The Around the NFL podcast. Take their job seriously, but don't take themselves too seriously. That's the key. That's the key.

So true. From the.

Chris Wesley podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. Dan Hans is here. Got the heroes Greg Rosenthal and Mark Cessler. It is officially a new year. Same old show.

Nothing's.

Changed. For better or worse, this is the show. This is what we do, and we're going to give you what you expect.

This is a show right here. It's not about the football. It's just the guy who's chopping it up.

If you were hoping for changes, we made none. There probably are a fair amount of people-Now, if.

You want listeners, and please let us know via whatever channels you can, for us to pull like a radiohead and completely reinvent our sound in our second decade, we can try it. I just imagine it would maybe not... It's more likely that we do not produce okay computer. You're more likely to get amnesiac than Kid A. So be careful what you wish for. Not that there's anything wrong with amnesiac, but you know.

I think we're being transparent. Our creative wellspring is challenged.

Absolutely. You know who else is being challenged right now? Eagle's Fence. Happy birthday to Colleen Wolf. This would be the show she's typically on. But we got to give Connie a little her space. Let Connie be Connie. Yeah. Because you said we say Summer of Connie, but it's really... Connie's whole life is a reality show that just doesn't have cameras around, except for when she's connected to the NFL. Connie is doing something for her birthday, so we just want to wish.

I think she's traveling.

I thought she was on an island or a foreign place.

Yeah, I'm going to let Colleen be wherever she is. Got you. We wish you a happy birthday, Colleen. You're a great person and a great Eagles fan. Connie, like so many other Eagles fans, absolutely a shot to the gut on New Year's Eve when you lose at home to the Cardinals. Their whole season is now upside down. That means there's only one thing to do. How bad does this get? That's why we're bringing back potentially the greatest segment we have.

It's undefeated.

Certainly the one that has the most respect inside and outside the industry. Flashpoint focus. Happy New Year to Sidney, Carlson.

If she celebrates.

Some might say, is this too late for a Flashpoint for the Eagles. They've been heading on a downward track record. Well, I.

Asked you.

That on text. Yes, well, that was the sum. I suggested this one, trying to get the upgrade for the co-producer credit, suggesting the second... This is two in a row. Could this change even more? Could it change in a way that the whole organization is different in a couple of weeks?

He's so strange in some ways. In some ways, Greg's a very strange man. He so badly wants to be part of the brain trust on this project that he's thrown in that line that I've thought of the last two.

I'm not trying to be part of it. It's just.

I'm part of it. We are being nice to let you feel involved on this because what Mark's instinct was absolutely correct. If we did this after the nick Ciriani is shouting at the Chiefs fan game, then it's a true Flash Point focus. We're just throwing you a little New Year's bone.

Or that's the basic way to look at it. We could see one of the most successful organizations in the entire NFL completely different in a couple of weeks.

Again, it's the language. But we would have been still a bit ahead.

I don't know if people were talking about the future of Ciriani. I don't.

Know if Greg understands it, though, Mark. The basic way, why the dagger is always... Why?

It's a good context. That's the Greg experience, I believe.

Because there is a way, you're right. The reason why it ends up getting greenlit and pushed through legislation is if this is the beginning of something horrific within the... Within Eagle's nation context.

But there is a fair amount of pressure on Greg for disaster to strike to Philadelphia.

Which is- I'm not looking for that. Think about that. I like this team. Because he loves the Eagles.

He's got a buddy that.

Works with the team. He constantly does Super Bowl dinners.

Like, Oh, where's Greg? Oh, he's with his Eagles buddy. Now in a way, you're celebrating their dysfunction. It's the.

Organization he works for. They're in a fascinating place right now.

Now let's.

Bring it back to business. I'm just a showman. You guys asked for a showmanship. Stirring up the pot. Well, we haven't. With my executive producers and with the show.

Well, you're doing great. You're doing great. What did we decide? He's the gaffer.

A gaffer belongs to a union and has actual skills gaffing. I'm not...

All right, let's get to the rest of the show. We're going to run out of time before Bo gets in here. We got a big guest.

See, now he's trying to run the show. Just take it easy, Greg. We're proud of you. It's going to be a great segment today. We got a lot coming on. Here's what else is going on. We're entering week 18, and it's not exactly a hot-butt check-in in the sense of the pre-season or even mid-season, but let's just see where.

We're at.

Where we're at? It could be coaches, GMs, coordinators, quarterbacks. Who has the most at stake in these last dying breasts of the regular season? But first, as we always do, let's get caught up in the news. I've got.

Controlled fury, and I'm ready to go. I'm absolutely ready to go. I don't go the other way, and the team won't either. We're on a mission and we're not going to… We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves and Wander and everything. We had plays to make, we didn't make them. It's a tight game, a good opponent, playoff-type atmosphere, and you got to make that one extra play that we didn't. We will use this as fuel. I got pure octane right now. I woke up, I'm ready.

I love it. Itell you, you know what? I think it was Dave Coens is the last NBA player coach. You can't tell me Campbell when it'd be somewhat efficient as a player. With the intensity he has, he's obviously in great physical condition. I believe for the lines, defense, they could probably need a couple more guys to get him over the hump and to hoist the trophy. Get Campbell on the field.

For the rest of the year. I have no problem with that.

Dave Cowens, great guy. The hard knock stuff where Campbell, couldn't he not move for two straight days because he bent over funny or something? Remember that?

Yeah, getting old is a bitch. But I just think, I mean, he's.

Awfully impressive.

