Ravens/Colts Recap & Sesslerdramus

it a medical scare. It's getting just slightly old. UM. I had a good time like in the last month. Yeah, the second time in the last I think probably the upshot is I I hastened my return um the first time, which might have been against uh, you know, smarter advisement. UM. I have learned the value of having a great nurse here and there. They've been UM, A lot of people

help me out during this whole thing. But also I don't know to make it to keep it short like UM, I have I think you know anyone that's been away for any period our listeners, I've I have heard from a ton of them, and I really think them for everything that they wrote. Um, it has been a weird month. Like I my life has changed a little bit. Um from a physical perspective. I don't need to dig into all that. But UM, it's good to be back here. And I couldn't thank you more the three of you

and everyone surrounding you. UM that handled the TV shows, uh, the podcast of course, the trip to London. You guys did an incredible job from what I saw, And you know, I did my best to handle any sort of drama that occurred here on the in the States while you were gone. Very little UM popped up. But it it also, UM, you know, we've done this show for so long and we've had to go through periods where you've got to pitch in and do a little bit more. And I

know that you guys did that. It really um it kind of it was terrible to be away on some level because just as an aging man, UM, you're watching like your career occur without you, kind of um from a distance, and I had to reconcile a lot of that. And you have a lot of hours alone to think about your life. And I don't think anything for me will ever really be the same, but um, it's it also is the same in many ways, and so I guess I'm just happy to be back with um, with

all three of you. People should know that Mark is live via satellite inside an iron lung. That's right, it's a wonderful place to be. He's live inside of kirk Cousins is plus plexiglass container. Oh Mark, we we missed you so much, buddy. Uh and the audience did as well. And yeah, we had a great time in England. But obviously it's just, you know, not the same about the quiet storm. So it's great to have you in the mix.

When you referred to a great nurse, was that some pillow talk of involving your wife or was that an actual nurse, like a practitioner of medicine. Well, I won't reveal the former, but Um, on the latter point, I think that you know, I probably over over since late August. You know, you nurses work three days a week, but they work these twelve hour longer shifts, and I kind of think that's an incredible setup. I think maybe I should have been a nurse had it been more trendy

back in the day. I like, I could totally see you. Yeah, I mean you have to, you have to kind of care for people. It's nice. Um, but I would say that, you know, having probably thirty of them over the last month plus. Um, there is the way, Dan that you power rank thirty two teams. I easily could have come up with an article about power ranking nurses, an article

that literally know on what I've interested in reading. But some really did there did their jobs with um a plumb and I tell us I would note that right away in appreciate that. Tell us about number twenty seven, Olga seven, very run down. UM. One thing I've learned is I am a pretty polite patient. I was told

that by you don't want to be a nightmare. Um. But what I learned was that when you're not the squeaky wheel, and I think we this is you know, all areas of life if you have children, especially the non squeaky wheel gets ignored. So the Olga at twenty seven would be the type that you know. On her twelve hour shifts, she stopped by three times, you know, and I'm totally dehydrated and fading away. Because you're not

the most annoying patient. There are plenty of them, so you've got to get in there and kind of learned the smarts of how to be just vocal enough to get attended to. That's what I've learned. Wow, And what a lesson that is. Not that I'm hoping that you have to deal with that, that's something. And and you'll you'll have to promise us not to leave us again, because, uh, we miss you when you're not here. And you know,

we were supposed to do a show. We were going to take a little uh take a little break on Tuesday's. We flew in, got in early last evening into Los Angeles, ten hour flight after a crazy week and all that. The plan was to take it easy Tuesday, come back Wednesday. But then some crazy stuff went down. Uh. First of course the John Gruden News which were about to dive into uh and then like a wild Monday night game where Lamar Jackson authored one of the more memorable prime

time performances in quite a long time. UH. And with that all there, Greg, it was like, all right, I think we gotta throw up the bat signal. We gotta get back into the bunker cast uh, studio setups at home and rip one off football waits for no travel plans no, it's good. I mean, this was a wild, a wild fork in the road for for two big NFL characters. We might be the last time we talked

about John Gruden for quite a while. I think that's certainly possible, all right, And also we're going to uh cap the episode by previewing the first game of week six. Look how the time flies. My goodness, Mark Sessler's back. Let's do some news. All right, here we go John Gruden.

Unbelievable turn of events uh in the NFL On Monday, UH, the Raiders coach who's been involved in the NFL for decades, came back signed a ten year, one hundred million dollar deal with the Raiders UH to lead them back to the Promised Land. Instead, after three seasons in five games, he is out as a result of reports that emails he wrote over ten year period included racist, misogynistic, and anti gay language. That I mean, that's the hat trick.

If you're looking to get run the hell out of town and your career to be shot, there it is. And he did it all. Uh. And you know, this is a situation that we saw leading into the weekend. It was a story because it was the Demorris Smith jabs and the racist tropes in the language he used. And little did we know at the time, but other teams and the league and UH news organizations, most prominently the New York Times. UH, there was much much more, and it all came back to bite Gruden in a

big way. UM, and he had this statement released on Monday. I love the Raiders and I do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff and fans of Raider Nation. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone. Greg. There's there's there's long term ramifications for the Raiders, their short term ramifications for the Raiders, and we'll get to that. But the central figure here John Gruden, a towering figure really in both the sidelines,

in the NFL and in the broadcasting ranks. He's gone and he ain't coming back. I know. I think of the few days after he won the Super Bowl with Tampa and Bill Belichick wrote this column weirdly in the New York Times, and the column was like, what are you gonna do next? And it was basically Jon Gruden at that moment was as bright a young coaching light as I can remember. Over the last twenty years, very

similar to Sean McVeigh. I think when when he popped up, But if Sean McVeigh had had won the Super Bowl, and you think about what happened after that in Tampa, after that win, mediocrity, and then you think about this run which has been mediocrity, and then you think about now how it's gonna end and will forever um be connected to Gruden, you know, as one of the first couple of lines in in his obituary, how how this went out in the most like embarrassing, ugly pathetic way possible.

And I think when the second batch of you know, information came out, which Mark Davis, the Raiders owner, apparently had a little bit of an idea was coming anyways, and I think was prepared for it. Um there was no choice Mark Davis, because Raiders history, of all teams,

is the history of inclusion. They they have been ahead of the NFL at every step of the way in terms of diversity, in terms of giving um black people executive jobs, giving them coaching jobs, giving Latino X coaching jobs, having you know, quarterbacks in that position, having women in the executive positions. The Raiders are such a unique franchise in history, but that that is one of the things

that has made them more unique than ever. And so Mark Davis, I think knowing what his father would do made a probably what for him was obviously a painful decision, but I can't imagine it was one that was that difficult for him. It was pretty obvious because to to it to Mark Davis, to Al Davis something meant a little more of what it meant to be a Raider. I don't think he knew all of this stuff about Gruden obviously when when he hired him, but he found

it out this weekend and and that was it. And you move on and and maybe we will talk Gruden in the future, because there will be lawyers, you know, there will be money disputes, and there will be a lot more that that goes on just between the Raiders and John Gruden. But unbelievable to the career like that that was once at that pedestal taken out in one of the most I don't know, brutal ways, um in in deserving ways that we've ever seen from a figure

of that level. Yeah, I mean, I love that you mentioned the Belichick letter in the in the time that spans. I mean, Gruden is one of these figures that you know on a football front, has been in our lives for decades plus because it wasn't even just the Bucks job. It was him rising up as a colorful character with the Niners and previous roles and just him on television and the persona of Gruden as much as anything else.

