The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Ranking the Best Offenses and Defenses With Sheil Kapadia, Plus Ryen Gets Fleeced in France

Episode Date: August 19, 2022

Russillo is joined by The Ringer's Sheil Kapadia to discuss Deshaun Watson's 11-game suspension and $5 million fine, before ranking the best and worst offenses (0:25) and defenses for the 2022-23 NFL season (26:03). Then, Ryen tells a quick story about his trip to France, before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (43:06). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Sheil Kapadia Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're going to throw a pot at you. Shiel Kapadia is going to join us and talk about the offenses and defenses of the NFL, rank them all. And he was also at Brown's camp today with the Deshaun reaction. And we'll do some life advice. So there you go. This episode is brought to you by Uber E advice. So there you go. with the delicious crumb topping? Total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now.

Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. This is huge. This is huge for The Ringer. And I know that I'm selfishly excited. We spent our cap space well this summer and Shilka Padia joins us now

as a full-time member of The Ringer covering the NFL. What's up, man? Congratulations. Thank you. Good to be here on a little camp tour. So trying to hit the ground running and NFL season is nearly upon us. Okay. All right. Before we get to the rankings of every offense and every defense that you have right now on Ringer.com, I want to talk about Deshaun Watson.

You're in Cleveland at their camp. Every headline out today. And again, to go over the timeline, Deshaun Watson, originally by an arbiter suspended for six games, the NFL appeals that it's 11 games, it's a $5 million fine. And Deshaun, it just does as bad of a job with this of responding. There's no remorse, people are frustrated. I think that all of this is fairly predictable, that we weren't going to get the remorse that people wanted. I don't know what the magic number is of games, but now it's just a very frustrated audience, whether it's media or fans. So what can you make of all of it? Well, I can understand it because there has been a defiance with Watson this entire time. And it

probably goes to what you said. He feels like in his head, he did not do anything wrong. But now we have other parties and we have an arbiter who said this was predatory. His behavior was egregious. And so I think there was a sense that, all right, if there is this settlement, part of the settlement is going to be Deshaun Watson's going to be remorseful. You know, he did an interview before the first preseason game where he was headed down that path where it said like, okay, he's going to be remorseful. It's not asking for a bunch of details. We know that's not going to happen. He's not going to come out and say, this is exactly what I think happened. This is what happened. But you thought he was going to go down that path and say, listen, I made some mistakes. I might not have realized it, whatever.

I don't know what the right language is, but this really was the opposite. I mean, he came out and said, I stand by my innocence, didn't do anything wrong, admitted to no wrongdoing. And then you have the Browns ownership coming out and saying, well, counseling takes time. And, you know, ask him again in three months and he might speak differently. So just the messaging about it, the consistency about it. I think a lot, you know, I think a lot of times we will give people second chances, make excuses, whatever you want to say, when you feel like there is a little bit of that understanding. And I think it felt like it was headed that way. And then all of a sudden he comes out and talks after this and it's not headed that way. Yeah. And then there was also just the phrasing of the use of the word triggered, which just isn't going to go over well when we're talking about

something this serious. And it also mirrored ownership mentioning trigger too. So it was odd in that respect. I guess I just want to be clear in that I just feel like there's a very human pattern in the way this stuff plays out where somebody does something really shitty and then because they're special to be rewarded and they have a hard time processing that and then we're mad they're not processing it the way we want them to. And it's just kind of the cycle. And like, guess what? Every Cleveland fan is going to stick up for the guy because they're psyched they have somebody at quarterback. I read something today that said the Browns did a poor job of vetting Deshaun. And I'm like, I don't know if that's really what happened or unless they were like, hey, guess what?

We could probably get a really good quarterback in here who's a top five guy when things are right when he's really young. top five guy when things are right when he's really young. I think it makes just the, I don't like the word optics, but the idea of the highest paid quarterback, the highest paid NFL employee in the history of the league is Deshaun Watson coming off of all this stuff doesn't look great. But look, Miami wanted him. At one point, I think they thought they were getting him. Atlanta definitely thought they had him. And then Cleveland steps in with the most money that we've ever seen paid to any player. So there's a bunch of it that's super disappointing, but also predictable when it comes to pro sports. I'm not saying it's right.

I guess I'm just numb to it going any other way. Yeah, I mean, there are probably so many more teams we could even mention. Honestly, there were teams that looked into it and just were told right away, basically, he's not interested in you. And so, I mean, I don't know what the number is, whether it's a quarter of the league, whether it's 40% of the league. I mean, basically almost every team that I can think of or have talked to or have heard of that had a quarterback issue or didn't have a franchise quarterback at least looked into it. And as you said, there were at least four of them that were like, let's get a meeting and let's really go after this. I mean, I understand the frustration for many, including myself, just speaking honestly.

And I think what it is, it's just that he's sort of acted untouchable throughout the process. And so it's not that teams were interested. We all get that. We've all watched sports. You know, guys are going to do things. And then if they're talented enough, they're going to get a second opportunity. It was just sort of this invincibility that he had around him. And you kept thinking,

is this really going to last? And then he gets the, you know, teams are interested. And then he gets the big, the contract you just mentioned. And then he gets the biggest guarantee ever. And then it was six games that you're going, is that really enough?

And so I think that just built and built and built to the point where we are. You know, I think if at the beginning of this, if someone would have said, hey, 11 games, $5 million, and he does admit some wrongdoing. I, you know, I know in your I know what you're saying. It's not going to make a difference in whether he plays games or not. But I do think that part of it at least matters a little bit, just sort of the humanity of

it you want. You're looking at a guy who has been called predatory, egregious, and you just want him to say, you know what, take some responsibility. And that wasn't what he did. And so he said he's going to come out and be able to offer more details and finally explain his side of the story. We'll see if that ever happens. I'm skeptical that it ever will. I'm sure they feel like let's get it all out of the way one day. People will forget about this by week 12, maybe not completely. But once we're playing football, there will be fewer questions about it. And I think that was their strategy.

Yeah, no, I think you're right. All right, let's get to the football on the field stuff here. Your pieces are both up right now on Ringer, ranking every offense, ranking every defense. Top five offenses. You go Chiefs, Buffalo, Chargers, Tampa Bay, and you have Cincinnati routing out the top five, correct? Yeah, I do.

Okay, all right, let's start with the Chiefs. Give me the profile of who the Chiefs were last year as an offensive team. Up and down, but in the end, one of the best offenses in the NFL. I mean, I think it's disgenuous to say, oh my gosh, why were people worrying about the Chiefs? We all watched the Chiefs, and there were games in there

that were some of the worst of the Mahomes-Reed era. But guess what? The great quarterbacks, the great coaches, they have that ability to figure it out. And by the end of the year, they had it figured out. Whether you're looking at it statistically, eye test, whatever, we all watched that Chiefs-Bills game. And then the next week, they have a disastrous game or disastrous second half against the Bengals. So there were some inconsistencies. The explosive plays were not as available to them as they were in previous years. But man, if you just look at it efficiency wise, they were able to figure it out when you look at the larger sample. And so if you're giving me Mahomes, read a top five offensive line, which I do believe they have. And I think they have enough weapons. It's not going to look the

same as it did with Tyreek Hill. But man, it man, I think it's still going to be pretty good. Okay, you got the Bills second. Tell me about what they were like in their aggressiveness passing the football in the early downs and what your thoughts are as they move away from Brian Dables now, the head coach, obviously with the Giants. Two big questions with the Bills. One is some offensive line issues, the right side of their O-line. It feels like every Bills game the last two years when it hasn't gone well, they've had pass protection issues. But what you said is really what I'm focused in on here is that Brian Dayball threw the football more than any coach, any play caller in the NFL over the last two years. And that includes Andy Reid, which is really saying something because we've all watched Andy

Reid. And so now you have a first-time offensive coordinator in Ken Dorsey, and you have a defensive-minded head coach in Sean McDermott. And so I believe that when you have Josh Allen and you have a run game that's mediocre and you have a pass game that's really good, you should be passing the football a lot as much as Brian Dayball did. And so I have a little worry that McDermott might have a little more influence and say, hey, Ken, let's be a little bit more balanced. We don't always need

to go for it. We can run the football more. And I know on the surface you would say, well, what's wrong with that? I just think it's going to lead to less efficiency with them because I think they're going to be a pretty mediocre run game. And think if you're I always like to put my shoes in like the defensive coordinator, myself in the defensive coordinator shoes, like when they're handing the ball off to Devin Singletary. I mean, if I'm a defensive coordinator myself in the defensive coordinator shoes like when they're handing the ball off to Devin Singletary I mean if I'm a defensive coordinator I'm clapping that that's great the ball's out of Josh Allen's hands I'm all for that so I think you don't want to do that even if defenses are kind of daring you to do that and just this is probably how I should intro the entire thing that we're doing here based on the pieces is how you're ranking these it isn't just

hey here's Shields thoughts independent of every single metric out there but how you're ranking these. It isn't just, hey, here's Shields' thoughts, independent of every single metric out there. But what you're providing DVOA, you've got EPA in there. And then I also think some of the games lost on both sides of the football. So if you could just give us a quick template for how you're applying that to how you see the offenses and defenses that we'll get to. Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to look at everything.

What does the roster look like? What changes did they make in the offseason? What coaches, what coaching changes did they make? What did the numbers say? And then there's these areas of regression where you say, if a team was like the most injured offense in the NFL last year, you know, chances are they're not going to be as hurt by injuries this year. And so you can look at it and say, if they get league average injury luck, league average, you know, turnovers are part skill, part luck, you know, you have a fumble and somebody falls on it and there's a randomness to it

or there's a deflected pass. So those are some of the things you can look at. So I'm just trying to get a whole picture of these teams going into 2022. All right, so we got the Chiefs' bills. Number three, go Chargers. I think you and I, our first dialogue ever was, hey man, really like what you're doing.

