The Ringer NFL Show - Who Could Be Next Season's Bengals, the Jags' Coaching Search, and Super Bowl Halftime Song Choices

Episode Date: February 3, 2022

Nora and Mal open up the mailbag and answer questions about what team could go from last to first like the Bengals did, what’s going on with the Jaguars' coaching search, what songs they want to hear during the halftime show, and more. Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Mallory Rubin Production Assistant: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, I'm Mallory Rubin. And I'm Van Leithen. Check out the Ringerverse podcast from The Ringer for all things, superhero movies, nerd culture, and fandom entertainment. We have instant reviews and fun takes on all the latest news and more, available now on Spotify. Hello and welcome to the Thursday edition of the Bringer NFL show. I'm Nora Pintziotti.

I am here, as always, with Mallory Rubin. Mallory, how are you doing? Oh, Nora, a joy to be with you as always. How are you? I'm doing very well. Thank you for asking. You bet. You know, I always ask the how are you, but it's nice to get it back in return.

But I'm doing very well because we're also here with Stephen Ruiz. Stephen, back to back ringer NFL show pod week for you. Yeah. It's been a big week for me. My third episode. It's been it's been humbling. It's been a humbling experience. I said this on a pod like two weeks ago.

I don't understand when people say like some, an experience is humbling. Like when they win an award, I feel like I would have the opposite reaction. Yeah, you feel like the best. Yeah. I'm arrogant now. I'm incredible. I'm holding this pod together. I'm holding this feed together.

We do not plan on humbling you on this episode. Appreciate it. We have a mailbag, probably not typically a humbling experience, the mailbag, all that you never know. And we are going to go through some of the wonderful questions that. listeners submitted. There has, however, it's been a big, big in a full news week. So I want to just point to anyone who's listening to this to a great conversation about the news of Brian Flores' lawsuit against the NFL and some other coaching cycle updates on that pod with Kevin and Stephen from yesterday. That's on the ringer NFL show feed.

And then there is a fantastic piece by Kaylin Jones about kind of what precipitated Floresa's suit up on the ringer.com. Great website. Highly encourage everyone to go read that, to listen to the pod. Those are really great in-depth conversations. So check them out. But for now, we have wonderful questions. Thank you guys for sending them in. And we will just get started.

So our first question comes from casual read 43. I like that handle. I like that handle a lot. Who asks, what's another team that could go the Rams method of trading all their picks for talent to make a run at the Super Bowl? So the Rams, I believe, I don't have the numbers in front of me. Do you don't have a first round pick until 3,027. We will all be dust in the wind by the time the Rams make another first round selection. The entire draft will be conducted.

in the metaverse by the time the Rams next make a first round selection. Looking forward to it. But in the meantime, Stephen, do you think there is another team that could sort of adopt that all in philosophy? I'm expecting an incredible hot take from you here. I don't have a hot take. My answer is the Broncos. I think like the foundation for the Rams approach is having a lot of young stars.

And I feel like the Broncos have a lot of young stars, especially on offense. and really they just need a trade for a quarterback. So they could take the Rams philosophy of not caring about first round picks, bundle up like 10 of them and give them to Green Bay for Aaron Rogers. And I think they would be in the Rams position next year. My only concern is they don't have Shaw McVay. They have Nate Hackett. And I've seen some like mic-tov videos of Nate or Nathaniel.

We got to like nail down. We've got Matt, Matthews, Stafford in the Super Bowl. I'm seeing Nathanials. I'm seeing Nate's. I would love, if anybody has clarity, if anyone is close to Nathaniel, aka Nate Hackett, like I feel like it's based on how good he is. Like if he's good, he gets one name and if he's bad,

he gets, I don't know which one's which though, which Nate might be, is that the good one or the bad one or is it Nathaniel? Well, if we're following the Stafford Convention, the full name is the good one, because I think Matthew Stafford is the good version

and Matt Stafford throws a lot of picks. But if you watch the mic'd up videos, This guy is not a Nathaniel. He's a Nate. And that's not like any shade towards Nates out there. I know a couple Nates that I like. But he's like, I've heard him compared to Michael Scott, and that's his thing. Like, he does bits as a coach.

And I don't think you could be a successful coach if you do bits. And that's coming from someone who is very committed to the bits they do. Yeah, you love a bit. You love a bit. Bits rule everything around me. I mean, you're like a perfect candidate to ask about this. Catching strays. Stephen or Steve, if you were a head coach, you know?

What would you go by? I've always been a Stephen guy. Yeah, but would you pivot to Steve at some point? You know, if you were a starting quarterback or a head coach, what vibe would you want to cultivate? Like, I would be, I would definitely not be Stevie. Not Stevie. I would be Stephen. I would be Stephen, but if I failed, I would rebrand as Steve.

And that would be my way of getting another chance. That's like Mike McCarthy going to visit PFF for you. You don't even have to do that. You're just like, ah, I'm Steve. I'm surprised he didn't go as Michael McCarthy after that. That would have been good. Stephen comes back, rebranded as Steve, new perspective, says it's okay for refs to be old.

