The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Chiefs and Eagles: How Bad Is It? Dak and the Cowboys Different This Time? Plus, Jayden Daniels's NFL Future With Todd McShay.

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Russillo opens by recapping Week 14 of the NFL season and giving his biggest winners and losers (0:42). Then, ESPN’s Todd McShay returns to talk Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, the Chiefs’ struggles, and Jayden Daniels (24:28). Finally, the guys close it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (66:06). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Todd McShay Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Stefan Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's podcast we look at the super bowl participants and they are reeling are you going to give up on those teams big wins for dallas and buffalo award season idea todd mcshay on what he sees right with that wrong with the Chiefs. Trevor Lawrence and the Fields question with Chicago. We've got life advice and a recap of this guy going to a U2 concert in Vegas.

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Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Okay, it's week 14 and we have both teams that were in the Super Bowl last year reeling. And now our belief will be questioned. Philadelphia loses at Dallas and Kansas City loses at home against Buffalo.

Let's start with the Chiefs. One of my favorite things to do in all of sports is to watch Mahomes with the football late with a chance to win the game. This year, it hasn't been as much fun if you're a Chiefs fan or me, I'm just a Mahomes fan. This is a Chiefs team that now has gone from 7-2 to 8-5. They're the three seed today. Both they and Jacksonville are 8-5, but they have the head-to-head. One of the things to look at is the conference record that's going to tell you where the tiebreakers are. It's pretty simple unless you have the head-to-head. So speaking of these Mahomes comebacks that in the losses haven't worked out, every time I think they have a chance to do it. Now, granted, there's a loss in there against Denver where they didn't even have the

opportunity, but the other four losses all have a similar theme here. All right, week one against Detroit, down 21-20 with 2.30 to go. Add to Kansas City, 45. Tony drops a pass that would have been a big gainer that maybe just gets you into field goal range. Then on fourth and 25, they get backed up. Justin Watson had a chance to pull it down. It would have been a really tough catch, but it was kind of remarkable. It was one of those moments where I'm like, I can't even believe Mahomes had a chance to convert on fourth and 25. Loss. More recently, down against Philadelphia, 21-17, 2.49 left on the clock. Kansas City at their own nine-yard line. There's a shot to Valdez-Gandling, which looks like it's going to be a 51-yard touchdown.

Granted, they still would have had a good two-point conversion. That doesn't work out. Mahomes takes the blame, said he could have thrown a better ball. Another loss. At Green Bay, 27-19, 109 left on the clock. At the Kansas City 30, MVS has a pass interference that was definitely PI. Look, I wasn't outraged about it, but it happens. It's not called.

And another loss where Mahomes was a bit more like, eh, you know, what are you going to do? Well, that was not the theme after the game yesterday. So yesterday against Buffalo, they're down 20-17, 154 left in the clock at the Kansas City 25-yard line. As an aside here, how about the Bills not running clock? After a run play, they got the game clock to 223. The Bills ran six plays.

There was a penalty in there. There's a timeout, whatever, two-minute warning. From 223, six plays later, the clock was only at 154 when they hit the go-ahead field goal. That's 29 seconds over six plays. I'm not opposed when you're trying to run clock of giving yourself a chance on a couple passes, especially when you have one of the better quarterbacks or you like a matchup. I don't think it necessarily has to be fullback trap five plays in a row, or granted it would have been three plays in a row because you're not going to get a first down on that kind of stuff, but there was almost no concern whatsoever with the clock. So the Chiefs, from their own 25, the second and 10 offensive offsides call on Tony after Kelsey

had lateraled a 25-yard completion to Tony for what looked like one of the all-time plays in NFL history to win this one, which would have been just another shot at the Bills being like, are you serious, Jake Elliott, and then this stuff? We've all seen the play. It would have been awesome, man. I jumped up. Well, I don't think I got off the couch, but like I sat up forward more. Right. And then I went back and looked at it and was like, yeah, Tony's off sides. Now you're supposed to be able to check with the ref. You know, when we see the guys lining up and we get that shot down the line of scrimmage and the receivers will look check with the ref you know when we see the guys lining up and we get that shot down the line of scrimmage and and the receivers will look back to the ref and they kind

of go the thumbs up or whatever i don't know that tony even does that but there also appears to be this move and this isn't new on on twitter now x where it's very political, where you'll just get a screen grab and hopefully it's at an angle where you feel like your point is made. What do you think they're going to do? Recall the game? Have a vote? Be like, hey, did you see Brad's tweet? Yeah, I did see Brad's tweet. What does he do? He's got a chief's blog. Oh, well, okay. What is he saying? He's saying it's a bad call. Maybe we go back and play this whole thing over. I know it sucks. It would have been cool. It would have been one of the all-time plays, but

this is a point of emphasis this season. If you go through Sandoz's piece on the Athletic Today, offensive offsides is something they want to call more because of the tush push. I guess it was called once in 21 twice last year after last night's games it's been called 12 times this year so then mahomes is you know goes on this rant where he at least

has carried himself in a way where he's built up enough credibility where you're not like oh this again and you know after when he saw alan he was like one of the worst calls ever and all the stuff and i know there's also the Vaughn Miller stuff. Look, the Tony stuff is far more clear to me than the Vaughn Miller being offside screen grabs that I've seen. That again, depends on which message you're pushing. So a lot of it all becomes irrelevant. But what's relevant in this is that Mahomes is upset. I don't know that it was even just because of this play.

That again, I thought was pretty clearly offsides with the way he's lined up to the left. It's that they keep losing these games, and that's not who he is. That's not who the Chiefs are. It's an offense that has gone from third best in second half scoring to around 13.5 points per game to now seven points per second half this season, which is 29th, which is actually an improvement over the last couple weeks. I think they were as low as 5 points

per second half. Going into the week, they're number one as a team in drops with 32. I don't know what the final tally is from yesterday. You compare that to the 49ers going into week 14. As a team, they have 6 drops. And I needed to sort this better because I don't think it was updated because that's just what happens on early, early Monday mornings on some of this stuff. But if you look at the QBR, which is Mahomes, not just the Chiefs, in the fourth quarter, he's at 27. So I need to double check that number, but it's not shocking that that number is not good.

So I need to double check that number, but it's not shocking that that number is not good. And what it felt like was a culmination of these weeks where the Chiefs know they have major problems. You know, Rasheed Rice is a really nice receiver. I like him, but he's good for one screw up a game. And he'll have these moments that are great, but he's also a really young player who they're relying on to be the number one. I don't know if Kelsey is actually physically slowed down here. There are numbers that will tell you that that's the case, but this is a team that spent more resources on defense, which they had to overhaul mid-Mahomes run, which I have a ton of respect for because there's a lot of guys,

granted, when they're healthy that I like on the defensive side of the football. They overhauled the offensive line after the Tampa Bay loss and have put resources in that. I think there's always a feeling that with Mahomes post-Tyreek Hill, all the nonsense we were hearing before last season started, that he was going to be a different quarterback, he was only going to be throwing underneath, they weren't going to be able to do anything,

and it's like, okay, or he'll win a Super Bowl. Maybe there's just this buy-in to Mahomes that no matter who's playing receiver, they're going to figure it all out. I mean, I don't, the Kadarius Toney stuff, like he must have the worst time just getting groceries in that town because it feels like every week with him, there's something. And in this case, whenever you're off sides as a receiver, it's so stupid. It's so simple to make sure that you're on sides as a wide receiver. You look at where the ball is. You look at where your feet are.

You can adjust backwards. I mean, it just drives me crazy because it just doesn't even happen that often. So with the disappointing loss, I know you want somebody else to blame, but really the blame is this Chiefs offense that does not look like the Chiefs in these fourth quarter moments, as I just ran through four of the five losses. The Bills on the other side, best 7-6 team I've ever seen. Love them. Make a banner. Kansas City was only favored by a point, point and a half. That tells you what Vegas thinks of this football team. They were 6-5 going into the Philly

game. They lose that one. They've got the Kansas City game. They've got Dallas next week. This is a brutal schedule for a team that's probably been as disappointing as any team in the league based on expectations. Guess who's favored in Bills-Dallas? Granted, it's in Buffalo. The Bills are favored, minus two as of today. Their offense is still really good. They're fifth in yards per play. They're number two on converting third downs, which at times you're like oh are they nope they they get it done they get it done better than like i don't know what it is with this team but even when you watch and play and then you'll look at the numbers you're like man the numbers are even better opposing yards per play is kind of low 19th defensively but but they're 6th in scoring defense. So as of today, if you run through it with the Bills,

this isn't really exciting because you're like, wait, where are the Bills? Well, they're the 11th seed, which isn't really a seed. 7-6 Pittsburgh, 7-6 Colts, 7-6 Texans, 7-6 Broncos, 7-6 Cincinnati. And Buffalo, because they're 4-5 in the conference, loses the tiebreaker on the conference record with, I think, three of these teams, then the head-to-head against Denver and Cincinnati.

