Make or Break Playcallers

It's not like he's an actual rookie anymore. Go win a job against the thirty six year old Ryan Fitzpatrick and training camp and it's already being set up by floors in Miami. I know we jumped into the fish tank real quick tonight, but it's being set up. Is this is like a done deal, like he's their backup quarterback. It's not a great look. I agree with you, it's not a great look. This should be an open and chuck case for Josh Rosen. If he's as good as

everyone said he was coming out. He's a young man. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Fitzpatrick was quoted this week saying, I feel more comfortable with myself and my game right now than I ever have. And you know what, when it comes to I don't doubt it. I I think he's always felt comfortable with himself, but now he's just he loves his life, he loves being Ryan Fitzpatrick, and maybe

it's showing up on the field. We shot something today with Neil Reynolds over at the nfl UK, our friend from Sky Sports, great man Neil, and I noticed in the studio lights a glistening off nicely manicured Greg Rosital beard. It's like, why is it glistening? So the product confirmed, Yeah, little beard oils in there, WHOA keeps it from getting you know, itchy and whatnot. So you have a special comb aim directly for your beard exclusively. I know I

don't have any combs. Put the oil on your hand and then so they say, yeah, yeah, but if you're a good time buddies from tu Lane, so you probably spent some time behind bars with What would they think about this new trend towards your hipster identity. I mean I think they would embrace it. Really, It's I don't know if that's my wife does not embrace it. So I think it has a short shelf life and it's gonna be gone for the season. What was her complaint?

We know, because she told you to go on a show and tell everybody that you wear the pants in the relationship, that you wear the pants in the relationship. Well, I've it's it's made it. You know, I've done it despite her wishes for months and months. But I feel like, what doesn't she like about it? Well, you know, mommy, coming back from you're like, when you're like that when you're playing tonsil hockey with your wife, that you got a promontory point for that one. All right, propatory point.

I think. I think it's just the great thing about this podcast is like their friends, even off the here, they'll be having this conversation downstairs. Listen to those bros chop it up all right. Coming up on today's show, the Wednesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast, UM, Chris Westling wrote a banger and you know, he was a little sheepish about his banger the last banger we spoke about, but this one he pounds a table for.

He believes in it. Yeah, you're a Absolutely. I think that banger has been thrown around loosely lately, especially towards my work, but this one is is a certifiable banger. Five new play callers with make or break potential. Uh. That does sound like a saucy banger. So we're gonna dig into that and the coaches that WES will be tracking closely in the twenty nineteen season. But before that,

here's what we're hearing, presented by Sirius XM. Let's do some news for key and now in the sib NFL Pro Football's Most Informative Hour with your host Latn Dawson, Nick Boncani, and Chris Collins. Word yes. First of all, that's Harry callis yes from Philly, absolutely, who was the voiceover guy for HBO Films Forever h HBO Sports. And um yes, Nick Bonacani, who had an incredible playing career in the NFL. He was a member linebacker of the

nineteen seventy two undefeated Dolphins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Played with both the Miami Dolphins and the Boston Patriots. He passed away at the age of seventy eight UM on Tuesday, and uh, I just wanted to say in the reason I played that is I grew up. How I became an NFL fan really was you know, watching the Jets with my dad. But then also where I learned about the NFL was HBO and Inside the NFL and Bonocantti and Len Dawson

and later Collinsworth. They were your guide to take you through all the games. Is before the internet, you know, this is before you would have easy access to what was going on around the league and you would have NFL films going through each game. And in fact that I feel like that show was the blueprint for our podcast and going through every game on Sunday nights are flagship show. So Inside the NFL very important show for

me and a lot of people. Mark, I know we've talked about that show before and and Bonacatti was a big part of it. Uh So, I'm sure he will be missed. At the age of seventy eight, Nick Bonacatti passes away, I feel the same way you do about that show, and it was you know, that was back during a time when you know, my brother and I would fight over the sports page in the morning because it's the only content out there now. That feels like an absurd that anyone would fight over a newspaper of

any level. But but but kind of like he he was a great communicator. And you know, we're we're too young to have known him as a player, But think of how many like young people now will know Tony Romo for the next fifteen twenty years because of his ability to communicate. And so you know, he he also he had a son that was paralyzed at age nineteen, right, and he raised he went on to raise a ton

of money for research and paralysis. So there was a lot of angles and and factors and Nassett's hundreds of millions of dollars for the Miami Project a cure paralysis. A great Patriot too, I mean, it was part of a bunch of all NFL teams. Was part of their team. It was the they did make a championship game in the sixties and the a f L. He was part of that team. And he's from Springfield, the town right next to where I grew up. So I mean he had he had a great Patriots career and a great