But I guess you know, for all of us, you know, character will be revealed, and uh, you know, I think that it's it's fair to to look at this from a couple of different angles, and you're absolutely right about the Raiders. Greg. Um, I think there's it's fair to question, even with the Demorris Smith comments that came out, why

Gruden would have been coaching on on Sunday. Um, that's for another day, because I think it's pretty evident because Gruden, you know, talked, he talked over the weekend to Chris Mortenson about some of the disparaging Goodell comments. He did not give total details, but you give you get the sense that the Raiders and Mark Davis knew, and you're absolutely right about the Raiders. If I if I feel that I was benefited by one story I worked on last year was like spending weeks talking to guys like

Art Shell in old school Raiders. And it was Art Shell who became the second, really the first UM African American head coach in the modern era after Fritz Pollard. Way back when UM Al Davis, you know, he refused to play in Mobile, Alabama back in the early sixties because of segregation. He hired Amy Trask, Tom Flores, Karl Nasset is the first openly gay player on the Raiders.

The athletics set it perfectly of Al Davis. He respected talent no matter how it was packaged, and so the Raiders have been a different team then the rest of the league on that front. And I think it's Mark Davis is UM really essentially two decades long fascination with Gruden. I mean he courted him for six years before hiring him, and they talked about the fact that Mark Davis had a favorite laundry mat in Tampa because he was down there so often trying to get Grooden back into the

grip of the Raiders. I don't know what Mark Davis is doing at a laundry mat to begin with, but I mean, you look at all the people in these emails, Lady, I guess he's also the same guy that got like eight dollar haircuts at Supercuts and drove around that pop top van. He's a little different, that's fairy. He does

things um in the Mark Davis way. But I mean, if you go through the laundry list of who was ripped on by Gruden in these emails, I think it just came to a point where there's literally no argument for him to stay. Was there an argument after go ahead? And now I was just gonna say, like you you're mentioning um Mark Davis and like a decision he had to make. There was no decision. This is two one and and when you're seeing when you're seeing the gay

slurs used to describe ROGERI. Cadell the commissioner, and all the uh anti feminist comments he was saying about various figures getting opportunities, whether it's on coaching staffs, or on the sidelines or um on the officiating ranks. I mean,

it was a rap. But by the time I got to the third paragraph of that New York Times story when we got off the plane from London, was like, oh, well, okay, John Gruden's career is over and you know it's like, first of all, Mark the I can't believe Belichick writes a letter about John Gruden, of all people, and you still can't get a letter back from Gruden from Belichick after all the great things you sent him back in

the day. That's on my radar. But I'll say this too, because Gruden, you know, his stripes were revealed and he said over the weekend there isn't a blade of racism minium um. These emails obviously say otherwise, not just racism, but all other kind of repugnant thoughts that he should have own better. Even if you have that inside you, you have to be smarter. And it makes me think, it makes me think there are a lot of coaches, g MS, owners, scouts up and down the NFL ladder

on this morning being like, what did I send? What did I send? What emails are out there that are connected to me? Because John Gruden did not send that from an NFL account. He sent that from a personal account to his old buddy Bruce Allen, his old henchman who was with Washington, and he was dumb enough to be sending all sorts of things from the official Washington account and Uh, that is just something that just to wonder, what is there going to be more fallout from this?

And it wasn't a Gruten investigation. This is all connected to the Washington Football team investigation and all the misconduct that was going on there behind the scenes under Daniel Snyder.

So uh, that is an element of this story too, like the shock waves that come with this because again Gruden greg towering figure in this league, and if he could be taken out, uh and be exposed this way, maybe there's other people too well, right, because you only send those emails because like it's a normal thing to do at the time. That's the thing people were like, well, this was eleven years ago. First of all, the band

was in his late forties eleven years ago. Like when this thing is like, well, you know he's he's grown since them. It's like, this is a grown man. Let's let's let's stop with the like this is eleven years ago. That that's that's so different. But it's just a look, it's not it's not a surprising thing. There's tons of racist and homophobic and sexist people in all in every in every business, especially the higher up you go, and

especially eleven years ago. Everyone, you know, people felt comfortable expressing that it's like a boys club and and and at that level, it's a rich it's a rich white boys club. And so that's you could scrub all these emails from different accounts and and that you would find it.

The fact that it's only out there because the owner of the Washington football team was found to um be responsible for a workplace uh that condoned and essentially supported sexual harassment and saw all sorts of things, and even even these emails where they're talking about sending pictures between Alan and Gruden is part of that. The fact that it's only coming out because of that is is really wild because we haven't seen those emails. And Dan Snyder

we talked about on this podcast. It was a on one hand, like a in a incredibly embarrassing moment for him to be taken off the day to day operations of Washington the football team. Videos on the other had his wife is running the team, and that the last year and a half since they hired Jason Wright has basically been like a year and a half long press release of like how we've changed as a team. As

recently as a couple of months ago. She you know, his dance player's wife is on the Adam Schefter podcast and it's basically doing pr about like how tough it is on them, And you would just have to wonder, like are more of these coming out? Because that was the bigger That was the bigger story Gruden. Gruden needs to be wiped out and everything, but that that was

like the bigger story. And it is fascinating that the NFL is officially asked, you know, taking this moment of the public paying attention to this story again and asked for them to release the emails. And so we'll see if that there's enough public pressure for the NFL to consider any of this because there's a lot of people like guessing who the sources are. I don't think you can do that, and it's just like it's impossible. There's I mean, another another big aspect to this story is

the targeted nature of it. I think we all agree that what John Gruden did was absolute grounds for immedia dismissal and he's gone. Um we all feel I mean, we don't all know a lot of coaches personally, but the coaching community um is a circle. Uh, No one's fired for long Um, it is an old boys club,

although that's changing, you know, on minuscule amounts um. But at this point I think that, like you'd have to assume that if you heavily vetted all thirty two head coaches, this is my guest that twenty plus would be in serious hot water if not, if not more, I mean, I think some of your younger coaches are coming up through a different um prism in portal, but Gruden belongs

to a time period where that was completely different. And on the on the Washington front, I mean the completely separate to what grewed and said they went through six hundred and fifty thousand emails. Um, you talk about a group of you know, rich whites that essentially run things. But there's another layer of it, and it's the ownership. Because the report on Snyder was given to the league

and oral fashion, it was not written. This is a league that did a two hundred forty three page written report on Tom Brady using inflated football's when it comes to the players and what they would call the coaches and the players, and it was said way back when that those are the cattle. We can get rid of them, we can replace them. The reports on those people are thorough and rich, but there's no written report on what

else was found in this Washington investigation. And I mean there needs to be much more pushed for that because we're talking about a level of ownership and leadership that goes above the coaching level. Mark you return and right on cue, a conspiracy is a foot maybe in the NFL. Not to make light of the situation, but it is. Uh, there are layers to this, and uh, it is going to be interesting how it all turns out in terms of, yes,

what else can you get rid of coaches? You can't get rid of owners because I think if you could, well you can. Jerry Richardson will tell you you can, but it takes a lot. He stepped down, you know. I think if you could, then we would have different ownership in Washington, or at least if they felt like you could. Because honestly, think Greg that Jerry Richardson steps down by choice there or because he doesn't have it.