The other part of this is that Kansas City is a three seed. It looks like Mahomes will have to go on the road in the playoffs for the first time in his career. 14 playoff games, some neutral site ones in there, obviously the Super Bowl, the other 11 at home. Zero on the road. So if the Chiefs, I don't know if they're going to look like this

the rest of the season, but if they're going into the playoffs and they're going to be on the road and people are trying to figure out what they like in the AFC, I think you're going to hear some people being like, oh, he's never done it on the road. Now, I'd ask this, do you really think Patrick Mahomes can't win a road playoff game? I believe that he can. Ultimate faith right there.

But for Buffalo, at least exercising some arrowhead drama or maybe demons, however you want to phrase it. So I thought it was just a super important win for Buffalo, maybe even more so than Kansas City fixing this offense here because if Buffalo loses that one, they're likely completely out of this because I don't think they're catching Miami in the division. Dallas dominates Philadelphia 33-13. Dallas goes from a five seed before the game to a two seed today. They're obviously tied with San Francisco at 10-3, but lose the head-to-head tie. But a real resume win if they were a college football team going, where's the good win though? Well, we finally have it. Their strength of

victory was the second worst of any playoff team. If you just went by who actually would be in the playoffs as of today, only behind Miami, it's still the second worst, but that was such a drubbing of a Philadelphia team that has its own issues. But I just thought it was really important for Dallas to do that. And Dak has been damn near perfect the last month. We'll get to that. Some numbers you should know from our guy, Shiel Kapadia, Philly guy. At one point, Philadelphia, 11 straight defensive possessions carrying over from previous games into last night, nine touchdowns, one field goal, and one kneel down. That's 11 straight defensive possessions. That's what's happened to them. The defense is falling apart. Another number from

Sheil. Since 2000, there have been 106 teams with 10 or more wins through week 14. Philadelphia at plus 21 in point differential is 103rd out of those 106 teams in point differential. Pretty crazy. How about this one? Third downs, sacking the quarterback. The Eagles are sacking quarterbacks on 5.1% of those third downs, which is the worst in the NFL, and hurts since the Washington win in week eight. He's had five games all below 60 at QBR with two in the 30s and one in the 40s. I do think he's been hurt since that Jets game. I think that's very clear, so at least that might be able to be fixed. The defense doesn't look like it's going to be fixed. With all the love that we have for all these different pass rushers and the research they've put into these dudes, just keep drafting and drafting them

and the different highlights that you'll see from a real great collection of talent, I don't think we ever talk about the linebackers. I loved when they grabbed Byard knowing that he wasn't necessarily the same guy that he had been in the past when it was pretty clear, I think for a couple years with Tennessee, where he was maybe the best safety

in the entire league, but it's a bit like that transfer portal rule I'll have with certain teams. We're like, wait, they had to grab that receiver and he's going to be one of their main guys. And he wasn't even the group of five. Now, granted, there's wins all over the place in the transfer portal. But I think that also told you that the front office, the coaching staff was like, we just need to do something back there and grab somebody else. And this Philly team is heading in the wrong direction. Now, do you want to give up on either of these teams, Philadelphia or Kansas City? Nope. I don't want to do that.

This is the roller coaster of belief part of the season. And I'm staying on the ride despite obvious concerns with both teams. I'm not saying I'm going to pick them to have a rematch here in the Super Bowl right now, but if there's one thing about the NFL, especially with teams with some equity that's built up, you have to stay the course even as bad as it can look at times. It's happened to Dallas. It's happening to Detroit. We'll get into that. Miami, we know the non-wins there, but Baltimore, they haven't had a stretch like this, so that's better for them, but you kind of get the point, or at least that's my belief. All right, so best win, clearly it's Buffalo or Dallas, but if we had to pick

another one, how about Tampa Bay beating Atlanta? Jumping, just rocketing to first place in the NFC South, where you have three teams that are tied record-wise. Then the tiebreakers come in, where Tampa is 6-7. Atlanta is 6-7. New Orleans, 6-7. Tampa actually has a negative point differential. So does Atlanta. And New Orleans is actually in the positive, but I'd say it probably feels third best about them atlanta every year i don't know how many years this is with atlanta like i know what the record is but i kind of forget it each week where i'll be watching a game being

like wait atlanta could be over 500 today they've already made quarterback changes ridder comes back so what they actually felt nice to see some of their offensive skill players all contribute at the same time uh worst loss i think I think it's Detroit at Chicago. This was the Jupiter-sized impact on the solar system. Sharp play of the week. Hanging out in Vegas for another week, which is pretty crazy for me to have to be there extended period twice within a three-week stretch. But I got into the gambling. I loved it.

I was waking up, checking the board, thinking about it, grabbing some food, getting a workout in, going back, looking at the board again, and then placing bets, and then going to do something, and then going back to place more bets. I loved it. Was really into it for a five-day stretch. This was as I would sit and mingle and talk with the community. The Sharps apparently loved Chicago. They're like, Chicago, at home, Detroit, recent run, it is, remember we were talking eight and two first time since, what was it? 1961. That was fun. Those are fun days, but they had the shootout with the chargers when I thought the LA chargers

were still good. I do not think that anymore. They had the comeback against the bears at home. They had lost on Thanksgiving, which just ruined all these people in the greater Detroit area's Thanksgiving. It was like, hey, we're good now. We're going to win this game. Nope.

That's also the Jordan Love awakening. Then they were dominant against the Saints. The score looks closer than it was, 33-28, but they were up bigger on that one. Then they lose at Chicago. Now Detroit's entering the, yeah, I'm not picking them to do anything in the playoffs. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. Goff had 161 yards in this game.

That's the lowest total of the season. They're just off. They've been off for a month. And if you're wondering, well, wait a minute, how come you have faith in Kansas City and Philadelphia, and they've played poorly, and they're not up to their standards? Maybe even with Philadelphia, ironically, getting that win against Kansas City, where I think we all went into the week after saying, I think Kansas City was still better than them, but you're not giving Detroit the

same benefit of the doubt? Yes, you're right. You got me. The other part of this that I think makes it, well, I don't know if there's a bad win, but maybe it could be the case for Chicago, is the Justin Fields is good now push. I'm not sure what you're watching. I'm just not. I know that he's capable of all sorts of great plays. People started turning him into somebody that you had real expectations for based on a bunch of runs on social media that are incredible, that are incredible to watch. I also get that there's a bit of a split. There's like a line in the middle for him of where he was at before and where he's at now. I know he gets sacked a lot. I just think he misses a lot of throws that if

you're going to be a 10-year starter, you can't miss. And considering the draft capital the Bears have, if anybody seriously, i don't know if i doubt chicago local chicago radio would be going do the bears have a real dilemma not dilemma because it's a good problem to have but has fields done enough recently to think about going in another direction with carolina's pick uh that to me would be a massive mistake now the finances of this if you go through all the quarterback contracts in the league, the average annual salary for even the lowest post-rookie contract guys, probably around $25 million per, maybe in that Geno Smith area,

you could still just do the fifth-year option for fields. You could know you were getting the pick, know where you're at in the draft, pick up his fifth-year option. The estimate's now around $23-24 million for what that tag would be. But then you'd just be opening yourself up to a disastrous situation. It'd be one thing if you just thought Fields was the guy. I don't. Maybe you disagree and you think they should pick it up and then draft another quarterback. But the first bad game Fields has, it'll probably be, I don't know, within September of 24,

you're going to be going, you've got Caleb Williams or Drake May over there. You're just inviting your franchise into a shitty scenario that's going to come up the entire time. So maybe Fields could work somewhere else. Maybe this little run means he's actually going to be worth a little bit more than a fourth rounder. Maybe he can be a third rounder or something like that. But based on the financial commitment that you'd make at least for one year, I'm not even talking about a long-term deal because I don't think you'd do that, but you'd be going, all right, you know what's going to happen. You give them the $24 million, pick up the option, draft a quarterback, and then it's just

a soap opera the entire season. I can't imagine anybody would realistically think that that's a good idea. Awards season. Let's talk about it. I don't have any snarky ones here, but I do have this. The MVP race for this is getting pushed in a bunch of different ways because we don't have a clear favorite, which is weird. Usually there's a couple of quarterbacks that are putting up massive numbers. The teams are winning. And it's like, look, Mahomes probably get it. Mahomes isn't getting it this year based on some of the stuff we started the segment with. There seems to be kind of an anti-Brock Purdy moment there. Now, if you think it's all yards after the catch with him, and I think there are times I was guilty of it a bit because San Francisco is so good with it.

