New Horizons Monday - Zimmer, Judge and Flores Fired

scripture absolutely. That's so true and I cannot think of really anything in life where it applies more accurately than to this episode. And what we're about to discuss. M is that what you were looking for. I just try to that was that was Greg's turn to come in with something snarky, little mirthy tone, but he's he's punting on the discussion. Now. I'd like to keep it fresh, not be too predictable, and just see see what happens. I knew Dan would be surprised there. I wanted to

see where the conversation goes. I didn't. I thought Mark also said it so well. Sometimes you can't top it and you have nothing more to add. You know what I mean, Like Mark really set the tone that said when you in a audio show when you surprise us by not talking and it leaves like a five or six shortly. Okay, but I'm annoyed with Greg. That's not how that's maybe not maximizing the experience. I feel like Mark Mark should be a coach, al right, a head coach.

Mark should be David Culley, because I feel like Mark's dream job would be to get a job like David Culley that pays you potentially I'm going to just guess five times more maybe ten times more than he's ever made in a long, you know, good career per year and then lose that job, but have that contract guaranteed for four more years after that. This this is where you need to head. You can you can be a

head coach of the Texas. Do you think that I'd get real busybody like and go find like another coaching job that you know, months later on someone else's staff, just for the love of the game. Absolutely. Now you would have had your age and actually right it into the contract. Um that it's not like one of those matching things that it would be working for free if you had to go elsewhere just to prevent yourself from

even taking any heat from chilling for four years. We have a good friend who through work, ended up having a legitimate friendship with Jim tom Sula formally of the forty niners, he of the one and done. Uh, he's you know, we call it a culor um, although we don't know that for sure yet, but absolutely everything you guys are saying checks out. So Tom sewell, if you remember, I think he was maybe before chip Kelly, maybe he was after chip Kelly, was one of them during San

Francisco's down period post Jim Harbaugh and same thing. Like, he was a regular dude, a real nice guy. Maybe not somebody would think was a real head coach material in the NFL, but he got in the big chair, got canned after a year, but got paid millions for the next four years, and just like raised his kids with his wife and probably bought a nice summer home on the vineyard next to Greg's place, and just in

general and enjoyed life. Like I think if we could somehow get into that guaranteed money in the podcast game, then get our asses canned. I think it could work out. It's all about what's in the baked into the contract in terms of what can be negated for conduct reasons, the ideal blueprint at this stage in our lives too, where you know, you, I know, everyone's working very hard, but it's some point you start to think, like I like to do less. Maybe, yeah, what's the easy way out? Right?

At the time, so I was back on the sideline pretty quick. I know he had a year off, but then he had a chance to work for the J. Gruden Washington football team, you know, different name back then. And when you have a chance to work with a great organization like that, you just gotta step back into It's different for everyone, Gilo. Um, all right, today we will get into all the updates. Of course, six coaches out of work, um after the two thousand twenty one

season now has concluded. We'll kind of check in on each of those teams and where they're at. We mentioned the Texans, that's a that's a situation where the coach is still there but perhaps not uh that we have another situation like that with the New York Giants. So we're gonna kind of get into all of that and UM that will be uh today's program before we do, though I do wanna um, and I don't want to get us off track because I don't I don't want another two and a half hour podcast, but I do.

You want to check in on something that's happening internally internally at the company, And to do that, I have to reach out to someone, um on the news desk that could shine a light on something that I've been tracking very closely. So I'm going to make a phone call right now, if you guys don't mind be our guest. Okay, this is why Dan wanted to get the show going. Can you guys hear that? Yeah, Hey, Dave, what's up? It's uh Dan from a t N. What's up? Oh?

Hey are you doing? Man? Good? Good? Good? Um? How's everything It's going great? You know, just dealing with the end of the season, gearing up playoffs, you know the drill. Absolutely absolutely, So. I know what is your position right now in the news room. I know you've kind of gone up the ranks, uh in in the years that we've worked together. There Where are you at? Of course I'm happy to share that info. I'm currently editor Digital News. All right, good good, good dude. Because I noticed I

wanted to bring something up to you that I don't know. UM, I don't know if this is the forum for it, but I'm gonna do it anyway, and then you tell me. I just want your honest feedback on it. We've been getting and I want to. I don't want to reveal who's sending these emails, but we've been getting multiple emails um in the NFL media inbox from a certain member of the news team on camera. UM about So I'm just gonna read the email a little bit. Here. It says,

hello all, uh, subject line Nathaniel Hackett. Hello all, We once again just tweeted a Nathaniel Hackett headline with a photo of not Nathaniel Hackett. This is at least the third time that has happened recently. I understand these photos are surely mislabeled by AP or Getty or whoever provides them, but considering this guy maybe a head coach soon, can everyone just please look at some photos of the real

Nathaniel Hackett and familiarize yourselves with his face. He's pretty recognizable. UM. So, I just want to. I know you just you labeled yourself as high up within the operation and you r c Seed on this email. I'm curious your official stance on this and if this was taking care of because this was sent at four thirty eight am Pacific time. Have you finally taken care of this? Because according to this individual, this is at least the third time this

has happened recently. Um, it's been, it's been ractified, and UM, I don't want to obviously, as a position of leadership, I don't I'm not going to really get into many details over what exactly have been ultimately my responsibility that this happens. And also, just speaking personally, as someone who's bald, I can understand the frustration of being confused for other bald people. So I I like to personally apologize to

Nathaniel Hackett and anyone associated with him for this mistake. Well, how about the person that sent out this email that apparently had to do it three times to get a fairly simple issue rectified. Again, I don't think it's really appropriate to like really like discussed the inner workings of

what happens on the news desk. I just know that he knows that we do that we do a lot, and it's it's it's tough, you know, in this twenty fourth step a business, especially with all this coaching, is we're trying to keep the track of I think the person who expressed the concern about this understands that their voice was heard and that it's been Um, it's been something that's been discussed. But has has the packer's voice been heard here? Because you know in that email it

says they were complaining they were noticing this. And when you think about the NFL as in general, Eale like, who is more who is more recognizable than Nathaniel Hackett?

That's what I'm saying. That's a great question, Greg, Um, I know it's just again like I said, it's everyone knows who Nathaniel Hackett looks like, and he's one of the most recognizable faces in the NFL, like you said, and it's on us to do a better job for a future pretend the head coach out there, to make sure he gets the recognition that he lead he needs from our Twitter account. All right, Well, it looks like you handled it, maybe not in quite the efficient manner

that somewhat hope, but you got the job done. What is going on in your personal life? All right? It is very difficult to be a single man in Los Angeles always, but certainly during COVID even worse. Uh, have you found the one yet? Dave? I know there are a lot of people that know you on the show going back years now that are wondering, has Dave found the one? Is he's settling down, He's in his thirties. Now, where are we at? Well? I just was that more

of like a general assumption that I'm currently single? Or was that you just trying to fish and trying to tell address that first? That's a general assumption. Okay? Well, I I am so that you were correct. There had it ups and downs, obviously, I can't like, I mean, the pandemic. It's tough out there, it's you know, it's it's tough to meet people right now. So but um, we have a strong belief that will be Um, alright, good Dave. We gotta get going, Dave, Okay, let's yeah. Yeah.

