Vinatieri Retires and Mailbag Questions We Wish You Would Have Asked

network show Friday. So we're earning our keep around here. But Wednesday for us is kind of a we're quiet day, um, where you're left to your own devices on some level. There there's some pre show prep things to do, but it's kind of an off day for us right now. And uh, with that in mind, Hey doing Mark, Um, let me let me say this. The Sessler Wednesdays. I would say they're on my radar, but that has a

negative tone. I I'm I'm into these Sessler Wednesdays. But there is certainly matured, Joe, there is certainly something cooking on these Wednesdays at Sessler manor Um. Yesterday's Yesterday is a perfect example. Um, you were very fired up, um about some internal reports about a return to the office for the NFL. You also had a lot of takes.

You had a lot what was that Frank's mazy? You had a lot of takes about our new NFL network program promo that's running, not necessarily positive ones, so just checking in how you doing, Bud. I was highly annoyed, UM. And you know, when when you get into that world of annoyance to me, you know you probably dig out of it maybe the next morning. But I, um, I am. I do have takes, and I would I would say this anything that I tweeted about, you know, the whole

concept of jamming pet people back in one office. And I've I've stayed at these points, so I'm not gonna, like, you know, laboriously pour over them again. UM. Whatever I tweeted, UM, in my annoyance, I would tweet again right now. I happened to notice you had a scorcher. I knowed. I was alerted to that these weren't just in our text threads, that it was on Twitter. And there are a few good ones up. Um railing against going back to work.

I definitely am worried about the people who you know read your tweets and are wondering if they are the ponderous extrovers that come up to you. I noticed Adam rank like responded to one of them, and so I think that was his way of showing I'm not one of the ponderous extroverts. Ay, have I you like? You like me? Of course? Of course we love just like a brief like kind of Just to tell you this, this gives you a window into marks Wednesday starts twenty

two hours ago. Uh Kelly Holkum on fire right now and NFL network. Does it end well though? Hashtag brown? So I believe a two thousand two playoff game. Everything is cool? You have a Warren Moon tweet and then um, you have you quote tweeted a Forbes story about working from home. A study shows people working from home or having sex, dating, taking naps, and doing side hustles on

company time. Mark quick, let's everyone get back into absurd office areas and forced into Machiavellian conversation with people we have no interest in communicating with. There's another text tweet. Get everyone back in these offices pleaded pants and dumb small talk that appeases ponderous extroverts who must dish about themselves sunrise to sunset. Nothing else makes sense. Get back to the way it is. Then a nixt tweet and nice job by the Knicks even in that series against

the Hawks. Was I don't know what was hotter in that deleted one that you had to take off because it seemed along the same lines. Was there something? He just thought? Could you know what it was? Actually there was a mistake in it, and I thought, and I thought, I've also I've also like I've I think I've made whatever points I was attempting to make. Um, not that I've convinced anyone, but you know, just doubling down with like the third and fourth, like left and right hook

seemed there's one more fifteen hours ago. You can take all the tea in China and put it in a big brown bag for me, sail right around all the seven oceans and drop it straight into the deep bluecy hashtag d G A F don't give up. Also, looking through our group chat of the four of us right now, one, two, three, four, five unanswered texts and then a couple hours later six six text that we no one answered, and then Dan followed back up with something about himself and um and

Mark Roysack that's all that this was about. Dan has his attention, and then more unanswered a minute. There's no cont that right, and that I don't think it's for public consumption, but it's fair to say that I was sort of like a triple pronged fired up scenario where like multiple things we're feeding off each other, and I know that it's best for me just to go quiet for like, you have to let it out because one thing I've learned Mark over the last eight years, like

that fire is coming for someone. The whole goal for me is to make sure I'm not that person. That was a tough season. I think it was like and uh, you know, so if it's got to get out, it's fine that it's at some faceless corporate overlords, especially since we're not really going to be asked to be sitting around in the office anyways. We'll be going and doing it.

And you know, we love Mark, so it's like we know that when we don't reply to Mark, it's not because we're being dismissive or we don't like what he's saying. It's just like because we're afraid we understand what this is really about. It's kind of a mark process to life situation. And like the thing where you replied to me that it was about me like that, I guess we can't share the context. But like I knew there was some type of rage and I was getting a

little fire there. But I'm like, you know what he needs this, I'm gonna let him have it and then everything's gonna be fine in the morning. Well, I would also note that, like I don't float around with no conscience, like when I when I sent that text that kind of threw a jab at Dan, I thought, well, that was stupid. I shouldn't do that. Like I definitely, I'm probably the most annoyed at myself through all this. Um, these processes were serious. It's not like man was like,

of course, I think it was deadly serious. Well, but here's like, like, here's the thing I like I when I went when I was initially dismissed when I raised concerns about a certain product that has our images, and um, can we just say what it is? It's already, it's already. It's the kind of thing that I think we've all I'm dancing around around it for reason. Let's just say that there was a request apparently made to recreate a promotional product featuring us, and I raised concerns, and my

concerns could not have been more valid. Um, they were initially ignored, and then when reality strikes and everything that I said would happen happen, It's like, oh, why is Mark upset? Fine? I mean we're gonna like life goes on, And just so you know, just to be totally clear, I had nothing to do with any alterations to the product. I mostly believe that to be true, but I'm there.

I'm still investigating Marks mad that we have an NFL Network commercial that they changed and I had I had said in text within the group, how it is kind of funny and a little bit annoying that I didn't even have a line in the commercial. Um, and I thought that was fun in the first show. Um, in the first commercial never went beyond that. We kind of kicked around the idea of kind of creating our own commercial with Rickey's help, but that never happened. I certainly

never like mentioned it to anybody else. But then a new commercial shows up Mark on Wednesday, Mark Time, Uh put things together and decided that I was Machiavellian and had gotten a new commercial made which certainly was not true. Well, like I said, I'm still invest together. I don't know what it's true or not true. I'm currently looking into it. So anyway, we love you, buddy, never changed. Please well right back at at you all for tolerating you know,

some of the nonsense. Heavens uh. Today's show, We're gonna have some fun Thursday show, post hump Day. I call it. Most people want you get past hump Day Wednesday, you don't reference it again, reference as again until the next Humpday. I'm so happy that you got past it that it's I think it should be celebrated because in general, I think Thursday is an underrated day. I've always felt that way. I feel very strongly about Thursday as a day in

general and deserves more credit. So it's post hump day for me. I love hi. Um okay, today's show. You know I had a mail bag speaking of writing assignments. A mail bag went up on NFL dot com. A little bit of like a frustration for me is that I I write like you guys on the website, but a lot of people that ingest our content on this podcast, they uh, they don't connect those dots in the same way.

So when I asked for a mail bag um mail bag questions for a written piece, I'll get a ton of questions about our podcast and heroes related stuff, which is all fun. But at the same time, it's like I have an assignment here. I need your guys has helped to make this work as a mail bag anyway. I mean, some of it's fun. It's not like the seven dty fifth time that you get the question if you're all on a deserted island, like which one is

gonna survive? And we answered that. We answered that, um anyway. Today's segment a little later on is mail bag questions. We wish you would have asked you the listener. It's not a personal attack, but it's just like, you know, please help me out. I try to make it very

clear in the tweet that they're two separate worlds. That's a real struggle, and I think we all understand what you're One of One of my questions was going to be specifically for Mark, but now we've answered it with our intro to the show, which was just like how disappointed. Are you at the end of the pandemic, because I feel like that's that's really what we're all working out here. It's like this was Mark's magical time the last year.