No, I will never change. Totally new outlook on the league. Changed, man. Never changing that. No old refs. I like the Broncos pick. I think that, I mean, there's a huge sort of implicit portion of this question that has to do with which teams are going to go.

all out for an Aaron Rogers, maybe a Russell Wilson in the offseason. The main contenders for that are Denver, maybe Pittsburgh. The one that I don't think is realistic this offseason just because of the reporting that's out there and what decision makers have said is, I can see the Titans doing this. I think they have to. And it in some ways would be the one that mirrors the Rams the most because part of the and strategy was swallowing just an ungodly amount of money to go from somewhere in middle to lower tier at quarterback to somewhere better, arguably, arguably better at least.

I think they, I mean, one, like Rabel's just said that they're totally committed to Tannahill for next season in ways that I believe it is also a lot of money that becomes significantly less money if they just waited out a year. so I don't think that that's happening this time around. But I can see them because they do have sort of star pieces. I can see them trying to keep the window open, particularly when next year I think they will be forced to figure out the quarterback situation.

I can see them kind of doing that. Interesting. Do you have another contender, Mel? I have two that I want to throw out for the group consideration. And we can narrow it down to one and have our final three. Let's hear it. It'll shock everyone to hear. I wasn't capable of only picking one nominee in a limited contained exercise.

All right. It's possible I've twisted myself into some logic pretzels here, but hang with me for a second and then let me know what you say. It's a lot of buildup. The pressure is odd now. I'm actually trying to like release the pressure before I've been making the pick, but I think I've achieved the opposite. You're right. Yeah, there's a lot of pressure on you right now. Like you need like an amazing answer.

It needs to be like something way out of left field. It needs to be like the commanders. If the answer is not amazing, then I'm just going to trade my prior answers for another established answer and give up my ability to draft future answers. And it'll just become a meta exercise and it'll be fine. All right. Here are my two nominees. First, Las Vegas Raiders. Oh, I like it.

have such a poor recent track record of developing their first round draft picks that it's like, why even have them, right? Just don't do it. Yeah. And the most high profile examples of first drop picks they have developed, Bill Mac, Brian Cooper, they end up trading away anyway, right? So what are these first picks for? Raiders actually came in last in, um,

that PFF ranking of the best and worst teams at drafting specifically in the first round over the last decade. Like their performance is consistently, consistently poor here, right? So why keep the picks if you're not using them? Turn them into proven commodities instead. The question, the reason, I feel confident in that part of it of logic. The thing I wanted to ask you guys about is we've got a new regime, right? So does that make it more or less likely that this would be a moment when the Raiders would consider such a thing? Got a new GM, got a new coach.

part of it typically at least a new GM like Dave Ziegler coming in and saying this is how I'm going to improve our roster, bolster our personnel is by acquiring talent, young talent through the draft. But hey, maybe McDaniels is like, that's the quarterback I want. Go get them for me, right? Maybe this could happen. What do you think? So I like it because one thing that the Raiders have in common with the Rams that's sort of part of this blueprint is it's not really a blueprint for a team that's drafting in the top five, right? Like we could very easily say, you know, the Jets and the Giants and the Jaguars have just massive amounts of draft capital. They can go spend it all. Sure. But like that's not what that's not the point of the way the Rams built. Like it has to be sort of this balance.

act where you are already not necessarily capped out, but you're spending a lot like you are a good team. It's just, it's a different format than that. The Raiders are in position to draft 17th after, you know, they salvaged their season and ended up having a pretty good year. That's a good position to be doing that from, right? Because you're not necessarily thinking, you know, if you're thinking sort of soberly about Las Vegas, they are not, if it goes badly, it's not like, oh, well, this is the highest you would expect to ever be drafting, right? Like the last couple of years when the Patriots have been in the middle of drafting in the middle of every round, it's kind of like, well, the silver lining is that they never used to

get an opportunity to do this. So in some ways, these are valuable picks for them. if the Raiders try something and it goes badly, they're probably drafting pretty high. So it's not the scariest thing in the world to give up the 17th overall pick. The one thing about you mentioned the new regime, I mean,

Dave Ziegler is a career scout for the most part. So he's going to want to draft. That's the, that's the thing. He probably wants to make some preservation here. Yeah. What is number two? Team number two.