Did you have anything else you wanted to add? I just want to say, like, um, I just finished I think our five of the BT just you guys are doing great work there. I think like you might have needed more time for your analysis, but really looking forward to what you can do next week. Alright, message sent, message sent. He's gonna be our boss one day, so we gotta respect the man. Dave Eale, thank you for the update, and thank you for taking care of the

Hackett situation as we as we call it. All right, thanks alright? Thing please really talking about editing for content, how about let's trim up those what we learned uh Russian novelists they have, they've become more condensed, Greg, Just to let you know, UM, what a method actor, what an impressive what an impressive executive Eally has become. I remember them the first week that I met him. Um, he announced to me that bounty Gate would be essentially

meaningless within a couple of weeks. So I see this is a person that's grown in many ways well as news instincts obviously have evolved. I matured it as he's done the same. So UM, I just hope he finds the one and he's not left holding that champagne bottle alone too much longer. What if? What if? All that we're going through Corona, UM, insane weather events, UM, general lack of peace in the world, does hinge on David

Eally finding um a significant other way? I I and I you know, I just feel like it was such a safe assumption that he was single, But like, what if they could change the world by finding Dave. He needs to find a woman and they need to produce a spawn because that spawn will either cure coronavirus or have some type of antibody that can then be harvested to save the world. Basically this, Yeah, I could totally see it. I think Dave has something greatness in him,

whether it's him or is you know, progeny. All right, what hour are we in on the show? Right now? Let's get to the news. A New Horizons Tuesday. All right, let's get into the news. The coaching carousel is spinning and it has thrown off Joe Judge. The latest news. The latest firing in the NFL. The seventh coach now UH to not make it through or into two is the New York Giants UH coach, who was dismissed Tuesday

after two losing seasons with the team. The move comes a day after general manager Dave Gentleman retired after four years on the job. That's what they're calling it. Here is a statement. Here's the missive Ricky from Giants Corner, John Mara Steve. That's Steve. Tish and I both believe it is in the best interests of our franchise to move in another direction. We met with Joe yesterday afternoon

to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Show of our decision. We appreciate Joe's efforts on behalf of the organization. I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision. We will hire a GM and that person will lead the effort to hire

a new coach. Alright, so end quote Greg. This is sensible for the Giants who were putting themselves into a really tricky gray area if they were trying to keep Judge bringing a GM. Now they have cleaned the slate. And if any organization right now needs to clean the slate and clean the decks and clear the decks, it's the Giants. Yeah. I think it's in about face. That makes sense. Don't get stuck in a previous take you had when information has come up that allows you to

realize it's a bad take. And the take for Mara was we keep cycling through these coaches. I regretted getting rid of maccadoo so quickly. He said that publicly, like during the season, especially right after he made the playoffs, and he wanted to keep Joe Judge. Obviously, as recently as the day after Christmas, ESPN reported Judge and Daniel Jones will be back, and it made it clear the sources were from ownership and that they probably will make a change at GM, but the plan is to find

a GM that wants to work with Joe Judge. Since that happened. Uh, the Giants got blown out three against

the Bears. Uh, Joe Judge did that impassioned thirteen minute plea, which I think reminded Mara of McAdoo and his terrible press conferences at the end where he was starting to like bring shame upon the Giants organization and a couple other dispiriting losses, Uh, including that third and nine you know sneak near the goal line, which unfortunately is like, that's all we'll remember in six years about the Joe Judge of time. I think will be him falling on

the ground for the fumball. That was how it all started. You know, they were watering the ground. Dan, you you used to leave that was well, that was the peak, but that was also that was training his first ever training game. And this is how it ended and restart. If you're getting rid of Gettleman, get a new coach, don't saddle him with Judge. That's that's what I like about it for the Giants because you know whether or not John Mara is very frustrated with what's happened since

they're on their fifth coach since Tom Coughlin departed. I mean, that's this is a team in in in free fall and turmoil. I think we grew up Dan like with the Giants, and we've always viewed them a certain way, and even up till a couple of years ago, there was an element of like, this is a classy organization.

And it's not that they're not classy, but they have completely fumbled the head coach higher over and over and so I hated the idea of having the stuff Joe Judge in the building with another GM, a new GM who probably would be a less powerful GM to agree to that to begin with um and you know, we will even see about the future of Daniel Jones. I mean I would also look at Joe Judge and say, I don't even know if he gets another job after this anywhere. At this point, it's the it's the last

a job on the staff. But I think he was rumored to be Belichick's choice to replace Josh McDaniels if McDaniels left a couple of years ago as the offensive coordinator, so you could almost see that happening. This off, well, then you go back to New England. But his CUE rating is very low. But I mean there is another

angle to the Joe Judge experience. I just think to be fair that like I can't think of too many new coaches that came into a scenario where you know, Dave Gettleman put a subpart team on the field, injuries plagued them from start to finish, and he's just probably not head coach material. But the next GM and head coach also Gettleman left them. If you look at over

the cap and I know this can change. I know this isn't a big deal, but they are the fifth worst cap situation in the league, nineteen million in the red and they're tied up with a lot of current players that a new system, a new team, a new coach may not be into. And I think that starts with an honest evaluation of Daniel Jones, who's not often available due to injury, and the team in general just we've never really seen the real New York Giants. They

never scored thirty points under Joe Judge's reign. That's kind of crazy, and a lot of that certainly goes back to injuries. A lot of that goes back to how bad Dave Gedtleman was at the job in the four years, and in a lot of ways, I remember talking about this last summer. This was kind of a bad situation that Judge was in because he was entering year two, the team wasn't very good, and you had a GM that was a lame duck, and it just felt like

he was in a very difficult position. And then things kind of started to snowball against him, really starting with that Thursday night early in the season when the guy in UH who's a Camember, Tomlins and somebody jumped offsides UH to negate a Washington field goalness UH and allowed Washington to rekick and make the kick and everything went downhill for the Giants at that point. And I do think about that press conference. I wonder if that got

him fired. This ain't some clown show organization with something else. And I know you certainly right after that report too that we'll talk about a city where your press conference. I mean, he was there was a target on his back, the team was playing poorly, and then he I think he embarrassed the organization. He didn't try to, but his way, his impassioned explanation of his belief in the team and that we're not a clown car and all this stuff