He does not well, all right, but I mean that, you know that I could, I could do about it. We're not. We don't need to, you know. Don't look at it this way. Mark, don't be sad it's over. Just be happy it happened at all. I've been hearing a lot about a place called Super Duper Weeny in Connecticut, Mark, Connecticut native. Have you heard of super Duper Weeny the restaurant.

I haven't been there in like twenties something years, as a as anyone that lived there, so I'm sure new new business is Strangely enough, have popped up since I was there. It sounds like an interesting place, Super Duberwhens. Check it out if you're in the area. All right, let's start with news of a retirement. Hit it, Ricky. This will be a forty five yard attempt. That's Ntari's luck from this distance of late. This is the Patriots

season on the line. The kick is away. Greg won't be able to stand up after watching that highlight of Adam Viniitierry hit in the forty five yard field goal in the blizzard at old Foxboro Stadium UM in two thousand one to tie that game laid against the Raiders. Of course, he kicks another short field goal in overtime to move the Patriots to the a f C title game. The rest is history. A dynasty was born. Venetiery went on to have one of the great career as any

kickers ever had. He's the NFL's all time leading school or. He announced Wednesday on the Pat McAfee show that he is retiring after twenty four seasons. He's forty eight years old, only a three time Pro Bowl selection, which surprised me. Um. Uh, three time All pros well uh. He played for the Patriots and Colts, where he spent the final fourteen years of his career. Greg. When you talk about the all time Patriots, where does that a Vintieri rank for you?

He's He's high up there. I mean, he he holds such a unique place in the sports history and in Patriots history. It's hard to like count kickers as the same as everyone else. But I think Belichick said it well in his statement, I'm gonna read it, but I love seeing that graphic. As he was about to kick it, it it said Vinetary had missed four of his last five field goals before that kick. He had hit one earlier in that game. But that, to me is what

kind of Vinitary is all about. You missed some in the Super Bowl too, But when he had the game winner, he hit it. And Belichick's got bars here to his statement. People say, you know, the Belichick is not, you know, great with with the words, but he's great with a concise statement. I think he said it well. Adam Arry's greatest kicker of all time, who made the greatest kick of all time in the twenty two thousand one Divisional playoffs.

His consistency, mental toughness and performance under pressure was legendary. I'm honored to have coached Adam, going all the way back to his rookie year and through some of the most special moments in Patriots and league history. Here's the sentence that stuck out to me. Adam is in the rarest of echelon of athletes whose career accomplishments may never

be matched. Now, you could say whatever you want about kickers, didn't belichick impression to read that quote back that you could say whatever you want, he was put in that position and and there's some sort of luck involved, and like whether that has to do with Hall of Fame or whatever. But the last sentence where he says he's in the rarest echelon athletes who career accomplishments may never

be metched, I mean that's true. No, there's never in someone in football like Adam Vinytary because of what he did there and there may never be and that alone, like whatever you want to say about it, it's like that's just a unique and amazing thing. As a Patriots fan and as a football fame, I don't know how. You don't how anyone would not immediately taking him for the Hall of Fame. There's really only two pure kickers in the Hall of Fame. It's Morton Anderson and John Stenerude.

I mean, because you've got George Blanda who played quarterback and kicked, and Luke Roza played many seasons at left tackle, which I didn't actually know that, um, but this would be the third and he's totally I think Belichick nailed it. I mean he nailed it. Is he the best kicker of all time. I don't know, but the right but the longevity mixed with huge career moments um to me is a hall of fame together. If West was here, I feel like he would sum this up really nicely. Um,

But like what is sports? I mean, it's a collection of moments and the great ones, eyes to the occasion. And even if he doesn't, he didn't have the natural ability of a Justin Tucker as an example, He first of all had a ton of ability based on a quarter century playing professional football, but also when those moments arose,

he seemed to always step up. And you know, you have those two kicks in the snow, you have the game winner in the Super Bowl that year, you have another game winner in the Super Bowl couple a couple of years later against the Panthers. Greg, I'm sure you could point out five or six more big kicks that he hit during his run. And then he went to Indianapolis and and it was pretty rocky in the end there. But he was rock solid for um a long time

for them. If he's not, he's not all. My point was like that's almost secondary to me because of what you know Belichick was getting at there was like his place is so unique, like many people in the Hall of Fame will never have that place in the in the game. He also, you know, fourteen years in Indianapolis, he led the league in field goal percentage five years ago like a team. He did that three or four times too. So he wasn't great. I mean, there's he

was there. He hit a lot of big kicks for for those Colds teams too, and he was very fortunate as well. I mean, part of what Belichick is saying is he to be able to be in this upper aftel and he had to have these opportunities and be attached to these teams and be in these moments and and thrive when they counted. So it's kind of like a perfect confluence of things that led to I think one of the most memorable careers of anybody. You know,

forget about kicker or whatever the position was. Everybody knows Vinitary and what he did. One question for you, because I know it's like you're removed from the um you know, from the Pro Football Writers Association of America. If you're pro quarterback wins, no one's allowed to even consider that. It's as a viable way to measure a human being anymore. But kicker wins do we do we care about that? Is that okay to care about? Mean he doesn't need kick?

I mean he does find to find kicker wins. Do you mean the straight up wins tracker of his team or like his kicks with the game on the line, game winning kicks think or go ahead kicks earlier in the game. You know, I'd like to see a percentage on that for sure. Happy trails. And by the way, the Kicker Club, we lower the flag out front to half mask um, so they're not allowed back into the club. Well, he has his own Adam has his own kind of booth.

Like if you went to like the top clubs in Minneapolis or whatever, Prince would always have his own velvet area that no one else could even look at. Adam has his velvet Prince booth at the Kicker Club. The flag goes out to half mass because seeing a guy's career and no matter how long it went, is a reminder of everyone's mortality and how nothing is forever um. But it's a celebration and we plan to celebrate Adam going forward in the club. Forty seven year old guy

from South Dakota state you know in the club. Oh yeah, I mean that that he closed the guy they have stadium down with those two kicks. I mean that you can't write that stuff. On the way to their first season, the NFL and other news in the NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to a salary cap ceiling of two hundred and eight point two million for two.

Tom Pellicero of NFL Network reported Wednesday. Pellicero noted that there is not currently an agreed to cap floor and that the final cap figure will not be set until

next February. The ceiling for two is nearly thirty million, more than one eighty two and a half million caps for one, pointing toward an expected spike in future revenue for the league following the COVID nineteen pandemic year of And mark you the one of your tweets from Wednesday, you alluded to what happened at Madison Square Garden with an electric garden, fifteen thousand fans going nuts, um, say, even their series the next with the Hawks, And yeah,

this isn't going up unless like this, Unless the NFL is like, okay, we're gonna have full houses across the country this is going to be much different than what

happened last year, and that's something to look forward to. Yeah, I mean I think you know, you if you go read some of those old um historical epics that describe how the NFL kind of grow grew from from nothing through the EBB and flow of it all that there were a lot of franchises that struggled to even UM go year a year out of the gate, and there

was they were not equal UM. And it's just incredible to see that the NFL, probably in all sports leagues were put through what the most trying year that you could script on paper for sports in general, Like no fans um incredible, Like you know, problems and issues based on a human virus that's knocking players and coaches, how the lineup left and right, and they've survived it, and

they've survived it rather nimbly. And like the you know, the cap number of going up is I think also great for the craftier UM free agents that you know, weren't going to get their their worth on the open market that signs sort of these one year I guess prove it type deals or maybe NFL prove it to me that you're gonna be around after this year, and bang, they're gonna have a new chance if they if they succeed to sign a better contract a year from now.