Here's my other contender. And this is more fully through the lens like the aspect of the strategy of, you know, flags fly forever, don't think about the future, think about how to capitalize on the now, right, how to make the most of a really small window, even if in trying to do so, you shrink the window further. Seattle Seahawks, right? You mentioned Russ as a trade candidate, right, who maybe hands up on another team. What is the way that the Seahawks could try to avoid that outcome, right? It's not going to be, I mean, Nora, one of our, I think we would agree,

most memorable podcasting experiences this year. We asked Danny Kelly to join us for a Seahawks episode. And before we could even like send him a confirmed time for the recording, he had a seven page Google doc ready that was just a list of botched draft picks and strategy, right? This is from recent seasons. So again, there's that element of are you getting what you need to get and want to get out of the draft anyway? But also, what's the appeal? What's the appeal that they can maybe?

make to Russ. We will try to do everything we can to optimize this next season with you and turn this around really, really quickly. Now, there's a little bit maybe of lingering like Jamal Adams' big trade, pain inside of that franchise and fan base that could have an impact here. But I don't know.

I actually feel like this would be a sound thing for them to try. And of course, as an indivision team, like a rival of the Rams, they're going to be as familiar as they're going to be as any team in the league with how successful this has been. So those are my two nominees. The one problem with Seattle, though, is they already kind of did that with Jamal Adams. And they don't have a first round pick now because of it. So they would have to do it next year. But that's part of the Rams approach, right? Is you just go further and further into the future.

Yeah. Right. That's a good point. And I agree. They're, they're willing to do that. Yeah. There's no future. There's only the now. Not even just the Jamal Adams trade, like the Jimmy Graham trade that they made, the Percy Harvin trade. So they, they've been. willing to deal those first round pick. So I think that's a good pick and a realistic. Also, last off season when Russ was upset, he was placated by what trading a fifth for

Gabe Jackson? Like, they can figure this out. It doesn't have to be that much. He's easy to please. And Gabe Jackson had been like cut like a week before. It wasn't even. They were just like, we'll give you a fifth round pick. Here you go, Russ. I don't know if this is accurate in the slightest, but it really did seem kind of like

that was the olive branch. And I just love the idea that like, Russell Wilson, that is sort of his bar. He is that easy to make feel better. I think that's very charming. It's like when you're playing video games and there's like a little kid that wants to play and you like give him a controller, but don't plug it in and they think they're playing the game.

That's kind of what they did. Is that a thing that you do to small children? That's cruel. That's a thing that everybody does. That's like a very, when I was little. Don't put that on me. Don't put that on me. Oh my God.

This is awful. When I was little, I used to really like to press elevator buttons. So my parents convinced me that the button, like, with the number of the floor on it was the real button. That's different. Because your parents were then performing a public good, right, by preventing you from allowing an elevator to go to 30 floors and didn't need to go to. Stephen is out here just preventing children from enjoying the thrill of Mario Kart. No, let me point out the fact that I. As Ken confirm my brothers did this to me.

I was the youngest brother in my household. So when I said that when I said the he, that was about me. I was the one that was getting that done to until I was old enough to do it to others. It's a right of passage. It might be a, it might, depending on how many people are playing this video game and how bad young Stephen was at Mario Kart, this also might be a public good. Yeah. All right. Do we want to elect like one.

Supreme Rams blueprint copier from all of those options? Can I throw out one wild card pick before? How about the teams that the Rams are playing in the playoffs are in the Super Bowl? Why don't the Bengals go all in and try to build on this young core that they have while they're still on the

rookie contracts? It might be because if you have more veterans, you have to pay them money. Pay them the money and win a couple Super Bowls while Burroughs on his contract. I'm not sure you're familiar with the Cincinnati Bengals. That's, oh, yeah, that's a good point.

That's a good point. And they only have like one. No, I like it. But they only have one scout. So how much are they scouting the draft anyway? Just trade those picks. Take some stuff off of his plate. Right.

Okay. Actually, yeah, I'm convinced by that. I will say, Mal, you made a very compelling case for the Seahawks. I really like that. Thank you. Thank you. I like the Raiders pick. I'm going to elect the Raiders as the Supreme pick.

Wow. The team that should do it. The Raiders are kind of like you can see whatever you want in the Raiders. Yeah. Because it's like new regime, uncertainty at quarterback. There are some real holes on the roster, but also some real talents. Like you can project anything you want for the Raiders. They're very useful.

All right. Second question is from Ron Morse, who asks, should Kyle Shanahan have benched Jimmy G for Tray Lance once the Niners Rams game got tied up at 17? So that took place with six minutes and 49 seconds to go. Mel, what do you think about this? Let me just say that I love the question. I love the spirit at the heart of the question.

This is why we do mailbags. This is great. Nora, you noted already the game situation, right? 649 left when the Rams kicked a field goal. in the fourth quarter to nodded at 17. I think that my personal stance on the Jimmy G, Tray Lance, Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers, season-long management has been clearly stated throughout the season.