Dolphins career. Awesome, all right, let's get into it. The news. Michael Thomas and the Saints. They get it done. Thank God. The worst, the worst headlines, the worst storylines to talk about in July and August are the holdouts. There's just no there's no juice to it. But it's important to talk about because they're superstar players. So whenever the deal gets done, it's good for everybody. A five year, one million dollar contract extension UM that includes sixty one millions

a million and guarantees that from rap sheet UM. Thompson sat out the start of Saints training camp. He wanted a new deal. UM. Instead, he jumps out of that hold out list that still includes Zeke Elliott, Melvin Gordon, uh Trent Williams and others. Twenty six years old, now sits a top wide receiver market, surpassing what Odell Beckham

makes eighteen million per year average. Greg Thomas um, he has really exploded onto the scene and he certainly deserves to be in that conversation of the best wide receivers in the league. Maybe he's not always brought up, but

he certainly should be there. He should be has not many people match the physicality that he has, and he has maybe one of the the like most physical bodies just in terms of cornerbacks can't get around him and he can just box him out with deep speed with you know, I think that's what was surprised a lot of people in the NFL. That's why he felt to the second round that he could be such a big playmaker, and he is. He He breaks up a lot of

the when they don't leave a safety deep. Thomas will kill you over the top and he's earned it in the age of analytics. He's He's a guy who's nickname could be positive outcome. He was the most reliable past completion positive play in football last year as the security blanket for Sean Payton and Drew Brees. I think he's battling with DeAndre Hopkins to be decide which one is

the new Larry Fitzgerald. I just want to mention who has taken in front of him in that in that at wide receiver out, Corey Coleman, Josh Dotson, Lakwan Treadwell. Those are at least the first round picks, with tom Us going midway eight through the second round. You remember in the eighties, UM in early nineties speaking of inside the NFL in that era when they had the NFL posters, and it would be you know, ridiculous, like Dome patrol for the Saints, or like the Giants would be the

bad fellows and they'd be dressed like gangsters West. You're positive outcome, can't you just picture Michael Thomas would be like calculators everywhere, spreadsheets, spreadsheets all around on your bedsheets, and he's just wearing like a sleeveless shirt in his football pants. Can make that for us. The artistic listeners out there help us out, positive out. It will never beat the Donny Ball game, the hit Man, which hangs

in my garage to this day. Anyway, the and just so you know, I mean, if you're not aware, if you don't know, now you know Michael Thomas last season one six nine t d s and no wide receiver ever has had as many UM catches in his first three years three So he entered the league as a star.

He's got nuclear now he's a superstar. Now he's paid like one pretty good player, pretty first time they've really had a guy like that in all the years of Sean Payton, a guy dominate that didn't never have the numbers like that though nothing close ms I'm saying dominating the ball and being a top of fight again. You always thought it was a spread the wealth type of offense. They didn't need a number one receiver. Jimmy Graham had some years. They were every bit as good as Michael

Thomas his last year. Scientists going at it in a big spot. Um, West, you know what, You're gonna get a little uncofortable in your chair right now because I'm gonna talk about something dangerous around the Indianapolis Colts Andrew lux calf injury. It's lingering. The Colts quarterback sat out Tuesday's practice session. Uh. Frank Reich, the Colts coach, said. Reporter said, Uh, Luck will not participate in the next two practices and ruled him out to play in the

team's first preseason game. Um, it's a nagging injury. It's been around for three months. Per NFL Networks Tom Placero, there are no more doctor appointments, scans or surgery skeltered for Luck. Um, but it's been labeled a castring and kind of a setback that he's not ready to play football yet. Where's your peace scale? At West? One is completely dry? Ten underpants soaked. I was hoping you would ask this exact question. The peace scale, it's about a one.