Let's get to it. Yes, he was initially his head coaching journey, Dan Campbell, began with the Dolphins when he replaced Joe Philby and the Dolphins. Man, what a setback. Their head coach, Mike McDaniel, deserves a lot of scrutiny because Bradley Chubb, who is a huge difference maker on their defense, who is just hitting the stride is the player who they thought they were getting in that big trade with Denver. He's done for the year because he tears his ACL late in the blowout loss to the Ravens. You're going to now have to go the rest of the way without Chuck. They also are not going to have Xavian Howard on the field for this AF East Championship game against the Bulls. This is obviously a big setback for this team. Greg, what does Chuck do? What does he mean to their defense? How do they overcome his loss.

He's their best ed rusher. He's having the best season, I think, of his career, even better than any season he had in Denver. Maybe there was one early one. But the way he was coming on and essentially making you feel like, Okay, we lost, Jalen Phillips, the top 10, 12 ed rusher in the league, but we still got a good enough group with the two defensive tackles and Chuck, and now Chuck's gone too. Mcdaniel, who's so forward thinking, so many things frustrated me with the way he was playing as starters here. That's the number one thing. When I run my team, the two things on my platform are going to.

Be-why are we going back? No down this.

Fictional road where you're now ahead of you? No time out. Well, no, this is more of it's the front office. I'm telling the coaches what to do. No time out's allowed for a delay to avoid a delay a game. Just take the five yards, no time outs. Starters are not playing when you're down three scores or up three scores, period, in the final 10 minutes.

Because it's like, Mike McDaniel has been beyond critique because of all the positives. But Brandon Staley a year ago, Mike Williams is in a game late and they lose him for the playoffs. That was a huge, without Mike Williams, that charger is often the same thing.

Imagine Mike McCarthy does this with Mike McCarthy. Absolutely. People would be over the moon. They'd be apoplectic about it. But I think Daniel has banked a lot of goodwill and for a good reason. But this is inexcusable that he was ever.

On the field. Mike McDaniel did acknowledge in so many words in the press conference like, Yeah, it doesn't look good. I don't know if you're the head coach sometimes, you can't take everyone out.

The thing is, though, every coach does this. It's very rare that this is a group think for all the coaches that I really think they get wrong. You really hurt for Chuck, whose career completely changed when he toured as ACL the first time. It took him a long time to get back to where he was. I really feel like it took him three years, and he got there, and now this happens.

But you're right, Mark. You can't take everybody out, but you can. But you got to take the stars out. You got the guys that.

Are the ones that-This stands out.

As like-The true difference makers.

With the match up coming up against Buffalo, Two has got a banged up shoulder. You don't have Howard. I mean, this could make a huge difference at the most.

Critical time. Where is the Vegas at on that game? Because part of me thinks Miami is going to be... Are they at home, first of all?

They are. It's in Miami. I believe the Bills are favored by three.

Miami. Okay, I was going to say if sound felt like that, it would be in that zone. I like Miami's chances, but you cannot overlook how important Chubb is to their past rush, and we'll see if they're able to overcome it. In other news, Mason and Rudolph is going to continue as the starter of the Pittsburgh Stealers. Rudolph, who has been with the team for years and drifted into the deep background. But due to injuries and ineffectiveness with Kenny Pickett and then Mitch Trabiski, he got his chance and they're playing well, winning the last two weeks. Tomlin says he will remain the starter even with Kenny Pickett available to play the former first round pick. This is Rudolph's the biggest moment of his career coming up in week 18 against the Ravens.

I mean, the Steeler's offense was unwatchable. Wire to wire, even after taking Matt Cannot out outside of one game. In comes Rudolph, throwing for 274 on Seattle, 290 against the Bengals. I think it matters. That was.

11 yards.

For attempt last time. He's incredible. He looks like a completely different version of the player that we used to know. George Pickens in two weeks has 11 catches, 326 yards, and two touchdowns. It matters how it's happening. They have an explosive element to their passing game, which was missing all year. Joe Black, who already has more touchdowns than Kenny Pickett did. Kenny Pickett refused to.

Throw touchdowns. 11 yards for attempt. Only one turnover was a try. I think he tried, but I think he.

Just wasn't good at it. But I don't think he refused, intellectually.

This feels worth at least just noting because Kenny Pickett's been benched here very clearly. He lost the job due to an injury, which is unfortunate, but he is being benched, which is a big moment, I think, when you're a franchise quarterback, I think it raises absolutely fair questions about whether he's the quarterback there moving forward.

You get two years, and by the end of that second year, if it's not clicking, you are vulnerable, and Pickett certainly is. It'll be interesting to see no matter how this season ends, where they go, because I don't think they see Mason Rudolph as the future. They like him, obviously, to have him around this long, but Pickett, they just have not been able to get it going with him. Let's talk about, oh, big app for Restop. Let's to hit a little Restop. Restop has their layers. There could be too much rest. Rest, not enough rest. Then just the idea of guys not playing, which they call rest.

Now he's taken over Flashpoint. The need for the external power is impressive.

Well, you created this one. I didn't. I'm not just going down. I have no producer credit on this.

I'm just talent. Well, I would say you definitely you are the motivation for this segment. Krish McAfrey, out week 18 for the Niners. They've already clinched everything. He was banged up last week, but I don't imagine it's serious. We'll find out down the road. Lamar Jackson, unlikely to play as well for the Ravens. We'll see what else they choose to do. Baltimore has also clinched everything. We're going to get to the Eagles in a second, but nick Cireani said he may sit his starters.

Which-it's interesting because they have a chance to win the.

I know, that threw me.

Is there a time element to that? No, everybody's playing pretty much at the same time, right?

I mean, they would need, I think, your factor in like Dallas plane- Let's save that.

-the commander. Let's save that. Yes, that's a major factor.

