. There's just going to be ups and downs. There's going to be mistakes. It's not going to happen. But I think there's a chance. I always like to look at sort of like the betting markets with stuff like this. Like, all right, what's there? Where's the money coming in on? And the 49ers are still at the third, best odds in the NFC behind only the Eagles and Cowboys to get to the Super Bowl. So like the odds of them getting to the Super Bowl, according to the betting markets, are better than the Vikings, are better than the Bucks and Tom Brady. So I thought that was pretty interesting when you look at it

that way. Right now, they've got a one-game lead over Seattle. And I think that's big, because it's the difference between playing a game at home in the first round and then maybe having to go on the road or maybe you get lucky and get another home game. Or is the difference of being that, you know, six or seven seed? And now, I mean, Brock Purdy winning three games on the road, I think that would be pretty tough. Do you think that's for like, where would you have them? Would you have them above? Like who has a better chance?

Them or the Vikings or the box or another NFC team other than the Eagles or the Cowboys? So I think right now with Brock Purdy, I think I'd have them below the Vikings just because maybe I trust work more than a seventh round rookie last pick in the draft. But I don't think the margin is super far because like I said, the Niners outside of the quarterback have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL. have a bunch of queens on the chessboard. I liken it to playing like 2K

where you have a bunch of guys who can just go takeover mode and score like 30 points in a quarter. Debo is going to do a catch and run, 50-yard touchdown, boom, takeover mode. Christian McAfree can go and catch passes and get big runs out the backfield. They're going to be able to do that. And if you look at their schedule, I mean,

they play the Buccaneers on Sunday. Then they have the Seahawks, commanders, Raiders, Cardinals. It's very winnable. It's not bad, yeah. And I think the Buccaneers game, the Niners game and the Cardinals game is at home. So three of those final five games are at home.

That's a very easy schedule for Brock Purdy. And if you can get that home game, that is so important because you don't want seventh round rookie Brock Purdy going on the road where he might think he has to go hero mode. Yeah, that is going to be fun. It's going to happen in one of these games and I'll remember this conversation where you're just like, all right, he's feeling himself a little bit. He's trying to take over the game, even though that might not be what Shanahan wants. it's pretty likely to happen.

But you make a good point with the schedule. I mean, they're three and a half point favorites this week. Like, Brock Purdy is a favorite over Tom Rick and Brady, three and a half points. That is not something I thought we'd say this season. That's shocking. I think four out of those five games, they're probably going to be a favorite. I think at Seattle, maybe they're an underdog in that game. That's going to be a big game.

But the other ones, commanders, raiders, and Cardinals, they're probably going to be favored in all those games. So we'll see what happens with the Niners starting this weekend with their matchup against the bucks. All right. Topic number three. Which under 500 team has the best chance of making the playoffs? So here are some of the teams I wrote down. You might go off the board and really surprise me.

Maybe you have one of these. In the AFC, you have the Raiders, the Browns, and the Steelers are all at five and seven. The Jags, you're a big Jags fan, right? Grew up as a Jags fan. Yeah. The Jags are four and eight. So those are some of the names to keep in mind in the AFC. And then the NFC, you've got the Lions who are 5 and 7,

and you've got the Falcons and the Packers at 5 and 8. I've got the percentages here in terms of the betting markets. I'll save those until I'll let's hear who you've got for this question, and I'll hit you with those. So I have been following this team since the beginning of the year, and I've kind of like, hey, maybe they're going to give you a little fun. wrote about them real early in the season. I'm going to stick with it.

I'm going to Detroit Lions. I think this team is fun. I think their offense is playing at an extremely high level. Since their biweek and week six, they've been six offense EPA per play. They're 11th in the offensive DVOA. And Jared Goff is actually playing at an extremely high level. And I think that's a very good testament to Ben Johnson

and what he's gotten out of Jared Goff. He's gotten Jared Goff to push the ball downfield. That's something that I never thought I would say about Jared golf in 2022, where he's actually taking shots down the field. There's still the times where he's going to throw a check down on like third and 12 and be like, hey, what are you doing, bud? But he's getting a lot of the, he's getting a lot of great play out of Jared Goff. Behind that offensive line, which has been one of the best offensive lines in football,

and with a phenomenal receiver in a Monroe, St. Brown, they have a lot of potential just to get into the playoffs. All they have to do is get the defense to not be the worst in the league. And I think they've gotten some really good moments out of their young. guys. James Houston has been really good in pass rush. He has been having a lot of flashy moments. We're getting me out of my seat when I'm

watching them. Aiden Hutchinson's still playing at a really high level. And I think if you just get that defense to go from bottom of the barrel to just maybe a little bit above, maybe instead of being deadlocked, an EPA, maybe you get around like 20 and you can be like, hey,

we can talk ourselves into this here. So I'm talking myself into the lion, which I, like I said, I didn't think what happened when I was looking at this season, but hey, we're here now. Let's go all in with this Lions team. I'm with you. I wish I was picking someone different. It would have made maybe for better podcasting.

