0:01

Hey guys, a Salven, We've got a fantastic

0:04

show for you this week to preview the twenty

0:06

twenty NFL season. Yes,

0:08

it's here, after everything we've been through less

0:10

than forty eight hours away. Gresh

0:12

is in to make predictions with us.

0:15

Predict division winners, predict the Super

0:17

Bowl winner, predict awards winners.

0:19

And then we've got a great special guest coming

0:21

in to kind of give us a feel for what

0:23

all of this is gonna look like and how the football

0:25

itself might be a little different twenty twenty.

0:28

And then, as we always do, we wrap

0:30

things up with all of your questions in the

0:32

sixth pack. Let's go all

0:36

right, welcome back in. We made it. It's

0:38

hard to believe it's here when

0:40

you listen to this. The NFL season

0:42

will be starting in one day,

0:45

in a little over twenty four hours. It's

0:47

the mm QB Podcast with Albert Brier,

0:50

and you know we're gonna jump right

0:52

into this. We do have a guest coming. We'll get to your

0:54

mail all of your questions

0:57

in the six pack. We're gonna bring Andy Gresh

0:59

in right now out and grass as somebody

1:01

who loves this sport, who played this sport.

1:04

You know, there were some points over the last

1:06

four or five months where I think this was touch and

1:08

go and when I may have told you,

1:10

I don't know if they're gonna be able to start on time.

1:13

And so I think the result getting

1:16

where we've gotten based

1:18

on the greater conditions in our country

1:21

and all the challenges that the NFL

1:24

was facing, Um, this is an

1:26

outstanding result. Like and I've been

1:28

critical of the league about things in the past,

1:31

you know, I don't know how you can give them anything less than

1:33

an a for the job that they've done,

1:36

finding a way to keep the coaches safe, finding a way

1:38

to keep the players safe, finding a way to keep

1:40

all the personnel around their teams, the trainers,

1:42

the doctors, the equipment

1:44

people, all those people healthy

1:46

and safe. Um, I think it's

1:49

they've done a great job. And that's why we are

1:51

where we are on the doorstep of Chiefs

1:53

Texans on Thursday night. And I don't

1:56

think we can undersell that because

1:58

there was the questions that you

2:00

and I and a lot of people around the game

2:03

had of are these

2:05

guys going to be able to control themselves?

2:07

And we're also living in a time where some

2:09

of the places that they would go, these

2:12

dens of iniquity or wherever that could

2:14

be, places where it would be spreading

2:16

COVID all over the place aren't open, so

2:18

that helps as well. But there's no

2:21

question, Burt, the biggest challenge

2:23

moving forward is still going to be the

2:25

discipline of the players and keeping them safe

2:28

so that these games can get played on time.

2:30

And to this point here, I know that you and I

2:32

are zoomed it up, but knock

2:35

on wood, it's been good so far,

2:38

no question, And uh, you

2:40

know, as far as the challenges ahead go, I'm

2:43

with you, Agres. You know you mentioned I'm glad

2:45

you said that, like the it's not only the

2:47

responsibility to the players, it's it's

2:50

also like kind of like what all these guys are faced

2:52

with. Right So over the next few weeks

2:54

um and really starting right now,

2:57

players are adjusting their lives, are being

3:00

out of camp mode where basically football consumes

3:02

everything, and for a lot of the players,

3:04

now they have a little bit more free

3:07

time. Once the regular season starts, they're

3:09

going home at a more normal hour you

3:11

get later in the week, and they're they're they're actually

3:13

going to have some time off and so yeah,

3:16

that introduces new things and new challenges

3:18

into all of this. Coaches will

3:20

have their kids going back to school. Older players

3:22

will have their kids going back to school. Maybe

3:24

some people's wives go back to work. Like, so

3:27

they're not out of the woods, you know, I think you're still

3:29

kind of everything here

3:31

is sort of still riding on what happens in the country

3:33

as a whole. But they've cleared some hurdles.

3:36

Now, I don't think travels as big a

3:38

deal as everybody makes it out to be. I mean, these guys aren't

3:40

exactly like schlepping through Terminal B, you

3:43

know. So like if anybody's

3:45

seen the way NFL teams or pro sports

3:48

teams in general travel, you know, like

3:50

they go through t s a basically at

3:52

the practice facility to the stadium.

3:55

There, they get on a bus. That

3:57

bus goes straight into the tarmac. They

4:00

climb on a plane, they

4:02

get off the plane. There's a bus waiting on the tarmac

4:05

for them. There that bus with the police

4:07

escort, takes into their hotel. Generally

4:09

they'll have their own exit and entrance,

4:12

their private entrance into the hotel. Sometimes it

4:14

will be through the back, and

4:16

you know, then the area of the hotel that they're in is

4:18

basically cordoned off from everyone else. So

4:21

and these trips are twenty four hours. That's the other

4:23

part of it. So I don't know that's gonna be as

4:25

big a challenge as everybody makes it out to be. Well,

4:27

it's those trips that would normally be longer.

4:30

So if you're an East Coast team and you're going

4:32

to play the l A Chargers on a sum night,

4:35

you know, that's where it ends up getting a little tricky.

4:37

Is where you get the extra day. To your

4:39

point, I think leaving

4:42

the facility and getting

4:44

to the city you're going, that's

4:46

not a big deal. I'm with you. Then

4:48

it's trusting uh,

4:51

the bus company in another city,

4:53

the hotel in another city where

4:55

you're getting your food from.

4:58

That's where I think on

5:00

the outside look at it and they're like, wait a minute,

5:02

how are they going to get all that set up?

5:04

But at the end of the day, you can throw

5:06

dollars at every problem. That's

5:08

the great thing about the NFL is they're

5:11

not gonna get shut out of the nicest

5:13

hotels in Southern California

5:16

because they don't have the money to be able to pay for

5:18

it. Right, So, all right, we've

5:20

talked about COVID so much this offseason.

5:25

I wanted to really focus on football here

5:27

and what's ahead in the five months

5:29

that we have coming to us again,

5:31

starting with Houston playing in Kansas

5:34

City on Thursday night. And

5:36

so instead of doing the takeaways this week,

5:39

I figured what we do is we do a prediction

5:41

show. And this will be in conjunction with

5:43

the predictions that we have um

5:46

up on the website at the MMQB dot

5:48

com, So you can check those out there. I promise,

5:50

because I have mine up. Mine will

5:52

match what is up on the website,

5:55

which is a big thing for me because I would

5:57

be very prone to saying one thing one place

5:59

and one another place. So we've got

6:01

that taken care of. I'm so glad

6:04

you said that about yourself.

6:06

That is fantastic. I well, you

6:09

know how it goes though. Sometimes you get put in these

6:11

spots where you're like forced to sort of say

6:13

something or forced to make a prediction, and

6:16

like you know how that goes, right, Like it's like

6:18

wait a second, one, So where and

6:20

I've been on like the radio at times where it's like

6:23

and I know you've been there where you made a prediction somewhere

6:25

else, and then you're racking your brain

6:27

like, what was that prediction that I made like a

6:29

week and a half ago and then doesn't

6:31

wind up matching up with what your prediction was a week

6:33

and a half ago. Yeah, very much. So I

6:36

try not to go through that. I try to double

6:38

check that stuff. But again that's

6:40

the whole again. You're you're you're a

6:43

reality show unto yourself, being

6:45

Albert Breer going on in Clean one

6:47

and all these other places and ripping

6:50

the big ten. I mean, come on, no wonder

6:52

you're spitting out so much hot fire. No wonder

6:54

why you get confused in betwixt and between?

6:57

I mean the reality of the situation, And I

6:59

think this can kind of cover me, right, I

7:01

say a lot of things. All right, So

7:07

all right, so we're gonna jump into the predictions. Now.

7:09

I figured grass the way we'll do this. We'll talk about

7:11

the playoff field and each conference. Then we'll go through award

7:13

winners, um, and we'll start in the A f

7:16

C. And you

7:18

know, I I want to start

7:20

with the two divisions that will be in play

7:22

on Thursday night. So um,

7:25

let's start with the West. I have

7:27

one team coming out of the West um

7:30

and it's the only division in the a f C

7:32

I have that doesn't have a second team. I do think they're

7:34

gonna cannibalize each other a little bit in that division.

7:36

That the Raiders will be competitive. I think the Charges

7:39

are gonna be competitive. The Browns, the Broncos

7:41

are obviously feisty too.

7:44

Here's the thing about the Chiefs, though, I

7:46

can't remember. So I'm doing this quarterback poll

7:48

that's gonna be up on the website on Thursday.

7:51

And I do this every couple of years where I ask

7:54

coaches, scouts,

7:56

executives like, Okay,

7:59

give me who you think the top five quarterbacks

8:01

in the league are gonna be at the end

8:03

of the year, which I think is an interesting question. Right,

8:07

I had thirty two ballots back, right, Like, I

8:09

think I went to about sixty guys. Patrick

8:12

Mahomes was number one on thirty one

8:14

of them,

8:17

like thirty one and these aren't like, this isn't me

8:19

and you talk and this is like coaches jen like

8:22

and like, he's what twenty four, twenty

8:24

five years old? Let's

8:27

just go mid twenties. He's twenty five years

8:29

old. I can't remember

8:32

like, and I want to

8:34

ask you, if you like, if there was precedent

8:36

for this. I can't remember the last time

8:39

there was a quarterback that young, who

8:41

was uniformly seen as the best player

8:44

in football, and who if you asked

8:46

almost anybody, they would tell you

8:48

he'll be the best player in football five years

8:50

from now too. So

8:53

I'm racking the brain and trying to think of a quarterback

8:56

that would have been in that spot. I mean, Marino,

8:58

but I was too young to remember that maybe

9:00

when like way back. Well, that's

9:02

the thing. I'm trying to think of a modern day reference,

9:05

because Hayton Manning maybe

9:07

even when Manny had Brady with next

9:09

to him, so there. Well, but I was gonna

9:11

say, is maybe maybe

9:13

Manning. But the circumstances between

9:16

Pat Mahomes and Peyton Manning were also

9:18

very different. Like we we knew Peyton

9:20

Manning was gonna be really good coming

9:22

into the league, whereas with Pat Mahomes

9:25

there was still the question of Okay,

9:27

this guy didn't play right away all that

9:29

stuff, So I you know

9:31

that that's a tough comp Like I was trying

9:33

to go down the road of like Roethlisberger, but Roethlisberger

9:36

was never thought of as the

9:39

best quarterback in the league. You're

9:41

right, Bert, you might have to go back to the eighties

9:43

and maybe Marino because they

9:46

made that Super Bowl splash early in

9:48

his run there, right right, So

9:50

that's a that's a long way of saying I I think

9:52

the Chiefs as competitive as that division

9:55

is. I think the other three teams beat each other up,

9:57

and I think the Chiefs beat those three teams

10:00

up. I had a hard time scene where the Chiefs.

10:02

Their defense was ascending at the end of last year.

10:04

Mcole. Hardman's a year older. You've got

10:07

so much speed already with Watkins and Hill. You

10:09

add like, I think a guy who's

10:11

a perfect fit in Clyde Edwards a layer. They're

10:14

really good on the lines of scrimmage. I

10:16

like, I don't know, I don't

10:18

know what outside of like a serious

10:21

rash of injuries. I don't know what derail

10:24

is the Chiefs right now, I would agree with you.

10:26

And when you look at the division, I'm not gonna

10:28

knock the rest of the division. I'm just

10:30

gonna look at Kansas City compared to everybody

10:33

else, and they're way better than the

10:35

rest of that division. There and you're right.

10:37

Unless there's a catastrophic injury, It's

10:39

hard to envision Kansas

10:42

City getting derailed. But

10:44

we know that weird things happened,

10:47

especially after you play that you

10:49

know, extra uh, the the

10:51

extra. When you play those extra playoff

10:53

games, they do take a toll on your body.

10:55

And luckily for that team, they're

10:58

they're not at that point of a Tristian

11:00

yet where that's something that you really have to

11:02

worry about. But that said, I

11:05

mean unless the quarterback goes

11:07

down, and even then I feel like they would

11:09

find a way to be able to patch work it and

11:12

figure it out, almost like what New Orleans had

11:14

to do last year. You know, if God

11:16

forbid, Kansas City had to do that, I think

11:18

they could survive. But I'm I'm with you.

11:20

I don't think there's much discussion in the a f C

11:22

West. Okay, And we'll move over

11:24

to the South now, where I'm

11:27

picking the Texans to win the division again.

11:30

And you know, I this

11:33

one was tough because I do think that division is

11:35

going to be competitive outside of Jacksonville,

11:38

and the Titans are good and the Colts are good.

11:40

So here's a little bit of a curveball for you. I

11:42

have the Colts as a second playoff team in that division,

11:45

and I like

11:47

where the Texans are from an alignment

11:50

standpoint. Here's what I mean by that. I

11:52

think like over the last few years,

11:55

they've been very talented, but

11:58

you've had like, you know, being clownees.

12:00

You know, DeAndre Hopkins is who were sort

12:02

of on the let's just say they were in the fringes

12:05

of the program, you know. And that's

12:07

why I think Bill O'Brien and Jackie

12:09

Easter being those guys, hesitated to

12:11

pay them. Now they've

12:14

reinvested, and you look where they've spent their

12:16

money, right Nick Martin, Bernardrick

12:18

McKenney, Laramy tunsil

12:22

Um, Zack Cunningham.

12:24

It's guys who play like inside the tackle box

12:26

and then the quarterback, right, And

12:28

it's guys who line up with what they're looking for players.

12:31

And then you look how they replaced Um,

12:33

how they went about replacing Hopkins.

12:36

They brought in Brandon Cooks and Randall

12:38

Cobb, who are prose pros. Right,

12:40

And I'm not saying every one of the moves was

12:42

a stroke of genius, but I do think

12:45

that that's a pretty aligned place right now.

