Schedule Release & Revenge Games

coronavirus written Sean Payton. Well, we didn't know at that time at all what was going on with Sean Payton. And um, he didn't, he didn't have it. Then he didn't have it. Then we don't. We don't eat that's unclear, Dr Rosenthalt, we don't. That is unconfirmed. But I I you know, I've never tested myself for it. But um, I'm symptom free if I haven't roaming inside my blood stream at the moment you there are. You can get the antibody test, perhaps, Mark, if you want to make

sure that Sean Payton didn't do you wrong. There wouldn't it been Sean Payton's fault? But no, I wouldn't have blamed him. Um, directly, they got test for anyone in l A. If you want to mark, you just gotta sign up online. Go for it in retros because everyone got caught, you know, excuse the term with their pants down when it comes to COVID nineteen. If the NFL or the world knew what was coming, scouting combine would have never happened either. And that was quite a hotbed

of activity in Indianapolis. Um and now you look where we are now, still in the buckers had an unnamed friend who wouldn't who wouldn't shake hands or um want to hug at a at a dinner event, and at the time seemed like, uh, it was a little much and look look at him he was now. I didn't say anything. I didn't know. I also remember called him

a fool and throw wine in his face. There was also a lunchtime work lunchtime meeting where Greg This was a probably ten fourteen days before you know, the stuff at the fan and Greg and of dismissed coronavirus as that petty little illness that would float away by junior July. I don't know, I remember your thought of that. I feel like there was a comment Greg, you made that this was gonna really stick it to capitalism, like you were saying capitalism was overdue, to take a shot to

the gut, and it's unfortunately. So maybe, yeah, maybe you had some good takes mixed in as well. I don't know if that's a good take. I don't want I don't like that being out there at all. Happy belated

Mother's Day to all the mothers. You know, we we joke around that it is a male dominated audience for the show, and it's certainly is, let's be honest, But a few weeks back, when I did that little exercise on d M, spurned on by Mark's Truth or Dare segment on this podcast, there was As it turned out, when I went through all of them, there's a bunch of women that listened to the show, and so all of you women who are moms, many of them mothers.

Well that's that's not necessarily representative. Like the I'm gonna open my d M s and come come at me. I mean, you were looking to get I see what you were doing. You were and that's sad. I do got like a tar here. I'm gonna do a little Daughters by John Mayer Father. I would have believed it would get a few titos in you you will you will do that? All right? This is the Monday edition

to the Round the NFL podcast. I hope everyone checked out the Around the NFL Broadcast, our NFL Network show, which returned on Friday, and it will be back on the air waves again this Friday and hopefully each Friday for the foreseeable future. Now are we on the air? Uh? When and if the season begins? We'll find out. Greg, Are we more like a plug in play desperation uh scenario here? Or are we? Are we part of the network schedule going forward? We're gonna find out and the

listeners and viewers will find out. Are we desperate? Miller TBD? I mean, yeah, it only took a pandemic to get us on, but we're happy for It's like anything right now, they're just playing it by year and seeing it it's week to week, they can indefinite like an usual Josh Gordon suspension, you never know what could happen. We are the Josh Gordon of the NFL Network schedule right now, but we're happy for the opportunity. So check it out.

Uh This upcoming Friday, six pm Eastern three pm pacifically around the NFL broadcast. Coming up on today's show, we're gonna just get caught up. We haven't had a podcast since Wednesday, so we're going to check in on the schedule release which dropped late last week. We're gonna check in with Mark Sessler, who wrote a banger. Mark. I read it. I really enjoyed the pros as always, and we're gonna dig into your teams with a chip on their shoulder entering. I would lab that a scientific study

if nothing else. But before that, let's do some news. Oh my God, should have known. Um. Mark and I have a longstanding tradition of occasionally sending each other old commercials that aired in the Northeast in the early to mid nineties, And that was a Stetson cologne ad that ran excessively And I don't know if that rang a bell greg up there in New England West definitely, And that was one of the colognes my dad had in the cabinet. Steps in a little Brute by Faberge got

a lot of NFL play, if I'm not mistaken. Back in the day. Yeah, I had friends and I were that. You know that coral um chime at the beginning, we would walk around. My brother and I would sing that to each other, playing legos um. You know, my friends and I would walk later on walk down the high

school hallways singing that like groups seven or eight. I mean, it really registered for It aired regularly during commercial breaks of WWF programming in their own nineties also, and I was just talking about it with Mark before the show. If you break down the lyrical content, first of all, it's a very pure female choir and the lyrics are stetson makes it easy for you, easy for you. So basically it's about scoring with chicks, but it's coming from

this like church choir. It's a bit of jarring in retrospect, doesn't it sound like the background vocalists and um rolling stones. You can't always get what you want one and the same um. All right, let's get to the news, starting with a bizarre, bizarre incident involving Earl Thomas of the

Baltimore Ravens. I know a lot of people had their jokes on Twitter involved regarding the situation, but it was quite serious when you're reading into it that Earl Thomas was involved in some type of um escapade with a woman his brother was also involved, and then Earl Thomas's wife caught wind of it. Dissolved from a police report this is not speculative reporting, uh, and she barged into the house with a firearm and it led to it essentially a standoff. The safety was off on the gun.