But that's the team I wrote down too. And that's the team. If you look at sort of just the odds, they're the favorite among those teams. I just mentioned they've got around a 16% chance if you just look at what the odds are for the Lions. They've won four or five. Their only loss was that Thanksgiving game against the bills where, you know, they botched the clock management a little bit there at the end and golf missed the throw to DJ Shark. I think it was down the right sideline.

But they were certainly in that game. And yeah, I'm on Ross St. Brown has been like, I don't know what's the word, the straw that serves the drink out? I'm older than you. I don't know that anybody even says that anymore. But you know what I mean? He's the guy that like when he's in the lineup, it feels like their offense is very good. He solves problems for them on third down.

You can just get the ball to him. He makes plays when he's not. on the field, their offense kind of struggled, but he's healthy now, he's playing, he's been fantastic. And I think you hit the nail on the head with the defense. They don't need to be the 49ers defense. Like, if you have a top 10 offense with a mediocre to below average defense, usually that's like you're going to be a playoff team or at least a fringe playoff team. So I like the Lions too. I don't know if it's going to happen, but if you ask me like right now, who's playing better, the Lions, Giants, or Commanders, I mean, I think we would

both say the Lions, right? Yeah. And I think even looking at their schedule coming up. I mean, they got the Vikings at home. They go to New York to play the Jets. They're on the road against Carolina. They play the Bears at home and then they go to Green Bay to finish out the season. Again, that's a very winnable schedule. I think they're favored in the Vikings game, which again, like the Vikings are 10 and 2. And they're favored against that team. It should be a real, like I said, it's a testament to how they've built that offense and how they've married all their run game with the play action game where everything looks the same. and it makes it a whole lot easier on Jared Goff

because he's kind of doing what he did in Los Angeles where it's play action, get him on the move, get him on boot action, and just find them on Ron St. Brown or take the occasional shot to DJ Chark. It's been really fun watching them play and play behind an offensive line that's just been dominant at times.

In the Jacksonville game, they took over and they dominated on the ground. Yeah, it's a good point. They're trending in the right direction. Like some teams are getting crushed by injuries right now. They're actually getting healthier. I mean, that offensive line is probably as healthy as it's been all season. Then Jameson Williams, I mean, sort of a wild card.

You know, they're kind of easing him back in. But, man, if it ain't like two or three weeks from now, if that guy is, you know, who we thought he was going to be coming out of the draft, all of a sudden, you just have this vertical threat to add to that offense. So, yeah, no, I'm with you. It'll be interesting to see. They are favored in that. I struggled with that game in my picks column this week. I first was like, I like, I like the Lions in this game. And I switched it to the Vikings.

That's one I'm probably going to be regretting. Sunday afternoon. I thought that was a really hard game to pick. But yeah, that tells you, you know, what you need to know, that they're two and a half point favorites against the Minnesota Vikings who are 10 and 2. Like, you know, there are a lot of advanced numbers, eye test, film, trending in the right direction, all those factors. They're a good team right now that they could potentially sneak in there. All right, let's go opposite end. Topic number four, which over 500 team is most likely to miss. the playoffs, some candidates here.

You've got in the AFC, the Jets are 7 and 5. Do you buy the Jets as a playoff team? And then in the NFC, the Giants are 7, 4, and 1 and the commanders are 7, 5, and 1. Do you have any of those teams, or do you have another one for me?

So I struggled between both New York teams here. I really struggled here. And I think I'm going with the Giants over the Jets. And I really just don't know. Like, I love Brian Dayball. what he's done with that offense, but I just don't think they have enough guys. I think that their leader receivers right now are Darius Slayton and Rich James,

and I just don't know how sustainable that is to make a playoff run. I think the defense has played relatively fine, but without having a Dory Jackson, that past defense gets a lot worse. And they just, they haven't really been impressive. Like, I think this entire season hasn't been very impressed, like super big wins where they dominated the entire game. It's a lot of like, hey, we were down to, fourth quarter and then boom, Daniel Jones big run or boom, Seyuan Barclay big run or boom,

trick play. And now we're back in the lead and it comes down to those last second moments. I just don't, I don't have a lot of faith in that team and just the amount of guys they have to kind of swing. You know, we've talked about the takeover guys. It's like, I don't think they have enough takeover guys right now. Yeah, I would be hard pressed to find one. I mean, Seekwan if he's healthy, but, you know, the pieces around Seacuan kind of, you know, the blocking has to be there. And he also suffered that shoulder injury, I think, in that London game and, you know, hasn't looked like the same guy since hopefully he gets healthy for them down the stretch. But listen, we didn't talk about these before.