I don't know. I mean compared last year when it was a nine point nine because of his shoulder. This is this pales in comparison to last year. Is concerned. He said he's played through worse pain. Basically, they said if he had to play tomorrow, he'd be he'd be all right to play. He's got five or what five or six weeks before the season starts out. It doesn't bother you at all that he's had an injury for three months that has not gotten better. It doesn't bother me.

I mean, especially when they said, like previously that he would be ready for training game and we're very confident. I would put it higher because Andrew Luck sounds like he's higher. He sounded practically dejected when he said it's going backwards. He said the injury was going backwards, and he was frustrated because it's been it's been months and it doesn't seem like it's serious. But it's like a

four one. There's still some still some triples of your one that's on the rise, so West, you know, I would Jake Brisket, I'd say just get him loose and keep him ready. God, I hope I don't have to watch him play for a whole year, but this is obviously something to watch and we talked about it on the show that they cited the Kevin Durant injury. Um as you know, a template in terms of be extra careful with this. Last thing we need is Andrew Luck

suffering another serious injury. So it makes all the sense in the world to bring him along extra slow. But how about some positive development? I just feeling nice. Nothing good comes from training camp at all, just negative which on that very top like a j Green. Yes, he was injured in the first or the practice of training camp at that field with all the pebbles on it. Uh, he will miss regular multiple regular season games, which is

not the outlook that was originally presented. He underwent ankle surgery on Tuesday, and when they went in there to check it out, they realized the damage is a little bit more uh severe than anticipated. So it went from the hope that he would be ready for Week one to expected to miss multiple regular season games. Rap Sheet reported. Zach Taylor, the new Bengals coach, confirmed UH that it is going to be a bit of time on the

shelf first superstar wide receiver. Uh and yes, by the way, Cincinnati follows an opening a week one trip to Seattle with games against the Niners, Bills, and Steelers, so they could use their best player and they're not gonna have him for at least the first couple of games. It looks like maybe more. I was taken Isaac Taylor immediately putting that timeline out there, almost as um away to send the signal to Green like take you know, we're behind you, and it's like a player friendly move. We're

gonna put this timetable out as far as possible. Coaches usually don't do that, saying, oh, he's definitely gonna miss some games in the regular season, Like don't rush it. You know, if he comes back earlier than that, then then you can look like a hero and that'll be a pleasant surprise. But I thought it was interesting he went out of his way to kind of take the pressure off. Moving on, Trent Williams, where is he out

with the Redskins. It's not good. Everything we're hearing is negative that it is a um relationship that is fractured beyond repair. Well the athletics. Jeff how reports that the Redskins are quote having trade discussions regarding Williams. Um and how added that the Patriots Greg give Boys expected to be in the mix if Williams does hit the market. Uh, he's on the record, Williams saying he's not gonna play

for the Redskins anymore. So if this is as bad as it seems, we could see a trade coming where yes, he's thirty one, he's had some issues, injury issues, but um, these type of offensive lineman west don't typically you know, wiggle free this close to the start of the season. I would imagine it would be a very healthy market, especially for a contender or a team in dire straits at offensive line like your Cincinnati Bengals that would never do that, but teams that could use a left tackle.

It's gonna be a market if he's out there. Houston Texans come to mind, the guy they drafted in the first round has been playing guard, not tackle, uh, Titus Howard, So they come to mind. Um, it seems that in the past forty eight hours finally not dawned on the Redskins, but they've accepted the fact that Trent Williams is probably not gonna play for them, so we might as well start listening to trades. They signed Donald Penn, and when Donald Penn spoke to the media, he said, I didn't

like playing right tackle last year. I wasn't comfortable with it. I'm coming to the Redskins to play left tackle. They must know something that we don't know that Trent Williams isn't coming back. Man, it's just a terrible situation for Dwayne Haskins for whoever is playing quarterback for that team, because I already view the Redskins is one of the Offensively,

there's just not a lot to love. There's not a lot of weapons, and last year I feel like they were basically a run a running team with a tight with a with heavy you know, passing options to the tight end. They didn't did nothing going on. It's not a good situation for a rookie quarterback. I would go as far as to say Greg that this would be a blessing in disguise for the Redskins to trade Trent Williams.