But if you look at where he ranks percentage of yards, yards after the catch, I think what I saw most recently, so again, I don't have it the Monday after week 14, is that he's kind of aligned with a lot of the other guys. There's a lot of other quarterbacks that are really, really good that we never bring up yards after the catch with. But I'll even admit, I'm like, man, would I vote? And I don't have a vote, but would I actually vote for Purdy? I don't know. But then it's like, hey, wait, would you not vote for him? Because you're like, yeah, it's Shanahan. And physically, none of that stuff seems entirely fair. Dak makes more sense, certainly more so than Lamar Jackson. I see this Lamar push. And as good as he

is, as much as I like him, he's 11th in QBR. He's 17 in touchdowns. I don't know how Lamar would win MVP with 16 touchdowns to Dax 28. Now, granted, there's still some games in play, so maybe that number gets a little bit closer. So it could be a non-quarterback, and that's where I think the Tyreek Hill thing is a really, like it's a serious conversation about what Tyreek Hill is and what he's done with this offense and where he'll be historically when the season is over. So I'm open to that one. But I just don't know that anyone's ever going to win it other than a quarterback, unless it's this kind of year where there isn't a clear quarterback pick, and that splits the

vote a little bit. I don't know if we should have a Cy Young award for quarterbacks because it feels like none of the non-quarterbacks really have any kind of chance. Running backs actually used to have a better chance than anybody that weren't quarterbacks. That's probably never going to happen again. Maybe they just name it something else, like name it the Aaron Rodgers Award, where it's just about the regular season, the quarterback that looks the most impressive, that puts up huge numbers and has nothing to do with the postseason. So I'd be open to that, renaming or coming up with its own award. Maybe you call it the Aaron Rodgers Award that just goes to a quarterback. Then again, if any quarterback puts up 50 touchdowns, he's going to win the MVP too,

just like some pitcher who would be dominant winning the Cy Young in the MVP. Although with baseball, they just don't pitch enough anymore, I think, to put up any of those kind of numbers to be able to win both awards. This next segment is brought to you by Google Pixel, the only phone engineered

by Google and the official fan phone of the NBA and WNBA. With all-star features, Pixel 8 Pro has all the fun tools fans can actually rally around, like Audio Magic Eraser. It lets you cut out the background noise so you can capture the sound of every swish, dish, and Giannis slam of the in-season tournament loud and clear. All right, well, Giannis wasn't in the final. Anthony Davis was. LeBron won the tournament MVP. A little pushback on that. After AD goes for 41-20 with four blocks and five assists against the Pacers.

That's like all time. Speaking of Giannis against Phoenix, closing it out. So in the tournament, in the actual tournament games, he had 27 and 14 against Houston, 27 and 15 against Phoenix, 16 and 15 against the Pelicans, but they got up 40. So they didn't really need him despite playing 31 minutes revenge game. Well, I don't know why he'd be mad at the Pelicans. They did him a solid. And then the 41 that we mentioned there were the Pacers and the difference is is whenever the lakers have him as we know like all the lakers stuff that we kept talking about over the last couple years like what's wrong here what's wrong there when he doesn't play they're not that good that's it and when he plays and he's like that

they have a chance it feels like against maybe anybody even though they were swept uh last year in the playoffs so these are staggering numbers and the fact is he still kind of can't shoot now, though, which is the weirdest development of his career, because that was one of the things that was most fun about what he was capable of with all the different abilities. But even without him being able to shoot, you just see certain games, there's not really much that you can do. Even against Phoenix, where he didn't have as big of a second half,

just knowing his presence around the rim and how hard he makes rebounding. You don't have to get every rebound. You have to challenge everybody else for the rebounds, but he averaged 15 boards a game during the four-tournament game. So shout out Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis is built different. The Google Pixel is built different. For fans who want an experience

that's truly built different, you've got to get the new Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro. Learn more about the official fan phone of the NBA at googlestore.com forward slash pixel NBA. Audio Magic Eraser requires Google Photos app. May not work on all audio elements. NFL, have some draft stuff at the very end of it, but let's start in Dallas. Dominant against the Eagles. Dak has been terrific. If you go over the last month or so here, Todd, clean as far as the turnovers. He hasn't thrown a pick in four games. He's got, what, 12 touchdowns.

So this is somebody who's been on a tear. Dallas is looking good. We know earlier in the season there's some questions, but let's just look at the Cowboys as far as the fear factor of going into the playoffs. Where are they for you? I don't know that there's a team out there that I would fear more than Dallas right now.

I mean, you look back to what I think it was week five, 42-10, that loss against San Francisco, and they looked good early in the season, but then you thought like, all right, they're a good team, but they're not at that level. At that part of the season, five weeks in, it was like Philadelphia, Detroit was playing great. They're still playing really good ball. And San Francisco looked like the team to beat.

And San Francisco still very well could be. But the way that Dallas has played, winning five in a row, the confidence that they're building, there are just a few things that stand out to me. You mentioned Dak. I've always thought he was a good quarterback. I never thought he was elite. I never thought he was one of those top-tier guys. And I'm not saying that he is in that elite tier, but he certainly the last five weeks has been playing like he's one of those guys in the same grouping as Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts when he's fully healthy and some of those

guys. So you start with the quarterback position, the confidence that he's built, the understanding of this offense and the play calling with Mike McCarthy and what they're trying to do. This is the most comfortable I've seen him, the most confident I've seen him, the most decisive I've seen him as a passer. And it's like, you know, one mistake used to lead to two or three other mistakes or questions or, you know, the lack of decisiveness. It's not, it's not the case anymore, right? Like he's a different guy right now than he has been. And we've always been waiting for Dak to take that next step. And I'm finally seeing him take that next step. And, you know, it's not just Dak. There are other things around him that are playing into it.

Obviously, you know, CD is playing at such a high level. That offensive line, bud, I don't know how much you've watched, like studying the offensive line. I'm certainly not sitting there and breaking down the tape like I do on NFL prospects. But when I'm watching them, I don't know that there's a better left side of an offensive line than there is with Tyron Smith and Tyler Smith. And Tyron's been there since 2011, he was a first round draft pick.

So he's been there a long time, but he's back to full health. You got Tyler Smith, they drafted to play left tackle, has played some left tackle when Tyron has been out. But Smith and Smith, left guard and left tackle, find me a better pairing on the left side in the NFL than those two. It's helped in the run game. Most importantly, it's helped with protection going up against elite edge rushers. And I think that's been a huge part of it. And two other things. The defense is back to that elite level that we saw early in the season.

Micah Parsons continues to be Micah Parsons. Stephon Gilmore was sensational. I don't know what got up his ass, and apparently it was the A.J. Brown conversation early in the game that they had that really flipped the switch for Gilmore. But this defense is, they gave up 35 two weeks ago, right? Against the Seahawks.

But only 13 points to Philly, 10, 10, and 17 in the previous three games to Seattle. So during this run outside that 35 points in the Seattle game, they've been somewhere in that 10 to 17 point range in terms of points allowed. And then finally, I don't talk about kickers. I barely evaluate them going into the draft. I just don't care. Not because they're not important, but because there are other people out there that are better at evaluating kickers, you know, hang time and distance and, you know, accuracy and how the lift on the ball and all that shit.

But Brandon Aubrey, not a college kicker, soccer player, first round draft pick in the MLS, and going over playing the USFL, and then the Cowboys bring him in. He hit all four kicks last night, right? Bombs. One from 59, one from 60, both of which could have been good from 67, 68. When you kick from 60 and it goes into the stands or hits the wall, like that, that tells you everything you need to know 30 for 30 for the entire season, Ryan. And to me, like as a coach to know that, all right, if we get past midfield, we're in range, that's a weapon. Like not only are you getting the points, but it's, it's changes the whole mindset of the offense and what you can do as a play caller in terms of your aggressiveness.

So offense, defense, special teams, and most importantly, quarterback is what Dallas has going for it right now. Like I said, Sam Fran may be the better team. Sam Fran beat them by 32 the first time around, but I don't know that there's a team that I'm more fearful of playing in the playoffs than Dallas. Yeah, that's where I would push back. I mean, it's not just the head-to-head because you could say, oh, whatever,

it was week five. It's not that big of a deal. Okay, fine. I mean, weird results happen throughout the course of the season. But when San Francisco, after their month off, basically turns it back on and start blowing out the teams they are, I'm just surprised. It feels a little bit like Sunday night football, the marquee matchup. Everybody's paying attention. I mean, look at the resume here for San Francisco since the three straight losses to Cleveland, Minnesota, and Cincinnati. They destroy the Jags. Yep. Right?

They pound the Eagles. And, you know, look, it was a little closer with Seattle after they got off to a good start yesterday. But you might be right about everything with Dallas. There's no way I'm putting them ahead of San Francisco as far as who I'm more scared of. I can live with that. I can live with that. And if it was head-to-head, my guess is on a neutral site, San Fran would be favored by like three, three and a half, right?

Something like that. And so I get it. But I didn't, I guess the point is, and I will, I'll admit that I probably got a little carried away, but the point is I didn't foresee this Cowboys team getting to a point where I was like, I don't know. I don't know that Sanford, you know, I'd give them a legitimate shot to beat Sanford. You know what I mean?