All this like really dangerous scary stuff where what's a kind of quote unquote funny internet story could have turned into a huge tragedy. But as it turns out, Earl Thomas wasn't arrested or charged. His wife a different situation, and the Ravens said they became aware of the Earl Tooms situation on Wednesday night when TMZ reported the incident.

And this could have greg some actual, um big time ramifications for Earl Thomas, a man who fought very hard to get the big contract he felt he deserved from Seattle, didn't get it from them, and got one from the Ravens. Yeah. I immediately thought, you know, it's different because obviously his wife's involved, but is this something that could affect his employment? And Pro Football Talk reported Baltimore Sun rather reported on it that the Ravens looked into whether he could avoid

the contract, and then Pro Football talk. Mike Florial, my old boss, followed up with a report saying they can't do anything with this contract related to it, that the people high up in Baltimore knew that, and you know, Mike essentially intimated that maybe if they could do something about his contract they would look into it. UM, but that since there's nothing they can do, they expect nothing to come from it, and that he'll be a member of the team this season. Thought it was interesting that

there was there was some side reporting to that. UM. You know that Ravens weren't totally thrilled with aspects of the Earl Thomas experience last year. They someone mentioned that he didn't totally buy into the team concept at times and that he kind of struggled to grasp the defense, which annoyed some of his teammates. I don't know what to to what degree, but I mean it the vibe of the avoiding the contract suggested to me that the

Ravens would like to but cannot. What were the analytics of Earl Thomas, the advanced analytics Leisture did and what did you guys see on tape? Was he still Earl Thomas? He struggled early? UM, we talked about it on the show that he he he lost foot speed a couple of steps, but as he got to know the defense, and as they changed their defense to be more back end heavy with a lot more defensive backs, that defense really jelled from the second half of the season on.

And it surprised me that they weren't happy with him because that secondary played so well and was the strength of that defense down the stretch. He changed his role a lot, you know, his towards the end, and Chris is absolutely right. Seemed like he started slow and then he was part of one of the best groups in the league. Uh, he wasn't necessary that deep center Earl Thomas safety trying to read the quarterback's mind. It was a lot about run support and rushing the quarterback and

a guy near the line of scrimmage. So they found a different way to use him, but it seemed like he was he was helping them. And yeah, pff, Adam as a top thirty safety, which is good, not not the not quite the Earl Thomas of old. Unfortunately, the last visual that we have of him is Derrick Henry just blowing him up into another hemisphere. Good point, true, Thomas will turn thirty one this week on Thursday, four year, fifty million dollar contract with the Ravens and uh god, yeah,

crazy stuff a gun held to his head. Um moving on. The Saints have made a move that many people expected, moving on from guard Larry Warford. Uh. This comes after they drafted a young prospect last month or was it this month? What month is it? What year are we in right now? Okay? Anyway, they drafted Caesar Louise, who is you know, interior aligneman, first round pick invested, so it seemed like Warford, with a bloated salary, would be squeezed out, and sure enough he was. He turns thirty

twenty nine next month. West. Uh, this seems like a guy who not only get a job, but could end up starting because he wasn't terrible last year. No, he wasn't terrible. And sometimes we get caught up in the rumor mill that ever since they drafted Ruise, this move was expected and got me thinking that maybe Larry Warford was passed his prime and just fell off a cliff. There's no good anymore. Pf gravity graded him slightly blow average, and teams seem to be lining up to sign him now.

I'm not sure he earned that Pro Bowl birth last year, but there will be interest in him. Basically hasn't missed a snap in five years as a starter on the best or one of the best offensive lines in football. This is one of those moves where, yeah, you maybe there's something else going on behind the scenes, whether you fit in or I don't even know, um, but it absolutely is a money move. There are very few like usually I just think, well, it's more about the they

don't want the player. In this case, they drafted someone and they free up ten million dollars where they were like having to move things around for every little move that they make, and that helps him in this regard. In other news, Mike Lennon it's got a new job. He is signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Like Glennon spent last season with the Raiders. He threw ten passes uh

last season and two appearances with the team. Gardner means shoe Mark Sessler good news for him because Glennon is not anybody that you would think the franchise is gonna think, Oh, we gotta get a look at this dude. They're gonna ride with the kid. Yeah, I guess you could have, you know, initially it was a landing spot for Randy Dalton. You could suggest that Cam Newton could probably go there and steal a lot of starts away if the offense

fell off a cliff. I mean, guys like Joe Flacco are out there, Trevor Simeon and so this to me, it's like they they sort of said all along, like yes, gino, sorry to admit that that name. Um, they believe in Gardner Minshew at least giving him a full year to see what happens. I don't just don't love the situation for Gardner Minshew, and I hope he doesn't get you know, there's a lot of quarterbacks in the draft next year in one of these scenarios where you know, in a