But and certainly one of these are the circumstances. It deflates your you know, your ability to get high value back for him. But he's a thirty one year old left tackle for a team that's probably at least a couple of years away. The idea of trading him and getting good value back is not the worst things for a Redskins team in transition. Depends what's good value. Though he's their best player or he has been there is this? Is this playoff team next year or this year? No,

but he's their best player. And okay, are the Texans going to give up a first round pick for him? A second round pick? Maybe? I mean with health concerns. I mean to me, I wouldn't trade Trent Williams unless you got a second round pick. He's too Like what why is that helping? You? Just let him sit out all you see what happens. I don't know they call call the bluff on that. I think they could get something. I mean, Dwayne Brown got a second round pick at

mid season. Why can't Trent Williams. Trent Williams, who do we trust to win the have a have forty million? Why all these teams have so much cap space, spend it? Spend it on Trent Williams. If it's if it's the Patriots, who do you trust to win the deal? Here? Bill Belichick or Bruce Ellen. Doug Williams is on the phone too. You know you got trust Doug. I'm a little surprised that if the Patriots got in there, but their first round pick from a year ago, Isaiah Win still not practicing.

So right now they have uh Joe Tooney, who's their left guard, playing left tackle for the most part, so it could be a problem. And the other news to take out of this that yes, it does continue to streak. It's been going on for the last seven forty seven high level veterans that hit the trade market to immediately be attached to the Patriots as a potential suitor. Just the record, it's a record that will never be It's

it's Cal Ripken baseball and baseball. It's the Yankees and they that's been the case since the nineties, that they been the case since that's that's true. Although your boy, you know, what are you doing trading for Trevor Bauers? Did you want him? I forgot every superstar in Major League Baseball is ultimately ticket for the Yankees because they're the only game in town. And it's cute that you guys fancy yourself contenders, but you know, stay out of

the you know, big playbox. Well, the oldest team in baseball thinks it's allowed to win games too. Unexpected British here, sorry, furiously googling and Trevor Bauer right now. I don't know if you're gonna like Trevor Bauer. I read up on him a lot last night, and you could not create in a lay any anything or anyone with a more galling personality than this guy. Yeah, he's a real menace on Twitter as well. Oh my god, I think he's

a sociopath from the very absolutely. It's just gonna be hard to root for a shutout from that guy every time out. Alright. In other news, Mark, why didn't you jump in there? You've been active on Twitter with baseball stuff recently. You know, my baseball content it arrives when it arrives, not when it's asked for. Although that that reminds me of interaction we had walking up here where uh Andy, Greg who's big time direct giant, exact giant, uh you know, because he's so tall of his nickname,

just walked this by and he's like Sessler. I've been tweeting out some weird lately. Well, you know, I love. The people think that I only know about football and that I don't have a rich history covering baseball as well. Moving on the Cowboys back in business with Alfred Morris. Uh, this deal comes of course at a time uh when Dallas could use more bodies in their backfield at running back as a potential protracted hold out with Zekiel Elliott

goes on. So thirty years old, alf Morris, you know he's he's had moments, He's had moments, and it's been thirty years old for seven years. That's fair. Uh. Yeah, I accidentally called him Albert Morris our last show and that we're talking about his rookie season that was two thousand twelve, But it feels like he's been in the league since about He's one of those guys. But he actually did some things a couple of years ago with Dallas. Um in um limited duty and you could do worse.

Probably probably could do better, but you do worse. Also, nice little insurance policy. He knows that knows the system there. Um. James later reported something interesting on Tuesday that her sources from Dallas told her the Cowboys do not like the way Todd Girl's contract was structured and they want to reset the market rather than set the market. And she had she said they're not close that you know, there's you know, some chatter about they didn't love the look

that he's in Cabo right now working out this. It is a good test case of whether Levan Bell really did uh potentially changed the way players are are thinking, because Gordon and Zeke in theory, you know, could could do the Bell playbook, not the whole season, but maybe actually missing some games in theory, if he actually has changed their minds at all, I mean, I think it was the other show a couple of a couple of shows ago when I mentioned that the only holdout that

had me concerned at all was not this one. And I am this is starting to get on my on my radar a little bit as a nettlesome issue. Well, put Mark, that's what's happened, like making just you gotta make a comment at some point, but the topic, that's what's happening in the news, all right, So uh, it's like crap, now I have to say something. It's like that. It's like a window into Marks in turn like interior. Oh shoot, I better say so soon they're gonna know