12:48

And I think that having more balance

12:50

and what he's looking at around

12:52

him and Watson. And I'm not saying again,

12:54

I'm not saying, like losing Hopkins you're better for

12:57

that, but I think they've got better

12:59

balance around Hopkins now where

13:01

around Watson now where he's

13:03

got a chance to play point guard a little bit more.

13:06

And I just like, look at it and

13:08

like this could be like an

13:10

eleven or a twelve win team

13:13

that everybody is sort of overlooking now

13:15

because they've led a couple of sort

13:17

of big shiny pieces walk out the door.

13:20

Yeah, and look, the quarterback changed everything

13:22

right, Like once Watson got there, Bill

13:25

O'Brien started to realize, I've

13:27

got a guy who has the ability

13:29

to do for me in this offense what

13:32

Brady did in the New England offense early

13:34

on, in terms of spreading it around everybody

13:36

the proverbial throat to the open guy.

13:39

And it doesn't mean you don't want great wide receivers

13:41

like DeAndre Hopkins, but they're going to demand the

13:43

ball more. And look, Houston,

13:45

to me, Bert is just that comfortable

13:48

tenor eleven win team. They'll

13:51

probably lose to Cincinnati

13:53

or Jacksonville alone the way and

13:55

then they'll you know, who knows, maybe they upset

13:58

Kansas City on Opening Night. That

14:00

to me is the real issue with the

14:02

Texans. They can play up

14:05

or they will play down at times. When

14:07

are the Texans going to get to the point to

14:09

where this is who we are

14:11

all of the time so when we backslide,

14:14

it's not as bad, but we still find a

14:16

way to be able to climb the ladder,

14:19

to be able to maybe beat somebody in an

14:21

a f C championship And eventually they're

14:23

gonna I mean, like, that's the thing is that they've made

14:25

the playoffs pretty consistently, and I don't think there's

14:27

any argument with the job Bill O'Brien's done

14:29

on the field, Like, right, you can argue with some of

14:31

the personnel moves, but on the field, they've

14:33

been pretty consistently good since he got there.

14:36

Yeah, I'm with you, Like, eventually you have

14:39

to break through and you have to get to the level of making

14:41

the conference championship game, and

14:43

that pressure is gonna be on him more now than ever because

14:45

he does have the GM title. The second

14:48

team I have and I see you have him to

14:50

you have. Wow, I'm looking at

14:52

your prediction. You have three. Yes, stay

14:55

out of that division there, because I look,

14:57

I am also a believer in how

14:59

you finished, and I think for Tennessee

15:02

there's gonna be a tangible carry over

15:04

and bird off of what you just said. They're about

15:06

Houston. That's to me how I

15:09

see Tennessee. Once they made the decision

15:11

on the quarterback and they said, we're

15:13

comfortable with Ryan Tannehill. He can do what

15:15

we need him to do. See, I thought,

15:17

quite honestly, Burt Tannehill was never

15:19

gonna win that group over because they

15:22

had the old New England PTSD and that

15:24

oh this guy stunk. We ate him up every

15:26

time we played against him. Why would

15:28

we want this? Why do we think we can win with this

15:30

guy? And Tannehill went in there and won

15:32

them over. So I do think

15:34

there is a carry over to Tennessee.

15:37

And you and I didn't get into this, and I'm sure we will.

15:40

This division is very tough because

15:42

I know you and I are also feeling really good

15:44

about the Colts as well. I

15:46

mean, you have three playoff caliber

15:49

teams in this division, and I think

15:51

for all of their sakes, you know there,

15:54

I'm sure each of those three

15:56

are hoping they're the one that rises, when in

15:58

reality they may all just beat each other. They're

16:00

up and end up at ten or eleven wins. So

16:02

my one reservation with the with

16:04

the Titans, it's like,

16:06

this is the other thing I try to look at, like last year

16:09

career from Ryan Tannehill, career,

16:11

heer from Derrick Henry, like pretty

16:13

good health across the board. They

16:16

lose Jack Conklin on their offensive line.

16:18

Okay, he hasn't he wasn't the most consistent

16:20

guy and he had injury issues. They got

16:22

a huge rookie year out of a J. Brown. Can

16:24

he follow that up? Um? And then

16:27

defensively they lose Logan

16:29

Ryan They I mean, I just like I

16:32

look at some of the things there where it's like did

16:34

they have the right like? And I think they're gonna be competitive

16:36

again. I don't know if they get back to the

16:38

same level now. I would say this about

16:40

Indie. One of the reasons I have Indian

16:43

there is because I remember

16:45

Whatevery the way everyone was talking about them

16:47

a year ago like they were the next

16:49

day they like, and I set it myself they

16:51

had dynasty potential. Losing

16:54

Andrew Luck is an enormous, enormous

16:56

blow to that, there's no question right

16:59

like, and I'm not minimizing that in the least,

17:01

and that definitely should make everybody look at

17:03

them differently. That said a

17:05

lot of the reason why there was so much a lot of

17:08

like a lot of the reason for their being that sort of optimism

17:10

around them. Like look

17:13

at the way they were drafting. Quinn Nelson and Darius

17:15

Leonard were first team All pros rookies.

17:17

That's unheard of, right. The

17:20

offensive line was fixed in like a year

17:22

under Chris Ballard. Frank Riik had proven

17:24

himself to be a really good, you know, really good coach,

17:27

Like he's built of strong staff. That staff

17:30

returns intact, you know now,

17:32

like they've gotten to the point where they've built out like

17:34

the lines of scrimmage. They

17:37

trade for DeForest Buckner and

17:39

I let that their draft too. I mean drafting

17:41

Michael Pittman and Jonathan Taylor

17:44

to just hard nosed, tough guys

17:46

who are gonna set the tone at those positions. I

17:49

just like, I sort of like what the Colts have

17:51

going on, and it sucks that they lost luck, you

17:53

know, like that really blows, like to

17:55

be in that position where you've got to start over at quarterback,

17:58

but you know, the very releast, I think they've

18:00

got a really good program going where

18:03

you've got a good place holder now and Philip

18:05

rivers sort of similar to like the Chiefs

18:07

when they were building and they had Alex Smith

18:10

as their placeholder. So Bert. Here's

18:12

my thing with Indianapolis. I'm looking

18:14

at them and I'm I'm kind of

18:16

playing the schedule game here a little

18:18

bit with Indie and thinking that they're going to make

18:20

the postseason. So if

18:22

the Cults are the Colts, here are their

18:25

first six games at Jacksonville

18:27

home from Minnesota, home for the

18:29

Jets, at the Bears, at the

18:32

Browns, home for the Bengals. I

18:34

think that's five and one for them.

18:37

And then they're at the bye and then everything

18:39

starts to change a little bit, and you look at them.

18:41

Then they play the Lions, then they get

18:43

the mix of the Ravens, the Titans

18:46

twice, they get Houston in there, they gotta

18:48

play Las Vegas. My whole point of

18:50

this is is that I think they're gonna get

18:52

off to a good start that will change

18:54

some expectations in that building a little

18:56

bit. It might lead them to going

18:58

out acquiring some town want to help

19:00

them. And when you're playing Tennessee

19:03

twice, I know they're in the division where

19:05

you're playing Houston and at Las Vegas

19:07

and a crossover at least one of those

19:09

teams is going to be somebody that you need to

19:11

bump to maybe end up making the making

19:14

the playoffs as a wild card. And if

19:16

they start five and one, ten

19:19

is not unattainable for this team.

19:21

And I like, here's the other thing I would I would

19:23

just mention that I think it's interesting that you

19:25

pointed out there getting off to

19:27

a good start could be important this year. This

19:30

has been a long year for everybody, right

19:32

like, And I just think part

19:34

of it, for like, there's part of me that's like kind

19:36

of like looking at this and saying, if

19:39

you start out one in three or you're two

19:41

and for like, how much does

19:43

the wear and tear of just this year in general

19:46

on everybody? Like, how like does

19:48

it break the will of some people? You know?

19:50

I just think it's interesting. I just think it's an interesting

19:53

thing to watch going forward. Also, you

19:55

like this division, Grash, Well, if this

19:57

division is as good as you think it is, maybe

20:00

will help Jacksonville wind up with a certain

20:02

quarterback with long hair. Oh

20:04

that's right. So if you're in Jacksonville, you

20:06

could be rooting for the old Dabbo Dabbo, Dabbo

20:09

double Dabbo. There Helston,

20:11

Trevor Lawrence, and maybe some

20:13

Dabo Swenny. Listen, in all seriousness,

20:15

just quickly on that Jacksonville thing. If I'm

20:17

gonna throw twelve and a half million dollars

20:20

at somebody from college to run my organization,

20:22

I'm taking a run at Saban first

20:25

and then going for the coach

20:27

connected to the quarterback that he just

20:29

happened to successfully recruit and

20:31

has about a three year relationship with. At

20:34

least, Debo is pretty good, though, Dabbo is pretty

20:36

good. He's great in the

20:38

a c C. I just don't want him picking my

20:40

players, all right, So he's

20:42

got a better chance of recruiting players there and he

20:44

does sign. He's put together, he's put together

20:47

a pretty good pro like like they they've shown

20:49

they can identify talent anyway or s and

20:51

they write big checks. Oh sorry, we're

20:54

gonna move to the We're

20:56

gonna move to the af C North now. Um

20:59

I like again, like I've got a lot of chalk here,

21:01

But I'm going with the chalk, and I think

21:04

Baltimore winds up winning the division. Like

21:06

again, like, I think they've got like a lot of good

21:08

things back. They have a coordinator,

21:11

and I think Greg Roman sort of an under rerated

21:13

piece of this. We've talked about how you have to move it forward

21:16

and everything else, um when you

21:18

play offense that way. Well, Greg

21:20

Roman went through this once before with Colin Kaepernick

21:23

and San Francisco, and so this isn't his first rodeo.

21:25

As far as the challenge that he's going to be facing

21:27

as a coach, I think, you

21:29

know, if you look around Lamar Jackson, the talent

21:32

around him should continue to get better. The guys he

21:34

was throwing he was throwing to last year, Like

21:37

you had Mark Andrews the tight end.

21:39

In year two, you had Hollywood Brown who

21:41

was a rookie. You had Miles Boykin who was

21:43

a rookie at least on paper grash,

21:45

Like, those guys should continue to get better, right,

21:48

So you've got that defensively, they're always

21:50

gonna be good. I took the Ravens to win the division.

21:53

I the Steelers are gonna be right up their ass. I

21:56

think the Steelers are gonna be right there. And I think this thing

21:58

is gonna be this old school ten

22:00

years ago street fight for the a f

22:02

C North because the Steelers

22:05

finally fixed their defense. Yes, yes,

22:07

and I'm with you, and I ripped

22:09

the train of Manka Fitzpatrick. What are they doing?

22:12

Giving up a first round pick turned

22:14

out to be absolutely the right move that gave

22:16

them a chance last year to almost

22:19

slide in the back door of the playoffs.

22:21

Now I have the Ravens winning the

22:23

division and again, and the whole

22:26

schedule game You look at the

22:28

Ravens early on, it's not a it's

22:30

not cupcake Central. You know. They start with

22:32

Cleveland, but they get Houston, Kansas

22:34

City, Washington, Cincinnati,

22:37

and then they get Philly and Pittsburgh that are not gonna

22:39

be easy. Then they hit the bye week.

22:41

But bert listen to the last four

22:43

games for Baltimore, so Baltimore

22:46

pin danglings around a little bit and

22:48

their seven and five. Listen to

22:50

these last four at Cleveland,

22:52

home to Jacksonville, home to the Giants,

22:54

at Cincinnati, and and

22:56

by the way, the game before that is Dallas. I'll

22:58

refraiding are crapping on alice right now.

23:01

But that's a winnable game for the Raven so

23:03

down the stretch, in theory, they could go

23:05

five and oh and make a late

23:08

push for either a

23:10

playoff spot or to be able

23:12

to win that division title, which I think they're going

23:14

to do. I don't love what they do

23:16

offensively. I think they can be

23:18

beaten. But man, oh man, I

23:20

think the taste that was left in the

23:23

mouths last year of having such a great year,

23:25

some of those dudes needed humbling and

23:27

and they got it. And now let's see if they're

23:29

better for it. And yes, mark Ingram

23:31

is one of those guys in my opinion, and I

23:34

like that. The other thing that could be a factor in that division,

23:36

I think Cleveland and Cincinnati could wind up being

23:38

feisty at the end of the year. Like I don't know

23:40

where they're gonna be at the beginning of the year, but

23:42

they're there, like like they may be those teams

23:45

that are like lying in the weeds, that like

23:47

start like two and ten and

23:49

then finish five and eleven, you know, Like,

23:52

it wouldn't shock me to see that from either of those

23:54

teams. And to your point, I think

23:56

there might be a chance that Cleveland

23:59

is a little more spunky early.

24:02

Off of what we just talked about. Let's

24:04

say, you know, they don't have a great year.

24:07

That's the kind of team that I would be looking

24:09

at, say, heading into December,

24:12

where are they mentally? Whereas

24:14

with Cincinnati I could see the reverse

24:16

that in the beginning of the year they've taken on the chin,

24:18

but Borrow gets better, that team gets better

24:21

and then they finished strong. Cleveland

24:23

would be a real good candidate. Let's

24:25

say they're sitting there at four and seven after

24:28

eleven games, are they gonna go in the tank or

24:30

they gonna try to battle? All right? That brings

24:32

us to the a f C East, and this is maybe

24:34

the most interesting division in the entire league

24:37

because you've got New England

24:40

where you know, I uh we

24:43

like I would say this is about it is uncertain, a

24:45

spot that they've been in since maybe

24:47

the first couple of years of the Belichick era, which

24:49

is almost twenty years ago now, well

24:52

it is twenty years ago now. And

24:55

then you get the Buffalo Bills, who are wearing

24:57

a target on their back for the first time. They

25:00

are now the hunted instead of the hunter. And

25:02

then you got Miami and the Jets,

25:05

who have been in these like long play rebuilds.