Yeah, we mentioned Dan Campbell. Of course, Dan Campbell will play starters. You don't care. Campbell just wants to win ball games every single week. Any thoughts on that, man?

Now, sometimes they say that early in the week and then you get to the end of the week and you hear, Okay, it's a plan. We're going to play Jared Goff for two drives. Maybe not. I believe Vegas thinks they're playing. This is always a very strange Vegas week. I put the words in that Lamar is probably not playing just based on the tone of what Jon Harbis said, but he didn't actually say anything. That really will help the stealers. Those darn stealers, they're going to sneak in somehow, aren't they? I mean, not even somehow. They just need the Dolphins to win and they need to beat the backup Ravens, which isn't a guarantee. Sometimes those backups go ahead and win the game. It's happened before to the Stealers, in fact.

There's this debate around the resting thing, too, with the Ravens specifically is they've done this before and it ended up poorly in the playoffs. I remember those old Payton Manning teams that one time they sat everyone and lost the final Sunday Night game to the Titans or something like that. It prevented a Browns team that had won 10 games from going to the playoffs. I always hated that move. I think there was the year that the Bengals sat everyone against the jets. The jets got into the playoffs, played them the next week, and thumped them. This stuff does matter, but I don't know if it matters with this rave... It's not specifically more attuned to this Ravens team.

The one Colts team with Manning that finally got through was not a great Colts team. They had to play wildcard week and they were a top two seed.

Finally in the news, the Jets waived Dalvin Cook, the running back who signed for a fair amount of money right before the start of the season from the Vikings. He was seen as another piece of a potential championship run for my team. Not the case. He gone. He asked out and the Jets said, All right, if you can find someone that wants to pick you up and maybe go for a playoff run. Tom Pellicero reported this and added the dynamic playmaker has, quote, fresh legs after minimal usage in New York and can now compete.

Is that a report? Do we know that?

The dynamic playmaker has fresh legs. That I feel like that's refutable, but it did come from an insider, so take.

That as- Infallible.

Infallible. I believe he has the most carries, and it's not that many this year. What does he have? 67. Of any running back that has not broken a 15-yard gain. Just that would refute it somewhat.

Yeah, I would say.

That that- Someone's going to need a running back to be kidnapped by a van.

Actually, he's not a crazy pickup for the Cowboys at all. I think one of the reasons they don't- You guys.

Know how it goes with my team. He's going to get picked up by someone, and he is going to be a major factor in the playoffs, and we're all going to have a great old laugh about it.

All across the media landscape. They got out of the money part. That is good for the jets.

A good old laugh everyone's going to have when Davencook rushes for 168 yards and three touchdowns for some team.

In Jets. I don't think you're getting those laughs. You're getting the laughs from the Cook.

Deal.

To begin with. I thought that was a good move, and with it, threeweeks. I no longer thought it was a good move.

He was not moving very well. There's no doubt about it. All right, that's what's happening in the news. Mark, come on now. I know you root for a successful team now, but this is how.

It goes.

This is how.

It goes. I get it. I don't know if everyone hates your team that much. I don't want.

To laugh. It's not about hating the team, but just the jets are fun to laugh at. I can concede that.

I would say this is less gag-worthy than some of the stuff that's occurred to them this season.

By the way, Greg, I was during our rest stop app, which was a good app I thought. Good app of rest stop. I like to tag the rest stop with when we get off the rest stop and get back on the highway.

I thought that I contributed to it as well.

This time. Very nice.

I appreciate it. Well, what happens when I do that?

You get a little royalty check.

Does the rest stop drop on page nine? I always feel like we're waiting for the rest stop for a little too long. There it is.

It's tough. It's tough on this producer. It's one of the ones where.

It's not...

There's a point. I can't fit it in. I don't want to jump on you guys and I.

Don't know. Drop it in there. Because the rest stop needs.

Its mechanic. I think one of these shows, one of us should sit there on the soundboard and.

Have to dial the effects. That's coming this off-season. Eric and I.

Are switching. It sounds like an absolute nightmare.

I've done it before. We've done that before. I've been behind the glass once before. Do you not recall that?

I don't recall our show from Sunday night, so I don't know.

All right, I've been thinking about it, Greg, and you're right. You have been putting in the work on Flashpoint Focus, and you're due for a promotion. I looked up on Wikipedia, television crew. What do you think, Mark? Coordinator, producer.

Okay.

Yeah, that sounds broad. You could sell that to your friends. That's good. You can tell them what you're doing any way you want.

When you get the CP title here, that's a nice promotion for a lot of great, young, hardworking producers at the NFL. That's a nice moment. You think.

Warline producer? What do you think?

That was good.

I'll let you decide.

I'll think about that.

Okay, get back to us at.

The end of the interview. I don't like Greg's tone in general. In general.

See, I.

Feel that too. I'm around this whole thing. I'm inclined to go to stardom lower just to really get that experience from the floor.

I see what you're saying, so maybe we should bust them down to supervising producer.

That sounds boring. My one IMDb credit right now calls me additional crew. That feels good. I'm the Bravo non-hit significant others from 2004. Let's start there.

I love that party. Additional crew. I love that.

Part of you.

We're going to bust you down to additional crew, but it's also a jump up from assistant to the gaffer. We tell.

Them you're an AC.

By the way, before we get to our buddy, Bow Wolf, covering the Eagles and doing a great job at all philly. Com. Let's do a little hot-butt check-in. Entering week 18, where do we want to start? We'll start with the coaches. I just want to just to get this where it needs to be. There's only one absolute gana, right? It's Ron, right? He's the one that either it happens right after the games on Sunday, or it's the first name you hear on Black Monday. He's the only one left because we've lost a few coaches already.