handicapped offense, Um, he's blamed for it. Our old buddy Michael Lombardi saw this move. I think it was when he tweeted this out and just said, like it's official. Yeah, oh yeah, you know are we used to be colleagues, Um where you know us and especially you guys you know writing up his copy. I've heard that story a few times. Uh. And he tweeted out right after this like it's official. They're tanking. And you know, I don't, of course, I don't think the coaching you know, we've

been through this with the Dolphins. I don't think the coaching staff is trying to lose with Is there a team, um, you know running the Jaguars like high up that might be thinking, well, worst case scenario, if we lose, we're in a good spot next year. That doesn't seem that crazy to me that that they would hold onto marone um and called well for like one more year, because why why blow it up and start over when we might just not be ready to really compete this year.

The football world has lost its grip on the concept of tanking, just completely lost touch with what it actually is. Nobody has any idea anymore. Teams did this all the time before the Dolphins last year. With the Jacksonville Jaguars are doing They've signed eight veteran free agency this offseason. That's not what a tanking team does. They had a huge draft. Um, I just like, what what do you

mean they're tanking? They're just not good, they're rebuilding. Well this if you have Mike Lennon, who I don't think anybody thinks can play at this level, at least at a starter level, although has he ever really been given the chance so much? He won some games. He wants games with the Bucks. How many games did he started? He start like a full season? He started like more than half of the season in Tampa, didn't he And

then he started more games in a different season. A huge contract, Right, we were writing Mike Lennon Fantasy you know, team want tea Max wants to trade for you know, intriguing Mike Lennon back in like decades. So, I mean he's officially six and sixteen as a starter, he played almost every He played thirteen games for the Ducks one year as an injury replaced. So here's the Lombardi tank theory, Mike Lennon. We have evidence he's been in the league

for a while now. He can't really play. If Minshew stinks and he was a flash of the pen, they have no quarterback to keep them above water, and they can very quickly become one of those three and thirteen, two and fourteen outfits. Yeah, that's what like seven teams a year have done for the last I don't know, seventy five years. What are you talking about? Yeah, I'm I'm with it's it's a it's not to be just

the wrong word. They're like rebuilding and with a young team, and they and they probably have their eyes wide open that you know, they they're not likely to be a playoff team this year. But that doesn't mean they're trying. They're tanking. Did the Dolphins tank last year? The team didn't.

I think the front office did last year. I think that that there was like legit reporting from well beforehand that that was a concept they were, you know, considering, And I think that it's unfair to ask a coaching staff to play along with that, and the Dolphins coaching

staff utterly refused the notion of it. It does suggest that the state of quarterbacking is entirely different than it was five years ago when Mark and I were writing these courts these articles about some unknown quarterback in Tampa who was a third round pick. It might be the savior for other teams. And now Cam Newton can't get a job all right. In other news, the shoe is

finally dropped over at ESPN. Richard Ditch of the Athletic dot Com reports that Joe, Tessa, Tore and Booger Booger McFarland will not be back on Monday Night football d D D D D D D D D yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Well were you adding some lyrics to that jingle? I thought I had heard words there. Yeah, ditch ads that the replacements will come from within ESPN. Decisions have not been made on that part, but tests and Booger are out nodded out at the company. There will remain

in quote, prominent roles at ESPN. Just did not work out over two years, uh protests and Booger. They put McFarland in the Booger Mobile, which is one of the infamous follies in the history of really uh NFL broadcast television. I mean that will be remembered forever as one of the great gaps. Just how silly it looked, and the man was wearing a seatbelt calling a football game. Uh, and I mean unfairly. I mean, the Booger mobile is not nearly as bad as just hiring Jason Witten, but

that it's not funny. Yes, well yeah, I don't wanna yeah over overshadow that Jason Witten was the I mean that two thousand and eighteen set up is the worst ever, because Witten, despite good intentions, was completely overwhelmed and not ready for the job. He was green, he didn't have the if factor. Testator rubbed people the wrong way with some of his history onics and then Boogers were in a seat belt on the sideline going fifteen miles an hour up and down the field. I mean, what are

we doing here? Anyway? They tried to rain it back in last year Witton. The Cowboys gave him a nice out by signing Witten back into the league. And then they went to man Booth brought Booger upstairs through the Booger Remobile romobile into the ocean. But the two it just didn't work. So we'll find out. I know our friend Andrew Marshand of the New York Post floated some internal names, uh, including who was it? Do you guys

were called Steve Levy, Dani Rolovsky, Lewis Riddick. Um, I heard Bryan Greasy all in the mix potentially, So we'll find out. But there will not be no Peyton Manning, no Tony Romo, no Al Michaels. And we'll see. We'll find out Kurt Warner has been thrown in the mix too, and and Nate Burlison as two guys they looked at from the outside, but it sounds like they're more leaning on just staying internal, right exactly. And um, your boy Mike Florio greg who by the way, he's filing stuff.