they can't do They can do it without me easily. Um. All right, that's what's happening in the news. Alright, So West he's back. Um, a bit of a soft launch for the banger Um in the Banger zone for West with his last piece. But now he is all training camp has done. You know, he got some reps in week three of the preseason. Um, you know he met with his trainers, He took all the right supplements. Then he gets suspended. He is ready for football, new start

up to camp. A little overweight there, Yeah, I gotta this was an exercise and knocking the rust off for me. I've got to learn about Kellen Moore, you know, I've got to learn about what Chuck Pagano did last time he was defensive coordinator. That's good. So what did West right about? He wrote about the um assistant coaches in new places that really are gonna be big factors with

their teams. And I imagine West, these are teams that uh fancy themselves super Bowl contenders, so there could be a make or break element uh to um these gentlemen and their presidence with these teams. Want to get into the list because well, I have a feeling that one person on this list will not be a Super Bowl contender in the eyes of you three Rich Denver Broncos offensive Why don't call him Sangs in the article? Alright, so tell us about Skanks. He is. He's the new

offensive coordinator of the Broncos. Gary Kubiak of course, who will talk about later. Uh seem to have some type of falling out might be strong but disagreement or philosophical break with John Elway. So he left the team, uh and took his his um hair, his gorgeous hair to Minnesota. But Skangs is there's the o C to us about what do you think about's going on there? Well, Skangs is only the o C because l John Elway got on the phone to another Stanford legend, John Lynch, and

basically coaxed him in to allowing the Broncos to interview Skangs. Uh. So he had to promise that they he was the lead candidate, that he was probably going to get the job when they hired him. This guy comes from the Kyle Shanahan tree um and I think that Mike Monchek, the offensive line coach, is just as important of a hire as Scangarrello. He has he's he's one of the most respected line coaches in the NFL. The Steelers were top seven in d v o A all five years

that he was running the offensive line in Pittsburgh. And this is the team with the second most blown blocks in the NFL last year, the Broncos. They've got at least two new starters in Juwan James at right tackle, Dalton Risner the rookie at guard, and Flacco had the lowest rating passer rating under pressure in the NFL last season, so it's very wharton for him not to be under constant pressure. I feel like between Skangs and mun Check,

this will be an improved offense, much improved. They're gonna have a lot of new starters on this team. I like when teams have kind of a connection to the schemes that they've run throughout their history, and this is very much a Denver Broncos type of offense. I mean, it's very much a Mike Shannon, which is Look, it's still working, as you can see with Kyle Shannon and the influence he's had with John McVeigh and everyone else across the lake. But what a what a come up

for this guy. He was the Wagner offensive coordinator. Three years ago. Wagner, he was at Millsaps like five, seven, eight years ago. So mil SAPs is another college also the last name of it's a female prep school in Iowa. Denver Nuggets power forward. Uh So, I mean he I think he's the guy that Kyle Shanahan really like loved and that, and I think that word got around the league. And now he's in Mark. What do you give me to bathing in the knowledge that West is just pouring

out on us right here? So next gangs, All right, let's talk about Gary Kubiak. It didn't work out in Denver, Um they couldn't figure out a way, uh to do it. So he goes to Minnesota. And this is a situation where offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski he'll still have the gig and he'll still be calling the plays, but West Kubiak is gonna be I mean, that offense is gonna look different if Gary Kubiak is in town. Talk about a

dream higher. I mean, Stefanski's calling the plays. But they not only brought in Kubiak, they brought in Rick Dennison, Kubiak's longtime right hand man who manages the running game. Uh, they brought in They brought in Click Kubiak for quarterbacks. Coach Kubiak. I mean they bring in all these guys because they're implementing Gary Kubiak system, a system which is Taylor made not only for Kirk Cousins but also for

Dalvin Cooking. That offensive line. There aren't going to be seventh jep blocks, there's or seven step drops um the law offensive line, we have more time, they won't be under as much pressure with all the rollouts and bootlegs they're gonna have. Kirk Cousins is the only quarterback with a thousand passing yards and a better passer rating on play action throws in each of the past four years,

which is the foundation of Kubiak's offense. I feel like this is just a perfect You talk about the problem last year, Mike Zimmer's desire for a run oriented attack versus an offensive line that couldn't pull it off, and John d Filippa, who's always been a very pass heavy play caller. You bring in a guy who marries the run in the past as well as anybody has for the past couple of decades, Gary Kubia. That was your slot. Mark,