Yeah, because we can. Three have been fired.

Three gone. That would be Reich, that would.

Be-brennan.

Staley. -staley, and that would be Josh McDaniel. Those guys who felt like Black Monday gone, were already kicked to the curb. I think Rivera is the last one standing that you know is gone. Is there anyone else, starting with the coaches here, that you guys are pretty confident are gone? Or things calmed down a little bit where.

There's no one else? Yeah, I was writing these down and thinking the over-under is now maybe six and a half, which is normal, maybe even lower than average. We're only to four there with Rivera. Belichick to me feels all but certain. I would be very surprised. I know there's been some talk in recent weeks of what he would accept Bill in terms of restructure and who's picking the players. I just don't see it. I just think it's been going this way the whole time. I do think he's close to a definite.

That decision feels like we'll learn that it was... There's been reporting to suggest this was already going to happen. They knew. I'm with you on that. There was some positive stuff around Arthur Smith, but if they were to flatline this week too, like you were saying on Sunday night, maybe the owner makes a change there because what is the vision?

Well, that's a coach-off right there, Dennis Allen versus Arthur Smith.

I was thinking we said it mid-season when we did a hot-put check in our first one of the year that the entire NFC South fell up for grabs and then right goes. There's one gone. I think Bowles is safe just because they have had really sustained levels of success this year.

What if he just loses to the Panthers?

That's what I mean. I wouldn't say he's in the clear. I think Bowles is certainly on the bubble entering week 18. Arthur Smith and Dennis Allen, if they're not, they should be. Steve Weiss, who used to work with the Falcons, he's plugged in. He was very confident a few weeks back that Smith was staying, but I don't know if something has changed with Arthur Blank, the owner, since we did get that NPR reporting on Blank, if you recall, a.

Couple of weeks. Which I thought was strong. Very strong. I mean, it was directly from the owner.

It was Trident.

Trident Journalism, I called it. Well, they lost by 20.

Silver Fox, gentlemen, just.

Getting the info. They lost by 20 to the... Since then, they've lost by 20 to the bears. I can't remember if he was on the show before or after they lost to the Panthers, but then losing if it's, let's say, a bad loss to the Saints here, your seven and 10, you're not improving your win loss in your three seasons. Your third season is supposed to be when the Vision comes to the four. Here is their rank in overall efficiency according to DBOA.

This is going to be gross.

His first year, 30th, okay? He took over a tough situation. Second year, 19th, nice improvement. Third year, 28th. You're the fifth worst team in the NFL right now.

In your third year. Packed into that was this idea that you were going to develop Desmond-Ritter and a lot of suspicion around that to begin with. But you're an offensive coach that didn't happen. I would argue these days, with Mike McDaniel, with Sean McVeigh, it isn't three-year rebuilding plans. It happens quick. With some teams, it just happens. I thought we were more on the Arthur Smith thing than made sense looking back now, but it seemed like they were going to flip the switch and you get B. John Robinson and they're unwatchable.

To me, they're worse than their record indicates. They could very easily be a five or a four-win team with a harder schedule.

Which Arthur Smith is like, Well, we're not because of the coaching.

Or because you had the easiest schedule ever, but losing to the Saint. On the flip side, I know Dennis Allen is supposed to be safe now. They're coming off a big game. But if it just flips and you get swept by the Falcons, your biggest rivalry, your rival and your home and the fans are booing, I don't know.

It might seem strange. So big. To base one Sunday on such a huge personnel and team decision. But with these guys, I think they're right on the bleeding edge. By the way, NPR, PBBS coverage, a joint coverage of NFL personnel movement. You know what I would call it? No frills, hard-hitting journalism.

That's what it is. We always respect that.

Also, I'm going to put a name out there. Well, Mike Vrabel is floating. We could talk about him. But... I really think it's, and this one feels more silly, and I was on this last week, Antonio pierce. I think with the Raiders and with that particular owner, I almost feel like that's going to decide who do they have in week 18.

The Raiders. They have the Broncos.

At home. A home against the Broncos in a game that means nothing in terms of the playoffs. I get the feeling Mark Davis is going to make his decision as head coach based on the result of.

That game. I think so, too. I think there's an argument for Antonio pierce compared to what they were before him. But I think a lot of it is the literal owners said I should have hired Bessachia after what he did.

That also doesn't mean you should... But Bessachia also took them.

To the playoffs. These owners, they're not all equal. Mark Davis has done a lot of things that would make you.

Shake your head. He's four and four. This would put him at five and four. They've been good at home where they really have a nice crowd there, a nice rate. Players love him. Yeah, I think you're right, Dan, that this could emotionally... We just have seen it so many times. He's someone I think that could come or go depending on this game.

I think moving to quarterbacks, I think...

I have one- Go ahead. Well, we can talk Ciriani with Bo Wolf. But that was part of the reason I.

Thought this was worthy. I got.

A triple question mark there. It's like Ciriani.

It's like Ciriani?

Iberflus, Feel Safe. They're playing the Packers. In all these games, if you got blown out, it's like, okay, if you got blown out at the end of your season, is that could Eberflus go? Then I think the name I haven't seen out there a lot is Pete Carroll. They have one of the worst defenses in the League. They've had a bottom five defense. He's a defensive coach. They've had a below average defense for seven straight years. If they lost back to back games to the stealers and the Cardinals to lose the season and you're just stuck in the middle again, it's very confusing what the ownership situation is there. When things were getting a little thorny four weeks ago, there were some whispers about Schneider and Carroll maybe not on the same page and some pointing fingers. Don't lose to the Cardinals. I feel like they could very well lose to the Cardinals. If you lose to the Cardinals, I think maybe anything is on.