I've been kind of confounded by it. However, despite my deeply held and ingrained feelings on the matter, you cannot, if you have managed the team that way and the season that way, and gone with Jimmy G to that point, ask Tray Lance to come into a decisive high profile all on the line NFL playoff game with six minutes and 49 seconds left in the fourth quarter and say save this thing. You just can't do it. If there's one person in the world who I think would do it, it is Kyle Shanahan despite

how he managed this season. But it just, oh gosh, the takes. If only for the takes, it would have been worth it. I'm with you. I just don't think, I also think, if you did this, how did you handle your practice week leading up to the game? Because it would probably have to be a little strange to create a circumstance in which he actually felt like Lance was ready to go for seven critical minutes of a tied NFC championship game. the one that I really am curious about is, and Stephen, I'll pose this to you, when Shanahan punted on fourth and two with 10 minutes left, if you don't trust Jimmy to go for that or you

don't want Jimmy to go for that. And I'll give up my answer here. I'm kind of like, I just think that's a bad call. I think Jimmy can probably get two yards or like, you should have a play where you're like, I think Jimmy can get two yards here. But I do see an argument for, well, maybe you throw Lans and. in that situation and convert on fourth down, maybe the game ends differently.

Again, it still feels a little shaky to me just because it's like, why can't Jimmy do it? If you're trusting him to play the entire game, like I just think you have to have a fourth and two play call that you like. Yeah, I'm with you there. I think you keep Jimmy in. And I think you keep Jimmy in

because if you're bringing Trey Lance onto the field, you're kind of signaling to the defense what you're about to do. Like, oh, we're about to run Trey Lance. Why else would he be on the field? And he hasn't proven to be a quarterback at this point where he's able to take advantage of the layups. I think that was one of the big reasons why they went back to Jimmy after he started that game against the Texans. He was missing like easy throw. So even if you get a guy wide open in the flat on fourth and two, there's no guarantee he's going to hit that throw.

Jimmy's the better throw. My answer to this question is no, but maybe yes. And the reason why I say that is it's not an answer at all. But I say no, because the 4-9 or the Rams were like loading the box. They had both safeties down into the box defending the run. And Jimmy is a better thrower than Trey Lant is at this point in their careers. So I don't see what the advantage is if they're loading up against the run. But maybe, yes, because Trey Lance does have a big arm and he seems more willing to use it than Jimmy is.

And maybe he hits on a throwdown field and that changes the Rams or forces the Rams to change their defensive strategy. But now, just keep Jimmy because then you would have had to practice all week like a package of plays for Trey Lans to use. That's just not realistic. Do you think that anything changes for the Niners if they approach the, let's call it, the second half of the season a little bit differently and do not just over the course of one week of practice, but consistently sprinkle Lance in? Do you think that changes anything with the outcome here? I do think so. That's what I thought they were going to do. I thought they were going to use the Kaepernick model, like what the 49ers did when they went to the Super Bowl with Kaepernick, where they gave them a sprinkling of plays throughout the.

the first half of the season, then Alex Smith gets hurt, and they start him. And then they just totally change things in the playoffs. Like, they spring a whole new offense on defenses. And that takes him by surprise and they don't have time to adjust. I thought that was going to be the model. It wasn't. But having watched Lance play during the regular season, I see why it wasn't the model. Like, he's not ready to play.

We have to remember the last time he played a full season of football. He was 19 years old. And he was playing against FCS competition. Right. Should all be illegal? Even though this isn't the question, should we just? have one minute here about where Jimmy's going to land. It's like kind of amazing to watch the way that everybody involved is talking about

this like it's a complete foregone conclusion. Like it's kind of it's, it is actually genuinely fascinating. And Jimmy to his credit is like, you know, yeah. I want to go to a winner. I'd like to go to a winner. You know, they're all discussing it. I got bad news, Jimmy. I got bad news, Jimmy.

If a team is trading for Jimmy G, they are probably probably not a winner. What's your favorite? Well, although there are some, yeah, like, where do you think, Stephen? because there's a couple landing spots where if he's a bridge quarterback, he could be going to one of these kind of quarterback away teams. I don't think that's out of the question. Right. I think it's the Browns or the Broncos make the most sense and would give him the best chance

to succeed. I don't think the Browns are going to give up on Baker yet, so I don't think that's realistic. But I think it's something the Brown should do. The Broncos make sense to me because he's, Hackett is coming from a system that's like the McVeigh-Shan system. So he has experience. We know he can operate in that system.

them when the right pieces are around them. And I think Denver does have a lot of the right pieces. I think you should go to Tampa just for the, just for the poetic nature of always being in Brady's shadow for his entire career. Poetic nature, absolute check. Team that would be a very reasonable place for a, you know, middle of the road, but definitely starting caliber bridge quarterback to go check. here is your issue

everything Bruce Ariens wants is what Jimmy is not good at. Right. I know. He'd fight him. He'd fight him at some point. He would not be a harmonious marriage. They would come to blows over a seven-step drop.

But just think of the blurb that we would eventually get in the next Danny High Fitz QB commitment index as a result. You know? Like isn't it worth it? The blurb would be, I hate Jimmy Garapolo. this is not a quarterback, which is completely unfair. But what Bruce Ariens sees when he closes his eyes at night

and imagines the quarterback is not Jimmy Garoppel. It's not true at all. It's the complete opposite. Oh, gosh. It would be funny, though. It would be a funny little, funny little situation. I think Bruce Ariens would make Antonio Brown as quarterback before he makes Jimmy G's.