We didn't share answers, but I have the Giants also. Yeah, I actually was narrowing it down between the Giants and the commanders because I'm just going to, listen, I don't know if it's going to happen for the Jets, but I'm going all in on the Jets to steal that final wild card spot. I love that defense. I think that the vibes are good with Mike White. I mean, they really had a great opportunity. I think if you play that game last week against the Vikings 10 times, they're going to win that game more often.

Then they lose it. They just kind of screwed up in the red zone, you know, and things didn't go their way. But they had, what, almost 200 more yards than the Jets, I mean, than the Vikings in that game. So I like the Jets. I was debating between the Giants and the commanders. And I'm with it. It's kind of like just the rosters catching up with the Giants. You know, like we knew this wasn't a great roster coming into the season.

The coaching has been outstanding. they've absolutely maximized what you can do with that specific group of players. It's not a knock on Brian Dayball or Wittmartindale or anybody else there. Like sometimes you just don't have the guys. I think back to that, you know, that Bengals Chiefs game last week. Like the Bengals had that third and five where they just throw the screen to Jamar Chase and you like slow down the replay and it's literally four on two. Like those aren't the numbers you want on a screen like that.

He makes a guy miss. He gets to the sideline, you know, has the. instincts to know right where the marker is and picks up the first down. Like, we like to talk about scheme and analytics. Sometimes either you have Jamar Chase or you don't have Jamar Chase, like that was the difference on that play. And they've got nobody, even in the category of a guy like Chase. So I think especially in some key areas, like their secondaries banged up and also like you mentioned wide receiver. I mean, they just don't have a lot of weapons there. I kind of like them. I think their defensive line, like if they get in the playoffs, I think that defensive line,

could give teams problems down the stretch because they've now got O'Jolari, Tibado, those guys are healthy. Dexter Lawrence is playing awesome. And Leonard Williams, I think he might be questionable this week. But if you get those four on the field, like those are four good players who can be really good. And then you add in Martindale's blitz schemes, like that could win some games for him. So that's something I'm keeping an eye on. But they've got the seventh toughest schedule remaining according to unpredictable, which kind of looks at the, uh, the betting markets there. They've got the Eagles twice.

They're going to, they're seven point underdogs this week. They'll probably be double digit underdogs when they go to Philadelphia later this season. They're at the commanders, which really that could be, that's like a play in game probably, right? You know,

like one of those teams is getting in. And so, you know, really if they win that game, they might have a good shot at it. Then they're at the Vikings. That's not an easy game. They do finish with the cold.

So that's one that could work in their favor. So yeah, I'm with you. We've both got the Giants. There, all right. Let's look at the week 14 slate here. Last week was awesome. Last week was a great slate. The games lived up to the hype. Yeah, it was very fun. This one's not as good, but you still got some juice with these games. Topic number five, what's one thing you're looking forward to this weekend in week 14? Mike White, baby. Oh, I like it. I love watching Mike White play, and he's going against a Bill's team that now without Von Miller, how are they going to get past rush without blitzing? I think that's been the entire

question that's been why they went out and got Bob Miller to get pass for us without blitzing. But Mike White has played pretty like pretty freaking well. Like it's so it's so much better looking at the Jets office when you have an adult like running the offense where it's somebody who knows, hey, here's how to go from A to B. If you can't get there, then just throw it away. Just do just don't make the catastrophic plays. And that's something Mike White has relatively avoided. I mean, he had the tip interception to Harris Smith early in the game. And then the late interception was a great play by Cam Bynum.

But he's gotten the most out of Garrett Wilson. And Garrett Wilson has looked like a dynamic receiver so far. In the Vikings game, he gave Patrick Peterson all kinds of problems. I think there was a play where he took a dig, bounced off a couple of defenders and ran another 60 yards. And that's like something you see out of like Jamar Chase or like some of the top tier receivers. And Garrett Wilson is doing that.

So I want to see how this Jets offense goes against a Bill's defense that, of course, will be without Vaughn Miller. It's still a very formidable defense in this league. And, of course, the Jets defense is just so fun to watch. They just go flying around and just try and hit everything they see. Quincy William is a maniac. Oh, my gosh. Pure form tackles.