I don't know. I don't play that. I was gonna jump in, of course, but I decided reference Mark Restferendce a slot, and now all I can think about is Mark slot. Dan you here's what happened though, and he is wrapping up. I gave Marco look that was like, okay, you go. I knew what. I thought that I was gonna jump on it because this was your topic on the sky Sports hit. Yeah. Think you are a Gary Kubiak believer. We did, Yes. I I believe in the Vikings for game Pass, which everyone should buy a game

Pass Europe. I think it's especially for the overseas listeners, so people should buy American. You can show up I think closer to the the NFL season, but it's a it's a big season previous. I think, you know what. I think the Vikings are so primed for a bounce back season, and I think it helps him so much that last year, after the Minneapolis miracle and then getting Cousins, which seemed like an obvious upgrade over case, keenum that they would be a team that would get to the

super Bowl. Finally get back to the super Bowl, and they kind of wilted. It felt under that and Cousins didn't live up to expectations, even if his numbers UH seemed as strong as always UH This year, though, they seem to be lying in the weeds in the NFC. And and I think West, everything you're adding is just adds more fuel fuel to that fire and my feeling that this is a team. This to me, they could be a twelve and four team if that offense gains

more consistency. I believe in that defense, I believe in that home field advantage. It's one of the best in the NFL. They seem to be a potential NFC monster. There was just a stink on them from the early part of the earliest reports we heard of d Filippo and Zimmer not being on the same page, and I think it it kind of rotted that team from the inside out. And so this feels like Zimmer's got his guy, his guys, Cubs, Coup's two point oh the Sun. I don't know what he looks like, but I mean it

sounds good. I mean, I think they are a bounced back type team. He brings it on too. I That's why it sounds like, that's why he left Denver. Is Ultimately, when you hire Cubs, you don't just have Cubs, you have Dennison. You gotta all go on the payroll. It's like hiring the star and you gotta find like a job for like lebron James is like you know, third best friend or whatever. And that's why he ended up

in Minnesota. And he's got a great running back to build the round in Dalvin Cook, who I think wasn't a totally back from the a cl but still looked quite good last year and we'll be even better this year. Look at kubi x track record. He has turned a slew of undrafted guys and late round picks into thousand yard rushers. Now he's got a second round pick in Dalvin Cook. Let's connect again back with the Broncos. The Broncos are connected to all these It's like a Kevin

Bacon situation. Well, this is the Shanahan family is running through this entire list. Interesting, So yes, I just brought up case kien Keenum he went from Minnesota to Denver, and Kubiak he went from Denver to Minnesota. Minnesota. Now Chuck Pagano, he replaces Vic Fagio who went from Chicago to Denver. He is the new defensive coordinator of Duck Bear's trademark. Me your thoughts was, well, this is the one that this instigated the article, um thinking about Chuck

Pagano because you lose Vic Fngio. Who is I think, along with Wave Phillips, the most most respected defensive mind in the game right now. Well, Bill Belichick sort of on an island up there by himself, but you know, throwing Romeo Crennell is another guy who's respected. But we

don't really know what Chuck Pogano is. He had one year's defensive coordinator with the Ravens where they finished third in defense with ray Lewis, ed Reid, Terrell Suggs, and then he went to the Colts and he never really

had much talent to work with on defense. Now he's token over a defense that is almost sure to regress to the mean just because they had a sky high turnover rate, lost very few games to injury last year, and cannot and fiftcent of drives with an interception like they did last year, especially with a slight drop off

in talent in that secondary. The problem with taking a job like that is that they invariably will regress back to the mean with the turnover stuff, and they need that defense every week to make up for their offense. I felt like, and if you're if you are in the situation Pagano, you're gonna get blamed from the earliest part of the season if it doesn't go well. That's

over something for someone who floundered before me. You come in and you look at on the other hand, when you have a chance to work with Cleo Max and Keem Hicks, Rokuan Smith, Dany Danny Travis, I mean, they're they're absolutely loaded, Eddie Jackson, Kyle for they are loaded, and yet I think it's a tough spot to go to for Pagano. You know. Dan pompeirot a good article this week on The Athletic about the Bears, just that the teams that return all their starters and the expectations