So I mean, it's a lot of business because the most business filled year of the NFL that will ever ever know, And um, it'll be nice just to have it back, that part of life back to normal. Well, I think the Patriots absolutely spent this offseason intentionally, that they saved for this offseason intentionally once they knew what the situation was going to be, because cap space now and go back to it next year doesn't have the

same sort of value. I just looked and half the league has more than thirty million dollars in cap space again, uh, and you know teams have like, you know, fifteen to twenty million. So there's very few teams that are gonna be that freaked out. And there's a lot of teams towards the top, like seventy eight million dollars gas way more than the ever you know, knee And so that's

that's back to normal, I think. And yeah, salaries will go up, but the good thing I think is we won't hear as many teams crying poor and having a trade because of cap space and stuff like that, and so the Patriots might as well have spent all that money this year. They still got thirty million next year in space. In other news, the Houston Texans interesting uh relationship they have with the media down there in a

in a New England Patriots type way. Nikossario of course came over from New England to Houston and this tweet from friend of the show John McClean. For the first time in forty five years of covering the NFL, I'm seeing something new. Media allowed to attend our first Texans oti a and we're given rosters with no numbers for players, names with no numbers next to them, with almost fifty

new players. Idiotic, McClean says. McClean is not happy, and it's uh, these you know, these NFL teams are trying to make it harder and harder for the media to share takeaways on these O t A practices, which you both understand, but also you get why this is kind

of dirty business to me. And it's all I feel like we're all part of the big ecosystem here and the coverage of the sport is good for the fans, and when the teams get overly cute and secretive that we don't really win and it should really ultimately be about the fans. Where do you guys come down on this? Is this a trop alert now? Because I feel like,

didn't Joe Judge last year? There we go get himself in the same sort of trouble, except he took the names off the jerseys, which I think the Patriots have done in the past. Okay, but the names, okay, the names making it annoying. You take the numbers away, and as McClain points to, when you have an entirely new roster, it's a total bank sesh. That is, you're basically saying you won't be able to do anything unless you can

see inside these guys helmets or whatever. I don't know what you're gonna do they remember, they're like a hundred yards away. On top of it, I don't know what the agreement um. Apparently there is no agreement around some thing like this, because look at if you're you know, we don't have to go do the job of a beat reporter where you've got to You've got to be precision, um, mixed with quickness and facts, and you can't get it wrong and you're you're turning that whole thing into much

for them. And McClain, who has been he's seen everything. UM, I love him because he has. When he gets annoyed at the Texans will let you know, UM on field stuff, but you don't hear a lot of just like endless complaining from him. And with this one, it's like it stands out is a wrong a wrong done and like I hope you know either A they're that disorganized or be they're doing it intentionally to the reporters. I'm not sure which of those options I'd like better as a

Texans fan. I mean to me, I think it's a total men which is this is a this is an organization that a cleaned out their PR staff and like a very popular one UM replaced it with with nothing of near you know, uh likability according to the people that work with the Texans, and essentially seem to be antaggoning to stick towards the press and towards all of us to cover football. And I just something about the whole thing. I think McLean nailed it. It's it's idiotic

and it's um it's aggressive. In other news, some changes to how the NFL handles cut downs, uh this summer. For years, of course, teams were required to trim their ninety men russ there down to seventy five players right before the final preseason game. They altered that in two thousand seventeen when they went straight from ninety to fifty three ahead of Week one. The NFL changed things up with COVID last year, and now the NFL is returning

to multiple rounds of cuts. Uh. So by auguste you gotta get to night five by the week later, eighty thirty one of August eighty to fifty three, Greg, you wanted this is the news. I didn't. I didn't do anything but the news this doesn't It will be nice for us on Labor Day weekend. I feel like, um, yeah,

I'm sure it's the same with you guys. But Amica, my wife, she knows the NFL schedule now, so she knows that the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, we're always getting banged a little bit and we gotta, yeah, I write a little column that day with the cutdowns, and like family stuff is on hold until you know, mid the late afternoon. So now that's all freed up. So thanks Rogers on Tuesday. That's the day where you're expecting to, you know, dig in and do some work. So I

appreciate that very good. Todd Gurley, remember when he was the best running back at football. It was like two years ago, three years ago. He's been unemployed since his one year deal with the Falcons came to a close. He's getting interest from the Detroit Lions. He is in Detroit today Thursday, post hump Day, to visit the lines. According to ESPN, that would re team Gurley with Jared

Goff if it happened. And you know, again we're trying to get the fans excited over there in Detroit and read pairing Todd Gurley and Jared Goff five years after they were the hot thing. Maybe he won't do it, but uh, it's good to see Gurley at least getting the chance to to pitch himself because it's been very

quiet for him in this offseason. I you know, I was curious if he was going to be interested in taking the type of contract that I assume he'll be offered here, which you know, he got six million dollars to play for the Falcons. I thought he really hurt

their offense. Last year, I thought he was one of the worst, you know, running backs in the league that got over you know, a hundred touches and took a lot of negative plays and just made a lot of mental mistakes that that just seemed to hurt the Falcons. So I assume he's gonna get offered like a one year, two million dollar contract or you know, maybe some incentives,

but close to the minimum. Is he going to be motivated to doing that after making so much money on the guaranteed contract that you're right there, and it's only three years ago, less than three years ago. This summer he got the guaranteed money and he partly got it from Brad Holmes, who's their gm uh in Troit. He was in Los Angeles, So you see the connection. I like that we're ahead of this because I assume he's going to be signed in this contract. I think it's happening.

What what I would wonder what he's being told his role would be the because you've got DeAndre swift Um. They signed Jamal Williams. They currently have two other players with the last name of Williams who also have the first name, starting with Jay Jonathan Williams, James Williams, They've got three other running backs. They have seven guys on the roster right now. And I actually, look, I think Jamal Williams UM was a good signing. I think he's

an interesting guy for on third down. And if they think DeAndre Swift is their lead, dude, I know it's a root new regime. What what does that leave for Todd Gurley? You need to go fight to make the team, You're right, right. I think it's just like the priority you gotta if you're interested, you're keeping your career going, come fight. And if he is, you know, a hundred percent motivated and stuff. Yeah, like he could outrun Jamal Williams.

Maybe we'll see. I don't know. And finally in the news, Yeah, we mentioned one trope alert earlier in the show. Here are some true Vintage's troupe alerts. First out of Green Bay at Jordan Love shows progress during first week of O t S. That's that's a big one. This, you know, it's like so many things in Green Bay. Um, this all happened before. There's a little quarterback by the name

of Aaron Rodgers who people don't remember. Um did not play well his first training camp was written about pretty negatively, struggled mostly in the preseason, was behind Craig Noll I believe on the depth chart, was number three for his rookie year, and people were like, I don't know, this Rogers guy might be a bus And then he came in in second training camp and O T s and everyone was like, oh my god, Aaron Rodgers is amazing. You know what They were right in the end. So

maybe it wasn't a troup. Maybe Jordan's love is amazing too. I mean, I think the one thing though, is like, if you're gonna go draft a quarterback in the first round, beyond all the drama that it's stirred up. I mean, if he's not going to play all year. He wasn't even active for most games last season. He wasn't even the second string quarterback. He saw no snaps, he got no experience. It's just like, you're these guys need to play.