I too love the chargers this year. And I think it's been maybe a four year tradition for you and I, I would look at the personnel and I go, man, if things can really click for the charges, like I think this team could be awesome. We know the defensive concerns, but who are they on offense? Yeah. If we do it for like the next 10 years, I think one of the times we will be right. So let's just continue to stick with it. I mean, I feel like there's not even a lot

we have to say about the Chargers. Like we are our eyes watch Justin Herbert and anyone who's watched football for more than a year. You're just like this guy is amazing. Like the ceiling is I mean, the Hall of Fame,

one of the best of all time, like that ceiling is available to him with his skill set. And so last year, it wasn't necessarily always pushing the ball downfield. You know, they were a little bit more methodical. They had some issues on the right side of their offensive line. This year, they draft a guard in the first round, so they fixed the right guard situation, you would think. And we'll see what happens at right tackle.

But they've really rebuilt that offensive line pretty well over the last couple of years. And so I'm just looking at Herbert, the offensive line, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Austin Eckler, like they were a top five offense last year. I think Herbert's going to win the MVP. He's my pick for MVP this year. I think he's going to put up crazy numbers. Then I think they're going to win the AFC West. And so like, you know, like you said, I've been wrong before on the Chargers to take it with a grain of salt, but man, I just, since like the second or third game, Herbert washed, I've been wrong before on the Chargers, so take it with a grain of salt. But, man, I just, since like the, what, second or third game, Herbert washed, I'm just like, holy cow, this guy is special. And so one of these years, he's just going to have

that completely ridiculous season, and I think it could be this year. Tampa's pretty self-explanatory. So I do want to get to Cincinnati at number five because the story seems to be that they're not the story, that it's the part the depth of the afc it's all the different quarterbacks and the team that represented the afc and i get it too it wasn't like cincinnati was you know week one to week 18 the team and everybody knew about it it's still kind of a surprising run but i think the story is that they're not the story and you

seem to be kind of going against that yeah Yeah, I usually like going with the nerds, like going with the numbers as much as possible. I'm not there with the Bengals. And so the case against them is pretty much what we laid out. You're anti-nerds, you're pro-Bengals when it comes to Cincinnati. When it comes to Cincinnati. Normally I'm pro-nerd and I would include myself in that group most of the time, as people can probably tell. But I just look at them and their issues last year. So I think the case against them is that, hey, they weren't great last year. You know, they made the Super Bowl.

But if you look at the advanced numbers, the offense was good. The offense wasn't great. They had kind of an easy schedule. And so there are some of these things that you look at and say, man, you know, don't just go off them making the Super Bowl. But when you just look at it, their issues are very solvable to me. And one of them is Burrow was coming off a knee injury last year and their offensive line wasn't good. And they were running the ball way too much for most of the season. And so they were taking the ball out of his hands. And so I think that led to their offense not being very good. And then the other one's obvious. We've seen their offensive line. I mean, they give up nine sacks against the Titans legitimately, one of the bottom three offensive lines in the NFL. And then they went out and they signed three, I would say, competent starters. There's no one who's an all pro who you're going to say, wow, this guy, you know, Chris Collinsworth is going to be drooling over

this guy on Sunday night football, but they're three competent starters. And so if that offensive line goes from like 30th to let's say 17th, just picking a number out of nowhere. And all of a sudden they're saying, all right, Burrow looks good. We can throw the football more. He may be the most accurate quarterback in the NFL. I just feel like they're going to be able to make up for some of those issues that they had for a long time last year. So yeah, I'm in on the Bengals. Yeah, no, you pointed it out. 51% passing on early downs. You're like, okay, with Burrow and the weapons, like, why would you do that?

Because the one thing that I think is consistent with how you feel about any team, and this is something we talked about before, and it's very clear now, like, if you like your guy behind center, why are you wasting bullets by running the football? 100%, well said. That was much better said

than i said it yeah and and that's really what the game has become you know it hasn't just been you on this early down neutral setting stuff it's just if you have the personnel for it why are you making why are you bailing the defense out by trying to be balanced like what's the fucking point and i think there's a lot of numbers that prove that this is the right way to go about it it was very clear for much of the season and maybe it's because that old line maybe it's burrow coming off the injury here cincinnati didn't trust that combination to throw it more because you said 51 but they did face the second easiest run of defenses on their schedule last year which you also pointed on the piece okay norm i'm not going to go one through 32 so

don't worry about it um we wouldn't have time to do that this week, but I think the Rams combo, the thing I love about it is you just go, Hey, if it's McVay and it's Stafford, I want you to expand on this, what he is against man coverage and what he is against the blitz. If it's those, if it's those two guys, you're penciling in at worst, just a top 10 offense. absolutely i mean to me like like the most valuable thing is having the great quarterback the second most valuable thing is having the offensive coordinator who can do more with less and you know even if you're not the biggest mcveigh guy like his offense has been good what four out of five years and three of the four of those years were with jared golf so anytime a coach does more with less that has to get your attention and now

he doesn't have to do more with less because he has a talented quarterback, like you mentioned. And yeah, just Stafford's numbers against man coverage and against the Blitz were just like so far and away the best in the NFL last year. Like, I mean, if you just look at the gap between him and number two, it was like the same as the gap between number two and number nine or number two and number 12. And so he has answers. They have answers against man coverage. And so he has answers. They have

answers against man coverage. And if you're going to send pressure. So now all of a sudden, if you're a defense and you're afraid to do those things, it shrinks your playbook a little bit more. There are numbers that probably suggest, hey, just play zone against Stafford. Try to get home with your front four. That's your best chance. It might not always work. And so we'll see if more teams do that. But I just kind of trust the infrastructure there. Unless Stafford, that elbow issue, unless it's like a major thing and we're saying in week six, oh my gosh, he can't push the ball downfield, which I don't expect. I just have confidence that this is again going to be top five, top eight offense. Okay. One team that I definitely want to touch on here is Arizona. You have them 17th. Hopkins not being there for the first six

games of the season. It's weird because it's like, does Kyler wear down? Does Cliff become too predictable? I think there's so many people that are anti-Kingsbury, which I think you are as well. But then I'll think like, okay, does that mean you think Kyler would be steadier all season with somebody else? Because I also think he's the kind of guy of his frame, when he gets dinged, it's a lingering thing where some of these other quarterbacks can come back the next week and not look like they're hurt. I felt like last year was a very good example of how that injury against Green Bay, it looked like he still had it.

He just looked like a different guy. He didn't want to do certain things after a tackle there late against the Packers. So I'm worried about what the offense is going to look like without Hopkins. But if Kyler is the guy worthy of the money that he just got, he should be able to carry him. And that's why I think that contract's so impressive in that he got the deal as if he's not even close to a question mark,

and yet I still think that he is. And the other times when I watch him, I'm like, he's definitely that guy. And that's the whole point. That's the Kyler riddle is that he's all of those things at the same time. Yeah, he's had those stretches, what, six to eight weeks where you watch him and go, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. We just saw it last year. And so you hang on to that and say, if you can extend that for longer, then yes, you

really have somebody. I just look at this offseason for them. I thought it was a disaster. I look at that relationship, and I don't know how you can look at it and say you feel good about it. I mean, they're 24-24-1 with Kingsbury and their GM, Steve Keim,

and they gave them both extensions this offseason. They've never had a top-10 offense. I mean, to your initial question there, I look at it and I go, if Kyler is playing for McVay, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, those offense, I mean, if you give those guys three years with Kyler Murray, I do believe they would have had a top 10 offense, even granted with what you said about him being banged up. And so I don't understand what answers they're going to have this year that they didn't have in the past.

They've got three offensive linemen that are 32 years old or older. So those guys are more likely to get banged up or have their play decline. And the Hopkins thing is huge. Now, maybe it's a small sample, maybe it's noise, but if you look at Kyler Murray last year without DeAndre Hopkins, completed 63% of his passes, averaged 6.2 yards per attempt,

six touchdowns, four interceptions. If you like put those numbers and thing and go, whose play does this most likely resemble? It's Sam Darnold and Andy Dalton last year. And so again, we're talking about 250 plays. There's a lot of noise with football stats because it's almost always a small sample. But I just feel like when they're rolling,

it's Kyler's making the play or DeAndre Hopkins is making the play. And so now you take out the wide receiver and I don't know, this season, to me, for them, could get ugly. Okay, the Titans used to be the statistical thing where you couldn't explain it. Because if you did a blind resume, like an NCAA tournament, teams on the bubble,

and you put Tannehill up against Breeze and, I don't know, Deshaun Watson with the Texans or something, you would be like, wow, who's that guy? And then you're like, oh, it's Tannehill? Like the numbers were absurd, but I think we all kind of knew, those of us that watched it all, we're like, those numbers are really, really good.

And that tells you something, but I don't know that's necessarily who he is. And to be fair to him, the Henry injury, and now, you know, A.J. Brown, you have him 21st. That's a steep drop-off from where they were a couple years ago. It is.

I mean, but you just look at their talent, and it's like, holy,. I mean, you know, AJ Brown, Debo Samuel, these guys who you're like offensive coordinators when it's not going well, throw a screen, throw a slam. And then all of a sudden they're off for 40 yards and the whole, you know, the offense is all of a sudden on a roll. So to not have that at your disposal and not really have a great answer. I mean, they traded for Robert Woods, uh, who is a nice player, but I don't think he's going to be able to do the same things that A.J. Brown did. I think their offensive line has question marks. And so you said it. I mean, when they were rolling a couple of years ago, it was crazy. Statistically, it was run game with Derek Henry, play action, explosive plays, A.J. Brown, and it was all clicking together. And so now,

even if Derek Henry is really good and we'll see if he can get through the season healthy, he's had such a heavy workload, I just don't think the efficiency is going to be there with their passing game, and I do just view them as a mediocre unit. You have the Vegas Raiders 13th. Is McDaniels not even close to the same guy without Brady? I mean, I believe that.