And they're playing better than the Eagles. Plus, you know, what do we have, three weeks left? They're peaking at the right time. It always seems like something's going on in Dallas, like an injury, some kind of issue, internal strife, pressure's too much. They start to play tight late in the year, and it goes into the playoffs,

and they're never able to play to or exceed their expectations. It seems like this Dallas team is on the kind of run at the end of the season, at the right time of the year, to finally play to the level and maybe exceed expectations as we get in the playoffs. The teams that I legitimately think can win the Super Bowl, Sam Fran, Cowboys, Eagles, Ravens, Dolphins, and I don't even know about the Chiefs right now. So you've narrowed it down to five or six teams, and Dallas is not just in there. I would put them up there as one of the top two teams in terms of my expectation of where this thing's going to end. Yeah, and they found a way to still survive here defensively despite the Seahawks game

with a secondary that's banged up too. So the O old line stuff you're right on point pollard's really good cd's good ferguson's been a lot of fun to kind of see him take off here the last few weeks i know i think he's he's like he's just nasty out there plays with an edge you know and yeah i always knew he had that he's a guy that you know the best thing you can say about any of these players is like hey do I trust you you know and Ferguson I'm not saying he's these other dudes but like I trust that he's gonna find a way or or I can I can trust him with the football a little bit I think the Dak stuff is always kind of funny because like I probably watch as much Dak as any quarterback maybe other than Mahomes only

because they're on all the time. And you'll see the numbers. And going into this year, I said, beginning of the year, whatever you think of Dak, the mistakes got really nasty last year, but that's not really who he's been. The interception ratio on attempts was more than double what he's been for his career. So if that's who you think you are, there's more evidence that he's not that guy than he is. Now he's kind of back to that line of less than 2% of his throws end up being interceptions. And he's been really clean now here for about five weeks. But I guess I'm always asking, like deferring to you, I used to bug Dilfer about this all the time. Like, what is it about him that the stats tell you he's elite? The teams are generally good. These Dallas offenses have been good throughout all of this

stuff. And, you know, no one likes hearing me say this, but I'll say like, you know, there's a lot of teams, a lot of people out there going like, where's our playoff success? Because it's so hard in this league to have like real sustained playoff success for multiple seasons. It just doesn't happen. But what is, what is that gap between him and the special players when the numbers say that he's the special player? Cause I kind of felt like I gave up after a while. I'm i think he's really good but but i i give up i i can't i can't talk about him every fucking week of like oh is he with my homes and those guys like again nobody's my homes but is he is he with that group of the borough and you know the times we've had

lamar be really good i think it was inconsistency to me it was inconsistency right like you know there he would he would string together two or three games but then he wouldn't play he would have a san francisco game you know he he would in key moments maybe it's not like it was never really like you said last year it was never really about like he's's making bad decisions. He's, you know, he's not clutch. He's not, you know, he's not smart with the football. He's, he's self imploding. That was never the issue. It was, is he going to elevate two things, really the consistency every week? And then is he going to elevate in the biggest moments? You know, again, consistently, there'll be flashes. He would do it like in a fourth quarter and lead the team back. But it wouldn't be like when they absolutely needed him. And I feel like we've seen in the last five weeks, and especially like last week, like coming into the game, from beginning to end, complete control in a huge game.

They had to have it for the standings, potential playoff buy, all those things that was a huge game and he was the i would argue the best player on the field on the field with jalen hurts all those great defensive players most like he was the guy who i had the most confident confidence in for 60 minutes last night and you didn't always say that in the biggest games with with dac so i i don't know know. I just, just watching him play to play, the level of calm and poise he has, confidence when something goes wrong,

talking to receivers and running backs after plays. Like I saw Pollard, something happened and like, you know, they weren't on the same page or something, or he didn't check to Pollard and just kind of give him a little bump. Like we're good. The smile on his face. It always felt like the world was kind of bearing down on him, and he's always done a good job of kind of handling it externally. But internally, I feel like I'm seeing a different Dak Prescott right now than I have seen in a long time.

And I think that's the biggest difference. Yeah, the offensive line is great. The kicker is phenomenal. The defense is playing really good the last five weeks, but if Dak is in control and can play with this level of confidence throughout, they had legitimately, I like we've talked about and everyone like Dallas is back and it's great for get up and first take and like every single show that because it gets them ratings. And so we're always talking about Dallas more than we should. Right. I mean, we I've been, I've sat in all of those meetings, the production meetings. Like, what's going on? It's June 15th.

Well, let's talk about the Cowboys. Is DACA top five quarter? Just making shit up to talk about Dallas to get ratings. Okay? So everyone kind of got sick of it when Dallas really wasn't one of the best 5-7-10 teams in the league at certain points. We're still talking about Dallas. But now they've earned the right to be talked about in the way that they've been talked about over the past several years.

And that's the part that's different. This is a legitimate top two, top three team in the NFL. All right, let's talk about the Chiefs then on the other side of this. Bills desperately needed one. It's been a good deal on that in the open. And I said in the open, and I'll share with you, one. It's been a good deal on that in the open. And I said in the open, and I'll share with you, like one of my favorite things ever is to watch Mahomes late down with a chance to do it.

And it's not happening. It's not happening in a very short amount of time here with three of these recent losses where they've had the ball and they've had a chance to either tie it or take the lead. And, you know, I think there's this feeling with Mahomes, and I know I've had it. It's like, well, it doesn't really matter who will be a receiver. They'll figure it out as long as they have Kelsey.

I know there's numbers that say Kelsey's diminished. I'm not sure I'm there yet. I know he's 34. Rasheed Rice I like some days, and other days I'm like, eh, all right, that's a lot to ask him. The Kadarius-Tony thing, maybe there's a reason the Giants moved on from him, but the way he'd played at Floridaida and his yeah like i loved him in florida i thought maybe the chiefs

can get really creative with him and this will be kind of fun no pachico last night um obviously hurts having him out it was nice to see clyde edwards a layer back out there who you know first round pick on him probably didn't make a ton of sense now looking back on the whole deal here's the thing i it would take he would have to retire before i think he has a chance to not win a playoff game so that i think it's probably pretty common but what are you seeing with their offense where this has been a season-long grind for this team that's actually been kind of bailed out by their defense more than anyone or whatever thing let's just go down the checklist right interior offensive line for the for the chiefs is exceptional i'd'd put them up there with any group in the league. Their offensive tackles are okay. They're serviceable, but there's penalties. There's a breakdown here or there that end drives, and they're just not consistent enough. You start there up front.

front, can't consistently count on the run game. When Isaiah Pacheco's in there and healthy and they feed him, they've got a good run game. I think it was two or three weeks ago, 110 yards rushing. He was a major part of what they were trying to do. The problem you have if you're Andy Reid is, all right, we know we got to feed this guy more, but can he hold up? And so, you know, you have 110 yards on, I don't know, 15, 18 carries, whatever it was a couple of weeks ago, but then he's not healthy. And so now the run game, you know, the run game falls apart. And so you've got Jarek McKinnon, who's a really a better receiver out of the backfield than he is runner. Clyde Edwards, a layer. I mean, you look up their, their numbers, they're just, they're not effective runners of the football, right? And so now you've got problems at tackles. You've got a run game that really

relies on just one of those backs, even though you've got three kind of name brand guys in Pacheco, McKinney, and Edwards Allaire. But really, it's one guy who's undersized, who takes a pounding, who can't hold up physically. And when he's not in the game, you're just, you're, you basically become one dimensional. So you've got to manage, you know, uh, manage his carries. And, and so that's a real struggle for them. The biggest struggle though, quite honestly, is the wide receivers. And I don't want, we've talked about it. Every talk show and every podcast has talked about it but it's wide receiver

mistakes wide receiver drops those combinations and while i love what you've seen out of out of rice and you talked about rice and he's been great and they've utilized them perfectly but when your best wide receiver and that's exactly what rice is is unable to run intermediate and deep routes that are consistently effective. What do you really have? And I'm not saying it's a gimmick, but it's not a guy that you can rely on third and 13, third and, you know, or second and nine. Like he's not that intermediate guy and he's not a consistent vertical guy. What makes him special is screen game, short game, quick game, and pick up six, seven, 10, 15 yards after the catch. So there's so many limitations. I got a

running back who's great when he's healthy, but I can't feed him more than 10, 12 carries a game. I got a receiver who's great after the catch, but I can't trust them to run intermediate and vertical routes. And I can't trust them in certain situations. I got a great interior offensive line, but I don't have great perimeter offensive protection. Now I've got a quarterback who's, who's everything, but I don't have those things around him. And you can see, it's like a real bad relationship. Like you don't wind up breaking up or divorcing over the, over the dishes not being done or the trash not getting taken out. It's all the shit that leads up, and then you have this massive fight, and it explodes in the house, right?

That's what's going on. Mahomes, Darius Toney makes $3.43 million a year, Ryan. Line up on sides. You can't, listen, drops happen, fumbles happen. Even running the wrong route on like a choice route, miscommunication with the quarterback. Okay. That happens occasionally, but when you're making three and a half million dollars a year, the, like the thing you can control is getting lined up on time in the right spot. And yes, you can, I get it. You know, three,

three penalties on offsides on the offense last year for the wide receivers in the neutral zone. 12 this year, it's a point of emphasis. But the bottom line is this, I don't care what year and what the emphasis is, if you're struggling catching the ball and you've let down your quarterback this many times and you've not been the weapon they hoped you to be, just line up. Line up on sides. At the right time, on sides. And so Mahomes now, he can't go in the press conference and yell at Tony.