He stepped down because he was um completely embarrassed in his career, was in flames now in Washington, and that he just felt like it was the you know, he was pressured and he felt like was the right thing to do. What I'm trying to say is Washington. There's first of all, it in many moments where publicly in Washington that you could have said that, but that they've resisted the public pressure there, I mean before any of

this workplace stuff. But yes, I think there's probably been pressure in various fashions, certainly publicly and through the media on Washington to change ownership. But I would tend to surmise like privately too, and it never happened. It's never happened because there's there. It's a it gets very complicated. That's that's in theory, a boss of the person you're trying to push out, you know, they're they're the boss

of Roger Goodell. Right. The penalty for owners is you hand it off to a spouse or a daughter or son or some family member who can take over for you. It's not actually new control of an owner of a team for the most part. And now spinning back to the Raiders side of things, in the short term, this is the situation. Uh Rich Bisaccia takes over as the interim head coach and that is a very tough gig

the Raiders. I mean, how much things have changed. He's assistant coach with Sachi has been around forever, just like all of Gruden's guys. And um, two weeks ago, the Raiders are three and oh and one of the big stories in football, and the Raiders are a vibe in that building. Now the vibe has changed around the Raiders. And you just will see what happens. Is this a team that now goes in the tank? Uh? Do they

kind of follow whatever path they were originally on. We're gonna see what happens in the short term and in the long term. And this is also this is something we'll we'll find out as time goes along. But it's almost unprecedented. Um, Gruden wasn't just the head coach. I know Mike Mayock as a general manager, but this was Gruden's team. He was the face of the Las Vegas Raiders. He was the face on the sideline. He was the boss. He had a major hand in the personnel side of things,

might have maybe even above Mayock most likely. Yes. And all of a sudden, over one weekend, you pull that guy out and he heads for the curb. And as an organization, it's like, oh boy, now it I mean this is maybe not an episode of now What on the Round the NFL podcast, but that is exactly what the Raiders are probably wondering right now, what do we

do next? Because the entire organization in a lot of ways was John Gruden and now he gone, that's a huge story too, right, Who's even they at this point? They is the team for the rest of the season. Who was twenty five d v o A Through five weeks it was one a couple of close games, was pretty poor the last couple of weeks. You know, it has some things to like about it as a quarterback plane really well, but has a quarterback plane really well in the system that John grun ran that you know,

he was with him for four years. And if there was one positive thing about this John Gruden's second tenure, I think he called plays pretty well and the players that were there in his offensive system mostly car improved. But it's it's not a good team on paper, you know, it's it's probably a mediocre or or less than that. I know they lost less two games in d v A. G v o A means everything to a lot of people,

but I think the Raiders doesn't mean everything. Like an underlying thing that they were a competitive but pretty average team. You watch that team, I feel like cars playing at a top five or six level, and he's carrying a terrible offensive line. Uh, and they give up a lot of big plays, certainly defensively. Still even if they're like a little better. It's it's just crazy because Mayock has to assume he's not going to be there next year.

Of course he'll he'll try to do everything he can to make it um, but it's gonna probably be a new coach that Mark Davis hired. A new coach isn't gonna want that GM and it's just not how things work generally. You you could almost assume that everyone associated with this Raiders coaching staff is not going to be there next year, and that Derek Carr, who's under contract for very cheap, that'll be that'll be up to the

next coach. Well, and and also their team president left and I know that kind of stuff flies by like our radartists some degree, but he essentially Mark Bada, the team president, left under rather you know, serious surprising too, And people were chattering wrote like what is going on with the Raiders that all these executives are leaving in like a noble circumstance. It leaves Mark Davis to have to rebuild, you know, the vision of the team from scratch.

I'm not sure that's the first owner I'd picked to do that. Um, his vision was John Gruden and John Gruden to your point, Dan running the entire organization with you know, who would have ever put money on Mike Mayock outlasting John Gruden. It took something like this, and the Raiders are in free fault because it's administrative side and coaching football side that they've got to dig their way out of. Ricky A. I just think there's a

couple of Obviously, all of this is so important. One this story drops on right before Monday Night Football, which something Gruden was heavily involved in, which is interesting too.

Yesterday was National coming Out Day and so to think of some of his players where we have the first openly gay player on this team, uh, to kind of see this stuff, not to mention the black players on this team and all, you know, Roger Goodell has told stories about defending his gay brother from bullies in the past, and there was there was name calling, and that There's so much that goes into this that is so crazy.

But one thing that I've seen that are is so interesting to me is there was reports that the league brought this to you know, Mark Davis on Friday, and he still showed up, and he still coached Sunday, and then Gruden resigns on Monday. And and as much as I want to say like, yes, this team is so forward and so great, I do find it interesting as how Gruden resigned and how he even coached on Sunday, and I just I just find that very peculiar. I wonder because Gruden now that we have the benefit of

a benefit of hindsight. Um, Gruden alluded to the Roger Goodell thing, which seemed kind of random at the time. Greg on the way of the airport yesterday even kind of said that was random that he brings up Roger Goodell, as if to say, hey, listen, it wasn't just d Smith. I was getting it. Well, that was all calculated, as it turns out, because he knew this was on its way out. I wonder if he thought, Okay, I'm probably

gonna killed for this Goodell thing too. But I heard the reports out that the League is not gonna fire me as of Monday, morning was being reported or it was late Sunday night that he was probably gonna be okay. Um, the League office was probably not gonna do anything serious in terms of suspension. I wonder if they thought, oh, we could handle this fire and completely misunderstood how how

this league going to come off? Right? The League wanted Mark Davis to do it for them, um, which it makes sense on some level, but they just wanted him to take care of it. And it feels like Mark Davis obviously was surprised by this, and you know, he took a couple of days, and I think there's also legal ramifications of whether he you know, contract ramifications of whether he's resigning or whether he's fired and whether it's

for cause and all this sort of stuff. And and yeah, they probably gave him the weekend basically the New York Times or something, and then and then the rest of it comes out, and then they forced his hand. It's crazy. On the brighter side, though, Mark will win some sandwiches,

So I mean that's yeah, let's let's wait. Put let's the copinion that we're gonna close the show talking about that Ricky and as a as a gay woman and as anyone else that has Um was really taken aback and insulted or hurt by what was in that email. I guess you could take. You know, they let him coach on Sunday. Now they're getting heat for that and the team though showed they lost anyway with Grooden. So

that's one last note connected to that. All right, Well, the spice Rack would say that they're gonna win this week, that when coaches get disgraced and fired that the team always responds. According to the spice Rack College Football NFL, he believes that the fighting blasacchi Is are gonna go to Denver and really give a great effort. That almost happens.