I mean, Aaron Rodgers situation behind Brett Farve was, if anything, unusual for a first round quarterback. But they've created it again and maybe he is Aaron Rodgers part two. I don't see any evidence that all these O T s and mini camps will be good for him, but what if he I mean, I know a lot of receivers

didn't show up though. That is uh. I don't know if it's on my radar, but I find it interesting that a lot of the Packers receivers, maybe in a bit of loyalty to Aaron Rodgers, didn't show up either. And the trope that this is taken from, of course, is uh, second year quarterback, the offense is a lot slower. Everything is slowed down tight in year two trope alert hit it again, Ricky Miami Dolphins head coach, same category to a quote, more comfortable heading into two thousand. To

any one, the game has slowed down for him. He's the offense is more familiar to him, and because of that, he will be God's gift a quarterbacking in about four months. I mean, it's also a new offense. Like Miles Gaskin, you know they have that co offensive coordinator set up and running back Myles Gaskin said that there's a lot

of new wrinkles. I mean, he worked with some of these coaches in different places, but um, you know, to us, I don't like this for Justin Herbert too, for Tuah having to learn a new system and your second in the off season where things should be slowing down. He also I think that the more notable thing he said was that his hip um feels ten times better than it did a year ago. Now we spent all last time.

That's that's why it's I mean, of course he's absolutely fine, couldn't be healthier, but but if it feels ten times better, that just was never the case last year. He also said he you know, didn't have the comfort with the playbook that he would like last year. That he kept running plays that he thought probably were doomed to you know, fail, but he didn't have the confidence to audible or anything. And I do think for guys who play from the neck,

up um as like one of their big assets. And I put in and I keep thinking of Alex Smith and Eli Manning for some reason when it comes to to U. Both of those guys, I think one a lot before the snap and we're absolute disasters as rookies because that's the time when you're you're just not gonna do that. And Tuah is like that to me. I think players like that have a little smaller margin for

error and they need a little more time. When when if if he's gonna be winning before the snap and knowing the playbook and all this stuff, Like he doesn't have the physical tools that these other guys do, so it makes sense if he has a little slower start, it doesn't mean you're done. I'm I'm staying optimistic for Tah. There is a weird Uh there's a faction in Greg just like Uh spoke on it that, Um, you know, it's not really nice to say negative things about Toah,

like everyone is rooting for too. Don't don't be critical of his rookie year. He's gonna be Fine's saying that he's struggled. I'm just trying to put it into context of why it might not why it might have happened. I think he has a lower ceiling. I'm just saying than what you want at a number six quarterback. But

I think there's reasons to understand why. I understand I know what Dan saying, Like, I don't think that we've there's a bit of a kid gloves with the media with two We get it with everyone like Donald had incredible But it's true though, right like we couldn't think like no I don't think Baker did. He was on people's radar, but he played great, so that that helped. There is something about two of that I know, Dan,

I can't. It's hard to put your finger on I know exactly what you're saying, though, right, I'm just saying that. My larger point is that Brian Flores is an interesting position because we had debates about this last season. He benched to a multiple times last year for Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick obviously not there anymore. Is Flora is gonna be more patient with him in year two that he's his hip is four hundred times healthier and he knows the playbook and all this other stuff we're hearing, Or is this a situation where Flores is not necessarily a huge fan of this kid and he's he'll pull him again. He's got another um solid backup and Jake Brisket back there. He doesn't have the excitement level of fits or maybe the ceiling on a week to week basis, but it's

not like you have to. It's not Christian Hackenburg back there. UM. So I'll be interested to see how the season plays out with two uh, if they if they pull him at any point for Jake Brisket, it's over to me and in their movie Quarterback next year. I mean maybe not over for the season or not, but you're you've made that. That's what's happening in the news, all right.

Before we get to uh mail bad questions. We wish you would have asked us that it's I just want to make sure the listeners understand that I don't have an issue with you contributing to the mail bag. Uh, it's it's just it's just sometimes I want you to read the tweet a little closer. That's all. Put it on me. Put it on me. You know, it is kind of a Greg conceit and it was your idea. But I also don't want to make it seem like

I'm throwing you under the bus. Greg, And I can't believe in the step it up anything, step it up with these questions Before we get to the mail bag, though, Greg, you just completed your projected Starters series. You went through the whole league and all the rosters, um and so check it out at NFL dot com slash projected Starters eight divisions. This is it. Eight divisions. They're all like this should work as a season preview. I will see you,

um editor, you know my editor. I'll see you in September. Like, I should be good until week one right now? Eight copy eight articles in two weeks. Forget it, you're good. Yeah, you should be able to kind of hit cruise control a little bit here. Anyway, before we get to the uh mail bag, how about we put sixty seconds on the clock, Greg and you give us some of your noteworthy takeaways from your studying of all of these rosters. Do you want more? Plenty? No? Sixties plenty? Alright, I

can't read my own writing here though. Well, you better figure it out because the timer starts now. Okay, if you take out the offensive line and quarterback positions in Denver, that's a top five roster. Eleven went upside maybe uh yeah, they're in their part, but top five roster. Other than that, the Chiefs, if Frank Clark doesn't rebound, their defensive end position is as thin and ugly as any in the league.

As much as I love the Chargers other than Joey Bosa up front, like they can put a lot of attention on Joey Bosa because there's not much going on up front. The Colts are not ascending anymore. And it's the first time ever I think Chris ballad the entire Bills starters on both offense and defense were on the roster last year. So they're very Chiefs like they basically they brought it all back to they didn't do too much.

I don't know if that's a concern. The Ravens. Uh, they're gonna really need to scheme up the pass rush every year. It's like, oh, we don't need offensive linebackers. The defensemans, well, our scheme will figure it out. Like they are really testing that right now. Uh, the Tech or the Titans rather, I like their boomer bust defense. I like their defense more than I expected and their offense less than I expected. It's fine, got enoughing. You got another one in there, Chamber. I wanted to say

the Browns, um I didn't. The Browns like have clearly like the best looking offense in the league or one of the top three or four. The defense, though, everyone's all excited about and to me, it's like, yeah, that could work, or it could be bad again, like line defensive tackles, bad linebacker this question mark, like secondaries all do like maybe they'll be good but they might just be bad again. I think the middle of their defense

has questions. But I would just say that, um, of all the things that we do, you know when you write for about foot Fall, occasionally you find that sweet spot where what you who you are and what you want to be about comes as part of the articles. You know, conceit. I think this is the best thing

that Gregg does all year. And it's not to denounce any of the other stuff, but they You should read these if you are literally anyone, whether you're covering the sport or want to just like find out how much these teams have changed the a f C South. One particularly reads like a horse a horror novel. I mean, there's a lot of problems going on in the the a f C South, and I thought you really highlighted how

none of those teams are really growing into something. They have a lot of holes suddenly, especially the Titans, right, Jaguars fans, I think like that was one I didn't the Jaguars fans gotta have some hope here because t Law he's set up for some success. They got pieces they could compete, said eight and a half. Yeah, I said, I banged the over and you were that's just felt aggressive. But in that division, yeah, I think there's a there