The table. Okay, but again, that's why some of this is hard for me to wrap my head around.

I'm so.

Freaking death. I'm so freaking death. I don't know what the fuck. Two weeks ago. I think Pete, he has a track record. He's still youthful, at least in spirit and in body. I think that if you give him better players on defense and maybe- They're all his players and.

They've spent so many resources.

Schneider don't fire, Carroll, because I think he's a good head coach. Give him better players and.

Maybe- We're going to hire someone better, too. It depends who becomes available.

In some of the training. I hear all that, but I just think when you're a defensive coach and you just don't have answers and there's two guys in your divisions who hand it to you four times a year and you're using stale thinking because you could say get better players. Who is the draft picks, free agency? They spent a lot on that defense to be really bad. That's all.

How about a defensive coordinator that you let him call the plate?

They've been rotating through. Yeah, they have been. They've been rotating through. They've fired three or four because their defense have been bad. Different location. I think it's one to throw out there.

What if the bills got blown out by Miami and then there's a bunch of negative energy and stuff happened? Is Sean McDermott 100% safe? I don't think so. I think Sean McDermott is somewhat... A grizzly blowout? I'm just saying, all these teams were talking about it, we'll get into it with the Eagles. A month ago, everything with the Eagles was looking wonderful. Nick Ciriani was this guy that everyone from Philly responds to X, Y, and Z. Mcdermott had that one little incident. He's been great overall, but it's almost like that doesn't matter. These things always end badly.

They just won their 10th game. I would say he's 98 % safe.

It seems like a super surprise to me if it would happen, but I feel like we get one of these surprises. It also just depends.

That's the thing I wanted to throw, Kiro. I was trying to think of who would be a surprise and he would make sense to me, if they lose. I think they're going to lose. Wink, Martindale, by the way, just as a coordinator, I do feel like this will be his final game after that Glazer report and pretty lackluster performance.

Yeah, Joe Barry is probably finally coaching his final games with the Packers, but we'll see how the end of their season goes. I'll throw a quarterback out there, Justin Fields, like how the year ends for Fields. I think he's already put enough on tape in the back end of this season, in my opinion, that they should keep riding with him. But with the fans calling for him to stay and with the locker room backing, they want fields back, if he has a big game to close the season, I feel like the Bear is going to have a hard time going in a different direction.

I think they're going to have a hard time because the fan base would be split on that. But if the entire football community falls head over heels about one of the rookie quarterbacks, which happens every year. They will, yeah. It's more like you're just weighing A versus B.

But that's Caleb Williams and maybe Drake May are going to be viewed as the best quarterbacks to come out since Lawrence, maybe like two or three years that level to pass on him for field. But I'm with you that this week, it's so fascinating. They are really, and we'll talk about it Thursday, but they're really set up the exact same way the Lions were a week ago, heading into week 17, where they've had a ton of momentum. In this case, it's a defensive coach whose defense is playing well, and the offense is also playing better. If they beat the Packers to knock the Packers out of the playoffs in the final week, I agree. I think it's going to be difficult- Very hard for them. -to jump off that.

Feeling of progress. I think.

It would.

Be an incredible situation for the Bearers to be in because even if you don't think Fields is the Messiah. That when he was drafted and they were all getting excited about it and rightfully so, if he's just merely good, you have this incredible leverage of having the number one overall pick. After having the bounty that you picked up from the you can do it again with another team, desperate for that number one pick. You could.

Really build a young nucleus. You can just move down to three and take one of the receivers and get a bunch.

Of them. If they play this right, if they decide they like fields and then play it right in terms of the trading of the picks and who they take, they are a potential juggernaut. They're not far away from that happening.

One of the greatest oral history long forms I read was when Cleveland talked themselves into not drafting Big Ben because they were obsessed with the fact that they had signed Jeff Garcia and Free Agency. The other side of it is that Fields just stays him. Then the GM has to sit there and be like, It's my name if we don't go get the clear cut number one first overall pick just because we can add assets around Justin Fields. That has.

To work. It's a fascinating philosophical- It has to work.

Either way, it has to work. Right. Yeah, but I know what you're saying.

It's a fascinating philosophical discussion, which we'll be having for months, I guess. But it's like a cost-controlled quarterback in Fields who you know now. He's going into year four and five. You could pick up the option and it's still pretty low money. Let's realistically put him somewhere, if we're even being a little generous, in the Kirk Cousins, Ryan Tana Hill, not style-wise, but maybe you're not a top 10 quarterback for most of your career, but you're on the edge of it and you're better than average. I think that's where Fields is and where he's at.

But he also has.

The.

Skill set. And he has-He does.

Some special things. And he could get better. A Josh Allen-type skill set.

Right. He could get better. I just mean, the level. If you're quarterback 10-12, or would you rather have the number one overall quarterback in that contract and everything?

I think it matters that they said, We're going to go get you a big time wide receiver. Then DJ Moore came here and was absolutely as advertised and has been a big time star for them. He's shown, give me guys, and I'm going to produce.

With them. Dj Moore was like, why are we talking about getting a different quarter?

Right. Then you can put DJ across from Marvin Harrison, Son, and we are, cook it. That's it. I'll stop. I think a lot of the Bearers fans are on that page, though. Doesn't mean it's the right one, though. Fans make mistakes all the time in judgment.

No, they don't.

Yeah, you're right. We're just a couple of guys at the bar. All right. Any other player, by.

The way? Well, the only... This is a mid-level quarterback who's a fringe starter. But a week ago, the Baker Mayfield thing was working in Tampa, a team that doesn't... They're not in position to go get a number one overall pick. There was reporting around the fact that there was mutual interests on both sides coming from an agent, coming from someone in the team, I get it. But after last week, talk about two weeks could change things, totally flatlining against the Saints. Then if they were ever to lose to the Panthers, it's like, We're looking for a new quarterback and a new lot of things.