I don't think that's the case with with this Grooden situation is a little different than firing out and firing a tired you know one in two, well Um non creative coach that players don't relate to. Gruden had supporters in that. And that's also you're telling half the story. Greg, I won't know this says specifically the second part of that. I know that he would have said to pick against the Raiders Sunday, and now he would have said go

with the Raiders. This week So yeah, Greg shared it with me into the weekend that when there's heat around a team on a sensitive subject, spice rack also has a separate rule. You gotta go against that team when there's heat in the locker room potentially a hot button topic. He was right about that, And now you have to trust the spice Rack if you're a desert person, because the Raiders are gonna be fired up under Rich Bisaccia. Let's hit Monday Night football right after this. Jackson takes

the snap looking over the middle pumps. Once grows hot trauma, the Raiders have wandered it over time. No, Glamar Jackson throwing in spirals better talking than talking about John Rudin disgracing himself and his family, including Doo Scrudin who's still on the staff. Ravens wint On Ravens and overtime, they were down three in this game, it was over. They were down twenty nine in the fourth quarter. It was over. Only it wasn't over because Lamar Jackson had the greatest

passing day of his life. He went thirty seven or forty three four two yards and four touchdowns and marched the team back with three touchdowns UH sixteen points, two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and then the walk off UH touchdown on the first possession of overtime and Mark this game was Barker's first of all, let's we're gonna get to the cult because that's a stomach bunch of loss. It's one of those stomach punch losses. And Frank Reiks a really good coach and a good motivator, and he's

got that locker room tight. But like some losses, you don't bounce back from, even if you're in the a f C. South, And I just wonder how the team

reacts to that to fall to one and four. But on the raven side of things, just the comeback, the way it unfurled in the fourth quarter, like just like the the fact that they throw a touchdown pass UH two Mark Andrews, then a two point conversion to Mark Andrews, then another touchdown past to Mark Andrews, and then another two point conversion to Mark Andrews, and then get the ball on the coin toss, and and the Colts came and put up a resistance. It just it was a

done deal once Jackson got rolling. And you can't pay a better compliment to him then he was completely unstoppable when the game was hanging in the balance. Yeah, and you know, Hardball called it one of the greatest performances he's ever witnessed. Um. And I don't think that's hyperbole on on any level. And I was watching this, um, you know, as a Browns fan at some point with the Ravens, Um, you just have to give it to them for for who they are. To me, they feel,

uh like a team of destiny. And I think it's because they're led by a man of destiny and Lamar Jackson. And you look at their week to win over the Chiefs, Um, you look at the Justin Tucker field goal against the Lions, and you look at what happened lastly, the game that seemed completely out of hand. Um, the Ravens. Really, I think the story would have been had that just kind of finished in a different way, that the Ravens. Ravens

are finally crumbling around some of their injury issues and stuff. Um. But instead Lamar Jackson And I think there was a part of me and I don't know if I'm sure you felt it a little bit that once they got going for me, I've seen too many of these um primetime games go completely out of whack and turn into a star vehicle for someone like Lamar Jackson. I was like this, they're winning this game, and I did not say that. You know, like, with two minutes to go,

you could just feel the tide turning. And the Ravens are a team that when they're clicking, they're Mark Andrews. There, their Hollywood Browns, their star players are just simply a higher class than a team like the Cults. And they turned it on and to me, what happened, like Kolias Campbell Um, you know, essentially change that game. That guy is thirty five years old, six ft eight and a complete game changer and a perfect signing that showed you

who the Ravens are. I look at this team and I just say, look at I realized they are not potentially as talented as the Chiefs. On some level, um, they might not be as um, you know, nouveau reach as the Chargers are. At this point, everyone's in love with Brandon Stalely. I told you that in January I leave for three weeks. Everyone's got a huge man crush on him. That's a whole different story. But Lamar Jackson to me, it just I was like, what does this

remind me of? And I know that we draw this comparison almost to a tired extent, but it was sitting in my living room, um in the nineties as a high school in the college person, watching Michael Jordan's get into a billion fixes and every single time you're like, you know this is going down to the last minute. You know that he is going to take care of

whatever adversities come his way. And Lamar Jackson talked about entering into a state of total calm in that game that the players around and believe it that Harbaugh basically, you know, two weeks in a row is saying we're gonna go for everything, and it's because of this one player. And he came into the league completely doubted, and I think it's a perfect season for him to cap, you know, this entire thing with a raven's journey that no one's

ever expected this season. I mean they've been even weeks ago that he's been figured out, and you know, you look at the running backs. They ran for like twenty five yards last night. Had we known that four weeks ago, you could have projected a Ravens team that just was gonna crumble in on itself, but you cannot when you have this talent inside this locker room and on the field. Lamar Jackson is everything the Ravens could have hoped and there's literally no ceiling for where they could wind up

as a team. They're they're not a perfect team, Like we shouldn't have said that they're crumbling if they had lost this game to the cause, and we shouldn't say there a perfect are you know, a fixed complete team just because they keep scraping out these wins. They remind me the Oh three Patriot and Lamar starting to remind me of early career Brady, where every every game comes

down to this insane ending. Everyone thinks they're lucky, and everyone can't, you know, believe quite that they managed to lose the game and they can't figure out how and why, and you know the reasons, the quarterback usually and the coaching because of these margins and they make their own luck.

And it's almost like the Ravens have went into this season Greg Roman and Lamar and they went through every checklist of criticism that Lamar had as a pastor, and they're like our goal early in this season is just gonna be to shut everyone up about that, Like we can't play from behind. Okay, we've done that three times now. Uh two from huge margins again, you know on in in primetime. Uh, Lamar can't win from the pocket. Like last night, those weren't easy throws to go thirty seven

for forty four. Those were a lot of tight window throws. Almost all of them were from the pocket. Even like the winner too, Marky's Brown, Like that's kind of a typical throw in that scenario where it's like it had to be exactly on point. It was on point, and then it was like, well he's He's only really can throw that well. Because they're so good in the run sets it up. Their running game is still stunk this year other than Lamar Lamar's eighth in the league and rushing,

but they're running. They haven't done anything running the ball. They're one of the past heaviest teams in the NFL, and they're they're great on offense, so it's like they've gone through every checklist. Lamar is doing that individually. The rest of the team needs to catch up and then they could be really special. And you know, the Yeah, the Brady parallels, we'll see. We'll see about that, because Brady came out of Gate winning big games when it