This caught my eye over the weekend. Florio's filing stuff at four oh eight pm on a Saturday, my night. He just does it all the time. Huh, how does

that work? Is he just doesn't? He never was one of the reasons I wanted to leave ultimately, because I mean I respected it away, but I respected it, but it was there were no days off, like literally, theyre just it was a seven day a week operation, and um, with kids, that was that was tricky and like if the boss is doing that, then you're expected to do that too. So I don't know, you know, what else is he gonna do. He's in West Virginia and quarantine.

That's true. That doesn't explain the other ten years of that, but well, that's true. You know, I don't know. He loves it. And I mentioned Florio because he does mention at the end of the post that he wrote about this that the change, whatever ends up being the booth could be temporary. There are rumors that the next deal for Monday Night Football, which starts in a couple of years, the game could move back from to a C from ESPN, And if it moves back to broadcast television, will they

again load up looking for big time name talent. We shall see. I thought it was interesting. I know we're going to get to the schedule in a in a second, but it related to Monday Night Football. They got a better schedule this year. Not only did they get Ravens Chiefs, they got some they got some big time games and that's the biggest game of the season, and they got it Ravens Chiefs. Great segue. Greg, let us check in

on the schedule release it did. It rolled out Thursday, evening us our first chance to talk about it on this show. We talked about it, uh in pretty good detail on the Around the NFL broadcast on the NFL Network. But what was a big takeaway for you, Greg from the schedule if any, It is the kind of the last big rollout of the league that they had control of. They rolled it out on schedule, but we all know

changes could come. A few things. One they're doing a Friday Christmas game Saints Vikings rematch leading in It's into essay and I mean, yeah, I think it's I don't think it's great now. I don't love it because I like spending the day completely with with my family. But it's little bit of a middle finger to the NBA though, that is that's been the NBA's um breakout day for

a long time. Well, part of it that's interesting to me is that it's right before a Saturday full of NFL games too, so it's not it's it's Christmas and then it's like a triple header probably on Saturday and then Thunday. So I'm just thinking that's Week sixteen, which to me is kind of the biggest regular season week where it decides so much and so that that it's a prime time game. Yeah, I think it's six thirty Eastern, so it's ESPN. No it is. I read class of

the second half of one of their yeah games. Yeah wow, what what a shot across the bowl. Well, I mean you're a move, Adam Silver. There's only so much I can care. Um. Oh, speaking of which, any other how about you, Wes? You got any schedule takeaways? I know you have to give um thinking Uh, people put way too much stock in strength of schedule in May. It doesn't mean anything. That's my takeaway. None of the strength of schedule stuff means anything. Week week one wipes everything out.

I want Peter can one good point that um that it was you know what, it makes sense that it was by leaps and bounds because I think creating this, you know, you got to go into that war room with like eight eight people in four thousand charts and deal with concerts and live events and all this other nonsense that's on the slate for autumn. But none of that exists right now. And they said it was the easiest schedule to make by so by such a large degree.

And also that you know, you know, Dan are Browns and Jets playing Week sixteen in New York. But there's what happens there is the Browns play the Giants the week before, And there's a lot of instances where I think they're trying to if there's if travel is going to be involved and we're gonna do this, that teams going to the West might be there two or three weeks in a row or vice versa, to you know, prevent unnecessary zigzagging. Across the country. Yeah, that's true, Greg.

You love the Thanksgiving schedule you have chopping it up PM Texans at Lions, one thirty pm Redskins at Cowboys, and then prime time the Ravens show up again against the Steelers. I'm into that, you know, that's slate. It's okay, But I do have takeaways from one. They gave Deshaun Watson some big pop in this schedule. They're in prime time a lot, but they're also you know, they're in the kickoff game. That's a big that's a big nod

to Deshaun Watson. And they're in Thanksgiving. Uh So that's it's kind of putting some you know, it's putting some faith in the star power of Watson and Bill O'Brien. And that is the only national game of the year that the Redskins are in. What a fall from grace from that franchise. There's been some good Thanksgiving ones and that that is it. They they don't have a single prime thanking. That's a bit overdue. Let's be honest, right, can't just keep pumping that organization at the prime time

until they're interesting? Uh And then finally I wrote a revenge games piece. I'm gonna cycle through these. I think we might get West fired up on one of these. Here we go. Week twelve, Carson Wentz against the Seahawks. Week six, oh Mark Miles Garrett Pittsburgh Steelers, which they essentially put um in an anonymous early game early slate time spot. I think they don't want to pump that up as as much as you choose to. They cut down the Browns prime time. Yeah, they got to, and

they don't deserve more than two. Okay. I wonder if that of the Garrett thing has anything to do with that. I don't think so. I don't think so. I mean, I'm more paul that the Saints have fewer prime time games than eight other teams. Odell Beckham Odell Beckham Jr. Plays the Giants for the first time in Week fifteen. UH, the Chargers against Tom Brady. Tom Brady was more wants a little bit of evenge. You don't want to come to us. I mean, Dan, you wrote that you seem

puzzled by your own entry there. I don't know, man, it's there's a pandemic. Uh, Packers, Niners, Dolphins, Patriots, Texans, Chiefs, Titans, Ravens, Viking Saints, all great revenge matchups, and now we just wait to see if any of it happens. And that's what's happening in the news. All right, Mark, did you

write a banger? Sub banger, actual banger? The weird um NFL article that I because it was do you know you get these these monthy can look ahead for the month and here's what you're gonna write, and here's when they're due. I noticed this, you know, got on my radar a while ago. Do Monday morning at seven am? Um, okay, so that means I'm gonna be right right. That means