25:08

So you've sort of got three different teams

25:10

that are in three different spots. I

25:13

got Buffalo winning the division. I

25:15

really believe in what Sean McDermott and

25:18

Brandon built being a built there. It's

25:20

going to take though a step

25:22

forward from Josh Allen. Lots of

25:24

good talent. There are lots of good young talent

25:26

there. Again, you talk about guys who should

25:28

continue to get better, Tradavious White, Tremaine

25:30

Edmunds, at Oliver Matt Milano,

25:33

um Dion Dawkins, Stefon Diggs,

25:35

like, they've got a lot of ascending young talent.

25:38

But but Gresh, it's a different

25:41

deal when you're all

25:43

of a sudden now that when you're all of a sudden

25:45

now saddled with expectations,

25:47

when it's not, oh, here's

25:49

this little team that we didn't expect

25:51

much of and and they're coming up and touching people

25:53

in the mouth in November and December, when it's

25:56

hey, we need to get back to the playoffs, versus

25:59

we're just trying to get of the playoffs. It's a different

26:01

kind of climb. And I'm with you, Uh,

26:03

look, I do not have Buffalo making the postseason.

26:06

They are not well, they're not gonna tank

26:08

out. But you know, I I just

26:10

look at here's the thing with

26:12

New England that's interesting, right, So I have New England

26:14

went into division and that's the only team out of that

26:17

division that I have going into the postseason.

26:20

And we're we're

26:22

I know, we're gonna get to Brady later on in his

26:24

effect and all that kind of stuff. But

26:27

no one has talked about how Belichick

26:30

can coach up Cam Newton on little

26:32

stuff like I did some breakdown a Cam

26:35

ball on a slant route thrown to the inside

26:37

versus the outside. Can mechanically

26:39

they clean him up or hold him to a different standard.

26:42

And I think that Cam Newton is going to

26:44

be challenged in a way where if he can remain

26:46

upright in healthy, and the Patriots offensively

26:48

have to be a big part of that. That he

26:51

has the ability to give more

26:54

this year to get the Patriots where

26:56

they want to go versus what Josh

26:58

Allen can do. And you may channel

27:00

and yeah, it's a ton of talent there, but

27:02

what is the ceiling for him as a quarterback?

27:05

Because all anybody ever talks about with Josh

27:07

Allen is great athleticism,

27:10

great skills, great this great

27:12

that. When's he gonna be a great

27:15

quarterback and not just a great

27:17

athlete playing quarterback?

27:20

And that's where I keep getting hung up. In terms

27:22

of those two teams, I think Buffalo

27:24

could win nine and get shut

27:26

out of the postseason, maybe because

27:28

of tiebreakers. I don't think they're gonna tank.

27:31

I just don't know if they have the one

27:33

guy who's gonna say, Yo,

27:36

get on my shoulders, we're gonna

27:38

get to eleven wins or we're gonna get to twelve

27:40

wins this year. It's not there. I

27:43

have the Patriot speak in the playoffs two and

27:46

this is weird for me because having there's a seventh

27:48

seed. I almost forgotten roquession.

27:50

I talked about this before the show, that there

27:52

was a seventh seed, but thirly seventh seed

27:55

needs conference this year. And the

27:57

reason I think the Patriots have a lot of work

27:59

to do. They're gonna need young players like Juwan

28:01

Bentley and josh You woul You to play at linebacker.

28:04

They have an issue on the offensive line

28:06

at right tackle. What do you do the

28:08

skill position talent? I mean there

28:11

there is inexperienced a receiver and tight

28:13

end as they've been in a long time, and so

28:16

there are lots of questions. But I think so much

28:18

of the Patriots program

28:21

it's just sort of waiting for everybody else to

28:23

f it up and for it

28:25

to come to them. And so

28:28

I think that's let me just ask you this

28:30

here here, here, here's here's

28:33

the early schedule for them, right, Miami,

28:36

Seattle, Vegas, Kansas City,

28:38

Denver. What's the worst they are

28:40

out of that? Three and two? The worst? Yeah,

28:44

I could see, well, I mean Miami's

28:47

Miami beat him at the end of last year. So I don't

28:49

know. I don't know, Like

28:51

I would just say this, like I think

28:55

I think they get to five dred at least, and

28:58

I don't And that's not being bullish

29:00

on the roster. I do think that there are

29:02

something that they've worked to do there and

29:05

this is gonna have to happen at some point. They we're gonna have

29:07

to get younger, and this is sort of the

29:09

the year where they feel that pain, I

29:11

mean, like and and they're

29:13

gonna have a ton of money to spend next year and all of that. They're

29:15

set up good as far as past this

29:18

year, I just you

29:20

know, I

29:23

think they get to five D. Not sure

29:25

how far they get beyond that, because

29:27

I'm banking on I'm banking on the coaching.

29:29

Now, do we need to give our one through seven here

29:32

for the a f C. Yeah, So I'm going Chiefs,

29:34

Texans, Ravens, Bills, Steelers, Colts,

29:36

Patriots. You and I'm going Chiefs,

29:39

Ravens, Texans, Patriots,

29:41

Titans, Steelers, Colts.

29:44

Remember, now only one team

29:46

gets to buy, so that's another

29:48

big adjustment. We're gonna jump right out over to the

29:51

NFC right after this three

29:53

to one. Alright, we're back.

29:55

We're gonna go through the NFC right now

29:58

in gresh. I

30:01

you know, it's interesting because

30:04

I look at the two conferences and I just every

30:06

year now it feels like when I do the NFC, I'm

30:09

leaving teams. I don't want to leave out out of the

30:11

mix, right, And it doesn't seem like there's

30:13

a lot of rooms for surprise

30:15

teams because there are so many established

30:18

teams. I would say at least

30:20

to per division, right, and

30:23

we'll get to who I left out here. Um,

30:25

but we're gonna start with the

30:28

I would say the most

30:31

the sexiest division, right, the

30:33

sexiest division, and that's the NFC South,

30:37

and I have the Saints winning it because I

30:39

think as we've gone through all of

30:42

this, I still think the Saints have the

30:44

best roster in football, and

30:47

it's a result of how well they've drafted

30:50

over the last few years. But gress

30:52

you look at the number of young superstar

30:54

players on that team,

30:56

Marshawn Lattimore, Marcus

30:58

Davenport, Alvin Kamara,

31:01

Ryan Ramshick, Mike Thomas,

31:04

there are corners there and this is

31:06

gonna be an issue for them going forward because who do

31:09

you pay. Camara obviously is one

31:11

who's getting his, Thomas has got his. It's

31:14

gonna be tough for them to keep everybody. But

31:16

they've drafted so well over the last few

31:18

years that I

31:20

just I look at it, I'm like, that's a more complete

31:23

team with better cohesion. So I think the Bucks are

31:25

going to compete with them. I have

31:27

the Saints winning the division. I have the Bucks

31:30

winning the division because we're gonna

31:32

find out if a

31:35

player as special as Tom

31:37

Brady can have a

31:39

Lebron James type effect on a football

31:41

team, because it's not just what he's gonna

31:44

do on offense. It's the hope,

31:46

it's the standard he sets in practice.

31:49

It's the fact that he walks on the

31:51

field and everyone believes.

31:53

You know, Bert, we just got done talking about

31:55

New England and Cam Newton with

31:57

Cam Newton and the Patriots and where they're gonna

31:59

go. They they're still

32:01

gonna be a bunch of guys who have been there. We're

32:04

like, Okay, we know what Brady would have done. What's this

32:06

guy gonna do? And if it goes well,

32:08

then they got a chance to maybe click early.

32:11

I think with Tom Brady when he walks on

32:13

the field, Yeah, there are guys that are

32:16

in all and then it's everybody

32:18

is going to get in line, and yep, they've

32:20

got offensive line issues and they've

32:22

got to blend you know what

32:24

Brady does well with Bruce arians

32:27

philosophies. But my god,

32:29

you talk about talent. I mean, is

32:31

there any team on the planet

32:34

as loaded as Tampa Bay right

32:36

now and with weapons

32:38

that Tom Brady knows how to move all

32:41

over the chessboard. You and I saw

32:43

for years what he was able to do with Gronkowski,

32:46

But what's he gonna do with not

32:48

one but two wide receivers? That

32:50

he could line up at different parts of

32:52

a formation, let alone what he can

32:54

do with Gronk in the running game. We know

32:57

that, Uh Howard, the tight end

32:59

is still I mean there. They

33:01

have so many pieces for Brady to move

33:03

around. It's can they become cohesive

33:06

enough to be able to do so? And I don't know

33:08

about you, but something tells

33:10

me Tom Brady is really going

33:12

to enjoy playing for a coach

33:15

that he can go over to the sidelines in the third quarter

33:17

and be like, yo, we need to go for it

33:19

here on fourth and two and here's the play I like, and

33:21

the guy would actually listen to him.

33:24

It is going to be the most

33:26

fascinating battle for a division in football

33:29

burt between New Orleans

33:31

and Tampa. And I'm here for all

33:33

of it. I think it's gonna be and and

33:36

you know, it's great. It's like this rivalry between

33:38

the two quarterbacks. You know what the first

33:40

time they played was that

33:42

would have been would would

33:44

breeze wouldn't have been in San Diego? Or

33:47

would it have been? Oh three oh four with

33:49

those two

33:53

on back to Michigan. Oh, I'm sorry Michigan

33:55

and Purdue. Yeah, Michigan, Purdue I

33:58

didn't. I didn't read my Big Dictionary

34:00

today. At the time those two were in the Big

34:02

ten together. I was there too. I was in the

34:04

Big ten also at that point in time. So

34:09

many jokes from true story too.

34:12

That's that. That's one the truth and no

34:14

lies told. I was. I was, that was in the Big ten.

34:16

Also, you're

34:18

in a Big ten state. Man, My my my activities.

34:21

My activities might have been a little different than those two.

34:23

But but yeah, I was agree. Hey

34:25

real quick on the NFC South, you mentioned

34:28

the teams that you should

34:31

I be leaving them off the list you want to get in there?

34:33

Atlanta is Atlanta's

34:36

the wild card in that division because if

34:38

everything goes I could see them, this

34:41

is crazy. I could see them being six and ten

34:43

and I could see them being tenants. Sick question

34:46

us. They're they're they're they're a tough one.

34:48

And I do think like the one thing I sort

34:50

of like about Atlanta, like

34:52

so you saw these quarterback camps

34:55

or whatever, right, like you see like guys like having

34:57

you know, they'll have the Fellas down to Florida for a

35:00

weekend and everybody's gonna, you know, we'll go out to

35:02

dinner at you know, Prime one twelve,

35:04

and you know, have have three sets

35:06

of workouts and and we'll get our continuity

35:08

in order. The one thing that's

35:10

interesting, like Matt Ryan ran like

35:12

a full on off season program, and

35:15

part of that is the advantage of being in Atlanta,

35:17

right like that, a lot of players happened to live there full

35:19

time, so you know it works for you.

35:22

But I'm telling you Matt Ryan ran like a full

35:24

on eight week off season program,

35:27

and Brady did something similar

35:29

in Florida with his guys. I

35:32

have to think that counts for something. So it's

35:34

just something I will kind of keep an eye on, like

35:36

does it make a difference for Calvin Ridley and Julio

35:39

Jones and you know, even

35:41

like a Todd Gurley who showed up a little late, Like,

35:44

does it make it? I think that has to count

35:46

for something. Right like that, you were like,

35:49

so I think that Matt Ryan went to the trouble

35:51

of like basically creating an eight week,

35:53

nine week off season program.

35:56

I think I think it does matter, all right. The

35:59

second vision we're gonna get to, I

36:02

think again is another one of these is fascinating.

36:04

And there's another team I really like here that

36:06

I left out, and I wound up

36:08

only giving this division one

36:11

playoff team on the premise

36:14

that I think they're going to cannibalize themselves

36:16

and you might have the records affected

36:19

by the fact that they are beating the crap

36:21

out of one another. And that's the

36:23

other West division, the NFC West.

36:25

I have the Niners winning it. I

36:28

really believe in what John Lynch and Kyle

36:30

Shanahan are building there. I

36:32

think the Rams, the Seahawks, and the Cardinals

36:35

are all going to be plenty competitive though.

36:38

And I like what the Rams

36:40

did as far as you know, Sean McVeigh kind

36:42

of revamping his coaching staff, and

36:44

I think McVeigh has got a little more control

36:46

and juice in that building now. I

36:49

like what you know, the Cardinals have done

36:51

and acting with some urgency to surround

36:53

their young quarterback with weapons while

36:56

he's on his rookie deal, and getting

36:58

DeAndre Hopkins in there, giving

37:01

giving Kenyan Drake some money, drafting

37:03

Josh Jones to play right tackle, they draft

37:06

Isaiah Simmons to add to their

37:08

defense, you know, and then Seattle Seattle.

37:10

You know, I think Seattle is going to be competitive,

37:13

And so I only had one team winning the

37:15

division. But that doesn't mean that that doesn't

37:17

mean I don't think highly of the group. That

37:19

actually means I do think highly

37:22

as a group, because I do think that there's gonna be some

37:24

element of those three teams beating the

37:26

crap out of each other. And I've got two

37:28

from this division going in. I have

37:30

the Niners as the number

37:32

one seed in the NFC.

37:34

I think they're They're built perfectly

37:37

for where they need to be right now

37:40

relative to their division and

37:42

some of the other really good teams in the NFC.

37:44

I think it'd be crazy to not think

37:47

that they were a Super Bowl contender.

37:49

And I have the Seahawks sliding in and

37:52

Bert. One of the real and tangibles

37:54

that I think has become tangible

37:57

for Seattle is going to be

37:59

that crowd noise days, which we now

38:01

know is going to be regulated by the NFL

38:03

to where there isn't the emotional

38:06

swing. Now when you're getting ready to play

38:08

Seattle, you're not pink dingling it around

38:10

with putting in a bunch of silent signals

38:12

and things of that nature. You can get

38:15

to how do they attack us, and really

38:17

put all your time into the actual football

38:19

part of it, not the mechanics or

38:21

the running of football part of it. And

38:23

I think that's gonna be a big, big

38:26

advantage for teams going into

38:28

Seattle and something that Seattle is gonna have

38:30

to find a way to be able to overcome

38:33

and muster up their own energy when

38:35

they need it, because it has been a

38:37

force that the Seattle Seahawks

38:40

have been able to hard place to play, no question.