He can't go on the sidelines and yell at Tony. He can't go and yell at Marquez Valdez-Scantling a couple weeks ago when the drop that he should have had in that victory. But so it's mounting, and it shows in his play and the frustration he has. And he's, he's as good as any quarterback in the league at bring, you know, keeping it internally and kind of managing his emotions, but you're seeing it chip away at his

facade. He's not the same guy emotionally. And so it's leading to mistakes and frustration plays on the field. And, and you saw it yelling at that ref, like, yeah, be pissed at the ref. But that was the dishes weren't done or the trash wasn't taken out. So I'm going to pick a fight about that. But really, that fight was all about the support around Mahomes just isn't good enough to play at the level that the Chiefs are used to playing at. the Chiefs are used to playing in? I want to pivot to Jacksonville because there was a time here this season where I felt like, hey, Jacksonville's good, even though there were stats that told me that they weren't spectacular. But look, with Lawrence, you still have a better chance with him than a lot of quarterbacks. They've coasted. That was kind of the way I used it. I should say drafting, where all the attention is on Miami, Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore. But hey, look at Jacksonville. Look at that record. The Detroit win that was in there where I was like, yeah, maybe they're actually good. I don't know. I've watched the last couple

weeks and I know Lawrence is coming off the ankle sprain, but it wasn't just this past week and them losing. Somebody who I thought had kind of proven going through last year that this is going to be a guy for a long time, and I'm not saying like, hey, Lawrence, you've got to start thinking about it long term. Whether it's the Cincinnati game or the Cleveland game these last couple weeks, I just don't know what's wrong with them. I don't know if it's something that you see with Lawrence,

if it's just like a lot of quarterbacks, that down period. But I feel like I've had to reclassify them from when they were eight and three and bragging about it. Cause I thought it was a nice win against the Texas team that has been good this year. You know, like the Texans aren't an easy out and yeah, I have, I just have more questions the last couple of weeks about who they actually are because there's more stats to tell you they're, they're not that great and maybe they're just fancier pittsburgh yeah it's frustrating with lawrence because he has all the ability in the world right sure and he was the next andrew luck coming out like highest grade he was that next guy elite quarterback prospect what's wrong with him nothing really that you

can point to champion in college you know showed up in big i think what do you lose one or two games in three seasons at clemson like he was or maybe it was two seasons i forget exactly but i think it was like one or two losses the guy was just a winner and he had the size the arm the physical tools the the mobility all everything you look for. And the first year was an absolute disaster. The second year with Doug Peterson, it's like, oh, this is going to work out, huge strides. And at times we've seen that carry over this year, but it hasn't been consistently enough. And I'm not giving you an answer. It's just, I always go back to the draft process because that's when I'm not giving you an answer. It's just I always go back to the draft process because that's when I'm like pouring time into the tape and pouring time into information and talking to people in the league, scouts, college coaches, everything else. And I had one conversation with a head coach and it was not with the general manager who was a scouting director for a long time as well.

But it was in reference to the conversation that this head coach and a scouting director had. And I, it always stuck with me and I've never shared this before. So take it for what it's worth. And I don't, and I can't sit here and say that this is specifically the answer, but he,

he said to me, he said, the only, he said, listen, he Trevor's the guy. There's no question. He's the guy. There's no question he's the guy. He's going to be the first pick.

He's like, the only thing that we walked away from with our time, it was an NFL staff, our time with Trevor is like, when we were sitting down and meeting with Andrew and a lot of other top draft picks, their recall is special. You can bring up a game, you know, Stanford playing against Cal. He's going to remember a rivalry game. But you can bring up, like, a Washington State game in week four of the season and, like, a third down play.

It wasn't, like, in the fourth quarter or in the second quarter. Like, tell us. And the recall of the special guys is special. Like, they can tell you not only, oh, yeah, we didn't get the first down on that play, but we were in a three by one, you know, the defense was in nickel. They tried to show us this pre-snap. They changed to a covered two shell.

Like that's the kind of recall that the elite guys have. And like being around some elite, like Brian Greasy, even working with Brian Greasy, who one of the greatest minds I've ever been around in terms of offensive football. He's now the quarterback's coach with the 49ers and obviously, you know, doing a great job. But they have an unbelievable recall that you and I just can't even quite understand.

And the point to all this is, he's like, with Trevor, it was shocking how little he could remember in comparison to those guys. And he's like, that doesn't mean he's not smart. It doesn't mean it's just like he got basically what that told them and what it would tell any head coach or scouting director is that he gets by on the physical, you know, physical traits. He's always had that ability to do what he does. The offense at Clemson wasn't, you know, all that intricate and complex like an NFL offense. And so he's going to have to be coached really well and guided along as he transitions. We saw with Doug Peterson coming in, he was able to do that. But my question is, does he have that recall and football, you know, the mental makeup, I guess, to take it to another level.

And it's a question mark. It's not me saying I don't think so or he will or anything else. I just wonder when I see sometimes when he's a quarter count late, you know, recognizing a coverage quarter count late, getting the ball out, you know, makes the wrong read here or there, tries to force something in. I just wonder going back to that specific conversation that I had that I've never shared before, if maybe some of it is he's just not processing it like that, you know, like the elite guys do. Just a question, a question to answer your question, which I know you don't want, but, but at least there's a story behind it.

No, but that's, that's better insight than just going like, oh, you know, he's, he's, he's making mistakes. And I know that it may not mean anything. He may be fine. But I started to have a little bit more hope for Jacksonville. And I felt like watching him last year, because remember how bad the beginning of his career was, which is fine. I mean, some rookie quarterbacks absolutely stink and then go on to have great careers. So it was just funny because I was like, man, he's actually making mistakes that at least like, like, what are you looking at?

And then last year, you're like, all right, we're good. We're good to go here. But yesterday just wasn't very good. Maybe it was the ankle. Who knows? But I'm beyond I'm not I'm not picking Jacksonville against anybody in the playoffs. I think that's what the part of it that I'd be kind of shocked if I ended up going, you know, actually, I think I will pick him this week. But we have a few weeks to go.

All right, another quarterback thing, then we'll get to the draft stuff. The only thing I'll say, certain teams, like the Eagles are one of those teams. I think the Chiefs are one of those teams. The Jaguars are certainly one of those teams. Some teams right now need a little bit of a schedule break, and I think Jacksonville is one of those. They have the Ravens next week, and that probably won't won't end well but going into the playoffs at least they finish up with the buccaneers and the panthers and so that's an opportunity to you know

to get right and to try to build some momentum it's amazing like it's amazing what one game one week can do in terms of the momentum and even in the media, just like, oh, well, this team, they got right, they got fixed. And it kind of builds up. So at least there's that silver lining. The last two weeks, they should play good ball. They should play better ball in week 17 than they do in week 16. And certainly in week 16 compared to the previous few weeks going into that.

So we'll see how it plays out i hear you i'm in agreement on that but i do look at that schedule with the bucks and the panthers as an opportunity to get right and gain some confidence that they seemingly have lost yeah and then at the titans uh in the final week of the season okay uh justin fields it seems like people like him again um but i can't imagine enough for Chicago to pick up the fifth-year option. Granted, he still has an extra year on the rookie contract, but it'd be around $23-24 million based on

estimates I was looking at this morning from the pick-up to fifth-year option. I still think he misses. I think even in the win yesterday, there's some throws. Those third-down sacks that kind of take you out of field goal range. He had, I think, one of those again, at least one. So, well, maybe he's worth more in a trade,

but if you're running the Bears, you can't actually be contemplating this, correct? I'm trading Justin Fields. I mean, I'm trading Justin Fields and getting whatever I can for him. I don't want to bring in a rookie and have, and it has nothing to do with Justin Fields at all. He's a great guy and he'll do whatever his role is. He'll have to handle it.

It's not you. It's us. It's not you. It's us. It's not you. It's me. It's definitely you. But it's definitely Justin Fields and his play.

But to me, it's time to move on. I'm Ryan Poles. This is my mentality. Justin should get a chance somewhere else, me, it's time to move on. I'm Ryan Poles. This is my mentality. Like, Justin should get a chance somewhere else, but it's not going to be here. And I want to start over with younger, healthier, and cheaper. Those are the three things that I can't get out of my mind. I need younger. And he's 24 years old.

I get it. But I'm going to get a 21, 22-year-old, right? And so I'm trading in a 24-year-old who's going to turn 25 next year for a 22-year-old in Caleb Williams, who will be 22 until November of his rookie year. I'm trading in a quarterback who's had injury issues with Caleb Williams, who, yeah, is undersized and has a tendency to run and gets nicked up, but has not taken the beating that Fields has to this point.

and gets nicked up, but has not taken the beating that Fields has to this point. And I'm training in a quarterback who's had around 35 starts, I think. I'm just ballparking it right now. But he's struggled to complete 60% of his throws. And truthfully, when you have to throw the ball intermediate, vertically, timing throws, anticipation, you can't rely on him. And so he's a phenomenal athlete. I think Chicago has misutilized him a good portion of his career, but I think he needs to go somewhere. He needs to go

somewhere personally, fresh start, new offensive coordinator, someone who's going to go all in with Justin Fields and give him an opportunity. And hopefully he's learned from some of his things and he gets the right place at the right time with the right coordinator and is able to build his career. But if I'm Chicago, how many opportunities do you get as a general manager, Ryan Poles, where you've made some good moves in the draft

as an organization this past year, you've got the first overall pick currently right now, and what is the fifth overall pick whatever the um whatever it is no this i think it's the sixth overall picks uh first and sixth overall picks pick as of right now if the draft order came out and so i picked one in six and i got an opportunity to bring in a generational type talent and Caleb Williams and pay him around, I think it's $6 million that'll escalate between like six and 12 over the next four years versus paying, I think 12 million next year is what he counts against the cap, Justin Fields.