Everybody, I mean, Josh, what an impressive like PR tour Josh McDaniels has had. He just made everyone forget about every issue he's had in his career. Listen, maybe I'm open to the possibility that Josh McDaniels is great. I'm just thinking like this guy has been in the NFL for how many years and we have never seen him have success away from kind of the Belichick bubble there. Now I'll give him credit for a couple of years. He had the Matt Castle year and Mac Jones last year. I mean, those were impressive coaching jobs, but it's just hard for me to separate that

when Bill Belichick is still right by your side. And so I think they're going to have a good offense. This goes to the test I just mentioned. You give this Raiders personnel to Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, whoever your favorite play callers are. This is a top 10 offense. And so I do think we'll find out this year with Carr, with that set of weapons. If McDaniels is the offensive coordinator, the offensive schemer that a lot of people are

just convinced that he 100% is, this offense should be really, really good. I'm just in like, I'll believe it when I see a territory with him. Yeah, I just want to remind, I do it twice a year, the 2008 Pat season is one of the most overrated records ever. The schedule was a joke. Look at who their cross-divisional stuff was and all those teams that won those games. They went 11-5 and didn't make the playoffs because the other teams in the division were doing the same thing.

So they were seventh in offense that year, and it was like, look what they did, look what they did, Matt matt castle matt castle made money off of it too so so good for him but um you know mcdaniels is a really interesting one because i feel like there's little lessons in his timeline that that show us how wrong we can be about stuff in the moment which is something i always say i think in the moment we can be really wrong and when they got off to that six and i'll start with denver it's like man he's got this youthfulness this energy the players respond to him then him. Then they lose the rest of the games. They're like, he's really young. He didn't have enough respect. He didn't command the room. It's like literally he was the same fucking person and we played the results. And then the other one that I thought was interesting

with him was that after the Colts thing, it's like, oh, nobody's ever going to hire this guy again. You're like, yeah, probably. They probably will and they did and they did because the resume tells you that it's really special i defer to the people that seem to have all the respect that like people seem to really respect his play calling and offense building yeah but the numbers the resume stuff sans brady is like nobody would get a head coaching job with that stuff yeah so yeah and a lot of and a lot of it was a while ago you know to be fair to him so much comes down with whether you had the quarterback and again he did a good job last year with mac jones that offense overachieved but uh yeah there are there are years in there where it was very very ugly without tom brady or bill belichick

all right let's keep it moving here you got the bottom five cleveland last for obvious reasons because you just don't know what to do with them rank wise because the quarterback situation, although I imagine now we do Atlanta 31st, not surprising. An odd quarterback battle there. Let's go Chicago 30th. What are they trying to do to Justin Fields in Chicago? They would just be like, hey, we want you to be just absolutely like grizzled. We want you to feel awful for the first three seasons, and then maybe we'll support you. The only way I can read it is they don't really believe in Justin Fields, and they'll find a quarterback to their liking next offseason.

I don't know how you read it any other way. Now, they didn't have a lot of resources at their disposal. They were put in a bad spot, but that doesn't mean you couldn't do anything. I mean, to me, this is a bottom five offensive line and a bottom five group of pass catchers. And so like, unless Justin Fields is Superman, it's going to be really hard for him to do much of anything this year. And so you just kind of look at that new regime and I knew it was going to be a slow build, but if they came in and thought, hey, at least we have a quarterback who has the potential to be something, then you

would at least invest some resource. I mean, they were like signing, you know, veteran defensive linemen who are not going to be difference makers over addressing the offensive side of the ball. And that to me is just a huge mistake in team building. So that's the only way I can read it. I mean, this time they easily could have a top five pick next year, and that could be the end of the Justin Fields era in Chicago. Now, if he just goes out and falls out and it's like, I'm able to do this despite terrible circumstances, then all of a sudden it changes. But man, it's just, it's hard for those words coming out of my mouth or it's like difficult because I don't even see the possibility of that happening given what's around him. Okay, last offense here. I'll make it quick. The Jets. We know Wilson suffered a knee injury there in the preseason game, but what do the numbers tell

us about Wilson on and off the field? If you look at it last year and again, you're still dealing with small samples, but there was a huge gap in their performance when it was Zach Wilson out there. They were one of the three worst offenses in the NFL. When he wasn't out there, they were right, you know, middle of the pack, mediocre. And again, that's about- Which is incredible. It's incredible.

I could, I trust me. I looked that one up like three times. I'm like, holy cow. So if you're a Jets fan, you can say, well, Mike LaFleur, our offensive coordinator, maybe if he has a quarterback, he can do some good things. Maybe the supporting cast is better than some anticipated. I do think they have talent on their roster.

It's just a matter of whether you believe Wilson to make that second year leap. And the Jets are really interesting to me just looking at like next offseason. I know we don't want to do that. We want to look at this season, but they've got pieces in place where all of a sudden, if you said, man, if they could get a good quarterback in there, that roster is pretty good. So whether that's Wilson or someone else, we'll see after this season. Let's do defenses here. I don't want to keep you all day, but it's just as important as we know. All right. Top five defenses.

It sounds like a lot of the same teams, but Baltimore, San Francisco, Tampa, the Rams and Buffalo. Give me the injury stats for Baltimore and San Francisco that just by default, whatever you thought of the units last year, it can't be this bad again. They had this adjusted games lost metric that just looks at injuries. The Ravens were the second most injured defense in the NFL last year. And the 49ers were the fourth most injured defense in the NFL. Now, those two teams had very different seasons. I mean, the Ravens defense was a disaster last year, but now they're getting healthier. I think they've got talent. I think they added talent.

They made a defensive coordinator change. I think they're going to be more flexible and I think they're going to be really good. The Niners, I mean, D'Amico Ryans, their defensive coordinator last year, I think did like the most underrated job of any D coordinator in maybe the last three years. Because you look at those injury numbers I just told you, they couldn't play man coverage.

Like that just was not available to them. Like they could not have their corners play man coverage and they still were a top five defense last year. And so now I'm looking at it, and the 49ers seem to have injuries every year. But man, if they can just get closer to league average, they've got enough talent with Eric Armstead, with Bosa, with Fred Warner, and with D'Amico Ryans already having shown that he can do more with less, then I think their defense could be pretty feisty this year. Yeah, I mean, D'Amico's going to be on the list now, guys, coming up because of the work that he's done

to be a head coach, right? And the fact that I think everybody loved his personality. I don't know if he's a player, but it just seems to translate. And San Francisco consistently, like there's such an odd team to evaluate because you're like, look at the full resume. Like if you go big picture, step back from the resume,

you go, wow, this is a really good organization. Things, right? Yeah, they spent all this money on a quarterback that as soon as they got a man, they didn't like him. They used the resources to go up for Trey Lance, who was one of the most unproven top picks that we're ever going to have. And then you look at the defensive personnel, and I'm like, there's so many guys that I like. Then it also feels incredibly disappointing, which is like there's such a weird combination of all of these different things at the same time.

But I think if you're being totally fair about the Niners as an organization, you actually have to feel good about how competitive they've been and some of the playoff wins that they've had. Yeah, I think this year they're probably the most high variance team in the NFL. I mean, if you are looking for a sleeper in the NFC and there's like a spot to be had there, because I don't think there are juggernauts like there are in the AFC and you believe in Trey Lance,

that ceiling to me is there. Like if he's very good or grows and they're competitive, they've got enough defense to keep them afloat. They absolutely could be a great team this year. But, you know, for all of Jimmy Garoppolo's flaws, like you just look at how good they're, how efficient their offense was whenever he was healthy. And it's crazy. I mean, the offense worked with Jimmy Garoppolo. It didn't work because of Jimmy Garoppolo, but it worked with Jimmy Garoppolo and the record, you know, they were every year NFC championship Superbowl. I mean, two, two NFC championships or beyond

with Garoppolo. Again, that speaks to coaching. That speaks to doing more with less. So that ceiling is there for the Niners. Yeah, I still don't like him and I'm not surprised they're moving it. I also think that when it comes to teams, not that every team is right about all their quarterback decisions, but my old line is the NFL kind of tells you what they think about these guys and we spend all this time debating them. And it's like, man, if they went to do this Trey Lance thing, like that tells you after having Garoppolo in the room that many years or however many seasons you want to phrase it, it's like, oh, wait, you know, we thought this was this guy with this awesome hip turn and quick burst.

And I remember reading the piece. I don't know if it was Robert Mays or who wrote that first piece about like how it really annoyed me too because the niners are basically giving themselves credit for front loading the money on it and be like look how smart we are and then the cap hit is lower later on as if we're fucking morons and we can't understand math i'll have to forward you the article because i just was like you guys are like patting yourselves on the back. And we paid Jimmy so much in the first two years that he's actually cheaper later on. You're like, cool. Yeah.

Anyway, I'm getting off track here. All right. So if we're staying with the contenders here, then you've got Buffalo fifth. The D-line depth as you run through, go look up a depth chart for the amount of resources they put into their D line. And, you know, sometimes I think familiarity can, can mask his depth. Cause you're like, Oh, I know that guy. Oh, I remember him from Saturday and all these different guys, but there's just so many dudes. And yet that's countered by a really, really, um, questionable secondary. And really it's questionable just based on lack of just starts from the back half. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, their D-line, they bring in Von Miller. They've spent, I think, what, four or five first or second round picks on defensive linemen over the last three years. And then they went out and they signed Betfred. So yeah, they go like eight deep with guys who are potentially starting caliber players. And I think they believe that Von Miller is going to open up stuff for some of these younger defensive linemen, whether it's just his influence, his tips, or just having him on the field. So, yeah, I think that's a great defensive line.