I'm gonna be writing that. Um. I wrote it on a Saturday morning, um in our you know, in my backyard, and Sunday is the Sunday is Mother's Day, right, So I I knew that I was dealing with a strict um window to you know, turn this text out. But I had kind of enjoyed writing it because it wasn't one of these ones where you have to dig in and look at you know, PFF and all this other

stuff for four hours in a row. It's just kind of like picks and teams that seem like they might be a little on edge or feel a little dismissed by people, and I guess to me that would equal having a chip on your shoulder as a as a franchise. Alright, so you started with the New England Patriots. Why, Well, my first words there were Belichick lives. I just think that it's funny to me that, um, you know, we

have no idea how any of this will go. I think they're fascinating to me because anyone ticketing them for five and eleven. Um, fine, that's a reasonably logical outcome because of what's gone. But I still think you're the best coach in football. Who Um, yes, I realized he's, you know, trotting around with his little dog and doing

these nice segments. But um, I would I right, I would imagine behind the scenes that Belichick, um would like nothing more than to take whoever starting a quarterback and just stick it to the rest of the league. They have I think, five prime time games, and you know it's fair to think they could be disasters, but I

think the opposite on that. On that note you said stick it remind me of Jared Stidham great West excusing you read something in the Boston Sports Journal are the joint where he essentially dug in a little bit on where Stidham actually stands with the Patriots right now. And your takeaway is that a lot of people have this all wrong about what's actually going on at the quarterback position. There.

The entire football cognescente has been misreading this quarterback situation for three months, Greg Bard, who told him the Patriots view Jared Stidham is another year away, as not ready as basically as ready as Jimmy Garoppolo was after in the season, which means they just need to see a lot more before they can determine that he's the guy. And Belichick's comments have backed this up that our quarterback room of Brian Hoyer and Jared' Stidham is not by design,

that's just the way it's played out. Um, who knows if if Jared Stidham can play. I just think this idea We all think that the Belichick persona now is he's so sneaky, he's got everything figured out and he's always waiting to drop some surprise on the NFL. And I don't think that's what this is. I think they just haven't found a quarterback that suits them so far. Andy Dalton was making too much money. Maybe don't they

don't think he's a major upgrade. I don't know why Greg might have been fill on whether they like cam Newton or not. Andy Dalton's making too much money. Well, when the Bengals were trying to trade him, I mean, but he was a free agent. The action standpoint they you, I get by design. They don't just think this is what it would be Hoyer and Stidham, But what's the

action item to add someone year? Right? I agree with everything Less said, And I think that's how weirdly Bell A lot of times people say, Okay, Beligian's got all this master plan and here's here's how he like like, I think he is a very in the moment, reactive doing the best decision that he thinks for the team. It's like, I don't think this was part of their long term plan. I think they wanted Tom Brady back on some level, and he and he wanted to go.

I mean, I think, or at least they were caught a little flat foot. Yeah I know, I'm just saying like they didn't necessarily think he was gonna have a strong market, and they almost were right there, but not not right enough. I think they like Stidham and they like him more than Andy Dalton, or else they would they would have found a way to sign Andy Dalton. Salary cap is significant here. It's also you know, the

season hasn't started. They could add someone. The only thing I think that's clear though, is Stidham did beat out Hoyer last year. You know, they got rid of Hoyer because of Stidham's performance and trade an in camp, So that was something that now you did that with Tom Brady being the starter, but they still made that decision.

So I just don't see how you are having a very good chance at winning the job if if it's between the two of them, if this is true, If this is true, that inter internally they don't think Jared Stidham is going to be ready for at least another year, Well that's they It was more that they don't know that, Like how could they know that he's played a year? They liked where he was at, but he's a young players.