And then like you said, 23, 24, 25 million the following year, and then having to do a deal with him and move forward if you choose to that's going to be even higher than that so like i said it's all about younger healthier cheaper and starting over for chicago this is the year to do it you bring in a quarterback in caleb williams at one and then at six maybe you draft one of these elite wide receivers in this class you know keon coleman from florida state a big guy to be that guy for Caleb Williams, and then you go from there. I think, to me, it's an absolute no-brainer. I don't care how good he plays. I think it's great for him personally, Justin Fields, but I don't think that anything he does in the next three weeks will have any bearing on what Chicago is going to do with that

position moving forward. Okay, that's a good way to end this then, because we'll take a look then, because I know you like to do this as we visit, just kind of looking ahead to projections on some of this stuff. So Chicago has the Panthers pick at one, then Caleb Williams is the no-brainer, then New England's at two, so I assume it's just Drake May. At what point does this start to change up, do you think? Yeah, I mean, right now we're looking, if the draft was tomorrow, it's Chicago 1, as you said, from Carolina, New England 2, Arizona 3, Washington 4, and then the Giants are at 5. So, I mean, Jaden Daniels, first of all, congratulations on the Heisman, right? But you and I were the same in terms of the evaluation on Jaden Daniels until about third, maybe halfway through this year. And the more

tape I've done on him recently, the more I think legitimately he has locked himself in as the number three quarterback. And I'll be surprised if he's not a top 10 pick. Okay. Let's just stop there. Let's just stop there. Cause it was the Ole Miss game for me seeing it in person. Um, but I think this, you know, speaks to just my career-long fascination with the quarterback hit slash miss rate with the first rounders in particular. Because how does it go from Shador Sanders a month into this season is probably the third quarterback, if not battling it out for Drake May, to nobody even talks about him anymore, to Jaden Daniels, who goes from I'm not sure. Which I think anybody that watched him last year in the very beginning of this year, like I understood it. I mean, I was saying it.

I ended up being wrong. He won the Heisman. That's terrific. But then to say now he is an NFL guy that was never even mentioned in this group to now have locked me in a top 10. So it's called natural, natural progression, right? It's natural progression. Where should Sanders rank today?

Shador Sanders is going back to school. so I don't have to rank him today. Where's he ranked today? Honestly, if he – all right, I said he's clearly number three because Shador's going back to school and probably making more money in school with pops than he would if he was a first-round pick. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. All that Marvin Harrison stuff that's being floated around is total, utter bullshit.

The idea that this kid's going toated around is total, utter bullshit. The idea that this kid's going to get $25-30 million to go back to Ohio State for a year, which again, on top of everything else, not only that part being a lie, but the part that he would be delaying his NFL the first year of his non-rookie contract if he's that much of a dude is another part of the equation. I'm not saying you're saying it, but I just have to do a side swipe to all these accounts that seem to think that there's actually a college that's going to pay a guy 25 or 30 million to come back for one year to play receiver. So that's just a side rant there. Anyway, yeah, yeah. How to get it off my chest. But the thing that I will not get off my chest is that Jaden hadn't been mentioned as a top 10 pick up until

like what a couple of weeks ago and Shador, like nobody talks about him anymore. And he, you know, I think you watch more of it. He got his ass kicked all season long. So I'm not even sure what, I don't even know what the tape will show. Will it show him holding on to the football way too long?

Or it'll be a guy who were like, man, this guy's trying to survive. And that was the only way he thought he could survive offensively. I don't watch it. If Shador is in this class, just to answer your question. Yeah.

We're having a great debate between Shador and Jaden Daniels. And it wouldn't surprise me if Shador won out because I think he's just as explosive, if not more. I think he can do everything that Jaden can do. But I think what we saw this year, and mind you, you've got Malik Neighbors at wide receiver. You've got great receivers around him. Jaden Daniels does.

Yeah, right. Thomas is going to be, if it's not late first, he's a day two pick at worst. He has that supporting him, and Shador simply didn't. His offensive line was terrible so it would it would honestly be a great debate as you pour into the tape but i'm not going to spend all this time that i have 450 players to do on shador who i know is going back to school but i i will give you that it would be shador versus jayden for number three in my opinion it will okay all right that that actually surprises me then so um yeah that i knew obviously he was going back, but I'm talking about how important the position is

and how quickly it shifts. It's the Matt Barkley. Matt Barkley's going to be the first pick. Now he's going to be in the fourth round. Hackenberg. And I'm not calling you guys out as draft guys, but it's ridiculous the variance of where somebody can be projected and then 12 games later, it's like,

now we wouldn't even use a day two on this guy and that's this isn't a rant towards you i just no but it's a momentum swing make no mistake it's a rant i don't care who it's a rant the momentum question seven minutes later i haven't been able to say word go ahead oh is i talking too much today i wouldn't say talking too much but ranting too much yes uh i don't and i don't have it as i do it i don't have an answer for it so i don't know what like you gave me the answer and i'm actually impressed that you still think shador would be in the conversation with jay absolutely jayden it's it scares me you know the funny thing is the irony of the lsu part of this is that Joe Burrow,

his first year with LSU, he's all right. Yeah, so don't draft Joe Burrow. Don't draft Joe Burrow one overall because he wasn't great at Ohio State or he wasn't great in his first year at LSU. You beat me to the point. I was waiting for you to shut up.

And then I was going to cite Joe Burrow. It's natural progression. Joe Burrow didn't get to play at Ohio State. He came in his first year. He was learning the system and gained confidence and finally came back after a full offseason and really understood where to go with the football and what to do and what his reads were.

And he took off that final year. And then he's become the player that he is. I mean, it's not that dissimilar. It's not, you know, that far off from what you're seeing with Jaden Daniels played at Arizona state. He ran around. It was like, it was like, it wasn't good. And it was, it was exciting. And it was, it was electrifying early in his career. Then it took a turn for the worse. There was all sorts of shit going on at Arizona state. Transfers to LSU. First year, I sat in two different meetings with the coaching staff. And I remember distinctly

hearing, he's got to pull the trigger. He hasn't thrown an interception. I want him to throw an interception. Brian Kelly looked at me deadpan in the eye on the sidelines before one of his games and said, I hope he throws an interception today because everyone wants to talk about how great it is. He hadn't thrown an interception like six or seven games. He's like, he's also, he's not getting out of the nest. Like he's not taking chances. Let it rip is what he kept saying. I wrote it down on those big books, big notebook pages that we have with all the rosters.

And I wrote down three times, let it rip, let it rip, let it rip, because they wouldn't shut up about let it rip. And that was the whole key for him. And finally, early in that game that I was at, I want to say it was Ole Miss, but whatever the game was, the first throw of the game, they purposely designed an anticipation comeback route on the sideline, and the ball was out before the receiver broke, and he was completely covered, but he threw it. It was an incompletion on a tip pass but it was like all

right that has been the emphasis and from that point on you saw him start to play within the offense and take chances and trust that hey open doesn't have to mean i see him physically open open is i'm going to throw him open and so it got better as the season went on last year he comes back with these receivers everyone's healthy you don't have josh booty and all the drama and all the shit that was going on a year ago this year he's got a bunch of guys that are committed that are all in and talented and a coordinator he now knows verbiage he understands the system he understands and you mean max johnson by the way, right? What's that? You mean Max Johnson, right? No, I meant Kayshaun Booty.

Oh, Kayshaun Booty. I thought you said Josh Booty. No, I'm sorry. Maybe I said Josh. Kayshaun Booty. Kayshaun Booty, the receiver who was supposed to be the superstar. They moved him in the slot. He was bitching and moaning during the preseason and throughout the season.

There was all sorts of drama there. This year, he's got guys that are all in. And you've seen the level go like this from from bottom to top you know it's been unbelievable to see and you look in the nfl like what wins mobility creativity extending plays is is now the bar that's set for quarterbacks coming in the league very few i mean very very few are capable without mobility of having success in the NFL. And even like Joe Burrow is not a great runner, but he extends. He's a, he's a really good athlete. Like there are certain guys that, that are able to extend

in different ways. And, and Jaden, to me early in his career is going to have some struggles. He's still going to be learning just like he was at LSU a year ago, but he's got that mobility to create and extend. I think that's why he has risen as much as any prospect at any position over the course of the last 17, 18 months, going back to the middle of last year. Jaden Daniels is probably the fastest riser of any player in the country. Okay. That was good. Going back to the point though, and I know I'm a i'm a junkie i'm a weirdo with this stuff but caleb goes one to chicago new england starts over quarterback with with drake may arizona sits there at three and ordinarily you say well arizona should trade out nah you

take you take marvin harrison jr and you get a you know a truly a generational talent at wide receiver and then at was Washington sitting at four, are they moving forward with Sam? Or is that, is that their guy? I believe that like, they seem to believe in him, but you got new ownership, probably a new head coach.