38:42

I mean it's a hard place play because teams they're

38:44

far away from everybody, right, so for everyone

38:47

at a trip getting there, they have the

38:49

weather which is weird and different, and

38:51

you know, like you could be playing in forty

38:53

five degrees and drizzling and the ball's

38:56

wet and all that different stuff, you know, and then

38:58

you have the crowd noise which comes out of it now. So it's gonna

39:00

be really interesting to see the way that plays out. The

39:02

reason I like like so like

39:05

again, like the reason I have the Niners first, Guy,

39:07

I want to mention this before we move on to the NFC North.

39:11

Like, the reason I have the Niners first is

39:13

because I just think, like

39:16

I believe teams that build through the lines of

39:18

scrimmage are built

39:21

to be in every game. Like, I just really

39:23

believe in like building that way. And I think

39:25

as much as we make a big deal out of guys

39:28

like DeAndre Hopkins getting moved, you

39:30

know, and he's been moved into this division,

39:33

I still think that, Like, ultimately,

39:35

if you look at the teams who are there at the end, more often

39:37

than not, they're spending on the lines. The

39:40

Niners had a potentially dicey situation

39:43

losing Joe Staley. What did they do? They

39:46

traded for Trent Williams, who might be a better player,

39:48

you know, and then they

39:50

have on the defensive line they lose DeForrest

39:53

Buckner. Well, what do they do? They draft yvon Kin

39:55

Law like right, Like so I

39:57

just look at the way they've managed that team, and man

40:00

is that roster and to kind of keep feeding the

40:02

strength of that team the way that they have, you

40:04

know, I think it really sets them up not just now,

40:06

but like like to be competitive year

40:08

after year after a year after a year. All

40:11

Right, the NFC North, this is the division

40:13

gress where I think every team could finish within

40:15

two games of one another. This is a division

40:17

where I think it could be ten and six,

40:20

nine and seven, eight and eight, seven,

40:22

and nine. Like I I think that like

40:24

I think these teams, I think all four of the teams are

40:26

really close. I think the Vikings

40:28

and Packers are good. I have both them making

40:30

the playoffs. I'm not sure either

40:33

of those teams are elite. And

40:35

I have the Bears and the Lions being better

40:37

than people think. Matt Stafford

40:40

was playing at an m v P level at the end of last

40:42

year. I think that roster

40:44

is very well aligned. Now what I said about the Texas

40:46

I think exists with the Lions and drafting

40:49

the way that they've drafted, They've got good, better young

40:51

talent than I think people realize, guys like Kenny

40:53

Holiday and Taylor Decker and

40:56

Jeff Okuda. So they've got good young

40:58

players there. They've brought in some guys

41:00

who have the ties to Patricia, and

41:04

like with the Bears, I just I don't think

41:06

winning twelve games two years ago was

41:08

a total fluke. I just think

41:10

I don't think they have to be great at quarterback. I think

41:12

they should need Drabinsky to drive the bus,

41:15

you know. And so I think all four of those

41:17

teams are really close. I give the Vikings

41:19

and the Packers the edge, and I put both of them in the playoffs.

41:22

But but I think all four of these teams could be

41:24

in the in the running when we get to December.

41:27

And I don't think that's I

41:30

don't think you know, I don't think you're gonna get a great

41:32

team out of that division. I think you can get four

41:34

pretty good teams. I um,

41:37

I'm with you in that they could all be

41:39

a game within each other, but it might

41:41

be nine in seven, eight and

41:43

eight, because I just don't

41:45

I don't buy Chicago at all. Uh,

41:49

you know the fact that they're gonna start Rabinsky.

41:51

You know why why did you go and make a move

41:53

for Folds if you're just gonna turn around and

41:55

start Mitch Robinsky. And the reason you brought

41:57

in Folds is because you got nervous about that anyway.

42:00

So for me, that's one that I don't

42:02

understand. But I was never sold on Mitch

42:05

Rubisky to begin with. So for me, I'm

42:08

excuse me crossing the old Bears off the

42:10

list. The Lions are intriguing. Here's

42:13

my mental block with him. It's the same with Buffalo.

42:16

Oh god almighty, how might

42:19

how many more years do I need to hear about Matt Stafford

42:22

and his unbelievable talent and this

42:24

and that. Jeez, it's not just

42:26

that crush. He was playing really well less year before

42:29

he got hurt. And

42:31

how many times have we heard that narrative, Oh,

42:33

Stafford was playing great before he got

42:35

injured, because he gets hurt all the time. Like,

42:38

I just I can't buy into that

42:40

guy. I don't dislike Matt Patricia.

42:43

I think they brought in some core people who

42:45

have the ability to provide some leadership in

42:47

that room. But good god almighty,

42:50

we're gonna be fifteen years from when Matt

42:52

Stafford got drafted and and they're

42:54

gonna make the playoffs. That's gonna be like, oh, look,

42:56

all that taralent paid off when

42:58

at the end of the day, he's you know what

43:00

he is? In a way, there's

43:02

a lot of Matt Stafford and and

43:04

Matt Ryan. I want him in fantasy.

43:07

I don't want him on the field because all

43:10

right, so you say that though

43:13

Matt Ryan did have the one year explosion,

43:16

right right, and so did Stafford.

43:18

By the way, I think I

43:21

think Stafford has that year in him, Like I

43:24

think he has that year in him where all

43:26

of a sudden, lines maybe are a ten or eleven

43:28

win team, and he's throwing for five

43:30

thousand yards and forty five touchdowns. Like, I

43:32

think that that's there, and

43:35

so much of it's gonna come down to how the pieces around

43:37

him work, Like is t J. Hockinson

43:39

gronk like they thought he was when they drafted him.

43:42

Is Kenny Golladay a true number

43:44

one receiver, which they believe he is. It's

43:47

just gonna be a lot of those things. What does the backfield

43:49

look like? Like? I think DeAndre Swift when

43:51

he gets healthy, could be a freaking game

43:53

changer for them. So like

43:56

they have like a lot of it's just if

43:58

those things come together the way in Atlanta

44:01

Julio and Snow and

44:04

the like, and Taylor Gabriel and DeVante

44:07

Freeman the way all those guys came together for them that

44:09

one year in Atlanta. If that happens, I

44:11

think Stafford is capable of having that m v

44:13

P bounce interesting. So

44:15

so for me, I've got Minnesota winning

44:18

the division. Green Bay is a

44:20

wild card. Here's my thought, me too.

44:22

I'm with you, I'm I'm I'm with you on that one. Yeah,

44:24

Look, Green Packers are my seventh seed

44:26

again. There's seventh seasons. Yeah, and I and I

44:28

have missed the six. Uh if

44:30

you look at the luck quotient, and I don't

44:32

go too crazy on that. They had

44:34

a lot of things go right their way last

44:37

year. Normally that doesn't happen two years in

44:39

a row. But again, they've got a guy

44:41

who has already proven Okay,

44:44

I'll get us one or two extra wins

44:46

because I have the ability to elevate and be

44:48

special. And it is interesting

44:50

that Jordan loved the first round pick was

44:53

not named the backup at least here for a

44:55

week one, which I'm sure a

44:57

lot of Green Bay fans are saying, uh,

45:00

yeah, we want a lot of close in

45:02

Our first round pick is sitting on the bench. I

45:04

sort of agree with that. The reason why I don't

45:07

mind that if you really saying

45:10

like you gotta set him, like and that's what's best

45:12

for him, is to set him, then he can't be

45:14

the backup, right, Like,

45:16

if you're really committed to that, If

45:18

you're really committed, like like we're doing what's best

45:20

for the kid, right and he's

45:22

not ready to play and it could be damaging

45:24

to put him in games, then don't make him the backup

45:27

because the backup is one now, emergency

45:30

situation, you gotta go to your third quarterback. It is what

45:32

it is. But if you're really committed

45:34

to like we're giving him all

45:36

the time he needs, then

45:39

I don't mind that at all, Like that makes

45:41

total sense to me. In your mind, he's

45:43

better running scout in practice

45:46

than he It's not me saying that though, It's

45:48

like what every It's like what every scouting coach said

45:51

ending up to the draft, that that that that like what

45:53

he needs. He needs a couple of years to

45:55

learn. So you're gonna scout

45:58

team. But you know what I'm saying, like like if

46:01

if if the idea is it's

46:03

what's best for him to see what's best for him is

46:05

to sit, that, don't make them the backup, all

46:07

right? Last division, NFC East.

46:10

This is always an interesting division. I

46:13

think New York in Washington to me

46:15

are like, I think

46:18

you can see some promising signs for them

46:20

from them. I don't think I

46:23

think the Giants. I think the Giants are gonna be feisty.

46:26

I I don't know what we see an

46:28

enormous leap from either of them.

46:30

And I think the teams that are at

46:32

the top of the division. Are good not great, like I put

46:34

them in that Vikings Packers category,

46:37

and I have the Eagles winning the division.

46:39

I have the Cowboys as the wild

46:42

card. The

46:44

Andre Dillard injury,

46:46

I think it is a sneaky big deal for the

46:48

Eagles. Okay, I still

46:50

have them winning the division. But I think that is

46:52

a sneaky big deal for the Eagles because there

46:55

are another one of these teams again where

46:57

they're built through the lines of scrimmage, which again I think

46:59

it is the correct way to build. But

47:02

here's the thing, crash. They've been so strong

47:04

in that offensive line, right, So

47:07

they lost Brandon Brooks, who was one of the best guards

47:09

of football earlier in the off season for

47:11

the year. They bring in Jason

47:13

Peters to replace him at guard.

47:16

And now you've got Peters in there.

47:18

Well, Andre Dillard at left tackle

47:20

gets hurt, so you're moving Peters back out to

47:22

left tackle. So now that guard problem that

47:24

you had crops back up again.

47:27

And so I'm just sort of on alert for

47:29

that. Um. But I still think

47:31

the balance of the Eagles roster is pretty good.

47:34

Um, I'm not where I was last year

47:36

on it. Last year I think I thought going in it was the best

47:38

roster and football. I'm not there with them yet. I

47:41

gets good enough to win the division. So

47:43

I have the Eagles as the four seed and we'll go

47:45

through the seeds. Now, I have the Cowboys of the sixth

47:47

seed. So if you stack this up, I

47:50

got Saints, Niners, Vikings, Eagles,

47:52

Bucks, Cowboys, Packers, and

47:54

I have the Eagles winning the division. I don't

47:57

have anybody else in this hot

47:59

mess of a division the playoffs,

48:02

and this four seed may end up being

48:04

an eight and eight team that just gets,

48:06

you know, wiped out by the number five

48:08

seed, because you know, my guess

48:10

is that it's either the Bucks

48:13

or the Saints that are going to be the number five.

48:15

So that number four seed, you know,

48:18

they might be in a whole world of trouble

48:20

getting the best of those wild card teams. And

48:22

as I'm sitting there listening to you talk about the Dillard

48:24

injury, I look who who does Philly

48:27

open the season with at the rams

48:29

Hi Aaron Donald. I'll you

48:31

know what, I'll draft him this week for two and

48:33

a half sacks because he'll be eating people

48:35

up on the inside. But

48:38

this division, I mean, you know, again,

48:41

it's kind kind of it's a little sad because it's like

48:43

that this is like the flagship division. This is

48:45

like growing up crash, you know back

48:47

when like CBS had the end had the NFC

48:50

package and it was summer all in that and this

48:53

was like like everyone growing

48:55

up, like growing up in the eighties.

48:57

I just you remember these were the signature

49:00

teams, the signature matchups, the four

49:02

o'clock game on CBS,

49:05

right that, the four o'clock game

49:07

on on on CBS

49:10

on Sunday afternoons with summer

49:12

all in that in there. And whether

49:14

it was the late eighties or the early nineties,

49:16

these were like the flagship franchises of

49:18

the NFL. And

49:20

I mean they still have juice, Like they still have juice

49:22

that there's still huge markets and popular

49:25

teams and all of that. But it's just not the way it

49:27

was. No, it isn't you have one named football

49:29

team, you have another

49:31

one where the owner is running things.

49:34

Still. Hey, let me tell you something. I

49:36

got me in a lot of town there we're gonna trying to go now, I'm

49:39

jacking around with you today. Old

49:41

Jerry can't wait for those uh, can't

49:43

wait for those Tuesday morning phone calls

49:46

to the local sports radio station for

49:48

Old Jerald to run is what not as to

49:50

why they're eight and eight for the nineteen consecutive

49:53

year or whatever it is. But yeah, this

49:55

this division is terrible and more

49:57

than likely unless the Eagles

49:59

can letely stay healthy or find a way. They have

50:01

the most talent in the division. I do expect

50:04

the Giants to bounce though. I like the way they're

50:06

built. I think they could climb to seven and nine

50:08

or eight and night, which would be a big climb from where

50:10

they were last year. Okay, we're gonna go rapid

50:12

fire. Now we're running a little low on time. As

50:14

expected, We've gone a little bit over here, so let's

50:16

go rapid fire. Through our individual awards

50:19

m v P. You have Pat Mahomes,

50:22

I have Deshaun Watson Offensive Player

50:24

of the Year. You have Thomas Edward

50:26

Brady Jr. Wow quarterback

50:29

quarterback. I'm going with Alvin Kamara

50:31

from the Saints Defensive

50:33

Player of the Year. You have Darius

50:36

Leonard of the Colts. Guys that like that, love

50:38

it, love it. I've got Nick Bosa from the Niners

50:41

Offensive Rookie of the Year. You have Clyde

50:43

Edwards Hilaire again, when you're connected

50:45

to the guy that I think is gonna be the m v P. I

50:47

think it's a natural pick. Here's something to watch

50:49

on Thursday night too. All that

50:51

speed clearing space out underneath

50:54

and there was no back in foot in college football.