are there. Sometimes those are the ones I'm worried about. There's not there's no longer like them, there's no competition that all the starting spots are back. They were kind of hungry and trying to prove everything. I think Naggy, that's such an amazing job. Can he create that many plays again, but defensively, it's just proven statistically that is tough to stay that dominance at that hungry. On paper though,

they are the best. I don't think like you need to try to come up with some hot take that there's some other team. They are the best on paper. I'm interested in your number number four in your list. And again Chris Westling rhoda banger. Five new coaches with make er big potential. So the Falcons, we all know what happened. Kyle Shanahan new coaches. Okay, presided over an offense that was historically great in the season in Atlanta when they went to the Super Bowl and nearly won

the damn thing before collapsing. Um, he he leaves, gets the gig in San Francisco head coach job. So Steve Sarkisian comes in and he never kind of was able to match it. He was never able to match the magic, even though they did score points, just wasn't special. So what do they do West? They bring back guys that were familiar to Matt Ryan and company before that amazing two thousand sixteen season, which is almost to say, I

don't know from the perspective and outside perspective. Maybe we'll never capture lightning the bottle like did in sixteen, but we liked what we were before Kyle Shandahan got there. We didn't like the Sarkasian version of us. Let's try. Let's as you wrote, go back to the future. First four years and Mett Ryan's career as coordinator was Mike Malarkey.

Next three years, his coordinator was Dirk Cutter. Falcons hired both of them this year, one to coordinate the passing game, the other to coordinate the running game, and dan Quinn cited continuity. Basically, they want to run the system Matt Ryan's been running while he's been a top five or six quarterback the last three or four years, rather than going back to what Dirk Cutter was doing. Uh and

Dirk Cutter's um. He runs an Air Coryell like vertical spread scheme that should be pretty similar to what they were running before, so it shouldn't be a big change. UM. But I think what they're gonna find is, even though they were a top ten offense during Dirk Cutters first time around, Matt Ryan's a different quarterback now. He was a much more conservative passer. His average depth of target was always kind of bottom third in the league, and now he is one of the most prolific downfield bomb

throwers in the NFL. He he is excellent at it. It has been for three years. I mean, if we talk about the Vikings as a bounce back team, I go Falcons because a lot obviously went wrong healthwise for them last year. But but Cutter and like Matt Ryan have proven that they can get along well and and work with each other, and that's a huge factor in the NFL. And another option, I guess it's you'd have to be monking around with the categories here, you know,

and new coaches. But Dan Quinn, I mean, Dan Quinn's a defensive coordinator right now. They didn't hire anyone. He's under pressure because he fired all his coordinators. Peter King point out, I think it was from football outsiders. Actually they were the first team since the nine Colts to fire all three of their coordinators and keep their head coach, which is crazy. And he's fired a lot of coordinators over here, and then he put himself in as a

defensive coordinator. So to me, there's a lot of pressure on Quinn to to deliver with that young group. I guess I was a Falcons fan. I'd feel pretty good about that. If you trust those offensive minds. And as you you remember, if you know the NFL, that Quinn was the d C of that historically great Seahawks team. So he's got it in them to scheme it up,

asked Peyton Manning. I like the moves, I like all the moment I think a huge thing in Atlanta too, is you've used two first round picks onlineman and if they hit, if that works out, you've you've added big strength to that team. Finally, West, tell us why when you talk about the Dallas Cowboys offense, you could, you know, waddle on in Maybe if you're not us, you're right fitman uh, and you swing open those doors and welcome to the last chance saloon. As you put it well, Well,

Jason Garrett is in the last year of his contract. Uh. Super Bowl clock is ticking with Jason Whitten and Sean Lee who are possibly in the last year of their legendary careers. In Dallas, the offensive line nucleus, which the whole thing is built around, is creeping away from its prime, especially at left tackle and maybe at center. UM and you have a stable of young stars in need of

huge contracts, the sands running through the hourglass. Here it's time and Scott Linahan, who was actually Kellen Moore's mentor in both Detroit and Dallas, was sort of scapegoated for having a stale offense. I think um Freddie Kitchens, Brown's coach said this at the end of last year. When you're running offense these days, defenses are so athletic, so speedy, it's really important pre snap to give them a moment's hesitation. And that's what Kellen Moore is supposed to do here.