I think they're so well coached. Their safeties are among the best in the NFL. And then you look at corner and go, shoot, Tredavious White coming off an injury. He's not going to be ready probably to start the season. And yet two rookies kind of competing for a starting job and playing rookie corner in the NFL. You know, someone was saying to me, other than quarterback, it's absolutely the hardest position to come in and be good right away. So I feel like they're a unit in September, October, there could be some really ugly weeks in there where you go, what happened to this defense? But by the time December rolls around, Tredavious White's back.

And all of a sudden, you know, some of those younger guys got more reps. I just kind of believe in the infrastructure and the coaching there along with the talent. Yeah, the fact that they could maybe be disappointing and be average and have Allen carry them offensively and then get Tredavious back later, like it may not matter statistically who they are the first eight weeks of the season. It may just not matter. Yeah. Which, you know, a lot of people tell you the NFL is a a bunch of you know it's it's four four week seasons in there yeah and depending on who kind of gets through this stuff all right i'm gonna pivot back to the chargers um because they were 25th last year in dvoa and you're going all right you know like this is becoming uh a lack of support for herbert type of thing but you are you're all in on the defense too i mean i you know what i was more

all in at first i had him i think two and i go shield what are you doing do not fall into the same trap and you gotta like check it i'm like talking to myself checking myself as i write these stupid rankings that are going to be uh you know proven wrong in january but honestly talent wise in terms of fit for what they want to do, they're absolutely top five, in my opinion, most talented defense in the NFL. I mean, Khalil Mack and Bosa, that's a great edge-rushing duo. Derwin James is an all-pro safety. JC Jackson is going to get you turnovers at corner. They've got four corners with starting experience who you can play.

That gives you flexibility if you want to play dime. And then they added these defensive tackles that just fit the scheme. We're going to allow them to play with kind of two high safeties and stop the run more. And so I'm just going through their roster going. I like a lot of these players. I like their fit in the system. Something will probably go horribly wrong here, and this will look dumb. But as I sit here in August, that certainly looks like a top 10 defense to me with a really high ceiling where they absolutely could be a top five, top two or three unit this year.

Okay, let's talk Dallas. You have them eighth. How impactful was their turnover game last season? Put that into context historically. Put that into context historically. Yeah, it absolutely was a huge factor. There's no doubt about it. If you just kind of look at some of the advanced numbers, I mean, how they benefited from takeaways was like the most of any defense in the past five years. So that's just very hard to repeat year after year. I mean, you might be a really good takeaway team, but to get to that level, there's just some randomness and some luck involved.

But having said that, if you look at some you know, some of the other numbers that, you know, this is, it's called success rate. And so basically if it's third and seven and you stop them for four, or if you have a pick six, those are treated the same way. It was a positive result for the defense. And they were still a top five defense when you look at just success rate last year. And so I look at them and I think they have enough talent to definitely still be a top 10 team, even if they slip from last year. I think Micah Parsons is going to be the defensive player of the year. I mean, he's my pick there. If you look at his pass rushing production, given the amount of snaps, it's absolutely ridiculous compared to the other pass rushers

in the NFL. So just if he's getting more opportunities, he can lead the league in sacks. He can lead the league in forced fumbles. He can be the guy that every offense is going. How are we going to game plan for this guy this week? And so I think the Cowboys are a good team, a good defense. I don't know that they're a great defense, but probably still a top 10 unit in my opinion. You know, the other thing too, is I think when you don't watch Dallas every week and you think about Trayvon Diggs and you're like, man, this guy, you know, 11 picks, there's a presence. And then you go, does this guy give up a lot of yards? Like what's going on here? And when he gets talked about because of the picks in comparison to the other shutdown guys, and if you go and look this stuff

up, you know, you don't have to buy into every single metric that you see out there. His season last year is not even close to prime Revis, prime Gilmore, prime Sherman. Now, you could argue about there's an anti-Sherman argument from years past. You could say he's not asked to do the same things. Revis, to me, I think one of his seasons that I get to see every single week was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. I'm not saying he's not special as a playmaker, but I think there's a bit of a price that you pay i don't you know i think dallas cliff harris would be unfair to the former oregon uh corner who ended up not working out but like i thought i think there's some other numbers with

digs where i go wow he gets talked about a lot like one of these dudes and he's he's good but he's not that he's not those prime guys yeah his rep gets debated by by very smart people who completely disagree on him it's yeah he's one of the more interesting players i mean there's uh i tend to you know i want a corner who is getting his hands on the football a lot even if he's giving up explosive plays i mean i just feel like the way deep it's so hard to just consistently stop offenses with the way the modern NFL is that I do really value those takeaways.

So if I had to choose, I'm on team Diggs, but you're absolutely right. If you're just looking snap to snap, playing man coverage, not giving up any yards, it's not like those other guys. I mean, he did give up explosive plays last year. Now I'll take that if you're creating those turnovers for me and I feel like he's talented enough where he can improve and not give up explosive plays last year. Now, I'll take that if you're creating those turnovers for me, and I feel like he's talented enough where he can improve

and not give up as many explosive plays. So I like Diggs, but you're right. Yeah, he is a highly debated player, again, among people who really know what they're talking about. Yeah, and by the way, what you're saying is an entirely fair point. Today's game, all right, so what? You gave up a couple third downs. Go get me the ball back. But I guess I would just say maybe people aren't really, you know, to be fair to,

I don't know that I'm hearing him called prime Revis and all this stuff, but I just think the interceptions play so well. And there's kind of like a social media. It's almost like an NBA Twitter for one quarterback. Cincinnati, we'll just touch on them quickly because I think their continuity numbers, I don't know who else is in the mix, but at least Cincinnati, even though you have them 16th, which isn't great, you like their continuity. Kind of similar with Miami where, hey, a lot of the same guys are back. So maybe that means there's some improvement. Yeah. And with the Bengals, they've got their defensive coordinator back as well. I mean, the Bengals are a good example of kind of what you need, I think, to be a good defense in 2022.

Like they don't have to be a top five defense this year with the way their roster is built. It's kind of like great offense, mediocre defense. Guess what? You're going to be really good. And then those one game samples, like what their defensive coordinator, Lou Anne Arumo, did in the second half last year against the Chiefs with dropping eight and really daring Mahomes to take what's underneath and getting to him in that way. I mean, that stretch, that was one of the worst halves of football the Mahomes-Reed Chiefs have played really since they've been together. I think it actually was the worst half they've played. So if you have a defensive coordinator who's willing to be flexible, he's not saying, hey, we have to play this way every single week. We have a certain

style he can adjust based on the opponent, based on what's happening in the game. They really showed me that they're capable of doing that. And so they easily could be better than where I have them ranked here. I just don't see kind of the talent for a shutdown defense. But again, I don't think that matters. I think they can show up in kind of those big spots when you have time to game plan for an opponent.

So I do like their defense. Bottom five, you have the Bears, plan for an opponent. So I do like their defense. Bottom five. You have the Bears, the worst. Sorry, Chicago. Tough Chicago pod today. Chicago hour would be disappointed with us. Arizona, Atlanta, the Giants, and then Kansas City rounding out your bottom five.

So let's touch on Kansas City at 28. In the four years Mahomes is their starter, you point out to the defense, I imagine this is the DVOA rankings, finished 24th, 14th, 18th, and 26th. This would be worse. There's something that I want to bring up in this, because I think this is really interesting when I read all the different previews that everybody does, is a player who's been in the league a few years that leaves in free agency and goes somewhere else is like when he's replaced in the preview, it's an upgrade for the team to replace the guy. But then somehow that guy is somehow an upgrade to the team that he also went to. Yeah.

See what I'm saying? And Charverius Ward, I think, is like the epitome of this philosophy that I have. I'm like, you can't, the team can't be better because you're gone, but now also the new team is better because you're there. Now, yes, I understand there could be, hey, that new team's personnel was so much worse than the former teams, but that's not the case here because it's Kansas City defense. I know he was a terrific tackler.

I think his coverage grades were bad. I'd rather have McDuffie the first rounder. I love that kid in college. I would rather have him as a rookie, even though I completely agree with you about rookie corners. They're going to fuck it up. They're going to fuck it up multiple times over the course of a season. I'm not telling you that defense is going to be better,

but I think the Ward conversation is really interesting. He's kind of trotted out as like, hey, man, San Francisco got him. It's's like yeah but kansas city didn't want him and i know you know the last it was the last two years i know last year he missed a few games i don't know if that was part of it too for moving on from him but i don't know go to whatever direction you want to go with the chiefs i've just i had to share that with you because i always think it's funny when i read a preview and i'm like dude it's the player. And he's talked about two completely different ways. And it could apply to Tyron Matthew here too, right?

The Saints are saying we got Tyron Matthew. Oh, he's going to absolutely be able to fill in for the safeties we lost. And the Chiefs are saying, oh, you know, Tyron Matthew wasn't very good last year. And now we signed Justin Reed. That's an upgrade. Boom, put it on the market. Mark it down as an upgrade. So, yes, we have a lot of time in the NFL offseason.

That is certainly part of the problem. I'm always skeptical of just rookies being impact players in general. I think it's one of the bigger mistakes we make in analysis. It's like for every Micah Parsons or Jamar Chase, there are a bunch of guys who just have a really hard time as rookies. And so you might be right about McDuffie. I think his skill set probably speaks to, you know, reflects a player who should be able to come in and be good right away. Smart, tough, you know, he should be able to play in their scheme. I'm just not sure

that that's going to be an upgrade for them right away. And then the Matthew Reed thing, I mean, we'll see if they're going to be okay at safety. I mean, a lot of that. I like Reed better. I do like Reed better. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he could. Yeah, he could be. I don't think that's a wild opinion. A lot of what they do, Steve Spagnuolo, is where are those safeties pre-snap? How are he disguising looks for the offense? And then where are they post-snap? That's sort of one of his calling cards. And so you absolutely need good safety play there. And so I just have questions about that secondary. I think their pass rush can be pretty decent, at least with Chris Jones is obviously fantastic. And we'll

see with Frank Clark, he's been up and down since he's gotten there and we'll see what Carl Loftus does as a rookie. I mean, if one of those rookies hits right away and you say, if you could tell me one of those guys is guaranteed to be a quality starter as a rookie, I would bump them up. I just have some questions about whether that's going to be the case. Okay, if you want to check out the rest of this stuff, go to ringer.com, where Sheil is now working with us,

and you can see where, I don't know, the plucky Carolina Panthers rank. A couple guys, personnel-wise, you run through the depth charts looking at all this different stuff. Washington swing all over the place for Commanders fans out there.