mattered most. And they're obviously very different physically because for his since Lamar Jackson accounted for for four of the five three net yards, just being like, what the hell happened here? Thought that no one thought that Patriots team was any good until they actually won the Super Bowl and I he's been Let's see, we're talking LAMARX. That's

what this is about. Like, he's such a unique player in the history of the league, the recent history of the league, because he came in number thirty two overall, um the fifth of the quarterbacks drafted in that first round. I believe that was the Mayfield, Donald Rosen, Josh Allen draft, and uh, he takes the league by storm in the year two wins the m v P. Um has these disappointing January outcomes that have cast a lot of doubt

on his ability to be a big time player. But then you have games like last that game, the primetime game against Cleveland last year, and now this game where like when the lights are on and everyone's watching, he plays at his best. So it's just kind of it's strange to put that this version of Jackson who's unreal when everyone's paying attention to the performances we've seen in January where he and the Baltimore offense have been so vulnerable. So there are demons the slay for Jackson that he

won't get a chance to do until January. But I don't think there's any question, barring injury, that they're gonna be there, and maybe as the number one seed in the a f C as high as that, or as the as the defending champion um of the a f C North or the new a f C North Chapanion, because that's the ceiling he brings to the team. And I thought that was just it's just a reminder of

his greatness, which is kind of unique in our league. Yeah, I mean when you think of the Ravens, like there's this innate trust if you've been watching their consistency since they came into the league way back when, and I just look at this team and you know, look at its weeks. We're entering week six. A lot can change, everything can change. But who couldn't the Ravens beat in the a f C. And why wouldn't we look at them and say that there is mentally they're built mentally, coach,

the quarterback are are annoyed. We haven't mentioned them yet as like fine built. But the Bills, the Bills, I mean, the Bills are number one of the power ranks or I love the Bills. But you can't tell me that the Ravens can't beat the Bills in Orchard Park in a big spot, because I could see it. They could beat anyone. I mean they You know what Peyton Manning was dogged for years about like not a playoff winning quarterback. He's shiny, He's a regular season think piece. We love him.

But Lamar Jackson simply will knock down those bowling pins at some point because he didn't lose those games for him on his own. That said, you look at that Chargers game from a couple of years ago. He got totally unplugged. So the Greg Roman Mark Jackson, Yeah, they're gonna have to find a way to come up rookie quarterback. We're seeing this year what it's like for most rookie

quarterbacks who step into the line. But it's not just last year that he's saying that's the thing that's a that's a fair critique his January performance that he's going to have to deal with. But to Mark's point, yeah, Peyton Manning, nobody says that anymore, but for years that dog to him, five or six seasons before he finally got rolling the game winning drive. Though to me, it

was amazing because it wasn't spectacular. It was just him in the pocket picking out the right mismatch every play, you know, second or third read very often, it was all from the pocket. It wasn't There wasn't a lot of spectacular plays on that specific drive. Like Mark Andrews is. You know, he he's been dogged. I mean, talk about not showing up in the playoffs. Mark Andrews in the playoffs turns into John Smith on the Patriots. That's what Mark Andrews has been in the playoffs. And he was

making incredible catches last night. Marcus Brown is on pace and I hate this because of the seventeen games, so I don't even know what to say on pace. Let's pretend that season was still sixteen games. Marcus Brown's on pace for almost fifteen hundred yards and Mark Andrews on pace for about That's the type of passing game. That's the thing that's crazy is that they're just like a totally different take out those three drops by m by Brown two weeks ago. And he has been outstanding this year.

He's been everything they ever wanted him to be. Uh, he's really he's really made the leap and you know on the other side of the ball that, yes, Indy could still bounce back and if you want to, if you want to try to be positive, he said, Okay, Carson wentz Man, I thought he played well in this game. Uh, they moved the ball. They really dominated this game a lot of ways. Uh, for the better part of three

plus quarters. But this is one of those losses that you know in any diehard fan, um knows what I'm talking about when I say this, when your team really really blows one and it ruined your day or your night. You go to bed and you wake up in the morning and then like within seconds, you remember what happened

and it's like getting punched in the stomach. Again. That's every Colts fan, uh, in this country and beyond, because I mean, given the Spotlight game, the Island game, given what it meant to get if they got to two and three what it could have meant for their season, Uh, to let it all slip away, And it reminded me Greg you know. Yeah, all due credit to everyone on the Baltimore offense on that last possession and overtime, but

that was like super Bow fifty one. If if they call the wrong heads or tails, and I think it was Wentz that called heads, goes tails, it's over once once Lamar got the ball to start. That defense was a mix of being gassed and not being coached up by Matt Eberflus because they had no way to stop the Ravens on that last possession. What happened, by the way, on that coin toss, I'm mean, I you know, there

was no like LSD inside my body or anything. But I swear I heard the cults Carson Wentz call heads and it was heads, and then Baltimore got the ball and I thought he said heads in it landed tales. Then I was twats about it too, that people were saying that like it was. I got a bunch of tweets about it, like you know, but I'll go back and watch that, Like the cults probably would have brought this up, like you think they might have said they might have they beat guys. They have one thing to

add about Tonight's lots go watch it again. Though it's something it was like a trick of sound, maybe like it was you actually the Ravens guys say, then we got heads or I don't even know. I'm not gonna Yeah, they're they're fine. I mean, I don't know what the point it was. Fine. The Cults are fine, fine, trust me, one and four. They're just five years for their organization. They ain't fine now. Their their defense is is pretty mediocre.

Teams do change. That's one thing the Ravens have to feel great about because I think as much as any team other than the Patriots and the Seahawks, they are usually better after Thanksgiving when it matters, that's when the season starts, like they usually improve the Ravens. They usually figure out their weaknesses. I think the Cults could too. But it's like, what's the point of the a f C. South. It's just like as as Mark would say, proved me wrong.

But they just feel like whoever's gonna win that division is gonna be cannon fodder. H in January and went went I'm glad people got to see that all the Wentz you know, critique this year, like he's been okay Reich's he feels more comfortable with the Reich Reich was in his bag, like uh, play calling last night. They

just don't have a lot of juice, especially defensively. I mean, if you knew that Wentz was gonna throw for four hundred and two yards with two touchdowns and have the first three quarters that he did, and that that that aspect of the story would essentially be buried like it was hidden inside the Warren Commission, Um, you'd wonder what was happening in the fourth Mark Mark trope is like if you knew before the game that it would be for but has that anyone ever like brought it up

to you before the game and be like, hey, um, Carson Wentz will have four hundred yards in this game, So what do you think is going to happen? Is anyone Well? I don't have those I don't have those type of forward thinking conversations with people. But if you want to make a case for the Cults, we knew

their early schedule was tough. You now get the Texans, a forty niners team that feels like you could deal with them, the Titans, the Jets, and the jack So you can climb back in, but I just don't buy them. Though I don't buy I buy them as like a seven win team, though I'm kind of it doesn't matter, you know what I mean, Like it doesn't matter. I mean, this was this would have went a long way into

um really spicing up the division race. And the Titans are so mediocre that it might still be okay and they'll be battling it out the two of these teams in December in terms of supremacy of the South. But you know these are Hammond Aggers when you look at