was just gasoline on the fire. So that's part of the big chair responsibility as well, especially in a big market, uh like New York. And this is the stat that really it's floated around last week, and I just want to share it again here because this really tells the bigger story of the Giants. And before you say, we got rid of Joe Judge, uh, and we got rid of Dave Gentleman and everything's fine. Now, the Giants at no point in the last five years have been over

five hundred at any point. Uh. This is a proud organization that is down h So as as frustrating as it is to be a Giants fan, you least, this is an example of ownership who flipped around a lot of right levers over the years, being like, Okay, we're going to correct a mistake here and see if we can get this right. Now, do they make the right highers, We shall see, But this is a step in the right direction, right, I mean, these these firings are basically

ownership admitting how wrong they got something. I was thinking about that with like the opening press conferences, that there's these opening press conferences, the wife's, they're the families there. Joe Judge specifically, Mara said, blew him away. It was like just they weren't expecting him to become the head coach. Blew them away. And you're sitting there at these press

conferences and no one's thinking this. But the reality is most of those people, I'm gonna fire you and in three years or less, like in most of those situations, I got this wrong, You're getting fired in three years or less. Twelve teams haven't made the playoffs over the last two years. Eleven of them have changed coaches. The Panthers are the only one that haven't changed coach in that time, and they obviously had a new head coach only two years, so it is like a results business.

The Giants are on a massive losing streak. I don't think Daniel Jones is their biggest problem, but at least the new regime can just start fresh and decide what they want to do with him and the rest of this rafter, which is which is a bottom five or six roster in the NFL, and it's it's it is ponderous for fans of these teams that keep doing this

over and over because the process doesn't change. You look at every one of these vacancies, it's the same laundry list of eight to twelve guys, most of them who failed already as head coaches, who are getting these interviews. I mean, it's a hot mess. And so if you if you go outside the box, like the Giants did in this case, for every Mike Tomlin, there's twenty Joe Judges. So it's so hard to pick the right guy. I mean,

Mark is a Browns fan, you know, as well as anyone. Um, it's so hard to find a guy, and sometimes an organization looks into a couple in a row, uh and sometimes you start going through the wilderness and that feels that's where the Giants are right now. We will see what goes on over the next few weeks. They will be aggressive. Let's take a break and then we'll hit the rest of the firings that went down on Monday.

The surprise move. There's always one surprise. We've been doing this long enough, there's always one, and it was Brian Flores losing his job. When you lose a job a season that ends with eight wins and nine weeks, including a seven game winning streak, that's a surprise. But Greg, as we hear more about the story and Chris career, the GM is still employed here. As you hear more about this story, this wasn't so much about results on the field. It came back to, let's face it, a

familiar refrain around disciples of Bill Belichick. It seems not to put a blanket on everybody, but an inability to work well with others lead to the demise of his program. Well, the difference is Flori's has shown a great ability to game plan and I think overachieved on balance in terms of the three years he spent there. Remember when he took over they were supposed to be the very worst team in the NFL by far, uh and they ended up closing that season strong. He's actually like over five

after that initial losing streak. I think the Dolphins are like a lot of workplaces where it's people protecting their jobs and being more worried about that and feeling comfortable with the people above or below them, um than really being as interested in what's the best product possible. Because Brian Flores has been the best coach they've had, you know, in a while in terms of results since Steven Ross

became the owner. And so I think you look at Chris Greer, who has been there almost two decades, he's preserved that relationship with his boss, and he's gonna be there moving forward. UM. I have the feeling, just reading between the lines and some of the reporting, including from our Steve Wish, you know Flora's ruffled feathers, that maybe he didn't appreciate some of the ways that the people above him we're doing business, and you just can see with Flores he might not have hit it very well,

or he might have been very open. I think that Deshaun Watson drama was probably a flash point but even by that point, if Flores was fired after winning native nine games, my guess is ownership had already decided back then, this guy's gone, um, because we don't want him working for us, like we're we're offended that he's either challenging us or the way that he runs his team nothing to do with the results on the field. Yeah, I mean, it's been talked about that the tension had been, you know,

heading towards a boiling point for a while now. And I can remember a day back when the Dolphins were you know, one and four or something, and it wasn't because of the record, but Greg and I were in the newsroom and um, someone that we really respect basically told us, because at that point you thought Brian Flores is one of the brighter young coaches around. Of course he'd be safe because you look at who Stephen Ross, the owner had dealt with a head coach before, there

wouldn't be an issue here. But we were told the opposite that there were major issues in Miami that centered around Brian Flores. And I think that his relationship with TWA took a hit. And Chris Greer has been there since the year two thousand and Steven Ross, who you know, like it or not he runs the show, talked about lack of collaboration over and over, and I mean that you could look at a few things like the dual offensive coordinators, right, things like that, where I mean just

stuff was strange. But I mean, in the end, it tells you everything you need to know that other teams, namely the Bears, are interested in turning around and hiring Brian Flores and taking a chance on that lack of collaborative spirit that he brings. And that's when you hire these Patriots coaches, you have to actually if you want them to be many Belichicks do many Belichick things, and and ultimately it seems like that was distasteful to Stephen

Ross in the end. We'll see. Now. I saw a report that it was Flora's that was driving the boat a little bit with uh Deshaun Watson and those rumors, and perhaps that led to the schism between him and too. Ah. That's just speculation on my part. But you know, we here to report also that the Dolphins or Flores will interview for the Bears head coaching vacancies. Mark said, that's that that's obviously is he a guy that jumps from getting fired straight into a job. It doesn't happen a lot,

but it does happen. And maybe he's a situation when you can see it go down. Had him happened for Adam Gaze, which you know, wasn't a great idea obviously, And I don't think it's the worst idea for Brian Flores to take a step back, you know, unless he's in the right situation or become a coordinator for a year.

I think he'll probably get another chance because that team was built around what he did well in terms of the defensive packages, the secondary of the blitzes, and like that's all out the window, and so you're starting all over and and I don't I don't doubt that he bears blame. Here is some blame for it all, But I look back at what's the longer track record, and that's Steven Ross changing all these you know, boats on the Titanic over and over in trying to find the

right combination and not really finding it. And Chris Gery has been there alongside the whole time. So I think we can sort of surmise from the reports that Greer and Flores or or certainly Florist and Ross weren't getting long. But it just makes me laugh when he says like, well,

I want better communication, I want more cohesion. Stephen Ross was literally reported from our network to be trying to set up an interview with Shaun Watson uh in before the trade deadline, and basically Watson couldn't, you know, get it off in time. He wanted to meet with his lawyers and everything. We we reported that, and he's talking about that Florist isn't like maintaining his relationship with ta I mean to me that it's a little lot. It's

a little laugh of all, even Ross's public comments. I thought it was I guess you want an owner to be transparent with with the fan base and all that. But uh, here's the quote. I've been looking at this over three years now, when watching the organization grow, and I think an organization can only function if it's collaborative and it works well together. And I don't think we were really working well as an organization that it would

take to really win consistently at the NFL level. If I'm interviewing for the Dolphins job, I'm a little bit nervous when I hear a quote like that that I might be somebody that wants to be used as a puppet that doesn't isn't gonna have a lot of power in the organization and feels like I'm gonna be put into some type of uh vacuum um. And let's face it, Miami's results over the last really post Marino speak to it.