So offense, defense, and of course, live from Cleveland, Shilka Patti. Thanks as always, man. Thanks for having me. 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. All right, what's up, everybody? We haven't been live in a little while overseas again. I want to start by thanking everybody. By the way, hey, what's up, Saruti?

What's up, Kyle? It has been a little while. What was that, Kyle? Yeah, it is. We's up Saruti? What's up Kyle? It hasn't been a little while. What was that Kyle? Yeah, it is. We're sort of back. What's going on? Nothing yet. Alright, tough crowd. Tough crowd here. A lot of talk about your

attire. People love the Iceland pod, which is awesome. I'm sure you're about to get that in a second. But people, I think, were more interested in your wardrobe choices in the Marbury section. So I'll let you get to that. Yeah, I didn't know we were doing a video that day. I swear to God. I mean, I know we always do, sort of.

But I didn't mean to wear the sleeveless Legends hoodie. Shout out. And I think it's a large. And I need an excel on that one although a little under the weather after uh more travel and just you know travel travel travel it sort of catches up to you but we still want to get a podcast out there for you um so maybe i would fit into that thing now because uh i don't know i i lost weight pretty rapidly um which which always sort of happens to me when I'm not in my normal routine. So the Iceland pod though, I didn't know if people would like it.

I didn't know if it would work. Halfway through taping it, I was like, is this really fucking stupid? Like I'm sitting in a car parked outside of a hotel in the middle of nowhere in Iceland, recapping 10 minutes of notes that I'd write down and I'd have a little research done. And I just want to thank everybody that enjoyed it because I didn't know if people would get it, if they would like it. And so far, the response to it, I couldn't believe it. And it was, yeah, it was a nice ego boost or whatever.

Like when people tell you they like the shit you do, when you put that much time into it, it makes you feel good. And I'm just going to be totally honest about like, wow, that was really cool that people liked it that much. So I did do another one from France, but we're not going to go, we're not going to go, we're not going to give that candy to you right away. We're probably waiting until around Christmas or something to drop that one. Or maybe just a slow Wednesday where somebody blows us off,

but I'm not going to drop it. I was sitting in Poughkeepsie getting things like a day at a time from you. I'm like, what the fuck is this? I was on my vacation. I was like, he's supposed to be on vacation. What are these emails? It says Iceland part one I'm like, what the fuck is this? I was on my vacation. I was like, he's supposed to be on vacation. What are these emails that says Iceland part one? So I was freaking the fuck out and then I had to put it all together like three weeks later, but it turned out well. But I just tell you from the beginning to the middle, I was like, what is this?

But I know what it is now. It was really good. Thanks for doing that. Well, thanks. Yeah, I told a couple people what I was doing and they were like what are you doing well i usually trust your decisions and like when you have an instinct on something i'm like even if i don't fully grasp the concept at first you're like all right i think ryan usually like the track record's there like he'll be all right i'd like i was a little nervous

about this i'm gonna be honest i didn't i didn't know how it would go over like you gotta really love ryan to love just a man in Europe with his own thoughts in the back of a rental car. I don't know, but it did come out good, so I'm glad people liked it. The number of people that said I was going to skip this going like, who do you think you are? And then

when I told Cerruti the idea, he's like, yeah, the people that really like you will probably give it a listen. And I'm like, well, screw it. Or we could not drop a pod while I'm away doing it again. But, um, to get the feedback while I was away and I went, oh, okay. You know, and then I'm like, all right, I'm going to make sure this one's good too. But I, you know, it's the kind of thing. If you dropped them every, every week, they'd be like, all right, do we get it? You're by yourself and you couldn't find a hotel. Um, so there you right so thanks thanks on that one um before we get the life advice uh it is kind of funny when i came

back was like tough crowd i went to go see uh some stand-up in new york city and uh i do think it's kind of funny how how the comedians get on your case about not cheering enough in the beginning i think it'd be funny if you were a comedian not that we pitched this to bargazzi but where you you'd say like how's everybody doing and then it's like not enough it's just like a rule you have to be like oh can't hear you if you're just like yes that's enough that's fine like the first one because the audience never gives you as much as they give you on the second one after they're sort of scolded into cheering more the second time so whatever all right the point is i had no idea who was in the lineup and colin quinn shows up to like work out new material and for the younger listeners i don't

know that you understand like colin quinn appears to be the comics comic um if you go back to like when i was in high school him being like the one-liner guy on remote control which is a video game or excuse me a a game show that was on mtv um and then of course he did snl and all this other stuff and he but he's you know it's not like he's had this incredible run doing stand-up but he's not like one of those tier one success guys but because every comic kind of loves him, I'd never seen him in person. And I'm like, this is going to be amazing. And it was, it was so fucking impressive. I mean, it's one thing when you're in total command and he is,

I mean, he's been doing it for his entire adult life. So it's not like him being on stage at any point, but he was working on new material. So I don't even know if he would like plan to go and it was all planned out or if he could just kind of stop by and was like, Hey, can you give me 10 minutes? And that's how, kind of how it works. I don't know. I guess I'd like to believe that that's kind of how it works, at least for Colin Quinn. And he goes on and he did this whole rant about, and it's actually something I've always believed in is that we can't really be honest with people. Like you're better off just being fake. Now I try to be as real as I possibly can be, but his point was like, nobody actually wants the real you. We'd rather you like when we come home, like, Hey, how was your day? We want you to pretend that you're

interested in your complimentary as opposed to like, I don't really care about any of this stuff. And it went on and on and on. And it was awesome. And then he did like two minutes on something else and none of it worked. Like he hadn't quite figured out how he wanted to tie it all together. So you're watching this master dominate this one part of it. And then he was like, you know, maybe now I'll just start passing the ball or whatever. And it was like, no, this isn't really working. And he stops himself. He's like, all right, this isn't really working. And that part to break that, that part of it down to break down that wall. And then he's like, let me just look at my notes. And he had notes that he brought with him because he was losing his thought process of, because he hadn't worked out the entire set. The stuff that he was working on,

he crushed in the beginning. He had this lull. He knew he did. He called himself out, which made it even funnier. Then he actually checks his notes on stage and then crushes again to close out the last couple of minutes. And it was, it's one thing to see somebody up there that is so funny and so talented. Uh, and somebody like Colin Quinn, who I admire, but then to see him work through the craft that way in real time was fucking insane.

And, you know, I don't know that you, you don't get that kind of experience, even though live audience is incredible and all that kind of stuff. Um, to see it with him was, was one of the absolute treats of my summer. So,'re trying to get him on now too so we'll see what

happens whoa yeah there you go that's somebody i probably wouldn't pitch jokes to if i were you yeah but i feel like it's kind of like we kind of have to do it now yeah that's great yeah i'd like to get jeff we should get goldberg back on oh god yeah he was super interested i think uh you just see if he wants to eat a waffle again the whole time i love how bar gotsy like you're just never gonna let that go and i never and i love and i just i love it so much i mean it's just incredibly on brand for you but uh i don't know i think you absolutely i think you have to pitch col and Joe or at least a couple things. The funny thing is I call them Jeff Goldberg and it's obviously Garland,

but Goldberg's just a teenager. We know what you're talking about. I think we all put it together. I don't want to sound like I'm being dismissive. You big-timed him? Yeah. I was like, you had the wrestler on at ESPN or something?

I just was like, should I laugh at this? Because I don't think I know what's going on. Oh, what? The Miz story that I told on my tape this weekend? No, I thought you were talking about Goldberg the wrestler or something. You were like, you and Cerruti, A-B conversation. I should just see myself out.

I thought you were talking about Goldberg the wrestler for a while. I was like, I didn't know he was into stand-up at all. I do have a Goldberg story. We got time? It's quick. Yeah, yeah. It's very quick. Because it was awesome.

Radio Row, Super super bowl early 2000s what's up that's where all the players play it's the best radio row too or yeah kind of weird yeah yeah and so local radio whatever and they're like dude we're getting goldberg we're getting goldberg we're like all right and then he like showed up at the worst possible time like right as we went to break so we get to sit there do some some Dunkin' Donuts and whatever. And he's just sitting there with the headset and he's next to me. And you know, and they, like guys should know like, Hey, if you time it wrong on a local radio show, you're going to have to sit through some ads and then come on. And the best thing for us is they were like, Oh, these guys are in Boston. So go on. Cause it's Boston. You can promote. I think

he was, it might've been longest yard. Double check what year that was. Is that like, Oh four. I think it was around then. Yeah. All right. I'm checking it right now. Longest yard, 2005. I am pretty good at that. All right. So, um, he's promoting it and I was like, Hey man, what's's going on and he just like was hunched over in the chair and he looks at me and he goes i'm so fucking hungover man i was like all right cool man he's like oh dying and i was like this is this is fucking hilarious it was hilarious it was like all right hey you know what do you think? Because what does he care? He's down there promoting a movie.