At that point. That's a.

Good point. Maybe a new head coach, maybe a new GM, maybe a new quarterback. That's, Mark, I know you're under the weather, but I'm glad you brought that up because they are a team in flux if they bottom out the League.

It is crazy. You're welcome to on week 18 against a Panthers. It shouldn't matter, but I think you're absolutely right. Then if you plays pretty well, you make the playoffs, you maybe play well in the playoffs for a game, heck, they might play, too, because they're playing the Eagles. I'm going to throw out a random name here. How about a Ram's defensive tackle, Kobe Turner? Who's Kobe Turner? He's someone that's not even listed on Bandual as one of the top six possible players for defensive rookie of the Year. This man has nine sacks. Do it.

He's at two and a half in the last- He's going to do it.

The pressures he has, I was looking at him versus Carter, he has more pressures than Jaylen Carter. I think Defensive Ricky of the Year should be much more wide open than it is in Vegas, where it's Carter has a pretty decent size favorite, and then Witherspoon is in there for the Seahawks. Turner is there at the PFF grade, the pressures, everything winds up. He needs to, I think, get some media momentum and maybe have another sack or two. But man, a defensive interior guy getting 10 or 11 sacks, that would be nice. Go win.

The best of Ricky of the year. Drafted 89th overall. I mean, you want less.

Than-they're a.

Draft class. Good job, my man.

He's.

Had a year. And Shawnie McVeigh, they are building that thing on the fly. All right, any others? That's it.

They're not going to play Garrett. I would say Garrett. I do love Kobe Turner. It'd be nice for Garrett.

Kobe Turner, see that's- He's not of the had team. -that's the value that you bring, Greg. So much value. But the drop of Kobe Turner, it's like, yeah, we talked about the quarterbacks, but there's also a nose tackle. No one's paying attention to. That week 18. It's all on the line. What is he? Where's he at?

Defensive tackle, I guess. Then one moving around a little bit, but yeah.

Why did you have to crack me there? Just let that one go. Nobody would have known. Maybe Bow Wolf would have known. But 99 point, what? 8% of people would have been like, Oh, nose tackle. That's right. Now you've made a fool of me on the show.

Thank you. We're not going to be able to come back from that easily.

What? We're going to bust them down for that. You're an intern again. I'm sorry. We got to take it.

No, no, no. Additional crew.

What did we decide?

Additional crew in AC.

Additional crew. That's what they give me for driving the director, executive producer to target to pick up things.

No, you're way more valuable than that. Give me a break. Flash point focus. We're going to get to it coming up after the break.

Path might.

Be harder, but shoot.

Like.

I said, our goals are ahead of us.

We got to get things fixed and.

We got to get them fixed fast.

We're not where we.

Want to be.

Right yet.

As far as.

How we're playing right now and how we're coaching right now.

But we.

Got time to get it fixed and we'll get to work back to work tonight and tomorrow.

Welcome back. Nick Ciriani. The Philadelphia Eagles started 10 and 1, but have lost 4 or 5, coming apart at the seams. It seems this year. Inconsistent on offense. Defense has turned into a mess with Matt Patricia being tasked to fix things up. That tells you a lot. Now we're going to be joined by a guest who knows this team as well as anyone that's been on the show before. Friend of the show, now with all philly. Com, A-L-L-P-H-L-Y. Com covering the Eagles, it's Bo Wolf. Bo, welcome back to the show.

Thank you for having me. I got to say, the last time I was on the first time I was on paternity leave after the birth of my daughter. This was 2020, so Eagles, despair, cells, I guess. But I got to thank you guys because we all measure time in different ways. I look at my daughter growing into the dynamo she is today, just this force of nature and all of that time, three years and two months or so, it's been in the back of my mind. Am I on the hit it and quit it, won and done with her. Now I can be a more present father.

You are definitely not.

No, we just needed the Eagles to start falling apart. That's what we like.

I'm picturing, Bo, all these great milestones of having a young child and your wife's there and you're just looking off into the middle distance during first birthdays and all these Christmas and all that stuff, wondering, will they call again?

Now you're there. Maybe my resolution should have been to be a more present father and you guys are giving me that now because now I can put that to bed.

Well, that's what we do to help our guests. You're back on a second visit, so you're.

A good guest. And, Bo, I took a big hit to my integrity at the end of the last segment with the whole Kobe Turner nose tackle debacle. You have a connection to Turner, I understand.

Yeah, I figured you were doing that on purpose. We're doing Wake Forest here. We got a Go Deaks conversation. Greg Dorch lights up the Eagles last week. We can just make that the whole segment if you want.

You knew that he wasn't a nose tackle, right?

Well, of course. All good, Deem and Deacons know that.

Damn it. Tim Duncan knows. All right, let's talk, Eagles.

Let's do it.

What's going on? What the hell? As Vince Lombardi once said, What the hell is going on out there? Is this team? Someone was asked, I wish I could remember who it is right now, is the team still believe in the direction of the head coach? It was answered in a way like don't even bring that up. Do you feel like there's something internally building when this team that could potentially blow? How bad is it right now with the Eagles?