Like that'll be interesting to see. And if Washington doesn't take a quarterback at four, that's the spot they trade out. Is it Las Vegas trying to get ahead of the giants? Is it Atlanta trying to get ahead? I think not only is Jaden Daniels moved up and is going to be a first round pick, we could see a team trade up into the top five to go get Daniels. And that's why just looking at this whole thing and coming off the Heisman, it seemed like it was timely to talk about because we've really always talked

about on this podcast, Caleb Drake and Marvin Harrison Jr. But Daniels now is in that mix and he could be a big factor in the top 10 and could be part of the early movement in the draft. Because Chicago's not moving. New England's not moving. Arizona's not moving, if those are the top three picks. So it gets interesting at four, and Jaden Daniels could be the guy that teams covet.

Yeah, that was awesome, man. I like the way we finished that up, and I want to get to the number of quarterbacks that are even in play for the first rounders next time we talk to you. All right, man? You got it, brother. Sorry for yelling at you.

It was partly deserved. We had a technical issue on my end today with Life Advice, so we did Vegas recap, and we only did one answer and the audio is going to be a little off and that was the best we could do. We'll make it up to you on Wednesday. They say money can't buy happiness. Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork I have every toy you can

possibly imagine and best of all kids I am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required before we get to life advice I want to recap a little bit of Vegas and I want to welcome in Kyle. What's up, buddy? What's happening? Not much. We got a good life advice for you later. We're going to need you on this one. Shout out to Suri as well. So I went to go

see you two at the Sphere and it was kind of funny because I've got my music buddy now, Brad. Give him a shout out on the pod. And I met him not even a year ago. He came up to me at the live taping of All the Smoke because Legends. Matt Barnes is an investor in Legends.

I'm an investor in Legends. And All the Smoke was doing a live podcast at some fancy hotel in LA. Magic Johnson was there, the whole deal. And this guy, Brad, comes up with a musical. I'm a big fan of the pod. Some Vermont connections. Used to manage Phish. And then this guy's invited me to like a million concerts.

It's been incredible. It's like I feel bad because it's been like a one-way relationship. I need to do something for him. So he- Well, the story, come up to Rosillo in public. It might work out. Yeah, right. Well, I did get him tickets to uh the in-season tournament thing i felt felt good about doing something for him so he was in vegas because he wanted to see the live show and by the way those of you that are

looking for the live show podcast of me and bill uh it does not exist it was canceled for obvious reasons with the shooting at unlv so um that, um, that, that there was never an episode, so you're not missing anything. Um, so my guy's like, Hey, do you want to go to the sphere? And I was like, yeah, kind of, but when, cause I got hoops and all that kind of stuff. And then I really wanted to go see Cooper flag play, uh, because he was with the EYBL games and, you know, this kid could be the number one pick in a couple of years. So I was, I was kind of like, man, I really like to get to get to watch this guy play live. And I was like, well, I have a ticket for you to a U2 at the sphere. So I actually even like contemplate it. And I'll admit too, like there was a run there for this guy who loved U2.

And then when Octoon Baby, which we've already covered a bit here, like when that came out, I was just so disappointed about the pivot, but I think that album walked so that Kid A could run where I was like, oh, okay. One of my favorite bands is doing a massive, massive pivot. And are you prepared for this? Um, it also could be that I just loved Kid A in a way that I didn't like a lot of the post you too stuff. Even though later on, I kind of like came back around and liked, um, you know, some of Zoot Rope or whatever. So I'm like, well, look, you actually used to legitimately love this band at one point. And so, you know, just because we heard vertigo, do you remember when vertigo came out and then everybody used it for ads and then it was like 18 months later and there was a new

ad campaign. Like it felt like vertigo was the only fucking song released. And then once Peter, I think Peter King had a thing in his monday morning quarterback where i think the song had been out for a year and he just said like his his little like riffs he was like vertigo um yes more please i was like okay this song's done um so anyway i i go ahead sir no i, we were kind of talking about this last night because you invited me to the show and I couldn't go. I had to go home early anyway. That's right.

I'm just not a big YouTube guy. And I think I just missed the YouTube thing because I was born in 88. You missed it. And my first memory is Vertigo. It was in all those freaking Apple commercials and I hated that song. It's annoying.

It was beat to death. and it's not their fault. That's just commercialism, guys. It wouldn't go away, though. You're right. That song had the longest awareness run. And it's a bad song. I'll never forget. It was a bit like the podcast all starting with fun

is the beginning of it, where there's probably like 10 plus podcasts. I just don't know who these marketing people are. They're're consultants and they go, Oh, I'm going to name a podcast. And I'm not knocking anyone's podcast that's named it. But like, if you're about, if you're a famous person and you're about to start a podcast and somebody tells you, you should start it with the title on it. It's fucking over. It's been done. Unless you use unwritten because obviously. Yeah. Right. Right. Or just call it unoriginal so the point would be

the point would be vertigo had this stretch where the song wouldn't go away and whatever not only that though not only that but then remember when they dropped the whole they i forget what iphone it was but they put you two's entire album on pre-loaded on every iphone and i'm like i don't want this i don't want this music Like I can't you can't delete it. It was so annoying. So you two and I got off on the wrong foot. We've really never recovered. But I admit that I'm ignorant because I don't I don't listen to their old stuff. I don't particularly like you two. And I realize I'm probably a hypocrite because I like Coldplay and they're not very dissimilar bands. So I just we got off on the wrong foot i'm never gonna be a youtube guy sorry where uh where are you kyle with youtube i think i've got a huge youtube blind spot i mean i was looking up i think i finally understand the

song you're talking about vertigo um now that i've i've been reading the lyrics uh a huge youtube blind spot i'm sure i've heard so many YouTube songs. Didn't know they were YouTube. Um, so I'm just, I'm not the right guy for this conversation. I just know that I don't know, you know, so it's just know what you don't know. And what I don't know is YouTube. Okay. All right, Mark. So you walk in, you take, you know, you take your Uber over and it's just this orb, right? This orb on a road and you're getting closer to it. And it's, it's crazy. And they had like a baby's face playing over the video. And it was like so weird. And then you get closer to it, you go in, you check in and it's like walking into the future. It kind of feels like 2001, a space odyssey, like behind the scenes, like I'm not in the venue. Think of the

venue as a movie theater so where you'd watch the band you know you'd walk through a lobby to go in to see a movie in the actual theater part of it but before that there's concessions and all this kind of stuff and then the the the hard part for me was that octoon baby was going to be the majority of what they were going to play so i was like oh and yet that so cruel song with the piano, they isolated like the three piano notes and they would just kind of play it in the background, not the song, but with this, this ominous thing that actually got you really fired up. It sounded incredible. So you'd be like walking around, you're grabbing a beer, you're going up to the,

wherever you're sitting. I mean, we, we had a we had a suite so whatever i mean it was pretty sick obviously yep and i was just throwing out there um full context and so you know you're walking into there and you're just hearing this little piano riff and you're actually being like man this is about to be incredible the venue is worth seeing a show there it is one of the rare things that matches, exceeds expectations. The screen behind it is fucking crazy. They mess around with it a little bit in the beginning, but then they start showing these landscapes. At one point, they were in the desert. Another point, they had the burning flag, which made it look like red rocks. They had another moment where it looked like they were just on a city block, like on a corner in vegas in the strip with traffic going on behind it the whole time and it looks so real that at one point it looks like you

two was actually outside and we're all outside together with the way the screen works the backdrop so you know classic spear stuff you start digging into it it's like you know they're actually losing a little bit of money you'd be like okay actually now I had a worse time then. Cool. But U2, I think it was more about the venue than it was even watching U2 because they mucked it up, I thought, with a little bit of an acoustic set.

I thought it could have been louder. But, you know, early days, just working through all the technical stuff. I mean, U2 was kind of fun and it was, you know, whatever. I think that residency stuff must be tough to bring top energy every single night in a row. But it is worth seeing if you have the chance to go see a concert there

because that screen is everything it is built up to be. Okay, let's get to life advice. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Let's see here. We had a lot of people that chimed in after the painting thing. One guy just said straight up, hey, you married that art. That's a great point.

That is great. I just think people have to understand that you I just think people have to like understand you. Yeah. You have to understand that like you, she's so happy about this and it's probably going to be a phase. So, I don't know. Um,

I like that, but I also hate it. Cause that, that means like what you could never be honest with your, with your significant other. Like I, I'm very pro like, you know, tell me if my breath stinks. I'm not afraid.

You know what I mean? Tell me these things. I want to know that I'm fucking up. Don't just be nice to me all the time. Yeah. You're just not in charge of what goes on the walls in your house. And I think that's the case for a lot of dudes in a dude-girl-woman relationship. But I think it should be okay to say something.