It's like the Bears job as well. Same thing. When you take on a job like that, you're taking on decades of failure and what's behind that is it is it's something that's gonna swallow you up. I think it's dangerous because any candidate would need to look at the fact that they're going to be paired now with Chris career, and you know, barring that coach bringing miracles to Miami would lose any power struggle and already be de emphasized

power wise. And secondly, whoever comes in needs to succeed right away, because Brian Flores, above all things else, had

the program going in the right direction. I know they got off to a rough start, but Miami's defense over the last couple of years was the product of his coaching, and so I just think it's a tough landing spot for the next guy, right, you have to you have to beat nine and eight basically, you know for all the you know talk of that they where I guess a little down this year, like he he crushed there over under winter totals like the last two years, and

he was pretty much at it uh this year. And the next coach is gonna have to decide what they want to do with two. I think that's all. That's all open. I mean, they might they might be changing quarterbacks. That the Laramie Tounsil trade, which which Florist and Greer were a big part of, crushed him because they've drafted like four offensive linemen in the first or second round and they have the worst offensive line in the league.

So it's not like Florist was perfect there. He cycled through coaches and even free agent acquisitions and players extremely fast, and that that kind of speaks to it was a destabilizing type of situation, alright. So Brian lars is out, So too is Mike Zimmer, as well as general manager Rick Spielman. In Minnesota. That pair that brain trust with

the Vikings, they are sent packing after eight seasons. The move comes a day after a disappointing Vikings season ended with an eight nine record, and this is the first time this organization is really cleaned house in its top two positions of leadership with Ziggy and Mark wilf uh in control of the organization that's been since two thousand five.

So this is this one's interesting mark to me because I think there's so much focus on Kirk Cousins all the time around the team, in about the offense going on and off, and the just the meandering nature of a Kirk Cousins team being five hundred. But I think the reasons Zimmer ultimately gets fired here is because when they made the NFC title game in the in the case keenomy or four years ago, they had the number

one ranked defense in the league. Fast forward to this year ranked in football that defense, and Zimmer's inability to get them to where they needed to be, and of course Spielman's inability to stock the cupboard in an effective way, I think it's the defense that led to this blow up. Yeah, I mean it's I think it's that along with the fact that it just felt like classic relationship burned out.

To me, it was interesting that Eric Hendricks, their linebacker said after the firing, I don't think a fear based organization is the way to go UM their tackle. Brian O'Neill was with Kendricks and also talked about humanity being lost in the building, and there were stories of you know, Zimmer has always been a cranky Bill Parcels offshoot, but I mean, I enjoy his crankiness, but I think it

kind of started to weigh that building down. They talked about him just passing people in the hall and not speaking and spending tons that are doing not a good move. He's spending all this time on defense, but look at what's happened the past couple of years on offense, where he he wrote John D. Philippo in the press week after week, then flat out fired him. Um. The NFL made a rule about allowing coaches to interview for other opportunities after she blocked Kevin Stefanski from seeking a better

role with the Giants. Stephan Diggs ultimately wanted out because of the lack of attention to the offense to some degree. I mean, Zimmer, though, is a high quality coach who brought a high floor, so it's gonna be you know, it's another situation where the guy that comes in is gonna have to hit the ground running, and you can't really necessarily look at it as a chance to rebuild from scratch at all, because there's a lot of parts there.

I think he knew even it was time. He was taking pictures with one of his assistant coaches on the field afterwards. He was there eight years. That's a good run. Rick Spielman was there sixteen years. That is in almost unheard of run. Now, he wasn't in charge the whole time. He was second in charge from about oh six to eleven or twelve, and then he was in charge since so that's a long time. I think the Wolves have quietly been been good owners. I think they built that stadium.

There's been stability there. Zimmer was sixteen games over five hundred. He had a pretty good run that The situation he inherited was a lot of drama, but there there's a good article in the Athletic. I do like looking back sometimes when these things happened. All the drama that happened under Zimmer is crazy to think about. You mentioned like the De Filippo fire, and remember Norv Turner like just mysteriously retired in the middle of the year basically because

he didn't like him, which that was fun. There was like, there was the Adrian Peterson stuff. There was Teddy Bridgewater unfortunately blowing out his his knees, Tony Sperrano's death. There there was just like a lot there. And you can imagine after eight years, the way he approached football would wear on you. And and he's such a defensive guy. It doesn't totally make sense in one but he also was a good He was a good coach. I don't You don't get the sense he wants to be become

a defensive coordinator again. But if he did, like everyone would be pumped. Guy, he's kind of old school guy. I don't know if he's somebody that it, you know, necessarily would fit the profile of a team that's looking for a fresh start. But yeah, like you said, he has been a successful head coach, came within a game of the Super Bowl, so he seems like a guy that would get a second shot as well. Here's what

Mark Will said. By the way to Mark's point that this could be a team that hires someone new, hires a new team builder, and then the belief is that they could be contending in the NFCO. I don't want to go into a full rebuild conversation. Will said. Our point is we have high expectations for this football team. We believe we can be super competitive right here in two. This is not in the mode of a full rebuild.

So this is not a team tearing it down. This is not let's trade Kirk Cousins and start Kellen Mond. This is a team that thinks they just need to freshen things up. And I get it. I like Zimmer. I think I thought it was a good coach, but you understand at a certain point, if you don't get the results you're looking for, you gotta freshen it up a little bit. I think they're in a eight spot

with Cousins. I think he's like the ideal guy to keep for one more year under his current salary while you draft a rookie like and he's also a little tradeable if you wanted to dip your toe into that, and you probably wouldn't even care that much about like offending him if you get mentioned in rumors like he feels a little tradeable, and if it doesn't work out,

keep him for one year. You draft someone to develop, you know, a first round pick or a second round pick, and like, I don't think they're in a bad spot. All right, Let's uh take a break here and then get into the next dismissal on new horizons week here on around the NFL. Alright, so I mentioned the Bears. Let's talk about the Bears. They fired coach Matt Naggy and general manager Ryan Pace on Monday after the team

finished with a six and eleven record this season. That ends a four year run for Naggy that began with the NFL Coach of the Year uh two thousand eighteen. That was the double doink uh season in the playoffs or one and done against the Eagles. Uh. But it has been downhill since then, back to back eight and eight seasons in nineteen and twenty. They did make the playoffs last year as the expanded team in the new wild card round, but one and done there and then

they took a step back here. Um, and this is a fresh start, Greg. They are getting rid of the entire brain trust, and they're putting faith in ownership and the people that are responsible for these this decision to install something here that will be lasting and really put this franchise back on track, because it's been a while now since it really felt like a organization to take seriously in the NFC. Yeah, it's still a family run

out operation. And you can hear that when you know, mccaskey's son is speaking about like, you know, how how disappointed mom was, you know, And that's that's who they are right now, and they want to do that. I'm a little concerned, if only because they're already setting up all these GM interviews, right And they're already setting up all these coaching interviews, and the list is a long bowls, Dable, Ebra Flos, Leslie Fraser, Nathaniel Hackett, your Boy Um Byron Leftwich,