I do. I think the thing that gave that all the way was the decision to fire, but not fire Sean to say in favor of Matt, Patricia. There's a saying that Fletcher Cox likes to say, which he shared with us on our podcast, which is the calmer you are, the calmer we are. So longevity-wise, keeping the temperature of the team-wise, you want a guy who's steady. That decision at that point in the season when you came off two blowout losses to the Niners and Cowboys, and there's some understanding that maybe they were looking at that decision at some point during the buy week. But to go from Sean to side, keep him around and do the embarrassing thing of making him be on TV upstairs, and then bring in Matt Patricia, who does not have a great track record as a defensive coordinator. He's not calling this defense. You set it up so that, okay, he gets to play Drew Lock and then Tommy Cutlets, and then this Cardinals team that's very bad. Okay, the defense should look better. Then they come out and put out the worst defensive performance of the season against the Cardinals.

They give up four touchdowns on those four second half possessions. I think there is some rot. You think about why that decision would have been made. Is it either Ciriani being a little bit defensive about what is going on with the team and thinking that he has to make a change? Is it the input of Howie Roseman or Jeffrey Lurey, people from above? Whatever the answer is, neither is suggestive of longevity. I don't think that that means that nick Ciarion is definitely on the hot seat when the season is over. But I think if you look at some of the body language stuff that goes on on the sidelines and some of the conversations that are being had about the predictability of the offense. You think back to the decision that Jeffrey Lurey made to move on from Doug Peterson after 2020. What he said was, deserve has nothing to do with this. It's like, how do we move forward? Nick Ciriani deserves to still be the head coach of the team based on how good he has been over the course of three years. But if they don't get the answers that they want at the end of the season, and certainly they know more about the dynamics in the locker room than we do, then knowing the history of this organization, I don't think it's insane.

Wow. I was fascinated. It was a couple of weeks back, Bo. I think it was after their second straight loss, you guys, even then on your podcast, titled the pod something like, Could Ciarioni be on the hot seat? I was like, Whoa, PHOI going all hot take, like WIP over there. You and Zach-.

Well, I will share with you. Zach, my partner is not. He did not like that.

I can't.

Imagine it.

Now here we are three weeks later.

The idea was to indulge the worst-case scenario. At that point, the worst-case scenario was like, there's no way they're going to lose three of the next four, but then they lose to the Seahawks and the Cardinals, and you see the way that things have gone. The way that I framed it is that this season has been like they are speedrunning the post-2017 collapse. The first third of the season was the 2018 season when they were still good, getting by on winning close games and a borderline a contender. The middle part of the season was 2019 when they were relying on all these old guys and just okay enough to make the playoffs. Then the 2020 season was doubling down on all these people who brought them, input in the coaching staff, all of this turmoil, and all of a sudden, things blow up. My sense is, like most of the players in the locker room still like nick Ciriani. I think there is enough of a track record of him being a very good coach. I think he has been an underrated coach for the first two years of his career. I don't think he gets enough credit for what he did last year.

But I think the long-term concern with nick was all of the highs and lows. Is that something that is going to last for a long time? We're seeing right now, is that working? I don't know. I think it's going to be like, what is your plan to fix things if this goes as bad as it looks like it may go? And if they don't get the answers they like. Remember when they fired Doug Peterson, it was a week after the end of the season. They said that he was coming back, and then they went back and changed their mind. We'll see what happens.

I thought it was interesting to have the moment of complete meltdown happen against Jonathan Gannon's Arizona Cardinals team, where they controlled the ball for 40 minutes. That's unusual for an Eagles defense in our time doing the show, or as an Eagles fan in general. Shane Styken is Coach of the Year material in Indianapolis. Part of the job of a head coach is to find the best people to take over when coordinator absences occur. I always thought that if anything, Bryan Johnson, who had been tagged as Jalen Hertz' friend and coach and mentor going back to high school, that's seen about as seamless as it could be. It's not been the case. Hertz has been a different quarterback this year. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like in some of these press conferences, there seems to be almost coded language of concern about the team in general. Hertz, a year ago, was the leader of the year. Everyone talked about how he unified the entire locker room. Where are the players in all this right now in terms of disenfranchisement? Because I feel like on a weekly basis, AJ Brown is melting down. Hertz seems gloomy.

It just seems like the energy around the Eagles has bottomed out.

I don't think there's any doubt about that. Vibes-wise, things are not great right now. Aj Brown has declined to talk to reporters after each of the past two games. He didn't talk last week. He said, If I've got nothing nice to say, I'm not going to say anything at all. That Jaylen hurts of it all, I have made the case that the team takes its personality from Jaylen more so than nick over the past couple of years. I don't think that Jaylen has been the problem. But I do think if we take a step back, it is fair to say, okay, the degree of difficulty for this season is very difficult. There's a reason that teams who lose in the Super Bowl do not often get back. There is rest to it. There is the adjustment of expectations and dealing with guys in the locker room. As you said, they lost both coordinators. We made such a big deal last offseason about this was the first time that Dylan Hertz was going to get his second season in a row with the same offensive playcaller for the first time since he was in high school.

Just because he knows Bryan Johnson doesn't mean that that's going to be a seamless transition this year.

But if I'm a Jay Brown and I am this ultra-competitive guy and I want us to win more than anything, and I know that one of the best ways for us to win is for me to get the ball and I'm not getting the ball enough, or the play calling on offense or the structure is not taking advantage of me and Devante Smith and Dallas Goddard enough, I would probably be upset too. I think that the second to last possession of the loss to the Cardinals was telling here because the defense had been getting totally run over all game long. You know that the defense doesn't stand a good chance of stopping the Cardinals here. So Jonathan Gennon with five and a half minutes left makes what I think was a shrewd decision to go for the on-side kick, knowing that if you don't get it, you're baiting the Eagles into being a little bit conservative there to settle for the field goal because they're already within range. The Eagles get the first play, they get a nice completion to AJ Brown for 15 yards. The next play is a called run and Jordan Milana gets called for holding.