He didn't give a shit. Of course he's going to go out. And Super Bowl week is like Mardi Gras for celebrities anyway. So that's, he should have been, he's Goldberg. He's supposed to be hungover at that point. So I just always laugh. But I didn't know if you were referencing that because I did part of my take in studio

when I was back back east for a couple hours so i didn't catch that one sorry yeah what the fuck dude kyle when kyle was off kyle's off kyle i remember like it was a couple weeks into kyle's vacation and i i referenced something i was like hell yeah we did this thing do you hear it kyle's like nah i was like yeah no there's there's zero chance kyle's checking emails thinking about lying to you no there's nothing and i kind of respected i was like you know what i shouldn't even have asked no that's way better because i think i was in france and i sent saruti like an outline of like hey here are three things i think we should be thinking about and saruti saruti didn't respond to me and i was like that's the right move he was doing you a

favor yeah yeah he's doing me favor, but that's my problem. I mean, you know, I, I wanted you to enjoy San Tropez without having to worry about, you know, what guests we're going to do come late August. No, you're right. You're, you're the, you're right. I'm a, I'm a loser. So there you go. Life advice.

Yeah. Right. Life advice. So, so listen to all these things that i have to say okay um i think we have a couple here well we have a bunch but have i have i really we get a lot of people offering up advice to me on the travel stuff like hey man i get it i'm not a big planner and that means sometimes some things work out sometimes they don't and like in france i took a an uber to the the countryside to go up to this lake and rent a boat and i was like i'm the fucking man you know what i didn't feel like i was the man when the town the townsfolk were laughing at me at the one restaurant when i was

like hey how come the uber isn't working they were like uh uber no then the taxi driver was like i'll bring you to one town and one town only and he ripped me off it's fucking awful yeah i feel like that happens like the europeans know if there's an american around like all right we're gonna like this is this is the guy we're gonna run for a ton of money. One of the things, one of the things though, like you don't, I can, if I need to say something in France, if I need to say something in French, I can, I can say it.

If I need to like desperately, Hey, this is what I need. This is what I want to do. I can say, I can't understand anything anybody's saying to me. Right. Um,

and so when I was like, Hey, I'm, I'm noticing there's no ubers and there was like and i'm for when you're further inland you know not many people speak english which makes sense right they're like i don't fucking have to speak english i'm not i'm not a waiter you know and so i was trying to explain like i need to need to go here. I'd go to this study. I'd go to this city. Like how much?

But I also want to know how much the guy was like three, one, zero, three, you know, files. And I'm like, uh, I was like $310 to go to Nice. I'm like, are you serious? Then I even said, like, are you doing this? Cause I'm fucked. Like, and the guy was like, oh, yeah. And then I'm like you know what I don't know if he's admitting straight up to my face we are fucking you over or if he just was saying

yes because he kind of didn't understand what I had to say so I'm saying it's probably probably both yeah yeah you'll be wrestling with that one for a while then huh he's never got a clear answer on it so did you take him up on his offer or no uh yeah then it was four hundred dollars he's like actually a couple of little bits and i just i'm sitting there outside of the hotel and i'm like i didn't want to get like super pissed but i go what i go what happened to 310 and the guy was like oh yeah and i went okay but why why did he say 300 i go i'm not mad at you but you your friend called and then he says i have an uncle who has a taxi it'll be 310 dollars to niece and i said are you fucking me and he said we are and i went all right well what's what are you gonna be a tough guy about it and stand here?

And by the way, it started raining. And I'm three hours from the coast. And I was like, this is going to be such an awesome adventure. And it was great the first half. The second half wasn't. So anyway, 400 bucks. I had to run to an ATM and I went, just put this behind you. Just don't let it linger.

And that's when you texted Saruti about the next week podcast. It's like, you know, I've been doing a lot of thinking about next week. Yes. You do a fantasy draft every week. So anyway. Okay. All right. Let's let's get to life advice here because we've kind of riffed there a little bit.

All right. Radio show hosts that don't like each other. Oh, see how i don't know how much this guy wants to give away here but all right uh like ryan does with his guests i'll skip the fluff and get straight to the point amongst the few hats i wear in the sports media industry um i'm an ep with an on-air role of a very popular radio show. All right. So, I imagine we're talking local, which again can be huge. In mid-20s. So, look, if you're an EP talking on the air in a top market on an established show, that is a win.

All right. Understand that that is a win for you. It's great to have goals and you're going to want to sit in the main chair or the side chair, that is a win. Understand that that is a win for you. It's great to have goals and you're going to want to sit in the main chair or the side chair, all that different stuff, but that's a big deal to be in your mid-20s talking on the air. I would say in a pretty solid spot, the caveat being that the host and co-host on the show have a strong disdain for each other. They've been doing this show, let's just say, a long time.

I don't know if we're just going to end up giving it away. I don't know, man. I'm a little nervous about reading this, but I guess it's a little too late because it's different. They basically maxed out the success meter for the local show. I was hired less than a year ago, but was warned the relationship between the host and co-host started to deteriorate over the previous few years.

I took notice of this right away when one of them leaves the studio during a break for whatever reason. The other will immediately hop on the talkback and start complaining and berating them. Wait, so the one guy, whoever stays in the room talks shit on the talkback behind the glass? Jesus Christ. That's bad. And then they take turns doing it, apparently. On air, the host is sarcastic about everything the co-host says and does while the co-host trolls the host.

They both are passive aggressive and very closed off out of fear the other would use anything genuine as ammo. Sometimes they'll argue and then look at me hoping I validate one of them. Yes, the old married couple cliche is perfect for this situation, but it is not charming in any way because it's completely wrecked the quality of the show. I've also noticed that all the other shows at the station hang out all the time outside of their respective time slot. That is actually rare. My experience with local radio is that it was a lot like NBA stars where

no one ever wanted to hang out with anybody else. They wanted to have their own thing. So I would say that part of it's actually rare. It doesn't mean that everybody's supposed to hang out. That's the norm, but that's cool that that happens. And he continues, he goes, That's the norm. But that's cool that that happens. And he continues. He goes, that's built really good chemistry that seemingly translates on the air. We haven't done anything to attempt to strengthen our relationship with each other.

Both hosts bail as soon as the show ends. I was a big get there early. I never want to stay after the show. Once the performance is over, I didn't want to talk about it. Serena said I was I was first guy in first guy out i think is the way i'd like to describe it there's not much to do after the show anyway cut a couple promos and bounce there you go no there isn't i didn't because i knew i was gonna have to wake up the next day and do it all over again so why am i to stay here longer tonight talking about

shit that's all gonna change depending on what was gonna happen that night anyways i was not i'm not a big meet after the show and talk about what you just did guy because I know how much time I was going to do it the next day. But whatever, people are different. I was hired to innovate the show, elevate the product, expand our reach in the market, and essentially restore its glory. No offense, but are you really capable of that? Did they say that they expect you to do all of these things for the show? Because if you're that good, maybe you should be moving on.

Not a knock at you. That's just a nod to reality there. But neither of the hosts have the same motivation. No shit. They don't. Though they just renewed their contracts. Another problem. Curious you, SirRudyKyle, have been through, observed a similar situation. Best way to navigate this from where I sit. Alright. Let's

be real and honest about the whole thing. These guys renewed because they don't have other options, and it's still probably the most money they're ever going to make. And if there's one thing I've learned about this business from the very beginning, I'll use it as an example, Mike Golick Sr. When I first got to ESPN, they were like, you know, Mike and Mike's probably only got another contract in him because once the kids leave the home and they're off to college,

Golick's going to move to Arizona. And then like 12 more years happened. And so it's... Remember when Josh Brown came on and we talked finances and we did life advice finance stuff and the guy wrote in about how the guy was going to give him his book of business and it was all going to work out in five years. And Josh was like, if there's one thing that doesn't happen, it's that. The fucking guy keeps his book of business and just has somebody, you know what I mean? Because they don't want to give up the money. So in my business, I would say more than any of them, because we can still probably suck, but have a name. We can be way past our prime,

but have some sort of name recognition with advertisers and still make a lot of money. Their only motivation is to continue the paycheck. So if that means they have to sit in a room with the other person and they don't care about the quality of the show as they hate each other the whole time, it sucks. The biggest thing you have to understand is that I don't know that you can fix a lot of this stuff. If you have the personality and if you have this way that people respond to you, which is very rare, If you have like this way that people respond to you, which is very rare, a way is a guy in his mid 20s who can talk to guys that apparently are a lot older, been doing this for a really long time and say, hey, you guys need to figure this out. We need to get on the same page and we need to turn this show around. And what you're doing is selfish and I don't know.

You would be right to say every one of those things. If this is all true, you would be right to be be like let's fucking take this head on and do this what i'm telling you is those hosts are going to be like fuck this guy because he's in his mid-20s and we don't give a shit about anything you have to say um i'm sorry but that's probably how they'll feel about it so the best advice i could give you is to keep growing as an individual use Use the station, use the show, but don't worry about these roadblocks that are being put up by stuff that you can't control. I mean, we can all pretend you can fix this shit,

but these guys, I know who these guys are without knowing who they are. And again, I don't know who you're talking about. These guys don't want to be fixed. They want to worry about that, extending that every two weeks for as long as they possibly can. And they don't give a shit about what the show sounds like as long as they keep getting renewed i think you

should get a tattoo that's what i think you should do i think that'll i think that'll fix it for a month mom and dad will stop fighting for a month that's what happened to me i'm just kidding um yeah is that why you got the one shining podcast no it was payday and i was i was uh coasting towards hammered and that's what happened. No, everything was fine when that happened. But it was something to talk about. It was just a joke because I don't really have that much. I am a guy in my 20s too.

I don't think between Bill and Ryan, I don't think a lot of people want to hear me be like, here's what I think we should totally do that you're not already thinking of. So yeah, man, just try to keep everybody happy. I think that's totally do that you're not already thinking of. So yeah, man, just keep trying to keep everybody happy. I think that's the best thing you can do. Uh, I was in like a pretty similar situation, I guess, to this guy.

Um, I remember that Mike and Mike at the end. Yeah. I mean, I don't, you know, I guess, and let me just preface this by saying that like both the guys are awesome to me and I like both of them a lot. Um, and I'm not going to sit here and like, you know, this, I don't know. But it's all, I mean, this has been known.