Doug Peterson, Dan Quinn. It's a lot of names. But you're also interviewing the g MS at the same time, and they say that the coach is going to be reporting to the GM, Like, like, already I'm wondering a little bit about about the setup. But you do have Justin Fields, and I think you've got to hire an offensive minded coach, right, I really think that's the way to go, and whoever has the best vision and plan for Justin Fields gets the job. In my opinion, what

could be more important than that. I think that one problem here is that, yes, it's a fresh start because at least it's not a Duellian GM and coach, but George McCaskey and Ted Phillips have totally turned off Chicago. That was one of the worst press conferences that has ever happened in the NFL. It was just a disaster. And why did you think it was so bad? I admit I only saw one little clip and it was

that clip was bad. But I didn't watched You watched about um the Q and a section of it after his long bizarre intro, and I think that there is just a high level of exhaustion with what McCaskey and Phillips have done, and they were getting pointed questions and McCaskey basically, you know, I like Chicago media was saying that it was a masterclass and now how not to run a press conference. He just looks like a fish out of water. And it's the same people he's going

to make that decision. In the end. They're gonna bring Bill Polian in as a consultant who's turning eighties soon. It just I don't know if you that There's a lot to like about the Bears, the concept of it, but the ownership situation, it's creaky inability to change would concern me as a head coach candidate. Mhm alright, pet Matt Naggy, You know he did. He did go out with a winning record for pres There as much grief as he took um, he did have a quoting record

for his career. And that's and the thing is, all the other coaches that are still hired right now, beware because Barras fans won't have Matt Naggy to kick around anymore. There's always someone else who's going to be the guy in. I mean, it was a classic thing where like they almost shouldn't have won the division with Drabinsky. It like ruined the next couple of years because they kept trying to do it. It was a miracle and he did

do a nice job that that year with Drabinsky. The entire yeah, the entire um, the you know, the brain trust there. Naggi inherited Mitch Drabinsky. Uh. It was Ryan Pace who made one of the great draft gaffs of all time. Uh, not only passing on Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes but trading up to get Mitch Drabinsky at two overall. Um, So, the fact that he lasted this long after a gaffe at that level does speak to some issues behind the scenes. Mark, I think it does.

I think I got a sandwich off you. Uh though for Naggy getting dismissed. I think you thought because of the organization that they would be too loyal and moved too slowly. You did, and I I thought they might move too slowly. I looked at the go get my lunch um dot org um page the other day and I was like, what was I on LSD when I took that? Because we're gonna hit that. We're gonna hit that at the end of the show. Let's let's take

a break, all right, welcome back. Let's now hit on another coach who's seemingly in danger but still employed, Matt Rule. Carolina Panthers. We heard the Fox report last week. Jay Glazer put it out there that Rule needed to hire a quote rock star offensive coordinator to save his job. Than rap Sheet reported um today that the Panthers fired special teams coach Chase Blackburn, offensive line coach Pat Meyer,

defensive line coach Frank oakum okay o coom uh. So this is the this is the move mark that the Panthers are taking right now. Matt Rules not the problem. Everything else around him, including the coaching staff that he put together, is the problem. Does this also feel a little backwards for the Panthers? Well, I mean to me, it just feels like an example of a curating nose diving for a coach that I thought last season had

a lot of support around him. And you know when you start firing, like you know, when you fire the starry offensive coordinator that everyone thought might be the next big thing in the NFL. Now you're firing your special teams coordinator, You're firing line coaches left and right, your scapegoating, and there's at some point and it's gonna be real hot the minute the next season starts. Where the fingers are gonna be pointed nowhere else but at Matt Rule.

I think that already started. At the end of the year. There's probably a bunch of them. But if judge Stock it stuck around would be like a nice sort of horse race between there's always one guy that ends up being the guy. Well, I don't know if Panthers if the Panthers fan base would be as vocal, perhaps as the Bears had been around Nagi. But Nagi became a national thing. And uh yeah, I think Rules a very

strong candidate. He's getting there. He just seems so disheveled and discombobulated when they asked him about Sam Donald, like he just didn't have an answer for Sam Donald. He just started he started himing and high and being like, well, we we brought we brought him in. We we thought we thought he could he could be a quarterback. That's why we guarantee the money. But that's like the low end of starter money. And it was just like he looked like he hadn't slept, which maybe he hadn't. It's

the last game of the season. They're doing all this stuff, but he just he he seems like the NFL has bowled him over a little bit. I don't hate them keeping him for a third year. Maybe I'm wrong. I you know, I wasn't as high on him as Mark. Mark you know, had this loves this Panther's team, love Matt Rule. I see how he's now putting it on other people. He was like, he was like, oh yeah, people were very high on him. It's like no, no, no. I mean it's obvious that I was, but it was

also because he came up and shook my hands. So I don't know. If there's a lot of like inte gritty and my fandom, I guess I'm like, I'm I'm still one that Okay. If it's a total that like built out your analysis for a year and a half, well I look at I also liked the idea that he had a history of taking programs, rehabbing them and making very them very strong. I thought he could be like a Jimmy Johnson type figure. Right now you think

nothing like that of him. And the best thing to Greg's point is to have him not on Mike for weeks and weeks in a row. I mean, he's he needs a break and he needs to come back with a plan and a quarterback. Right they've they've been him and his GM Scott Fitter, who is you know, fairly new Like both were like, well, we just gotta get an offensive line. You know, if you protect Sam Donald, He's he's shown he's he can be a good quarterback. First of all, that's like the minimum baseline, like if

you get perfect protection. Donald can be average, but that it's like, well, why did it take two years to think of like, let's have good uh and a good offensive line like that? That that's your that's your big solution. And yet I don't. I don't hate them keeping him I kind of thing coaches should get three years unless they're total disasters and haven't shown anything. And I and I actually think his his offense has made sense to me, especially a year ago that the line was so bad.