50:57

Who is better in space last year than Edwards

51:01

Hilaire. So I love the love to fit

51:03

there. I'm going with Joe Burrow as

51:05

the offensive Rookie of the Year Defensive

51:07

Rookie of the Year. You've got it ship. It

51:09

kills me that you and I are sharing a brain. And

51:11

then it's connected to Ohio State. But Chase

51:14

Young because Washington is gonna be awful

51:16

and he'll be making a lot of plays. And the defensive

51:18

line there is really good. You know. It's sort of like from

51:20

a defensive line standpoints, sort of similar to what Nick

51:22

Bose was walking into. Tons of former

51:25

first round picks on that on that

51:27

defensive line. And your coach

51:29

of the Year, Gresh, this is finally

51:31

the year without Tom Brady to get in the way,

51:33

did William Hoodsworth Belichick finally

51:35

gets a just Do award

51:38

coming to him. That's a good pick. I'm

51:40

going with Frank Reich of the Colts because

51:42

I have them making the playoffs, as does Andrew

51:44

Gresh the third. And finally, let's

51:46

wrap this up with our Super Bowl pick who

51:49

over who? In Tampa in early February,

51:51

oh Man for the for

51:53

the a f C Championship Game. I have

51:56

the Ravens over New England, who

51:58

will pull an upset in what will be known as the Cam

52:00

Newton Game. The Bucks over

52:02

the forty Niners in the NFC title Game,

52:04

and I have the Bucks over Uh.

52:07

I have the the Ravens

52:09

over I wrote the Bucks over the Saints

52:12

like an idiot, the Bucks over the

52:14

Ravens to win the Super Bowl. Wow.

52:16

Tom Brady winning his seventh Super

52:18

Bowl title at forty three years old, How

52:21

about that?

52:23

That's what I'm banking on. It's the Lebron effect,

52:25

Okay, And I do think that that is

52:28

what he was looking for, going and getting a Leonard

52:30

four net like like at the last second.

52:32

Totally exactly what they're looking for.

52:34

Okay, Uh,

52:36

exactly what Brady was looking for. I am

52:38

going and I've got I've

52:42

got one pick that's the same as Rushes

52:45

and another pick, this from the same division I'm

52:47

going with the Ravens Ravens over the Chiefs

52:49

to win the a f C Championship, and

52:51

I'm going with the Saints over the forty Niners

52:54

to win the NFC Championships. So then I've

52:56

got the Ravens like the like

52:58

like Gresh has coming out of the a SEE, and I

53:00

have an NFC South team coming out

53:02

of the NFC just like Gresh does. But I have the Saints

53:04

not the Bucks. And I'm going with Lamar

53:06

Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens to

53:09

defeat the New Orleans Saints

53:11

in Tampa. Lamar Jackson wins the Super

53:13

Bowl in his home state, and

53:15

the Saints come ever

53:17

so close to getting Drew Brees second championship,

53:19

but fall just short. And

53:22

I can't wait to see all this play out crash like

53:24

I am. I'm so fired up, hey, friend,

53:26

Like we are finally here. We've all

53:28

been sitting around, We've all been waiting there.

53:31

It's been a weird training camp. We don't have

53:33

the same kind of buzz. My god,

53:36

I can't wait for Thursday night. Okay,

53:38

he's Andrew Gresh the Third again.

53:41

That's how he's known in this podcast. Gresh,

53:43

I always appreciate you coming out, and we will

53:45

get to our special guest right after this.

53:58

Alright, so to kick off the season, we're gonna

54:00

bring back one of our favorite guests and my buddy

54:03

Um. You guys know him from having played

54:05

at Ohio State, first round pick

54:07

of the Cowboys, played at six seven

54:09

years in the NFL. I believe Um,

54:11

and he is now co host of

54:14

the Mornings Juice and this is a promotion, so this

54:16

is important that I get this in here, Bobby

54:18

Uh, co host of The Morning Juice, which is the new

54:21

morning drive show on one

54:23

the Fan in Columbus. I think I have that right

54:25

right, Bobby. They get everything right there. You were correct

54:27

the Morning Juice six to nine one

54:30

the Fans, So thank you, Albert. So there is You can

54:32

also catch him on on Get Up on ESPN

54:34

during football season. And the reason

54:36

we wanted up Bobby on now is because he does

54:38

have all that experience playing and he played

54:40

a very physical position and

54:43

that kind of takes us into where

54:46

we are right now. We've got um

54:48

less than when you when you guys are listening to this, less than

54:50

forty eight hours to kick off of the NFL season

54:53

and it's been a very different run up for all

54:55

players. There's been no there

54:57

was no spring workouts, so that's O t a S eight

54:59

weeks O t A S out the window, no mandatory

55:02

mini camp, no rookie minicamp during

55:04

the spring, and the summers look

55:06

very different. Normally guys would be putting on pads

55:08

in late July. The pads didn't go on for

55:11

most teams until August. There

55:13

have been no preseason games, really

55:15

about three weeks of real camp um

55:18

this summer. And so Bobby, I, I

55:20

guess like the first blanket question I would

55:22

have for you is do you think

55:25

that the casual fan is going to be able to

55:27

notice that in any sort

55:29

of way on the game field, either

55:32

Tomorrow night with the Chiefs and the Texans

55:35

or at any point during Week one. I guess

55:37

I just look back a little bit to what I

55:39

saw with Navy B. Y

55:41

U on whatever that Sunday

55:44

Monday night when that played, and

55:46

Navy is a team of execution, and

55:48

when you don't practice really in pads and you

55:50

don't hit each other and you don't go live like you're

55:52

gonna have some execution issues. And Navy

55:55

B y U is probably better, But Navy

55:57

looked atrocious. They didn't look like a typical Navy

56:00

team, not like some of the best people that

56:02

we have in our country that we're gonna be sending

56:04

off to defend us one day. Like. They did not

56:06

execute well and that is a calling card for

56:08

them. And so I look at this season like, Okay,

56:10

what what could this look like? What are some of the issues

56:13

that could come up? Number

56:15

one, I think some of the coaches are gonna lean on more veteran

56:17

guys, guys who they know, they're comfortable

56:19

with, They understand uh,

56:22

they understand the scheme a little bit better. They have

56:24

an easier time practicing and

56:26

getting ready than maybe younger guys do who don't

56:28

really understand all that. So I think that's a piece

56:31

of it. You'll probably see some sloppy

56:33

play. And because you know, as much as people

56:35

talked about, you know, in the in during

56:37

the off season and stuff, you know, limiting contact

56:40

and getting away from pads all the time, and

56:42

now you really have seen an offseason

56:44

that's void of any of that. You know, very

56:46

very little contact, very little, very little practice

56:49

tackling, and the tackling in the NFL has

56:51

not been good. As of late anyway, and so it's probably

56:53

only gonna get worse like and so that'll

56:55

be a casualty. I think you'll probably see some

56:57

soft tissue injuries. Guys have a ratch

57:00

up. They've been moving more, but I don't know if they've been truly

57:02

tested, and they didn't have the preseason games.

57:04

As much as we joke around about it, there's

57:07

still an element there to playing in an elite

57:09

level and playing against other people when

57:11

the cameras are on and you're on a field and you're being judged

57:14

that you cannot replicate, and so

57:16

I think that you're going to have, you know, heightened awareness,

57:18

heightened sensus. Guys are gonna dehydrate, they're

57:20

playing hard, and so you see the hamstrings, You'll

57:22

probably see some groins, they'll see some achilles

57:25

stuff like that. That will creep up. I think

57:27

in the first couple of weeks, when it's gonna be really hot

57:29

and guys are gonna be asked to go for three and a half

57:31

hours, something that they probably haven't

57:33

done. And then lastly, and

57:36

this is something that people kind of laugh at, I think you'll probably

57:38

see substitution and special teams issues

57:41

because that's something that you usually

57:43

built through the preseason and you get

57:45

the game reps and you understand this guy

57:47

goes out, this guy comes in. These are situations

57:49

you work on and if you're going with

57:51

guys who are younger, who have never been in those, you're gonna

57:53

see some issues because that's really the most complicated

57:56

part of the game that gets neglected. And so

57:58

I think Albert that's probably the last bet says it's

58:00

there's just gonna be some things that aren'tst polished

58:02

up, like and that's the reality, Like it's gonna be

58:04

more like taking your car through you

58:06

know, the normal car wash that you just running

58:08

through, as opposed to taking it to a detail shop.

58:11

Do you think, so, does that mean like that last

58:13

part, Does that mean like random time

58:15

outs like when you don't expect it and then

58:17

to put the camera pans over and the coaches throwing

58:19

his headset like that sort of stuff. Yeah,

58:22

I think you're gonna look out there and there'll be ten guys

58:24

on the field. There'll be a guy that's misaligned,

58:26

and you know, you look at a coach like John Harball

58:28

who majors and special teams. I

58:31

wouldn't be surprised if he tries to throw some stuff

58:33

out early in the season to test some of these teams.

58:35

Who you know what, the guys didn't get the typical reps

58:37

in camp, they didn't get the typical work in the

58:39

preseason games, and the challenge to see

58:41

if they can get aligned to something that isn't

58:43

as traditional as maybe they're used to seeing. Alright,

58:47

So I want to go back to the hitting part

58:49

of this, because I think you sort of

58:51

bridge two eras right like you were

58:54

you came into the league during kind of the

58:56

old era, which was two days

58:59

kind of you know, I think camp

59:01

used by a lot and you played for parcels so

59:03

like cam'p used a sort of callous the team and toughen

59:06

the team and get the team where it needed to be physically,

59:09

and then you saw and then you know, you played

59:11

past the eleven lockout, which when a lot of

59:13

those rules changed and two days were

59:15

done away with, and the way camp

59:17

operated was just, I

59:19

mean, I think forever different.

59:22

So like having gone

59:24

through that and having seen it like a couple of different

59:26

ways, like as a football

59:28

player, how much do you really need? Like and

59:31

you see some of this now, like where

59:33

they I feel like the

59:35

camps I was at, there was more eleven on eleven

59:37

than I than I normally see, but it's really truncated

59:39

into three weeks. How much

59:42

like, did you really feel like you needed

59:44

as a pro football player to be ready to go

59:46

week one? I think box guys needed

59:48

a lot like offensive lineman, they needed,

59:50

you know, defensive lineman to a certain extent. I think

59:52

there's an element there, um And you mentioned

59:55

bridging to errors like I came in my freshman year to

59:57

Ohio State. Was the last year in college

59:59

that you can go two days at consecutively

1:00:01

without having a break. And so I think we went

1:00:03

like thirteen straight days of two days,

1:00:06

and then we went to the two one model. Then I get to the NFL

1:00:08

and parcels you We're grinding, grinding, grinding,

1:00:11

and you know, then it started to ease up a little bit. And

1:00:13

then after the you know, two thousand and ten

1:00:16

season, after the lockout there in eleven, then

1:00:19

it's just one practice a day. And

1:00:21

so I was a veteran at that point. I'm thinking, if

1:00:23

I had this for the last four years, I'd feel

1:00:25

great. And so your body feels a little

1:00:27

bit better, and guys that know how to do it, and they understand

1:00:29

the techniques, you know, I think that they

1:00:31

need it less. But for young guys, especially

1:00:34

when you talk about college

1:00:36

now, like offensive linemen are severely

1:00:38

underdeveloped albert when they come to the NFL,

1:00:41

because all they do is line up zone

1:00:43

right, zone left. It's all you know, the zone

1:00:45

option, the read zone read stuff. You

1:00:47

know, the white people or the r P O s and

1:00:50

there's not any technique development. And that's why

1:00:52

you see these ridiculous scores that are in the fifties.

1:00:54

There's no defense and it's not real football.

1:00:57

And I know the NFL has adopted some of

1:00:59

that, but they're the margins

1:01:01

and athleticism are much slimmers, so you can't

1:01:03

do a lot of the same things. And so I

1:01:05

think young offensive lineman like rookies

1:01:08

coming in and asking them to do this, like it's

1:01:10

gonna be a lot more difficult, and especially

1:01:12

guys that you're looking at as developmental players,

1:01:15

like I don't think you can really even count this season.

1:01:17

If you took an offensive tackle in the fourth

1:01:20

round and you thought, hey, give him two years,

1:01:22

he might be able to unsea it our start and will move

1:01:24

on. I don't think you can count a year like

1:01:26

this, so you might see some of these ramifications

1:01:28

down the road. So you look at like Tampa,

1:01:30

for example, the fact that they're

1:01:32

planning on starting Tristan Worths, who

1:01:35

was I think seeing as a little raw coming

1:01:37

out of Iowa at right tackle

1:01:40

like and one of the book ends protecting

1:01:43

Dom Brady, Like that could be a factor with somebody

1:01:45

like that, and absolutely could be a factor

1:01:47

because it is in a situation

1:01:49

where in college you can just you can make up

1:01:51

for lack of technique with athleticism

1:01:54

and strength. In the NFL, and

1:01:56

you get the South and some of the guys, you know, Cameron

1:01:58

Jordans, like you know when you get ahold of that guy, like

1:02:00

he's big, he's fast, and he's really

1:02:03

skilled. And so if you get something like that,

1:02:05

like dude, your kid just overpower that guy or cheated.

1:02:07

He has all the tricks and he knows everything.

1:02:10

And so that's the stuff that those guys are gonna be asked

1:02:12

to do. Now, what would you like

1:02:14

if you were a coach right now, how do you think you would

1:02:16

be managing your roster? And

1:02:18

I don't know if you saw us, but Josh McDaniel said

1:02:20

something really interesting On Tuesday morning,

1:02:23

there was something along the lines of like managing

1:02:25

different guys, and he said, like, we

1:02:27

haven't seen our guys in game conditions

1:02:29

yet, and we don't know what what a guy

1:02:32

is gonna look like when he's got to play seventy plays.