the greater picture of the NFL. But sorry, can I tell you one thing that I honestly affected me emotionally because this person um feels like every eighth guy friend I had growing up, and he's so um nerdy and lovable and I want to just give him a big hug. Is Rodrigo Blanket Ship playing the Goat. He's clearly hurt

in that game. Um, Rodrigo Blanket Ship if you look him up on Instagram has Rodrigo the Collector, and he's like a huge Lego head um and sci fi nerd, and he does these Instagram live like hour and a half long um chats with fans where he'll just sit at his table and normal cloth. He looks like he lives in a totally normal house and Carmel, Indiana with his wife, and he just does like nerdy lego stuff and it's something about him on a football field. We

all get it. He doesn't. He looks a little atypical with the glasses and everything else, and he weighs about a hundred and eight pounds. But for him to play the goat um hurt me. Remember it like that? If don't you remember our Christmas special last December when we dug up his old blog when he was in high school in college where he's just burying his teammates h for down. Yeah, we hadn't. Well, maybe he's maybe he's much more, you know, sinister. On the surface, he looks

cute and whatever this injury he is. He's adorable whatever this injury is. And I don't know six one, he's a big dude. What do we say the injury was clay As Campbell. But yeah, so like what are we setting up for a forty nine yard field goal with a kick or the bum hit like that was a

conservative moment. I remember that. Well, they ran for the first down, uh with a sneak or they tried to sneak, and then they got the third and one, and then they ran a three times three times to set up that field goal, including on including on third and eight. That was some. That was some Kevin Stefanski running on third and long. No, sorry, buddy, on Sunday, when you're in when you're in the forties, don't be running on

third and eight. That's all I'm saying. Now. I feel like he got he had like his brain stolen from him, because that was a very anti Stefanski thing, and that brought us Dan to miss kicks for the first time in an NFL week since Venice. All Ricky's comment that, um, the Kicker Club maybe needs to be I guess it would be sort of shut down. You put one of those huge balloon things over the house or over the club to kind of yeah, just the bugs and evil spirits.

It's the This week, it was the Kicker Club. It was just you know, it is what it is. Well, we'll be better, but you know my and it was an all time record for missed extra point missed extra points. Again, I had this right, you know, just like Wes had it right about past interference, and uh, Mark, you had it right that Brennan Staley is a god. And Greg had something right that doesn't pop in my head right now, but throw it out there, Greg as an example of

you being right. Lamar Jackson less, Lamar Jackson. He loves Lamar. Um. Come on, let's move these p T s back to where they were. This is ridiculous. But we're missing, they would say, is the point that exactly does it enrich the game to you? Do they make? I was always for eliminating the play. H That was what Bill Belichick was for back in the old days, either making it longer or eliminating down to we're down to p A

T conversion. And meanwhile, as we saw, especially if you have Mark Andrews on your team, but uh, two point conversions have never been easier in our league. I think it's in the range of like si so not sixty nine. And it's like, oh, that makes the game better, and now just go for two all the time. Well, I don't know, maybe you do the thing. And Matt money Smith brought it up today, Maybe you do the thing

where you just get rid of the p at. We do Power Rankings every Tuesday, three pm Eastern neon Pacific on NFL. Still pronouncing your name incorrectly though I noticed, and maybe on purpose at this point hands we did. We had a we had a conversation about that on the show today on Power Rankings on NFL Network three that um, no, that just make it. Uh, just make it a six point score and um and then you get a chance to go for two and that's it. I think what he said actually is you make it

a seven. I sat on our show three years ago here when we have this time now, you were all like, oh, make extra points hard, push it back if you're gonna do it, or eliminate it. Yeah, you make it seven and you either yeah, you either keep it or you go for two and you make it and lose one. And if you make it to say, but the idea that a coach would look at a scoreboard, especially these older guys and take a point off the scoreboard, it's

just they would never do that. The extra point used to be when you get up and get a beer or you'd go urinate. If you're someone that does that, that's all of us um that you don't even look at the extra point and now it's like anxiety written and you must sit there and stare at what chaos is to come. Yeah, can you flip off Mark saying

that the whole yurinate, that's all of us. I really like that most Maybe you maybe you did overdid it during the snack time, the food time, of the tell of the telecast viewing experience and you need a longer trip to the bathroom. Do you want to elaborate on that, Mark, No, I mean I think it's a universal, um human thing that we all do. But like you would, you wouldn't get up with Lamar Jackson on the ten yard line extra point. Back in the nineties, it was like see

you later, extra point. But I mean back in you know when the if we've got to go like history, let's back when it was created, it was like the extra point, you know, percentage was probably like forty is like most of them, you know, you know they have to come off off their you know, construction workers shift and they're just like kicking it into the line of scrim to your point. Grad in youth football and you know that I played Pop Warner back then. You would

you would run a one point play. It would just be a play. But if you had someone who was like nine or ten on your team that could kick an extra point, that was worth two because it was like no human can do that at that age. I now combine all the Mark Sessler pre NFL life experiences into one event. So he was playing Pop Warner in Surrey, uh, England, and the games were played on the grounds of Camp Happiness on the banks of the Colorado River, the factual jungle.

You've totally missed, missing the point there, all right, Thursday Night Football, it's moved to six, not Camp Happiness. What was it again? I think that was wilderness there is. I worked at a place called Camp Jewel up in the Berkshire Foothills. That you've transformed into camp. I don't think any place can assume that that's what they meant calling themselves. And then the other new thing. Not that

happens a lot. And by the way, I love having you Backmark, Not that it happens a lot, but sometimes it will be at a social gathering and Ceciler will be there, and then my buddy Bob from the Throwback podcast, he'll be there and his wonderful wife, Heather, who I love, will be there. And she also grew up in Connecticut and also went to Camp Jewel and her friends went to Camp Jewel. And then it's just like, where's Mark

and Heather. It's like, oh, they've been talking about Camp Jewel for three hours and they're texting people they haven't seen in twenty seven years. No, she actually she did um an incredible bit of gum shoe work. Um. She found she was friends with the sister of one of the most pivotal early life girlfriends that I ever had. So as I was talking to Heather about Camp Happiness, which is not the name of it, um, we were we found it. We had sim are friends and it

was this GF from like the early nineties. It was a shocking bit of news. So Heather is a huge ally on that front. It would have been it would have been cool. Well if we were in London, if all the people, all the friends and family you made in Surrey like came up and told us, you know, they missed you and stuff like that was too There was no end of the friendships. I missed you so much. All right, We got Thursday night football coming up, right after this, all right, here we go. Hit it. Prianka.