Before Jimmy G. Yeah. Oh, Mal, this one, I'm going to throw this one to you first. It is from NJ Bond Guy, which woful NFL franchise will appear in a Super Bowl prior to Dune Part 2 being released. So, here's the thing, though. Yes. Right. This is soon.

The schedule here is October 20, 2020, 23. That's right. So, like, for this to happen, some Bengals-esque T. has to come out of nowhere again and win next year's Super Bowl. Right. That's correct. I mean, I think it's possible that the questioner, the question submitter could be factoring in the inevitable cinematic delays. And maybe we have, you know, two seasons to work with instead of one. But yes, this is not a far in the future scenario. Right. Like you said, it's, it's basically akin to asking who can, who can pull up angles,

you know, who can go from being a last place team to a Super Bowl contender in the span of one year, who can hoist a trophy and look into the camera and say, my Dune, my Aracchus, my Lombardy. That was for Nora. We like to talk about Dune. We love to talk about tune. I once again have a few contenders.

I will say I found this question challenging. This is hard because this is a supremely difficult and unusual thing, right? This is like not normal. Because of that and because of my propensity to look for a loophole whenever I can and cheat with one of these mailbag answers, I'm going to attempt to cheat here and see if you will allow it. Okay. But you're well within your rights to say that this is not eligible for. admission. I'm going to go with the Baltimore Ravens ever heard of them.

And now, all right, let me tell me. No way. They're not woeful. Just get 30 seconds. No, they are not woeful as a team or a franchise. Of course. But, but just as the answer needs to be concentrated in a finite moment in time, what if the point in which we are moving from also is concentrated in a very small span of time, specific the final six games of this past season. Now, even as a last place finisher, like eight and nine is not a woeful mark. Obviously, the Ravens are perennial playoff contenders,

draft exceedingly well, incredibly well-run franchise, have Lamar, not a woeful team. I wish I had a gavel. But this is so out of line. That, that stretch, losing the six to fall out of the playoffs. and the more broad injury, decimation,

that cursed nature across the season. I think you could say it was a woeful campaign and that thus they're eligible for consideration as a legit Super Bowl contender next year. The poor Ravens only won eight games this year. Everybody was healthy. Everyone was healthy on Carolina and they still only won five games. I had to try.

Lions fans who are looking at a Super Bowl that is going to feature Matthew Stafford and Eminem and are thinking to themselves, this is the closest Detroit is going to get. All right. I had to hear you. I know. I'd like to apologize to my co-hosts and all of our listeners. I did have to try, though. Here's my actual pick, the Chicago Bears.

The Bears are my actual pick, but I appreciate you indulging me. I said it would be 30 seconds. It was more like 90. Isaiah's just going to end up inserting sound effects of you hitting the gavel. That's going to be a tough stretch for me. but I had to do it. This episode needs an explicit content warning on it. I think all of my thoughts have that, to be honest.

So bears, I think there are a lot of parallels here, actually, with the Bengals template, right? Another team that struggled in year one with the rookie quarterback, of course, different reasons, right? I mean, so much of last year with the Bengals, you have to toss away because of the borough injury. But the Bears were 6 and 11 this year, finished in third.

And look, they're only a season away from having last made the playoffs. I think even with the Bears, woful is extreme here, right? There are only a few teams that actually, this is a thing. There are only a few teams that actually deserve the woeful label, and none of them are,

none of them are going to be able to win a Super Bowl next year, none of them. So we have to kind of look for nuance within, that parameter, I think. And in terms of a team that could go from mediocrity one season, from some disappointment one season to contention the next year. I think that the Bears building around fields with an already excellent defense and a new coach and a new GM, like a new regime that is going to be focused on how to build effectively and quickly around their young star quarterback in a kind of weak division that

could quickly get a lot weaker if Aaron Rogers is no longer on the Packers. there could really be a chance here for them to shoot up the standings. That's my actual pick. What do you think? I think that's the key point to compare is the division. Like the Bengals are in the Super Bowl, but they didn't look like contenders throughout the season. They kind of got lucky that everything melted away around.

Right. Like the Ravens weren't supposed to be that bad. The Steelers have been Rothesburg at quarterback, which was just a mess. And then the Browns totally imploded. I think there's potential for that to happen in the NFC North next year. Yeah, I do wonder, it seems like, so their defensive coordinator, Sean Desai, who's very good, is interviewing for the same job with the Raiders.

And it seems like he might have something of an inside track there. So there are losses that could come there. That could be a little bit difficult, but they should be in good hands on the defensive side of the ball. I also think it's fair to call them woeful because they've made the playoffs, but I believe they have the, so the longest playoff droughts without a win are the Lions, Dolphins, Raiders, the now commanders, L.L, the Jets, and then the Bears. So it's been a while. I think that's fair.