is a scenario where that could happen. I'm not saying it's greater than fifty fifty, but there's a scenario for sure, And I agree with Mark. This is why this is certainly right in Greg's happy zone, which is why we gave it exactly sixty seconds in the middle of May on our podcast. It feels like maybe a miss, maybe a whiff. Yeah, that's fine, that's fine. Some things, you know don't translate as well. I feel like from I don't know the podcast, but you're right, we could use

the contents. I feel like that was a it was a gimme. I didn't realize you had already finished it. Um last one went up today. Yeah, a f C West. I am excited about these broncos. I'm now convincing myself to route for a Teddy team again. There really is like a good looking roster like the UM I'm not talking to you about Teddy bridgemar Um, the the idea that we're doing a fake mail bag now instead of having a more a deeper dive on projecting stars. I

have some regrets. Maybe let's let's keep the door open here, Mark, let's talk about this because Greg seems a little bashful about it. But maybe next week we should have some type of projected starters type seg that just there's I mean, he he gave you, led through it. He gave you just like a small little look inside a massive machine filled with knowledge and information. So I feel like we're not doing, We're not being We're what do they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, which is

just a strange saying. That's what we're doing right now. We're going to have a projected starters episode next week. Take out with that gift horse. Give it a sloppy one, you know, right? The what is it is? It was there a time when people were giving horses to each other left and right. It feels kind of upper crust action to me, right, I think, Yeah, I mean in the nineteenth century, perhaps a little here's a little uh yeah, yeah, right, would you like this gift horse? No, thank you. I

appreciate the sentiment. It's a nice looking horse, horse, this gift horse. But thanks, but no things. I'm good. I don't know the thing that was happening. Yeah, people don't do that's a horse. But why I like the look in the in the mouth. What is that? I don't know. Maybe examining it's um, you know, you figured it out. There is the sartist. But we work hard and eventually we get there. That's it. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. So basically, if you're kind of digging into the oral

scenario here with the horse, um, you are perhaps over. Yeah, take the gift, just take doesn't to have perfect chompers, you know, fix it up a little, you know, just take it. The idiom itself probably stems from the practice of determining a horse's age from looking at its teeth. It would be rude to receive a horse for your birthday and immediately examine its mouth in front of the person who gave it, as if you were trying to figure out the value of your gift. That it happened

to me a lot as a kid. Right. Erica is from that upper Crestrohot Island society. That's the same as if if somebody sent you some type of electronic or whatever it is, um, and the first thing you do is you pick up your phone and look it up on Amazon. I don't do that good really help mail, help sell it to the jen Z. No, forget about Millennia. It's not about millennials anymore so the gen Z ears. It's a rough and tumble crowd, that gen Z crowd.

From what I'm understanding, Hey, Ricky, I feel like, um this, Um, what's your name? Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo's right up your alley. I feel like she's all you're all about her. She's a Taylor Swift sort of sound with a little bit of Lord thrown in there. It's it's pretty good. Yeah, I I I'm into it. I'm not as into it. I think I'm a little you know, definitely going back through my high school years, like you know, I'm like the Jamie Lee Curtis and Freaky Friday, like trying to

be in a rock band vibe. You know, Yeah, it's there. It's good. It's like when all of a sudden, Ashley Simpson was a punk rocker and it was like, well, I don't think we're gonna give you that for a little bit. If you're a little bit older. Um, she gives me vibes like when Atlantis Morrissette came out in the mid nineties. What made her cool was like she was not only this young singer songwriter that came out

of nowhere. She had like a little bit of an edge to her, like she's saying about things that you usually didn't hear about, to use some salty language and that kind of you. I think that up to cred I I don't want to say Olivia Rodrigo is a product because people say she's kind of legitimately talented, but it seems like she's studied a lot of this stuff

for people with her study different but that's okay. She's a she's a pop star and he's supposed to figure out and has like crazy, crazy smash hits coming off this. You know, I caught Greg he didn't realize his camera was on, but he like singing and dancing in a driver's license and like crying. It was like really uncomfortable. It's solid. It's definitely solid, all right, let's get it.

It's it's tricky, especially once you get into the age range where in she's she's kind of an exciting new artist that people are talking about and it's like should I be listening? Like it though, like she loved They Love BTS two, Like they'll like it, So it's a good satisfy. I'll be satisfied, like it's it's better than kids music, so I'll take it. I like it. I don't have a daughter, and I'm not going to have a daughter, um, which is a minor point of contention

in my marriage. But ultimately I don't hold the cards in that realm. So this is what it is. But I do have I think one advantage I would imagine of having a daughter is that you get to kind of experience all sides of the pop spectrum as they get older, which I find interesting. If they're into music. Yeah, I've got to say Walker is more into it and dancing around then than E's sure. All right, let's get into the fake mail bag. Sixty seconds. I'm projected starters,

fake mail bag. Here we go, Greg, you get us going all right, and you know I'm chinking. What do I want to know from you? Too? Oh yeah? So we're basically just no, there's a lot, there's uh, you're making up a question the other two people have to answer and Ricky jump. In this scenario, your fandom of the Jets and Browns will be wiped from your your brain. You're not gonna miss them. You have no residual fandom

left over. It's just like a blank spot. But you are waking up today and you do love football just as much, and you are choosing a team to root for that you hope is you know, last the rest of your life, and it's starting right now. And which which team do you root for? I'm probably I'm probably picking the Rams. There. There's a lot of complications, um when you move across the country and kind of start your life over, and you have all the of stuff that you were born into and you grew up loving.

And for me, one of the tough things about being away from New York for the past decade is, like you, like, I use the Knicks as the example, like such an exciting time in New York sports, and I just feel disconnected from it. Um So, even though I love watching the Knicks and the Yankees, and I love the Jets obviously, um it would be just easier and cleaner if I

were back in the home market. And and especially I have now to young sons, and it's a little bit of a conflict about you know, how do they who do they support? How hard do I push or do I not push at all about who I root for all that stuff. I'll just wake up one day and be a RMS fan and then if they're Chargers fans, that's cool too, and that's it. So that's me stay in the l a market old school style that is very um altruistic of you and thinking about everyone else's

needs and wants I I don't have. I'm not able to do that on this front, I would Greg. So, dude, did I have the same did I grow up in the same places? Do you know what? Did I listen to w f A and all that other business. If the answer is yes, yeah, yeah, it's just like somehow your fandom was was wiped and all the memories. So in theory like this would be hard to get to. You could even like the Ravens because you don't even know that they were the rival of your own team.

You have no you have no history. But yeah, you're choosing a team now from scratch, all right, I would go, you know, I gave a second thought to the Steelers just because I think I'd be attracted to um long, long running historical franchises that you know, know what they're doing. Because the time is short. I don't have twenty years to put up with an organization that's you know, riff raff and mentally confused. Um. But I I am going to pick the New York Giants, UM, with the hope

that they get back to those ways. That's just the team that I think has always been my second favorite team. UM, and my heart would go there. That's the first thing that came to mind. I didn't come up with an answer here, but uh, I probably just think short, short ish term and go Chargers because they have Herbert and Chiefs with Mahomes or Ravens with Lamar would be probably

two and three. But since the Charges are here and they have the quarterback, yeah, that would probably win the tiebreaker. What about you, Ricky, I'm not I'm not some you know Turncote Patriots or well you don't you don't have that now. I feel like you would wake up and

still be a Patriots fan. WHOA where am I helicopter like going over the vineyard and they just say something was wicked annoying before the show, which I haven't heard since the senior year at Minnichag Regional in Western Massachusetts. Mean it is it is legitimately a new team because they're going to not win for the next twenty years, so you would be having a very different experience as

a Patriots fan. Now I think I think, Um, i'd probably pick like some random team that doesn't get like I don't know, I've always sort of like liked for an underdogs, so like I'd probably be like, oh, the Lions have like a crazy story of like despair, Like I'd want to like fight for like I feel bad for those tarts of teams, So I'd probably go there.