It looked like a Goldberg spear. He put on T.J. Hawkinson. Now it's just like, oh, man, like, I'm not sure how Kirk survived that game. He was getting folded in half. And that's what the Jets. They cause problems for offenses. problems for quarterbacks. They've caused problems for Josh Allen. So I want to see how the Jets defense goes against Josh Allen the second time around after they've probably seen what the Jets have done,

what the bills have done. So I'm really interested to see how this game goes. Yeah, I like this Jets team. I'm with their, I was surprised they're nine and a half point underdogs to the bills, which listen, the bills, they'll step on your throat. They're not like a conservative team where they get up a touchdown and then run the ball. They're just like, if we can win by 30, we're going to win by 30. And so I get that. But yeah, I kind of like the Jets to keep that game competitive. I mean, the Jets beat them earlier this season, you know, the right, they kept Josh Allen in check in that game. And that was with Zach Wilson. Now they've got Mike White. I mean, I'm with you. Garrett Wilson. Look, you talk about takeover guys. I mean, he looked like that in that game last week where you,

if you're watching it, you're just going to throw it to him again, throw it to him again. I mean, they had him on the right sideline. That was, you know, and Mike White just overthrew him. But like, that could have been a 200-yard game for Garrett. Wilson pretty easily. So I think White, it's exactly what you said. He's in a good position. He doesn't need to overdo it. He just needs to do like the baseline level of quarterback play that they need.

They've got pieces around him, let the offense work for you. And so I think that's certainly a good one. One of my, like, if you want to be like a football hipster this weekend and you're listening, you know, you're with your friends and you want to impress somebody, I sort of feel like Quinn and Williams and Soss Gardner could be in the defensive player of the year conversation, not rookie of the year? I mean, those guys every week, I don't know that there's a defensive tackle playing better than Quinn and Williams. And Sauce Gardner is right there with any cornerback in the NFL. Am I crazy? Would you advise people to not? You know, they might get funny

looks or where are you with that take? I think you get a little funny looks for Sauce Gardner. But Quinn and Williams has been, I feel like this is like his Jeffrey Simmons level jump of like, hey, good young player to, no, this is one of the best defensive tackles in the league. And one of the biggest things that I've seen from just watching him play, it's just how powerful and explosive he is. He was rocking people off the ball. I think there was a play against the Vikings. They tried to run outside zone.

He just bull rushed the center right into the running back. And you're just sitting there like, how do you defend that? And he's also being super productive as a pass rusher. He's opening up lanes for everybody else. And one thing that I love that what Robert Sal is doing with Quinnon Williams, is they're doing what they did with Jeffrey Simmons, where they'd have like John Franklin Myers slide in on third downs, and they run stunts, they'd run loops, they'd get him free,

and get him on automatic mismatches. This entire Jets' defensive line is just built of like 6-3-6-5, 290-pound guys. John Franklin-Myers plays on the edge on early downs, and he's 290 pounds. It's very much built like the Niners and the Titans built their defensive lines where they're not trying to go around you. The Jets bendy guy is Bryce Huff and he's like 250.

They're not trying to go around you. trying to go through you to get to the quarterback. And I think that's been really effective against Josh Allen because they're not trying to go around the pocket and lose rush lanes. They're trying to crush the pocket so the interior guys can force all the issues. And that's where I think the Bill's offensive line is that they're worse, their interior offensive line, and it causes Josh Allen a lot of problems because he likes to step out of the pocket.

But most quarterbacks like to step up out of the way of pressure. If you're getting crushed in the pocket, they're kind of constricting where you can go. So it's going to be a really fun chess match to see how Josh Allen adjust to pressure, not coming from the edges, but up the middle of the defense. Yeah, it's like the last two years, whenever the bills have not had a good offensive game, it always feels like that's the story that their offensive lines having issues, the opposing defensive line is getting to them probably without having to blitz where you're just winning with your front four.

You're still dropping seven into coverage. So that's going to be a fun matchup. That's a good one. I had Dolphins versus Chargers on Sunday night as the thing I'm looking forward to in week 14. And I might regret this because the takes are going to be so spicy regardless of what happens there. I mean, you've got, you know, you've got, I guess, too and on versus social media quarterback there with Herbert versus versus Tua. So it's going to be one way or the other. The chargers, I've described them.