1:02:35

So like, you know, put

1:02:38

your coaching hat on. You know you you've

1:02:40

got you've got that in your blood too. How

1:02:42

do you think you would be managing players right now?

1:02:44

If you were a coach number one, I

1:02:46

would try to make sure I have as much depth on

1:02:48

my roster as possible. And you know every

1:02:50

coach says that, but I would be willing to

1:02:52

trade some top end talent to make

1:02:54

sure that I had you know, a full like

1:02:57

five linebackers that would be able to play at any

1:02:59

given point in time. Like to me, that would be

1:03:01

more valuable to be able to have three running backs

1:03:03

you could go to, as opposed to maybe a

1:03:05

rookie who you know, you didn't

1:03:07

have the time to develop any pass

1:03:09

blocking skills, so I gotta may be able to run the ball.

1:03:12

You never learned really out of passprow in college and

1:03:14

even learn a passprow on camp now, and so you

1:03:17

need to have as many bodies because you mentioned the seventies

1:03:19

snaps. You need to be able to roll guys, I think,

1:03:21

and you're gonna have to be able to make sure that you have depth and

1:03:23

then the other thing as you need

1:03:25

known known quantities. This was

1:03:27

not a time to be able to ask guys

1:03:30

to kind of change positions, whether it's college

1:03:32

to the NFL or even guys coming

1:03:34

from one scheme to another in the NFL

1:03:37

because they didn't have the time to get that technique work

1:03:39

in I'm going with guys who I know,

1:03:41

guys who have seen in the same type of systems

1:03:44

before, and we're just gonna roll with that. So

1:03:47

do you think, like, I don't know, Like

1:03:49

do you think if you were, if you were a coach,

1:03:51

that you'd be subbing more early in the year then,

1:03:54

like would you be like because that was one thing that Daniel

1:03:56

has brought up to when he was saying this was like kind

1:03:58

of how like you know, he could

1:04:00

see where teams are platooning more

1:04:03

in general, because you're not

1:04:05

like completely comfortable that a guy's in game

1:04:07

shape yet because you haven't had a chance to have him

1:04:09

out there in game situations, Like

1:04:12

do you think that you'd like you talk about

1:04:14

building depth, Well, the advantage of building depth would

1:04:16

be like, okay, like I feel comfortable with

1:04:18

eight offensive lineman instead of just the five who

1:04:20

were starting, Like, do you think that,

1:04:22

like maybe you would consider rotating

1:04:24

a positions where maybe you normally

1:04:27

wouldn't know. I think that that's part of it. I

1:04:29

don't offensive lineman's tough line is

1:04:31

that's tough as a communication, right, there's a communication

1:04:33

piece, there's a continuity piece, which that's

1:04:35

why I thought that that's the most difficult position

1:04:38

to get to try to develop players and develop

1:04:40

the team. You don't have any of those

1:04:42

physical reps, and so I think that I

1:04:44

would try to keep that as stagnant as possible.

1:04:47

But any positions that you could rotate, and

1:04:49

you know, the mid level vet

1:04:52

has kind of been eliminated from the NFL. If

1:04:54

there was ever a time to try to keep guys

1:04:56

that you think could be good rotational

1:04:59

starters, this was the year,

1:05:01

especially if you think you have a team that is built to win,

1:05:03

because you'd much rather have a guy in his sixth seventh

1:05:06

year who maybe you know, doesn't

1:05:08

have the high in potential, maybe costs a

1:05:10

little bit more than a rookie

1:05:12

would. But you know that he can go out

1:05:14

and give you thirty five snaps and he's gonna know what

1:05:16

to do, and he can play special teams and he doesn't

1:05:19

need all that technique work. I know

1:05:21

you sort of hit on this already, but I do want to. I

1:05:24

do want to kind of dive a little deeper into the value

1:05:26

of preseason game because that's the most obvious

1:05:28

thing we're losing, right Like, so from

1:05:30

a players standpoint, how

1:05:32

valuable was that? And I'm

1:05:35

gonna play this into the like the the whole comparison

1:05:37

to college too, because I know that

1:05:39

was one thing that a couple of guys have brought up,

1:05:42

um where they said, you know, okay, like,

1:05:44

well, I know Belichick brought this up.

1:05:46

Well, you know, like that this is the way the

1:05:48

way it is in college, like three weeks of camp and

1:05:50

then you're in the game week. Um. I've

1:05:52

had some guys push back on that, like, you know, John

1:05:54

Harbaugh said to me, well, that's true,

1:05:57

but there's an entire ramping up over

1:05:59

the course of some that the college programs

1:06:01

are doing that you're not really counting for when you're just

1:06:03

talking about camp. So like for

1:06:05

you. The first question I guess off of that would be what

1:06:08

was the value of preseason games, Like, did you

1:06:11

when you were a player, did you want to play in the preseason

1:06:13

games? When I was young, my

1:06:15

first couple of years, I thought it was really necessary,

1:06:17

And even as a vet, I didn't mind you

1:06:19

know, getting you know, two or three series, four

1:06:22

series, And did I want to go out there and play an entire

1:06:24

game, you know, probably not, but if I

1:06:26

could get you know, a quarter and a half, two quarters

1:06:28

in you I felt pretty good about that, especially

1:06:31

handling situations because it's

1:06:33

the first time in practice you do move the ball

1:06:35

drills. A lot of times you're working on

1:06:37

all right, you know, it's first down, or it's run

1:06:39

period, or we're gonna do third down stuff

1:06:41

now, but be able being able to transition

1:06:43

from first down, Okay, we got them in second

1:06:45

and long, Okay, what are they gonna run here?

1:06:48

All right? Now it's a third and short. Now what is

1:06:50

the stuff that's coming? You have to continue to digest

1:06:52

this information over and over and that's

1:06:54

the only way that you can kind of do it while you're

1:06:56

being fatigued and while you're being tested,

1:06:58

and then you're also going up against players

1:07:00

that you don't make have scouted, but you don't

1:07:02

really know exactly how they move

1:07:05

and how they operate. You practice against the same guys

1:07:07

all the time, and you get to see some of their tells,

1:07:10

and you know, getting a chance to play against some really

1:07:12

good tight ends, whether Jason Witten, you know, Rob

1:07:15

Gronkowski, Aeron Hernandez, guys like that.

1:07:17

I mean, you got to see some of their tells, and

1:07:19

so guys in practice could guard them probably

1:07:21

better than the people at large, just because they

1:07:23

saw them all the time. And so seeing somebody

1:07:26

different. And you mentioned previouseason games,

1:07:28

a lot of coaches like those joint practice

1:07:30

is better, but those were eliminated too, Albert

1:07:33

like, so those working situational issues

1:07:35

there was eliminated. And then to jump to this,

1:07:37

you know, the college aspect, the

1:07:40

ratepup is totally different because they have fifteen

1:07:42

padded practices you can have in college in the

1:07:44

spring like that doesn't exist in the NFL.

1:07:47

There's no time off, the coaches dominant

1:07:49

your time. Like since you're leading in and

1:07:51

college still starts out a little bit sloppy, we

1:07:53

still see a ton of issues. Usually for the first three

1:07:55

weeks and you're not playing like you know,

1:07:59

no offense here to anyone, but like you're not

1:08:01

playing Kent State. You know, you're not playing South

1:08:03

Alabama. You're playing like you

1:08:05

know, you're not playing like Air Force and week

1:08:07

going. Bruce de Haven, the late great

1:08:09

special teams coach who was with me in Dallas,

1:08:12

Carolina, long time in Buffalo, he said,

1:08:14

there are no homecoming games in the NFL like

1:08:17

Indiana and on the schedule. Bobby, you know, you like

1:08:19

laughed at him. You didn't really know what that meant

1:08:22

until you got in the NFL. And think even

1:08:24

a team that's two and fourteen at the end

1:08:26

of the year, they won two games and

1:08:28

sometimes they beat teams that were nine and seven or

1:08:30

ten and six, right, and like it's

1:08:32

just it's yeah, I mean, so that part of it's

1:08:34

definitely different. The other thing I thought

1:08:36

was, like, like I wanted to ask you about before

1:08:38

we get out of here. Do you think

1:08:41

that And like you made such a great

1:08:43

point the last time we had you on about like maybe

1:08:45

discipline slept a little bit with the COVID stuff.

1:08:47

For you know, a guy who starts, you know, he's

1:08:49

on a team that starts wanting six or whatever. Do

1:08:52

you think that there's a little bit I don't know,

1:08:54

Like it's just been a long year for everybody, you

1:08:57

know what I mean, Like, do you think that

1:08:59

there's a little bit of a tigue if you're a player

1:09:01

right now and that you have had to go

1:09:03

through all these measures to go into the building

1:09:05

and you've been on the zoom meetings since

1:09:08

May, and like, I just wonder

1:09:10

if there's a little bit if you

1:09:12

think that that, like you'll see a little fatigue

1:09:14

from some people where you know, again,

1:09:16

if you're on one of those teams that starts out one and three,

1:09:19

it becomes that much harder to dig out

1:09:21

of the hole because you are

1:09:23

just kind of worn out by everything that we've

1:09:25

all been through this year. From a football

1:09:27

standpoint, I think that's a real

1:09:29

part of it, because this was kind

1:09:32

of like a never ending camp, Like there were no preseason

1:09:34

games to break up the monotony, and you're

1:09:36

gonna be going through these extended measures

1:09:39

essentially, Like imagine Albert every day

1:09:41

and you travel a lot, and you know there's times where I've traveled

1:09:43

a lot, but every day before you

1:09:45

go to work and work a physical job like going through

1:09:47

airport security, Like that's essentially

1:09:49

what I feel like some of these players like they have to go

1:09:52

through. And like you can laugh about that and like

1:09:54

people travel all the time, but I mean, it

1:09:56

just psychologically wears on you.

1:09:58

And so if you're not winning or you're a younger

1:10:00

guy, we talked about hitting the rookie wall because

1:10:03

things just are elongated and it just wears

1:10:05

you down. I think that might happen to

1:10:07

some vets and teams this year, where

1:10:10

it just it's psychologically exhaust

1:10:12

you and you don't have any release, Like you can't

1:10:14

go out and relax and go have

1:10:16

a drink or even heck, like going out to

1:10:18

dinner with your wife, Like you know, you're worried

1:10:21

that you may get it, and then you know, who knows what can happen.

1:10:23

And so when you factor all that in, it's like it's

1:10:25

like you're in camp that never ends. Like you go to the

1:10:27

the facility and you go home. You go

1:10:29

the facility, you go home, you fly, you

1:10:31

play a game, you play a game at home, but you do that for

1:10:34

seventeen weeks. It's just it's

1:10:36

like Groundhog Day, man, and you saw Bill Murray

1:10:38

at the end. I mean, he's driving cars off cliffs

1:10:40

like that gets a little bit of that in your mind.

1:10:43

Yeah, And I like I almost feel like that's why, like

1:10:45

so many guys go away during the bye week,

1:10:47

you know, whether it's you know, some guys have places

1:10:49

down in Florida or whatever, like you

1:10:52

know, people like like a lot of the guys and

1:10:54

and I mean, I correct

1:10:56

me if I'm wrong here, but it does feel like like during

1:10:58

the bye week a lot of times it's like, well,

1:11:00

you know, I went through six weeks of training camp

1:11:02

and then I went through seven weeks of the regular

1:11:04

season, and I just need to get that

1:11:07

I just need to get hell away from all of this for

1:11:09

a little bit, you know, like it feels like

1:11:11

that would normally be what it is, and

1:11:13

even something like that, you're not gonna have that this year.

1:11:16

No, it's so bizarre, Like

1:11:18

you just need to see something different, like

1:11:20

for your own emotional state, like for

1:11:23

your own like mental sanity.

1:11:25

You have to see something a little bit different, interact

1:11:28

with somebody different than you see every day. Because as much

1:11:30

as you love your teammates, like, it's just

1:11:32

it's too much and your coaches are always

1:11:34

on you and so like you can get away for a couple of days,

1:11:37

reset, and then you're good again. You get a little

1:11:39

taste of normal society, Like that's not

1:11:41

going to exist this year, and

1:11:44

it's going to be interesting how that's going to impact

1:11:46

everything. You know, Guys that are you know,

1:11:48

grinders that have been doing this for years. It's

1:11:50

not gonna affect the Tom Brady's, it's not gonna affect

1:11:52

that, you know, the Drew brees Is, you know, but guys

1:11:55

that you know, like these physically demanding

1:11:57

positions, Like there's

1:11:59

an element to where it's tough to keep

1:12:01

sharp, to continue to do the same thing over

1:12:03

and over again if you don't ever have a release.

1:12:06

Okay, so let's take all of that into account. Now, we'll

1:12:08

wrap up here. Take every bit of

1:12:10

that into account. And I won't bring up Cobbo either,

1:12:12

because I was actually thinking about that. I knew

1:12:14

you were, Yeah, I was waiting

1:12:16

for it. Yeah yeah. So like

1:12:19

let's take all of this into account, right,

1:12:21

Like, give me a

1:12:23

couple of teams that you think are playing from ahead

1:12:26

because of this, Like, which teams do you think

1:12:28

our best equipped to manage

1:12:31

this and to handle it and to compartmentalize

1:12:34

it and to deal with the lows

1:12:36

that I think every team faces over the

1:12:38

course of the year, Like who do you look at as teams

1:12:41

that you will be like that team

1:12:43

is gonna have Armadillo skins for this, you

1:12:45

know. I look at some teams. You know, everybody's gonna

1:12:47

point the Tampa because they have Tom Brady. You know, New

1:12:49

Orleans because they have Drew Brees. And I do think you

1:12:52

know having you know, Bruce arians

1:12:54

be a you know, he's an energized and energetic

1:12:56

guy. Sean Payton the same way, uh

1:12:59

down in New Orleans. But I look at a

1:13:01

team like the Baltimore Ravens. You have

1:13:03

a young quarterback Lamar Jackson showing up.