My wife's into birds right now. Lots of birds. Big bird phase. Huge bird phase, and they're everywhere. Is it a rabbit pivot? Well, the rabbits are their own thing, but it's rabbits and birds is sort of the emerging theme. If I have to get anything, unplug something,

reset the internet, I'm moving all these birds, and then I just sort of get like i see red and i'm like why are there so many fucking birds around here i can't get any it's just it's controlled clutter she calls it i think it's out of control but uh we've talked about it though that's my point i've never even been there and i hate it uh you compromise and you're gonna you're gonna have the birds that's what's gonna so the rabbits maybe they get broken maybe they fall off the shelf i don't know the rabbits were okay computer and the birds are kid a yeah but huge blind spot there but it sounds like you know what you're talking about okay let's it's uh you guys gonna have to do the lifting on this one uh six four two twenty twenty five no real gym numbers but i work out frequently i've

lost 60 to 70 pounds in the last year before and after attached okay because i thought he was like sending me action shots of himself and then i I realized, okay, this guy's lighter now. So that's why I sent it. In my high school days, I was called Kevin Love by fellow pickup players, but through time I've transitioned to a Ryan Anderson Rockets role. Very good. That's a good one. My girlfriend and I started dating in 2016, a few months after we met our freshman year in college. We had our flurry of breaks throughout school. So neither of us feel that we missed out on college single life. Not super important, but just to rule out that thought later. We've had a great relationship, good communication, perfect mix of similarities, differences, and we both get along with each other's friends,

families really well. We recently hit seven years of dating. We both grew up around DC, got our first apartment together in the city, April of 22. We've since moved out to a small house with another location. I may just leave this out, dude, because she could be like, you emailed about us. My problem is this. Since we moved in together, our relationship has hit rough waters. We both get very annoyed, mad at tiny things the other person does that we would never think about before. Although we did fight a decent amount before, the intensity of them is heightened. It seems we have lost our spark that we used to have. My hope is that we are finally dealing with real responsibilities and just haven't figured out yet how to handle everything together. We still love each other and are planning to be together

for the long haul, but I can't help but feel worried about our future. Are we just in the classic conundrum of being 25? We'll look back on this and laugh. Or could there be actual irreparable issues brewing? Additional info that may be pertinent. She works in tech, makes nearly twice what I do. I'm in insurance. This is not the crux of our problems, but it rears its head occasionally. i'm back in school to finish my degree to get into the tech world in hopes of closing the wage gap we both contribute to the house dog fairly equally some weeks i do more cooking cleaning etc but some weeks she does more my school has shifted the needle of household responsibilities to her slightly uh neither of us are wildly out of each other's league. I would say both, you know.

Yeah, both. They sent pictures. Yeah, man. You guys are looking great. What do we think, cohabitants? Is this like, did you just show up to the suburbs and now you're having all these issues? Is this like when Mac and Dennis moved to the suburbs for a month or something? Like, I don't know.

It sounds like when they did this move is when you know because they've been living together right they've been had apartments and stuff and now they're in a house outside of the thing is is one of you not doing enough stuff like outside of the home like should you get out more I would just take stock of that I didn't really hear anything about that it sounded like you moved from like a busier spot to a little quieter spot maybe that's just a bit of an adjustment period there i mean it's it's not adding up from everything you're saying but um it's definitely a possibility i would say it's probably a bit of a red flag it's not it's i don't think it's like over but you know usually you move in before you make the serious decisions about getting engaged and married and that's a lot of like that's where a lot of relationships end.

And I've said this multiple times, like I'm very good friends with a lot with like a couple of guys and I could never live with most of them. And dating is a very similar way. Now, luckily when my wife and I moved in together, um, she kind of lived down the street from me when we were going to ESPN anyway.

So like we were kind of over each other's houses a lot and saying over his weekends and stuff like that, pack a bag. So it was like a, you know, a weekends and stuff like that, pack a bag. So it was like a, you know, a soft launch, I guess, to living together. But both of us are pretty laid back. But yeah, like if one of you is just doing more than the other person, that's always going to be a problem. So, you know, if you're doing the school thing

and she feels like the dishes and the food and all that stuff's always on her, that's just going to create more and more problems. I don't really get that vibe. It sounds like you guys just don't really get along together living together, which I think is a normal thing. But that's that's a pretty serious, you know, obviously roadblock in a relationship that's seven years long. Yes. Are you guys home too much is the other thing I would say. Like, is there just too much time? You guys who is one of you home too much? Like, could you if you're the one that's home too much,

maybe go find a thing to do. I don't know. My buddy does that. He works from home. Actually, I'm going to Mexico. He's getting married in a couple days. He literally leaves for a weekend just to give her some space because they just know that they need that. Maybe you need to do that. Maybe you need to just plan trips for yourself.

Go see your boys. Give her the weekend at the place by yourself. Everything kind of resets. Everybody's happy. You do that a couple times a year. Give her a chance at the place by herself. Everything kind of resets. Everybody's happy and you do that a couple times a year. A chance to miss you a little bit. I like it. Yeah. The important part here though is that Ryan

has obviously been very quiet in this discussion and I'm just wondering what kind of experience you have in this department. Literally none. I don't know. I genuinely don't know. Almost none. I lived with Carissa when I first moved out to LA because my house wasn't ready, permitting issues and whatnot. So I lived with her for, I don't know, almost three months because I was going to get

a hotel. I finally had to leave Connecticut. When I moved, it was pretty classic me in that I had a date when I was going to move. And then I don't think I actually got on the plane until like two months later. But again, the house that I had already bought, I wasn't allowed to move into it. And they told me that. And then there was this kind of gray area of like, Hey, at a certain point, we'll help you get an apartment. And I was like, okay, I'll be fair. I'm pretty fair about these things. I was like, but then there'll be a point where I need to actually, you know, if you're telling me they're like, Oh man, we have places in hermosa we've got a place by the beach you know it's it's furnished like you know we do short-term rental this whole thing and of

course when i actually needed it they showed me uh a studio in torrents deep in the torrents and i was like you know that's not really what you guys said and then the realtor actually like came back at me like i was a fucking deadbeat and uh that's the last time i talked to that realtor so um so yeah carissa was like why don't you just you know move in with me it's also an incredible study and like what you actually need day to day to live i had like two bags and a laptop and some books that's all i needed and i was totally comfortable although i think when i was at the laundromat memorial day weekend i was starting to go like hey it'd be really sweet if i had a better place to live. But, uh, she wasn't around a ton and I was, you know,

I kind of stick to myself. So that wasn't challenging. And we actually became better friends, believe it or not, instead of having issues. The only other time I've lived with a woman was, uh, there was a girl, my freshman year of college who was like, Hey, I have a house in Marlowe's vineyard. Do you want to live with me for free? I was like, yeah, no problem. And I lived there and was pretty much an 18 year old. And, uh, she was cool with it. There was never anything like, so there was a guy in my fraternity that she was dating that was older and he

like showed up to like see what was going on and there was nothing going on. There was nothing, but like he just like lingered and then he kind of like said something to me like, you're just choking on you, you know? And I was kind of like, thanks guy.

I was like, I like her friend anyway. And the thing that sucked for her is I didn't work. I ended up like not working the first six weeks of that summer and she worked nonstop. So the deal sucked for her. Like I was having buddies over and having the best time ever. And then she was literally asking me to like, so looking back, yeah, absolutely. And then it got really, it was bad at the end because I didn't want to have to go back

home. My parents, I think my, I think they were getting separated. And so I didn't want to be around it. And she said, Hey, you have to pack next week. I mean, I was completely delusional, self-absorbed, just an 18 year old shithead. And now that I think back on that, I was like, well, you know, I can regret it or I can just go, you were 18. Um, but I wouldn't say it was, it was a great part of my resume. But yeah, it's pretty much it. You've never lived with a girlfriend?

You've never lived with one? No. Wow. Just the way he said that, that was impressive. I guess. No, dude. Well, there was one that I was going to live with, but she wanted a ring first.

That's not how it works. Before you moved in? Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, we have to live together. We have to live together for a little bit. So to answer this email, the thing that kind of scares me, and we'll move on to another one because I think you guys handled it is that you fought like you. You clearly had that kind of fight, break up, get back together relationship. And I'm wondering if it's actually about the relationship and now you just live together. So the relationship isn't really all that different. It's just that you're inside together.

And I wonder how much the working from home thing is impacting relationships too, where I couldn't fathom as much as I could care about somebody. I wouldn't need that break. Now that's me. It doesn't mean it's for everybody. No, me too. It's a bit of an adjustment, let me tell you. But I think, ask yourself this question.

It's a bit of an adjustment, let me tell you. But I think, ask yourself this question. Like, you know, I've lived with my wife now for, you know, six, seven years or so. And yeah, sure, we get annoyed with each other like all the time, not in like a super mean way. But I would never be like, I can't do this long term. So if either of you kind of are like, I don't know that I could literally live with this person. I feel comfortable being away from them. That's probably your answer. Yeah.

I also think it's why you see so many men become defeated later on. They just took that red flag, put it in their pocket, and were like, fuck it. Move on. Just taking the L on this one. Yeah, we'll do a longer life advice this one. Yeah. Yeah. We'll do a longer life advice on Wednesday.

And thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Steve and Stefan. Talk to you then. Brian Russo with the podcast. You're on Spotify. . We'll be right back. Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777, or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700, or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana. Visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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