The risk of it all though, that if if you're the Football's are slash GM, as Belichick, your principal job is to have the team prepared um roster wise, and then the coach side of it takes over after that. But there's certainly seems like a very real chance because who thinks Brian Hoyer can really lead anything at this stage of the game, that they'll be completely caught with their pants down. And then you get into the whole

theory I can't said pants down again the show. Then you get into the theory that would Belichick be kind of cool that if they ended up being terrible, because maybe that leads to their quarterback of the future. And he is looking two steps or two paces ahead, as many people often assume he is. I think he he's going to adapt and he thinks once he gets into the season and he sees what Stidham has or doesn't like, he thinks there's other ways to win games. And that's

how he's operated. I think he looks as his offensive line as a total strength. I think he likes his running backs. I think he loves his secondary, you know, and I think there's things he likes about the team, and he's gonna try to play to those strengths. But you gotta see if Stidham can play or not. Like if you just can't, then you might have to go with Oyer. It's also may. I mean I may not

play football until November. I mean, who knows. So I don't think that the quarterback room now is the same it's gonna be by the time the season starts. Well, he's also in Nantucket. I do wonder like he's been in this football grind. I've thought about this, like which teams are gonna benefit and there's it's hard to really know, but I mean it's a totally different offseason for all these coaches too. It's like he's just in Nantucket like

cooking up who knows? Why are they gonna be totally different than Like are a lot of teams gonna be totally different from because these coaches are in their bunkers just coming up with crazy ideas that would be fun. Is there, Greg? Is there a Nantucket Martha's Vineyard rivalry up there? I don't think so. I've never been um like elites on elites, right, I mean, and Tuckets like a really small place. I don't know how you get blue blood. Yeah, I don't know how you get there.

You know, Martha's Vineyards got like a hundred thousand people and the or eighty thousand people in the summer. I don't think like Nantucket has much in the way of even stores and stuff, But I don't really know. I think they've got some stories. It's just you know, not like a you know, not a tough advantage. Martha the Vineyard also has the Kennedy's right, I feel like that's no neither that they're on Cape Cod Well. Oh yeah, let's bringing Ricky on this. Rickie, you are blue blood

up there. You come from an incredible amount of wealth. Tell us more. I know Erica is like the only one of us who truly is a blue blood. She never gets any Erica's told the stories of sitting on the lap of Ted Williams and other great uh lumina right, and frankly I thought he was inappropriate. But you know, oh stop that. Um No, Nantucket is the bomb. It's so there's a ton of fairies, even from Martha's Vineyard

to Nantucket. Okay, I've never been, I don't know. And the downtown is so historic and beautiful Nantucket over Martha's Vineyard any day. Wow, Ricky coming info that downtown with the cobblestone streets. I know, Martha's Beneard has a lot they're very similar. But Nantucket, oh you get that. You get the you wear your Nantucket reds. You're just on the boat and you know, shark fishing whatever I mean, Nantucket from the top of the deck. That's good info. Yeah,

that's that's our that's our street smart correspondent. All right, who else, Mark? You have? The entire af C North has a chip on their shoulder? Now talk this one out for that's how you do this. You can't just you know how this works. You can't just pick uh six teams. One of them has to be a little bit different and kind of like a good point. Is it one giant chip collectively on the division itself or do they have four separate chips. Yeah. I think the

imagery was troubling. I mean, kind of a tough imagery to begin with. I've gotten a lot of tweets like a team doesn't have a shoulder, blah blah blah. So it's like, I hear what you're saying, But I would say, if you're the Cleveland Browns, you have a chip on your shoulder. Because of everything we've talked about over talked about on the show with what happened last year. I think they're they were embarrassed, UM, and they have a lot to prove that that that you can't go out

and do that again. And I would say they there have to be some people, some fairly angry individuals and their Steelers. I mean they went eight and eate, they lost every quarterback possible. Uh, things couldn't have gone any worse for them, and they still see themselves completely as

a playoff team. UM. I would say the Ravens for the way the season ended, it's not that you know they were That's two years in a row where the playoffs UM equal to shocking departure for Baltimore, but especially last year, I mean, they just got totally punked in the weirdest way. I still feel like that playoff game, UM was one of the weirder experiences I've had UM in a while, watching a game and just feeling like everything that you didn't expect is happening right in front

of our eyes. UM twelve. It was never really in question. The Titans were in control of the game from the very beginning. There was the insane stat speaking to the weirdness of the game, I believe the Ravens got stopped on fourth and short three times, something that had not happened once in sixteen games over their fourteen in two campaign. So it was, now, can you is it flukey? I will,

I'll pull it back. I don't know about the entire team, but I certainly could see Lamar Jackson having a chip on his shoulder, which you usually don't get from an m v P because fairly, unfairly a lot of people are gonna remember that season for oh yeah, he was this amazing dominant player, rush for twelve hundred yards and through for thirty yards whatever it was, and then again two straight playoff of years he didn't get it done. He needs to kind of lose that quote unquote and

narr which play. I mean, Peyton Manning had that tracking him for a while in his career, and like what you know. It's one thing I noted in an overly long intro of this thing was that I don't think that certain players would even care about this, no matter what team they're on. It's the certain type of guys.