There she is, Preaka and I know you're something in that said. Hey, Yes, Thursday Night football begins with the Tampa Bay Buccaneer traveling to Philadelphia to face the Eagles. I don't know, is it just news the Eagle? I feel like the Eagles play a big time team almost every week. Tough scater early on the teams. But the Bucks four and one. The Bucks are doing what we expected the Bucks to do. And my favorite stat the

two thousand one was on the plane. We had a ten hour flight from Heathrow to l a X yesterday and um, that's a long time. That's a very long flight. Uh. And we and I just cranked out for six and a half hours. Power rankings words I read like the entire internet, uh in my preparation, uh Ford and the stat that that I loved the most, as as follows

from a gentleman, hang on, I'm finding it. Greg Allman of the Athletic formerly of the Tampa Bay Times, in his right up on the game Sunday marked the sixth time in twenty five games with Tom Brady that the Buccaneers have scored forty four points or more. The Bucks had scored forty four points in just just six times in their forty four season before tom Brady's arrival last year. Oh, by the way, tom Brady is forty four years old. It's it's it's it's mystical mark what Tom Brady has

done in Tampa Bay. But that's stats. Six times in twenty five games forty four points. The previous forty four years, the Bucks have done it six times. That's a super Bowl team in there, and some good playoff teams, some bad teams too, but that is bonkers. Yeah, I mean, we talked about forty on the RAG a year ago and that became essentially true. But it's like, you don't trust teams necessarily to carry over who they are on offense from year to year, but you do with Tom

Brady in this whole situation. M Now they get the Eagles. They had a couple of down ish weeks offensively. Uh, that had a little bit of you know, people, I mean some concern. You know, you only put up nineteen in Foxborough and and you lose that game. Convinced they're just they're just ridiculous. We've seen what this Eagles defense which was very frisky last week, played great. Um really won that game for them against Sam Donald. And but we've seen what they do against the best offenses in

the league. Like most defenses, they just they get run over, they get they lay down. I mean the Chiefs scored a touchdown in every possession but one against them, and the Cowboys went walked them up and down the field. And Tampa is you know, every there's every reason to believe that they'll be able to pinpoint mismatches. And so then you're asking Jalen Hurts to try to keep up. I want him to play a little more hurry up.

He that is best in that I still hear that, like Nick Saban thing that Peyton Manning talked, you know that he said in the Manning cast of like why doesn't every team play hurry up like all the time, because it really it really sucks for defenses. And when Jalen Hurts plays hurry up, there are a lot to deal with. They are like the one team in the league though, where it just feels like they pass so much even though they're so good at running that it

blows my mind a little bit. But this is a matchup where the Bucks because they're so good stopping the run. It's just like a pass funnel. And then most most teams don't even try a run against them. I'd like to see them try, though that The Eagles are the number two team in the league in terms of passing in neutral situations. The Chiefs are the only teams that passed more and yet to their fifth in the league and yards per carry. They have a good running game.

They have these big guys up front, and they have a great running quarterback, and they haven't really integrated it. Maybe this isn't the game to do it, but I feel like that's the only way you could try to keep up here, slow it down a little bit. I don't know if this is the game though at all. I mean, if there's one opponent, one defense in the league that you look at and say, let's um, we can try but but well that's fine, but there's a

reason people aren't trying to. I mean, they gave up negative one yards rushing two weeks ago in thirty nine against the Dolphins. And I get that the Dolphins, uh, you know, you've got Jacobe per setting there. It's a tough situation. But they were also eight for eleven on third downs. The Bucks. They had the ball for thirty seven plus minutes. UM there dominant, and you look at the Eagles and I thought, actually, that was an incredibly resilient second half and had a lot to do with

their defense. But Hurts, um, you know, like that that they had thirteen yards of offense over their first seven drives. The Eagles, it took them a while to shake out of, um, you know, their slumber. But I thought that Hurts down the stretch, asked to make a couple of big throws, had a big one to Dallas Goddard Um to help set up the win, and then an incredible two point play where you threw it to the back of the end zone to DeVonta Smith, and I Hurts just does

it all. I mean, I know that some of these games like he's not looking, you know, like Lamar Jackson in terms of the overall functioning offense. But I I understand, like it feels like the Eagles are still in this referendum period with Hurts, and I think in one he does a lot for you, um, and he keeps growing every week, is he is. Their offense is not the same as Tampa's on any level. But I think it's their defense with Darius Slay who broke up last week,

Javon Hargrave, who is playing awesome right now. I mean, it's the same all thing you've got to try to get. I'm not locking this this game on any level. I'm not totally psychotic, but if you're an Eagles fan, you really take positives out of Sunday because there there was some questions starting to percolate in Philadelphia about Nick Sirianni, whether this team is disciplined enough under him, if if they have their poop together is another way to put it.

And then in the final five games against the quality Carolina team, we don't know how good the Panthers are, but they're pretty good. Uh. They get a block punt, they get a touchdown drive on a Hurts touchdown run, and then Stephen Nelson um picks Sam Donald uh to win the game. So that's positive. At the same time,

now you get a short week. I know, you get to stay home and that's good, but um, I don't like having a deal with this Bucks team on a short week when you're kind of a middling, uh middle of the pack team. Now I'm not gonna lock it up the mirror test. It is on the edge of the mirror test that it's the desert says the seven points. Yeah, so I don't do seven. I don't, okay, so then nobody can lock it up. But I'll say this, this

is interesting. Richard Sherman, who you may or may not be aware, is now on the Buccaneers because you know, why not just collect all the stars, uh, even if they're past their prime. But he approached Leonard Fournett for Net at halftime on Sunday or against the Dolphins, even before the game was out of hand. But I think everybody knew what was gonna happen. And uh, Richard Sherman, who was a member of the Legion of Boom, of course, that two thousand thirteen Seahawks team was one of the

best I think of this century so far. And he told Leonard Fournette that he had never been part of a team with so much talent, and for Nett responded and he told the media that's how we know this this is different. That's what he said about the Bucks. And that's what I think that the Eagles are going to learn. I think this is a double digit blowout type situation. Yeah, I tend to agree and hurts maybe makes it interesting late, but Brady, Brady, this eats his

own coverage now and that's all the Eagles do. Your boy, Lenny that you're talking about, he's running great is uh. I don't know, you know, I don't know. I don't have an opinion on one way or the other. That's all the story of him. I've never seen him look as good as he has the last three weeks, even early in his career. I don't think like maybe that, you know, being around all time great makes you better. Funny how that works, true, true, true? Alright, so check

that game out, Colleen Wolf Um. I think Colleen would have been on the show today to preview the game, but now she's doing the Split Ends podcast with Ricky Hollywood and uh now, rick Now, Connie has to make some hard decisions. So in an indirect way, our own producers undermining our show. Your thoughts, Erica incredible, h Yeah, I disagree with that. I think, Um, you know, originally we weren't going to do a show, and she had planned otherwise, and then you know, with this news, we

changed it. So uh, you know, scheduling sometimes can get in the way. But to but to Damn's the point, Ricky like it did tire her out to such an extent that she was unable to appear on our show. Speak on it. Okay, well, Um is always on the schedule. One that was a planned I always say Eric went in doubt. You could also always just say screw you guys and disappear because your answer was fine. The first one was fair. Yeah, yeah, we yeah, Okay, screw you guys.