I mean, people have talked about it enough so that I don't think you're giving away the secrets here. Yeah. But like, I just want to make it clear that I like both guys. They were super cool to me. And I know I'm not even just saying that.

I'm with you. I like you. I like, I actually like, like people would think of my personality, Greeny's brightness. I got along with Greeny really well. I like Greeny.

Yep. And like Greeny, we want to get him on this pod soon. He's open to come on. I'm hoping really well. I like Greeny. Yep. And Greeny, we want to get him on this pod soon. He's open to come on. I'm hoping he's coming on in the next month or so. And then Golik, I saw

in like a random Zoom like a couple of months ago and he was super nice. Again, nothing bad to say about him. Guy's guy. Yeah.

But what happened was when I was initially running the board on SCP and Rosillo and I got presented like this opportunity of like they wanted to kind of revamp Mike and Mike and kind of like make it a little bit got presented like this opportunity of like, they wanted to kind of revamp Mike and Mike

and kind of like make it a little bit edgier and newer and like make the content better. And they update the graphics package and all this stuff's happening. So they're pitching this to me. It's like, we want people who, you know, know content

and work on a show that people like. And that was SVP and Rosillo. So it was like, hey, Sruti, why don't you move from this show to Mike and Mike and go to the mornings and try to like do your thing on that show?

And I was, you know, I don't know. I was probably in my mid to early 20s. And I was like, sure, this is gonna be great. I think I ran it by you. And you're like, you have to do this, you have to take this opportunity. And I appreciate you for saying that, because I did. And but like, it was so stupid in the moment to be like, why I'm some like 25 year old PA, like, how am I going to change Mike and Mike, you know, like, I'm not going to, they're gonna do what they're gonna do. You know, Golik had his routine, Greeny has his routine. And again, both guys were nice to me. They were receptive when I came up with ideas. But it's not like Golik and I were chatting on the phone at 9

p.m. like you and I were still all about topic ideas for the next day. They have shit to do. They've been doing this for a long time. They're also going to look at me and be like, hey, I've been doing this since you were 10 years old. What are you going to tell me that I don't already know? And they're probably right. And I will say that year was not the most fun year for me, mostly because I'm also not a morning person. And there were some times when it was just difficult to actually get shit done. So I just think you can't take it super personally.

It's not your fault that these two guys don't like each other. And it's also not like, don't act like you have to play God here and fix every single problem because you're just not going to. You're not going to fix the problem is what you said ryan like all these guys they're just you know they're just paycheck to paycheck and it's the same thing with you i think the entire time that i was at esb and radio the goal story about him you know moving on and going to arizona was a thing and it never happened so you're right so i just don't

think you and by the way that's not a that's not a knock on him. It was always like management has this tactic and it's true in any industry that they will constantly tell you about like this possibility to keep you fucking chasing the carrot. You know, so for me as an on air guy, the early T shit with me was, hey, nothing's working out for you. But one day you could be hosting the morning show. Like you're on the short list of under five people you could be hosting the morning show. You're on the short list of under five people that could be the morning show host. And I'm thinking like, that's where I'm going to end up. I'll be the morning show host of the number one morning slot in the entire industry in the world, arguably. You know what I mean? It went back when you'd be the morning show host for ESPN radio, for sports again.

So there were always, they would always carrot dangle that. And then you get older and you realize like nobody ever wants to go anywhere. I remember one time like there was something fucked up happened. It was clearly fucked up. I got upset about it. I got on the horn with a manager and the manager's like, how can I, you know, how can I calm or slow down? And he goes, you know, I just want to tell you about a meeting we had and i was like okay he goes we met with bill simmons like yeah he goes we were curious if you want to do daily radio and he said maybe but the only person he do

it with is you i was like that doesn't fix anything. Most people would be like, oh my God, so fucking awesome. Bill, legend, whatever. Ron's like, hmm. But. That's like a cool story, bro. Because I also knew Bill, like, it wasn't that we were that tight then, but I also knew Bill was going to want to do the nine to five everyday radio routine.

Like he likes his routine and he's done a great job throughout his entire career of being valuable enough at every level to be like, you know, and he's also extremely prolific. So it's not like there isn't also a ton of content, but he was in charge of what was due. You know what I mean? And that's kind of the goal. You know what I'm saying? Like, and I feel that way now about myself, but when you're on a radio show, you're not in charge of anything. You're, you're in charge of the content. But anyway, I'm deviating from what

the email was really about. And that's this, it's that if you are successful enough, like so Rudy's point, like even if Mike and Mike needed some sort of like, you know, little jolt, you know, some sort of like, hey, let's do this. Greeny knows exactly what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do every single day. Golik's going to be the same way. I didn't show up to, I showed up to work every day. Like it was pretty hard to get me to change my mind about what I wanted to do. But I also trust my instincts. Same thing with Cal Herd. Although there's every now and then there's a few

hosts i remember like some of the early fill-in days where some of the guys showed up and had nothing to bring to the table like they'd just be like what are we hot on today and i'd be like why do you want like why do you want this job how could you show up to espn and have this platform and this amazing like you're one of the few chosen people in the country that gets to come in here in front of a microphone and you don't have anything you've been thinking about for 24 hours that you actually want to fucking talk about, like give this, let somebody else do it then. Um, and that, that person is actually fairly rare, I think. Cause I think most people that want to be on air, it's because they think they have a lot of great things to say. And, and, you know, sometimes it's true and sometimes it isn't, but it's just, it's hard, man. It's hard to be that kind of person that young,

not saying it's impossible and not saying that maybe you can't do it, but it's asking a lot. And my chances are like those guys in that role are incredibly stubborn, kind of closed off people. Yeah. It, it bummed me out too for a while. And, uh, cause I, I was just like annoyed that like, and I was younger. I didn't really understand the industry as much. And I was like, why? I can't, I can't figure this out. Like it's pissing me off. And then the older I've gotten, like, yeah, it's like, it was dumb to even think that I could have alone done anything in that scenario. Anyway, I mean, there are some like, producers or executive producer title, quote unquote, guys who like, think that they, you know, are God's gift to the industry, and that they can do all these different things.

And they're the reason that the show is successful. I mean the end of the day like the two guys and then or the two girls or whoever's doing the show they have to have chemistry the show has to be good and i was blessed like you know i think any show the hosts have to have the buy-in for the producers and the producers have to buy into the host and vice versa so i again don't beat yourself up you can't fix all the problems of the show it's way bigger than you and it also doesn't mean that your career like isn't going to be awesome if you don't turn the show around or have them figure it out and like each other again. I would just say don't take it too

personally. Have you tried beers? Does everyone like beer? Whatever. I say it every time. It doesn't matter. Alright. We got another one here about weed.

There. Let's give it a swing. 6 225 benches 225 uh long-limbed lanky type defensive stopper ben simmons if he played stretch four and actually tried to shoot how about ben simmons if he played uh my fiance and i've been living together three years planning on getting married next summer met in our late 20s and on occasion will recreationally smoke weed my relationship with weed before meeting my fiance was very limited only smoking on weekends or at night time to take the edge off my fiance on the other hand has a much different relationship with weed than myself after she wakes up she smokes before lunch she smokes and in between work meetings she will smoke when i first met her i immediately recognized she moked way more weed than me. While our relationships with weed are different, the use cases are different as well. I use it to zone out while she uses it to concentrate.

She works for a large tech company and says it relaxes her in stressful situations. She's extremely smart and successful, making nearly double my current salary. Smoking has never gotten in the way of her work performance, and to her point, makes it easier to work. Only until recently have I had concerns. While she has several years of smoking experience, every time she smokes, she still coughs like it's her first time, loud and aggressive. A few weeks ago, we went to my parents' house for the weekend

and worked one day from the house. After a few hours working in separate rooms, I went to the kitchen, and my mom asked if she was sick or coming down with something. You guessed it. It was her coughing from the weed pen in the other room. I played dumb to my mom, and it wasn't a big deal. This happened again a few days ago. My mom called checking into the usual stuff until the end of her call when she asked who

was coughing in the background. It was my fiance smoking in a different room. I again played it off to my mom like it was nothing, but now I feel the need to say something to my fiance. Disclaimer, my mom is an immigrant and not cool with drinking her drugs. She's also an older and hypersensitive to coughing and sickness during these times, hence the questioning.

She would not be happy to find out my soon-to-be wife smokes weed, even though it's legal in California. After some thought, I feel like her smoking is starting to be too much. While I understand my fiance's use of the drug is to be beneficial for her work, I can't imagine this amount of intake

and the constant coughing is good for her lungs and body. Should I tell her about my mom's question? Should I bring up that I'm concerned for her health or just brush it under the rug because it's never been a problem? And she's doing great at work. Love the show. And if you need a weed guy, I got you.

No needs a weed guy in California, pal. But fair. No, I guess if you're not big on paying taxes. As an aside, is everybody so cool with weed that like when kids are just walking around and people are just smoking weed all over the place in california new york city like i don't even i'm not even a parent and even i'll have moments where i'm like is this fucking cool seems like nobody cares yeah i don't know i just an observation i could be totally wrong for suggesting that there should be any concern on it but i guess i just like i'll see a little kid with

the dad you know they're holding a hand across the street and and some guys like just blowing smoke everywhere and you're like is this i guess it's cool i don't fucking know i don't know i would say to the to the emailer like can you are edibles a thing that we can start transitioning to now like stop the smoking part of this and you can still get sort of like you know a similar vibe and high and feel from an edible and not pack up a long half a day and scare your you know your maybe future mother-in-law so i that's what i would look into i don't know if that's a possibility i'm not a big weed guy so i don't really know this thing i'm not a big guy couple edibles I don't really know this thing. Not a big weed guy.