I just feel like they're sort of a joyless team where it's just like you're just waiting for something bad to happen when you watch them. You know, it's not like these other teams where you feel like, all right, something good. It's going to happen. You're at the same time, they still have Herbert. I still believe in Herbert. I don't know what he can do with the group he has, with the scheme he has. It might get ugly. But as an underdog, you know, in a big spot like this, like he's at that level to me

where I'm not counting him out in this game. And then the dolphins, I'm not overreacting to last week. I mean, we talked about that 49ers defense. I mean, they do that on kind of a weekly basis. The dolphins didn't have. either starting offensive tackle. Jalen Waddle was on and off the field there. And so this Chargers defense is not good. I mean, statistically, if you look at it, it's really bad. I think they're 28th in EPA per drive. They're 31st and defensive success rate. So there's a scenario here

where the Dolphys just come out and like drop 40 on them and Chargers don't even look competitive. That would not shock me. But at the same time, I kind of like Herbert in that underdog role to, you know, maybe they're down early and in the fourth quarter, he just starts making those superhero throws where you're going, oh my gosh, this guy's talent is unbelievable. So the charges, if you look at it, should be the last AFC playoff team,

but I can't find anyone, including myself, who's willing to pick them for that spot just because they've done nothing to kind of earn anybody's trust. Yeah, it's been such an odd season for the charges, just because nobody's been healthy together at the same time. If you look at that offense, there is no separation. for Justin Herbert at all.

Like, you can play man against those guys, especially without Mike Williams, and they have nobody who can separate consistently. And the Chargers has a whole kind of feel like that SpongeBob meme where, like, the dude gets, the fish gets something dropped on his leg. And he goes, my leg. And it's just every time you see that person, he's getting something dropped on his leg.

Like every time you see the Chargers, it's a catastrophic injury. Austin Johnson, gone for the year. J.C. Jackson, gone for the year. Joey Bosa hasn't played since week three. And now it's kind of like Justin Herbert, is the last one standing, and he even had like damaged rib cartilage in like week two. So now you're kind of wondering, okay, what is left of this Chargers team?

And like you said, I'm not really worried about the Dolphins offense, especially coming after that 49ers lost. The Niners do that to everybody. That is the best defense in the league. And not every defense has Nick Post and Fred Warner and especially not the Chargers. So I think the Dolphins are going to be able to get right back on track. I do wonder the biggest thing for me is if the Chargers offensive line is going to get healthy enough to where they can play because if not, then they're just going to tee off

on Justin Herbert. They're going to cause so many like blitzes, disguised pressures, not to throw off Justin Herbert, throw off the offensive line. Tamari Sawyer's been pretty playing pretty well, but he got handled by Chandler Jones last week. And then Trey Pipkins should be coming back this week and he should be a relatively big upgrade over what they had at Wright tackle. So like you said, this could get ugly, like real quick. Like I could see that happening, but I could also. see a pretty fun game. It gets closely. You just never know what you're going to get from this Chargers team. Yeah. No, it's well said. The takes are going to fly one way or the other. This is the Twitter Bowl. That's right. The 2022 Twitter Super Bowl. I like that. All right. Those were

good. Five topics. Loved it. Let's take a break and we will come back and get to the mailback. Today's mailbag is brought to you by the quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's. That's right, folks. the QPC. It's the burger napkins we're made for. Each one famously features 100% fresh beef, cooked when you order, topped with sliced onions, crunchy pickles, ketchup and mustard, and two slices of melty American cheese on a sesame seed bun. Ordered the fresh, juicy QPC. All right, we're back with the mailbag. A reminder. You can email us at the Scramble Mailbag at gmail.com or just tweet at me every week and we will get to some of your questions.

All right, Daniel asks, as JP is a long-suffering Jags fan, I'd like to know which QBs he'd trade Trevor Lawrence for, straight up to be the quarterback in Jacksonville. Basically, if you told JP, you can have the guy as QB of the Jags for the rest of his career instead of Lawrence, which QBs would he take.

I thought this was a great question, I think maybe from one of your friends, there. But it's a good time to sort of look at how you should be feeling as a Jags fan about Trevor Lawrence coming off a terrible loss. Again, the defense was probably more at fault than Trevor Lawrence in that game. But the previous week was kind of the Trevor Lawrence peak where he has the comeback against the Raven. So I don't know if you had time to kind of go over your list or if you want to just do this on the fly, who you would trade. Now, he did say for the rest of their career. So, you know, the old guys are probably out here, but who you would trade Trevor

Lawrence for? So I looked at this a couple of ways. First, I looked at it kind of controlling for contract. And one of the most valuable things about Trevor Lawrence is that he's really good and still on a rookie contract. So looking at it with contracts in play and also looking at it without contracts in play, I think my list kind of remains the same. So I have Patrick Holmes, of course, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, and Joe Burrow. I think those are the only guys I would take over Trevor Lawrence right now.

If you just watch how Trevor Lawrence plays, he's playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He's so good at managing pressure. And that's something that kind of gets understated. I think a lot of people when they watch the Jaguars, it's like, hey, he's not really getting much done. He's not, I don't think Trevor Lawrence is going to do the highlight reel. like throws that Justin Herbert or Josh Allen makes.