We'll she be sitting with Tom Brady that that is something that I thought about Um earlier today. You know it's who which he's Tom? I don't think it's Tom doing Thursday football. He like doesn't he doesn't do that. It'll be like what Gronk might play. By the way, Dallas Gardard got COVID or he's on the COVID list though he might not play, would be amazing Mite. Maybe maybe Tom does a solid Roger Tom, Gronk and Tom

together right now, Gronk does. Gronk does Aaron Andrews after the game, but he won't come out to the podium. You can't do Antonio Brown because he's problematic. Um Gronk might not play so you basically you gotta hope Chris Godwin has a good day or JPP someone that that the fans can really embrace Lenny playoff, Lenny scenario down Gruden out of the league understandably, and there's justifiably so Antonio Brown. They celebrated superstar in the league. It's weird

how things are sometimes, that's all. And Antonio with the youngest player in NFL history to get to nine catches, and he's like, I been out for long stretches of time. It's kind of he's been the last a couple of weeks.

I could be wrong, but I think it might have been in terms of games played, So they're not not just your point being that he was able to get back into the league because he's so damn good, right, And maybe like if John Gruden had made the playoffs the last three years and they're coming off a f C Championship Game appearance. You know, I'm cynical enough to one, I'm cynical enough to wonder what if everything would happen in the same way, you know that would all come out,

whether the information, everything could be different. Like I don't want you don't want to do the kind of do a you know, blind a b test. But you know, I mean we we had a point on this podcast where we would have been totally convinced Antonio Brown was done in this league forever. I mean, Chris Chris famously stopped rooting for the Patriots, um for good once they stop, you know, yeah, like and like here he is, you know, winning super Bowls back with the same guy, and everyone's

just like he's the same guy, he's a different guy. Well, we've got new things to be outraged about, and you know Antonio Brown's and the deep dist and should he be different questions? Those emails are terrible. Well read about Antonio Brown. It is a sliding scale. Um, all right, big Ben? Like come on, well, had that his six game suspension reduced to four? And who were they playing in week five? To I guess that's another I have a guy we're hitting for the cycle of Mark And

also he's coming back with a bang. I love that story. Um. Just so you know, Ricky, if you didn't mention Big Ben in the next twelve seconds, Greg would have Yeah, I wanted to be do we just want to play the game, all right, Jamis Winston. I mean do we want to keep going there are yeah, yeah, all right, here we go before we say goodbye. Um, speaking all the controversy, the fact that the listeners are so into this, uh it cannot cannot go to the episode without bringing

it up. I mean, Mark Cecily, you know when I when you think about the Sandwich game, by the way, I think about Mark, and I think how he's lasting the standings, but that doesn't matter. He's kind of like to use a baseball analogy, the true three outcome type hitter, where it's like, yeah, he's gonna strike out a ton, gonna walk, and he's gonna hit a lot of home runs, and Mark's gonna run into one every once in a while. He's sure did here because Mark, I'll set it up

here to your Sandwich props. When made this at the beginning of September, a coach will resign during the season. Boom shaka laka. He resigned, not fired, and he gone that Mark was rooting for something like this to happen, and not just that we might get two coaches. By the way, you've got it. You've got a long way to go on Urban Meyer here and not just that.

A top story involves an NFL cheerleader, and yes, one of the allegations within the report that doomed John Gruden was Bruce Allen Area slam Ball sending um photos of Washington cheerleaders from a calendar shoot to John Gruden. They're part of the story, thousands of the only reason why we know this story at all. I feel like I got dozens of tweets people like you gotta give Mark

this one, Like I'm the judge. Listen some of these things with Mark, some of these ones that were close, they were just that close and he didn't quite nail it, and we couldn't give the sandwiches. But there's nothing missed on this one, Marky. That is also a winner. That's three sandwiches and you are Joey Gallo, good sir. That's a walk off. Yeah. I mean, I you know when it when it started to erupt during Monday night football, Like my mentions were going crazy. Yet the dynamic of

making those type of sandwich props. No, I mean, I maybe privately I was thinking, this is totally bizarre that this is happening right now and nothing feels real in general. Um, So that just tack that onto the non the non reality of the whole thing life. But um, like what you can't openly celebrate it either because it's come through um horrific circumstances. But it has to be satisfying for

your predictions. Um that were that came true because someone made like horrible, bigoted, hurtful comments and that cheerleaders were sexually harassed. That Greg, that's you. That must be satisfying. Then that's how you spin it. But when I when I really did, I mean that that was about as gregor response as you could drum up. But time back

in August, how can you root for this? Well? But when you but you like so, I guess the other maneuver would be when you're doing sandwich props, it would be let's just come up with delightfully rose gardens, delightful spreads of good news. But I can't, you know, I can't control what I spent the night before coming up with two or three things that's stuck with me, and

then I dismissed them and they kept coming back. And the cheerleader thing, which really was just a footnote in this report, a terrible one, but um, maybe not as central as I suggested early on but you can't control what comes into the mind, whether it's good news or bad. You know you're Stodamas Mark. And there's a story I

love Notre Damas. There was a HBO special in the early eighties hosted by Orson Wells called The Man Who Saw Tomorrow and amazing, keep this music pumping, rocky um, and then that HBO special, there's a story that always stuck with me, and of Nostradamus, the famous French astrologer. The stories about his ability to predict the future. We're starting to grow and spread from village to village. And he was invited to a banquet and the host attempted

to trick Nostre Damas. He said that there would be a black pig and a white pig, and he asked Nastro Damas to predict which pig they'd be eating. No Damas said the black pig. So then the host, all sneaky light, all sneaky like, instructed the cook to prepare the white pig. Later on, while they're eating and enjoying dinner, he challenges no Damas to stay it again. Which pig

were they eating? And No Damas said the black one, So the host all proud of himself, calls in the cook and says, which pig are we eating right now? And the cook says, well, while prepare ring the white pig, it fell from the table and was devoured by dogs, so they had no choice but to serve the black pig. Nostre Dama's new mark Sessler always knows well one and the same how this works, just fixing person pork. All right,

good to have you back, Park. Here's the schedule. We're right on schedule, considering you know we were just in England yesterday. There's your Tuesday show. We'll be back Thursday with the week six preview show. The television shows back as well, getting just monster ratings, a huge hit all

across the world around the NFL broadcast. I have no actually data to back that up, but just let's work under the asopo on Sky Sports NFL on Saturday's UM same program that shows uh the NFL game shows over time, the show we we joined last week, lots of great programming. I'm slightly concerned that ratings did ratings creep up or height a spike while I was gone. That would be am I still allowed onto the set for this or have you found it better. We'd rather you have that

conversation with our producer. Um, but you'll leave it at that. Um. So yes, the back Friday at the Televisi show and then of course Sunday night, Uh, the recap with the gang back together. Good stuff, all right, let's go. Dan Hanson signing off for the Quiet Storm. He's back, baby, the old boss, Ricky Hollywood behind the virtual glass until Thursday, will be back in the studio. Heed the call. S