I've done a couple edibles a couple times. They didn't feel a ton, to be honest with you. I had a buddy in college who smoked the same thing like day to day. As soon as he woke up,

started smoking all the way until he went to sleep. And I don't know. It just always kind of struck me as kind of weird to me. Like I get like want to get high every once in a while, but the edible thing

seems to have changed the game. I know it's a more normalized thing now. So maybe that's the way you have to go. The number of people that I know that take edibles now, I'm constantly blown away by it. I'll just be like, wait, what's going on? I would say you didn't take the right ones because I've also seen edibles turn people into absolute puddles.

I'm like, this is normal? Again, I'm not over sitting here going like, hey, we should make it illegal again. It's not what I'm saying. I just would notice like certain things that happen where I'm like, everybody's on the same page. What's that? Prude. Prude.

Yeah, I know. I know. Fucking Puritan status. No, my only thing with pro we guys was the guy that was like super into it. You know, George Washington. Yeah. George Washington grew him. Yeah.

For ropes and shit, dude. Yeah. Yeah. So, Kyle, do you want to take this one? So, yeah, I think there's a couple parts to this whole thing. One, it sounds a little bit like maybe like an episode of Seinfeld where George starts to get weirded out by this awesome girly stating. Like, it

sounds like there's a little bit of that where it's like, oh, she's coughing over there and oh, she's doing this and was that a, do I'm smelling a hint? Like, it just seems like maybe there's a little bit of this where you're probably just in your own head, where you're just kind of making it a bigger thing than it is. But also I think you haven't said anything about it. And your, your thing is sort of similar to mine. I've kind of taken a giant hop step back from weed, kind of leaned more into the booze angle, part of the pie chart,

but my fiance is kind of into it more as well. So like, that's, that's kind of what she into the booze angle, part of the pie chart. But my fiance is kind of into it more as well. So like, that's, that's kind of what she likes to do. But, you know, I think, yeah, edibles could be one thing. They have these cool droppers now. I think they even have little like Listerine strips you can put on. But, you know, I think if you just like, if this has been like ramping up and you haven't said anything about it, you know, it's going to probably come out wrong when you finally pop the top off this thing. If you don't like sort of ease into having some sort of conversations. And then the other thing is,

you know, I smoke cigarettes. It's well known. We're doing this fun thing where we're hiding that I smoke cigarettes for my fiance's like elders and her family. Super fun. Whoa. Long car,

car ride. She's like, can you, do you have to smoke? What kingdom are the elders from? The Colombian, the Colombian kingdom and the Italian kingdom. So we're doing this fun thing. Yeah. She's like, can you not smoke on this car ride?

It's like, okay, that's fine. But then it's also just like, all right. So then we're all going to get hammered together. And like, but, but if I smell like cigarettes, it's like, so it's fine. But then it's also just like, all right, so then we're all going to get hammered together. But if I smell like cigarettes, it's like... The way you approach it is sort of like... The Kyle I know lights up. That's right. And they should know the Kyle you know.

That's what I mean. But I just don't want to fight. But I just think that if you lay all this shit out at once, it's going to be like a little bit overwhelming. And, you know, I got the stones to deal with something like that.

So I could like, I could deal with it, but you might have a bad time. You know, if the roles reversed in my relationship, she probably wouldn't be so happy with all the things that are being asked. So that all I'm saying is I think it's probably better for you to like, you know,

come up with some alternatives other than just like, Hey, you know, like this is bothering me. My family thinks it's gross and this now, you know, whatever. I just think, I think that, um, you're probably getting a lot more worked up than, uh, you want to come off of when you finally talk about this. I think the important thing, the email has to like, you have to answer yourself. What, what is your goal out of this? Like, does it bother you?

Cause it doesn't seem like it bothers you as much as it bothers you that you may have to tell your mom about it and ultimately when we're talking about a marriage who gives a shit that's not super important how much does this bother you it sounds like maybe he's a little concerned about it and yeah i think like if i were to be married and my wife smokes pot as soon as she wakes up and before every fucking important meeting you know i'd be like hey is that is that the best plan of action? And is this the plan for the rest of your life? Um, you know, I don't, I don't know that. I don't think it's crazy for a lot of us to be like, I don't know that I'd want to have that be the deal. Um, but I think you need, you need to understand by asking yourself and being honest about it with

yourself, like how much does this bother you? Or is it right now the part that bothers you, the inconvenience about keeping this from your mother, which really isn't all that important. I guess I would ask this or suggest this. Maybe you can get to a conversation by kind of a gateway intro, right? The real conversation is you going, you know, how long do you think you want to do this or whatever? Because if she really likes doing it, which clearly she does, and she's still a little bit younger, like the second somebody says to somebody else like, hey, are you all right? Like, you know, you drink too much. Do you, you know, if it's somebody who's maybe more dependent than you even realize about something, the response is usually not great. Right. It's usually like, Hey, whatever, like, Oh, you know, the classic will be like, somebody will say something back to the other thing about like, Oh, well, you know, you, this, this, and this. And it's like, well, okay. You know, like, it'd be like somebody who like, you know, Hey, you smoke cigarettes. It's like, yeah, but I also don't get high before I go to PTA meetings, you know, like, and again, these are all different debates about

whether or not you think what is terrible and what isn't, which I don't really feel like. And coming, coming from this one guy, there's that great Ron White bit where he's like, you smoke too much weed and you're like, oh, but you smoked the correct amount of weed too. Cause you're also still smoke weed. So it's like that you got to be careful with that too. It's like, oh, I should smoke weed as much as you smoke weed. Got it. So that's how you're going to sound. But Ryan is right. There is a point where you're like, all right, like this is that this is excessive. And I think you had mentioned right at the end.

You weren't sure you thought it was all about the mother. I don't know. I kind of got a hint of at the end. He was just sort of sick of it. It's like, yeah, when is this going to be over? Yeah, no, you're right. Yeah, I think I think the first annoyance with him is that. But you're absolutely right, Rudy.

I think the email tends to show us that he's kind of like, what's the end game here with all this? But that's kind of what I was getting to is that maybe you could use the mother conversation as like the Trojan horse into the bigger conversation of what you want to have here, where you're like, hey, I just want to ask you about something just so you know we're still on the same page. You're coughing all the time, but my mother's on the phone and she's now, she's like worried that something's wrong with you. So like, we got to figure something out here.

And then maybe, oh, and by the way, are you going to smoke pot for the rest of your life like this? You know, you're going to have to, you're going to have to put some middle paragraphs in there before you get to that end part. Workshop and a couple of stabilizers. Wait, this as a, it might be a dumb question,

but as a non weed guy, I thought the whole point of vaping was that it wasn't as harsh on your lungs as a typical joint would be or smoking on a bowl or something. A J? No. I think you're off on that. I think you're off on that. I very well could be, but in my head, I was like, oh, it's like, you know, it's not I know it's not better for you necessarily. But like, I didn't know that you'd hack up a lung, you know, with like an e-cigarette or something like that versus an actual joint.

No, I always found that it was worse. I've tried the e-cigarettes nicotine style and I feel like I wake up, I'm breathing through like a little pinhole. I think what it is, it's the smell and you could do it in a bathroom and, you know, whatever, wherever you are. I think it's really just the portability of it. You don't need to like carry a kit. It's just like one thing. So I think it's really just the portability of it. You don't need to like carry a kit. It's just like one thing.

So I think that's really what it is. I think maybe there's some people that will say that, but I mean, I found that it's just as, just as packs a big a punch if you're hitting it a certain way. So I think it's more of just the convenience of it all. I don't think we helped a ton on that second one, but that's all right.

We don't guarantee anything here on the podcast. We almost didn't even release this one. Edibles is the solution. That's what, there you go. I don't, have you ever? And can I just clarify too? I went on a date once with a girl that I didn't really know that well.

And then I brought her along with this couple, this was a long, long time ago. And it was sort of random. And then I was like, do you want to just come and have dinner with me and this couple I'm staying with? And she was like, absolutely. And then that meant like the buddy's wife was going to be doing the full report on this. Like who's Rosillo bringing to this dinner. And she was a puddle the whole dinner. And then she got to the bathroom and my buddy's wife was

like, are you serious? Like this is, she's the worst. And I was like, man, she's a lot more fun the other day. Not quite sure what's going on. And then later on, she was like, you serious like this is she's the worst i was like man she's a lot more fun the other day not quite sure what's going on and then later on she was like i took way too many edibles all right but you know maybe it's because of her anxiety about to meet somebody you know no no that that really that's what i don't want to say like if she really needs this and it makes her feel better by all means go do your thing like i don't want to tell her to not do that well i don't know i do i'm not gonna like downplay that it does help people and make people feel better i just think like when you become weed guy and it's like your entire personality like that's the problem um but and i also really quickly just so people don't

think i'm like a huge noob loser like i have done edibles before and have like the first time i ever did i was like tripping out of my fucking mind the most recent the most recent time i did it though i was doing like a micro dosing thing i guess my buddy had something and i don't know i was i was also day drinking but i didn't feel anything i don't know maybe i was doing it wrong i don't know what the deal was but so i just want to make sure people understand that i'm not like a huge loser i i do understand there's a difference wow that was a preemptive strike against the because i knew i was gonna get tweets about people being like there's nothing about this he's such a loser. He probably took a Skittle. Like, no, I didn't.

I know what I'm talking about. Look at that hair. Are you going to tell me this guy hasn't tried edibles? Give me a break. Yeah, seriously. I don't want to be. That's all right. All right.

Well, that'll do it for the podcast. I hope you enjoyed. We'll do... We get some really good stuff. We get some awesome guests next week. I think Big Cat's just coming on. We're going to talk college football and get super pissed at each other about it. So that's been planned for a while.

We have Julian Edelman as well. Next week, yep. And it looks like Barry Alvarez too. All right, awesome. Great lineup. Getting ready for college football and all that kind of stuff. I could have done some Durant-LeBron things.

I don't know. I'll just kind of wait until we think we know a little bit more of how everything's going on. Please subscribe to the podcast. Again, thanks for all the kind words about Iceland. We'll talk to you next Tuesday. you