And like you look at how Bill Parcels knew how to rile up Lawrence Taylor five minutes before kickoff and deal with another player completely differently, So you know, you can't just slap this label on um entire teams or frankly an entire division. But I think the Bengals might be. But the Bengals, like you know, they've been they even when the chip I mean, I don't know, Zach Taylor

doesn't strike again, I'm not I quite. We have questions about the coaching staff, but um, they from a maybe I would go Bengals fans who I think have just taken it um you know, for years and they have just they've been a laughing stock. The team doesn't seem to want to do much to get him out of that situation. So you know, things got to change here for the fan base. Totally throw one more out there, Mark, I mean, look here that Ravens. That Ravens Titans game.

By the way, it's one of three games on my DVR, and Walker just likes to my son likes to watch football sometimes, so I've seen that game now a handful of times. It's that it's Bills Patriots Week fifteen, and the Super Bowl from last year. So seeing these games over a decent amount of times, that game was I'm just saying it's like an amazing football game that was

like that Titan's Body rock. There's just there's something about a divisional round game like that, and it was it's fascinating watch, like they just hit him and the Ravens didn't know what had happened, and it was like an amazing thing to to rewatch. The imagine going to that game as Ravens fan, Oh, you think you got a ticket punch to the super Bowl and you're walking home like, wait, do we just score twelve points and essentially get our

butts whipped. That's when they would rather have the old mouser made the old mouser. I mean when when Tannehill hits uh Calif Raymond on that bomb and it's suddenly third team nothing. That was like one of that was of the moments of the season. I feel like, hello, it's Monday, mower day. Yeah, yeah, I can hear that the great plane actually rolls through here. Who Candelario like John Candelario, Well it's his first name. He's a good guy. I give him a handle of Captain Morgan's for Christmas.

Every year he's he's he comes and cuts the grass, he tends to the yard for us. Nice. What a classy gesture, right, And for those who think that's some type of sign of me being an upper crust person, that's fairly normal. If you rent a house in Los Angeles. Yeah, I don't know you guys thinking almost it's very normal. Yeah, it's part of rental agreements in in the l A area that the the owners have to take care of it. Yeah,

I don't know if they. I don't know if I would want him swilling Captain Morgan's before cutting the lawn, but who knows. I feel like you could do that with a little bit of it. It's not that hard. Going back to my mail man days, I appreciated anyone who would leave a tip in the mailbox or give you a gift certificate. I never got a handle of Captain Morgan's though, Yeah, I gave him a handle Captain Morgan's in a half a Rock nice. I was like, you gave him cocaine. I was like, it seems to

fit you. And then we have we have a drink. There you go and well, what do you talk about? That would be that would be more of digging into where you see yourself With them, there's a bit of a language barrier, but we we talked about we talk baseball. He's a Dodgers fan, Yes, thank you? All right? Um, anything else? I don't know. I get this does not feel like um trying to remember a segment that was interrupted by two or three like super deep a team to oh yeah, I was kind I thought, we have

the m about do you have one? Yeah? Okay, great, go ahead. I don't just one. Well, my mind was on Mark's list, which was the Saints. Just that, just like a team that's been a top five team in the NFL three straight years, as heartbreaking playoff losses as humanly possible, and as as all in like one last year as any roster I can think of for a long time. So that's a chip on your shoulder. It's

also a lot of pressure. But when you look at what Mickey Loomis has done with his financial jiu jitsu, keeping this team together in the depth chart at every position looks awesome. I'm a team and an NFL team, but I've always thought that was you know, he's done a great job with that. With those dual responsibility, they got to be coming into this season feeling like it's title or bust, which is dangerous, but that's just where

they're at. Doesn't it feel like that's been where they've been really for the past four years though the entire Drew Brees I get it, But this time it's like it's his last year. I'm I'm just feeling like this is his last year. There's no more guaranteed money. He took a job with NBC. Everything's going to be different

after this year. Well, you wonder if he has another great season, if he's gonna want to walk away and Tom and Tom Brady over in Tampa is like, no, I'm gonna take all those counting stats records if you quit. These guys care about that stuff. I would now that you're right, your records are really important until Matthew Stafford breaks all of them. Well, I mean, it's it's easy to say that all those records will be broken, but the lyngevity they matter to Breeze, that's what it's. You know,

it's a big part of his calling card. Brady. You would think it would matter a little less at this point. He's got all the rings, makes sense, anybody else got one? Well, Mark mentioned the rams. I want to hear that Mark on the rams. The rams to me, I mean, it wasn't a mark as a chip on his shoulder about the Rams. Not not, not with the way they are right now, because I suddenly find them um less everybody's

favorite and more intriguing. They've really transformed the coaching staff and the roster in I think Sean McVeigh suddenly is in sort of the second phase of his time there and and has a big challenge. And I have a lot of questions about Jared goff Um not to the same degree, what about other guys. But you're you're in a crazy division where you're no longer the class of that division. Uh, you're in a top heavy NFC. You went nine and seven, missed the playoffs, kind of kind

of like fizzled out at the end there. They were eight and five at one point. I think there's a bit of a chip on the shoulder there. I would say that you know you were you were the bell of the ball a year ago, not now. What's interesting about the two thousand twenty Rams, I think is that Sean McVeigh, just a couple of years ago was the next you know, offensive whiz kid genius. And the defense looks better than the offense to me. In fact, by far the two less best players in the team are