But he is very much a, okay, this is a perfect appearance. So Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, they are the home run hitters. They are the King Griffey Jr.'s, masterful swings every time they're hitting at 440. Trevor Lawrence isn't going to hit as many homers, but he's going to get the doubles. He'll get the singles and doubles. He'll get on base. And I think that's something that kind of gets understated and kind of gets underrated now with the NFL. You just need somebody who can get those doubles.

And I think that's something that the Jaguars have really missed, somebody who can get those doubles. And what Trevor Lawrence has done so well is he has made the middle of the field and the intermediate levels so much more valuable to the Jaguars offense. It makes it so much easier to gain access to those throws because Trevor Lawrence throws with such great timing. He throws the anticipation. He throws for accuracy. And his arm strength isn't quite on the level of the Mahomes, Allen, Herbert. but he is still, he still has a strong enough arm to make those throws. So looking at it now, like I said, him being on a rookie contract still, it allows you to say,

hey, we got a guy who's good. Let's try and build everything we can around him. And in an NFL right now where you can go and get an AJ Brown or a Tyree Kill and sign them the massive deals to help your quarterback kind of widen the margin for error in the offense, having a quarterback on a rookie deal is extremely valuable. Yeah, as you were saying that, I was kind of going through here to see who you missed. Now, I'm with you on Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, and Herbert. Those to me are pretty easy.

Like, yeah, yeah, we don't need a meeting about this. We might love Trevor Lawrence, but those guys were absolutely doing it for. I thought DAC was interesting. I think you could definitely make an argument that I think DAC is very good. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, there's been some injury issues. 30 years old. is he like, I don't know.

I mean, I think you can make a kid. Like, as you were describing it, there are some similarities too. You know, like the QB officiados love both those guys. They're just like, these guys do the right thing on every play. If you're a QB connoisseur, you're loving watching the film on both these guys. So I think that's an interesting one, given how much younger Trevor Lawrence is. And if I'm the Jaguars and look at the state of the roster, I'm not 100% that I do that for, for DAC. I think I would be more on the fence.

with that one. And then some of the other names I wrote down, who you didn't mention. So you're a no on Lamar for Trevor Lawrence? Oh, man. I just... It's totally different. You know, you're running a different offense.

Yeah. Looking at how the offense is kind of built now, like, I don't know. Lamar's situation is so unique because he can be an entire offense, but you also need the right pieces around him to make that offense completely go. Like we're seeing in Baltimore now.

have Patrick Carrard out here running like four verse concepts. And I'm like, please, he is 300 pounds. He cannot be out here. So I just don't think they have, I don't think the Jaguars as they are currently built, have a good enough infrastructure to like have a Lamar Jackson type of quarterback. Okay. Yeah, no, that makes sense. You have to build it a certain way, which, you know, we can debate whether the Ravens are doing that or whether, you know, you can easily make the case. The Ravens need to do more. But yeah, when they went to him, it was like an organizational thing. You know, all right, we need the run concepts from Greg Roman, John Harbaugh needs to be all in.

We need to sort of figure this out and be comfortable having a quarterback who is a big part of the designed run game, which he obviously has been. So I think that's a good one. Jalen Hertz, your Trevor Lawrence over Jalen Hertz for sure. I think I would take Trevor Lawrence. I think just the ability in the short area accuracy, accuracy, middle of the field accuracy. I think Jaylen Hertz has improved

exponentially as a passer this year. But I also think Trevor Lawrence has shown the ability to work with non-A.J. Brown targets. I mean, saw what happened in the Detroit Lions game where they had like five drops on the games. A. Jones had three drops after going

for over like 150 yards against the Stevens. And it's just kind of like, you get the highs and lows with this receiver, with this officer skill group. Yeah. Hertz has been great this year. No doubt about it, his improvement is like, I mean, you usually don't see quarterbacks improve as much as he has, which is a testament to his work ethic, how much he's taking it seriously and gotten bad. You know, a lot of guys take it seriously, but they kind of don't know, like, or it's

hard to know what it takes, you know, sometimes it's just like a guy maxes out and there's nothing else he could do. So for Hertz to show that improvement is really impressive. It's a good thought exercise. Like Trevor Lawrence on the Eagles, what would they look like, you know, would their record be way different this year. And of course, we're looking ahead a little bit here. So I don't think that's wild. I think you can certainly make the case for Hertz, but that one is more probably 50-50 to me where you could say, well, if Lawrence were on the Eagles this year, they're still, you know, probably a Super Bowl contender. So I don't think that's nuts at all. Kyler Murray. I know this sort of the down swing of Kyler Murray. I don't know where you are with him, but if he even,

if he even thought about him. The lows of Kyler Murray are strong. I think just you don't get the extreme boom that you have with Kyler Murray, but if things just go wrong, then it just goes all the way wrong. Like, it's just you never have a good middle ground with Kyler Murray or the Cardinals' offense. It's just sometimes it looks great. Like sometimes it go undefeated through like the first nine weeks of the season like they did last year.