This year they've built up that defensive I think he's just above that threshold of unmitigated disaster only gets to that giving him a third. I don't hate it, and it wouldn't It wouldn't shock me with some with some better personnel moves if they're if they're in the mix, and he gets along with the owner to that from all we hear that they get along well and they

have some shared visions, so that probably helps. You know, he's an offensive guy who's just made so many bad quarterback decisions that it feels like their whole offseason is going to be based on if they get a big time quarterback, they better be best friends for this too. That to be a driving reason for him staying. I mean it's like results are results and there have not been any there. How about Uh, David Culley in the Texans,

We've mentioned him a couple of times. He expects to return for a second season, despite a lot of speculation about his job status. Hear is what Cullis had to say after loss of the Titans the end of the season. I'm looking forward to being the head coach of the football team next year. Haven't thought about it one minute, he said, As far as he knows, he'll be back. Um, we talked about this a little bit on the Sunday Show. Team CEO and chairman kl McNair general manager Nikis Sario.

You're not hearing anything from the team about Cully's future. Jake Glazer reports that it's something that that can happen. Usually when Glazer reports something like that, uh, that that Cully is out, he probably will be out. Um. It would not be a great look, but it is what it is. They stopped caring about how things look and Houston a while ago. Right, it's just like you you

hired this guy. It just it just fulfills basically the worst thoughts of what everyone thought when they hired David Culley because I don't even think there's an argument of whether this team performed above expectations or not. They did the people were thinking this might be one of the worst NFL teams ever created. Like, yeah, I think they had like a two and two and a half over under something absolutely preposterous. Um. You know, they developed a quarterback,

they were competitive, their defense actually was decent. Like and I'm not saying he should be a great long term head coach, but assuming if they do fire him and then hire some casario friend, like a former Patriots guy, whether it's McDaniels or Florist, then it's just they were that's what they were intending to do the whole time, and they used they used the guy as a patsy and and give him a lot of money to do

so well. I think if anything, though, if you're David Culley, you escape with a money guaranteed money and be I think a pretty good league wide evaluation of the job you did. It's it's not a flaming train wreck where you vanished from society for two years because we don't

think you're up to the job. I would not put it past the Texans just with their weirdness and the way they rate for us to suddenly find out that they hired like a Josh McDaniels and they had a secret interview or a un announced interview to get to make all that kosher. But it's like they're just so bizarre, and I think they've done them so dirty, and it's just like, how how can this organization that even a couple of years ago was on the up and up

look this bad and operate this poorly. It's it's like

they stand out among the other thirty two teams. Like Jeff Howe from The Athletic, who is a former Patriots reporter, said they might not decide to about Thursday or Friday, so like this is this is where because like they're supposedly evaluating until then, and it's pretty clear that the Easter Beecas areo combo is trying to see if they can get the guy that they want and if they can't, then I guess we'll string along college for another year.

Like it's just it's just kind of a thing. Like I said, it's just by some of their actions, it feels like the Texans have no idea what they're doing. Yes, it could seem like that from the outside. Now maybe inside down mother, they know exactly what's going on. But from here where we are, na many ain't it inside the building increased up machine, no doubt that. I don't know if I want to cut that. I like that the whole um. Lastly, Dan Quinn, he's the defensive coordinator

of the Cowboys. He has really uh see the he This is the perfect example of how you rehabilitate your image and brand in the NFL. Quinn went from hot shot d C. Was a d C in Seattle. Is that where he was before he got the Atlantic job, got the Atlanta job, built that program, went to a Super Bowl. We all know how that turned out, then went into a long decline in Atlanta, got fired, looked like old news. But he still had the chops as

a defensive play caller. Goes to the Cowboys, revitalizes that defense with some help Mica Parsons falling into his lap was a nice little upgrade that helped him. And now he's a hot candidate again. And there is a report, uh it's circulating out there, um Denver sevens Troy rank for instance, But I think it's popped up in a few places that the Broncos have requested permission to interview

Dan Quinn for their head coaching vacancy. Of course, we learned Vic Fangio was fired on Sunday morning, so that's another opening in Denver. Why does this feel weird to me? Though, Greg, Maybe it's just because we've been doing this long enough. You know how it typically works. You fire the guy that's a defensive minded coach, that's a veteran guy, so then in hire an offensive minded guy that's kind of like a hot shot. Usually like to go opposite, but

this feels like you're in the same lane. Yeah, I'm surprised. And there if you read between the lines, it sounds like he might be a favorite or the favorite in Denver, and then he might have more interviews to uh elsewhere in the league. At one point there was a report he declined to talk to the Agers, but he said it was more about timing. I think people around the league and I don't. I don't know the relationship he has with George Peyton. I could have should have looked

it up. Who is the GM in Denver. It's a very strange situation. Peyton has only been there a year, the ownership could be changing, and nothing's gonna stop by Peyton from hiring a coach, but the ownership could be totally different in a month. I'd be stunned to hire Quinn as a defensive guy, but I guess they see him as a leader of men, and he has a great reputation just because then you gotta find the offensive guy. Something he was off and on about, you know, in Atlanta.

He did well when Kyle Shannon was there, essentially, and not so well when he wasn't there. That's the problem with hiring a defensive head coaches. They take your offensive guy if if he's good, Like if you do a good job hiring your offensive guy, it gets taken from you. And so that's why I'd always lean offense. Not that

there aren't good defensive minded head coaches. Sean McDermott's amazing, but it surprises me that it sounds like he might be the favorite there and I looking at the list of their candidates, two others stand out to me, just based on what we thought could happen with the Broncos this offseason. Dan's Guy, Nathaniel Hackett and Packers. Who's the Packers oh see, and Green Bay quarterbacks coach Luke getsy. I wonder if there is a side plot or a

plan to bring those guys in. Aaron Rodgers was one of the first guys to trump for Nathaniel Hackett getting a head coaching job last offseason, So would that ever be the way to lure Aaron Rodgers to Denver with someone he really loves and also maybe bring over the quarterbacks coach as well. In an environment that tells Aaron Rodgers, we got you. Oh God, Aaron Rodgers, isn't an environment where they got him. I get that. The other does any sense. It doesn't seem like he's moving at this point,

but we are. We are less than a calendar year removed from him being totally annoying any other team offers. It's like, it's it's not better than what Green Bay offers to him right now in terms of how he secures his legacy in these fine years. But it's all good. Points you by the way, greg Us, George Peyton, Patton, General Patton. It's Peyton. We like to call him General Patton, but it's Peyton. They didn't Quinn and Patton didn't have a Payton didn't have a lot of overlap in their career.