It's it's but really before your time. All kidding aside, but once upon a time the Patriots were that, all right, Since it's in a similar vein where it's kind of creating a separate timeline and involves fandom, Mark, I have one for you here, all right. So I'm gonna give you the choice of two doors to walk through here. One is the Browns win three super Bowls in the next twelve years. That's nice because not only you get three rings, it's spread out nice. That's a dozen years.

That's a nice chunk of your life. Um, and you've got two boys there, they're gonna fall in love and all that stuff. Or you go Mr Destiny. Alright, but play this clip in case you forgot about your life. This is your house. Those are your children, and Cindy Joe is your wife. Happy birthday, Darling God. Yes, James Belushi and Michael Caine as the kind of angelic figure involved.

And the plot of the movie was this regular Joe guy has this huge moment when he's in high school with the game on the line, with the like state championship on the line of baseball, he strikes out Mike. He goes to a bar. He's down in his luck. As a grown man, still thinks about that moment and how he blew it. Michael Caine gives him a tonic. He drinks the tonic, and all of a sudden he hit a home run in that moment and it changed his entire life. So and then he learned his old

life was better old blah blah blah awesome. You know he he chose Linda Hamilton's over Rene Russo it's a movie. Okay, So you mark, you parlay this is your Mr. Destiny moment. You parlay that much referenced peewee football career into high school stardom. You become a three year starter for a respected D three program that includes all conference selection honorable mention as a senior. Your pro day, you just wake up. You know, sometimes you wake up and you're just feeling

good and you're just having a good day. You have an awesome pro day, Like I guess this would be the Mr. Destiny moment. You just play out of your mind in this regional pro day and you end up becoming a surprise seventh round pick by some coach who values how gritty and gutty you are and all this good stuff. You go on to play in parts of four seasons in the NFL okay, mostly as a special teams guy, but you do finish with twenty seven catches

and two touchdowns in your career. Your football career is over by age seven. You kind of bounce around with some have nots it. There's no like big super Bowl thing or it was very nondescript NFL career, but you did bounce around for four years. You made you never made more than the league minimum, which by the way, sid in the new cb A. But whatever, I guess we're gonna back this up to when you were twenty two.

So whatever, it's nice money. UM do you take that life basically starting over age seven, not a script NFL career, but really an awesome sports life, um or current life with three super Bowls for the Browns, your favorite football team. Well, I mean this is a huge like sliding door snerial where I probably, like the children that I think about, Um, you know every minute of every day, don't exist because I probably would have met someone completely different. Like hide,

don't hide behinde that, don't hide that. Yeah, keep trying to I know what you're saying, because it's almost impossible as a parent to think that way. But try to keep the kids and stuff you might you might have met Simon it like that that's eight years away from even meeting Simone anyway, is like a groupie and you met her like outside like a hotel or something. It's

a groupie of a seventh tround pick. I get it. Um, look at I mean, I you know, outside of the eradication of my actual family, which I will as you say, bury that to the side. I'm gonna go, um the Browns, uh, because I'll tell you what. I think that helps a lot more people. Um, but it for me, I think, like I don't know what i'd be if I were an athlete that fizzled out at like age thirty two. I don't think I was like seven. I don't necessarily love um the second part of life and the third

part of life after that. Just knowing myself, UM, I would rather have the current structure with a huge I mean, you know, with a huge Browns like decade plus um coming down the pike. I don't know, is that that's my answer? Like maybe I've displeased you with that. But what about if um, you and bollsonarios you end up with Simone and the boys. I don't know what I

what am I? So I'm at like, you know, I'm out there with my pals telling them about my three and a half year NFL career from like seventeen years ago. I loved playing football to some degree, but I also remember um that like these two hour practices. I was just sitting there being like, please be over soon. Like I you know, I like Charlie's Angels. You gotta love the game. You gotta love the But this the Mr.

Destiny thing. You're really talented. You're in the top you know, one percent of football players in the country or whatever whatever it would be. Two, you're probably join practice more because you're great at football. In this scenario, that makes some sense. I mean, I could tell you that I will take that over the Browns thing if that's what we're looking for, but I think I'd probably just become a total a holt on some level. So I'm definitely

not looking for anything. I guess I was a little surprised, but that's good. I mean, you showed out at that Williams College pro day. If you threw in like look at you're a You're a real plucky athlete who also had this huge moment that helped your team win the Super Bowl, and your career was four years long. That's a little different. I feel kind of Yeah, this will bring you down to earth. Um, there's also choy c

which is reality, which is you'll get neither. That's exactly alright, Mark, go ahead, Okay, So um, I'm gonna throw a quick one night you hear or. I noticed that some of you, especially the clown reading this um, absolutely fall in love with various coaches, and we like a ton of them. They totally peter out and don't do what we say. And I can think of a couple off the bat But from where we stand today, I know, Greg, you've done your your coach rankings, your GM rankings. Who is

the most overrated head coach in the NFL? Mm hmmm active? Active? I mean someone that we're talking about is one of the thirty two head coaches right now. I mean, I would say I don't like going down this road because I feel like he's a bit of a punching bag at times, um, even on this podcast. But you know, Gruden in two thousand twenty one, uh, in the fourth

year of a million dollar, ten year deal. I don't know if we're supposed to factor in all these elements to it, because if he was a more normal deal, I probably and there weren't the outsized expectations when he came back from his UM time in broadcasting. Um. What was the exact word he used at this point? He gets so much grief. Um. Yeah, that that's the problem.

The word overrated, I would I guess I would say Gruned, But he's like, yeah, like you say, he's he gets so much heat now because I think people there's a little bit of enjoyment and seeing him scuffle and the raiders. Um, so maybe he's not overrated. But Cliff Kingsbury is the other one that comes to fun. Yeah, I think that's what we've seen from Cliff Kingsbury on this level really uh to warrant all the hype that he had coming in.

So maybe he's the answer for me. Yeah. Similarly, I thought like McCarthy at first, but it's like he's not really rated highly. So you needs someone that that doesn't get a lot of critique, and I didn't think I could come up with one, but then I did. Mike Rabel, Hey, you're a defensive guy, how about have a decent defense once in a while. I know he's like he he everyone likes him, and he's a he uh strikes us

cutting figure up there. He's great, his teams have done pretty well, but he is a defensive coach, whereas the sum of the parts on the Titans defense never quite add up. Like he's got good some good players and they always kind of think so I'll go Mike. Something spicy I also like, and I agree that like some

of that. No, the reaction to these guys are so fierce now that like it's it is maybe hard to find classically over because McCarthy, I could say but like everyone, Ba McCarthy, here's the thing, McCarthy, here's why he came to mind those because during that like three hour long DAK press conference, Um, how manyton Jerry Jones like and we are here with all wonderful coach We just have a wonderful coaches like Mike McCarthy did nothing last year and he came out of Green Bay with like super

low Q rating. So I don't you know, Jerry Jones seems to think he's all the bad ones get fired. That's unfortunately for NFL coaches, it is a it's a tough business. They're all gone. It is a tough business. And it's ultimately about wins and losses and rabel and three seas and twenty nine and nineteen. They have a division title. Uh, they have been to two playoff games. They want a playoff game. Upset went over the Ravens

last year. I get it. I guess that. Said that said, I think a lot of people, um who might feel so, and maybe even some Titans fans out there want to see how this team is without Arthur Smith there this year well, and in a compromise roster on offense too. It's not it's you know, it's not just the defense that might underwhelm you. The sun around Greg, what is the what do they I know, Corey Davis obviously is not there. What else are we? J Smith Smith their

death in general? Yeah, just you know, just generally got paid like a superstar. But it's not like he was every I get it. But like now it's like Firk sir and who is it Jeff Swaim or something? That's their two tight ends and their third receivers, Like I don't even know they don't even have a third receiver. They're going to have to sign someone and Reynolds who was the Rams fourth or fifth fourth or severs their second?