And sometimes it'll look like this year where like just nothing works. And Kyler is like just, it feels like Kyler is kind of not progressive. seeing as a passer in the way we thought he would. But again, just the lows of Kyla Murray are just so far down. Yeah, no, I think that's true. Yeah, I would rather have Trevor Lawrence. All right, I like it. That was a good, good question to kind of gauge where Jags fan is with Trevor Lawrence right now. I think you spelled it out correctly there. All right, Nick asks, I love listening to all the Ringer content and inside jokes with everyone. My question is, how do you go about studying the game,

learning different kinds of offenses and defenses and formations. I love watching, but sometimes it's confusing to know what's happening on the field. I thought this was a good question for you because I see you doing the film breakdowns and you like the schematics and X's and O's. Anything you would kind of say to Nick there with that question. Yeah, this is a great question. So a little background on me, I played football all growing up. I used to draw football players in my notebook instead of like taking notes for class.

And my mom would get really mad. But I guess it kind of worked a little bit. But one of the things that I did when I first started writing in this medium is I just started going on Twitter and following as many people as I could. I started following guys like Ben Solax, Stephen Ruiz at the Ringer. I followed Coach Vass at Vass tweets, Cody Alexander, reading all those guys' books. It helps me understand what's going on on the field, just inside the lines. And then one thing I'd also do is just I would go on the YouTube and just,

find coaching clinics in all season. There's a playlist of just like hundreds of coaching clinics where I just go, I'd subscribe to it, and I'd just scroll until I find one that I really like. I'm like, oh, this looks pretty cool. And I'd just click on it. And I'd sit there for like hours, just taking notes. So that's really just it. Just follow really great people, really smart people.

One of the things that I've started doing is following high school coaches. Because a lot of how I think of football is very cyclical. So the stuff we see that's going on at the NFL level right now, high school coaches and high schools have been doing it for a long time. So the ideas get filtered from high school to college, college, NFL, NFL and college guys go to the clinics, talk about what they do. High school guys take it to their level and adapt it to the talent that they have because you're just not getting every five star at Alabama at a high school. So just finding all the coaches, finding all the YouTube clips, just being able to. to absorb all that information going on YouTube, finding playlist, and just reading, taking notes. That's one of the things I would do.

And then, like I said, I draw a lot. I draw football plays. So if I see something that's really cool that I saw during a game, I'll go and try and draw it out and see like, hey, how did this work? What made this thing go? So that's what I'd recommend. Yeah, no, I think you nailed it right there. I mean, to get now, I'm going to sound really old here to you.

But, you know, like before you, first of all, you couldn't even get the. all 22. It wasn't available for the public media, anybody to consume. And so it was around, I want to say, 2012, where the NFL said, we're going to release the coaches film. And I was like, this is awesome. Like, I've never been able to see where the safeties are on a specific play. And now I can look at that. And then I was, you know, writing about the Eagles at the time. Now I can go to the locker room and ask them, hey, you know, what happened here? And it was really funny at that time. Like, players would kind of, not every player, but some of them would like love it. They're like, oh, you're not asking me just, you know, how am I feeling about going up against the rival

Cowboys? They're like, you're asking me about, you know, the inside zone. Like, why did I climb to this linebacker instead of this one? And they would take time to explain it to you. And coaches would take time to explain it to you. And that's when really like the online community that you're talking about really kind of sprouted up. I mean, Chris B. Brown, who is smart football on Twitter to me is just like the OG, the godfather of all this stuff. I mean, he was the first person I remember being like, oh my gosh, he's explaining stuff. Like, I felt like I had watched football my entire life and I had no idea about this stuff. And then I could read that. I remember he wrote about, you know, packaged plays at the college level. And the Eagles had just gotten Chip Kelly. And so I could

ask him, you know, like I saw in this red zone play, like, was that a package play where the quarterback could either hand it off or throw it? And he kind of like gave me this look. And I was like, oh, this is really cool to have this resource that now I can go ask other people. about and since then i mean it has just like i don't even uh exponentially grown those resources that you have and i love the the comment and coach flyn uh you know my my friend who is the wide receivers coach now at princeton he was coaching at villanova before and so he he just reached out at one point when the eagles hired chip kelly and he's explaining all this stuff to me and i love the comments you made about uh high school coaches you know like yeah you don't have a direct line to

you know, Kyle Shanahan or whoever in the NFL, but you're absolutely right. Like, don't get it twisted that the position coaches in the NFL are the best and the brightest. Like, listen, there's a lot of politics and stuff that goes on with how people get their jobs. There are fantastic coaches at the high school level, at the college level, who will, like you said, you reach out to them on Twitter. You send them a play. A lot of them are so generous with their time, they're willing to explain it to you. So I think all those things factor in.