Stephen, who is your selection? I'm taking the same strategy. I'm taking the second year quarterback. I'm going to go with the Jaguars. Even though we're going to explain why this isn't going to happen in the next question, I'm going with the Jaguars because I still believe in Trevor Lawrence. I think he's capable. He's the quarterback most capable of taking the leap that Burrough took,

where he became like a bona fide top 10 quarterback, maybe top five. I think he has that in him. My worry is everything else around him. But like, like, like, Mal said, like none of these, none of these teams are actually going to make the Super Bowl. So I just went with, I just went with Trevor Lawrence. I would like to nominate if we can work off of the

teams that have gone a long time without a playoff win list, I think the Raiders deserve consideration as well. Hold on a second. You told me, mere moments ago that we had to just put our entire argument inside of that one word, woful, and then picked a team

that you just spent moments of this very episode praising. for their emergence. They were only eight yards away from beating the Bengals like three weeks ago. I'm old enough to remember Nora praising the Raiders because it was seven minutes ago on this podcast. They are, they have the third longest playoff drought without a win. I think that counts. I think that counts more than the Baltimore Ravens who've won like a hundred playoff games.

Isaiah, if he did a back get that gavel sound effect out for me earlier, give it to us again here. I'm holding the gaol off. Let's all agree that I'm the only one that followed the rules and pick a team that actually qualifies. I didn't pick a playoff team or a team that has an MVP on that quarterback. All right. Well, then you then your reward is that you have to answer the next question, which is from, see, I guess I have to say this Janusens man. Like, I would, if I didn't know Janus, I would say Giannisons man, but I, a, I would say, Gionisansman.

but I assume it's Yonison's man. The question is, and I believe that this is producer Isaiah's burner account. I think we should just accept that. The question is, what the hell is going on in Jacksonville? Really, what's the reporting on what happened, and how did Balkei win the power struggle? As a brief primer, and then Stephen, I'll turn this over to you. The Jack Worse have interviewed, I believe, 10 head coaching candidates, including Doug Peterson, Todd Bulls.

Jim Caldwell, Vic Fangio, Kellynne Moore, Byron, Leftwich, Darryl Bevel, Bill O'Brien, Nathaniel Hackett, and Matt Iberfluse. There has been some reporting that Iberflus, Leftwich, and Hackett were finalists, but a couple of them specifically Hacken and Leftwich were not psyched about the idea of working with Trent Balke. it seems as though they may have been interested in Kevin O'Connell, which is obviously no longer an option. That might have made them sort of slowed down the process, waiting for him to be down with the playoffs. It now seems like Peterson is the leader in the clubhouse. it all seems very strange.

That is all I know. Stephen Ruiz. What is going on in Jacksonville? Oh, man. I don't know how to answer this. Trent Balkei, like, has control over Shot Khan or something. Like, there's a report from Mike Garifolo that Khan is asking candidates about Balkey, about working with him while Balke is in the same,

while Balke is in the room. This was astonishing. I don't understand that. I can't even think of like a real world. equivalent. Nora, I've been meaning to ask you, what do you think of, what do you think of Stephen? Right. It's a bit weird. So bad. And like, this isn't the first time the Jaguars have conducted a coaching search like this. Like when Gus Bradley was there, they were looking for a new defensive coordinator and they had this assistant named Todd Wash sitting in on the interviews and

kind of help out Bradley. And Todd Wash ended up being the defensive coordinator. So he was helping out with the interviews and he was probably like, no, that guy's bad. That guy's bad. Maybe I should just do the job. Maybe I should just have the job. And that's what it seems like Balky's doing. There was another report that he wants to have more interaction with players on the field. Like he wants to become a coach, it sounds like. I really just think he wants to take over this organization. And Kahn, based on the fact that he got fooled by Urban Meyer, I'm not so sure that he's going to catch on to Balti's tricks. I think Bog is going to like end up owning this team in like a year. He's going to be playing quarterback instead of Trevor Lawrence.

Trevor Lawrence gets benched. I think it's generally good to keep in mind. General managers spend a lot more time sitting and talking and hanging out with team owners than coaches do. Right. Like coaches are up there on the field. They're working with players. General managers, they tend to be a little bit more like their backgrounds are a little bit more kind of officey businesslike. it's a bit more familiar to the guys who own the teams and they just spend more time together.

And sometimes that equates to closer relationships. And, you know, a lot of the time when it seems odd that a general manager sort of want a power struggle over a coach. I mean, in this case, it's not that part is no mystery. But why a general manager has such a sort of strong hold on an operation, it's often because they're really, really, really close with ownership just because of, the structural nature of the job. It also, I bet that it seemed as though they were kind of starting to get their hopes up about Kevin O'Connell, who will now be the Vikings coach, because Harbaugh had a very strange interview and either thought that he was a shoe in.

and when that was not the case, said he didn't want it or... Quick, quick, quick sidebar before we circle back to the Jags with the Harbaugh thing, that all transpiring on National Signing Day is like... Bananas.