1:13:05

He's gonna have juice every single day. And

1:13:07

then you have veterans like clay Is Campbell out there

1:13:09

too. Guys are hungry to win and

1:13:11

they're gonna be able to stay focused. They're gonna keep

1:13:13

everything together. And you know, John Harball

1:13:16

is a task master, He's very discipline oriented.

1:13:18

You know, their special teams are gonna be good. And

1:13:20

so I look at the team like that that you know, this

1:13:23

might be an area where they're gonna probably

1:13:25

have some more inherit advantages than maybe

1:13:27

that they would, you know, otherwise. And

1:13:30

I'm trying to, you know, and believe they're

1:13:32

really good last year and sometimes

1:13:35

you know, it's tough to bounce back and come off,

1:13:37

you know, a season like that. And you look at the Falcons

1:13:39

and you know they haven't recovered from their Super Bowl lots yet.

1:13:41

But for some reason, I feel like they're better

1:13:43

equipped in this season, might actually play into

1:13:45

their hands a little bit more than it typically

1:13:48

would otherwise. And I think, like, I

1:13:50

don't know, I just think like Lamar's there's

1:13:53

something about Lamar that's like a little different too,

1:13:55

Like there's just like he's just such a

1:13:58

he's like a genuine normal guy I that

1:14:00

doesn't seem overwhelmed by all of this at

1:14:02

all. Is the same. It's just like

1:14:05

there's something about that guy, like he's just like

1:14:07

every day coming to work with him would be fun.

1:14:09

It feels like, you know, like like it seemed like

1:14:12

and he creates that at practice. And

1:14:14

so I'm with you on that, um

1:14:16

all right, So he you can catch him

1:14:18

on ESPN. You can catch him on nineties seven

1:14:21

Won the Fan again, the new morning

1:14:23

show. From what I've heard of it, it's

1:14:25

fantastic. I'm still working on getting permission

1:14:28

to call Anthony Schlegel Schlegs

1:14:30

too. I gotta, I gotta. I

1:14:32

don't know if I'm at the point now, but I did.

1:14:35

I did slip up and call him that because I heard you

1:14:37

guys call him that. Yeah,

1:14:39

I got busted on that one. So you guys can

1:14:41

catch him every morning if you're in Columbus one

1:14:43

seven one the fan and he's

1:14:45

also the general of the Big Ten Army

1:14:48

and I'm a foot soldier. I'm just a foot soldier.

1:14:50

We're trying to get a Big Ten season here, played

1:14:52

Bobby. Always appreciate you coming out, Albert.

1:14:55

Thank you so much, sir, anytime man love coming

1:14:58

on. Okay, and we'll get to our

1:15:00

new special segment right after this. Okay,

1:15:07

Well, we promised you a new segment this week on

1:15:09

the podcast, and we're bringing it to you right

1:15:11

now. More specifically, DraftKings is

1:15:13

bringing it to you. And

1:15:15

to do this the right way, We've

1:15:18

got a guy that I actually worked with for a lot

1:15:20

of years of the NFL Network and

1:15:22

now he's over at SI dot Com. We couldn't be happier

1:15:25

to have him on board. Michael Fabiano

1:15:27

welcome into the podcast. Hey,

1:15:29

it is an absolute pleasure and it's great

1:15:32

to be back working with you, Albert Uh.

1:15:34

We had we had a nice good relationship there at

1:15:36

NFL Network and now back together

1:15:39

at s I. I'm loving it man, all right. So

1:15:42

here's what we want to do. Every week. We want to give everybody

1:15:44

an idea first of all, what

1:15:46

they should be doing with their daily fantasy teams.

1:15:48

You can go to Draft Kings take care of all of that

1:15:50

business there after you get done listening to

1:15:53

us, of course. And so every

1:15:55

week we're gonna give We're

1:15:57

gonna give you three bargains that are out

1:15:59

there for you on the daily fantasy

1:16:01

scene. So fabs wout further ado

1:16:04

take it away, three bargains for a week one

1:16:07

NFL season, right, and we're thinking this

1:16:09

is gonna be a high scoring game here in the

1:16:12

Kansas City Houston matchup on Thursday

1:16:14

night, so we'll focus on that one here.

1:16:16

Most people are probably gonna put Patrick Mahomes

1:16:19

in is their captain, which is gonna

1:16:21

cost you about eighteen thousand, nine hundred

1:16:23

dollars. So there's going to be some players

1:16:25

out there that you're gonna want to put in the flex positions

1:16:27

that aren't as expensive. So one of

1:16:29

them that came to mind for me Randall Cobb. At

1:16:33

he's cheaper than Brandon Cooks. He's cheaper

1:16:35

than Will Fuller. And Kansas City was

1:16:37

really tough on wide receivers last year, but

1:16:39

they weren't as tough against slot receivers.

1:16:41

So Randall Cobb is somebody to take a look

1:16:44

at Jordan Nakins as well. I mean, he's very

1:16:46

cheap at thirty, not a

1:16:48

household name by any stretch of the imagination,

1:16:50

but Kansas City actually gave up the fifth

1:16:52

most fantasy points the tight ends, and this

1:16:54

looks like a potential high scoring game.

1:16:56

And you look at the line. The Chiefs are laying nine

1:16:58

right now, so aime script could end up

1:17:01

being in the favor of the Houston Texans. And then, finally,

1:17:03

a really hot name in high stakes

1:17:05

right now is Darryl Williams. Now, I'm

1:17:07

on the Clyde Edwards Hilayer band and I

1:17:10

love him, okay, But is Andy

1:17:12

Reid gonna give him a full workload

1:17:14

with no preseason in Week one?

1:17:17

Maybe not. And Darryl Williams is the number

1:17:19

two back in Kansas City and he's at eighteen

1:17:21

hundred dollars to flex this week.

1:17:23

So keep those three players in mind when

1:17:25

you're setting your DK lineups. So you guys

1:17:28

know, of course, you know, everybody's

1:17:30

excited football is here and we're

1:17:32

gonna have fabs with us all year doing this

1:17:34

with us. He is talking about he did

1:17:36

make me a little nervous there about my first round

1:17:38

pick. That's Clyde Edwards Hilayer was my

1:17:41

first round pick in my in

1:17:43

my legal my with my college buddies,

1:17:45

and I actually felt good about it because I got him in

1:17:47

the eleventh overall and now you're kind

1:17:49

of you. I

1:17:51

love him there. There

1:17:54

was not a better fit for running back

1:17:56

in the draft class than Edwards

1:17:58

Hilayer in Kansas City, and everyone

1:18:00

had like Dandry Swift going there, but it wasn't

1:18:02

Edwards Hilaire. He wasn't even projected to be a first rounder.

1:18:05

But I say this time and time

1:18:07

again, every running back in

1:18:09

his first year as a featured back in

1:18:11

Andy Reid's offense has been an RB ten

1:18:14

or better in fantasy. Okay, going back to

1:18:17

Do Staley and Brian Westbrook and Lashawn

1:18:19

McCoy and Jamal Charles and Cream Hunt Damian

1:18:22

Williams. I mean, let's let's let's not

1:18:24

get it twisted here. He was a bum in Miami.

1:18:26

I mean, he was waiver wire fodder in fantasy

1:18:28

and suddenly he goes to Kansas City boom. So

1:18:31

to me, I feel like Williams is so

1:18:33

cheap. He's in a great position

1:18:36

in that offense because running backs just flourish

1:18:38

in that offense. And this week, maybe Andy

1:18:40

Reid is not gonna give Clyde Edwards Hilaire twenty

1:18:42

touches, maybe it's more like fifteen, and

1:18:45

maybe there's enough there for Darry Williams to sneak

1:18:47

in some value in DFS and the price is right,

1:18:49

and I'm fired up to see what it looks like too. I mean,

1:18:51

like Andy Reid, just so everybody knows,

1:18:53

has never taken a running back higher

1:18:56

than the middle of the second round. That's where he took Lashawn

1:18:58

McCoy I think now eleven years

1:19:00

ago. So he's never taken a running back in the first

1:19:02

round in over twenty years of running football

1:19:05

teams. And like

1:19:07

FABS said, that offense is so set up

1:19:09

for him because this guy was so good in space,

1:19:11

and you're gonna have Sammy Watkins and Tyree

1:19:14

Hill and McCole Hardman clearing out

1:19:16

space for him underneath. Okay,

1:19:18

before we let you go fabs. The other thing

1:19:20

we're gonna do on a weekly basis, we want to give a little

1:19:22

juice to the Stardom Sidham column, which

1:19:25

I think you told me off the air was in

1:19:27

its twentieth year. Now is that my

1:19:29

twentieth year writing this column dating

1:19:31

back to my time at CBS

1:19:34

Sports Believe it or not, that

1:19:36

was back in two thousand and one, is when I started

1:19:38

this column. So we're looking at the twentieth

1:19:40

year here. There are other columns

1:19:42

out there who call themselves Startom and Sidham.

1:19:45

This is the original, my friend, it's the original.

1:19:48

I think I knew that. How about that? Okay, So give

1:19:50

people a little flavor for what's in that. We don't want

1:19:52

to give away everything, because we want you to go to go

1:19:54

to SI dot com and check it out. But

1:19:56

give people a little flavor for what they're gonna find in

1:19:58

this week's Stardom sid Hum. Well, you're gonna find

1:20:01

the top starts and sits uh. And

1:20:03

we don't talk about Patrick Mahomes, and we don't

1:20:05

talk about Christian McCaffrey. I mean, we know you're starting

1:20:07

those dudes. We're we're talking about players

1:20:10

who maybe on the border, right, maybe

1:20:12

I drafted this guy, I like him, I'm

1:20:14

not sure about him this week, or some players

1:20:16

who are set up to have really big

1:20:18

games that could potentially be guys that you didn't

1:20:20

draft to be starters. For example, DeShawn

1:20:23

Jackson against the Washington football

1:20:25

team he dominates typically his former

1:20:27

teams. It's very strange, and the Eagles are banged up at

1:20:29

the wide receiver position, So you can check

1:20:31

those out at s I dot com slash Fantasy.

1:20:34

I'm also including some sleepers

1:20:36

at certain positions, and I also have my

1:20:38

DFS bargains and my DFS

1:20:40

fades in that column this year.

1:20:42

I wasn't able to do that in past years at

1:20:44

NFL dot Com Albert for obvious

1:20:47

reasons. But now I can do those kind of things.

1:20:49

And so the column now I'm proud to announce

1:20:51

is going to include some DFS love in there.

1:20:54

Okay, so just to give people an idea,

1:20:56

give me one intriguing start

1:20:59

in one intrigue can sit for week one out

1:21:01

of the column in DFS

1:21:04

and people are gonna think this is crazy. I think Teddy

1:21:06

Bridgewater is actually not a bad play against

1:21:08

the Raiders this week. And if you

1:21:10

want to go a step deeper, mitchor Robiskie

1:21:13

has actually done some pretty good things against Detroit

1:21:15

in his career. And I know everyone's crapping all over him,

1:21:18

and I get it, all right, I understand that, but

1:21:20

you know there could be some points put up on the board

1:21:22

in that game. In Robiski is a guy that if you're looking

1:21:25

to go cheap at the quarterback

1:21:27

position, he and Teddy Bridgewater

1:21:29

are are certainly a couple of those options. Tyrod

1:21:31

Taylor two is another good play, uh in DFS

1:21:34

and if you're in a redraft where

1:21:37

you have a super flex or it's a two QB league,

1:21:39

he is a very very intriguing player

1:21:41

against Cincinnati. Okay, that's Michael Fabiano.

1:21:44

You're gonna have the benefit of his twenty

1:21:46

years of expertise in this field

1:21:49

over the entire d of the season.

1:21:52

And it's gonna be a different season, fabs. I mean

1:21:54

it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be

1:21:56

a chance for for fantasy players, for gamblers,

1:21:59

this is gonna be a challenging year

1:22:01

because we don't know what sort of

1:22:03

curveballs are gonna come on Thursday and Friday

1:22:05

and Saturday a game weeks. And I'm sure

1:22:07

you're prepared for all of that too. Yeah,

1:22:09

no question about that. And you're gonna be

1:22:11

able to find everything on si dot com slash

1:22:13

Fantasy. We're actually gonna be able to answer

1:22:15

your questions if you're a part of a fantasy

1:22:18

pro as well. So make sure you go out and

1:22:20

check that out. But you're right, we've

1:22:23

had we had no preseason to to

1:22:25

scout any sort of players. I think

1:22:28

the biggest thing is how do

1:22:30

the rookie wide receivers and tight ends?

1:22:32

And tight ends probably not gonna have much of an impact from

1:22:34

a fantasy perspective, but you know how those wide

1:22:36

receivers gonna fit in? Right? Uh?

1:22:38

This is this is a different game. It's a different speed in

1:22:40

the National Football League than they're used to in college.

1:22:42

So how quickly can they acclimate

1:22:45

themselves to the next level. The running

1:22:47

back positions for the rookies, right, which

1:22:49

guys can pass protect? I mean, if if

1:22:51

you've got a rookie running back, we can't pass for deeck, he's

1:22:53

not gonna be a three on back in the National Football League's

1:22:55

not gonna happen, you know, especially if he's getting

1:22:57

his quarterback killed. It's just not gonna happen. So

1:23:00

have to look at that as well. And also early on in

1:23:02

the season some of these backfield situations.

1:23:04

What's gonna happen in New England. I mean, we think it's gonna

1:23:06

be Sony Michelle and Rex Burkhead and James

1:23:08

White. In Detroit, Jandre Swift

1:23:10

has banged up. You know, they added Adrian Peterson,

1:23:13

carry on, Johnson is in the mix two. So there's

1:23:15

a lot that we have to learn, you know, Albert, you

1:23:17

and I both know this, man. You know, we do this for a

1:23:19

living. We're always learning, and especially

1:23:21

in this year with COVID nineteen, in the situation that

1:23:23

we've all gone through. Man, we're all learning.