He not only comes from lenahan scheme, he comes from Boise State, where they have a wide array of formation shifts and motions. And I think you're gonna see the same foundation, the same philosophy that Lenahan used, just with a lot more options before the snap to try to

confuse defense. I'm looking forward to a new coach in Dak Prescott's here and everything that we've heard, I think we talked about a little bit, but dani Orlovsky, who had time with Kellen Moore, talking about what he's implementing is sounding a lot more like closer to Cliff Kingsbury than it really is to Scott Lenahan, and I think he's laser focused on making all the things that that does well, especially the deep ball and throwing on the move,

accentuating that and I and I, for whatever reason, I don't think they were getting the most out of dock last couple of years. And I'm more excited, you know, to watch this offense undercoun. I love this story because, I mean, this is a guy who coach his son. Right away. They talked about how his acumen, his smartest creativity were an asset, but he wasn't much of a player. But it's crazy to think that he was just playing a couple of years ago and he's now running an

NFL offense. You don't see that kind of rise very quickly. He was his own quarterback's backup. I mean, he's coaching Dak Prescott now, and he Prescott was elevated because Kellen Moore broke his ankle on one of the first days of training camp, having happened to be there that day, and suddenly everyone is crowding around this fourth round pick, Dak Prescott because hey, you're gonna have to be the backup, and you know, as we found out a few weeks later,

he was gonna have to be the starter. That was one of my favorite plot points of Greggy does Dallas. The things you hear about people don't usually talk about the plot that much, but it's underrated sets everything up to ship. The things you hear about Sean McVeigh. You hear about Kellen Moore. You know, John Kittner said he had a beautiful mind. Dak Prescott said he's one of the quote young genius phenomens in the game. Kellen Moore

kello is only thirty years old. It's just crazy. So like Jason Garrett's the man who will replace Jason Garrett if they don't get Sean Payton. Well he was nine when they hired him. Wow, that is wild. They've got Chris for Shard on defense, who really took over play calling from Rob Maryland Marinelli last year even though Marionelli's the coordinator. So they've got a couple of head coaching candidates. Well, check it out NFL dot com slash Westling uh to

see all those all that analysis in one place. Uh. I guess while we're here, Gregg, you've been writing your training camp pieces winners and losers that are a weekly seg basically yeah, sunder they go. It goes up Monday mornings, some winners and losers, big recap of the training camp week that was. Um, the old zuser will have a Friday calm to be determined, and then Hard Knocks recaps return on Tuesday when Hard Knox is back covering the Oakland Raiders. So I think we'll be like that eighth

year I'm doing it. This is getting ridiculous now. Um, you would think at some point your career advances past certain things, but no, it's just it's hit this nice little plateau and just sits where it is and we just coast along deeper and deeper into our lives. I'm not complaining mark anything for you. On the horizon, a new column that will be featured every week is beginning in a week or two. I'll tell you. There's some ideas by the original content team, and one of them

they accepted, reeled them in a couple of them. They said, this is stupid, this idea doesn't work. This man knows how to deliver a tease. Yeah, and eight part expose on sex in the end. Okay, all right, um, oh I wanted to hit orson Wells and I was like, too stunned, couldn't even left my finger too. I'm glad you did not. And remember the fifth Annual, Fifth Dish

Annual Fantasy Extravaganza will be held later. And I think we're trying to reel in the big fish, right, anybody one of you guys Evian Silva, Yeah, I gotta get the big fish back in the boat with his exciting, uh career change and also his immense knowledge in the fantasy realm. So now, Mardy kind of if if you're listening, and I know you're a regular listener, Evan hopping the boat, if you can, we'd love to have you, as you gotta pull in a big It's not gonna be easy.

I mean, now, if he declines for whatever reason, this just looks terrible for him. I mean, it doesn't look great for trying to promote his new site, established the run. He's taken these media requests. Now it's it's like now now he owns the boat. Yeah what I'm saying, Yeah, that's absolutely true. Um, all right, We'll be back on Friday with another show, So thank you to everyone for listening. Until then, this is Dan Hansas signing off for Quiet Storm.

I feel like we've got to look into your brain. Mark today the show, I'd be concerned, The Mailman, The Old Boss, and Ricky Hollywood Behind the Glass Deal. Friday,