An al-timer. A bananas move. A truly bananas move. I can't believe that's real. I was trying to think of like a 4D chess thing that Harbaugh was trying to do by having the interview on that day. And then basically deciding that he was going to go back to Michigan,

and I can't come up with it. Oh, no. Oh, I like this. Oh, yes, Stephen. Okay. So other programs here that he's interviewing that day on signing day with the Vikings, there are murmurs, right, that he's, if he's going to have conversations with high profile recruits with any of the five stars at all, it's going to be to tell them, hey,

not going to be here after all. And then other programs take their foot off the gas, trying to fly. flip Michigan recruits because they don't think they need to work as hard because it's, it's all right there. They're going to leave on their own. They're going to decommit on their own. Galaxy brain. Love the way you think, man. I'm concerned at how quickly you were able to jump into the mind of John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, not John. I just think, honestly, this is the, we need to see a little more of this from the Jaguars, right? Like, let's see some creative thinking. Let's see something. What if Harbaugh is just proving, what if this is just an ego driven,

way to prove yet again to Michigan, I can do anything I want and you will simply just give me more money. That could be it. Wouldn't roll it out. I think that one of the things with the Jags situation, I mean, you know, Stephen already outlined in our prior question, like, you've got Trevor Lawrence, right? So you really can't afford this ineptitude. And they already had an entire season squandered and lost to peak ineptitude, right? Like, down. right negligence in terms of managing their franchise with everything that happened with Meyer and beyond, right? So when you start to just look at the sheer number of days that they have wasted

here, right? Like how much time has already passed since they fired Meyer? How many other coaches have already made a change? If they are going to end up changing something at GM with Balki and bringing in another GM and doing a full reset, like that's the kind of thing you do all at once, right? You clean house in tandem so that you can reset in full efficiently. Like, this is just so inefficient and bizarre. And then that, like, kind of starts to build on itself, right? There's this, like, exponential, quickly exponential quality to, like, the mortification when something like this is happening. And then something that, like, should have actually been between the starting on quarterback, the cap space, et cetera, a pretty desirable job

starts to become like the butt of the joke, right? And that doesn't mean it's still not like a very appealing job ultimately, but this is just bizarre. And we should also note an extraordinary number of the mailback questions that we got were about this, right? Now, we here inside of the Ringer NFL show family, feel fairly certain that many of these questions came from our producer Isaiah, right? But maybe a few of them came from real people who were not Isaiah.

There were a lot of Jaguar's question. My brother is a Jaguars fan, by the way. How dare you guys? My brother is a real person and he roots for the Jaguars. He keeps texting me about it. The one who took your controller away? That was a tandem effort. I'm not going to blame it on any one brother.

That was both of them. But he was texting me about the coaching job and I just stopped answering him because I don't have answers for you. I don't know. He thinks because I write about the NFL like I'm some insider who has. who has nuggets. I don't have any nuggets. I'm like you. I don't know.

I don't know. The nugget is that they're going to go multiple months without having a head coach at place. Like that's just not a thing that you can do. Urban is going to be their coach in week one. I got sidetracked talking about Harbaugh, but it does seem like they set their sights on O'Connell a little bit. And then maybe it slowed them down just because.

But they've botched that then if that's the case. Well, right. Yeah. Because of the air. I don't think that. That's a testament to how well things are, things are going. But it does seem like the type of thing that might have slowed them down a little bit. How bad is your franchise if a coach is willing to work with Kirk Cousins over Trevor Lawrence?

That's the question I'm asking. I just don't understand why Leftwich isn't the no-brainer answer. It seems like all the fans want Leftwich. It feels like media is clamoring for it. And you just hired a coach where the whole, everyone in media was like, this is a dumb idea. This is going to fail. And then it did. I feel like you need to give the public what they want at this point and just go with Leftwich.

And if he fails, I don't think people are going to shit on the Jaguars because we all thought that was the best idea. It's like a freebie. Yeah, but I think he doesn't want to work with Valque. Well, yeah. So that's the thing. Like, again, just make that change first and then bring on the best coaching candidate and forge that new team together. They've just completely navigated this in reverse, and they're going to potentially cost themselves the best candidate as a result.

It's bizarre. Football people, like, really don't like treadmill. Which is kind of, I mean, all of these people are, like, getting beers together on a relatively regular basis at the Senior Bowl and the Combite and all that stuff. Like, usually, unless there's some sort of personal beef, like, people have rivalries and people that they've had bad experiences with and stuff. But like, it's kind of a fraternal situation.

A lot of people don't like that guy. I think it's like a real problem. The one guy that matters in Jacksonville does happen to like him, so I don't know if they're ever going to get out of it. But I think it's going to come to a situation where Khan is going to be forced to break up with bulky. And that's the only way it's going to happen. That's what happened with the 49ers. Like it got so bad that even after firing Jim Harbaugh,

who was the best coach in their modern history, they kept bulky around for, I think it was two more years, one more year, and then it totally hit rock bottom and they finally moved on. I think that's what's going to happen in Jacksonville. If Khan can get out in front of it, he might save himself a season, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Well, producer Isaiah will keep us posted, I'm sure, through his many accounts. Oh, boy.