1:23:26

And Week one is gonna be a

1:23:28

very educational for all of us out there

1:23:30

in terms of being insiders like you, and in

1:23:33

terms of talking about fantasy football like me. Okay,

1:23:35

he's Michael Fabiano again. Be sure

1:23:37

to check out his column at

1:23:39

s I dot Com. Stardom said him, that's every

1:23:41

single week we have great fantasy content

1:23:44

there for you and He's been brought

1:23:46

here to the podcast every week by DraftKings.

1:23:49

Uh. Fabs. Great to have you on. Yeah,

1:23:51

my brother, it's a pleasure man. I'm looking forward to talking

1:23:53

to you next week. Okay, we will get to

1:23:55

you right after this, all

1:24:01

right, thanks to Bobby, Thanks to FABS. Bobby

1:24:04

is always great. Great to have Fabs as part of the show.

1:24:06

We're gonna jump right into the six pack. You guys know how this works.

1:24:08

Ever since the pandemic started, we went back

1:24:10

to doing a six pack. That means on Tuesday, I put

1:24:13

the call out for questions. Every

1:24:15

single week I picked six If I

1:24:17

picked yours, you get a like on Twitter. That means

1:24:19

I hit that little heart there and to get an answer

1:24:22

here on the podcast. First question

1:24:24

of the week it comes from Roberto

1:24:27

wears a mask and you should

1:24:29

too. At Ason Jasper who

1:24:31

thought it was fair to have some teams with fans in the

1:24:33

seats and others without let me guess it was

1:24:35

Jerry right. Well, Jerry is one

1:24:38

of the people that thought it was okay to

1:24:40

do that, but I guess he probably

1:24:42

had thirty one of his peers that were on

1:24:44

board with it too. Robert of the Bottom

1:24:47

the bottom line here, without question, all

1:24:49

right, is that this is going

1:24:51

to be a different type of year in general,

1:24:53

and there are gonna be quirks to this tight to this

1:24:56

season throughout, and so

1:24:58

I think the main thing you want look at is the revenue

1:25:01

shortfall that's looming for everybody. That's

1:25:03

not good for owners and if

1:25:05

they and the more

1:25:07

money they lose, the worst it is for the players ultimately,

1:25:09

because that's gonna play into how

1:25:11

the salary cap is calculated.

1:25:14

And so it behooves everybody to try

1:25:16

to save every piece of revenue they possibly

1:25:19

can. So for the owners and the players,

1:25:21

and I know the coaches won't be on board with this because

1:25:23

it affects them and doesn't necessarily

1:25:25

benefit them, But for the owners and the

1:25:27

players, looking at this pragmatically,

1:25:29

you say, Okay, how can we do our best to try

1:25:32

to make up for the revenue shortfall

1:25:34

that's coming. And again that means

1:25:36

trying to recover as much revenue as you possibly

1:25:38

can. So that means if you

1:25:40

can put fans in the stands in Miami and Kansas

1:25:42

City, in Indianapolis, and it's

1:25:45

against the law in l A and

1:25:47

San Francisco and Buffalo, well,

1:25:49

that's probably what you're gonna do, because that's gonna help

1:25:52

everyone manage what is

1:25:54

going to be a tricky situation the next

1:25:57

couple of years stemming from

1:25:59

the fallout of all the revenue lost

1:26:01

in two thousand and twenties. So Roberta,

1:26:04

I would tell you, I think everybody, Um,

1:26:06

I think all thirty two owners are probably

1:26:08

on board with the idea of doing this, and

1:26:11

I think a lot of the players, if you ask them, will

1:26:13

be okay with it to knowing what the final result

1:26:15

will be. Question number or two from

1:26:17

Raphael bergeron g Saints

1:26:20

or Bucks when the division. We've already been over this,

1:26:22

but I thought it was worth answering your question,

1:26:24

Rafael, and why I picked the Saints maybe

1:26:26

dive a little deeper into that here. I

1:26:29

just think the Saints are a more complete team.

1:26:31

And I look at the Saints roster, I

1:26:33

mean, really, maybe the one area where there

1:26:35

might be a depth issue to some degree as a linebacker,

1:26:38

but they've got one of the best in the game there a da Mario

1:26:40

Davis. The secondary is very

1:26:43

talented, and that you have Marshall

1:26:46

Lattimore, Genorris Jenkins, Marcus

1:26:48

Williams. Um you look up front,

1:26:50

Marcus Davenport, Sheldon Rankins,

1:26:53

Cam Jordan's. The offensive line

1:26:55

is one of the best in football, with Toron Armstead

1:26:57

and Ryan Ramschickause the book ends and

1:27:00

two high picks and Eric mccoye sees Arruise

1:27:02

inside along with Andrew's Pete

1:27:04

who was just extended after being a high pick himself.

1:27:07

At tight end. You've got Jerry Cook and receiver.

1:27:09

You've got Michael Thomas and Trey Kawan Smith the

1:27:11

player they really like, and you've got a veteran

1:27:13

addition and Emmanuel Sanders. And

1:27:16

then you've got Drew Brees

1:27:18

at quarterback, and you've got Alvin Comarrett

1:27:20

running back. And there just aren't a lot of holes in the

1:27:22

roster. So that's what I would tell you. I

1:27:24

have a hard time poking holes

1:27:27

in what the Saints are going to be from a roster

1:27:29

standpoint. The Bucks, you know,

1:27:31

you need the young secondary to come along, you

1:27:33

need Tristan Worths to play well

1:27:36

at right tackle. There's just a lot

1:27:38

more variables with the Bucks roster than

1:27:40

there is with the Saints. Question number three from

1:27:42

Derreck Robbins. That's at coach Deek

1:27:45

and he she has the stealers, stay healthy, overcome their

1:27:47

coaching staff, and actually live up to the talent on

1:27:49

their roster. Derek, I think that they're

1:27:51

going to really benefit from last year, as I said,

1:27:53

with crash Um having gone

1:27:55

through what they went through in two thousand and nineteen,

1:27:57

I think winds up being a benefit for them. Now

1:28:00

they'd always sort of They've become very reliant,

1:28:02

i'd say over the years on Ben Roethlisberger.

1:28:05

Well, last year they couldn't be and they discycled

1:28:07

through Duck Hodges and Mason

1:28:09

Rudolph, and I think that forced other parts of their

1:28:12

team to grow up. They're very good on the offensive

1:28:14

line, and it looks to me like the defense

1:28:16

is finally fixed and you've got as sending young

1:28:18

players guys like Minka Fitzpatrick

1:28:21

and Devin Bush and t J. Watt

1:28:24

in addition to some mainstays guys like

1:28:26

Cam Hayward and Stephen to it.

1:28:28

And now I'd say Joe Hayden's in that category.

1:28:30

To Um, it's a team that

1:28:32

can win on defense again, which they haven't been able to do

1:28:35

for a while, which means they don't need

1:28:37

Ben Roethlisberger to be you

1:28:39

know, Ben Roethlisberger from seven years ago.

1:28:41

They just need him to be a lot better than what they have. It

1:28:43

had a quarterback last year which is fully capable

1:28:46

of being Question number four from Jack.

1:28:48

That's at j Blanco giants

1:28:50

really good or really bad. I don't

1:28:53

see them in the middle, well,

1:28:55

Jack, I I think you might find them in

1:28:57

the middle when we get a little deeper into

1:28:59

the year. There are questions,

1:29:01

of course, on the defensive side of the ball. From a talent

1:29:03

perspective, how are they gonna hold up

1:29:06

with two or three rookies starting on the offensive

1:29:08

line. I think that that's a fair question, um,

1:29:11

you know. But I do like the buy

1:29:13

in that that Joe Judges getting for all

1:29:15

the crap that he got for the laps and all that

1:29:17

stuff. He I

1:29:19

really feel like, you look at where where where

1:29:22

they are and what they've been through. I

1:29:25

think that that's going to be the sort

1:29:27

of team that's gonna be a tough out on a week

1:29:29

to week basis once we get to October November.

1:29:32

May take them a little while to get their feet underneath

1:29:34

me fee underneath them, but I think

1:29:36

you're probably looking at a six or seven win

1:29:38

team is pretty competitive all the way through a question

1:29:41

number five from Reese Hitch that's at research.

1:29:44

Why won't there be a Super ever be a Super Bowl

1:29:46

Saturday? Reece? I really like this question from

1:29:48

you. The reason why Saturday is

1:29:50

traditionally a really bad ratings

1:29:53

night. Sunday night is traditionally really

1:29:55

good ratings night. And so people

1:29:57

are conditioned to watch football on Sunday. And

1:30:00

you know the ratings across the board on

1:30:02

television or better now you may it may say to me, well,

1:30:05

you know, isn't the Supabowl immune from those sorts

1:30:07

of things. Well, sure it is. It would put up a

1:30:09

huge rat rating no matter where you put it. You can

1:30:11

put it on a Monday afternoon, it would put up a big

1:30:13

rating. But the thing is,

1:30:15

they don't care about me and you, the people who are

1:30:17

really locked in and watching football. When

1:30:19

it comes to a game like that, they want to bring

1:30:22

in the fit, fringe fan who could either take

1:30:24

it or leave it. They want the person who

1:30:27

you know, might might

1:30:29

be watching freaking Masterpiece,

1:30:32

theater, Dateline or whatever else

1:30:34

on a normal night. They want that fan because

1:30:36

that's what boost the ratings. That what's that's what

1:30:38

takes them to another level. And

1:30:41

that fan is probably more likely

1:30:44

to stay in and watch that on a Sunday night than

1:30:46

they would be to stay in and watch that on a Saturday.

1:30:48

Finally, question number six from Darrino Dink

1:30:50

at rinto Dink sixty nine, why are you losing your

1:30:52

mind over the Big Ten playing? Well,

1:30:55

they're not playing right now, hopefully they'll

1:30:57

play by the end of the week. I'm not losing my

1:30:59

mind over it. But I will say this, there

1:31:02

are a lot of good people working really really

1:31:04

hard on this, and I think that the

1:31:07

the thing that the things that you're going to

1:31:09

be costing a lot of the kids by not playing.

1:31:12

It sucks, man, it really sucks. And

1:31:14

there are players on some of these rosters

1:31:16

they can literally play themselves from say

1:31:19

the third round to the first round.

1:31:21

I give you three examples. The receiver from

1:31:23

Ohio State Christal Laves one, the

1:31:26

tight end from Penn State Pat Friar muth Is

1:31:28

Prior muth Is another, and

1:31:31

the defensive meant from Michigan Quity Pay would

1:31:33

be a third. All three of those players

1:31:36

I think have first round level

1:31:38

talent but probably need another year

1:31:40

of putting it on the field to get there. And

1:31:43

if you want to look at the difference between what a first

1:31:45

rounder and a third rounder makes. There's differences

1:31:48

in the money guaranteed and the amount

1:31:50

of money that's guaranteed. There's also

1:31:52

an enormous difference in the gross total.

1:31:55

And so you know, I think for guys like friar

1:31:57

Muth, for guys like Lave, for guys

1:31:59

like what you pay um, there

1:32:02

is a ton of money to be made out there. I think

1:32:04

all three of those guys could be top twenty picks, and

1:32:06

I'm not sure that they would go in the first round if

1:32:08

they didn't play. So

1:32:10

for those guys, I think giving them the option

1:32:13

to play, that's why I look. I feel

1:32:15

really strongly about that. And if

1:32:18

there wasn't a safe way to play, then that be one

1:32:20

thing. But one thing that the last few

1:32:22

months have taught me and seeing the NFL

1:32:24

handle this and again, they've had I think five positive

1:32:26

tests across the NFL players

1:32:29

getting tested every day since they went

1:32:31

into pads or since they actually started

1:32:33

like real football practice, um

1:32:35

with the O t A type stuff, and then they went into

1:32:37

pads a few days after that, they've

1:32:39

had five players

1:32:42

test positive. That is an insanely

1:32:45

low total. Well, how did that happen because they

1:32:47

could test and test and test. You can't

1:32:49

get covid um in

1:32:52

the building. You can't spread COVID within your

1:32:54

building if you don't let covid in your building.

1:32:56

And that's what testing allows you to do. It allows

1:32:58

you to prevent COVID. I'm coming in the building

1:33:01

and quite honestly,

1:33:04

I you know, if if daily

1:33:06

test testing is there, I don't think

1:33:08

there's a real reason why you shouldn't give the kids

1:33:10

a chance to play and give certain

1:33:12

programs if a program wants to opt out,

1:33:14

fine, if players want to opt out, fine, everybody

1:33:17

should have that right. But you know, I think

1:33:19

you're taking away something. It's a golden opportunity

1:33:21

for a lot of kids. Appreciate you guys coming out.

1:33:24

Uh, we are going to kind of have some

1:33:26

moving parts here the next few weeks, so I'll

1:33:29

keep you guys post on that. With the different feeds

1:33:31

and everything else, we're still figuring out how all

1:33:33

of that's gonna work. But again, i'll keep you post on

1:33:36

all of that and how all that's gonna

1:33:38

work. And I want your feedback too, because we are going

1:33:40

to be adjusting some things as we go here this year.

1:33:43

With my podcast, whether it's on a separate

1:33:45

feeder or stays on this feed, you guys know

1:33:47

where to get me at Albert Brier on Twitter,

1:33:49

at Albert are Bury on Facebook, at Albert Underscore

1:33:52

Brier on Instagram, And regardless

1:33:54

of how it's set up, you guys should be listening to all

1:33:56

of our podcasts, Gary's Pot on Monday mornings,

1:33:59

h Jenny and Connors Pot on Tuesdays and Thursdays,

1:34:01

and for now, we'll still be doing the Weekend Review podcast

1:34:04

on Fridays as far as I know, and you

1:34:06

guys know where to find us again, whether it's on one

1:34:08

feed, two feeds, whatever it is, you'll

1:34:10

be able to find us on Spotify, Stitcher, tune in,

1:34:12

Google Play, Apple podcasts, wherever you guys

1:34:14

get your shows will be there same

1:34:16

time. Next week, we'll have some games to talk about then,

1:34:18

see guys,