Aaron Donald and j Jalen Ramsey. But they have a totally you know, they but they lost some starters and they have a totally new defensive coordinator there. You're right, they they have a lot to prove. I mean they're rebuild. You know, they took over a bad franchise and they won a lot of games. Even you know, going nine and seven. If that proves to be a down year, it isn't the worst down year of her It's just they didn't expect that to be the step back year

at all. Like this makes more sense as a step back year. Uh. He does have a lot of I mean it's I think about it, like driving around the city. I mean there was Todd Gurley, Uh, billboards everywhere it's Todd Gurley, you know for subway, there's Jared Goff and all this stuff. I don't know if he's getting that Banana Republic money again. It's like they you know, they they're not the bells of the balls that they were

hoping quite as much going into the new stadium. There's been a lot of golf dunking by um, you know the football Uh, pundits out there this offseason after what was a down year, I wonder the Rams are in a lot of trouble if he continues to regress this year. He's due thirty one million and twenty seven and a half million guaranteed salary in the next two seasons. His Captinet number jumps up over thirty million from four. I mean, you want to talk about you regrets. There's no way

they give him that deal again. Now they just have to hope it doesn't turn into a huge disaster if he kind of becomes a rich man's Mark Sanchez or something over the next year. I see, I'm not that concerned. I don't think they're that he's paid like a superstar. It's not exactly what you want. But I think even the way he played last year, men, his bad games were just awful. Um, But I don't think he was much worse than an average starting quarterback. I don't think

he was like a huge problem. The problem is, you know you have to number one overall better be better than the average starting quarterback. Well, I don't think he was last year. I think he was about average or a little work my measure, just wasn't he wasn't Mark Sanchez. My my measure, I said rich Man's, um my measure of a disaster is if he goes below average. So if he's not only a guy that's sitting at the

table and he's not bringing things from the table. When he starts taking the salt off the table, the pepper, all of a sudden, some forks and iibes are missing, he's taking things off the table, then it's like, oh my god, what did we do? We just shipwrecked the franchise over this guy, right, And it also would would point fingers at the Rams front office and coaching staff for mis evaluating him, I mean and paying him with

the wrong evaluation. I think they got some good young um rookies uh on offense, but yeah, he's got to be better. I remember that Cowboys game, which kind of man Jared Goff was terrible and that well, I don't know if his week fourteen, Week fifteen, but it was kind of the moment where you're like, oh, the Rams are just not gonna do it, and golf was Goff was a huge, huge part of the reason. Why how

about the Ravens game. I mean, there were just too many instances of the Rams just not showing up last year and they've got to turn that around. Sometimes it feels like with being a team builder, and less Need is a great example because he's been and there forever now it's like that old Batman thing, die a hero

or live long enough to become the villain. He was a guy that seemed like this was not gonna work out, and then he hit on some moves and all of a sudden he was the face of like the the young industrious GM that UM teams love would love to have connected to them. And now things have come back around and he's facing a lot of pressure. I imagine I think McVeigh has more What do you think it is a fair to say McVeigh has a lot more

job security than less Need right now? Yeah, but I I think I think they both have pretty good job security because we're talking about this like there was a disaster. They you know, they were nine and seven last I mean, they weren't good, but let's see how this season goes. I guess even if they struggled, I think I think this is kind of their team for this is their group for a while. Well, I would I would say that McVeigh if you want to say someone has more.

I mean McVeigh is sort of the centerpiece of the organization and a brilliant coach that you're not just gonna let walk because of even one bad year. I wonder if he's a potential guy. If because this is gonna be a tough year for them and McVeigh will be really tested with all their loss is in free agency and their and their salary cap issues, uh and lack of draft picks and all that. If if this year

doesn't go well. Um, I wonder if Peyton could end up being or McVeigh could end up being a Sean Payton type down the line where he is the czar of the whole organization, the Andy Reid type role. Right now, that is not the case, but maybe in the future. Mark, you did it? Van orl No, I don't know what's happened to those. Um, it's just the you know NFL dot com last named Sessler and hope it's not the hope. It's the last thing I wrote. Or you're gonna have

to scroll down and look for it. All Right, there you go. Anything else, anybody else have anything to add today? Yeah? People can. People can if they missed it. By the way, it's on Game Pass our show. I think I never check out the around the un personally verify it. But yeah, Also, the Last Dance is getting better every week. What a show I've actually, I kind of I'm doing a new thing now where I watched the first one on Sunday

and then I saved the one second one. It's like cup and then it takes me another reason not to go on Twitter, because God knows it's good to get off Twitter every once in a while. A lot of takes always connected to Jordan's uh in The Last Dance, all right, Dan Hanson signing up for Buie Storm, the Mailman, the Old Boss, Ricky blue Blood, Hollywood over in West Hollywood Util Wednesday s