I mean, I certainly like looking at that stuff. I'm not at like a PhD level or anything like that, but you want to know, you always want to have a better sense of what you're looking at, what the new trends are, what's going on in kind of the coaching community, what's happening in the NFL. So I thought it was a great question, Nick, and JP nailed it. With his answer, if you're listening and going,

I don't care about any of this stuff. I get that too. Like, you know, like, I'm an NBA fan, but like, I don't really consume the NBA. AX as an O stuff. I'm kind of like, you know what? I just kind of want to chill and, oh, wow, that, you know, that was really cool. What happened? So that's fine too. But if you want the stuff, there's so many resources out there with some of the stuff, we just mentioned. All right. Now, I got to get to my weird, this is a weird mailback question for me to you. So I was at the jib this morning,

you know, the family got a little YMCA membership recently. So we're trying to get our money's worth there. I'm in the locker room, JP. I don't know if you've ever, you've ever seen this before. I saw a man, and he's at the, you know, they got the blow dryers sometimes. Like the, the man was blowdrying his armpits, JP. I mean, have you ever? I couldn't, like, I almost had to lead the pod with this. I came home. I told my, well, I can't think about anything else.

I've never seen this before in my life. Is this a common thing that maybe I've just been a little sheltered and haven't seen, or should I be disturbed by this, this man just standing in a public locker room in the mirror using a blow dryer on his armpits? That man is living in the year 3,000. He's not letting the air dry. He's not waving his arms like this trying to get all the water and the sweat. I know he's taking extra.

He's doing the smart thing. Modern problems with our modern solutions. He went and found a way. That is what we talk about football players and like football schemes all the time. That guy found a way to win. That is a fine set right there. He was ready. He knew like, hey, if I can't do this, let's just hook up the blow dryer.

Let's get it done. He probably had to go. go somewhere to. He was probably in a rush. That man had it. That man was ready. That was, that wasn't a like on a whim thing. That was a predestined like, hey, if I don't have this access to stuff right now, I am, this is the last resort. This is what I got to do. So props to that man for finding a way to win. I'm shocked. I've told two people this since I got home. One was my wife, two was you and you both defended the man. I mean, you just, you're saying he's a next level thinker. My wife said it was probably one of those situations where, you know, sometimes you get out of the

shower and you sweat, like one of those. She's like, oh, that's probably all it was. He got out of the shower. He was still, you know, sweating under there. And so he used the blow dryer. She told me, just keep your head down and keep moving in that locker room. You don't need to observe all these things. But I don't know. I would have started questioning is if, like, you know, how they had the blow dries are hooked up that you can like dry your hands with. I would have questioned the people laying under the blow dry with his arm That's where I started. I would have had a lot of questions for that man then. He just got his own little blow dryer just going like this. Like, hey, man, we're power to you. No, yeah, it was the manual one, not the wall-mouthed one. So all right, J.P. says good job out of him.

My wife says good job out of him. If you have comments on that, you can tweet it us, or you can email the scramble mailbag at gmail.com. Today's mailbag was brought to you by the quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's. The quarter pounder with cheese, the QPC, is sort of like a QB. It's a star because it's surrounded by all the right teammates. 100% fresh beef, cooked when you order, two slices of melted cheese, ketchup and mustard, sliced onions and crunchy pickles. Order the fresh, juicy QPC. J.P. This has been awesome.

You've been a fantastic guest. Tell the people where they can find you, what they can read from you in the weeks ahead. No problem. So I'm on Twitter at Acosta 32. underscore JP. I'm an NFL writer and college football writer. I also sometimes write about plants holding machetes and fighting orangutan sometimes. I write about that stuff too. But even follow me at SB Nation, see what kind of stuff that I do. I write Establish the Fun Weekly where I just talk about things in football that I find fun because football's fun and I like to

establish that. So just follow me there. Follow some of my writing. I tweet funny stuff. I tweet football clips sometimes. So just check me out. See where I'm going. See what I'm doing. See what I'm doing. There you go. Follow J.P. Out. He's been a fantastic guest. Enjoyed having him. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for filling in for Mike Wargon this week. Christopher. So the glue guy at the ringer. Christopher Sutton always coming through for us. Additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ram Gopal. Stay tuned for the ringer NFL preview show on this feed on Friday. And I will talk to everyone next week.