They worked briefly together with the Dolphins like fifteen years ago. But this isn't anything where these guys have been tied to the hip at some point. So we'll see um. One other guy on that list who stands out, Doug Peterson was added. He's gonna talk to him little, Yeah, he's talking to the Bears. He's making the rounds in general. One last just like Coaching Tracker News and it's on

NFL dot com. You can see where all the interviews, like the Jaggers have interviewed everyone including Bill O'Brien left, which all that stuff. Mike McDaniel in Miami sounds like one that might have some legs. Very well regarded offensive coordinator for the forty Niners, Kyle Shannon a sort of famously not allowed him to leave for a lateral move, but he certainly would if it was a head coaching job.

And and that that's one that seems to have a little a little bit of buzz and heady into Sunday night, there was a lot of buzz about Harbaugh and the up in Las Vegas. But I do wonder if if a that's b s or be like whether Besaccia can now keep this job. I'm curious what Psacia has to do to keep the job like this, this tenant seven in the playoffs not enough? Well what if they win? And I think they can by the way, we're gonna get into it on Thursday or preview of all the

Super wild Card weekend games. But I kind of like the Raiders chances of hanging around in that game against the Bengals. Uh? Would that make rich Besaccia? Would that rip off the interim label? Well? You make that divisional round would be pretty It would be harder to imagine them making a change. One little, one little tiny note. The night that I shook hands with Matt Rule, I was speaking with a Niners assistant. You were there, Dan,

We were at that bizarre party. Was probably had about four to seven titos in me at that point, but yes, I was there physically, you were there. Um. A Niners assistant told me that Mike McDaniel was the most impressive creative person on the entire staff. Do you hear this? Do you hear that? Greg? This is Mark his next target of affection infatuation and was a former Brown's here we go. Andrew Hawkins and Joe Thomas have spoken publicly about this that they think he's like, yeah, they didn't.

Kyle Shanahan's maybe the great card. We're just exing them. All. Yeah. They love McDaniel. They think he is the real deal. All Right, there you go. That's what's happening in the news. All right, before we get out of here. New segment sponsor Quality Time, brought to you by a Verizon, the official five G network of the NFL. Quality Time. It's us all together, chopping it up, talking ball through the go Get My Lunch segment, produced by the great Nick Fourtier.

It's very important that people understand that this is probably not gonna look good for any of us, um but it's very hard to make these predictions, even the ones that seem safe. Like I remember, as I was looking at mine, I was like, I don't remember the show where we made these props, Like Greg had this whole

monologue about how I wasn't hanging any onions. These were like insane props that I was laying out there in my opinion, but that was all based on the speculation of what will happen in it never works out how we all expect. Anyway, let's go through it. Mark will start with you, buddy, it looks like you're it looks like you're twelve and nine or No. Twelve and seven. Nice. It did come out good for someone old third place Sessler.

That's that's an exemplary And as I've said many times, h Mark is like the old Rob Deer, that old slugger for the Brewer is, or name the hit or miss slugger from your youth watching baseball, the guy that strikes out two times, but he'll hit thirty two homers, he'll run into one and every once in a while he hits a bomb. And we're gonna get to one here. First, you have Big Ben starts week one for the Texans. I remember when you said that, and I didn't. I thought it was a joke, but you kind of had

a theory. They're connected to Deshaun Watson, and I guess the Texans looking to contend and the Steelers looking for a fresh start. Negative. We got two sandwiches there, one for Dan, one for Greg. Uh. You nailed the A coach will resign during the season. That is, by the way, this is all coming from the great Nick four tier of Go get my Lunch dot Org. Nick has urban Meyer. Here Meyer was fired, but John Gruden resigned before he

get fired. Bang nailed it. Got two sandwiches there, way to profit off of racial controversy there, that's what he does. Why do you need to frame it that way? But it's not. But let's say, let's just be honest, Mark, it's not the first time you've done that. All right, next category, A top story involves an NFL cheerleader and this and this, you know, this just shows everyone gets upset about the Philly Special and all this. No then no, no,

we're magnanimous here and it's it's Yeah. Was the NFL cheerleader angle of the Gruden situation really the biggest part of that story? No, but it was. It was a little those little seasoning in that story. And Mark said, a top story involves an NFL cheerleader. There was that whole calendar issue around John Gruden and Washington football team. Bang two more sangwiches. Mark, So good for you, buddy.

Right there, there's your rob Deer hits one eight. When you are when you're projecting these things, and really this is the area for all the three are just true experts should be doing this to start with. I mean you you you see things and they feel strong, but when you when you put them into words, which I falter about sometimes. You know, I maybe over the size the size of the story involving the cheerleader, but there's no doubt that, um, you know, once again, totally dead on.

And I feel like I've done my I've done my work and I'm ready to just walk out of the room here. So just recap. You've you've won sandwiches um from a racial controversy ending one of the most famous men in the NFL's career, and a sexual misconduct UM allegation and report that ended up, you know, causing Washington's ownership to be changed. That's where you're winning your sandwiches, right, But that's your That's not to be conflated with the

idea that I'm prancing around celebrating those things. It's a a prediction of a seconds ago. Well, you're the results, not how I got there and not you know, not what I what it is that I saw. And again there's a Robb Deer component to this. So let's just hit the rest of them here. Baker Mayfield will throw more touch downs than Aaron Rodgers. That just tells you where Mark felt both about Baker and Rogers coming off a vpcas and Rogers finished with thirty seven, Baker just

twenty behind him at seventeen. Okay, so not such a shiny result. Imagine if imagine if I told you back in August, Mark, not only will he not do it, you could double Baker's touchdown total and he still won't match Aaron Rodgers. See that would have been a great sandwich prop on your to countermine. And then of course

a close but no cigar hand grenade theater. Here a team finishes eight eight and one, so close, but the Steelers uh pull it out in week eighteen, beating the Ravens to finish nine or what were they nine seven and one. You were a Marquis Brown drop away from the I would say the greatest go get my lunch performance in history. If you get that one and with those three and whatever your win loss record would be,

that would be it. Wow. Alright now, I mean that that turned that's by the time the season, it turned totally dark on me. So I was not surprised to not get that one on the final Sunday, Greg, I see all read for you, which I didn't trouble and the go get my lunch dot org universe. You are six and seven, which means you've made six sandwiches on other people's incorrect predictions, but none on your own. The

Broncos will make the playoffs. Mark got a sandwich on that. Stupidly, I got sucked into some of that Denver hype because I think when Greg, when really Gregg, gets on one in like August and September and he's just completely obsessed with the team like the Broncos, I think it rubbed off on me and I will learn from that going forward. Speaking of which, Greg, Terry McLaurin will finish with a higher ranking and receiving yards and the Rams seed in the NFC. I like the way you worded this one.