If they went Julio Jones, that changes things. But I think also just like the environment around Derrick Henry is gonna be tougher, well we would. It took a while for us to go around the room once and now I'm gonna I'm gonna go to one. I have some more football, the ones, but I do want to make sure I get this one in because you know, I guess we could start with Dan, but it's for both of you, which is why are you the way that you are? Dan? That's that's a that's a tough one.

That's a toughie. I think it's a combination of what what you're born into and then the atmosphere, like what the environment you're around and the experiences in life. I think that's the answer. Yeah, I agree with that. Um. I know that I'm definitely motivated by um slights and past failures two stuff, stuff that from like even eighteen years ago, I could still be ruminating on at times and it will drive me for two weeks now. It's

not healthy. I don't think that's the only way. Ago, something that like that got me inside, that was good. I like that's I think that that's something that I had would put us something I could work on potentially. Um. But then you know, although in Dan's defense, like I am sort of convinced after having kids at least my experiences like they were who they were before they can speak for the most part, it's like you couldn't change that. Change that about them being a parent is it's it's

a blessing, it's a miracle. It's also it could stress you out when you think out think too much about it. Like things that you find are good qualities about yourself bad qualities about yourself, Like some of that is all hardwired into the children. It's pretty heavy if you if you want to think too much about it. So you don't and you just try to teach them well and make them good humans. Um, all right, all right, I'll throw another one out there. Do my Mr Destiny one? Yeah,

you did do that one. I don't know. I kind of did a lot of research on this, but now I don't really care what the answer is. I was gonna say, should we do a lottery uh in the NFL instead of the um the do uh? You know, worst record gets the first pick. I mean you come off a season where, um, the Jaguars just lost fifteen straight games to close close the season, including the final four weeks when they were outscored by eighty five points. You have that Eagles Jalen Hurts, Nate Sudfell disaster um

in Week seventeen. Bad look for everybody you see as a Lions fan. You know what's going on here? They're trying to get the number one pick uh next spring. None of this makes it for a better league. Why not introduce an NBA lottery uh to curb the urge to tank before this becomes like a hardcore crisis like it did in the NBA. UM. Now, and here's the thing, I'm afraid to put this out there because I know the shadowy league figures don't not many of them actually

listen to the show. If it's some do maybe, Um, this is a this is a slam dunk for the league in terms of a promotional Uh. They're always looking for ways to stretch out the calendar. If the NFL, um wanted to, they could blow this out the week after the super Bowl, right, So put it between the super Bowl and the combine making a primetime event. You have Rich and Irvin and all the whole crew there mooch uh to host it, and you have all the

representatives from the team, just like the NBA does. It's a great product. It really is fun to watch. Its exciting, as silly as it all is. And um, you kind of take over another week of the calendar as a sport. And then you also, uh, you give teams less of an incentive to not try because you're lowering the odds um of getting the first pick. Just being the worst

team doesn't give you the number one overall pick. I think now that we're in a world where it seems like every year there is legit um evidence to look at certain teams and say they're tanking. I don't think that was um the NFL way necessarily way back when, when I think the draft in general was a little bit more de emphasized. UM. So I think it's a great idea UM and and it has value. I still

think and this will never happen. I would love and this is an old Damna check Dave Damnaschek concept, like a reverse playoffs where you take the worst four teams UM and you pick them up in like a reverse a f C n NFC title type game and a reverse super Bowl where now you can't the losers get the lower draft pick. You if you win that tournament of of total Hammond eggers, then you get the number one pick. I think that would be excellent television UM in a way, uh, you know, amongst with a real

prize at the end. It's football so unique though, because man, it would be hard to like ask these players to put themselves out on the line for to get a number one pick for a team they're gonna get cut from you and also to coach. So I don't think you're got I don't think you'd want to add to the schedule with that. Um. But I like the lottery and I'm not even worried about tanking. I mean, compared to the NBA, it's nothing, and I don't think it ever will be anything like the NBA uh in terms

of seating. But I still say why not. I get the idea of why the draft is how it is, but that was that was back in the fifties for parody and stuff. It'll the parody of it all will work itself out. If basically you've got to be in the top five or six to have a real chance to win this lottery, you know, or else your odds are infantestimal anyway, So just mix up the top five or six. I want to see the randomness. Plenty of

times doesn't work out. You win the lottery and you'll draft um, you know, you'll draft Josh Rosen over Lamar Jackson or whatever it is. I'm not thinking there's better ones at the top of the draft. But it happens you draft Sam Darnald over you know. It's like you don't you don't know what's gonna happen. Anyways, I think it'd be fun Thursday night, February eight pm for the combine. Yeah,

that's good. It's only and just so if maybe people aren't familiar with the nb A lottery, the only the teams that didn't make the playoffs are involved, So what is that teams? And if you were seven and nine, you're gonna have like a point five percent chance, right, you gotta really be towards the end to have much of a chance. And the NBA has made different things to uh to continue to try to um make teams

not completely give up. So now it's the way it's set up now is the lottery is only for the top four picks, and then starting with pick five that goes to it reverts to worst record starting to pick five, but top four now is the teams with the top the worst four records all have the equal chance of getting the number one overall pick. So they just it used to be um the team with the worst record had chance. Wait, and it was and it was too it was too much of an incentive for teams to

still tanks. So now they've balanced that out and it's basically the bottom four teams all have I think a ten percent chance, and like Greg said, the team that went eight and eight missed the playoffs as like a point eight or one percent chance of getting the first overall pick. Anyway, it's gonna happen. The NFL is gonna make a ton of money off it, and it might make for a better product. That's my feeling. I will

annoy the NBA to to no end. It's like you've taken the one thing that we do that you don't do, and now you do it and you get way more people watching it. Please, yeah, did you have another one more? I would? I do have one here? Um, all right, so let's say that you too were suddenly given more football knowledge than anyone on earth. Okay, like C three p O figure times five hundred, you you have insane

you Well, it's you can look him up. He's like relatively he's he is in popular culture for our popular culture man, like a mix of Greg co Sell and Bill Belichick upstairs times like thirty and like, let's see, it's almost like a superpower. It's like a superpower kind of thing. But it's gonna end in one year. It's for one calendar year. So I would just ask you, like you know you've thought about having this power probably at some point. What would you do with it? Would you?