Last question. We'll go out on a fun one. This is from Megan Maria, who asks, what three songs do you hope are played in the halftime show between all of the performers, just for a little refresh. The performers are Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Eminem, Mary Jiblige, and Kendrick Lamar. Should we each pick one? And then it's a shared three.

It's like a rapid fire end note here. Yeah, I'll go ahead. Let's do that. Sure. All right. Mal, you want to take the first stab at it? Sure. Yeah.

In the interest of candor, I consulted with Ringer music editor, Justin Sales on this. and wanted to hear his thoughts. We love an expert opinion. I am going with for my one nominee here in our group exercise. You know, the halftime show is a shared experience and so is our answer to this question. I am nominating Mary J. Blyge's real love.

Oh, yes. 1992, right? I've been searching for some song to satisfy my every need. And this is my pick. I think this would be a great one. A great one. I think that would be great.

I think that would be great. I think like anything from the Mary J. Blige, Drey collective universe, like I would also be very down for a family affair moment. Yes. It's going to be great. Yes. I should say that Justin noted to me

that he considered family affair a lock, one of the absolute locks for the eventual lineup. Yes. Yes. Produced by Dr. Dress. Like, it's happening. I feel like that's the era of music they're going to hit on and lean on for this like Los Angeles themed show. But I'm going to go with like a more modern pick.

I'm picking all right by Kendrick Lamar. I think I don't know if the NFL is going to allow him to play that. But I think it's fitting for what's going on in the country, what's going on in the NFL itself, especially now that Brian Flores has released this, or had filed this suit. So that's my pick. I'm going with Kendrick Lamar. I think he's probably my favorite out of these five.

And I think All right's his best song. I love that. I had sort of had a similar thought process with King Kunta, but I just don't know how they're going to, like, even more broadly, whoever has the swear button for this show, for the broadcast, I have questions, but I'm very excited about the lineup.

All right. So then I think I will tell you guys in my heart of hearts what I really want from this halftime show is I want a real Snoop moment. I don't want Snoop to like stand and vibe the whole time. I would like Snoop to actually like put some effort, do some stuff, not just be featured artist guy, but like really do some stuff. I will say, I guess this doesn't really capture that because I was going to say, I just want still Dre, which I think is also kind of a lock.

But if we could get Snoop to like really take the reins at some point, that would be the thing that would make me very, very happy. He has, he has gotten by recently by just being Snoop Dogg, by just like showing up. No, he doesn't do anything anymore. And it's fine. Right. Are you putting him on washed watch? He's washed up?

No, like, I think Snoop is immune to washed watch because everything would be leading to If Snoop could be on washed watch, he would have been on washed watch years ago. But he's just not because he's Snoop. Yeah, no, I agree. But he kind of has just like rested on his laurels of just being Snoop dog and just being like a guy that shows up and it hangs out. Just like crush, drop it like it's hot. That's all I want. Yeah, right.

Just a little bit of effort from you, Snoop. Come on. It also would be really funny if somebody fumbled. Who's most likely to fumble? I feel like Eminem. I feel like Eminem would because he tries to like rap really quickly and use a bunch of words. I feel like he would be the favorite to fumble. We didn't.

Eminem is the only person who didn't get mentioned in this. I do have to say I'm really excited for Eminem. I'm excited for all of this halftime show. Forgot about Dre's a lot, too, right? They're going to do forgot about Dre. Yeah. Well, but it's like, can they do forgot about Dre and still Dre? Yes.

Why not? The theme of the halftime show is Dr. Dre. So yeah, go with it. I also wonder. Go through the whole progression. Yeah. I also wonder if we might get a California love moment just because we're in L.A. Perhaps.

There's just a lot of, all of these people have worked together. There's just a lot of. overlap. There's a lot of options. I'm excited. I thought the, I thought the, um, sort of the commercial for it. I don't know why the halftime show gets a commercial, but I guess I do to make people want to watch it. But I thought it was very good. And I'm very excited. And I'm very excited for all of the fun Super Bowl content. That is to come. And it has been just so joyful and wonderful to sit here and talk with you, Mallory and Stephen, uh, on this fine Thursday. This has been the Ringer NFL show. There will be a show on this feed on Monday. That'll be very exciting. Mallory will be back on the

ringerverse feed with Joanna Robinson this Friday to break down the book of Boba Fett chapter six. I will be back on the prestige TV feed with Joanna on Sunday to break down the fifth episode of Season 2 of Euphoria, which was yikes is all I will say. We will be back next week. Our thanks as always to production assistant Isaiah Blakely for producing this episode and to Arjuna Ramgo for additional production supervision.