I did draft Terry McLaurin as well. That didn't work out for me in my fantasy league. I picked up two sang which is here just so everyone knows. And I do applaud you Greg for the setup of it. I did enjoy looking at things from a different perspective. But Terry finished nineteenth in receiving yards. The Rams finished fourth in the NFC soft spots separated three teams from the a f C East will have more victories than the amount of consecutive photos that Mark posted to Instagram

of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in early September. Yet Mark was in a bit of a place very early on in the season, and there was a lot of Leo Kate stuff going on. There were nine photos esecutively on social media and what was how was it worded? It had to be more than nine. Three teams have to have more than those photos, so it had to be Dolphins got to nine. Three double digit team, three teams with double digit wins. The Bills got eleven, the

Pats got ten, the Dolphins gotten nine. If only they could have extended that winning streak uh in week seventeen, they would have hit ten as well. Uh give I give Greg credit for some very creative sandwich um word worded propositions. There losses. This one's fun. I like it. Jadeveon Clowney, there was the breathless summer of hype about Clowney. Has been the case his whole career, I said, under four and a half sacks but Clowney did have a presence. He was a guy that did some things for the

Cleveland defensive line. He had nine sacks. I want to say something I I did not know he finished with nine sacks. That's amazing to me because that means he still doesn't have a double digit sacks season. Well that's one way. He had two in the final game and and got a two fifty dollar bonus because of that. Good for him. Is he under contract for next year? No, but none other than Myles Garrett In A couple of

other defensive players are lobbying to bring him back. So you got to get out take take, get the good while the good is getting then make a move. I will. I will set up this prop again next year if he's still in the Browns. Week one, Jets beat the Panthers. Cynthia and I had a wager. I don't even think the should be part of the competition, but it is. I took an l there. Zack Wilson wins Offensive Rookie

of the Year. Not quite Zach. That was sometimes I like to wish cast in this particular game, um Wilson was middling at best for most of his rookie year and really was quite bad. In large trunks chunks are lost to their The a f C will post at least a five forty one winning percentage versus the NFC. The youth. By the way, I love that you didn't take me on this, Greg, Um what the theory here

was that? Uh, in September and early September, we were all on this like kick that the a f C was much better than the NFC, and um, so I thought that that would lead to success. However, turned out that the a f c's winning percentage was seven. Why didn't I take you? That was? I don't know. And let's see, at least two of the following teams will lose ten plus games. This is one you got upset about, Greg,

and you didn't take me on it either. At least two two of the following teams will lose ten plus games Steelers and what did Steelers lose? Eight Bears who lost eleven, Saints who lost eight, Cults who lost. Well, that's why I got mad at you. I was like, Um, I didn't think it was hanging it, so I didn't take you on that. So I didn't didn't take me and um so you won that one over Mark at least two. No, I lost right, only only one of

them had the only one made it yea. And finally Matt Naggie has fired after the season, Mark, you took me on that. That was at some point in our podcast in a random episode, we may that wager, and um, Ricky, you had one by the way, you want to jump on a second crashed and burned real hard summer summer storylines, run a muck. You had Marquise Callaway, remember the hype

around Callaway during the preseason out targets Michael Thomas. But this was an important distinction, semi colon upon his return. Michael Thomas never returned, so according this was now he didn't come to us on this, but I like that he's the he's the arbiter of this stuff. Nick Fourtier said void. He wrote, Michael Thomas never returned, so that the wager goes nowhere. It never happens. But didn't I say that he would replace Michael Thomas? I mean target?

He finished? Yeah, he had eighty four targets for the season, and how many did Michael Thomas get. I'm just saying that we don't decide this, Ricky. This isn't like when

Greg was strong arming you in the PIS competition. This year, like the PIS competition, this has a is a nothing burger now, just like Ricky hasn't even made a pick in the last three or four weeks somebody, but you s it again that again, you kind of set the table that you took her spirit away a little bit there, Greg, what about last year then when she stopped picking games about a month. But that's not helping her spirit to go back into the past and you know, fling more

arrows at Erica. I think a good New Year's resolution, Greg is to think about Ricky's spirit very very gentle. It needs protection. She has that that tough exterior. She wears that black leather jacket all the time, and she rides a motorcycle, but she's she's a flower. Really, Maybe, Greg, maybe at the end of like a Thursday show, you could be like, oh, we haven't heard from Erica this whole show. Maybe I should ask her who she locks this week? Like, maybe that would be good instead of

trying to push myself into you know, conversation. Yeah, are you're right, I'm not thinking about that. Hey, Mark, we've reached a part of the show where Eric and Greg start working out their stuff like in a passive aggressive way. In the middle of the podcast, we're here, we are, well, we gotta give something to the people who waited this long and only got like a void Marquez callaway. Uh, finally, Check was on our show and the ramp up to the season, he predicted the Chargers would win the a

f C West. They did not win the a f C West. It was the Chiefs. Gosh, they were so close. I was just thinking about that that they were like a minute away from being in first place over the Chiefs three weeks ago. Now they're not in the playoffs. Yep, that's how it works, all right. There you go check it out, go get my lunch dot org. Not only does it have the wagers for this season, it has

every wager ever. And that's just fun because I went back and checked out the all time standings and you get like just random gems like Chris Westling predicting team that drafts Johnny Manzel, the Los Angeles Rams or was it the St. Louis Rams back then. I don't know. We've been doing this a long time because the l A Rams, that's amazing. Wow. Anyway, good stuff. And that was Quality Time brought to you by Verizon, the official

five G network of the NFL. All Thursday. That's the next time you're gonna hear from us, and we will be previewing Super wild Card weekend, a whole bunch of games to break down. We're excited to do it for you. Um, So thank you to everybody. And and just heads up, set your DVRs is back. The NFL Network version of the Around the NFL podcast. We call it the Broadcast. Uh. It is not infringing on Erica's i P because broadcast is different than broadcast. It's just it's different. It's that

little itty bitty ting. It's different. But I love the plug. Check out the broadcast. Checkouts it ends. And I was going to say, and Greg take a note here, Ricky got split ends this week. What's on the show. We got Mike Golic Jr. From ESPN after the National Championship Game, uh, last night for college talking a little bit of that, talking a little Bachelor because he's a known Bachelor watcher. So it was it was fun. Okay, I've been taking

I'm taking notes, Dana. Is this how it works? Check Ricky out on the Jessel Nick and Rosenthal Vanity Project. You know, she speaks a lot more on that than than here. She's really integral part of the show. Erica. Do you worry at all about intense overexposure at some point you're on roughly seventeen different shows. Um? No, because Mark, remember you did like a meditation maybe five years ago when I just started, and it was about me coming from like the corner office of NFL network to shut

down around the NFL um. I'm just getting more powerful as time goes on, So it would behoove you to stay on my good side. Let's end the show, all right. We'll be back Thursday. Thank you for listening. Until then, he's a call.