Would you get the heck out of like your work environment and go right like the greatest football book of all time? Would you stay on this show? Um? But then a year later you'd be like that guy was amazing, and then he went back down to his normal processing abilities, and we're a lot less amazed. So I'm just sorry. What you what would you coach a team? What would you do if you had that incredible knowledge? So like, would that knowledge allow me to be an ace in

the stock market or something? No, it's you. You have the more football knowledge than and I mean you could go it's football knowledge, mostly football. I like marketing ped By saying you've probably thought about this before, so you know we know where he's coming from. Um, I think you know you gave me the idea, And now that I think about it, there's almost no way. It's not like they I could get hired into the NFL with all these this knowledge quickly or anything. The timeline is

very difficult staying on this show. That's not gonna help me that much to you know, have a couple of good extra nuggets I do think I would write the book because it's like a dream would be to see my my book on a shelf in a in a bookstore. And if I'm this smart, I could probably could write a good one. Maybe it doesn't make me a good writer, but I would be motivated. I take the leave of absence, and it is kind of a certain type of badass writer that like writes one amazing thing and then never

writes again. I wouldn't try to do a follow up because it would stink, because I would lose my cant would it just be like, hey, that's the guy who wrote the one awesome football buck. That would be a good guy to be. I would just kick that. You guys on this podcast for a year, and that's that's appealing, And then you could then you could leave the show after a year and never never had your voice, just

being me and get things wrong and stuff. But like that would just be a fun year and and uh, I don't know, I don't know if I really need anything else. It's kind of a weird superpower. It's it's almost useless. But also it will be a fun thing. You would try to get on more podcasts, like I would to try to get on the Move the Sticks podcast to your point and start wiping the floor at

Daniel Jeremiah. It's like he's gonna want you, didn't you. Yeah, but at least you could surprise him just like, oh, you didn't watch that tape of the Saginaw Valley defensive tackle like I thought he had, you know, I don't know, and just make him look like an idiot. All right. Before we go, Ricky, I'm gonna ask you a question. Your three favorite sitcoms. Okay, three coming in at number three, gotta go fresh, Prince of bel Air coming in at

number remarkably prepared for this. Yeah, you've gotta sell the fact that you're not prepared. Not no, no, I mean I did have to look up because there's so many good ones, and you have to remember I'm in a different you know, I'm not gonna be like oh Seinfeld and cheers like really to me every time. Um, Fresh Prints is just as old. Yeah it's nineties too, but um that's seventies show or broad City, which is like Current,

which I think is good. You got Parks and Wreck, but that's like you gotta to say three you can number well, one is sex in the City and I will die on that hill. That's funny because you were just saying, you know, you're talking about things that were too old to appreciate, like you were a baby when that show is at its height. Yeah, so you discovered it later obviously. Yeah. Through Actually, like college had every

single DVD set every season. It makes sense because Erica is very you know, fascinated, and that's kind of her lane, like rich white women, Like that's like her thing. Um My, my top three sitcoms, I'm gonna say The Office American version seasons. I'm gonna break it down. A lot of these sitcoms outlive their usefulness so season, especially seasons two and three, but we'll say seasons one through three, Arrested Development. Um, seasons one and two I think are like some of

the funniest TV you'll ever see. But I will say the best is the first let's say eight or nine seasons of The Simpsons. That's my top three with Seinfeld, thirty Rock, Um, maybe Peak always sunny. All in the conversation after that, I had not a Simpsons fan, and I realized I'm in weird territory because everyone around me seems to be UM. I for me, Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I'm rewatching, is still awesome. The Larry Sanders Show, um,

I think that is one of the best shows around. Um. If I want to go back a little bit further to on a more classic sitcom that I grew up watching, I think Family Ties, which I've showed to my kids. Family Ties. Is that was your three? You just said three that listed twelve things. Number one. No, I put Larry Sanders Show number one, Curb two, and Family Ties three. But this other one that I used to watch good

times was awesome. But I don't think that's more like classic sitcom stuff than I wouldn't want to watch Cheers right now. Really, I mean it holds up fine, but I wouldn't want to. But in terms of the impact that out of my life, that would have to make the list because I just watched it NonStop. But that's like the first thing I ever thought of with comedy for like five years, from six to eleven or whatever. So Cheers makes the list, but they're Cheers holds up

incredibly well. It holds up. I just mean, I'm not like I haven't haven't done it, but the others are on your guys list I put Arrested and Curbed as my other two. Yeah cheers, yeah cheers. Is UM really past the test of time? And I will say, UM one off the radar kind of sitcom if if we're looking for if you if you want something to discover

here um check out review Comedy Central Andy Daily. Starting it as this guy Forest McNeil that would be challenged by his viewers on this like public access show to do these feats, these random feats, all very stupid, and you would think, okay, that's the premise of the show, but it wasn't really that he would do these feats, and then the show was kind of like how doing these strange things would affect his life, and his life just kept on going downhill and he ended up losing

everything because he was doing this ridiculous great show check out review. Great It's coming back, probably won't be good, but I like when these shows come back, well it's perilous, it will supprest. The development came back terrible, not even you know, it just paled in comparison. But watched the first couple of seasons Season three, Yeah, all this stuff with we've written and they kind of lost a plot

a little bit. I'm watching season three right now, and I'm like, ah, this wasn't nearly as good as the first two seasons. TV Talk got a whopper of a pod here, and maybe we should bring this in for a landing no matter what, and it always ends up a little a little heavy. Alright, um minutes, we'll be back on Friday. On the network side, we are now

on right after Good Morning Football. Still unclear whether that's a good thing or that's one of those things that speaking of sitcoms, and all of a sudden, you start moving around on the schedule and it's like the higher I think it's just there's no there's no NFL now. So it's just like, let's have it where NFL now was. Yeah, I'm just saying, you start bouncing around that schedule. You don't know how that well, No one came to it, came to us and said, you guys are lightning in

a bottle um. You're absolutely devastating ratings. So we're putting you into this spot for that reason. We're just the schedule. Pretty soon. We got a couple more weeks here, a couple of weeks off than maybe back for one and then and then hopefully we're back for the fall. So forget hashtag bring a t N to London? How about forget it half techno, don't forget it. I want that, give it to me. I don't know if I don't know if the hashtag is gonna help us get there.

How about hashtag keep a t N on the NFL Network schedule. It's a little bit of a mouthful there, but that's I think. Yeah, keep eight t N on TV for the fall. How about watch a t on TV. Listeners love that and hear some feedback. We worked hard on that show and when we were very proud of it. So uh, check out the network show right after Good Morning Football on NFL Network and then the podcast returns next Tuesday. All right, goods up. This is Dana has

a signing off for Quiet Storm The Old Boss. When I was a senior in college, this shows at its peak and my girlfriend at the time lived across the hall. All the girls would pile into our dorm room because we had HBO. My roommate got HBO, which is a crazy move in a dorm room, and uh, they all watched it together. That's my sex and the City story. Girlfriend across the dorm room Hall, though, is that it's good. It's good, and it could be bad eventually good and bad.

It worked out. Dan has a signing off for a quiet storm the old boss, Ricky Hollywood behind the virtual Glass. What are you, by the way, Ricky? Which are you some Antha? I feel like you're Samantha. That is a big compliment. Thank you. That's what every girl says, because the three suck. It's like, OK, you could be Cynthia Nixon and you're you're respectful, you're but it's like you're if you're anyone else, it's like it's almost an insult to Miranda. Yeah, no one ever wants to be Miranda.

No one wants to be Charlotte either. She's like not sure of herself, want to be you know, Sarah, Jessica Parker. But I'm not, you know, so I guess I just end up being the Miranda. Nobody wants to be a Miranda. All right? Till Tuesday, he'd the call