Now it's first in 20, and there's four minutes left. You should still go for a touchdown. This is a bad Cardinals defense. You've got AJ Brown and Devante Smith, and Dallas Goddard, a very good offensive line in this quarterback you paid all this money to. Instead, they call Jalenhert's run, read option, and then a screen to Kenneth Gainwell on third and 19 that gets Devante Smith injured as a blocker.

I'm sorry, but.

You can't trust- It gets.

Everyone booing as the team takes the lead with three minutes left. I don't know if I've ever heard that booing before. Booked literally as the team takes the lead with a couple of minutes left. That was amazing.

Right, and if you put all this money into those players and you can't trust them to go win the game against a team that is incentivized to lose, then what are we doing?

It's a great call because who knows, nick Ciarion's tendency is better than Jonathan Gannon. They were together every day. You're right, he baited him into that. Then, sure enough, it ended up getting him beat. Now, one of the things I keep going back to, because there's been obviously a lot of studying of what's wrong with the offense, why hasn't been consistent. But they invested four first round picks in that defensive front. To watch what the Cardinals are doing, and we all like James Connor. He's overcome a lot. He's a solid running back. Michael Carter, I remember back in his jet's days early on, he was a guy that had some juice to him, but had been off the radar for a couple of years. But what they were able to do to just running over this expensive, high talent front of the Eagles is another sign of what's gone wrong with the season. Can you help make sense of what has happened upfront? That was supposed to be the strength of their unit.

It's a huge question, and it's the biggest problem with the Eagles this season. I think it's the biggest reason they are where they are is that the defensive line has underperformed. We had Brian Waldinger on our show today, your boy, and he's talking about how Jordan Davis is out there looking out of shape, not trying, like why is he even active? We're talking about the guy they drafted one spot over Kyle Hamilton, by the way. Maybe there is a bit of a diminishing return to investing everything in the defensive line, but it's not just Jordan Davis. These guys are underperforming it. One thing that is on my radar about the Sean Desai experience here is the Eagles organization has for so long been very heavy about their defensive line rotations. The position coaches at defensive tack and outside linebacker are the same as they were last year. Nick Ciriani is the same. Howie Rosman is the same. The only different variable there is Sean Desai. They were playing these guys way more than they had in years past over the first half of the season. It's possible that that was a source of contention. Josh Schwett has played already 300 more snaps than he did a season ago.

If you were to tell me that this looks like a defensive line that is exhausted, that is what they look like. But that's no excuse for, as you said, the defense is built around this defensive line, having all of these former first round picks and high price players. Meanwhile, you got Hassan Redik dropping in coverage seven times last week. It doesn't seem like they're making use of their resources. There haven't even been that many injuries. There have been some injuries. Nikoby Dean, who they were counting on to be their main linebacker, is out for the season. They've had a few injuries. Darius Slay has missed the past few games, but it's no excuse. They have been the worst third-down defense on third and long in the League by a mile. It's hard to explain.

Right. There's so much talk about Hertz. Then I look at it and I'm like, He still played a top 10 quarter. They have the number eight offense in the League, D. B. A. They have the 28th defense with all those resources. That is the story. You've had this theory. Their coordinator was supposed to be Fanjo, and somehow that got messed up. I actually don't even understand. It was supposed to be Fanjo, but the Jonathan Gannon tampering case with Arizona somehow all led to that. What happened there? And do you think if this goes really bad, like they either lose Sunday or they win Sunday, but then they lose the first round and it's ugly? This is a two-part question. The thing just explains me. And then do you think things get blown up, blown up? Where do you see the blowing up happen? Because front and office also might change. Alec Halaby is supposedly getting interviews with other organizations. A lot could be changing here with this team.

Yeah, I think Ben Stane to get the athletic at the athletic had the rundown of Commanders candidates. He had Halaby there. I think he's been linked to the Chargers as well. Well, first of all, the fan job thing. He was in the building last year. All season, he was out of the building as a consultant, but they had him on retainer. Then they brought him on full force in the playoffs to have him under contract. Listen, it's not totally dissimilar to them having Matt Patricia this year. He was their plan B, knowing... Jeffrey Lorry once said that in 2021, the first year that they were renting Jonathan Gannon. They knew that he was going to get a head coach job at some point. They had a plan B in Vick, Fanjo. We know that there is this disconnect with the Cardinals because they had that trait, as you guys have talked about, because of the tampering. And so Fanjo gets offered the Dolphins job around the time of the NFC Championship game, but he doesn't take it because the reporting is that he was expecting to come to Philadelphia, but Gennon doesn't talk about how likely it is for him to go to Arizona, and maybe he doesn't know.

Still, for all intents and purposes, the Eagles is expected that if Gennon left, Fangio was going to be their defensive coordinator. And Fangio has said as much that he was expecting that as well. Then all of a sudden you get in the situation where you've got to reach for somebody else and they go for Sean Desai, who is the Fanjo disciple. Then in April or May, they bring in Matt, Patricia, I guess, as a backup plan. I don't know. It's hard to know exactly whether that decision to change things mid-season was a Ciriani decision or a Howie Roseman or a Jeffrey-Larry decision, but it's indicative of they were never really all in, I think. Setting aside like putting him on TV, which is just like you're just embarrassing the guy. It's hard to get over. And then if things go really badly, if they lose in the first round on the road to an NMC South team. I think that it's a difficult conversation between Jeffrey, Larry, and Howie Roseman and nick Ciriani about what do you need to change. I think they obviously need to make wholesale changes on defense. My understanding is everybody in the building really likes Matt, Patricia.

To me, from the outside, it's a hard sell to hand things over to him, but maybe they're thinking that if he gets to build the defense the way he wants, then it changes something. On offense, I think they need, at the very least, fresh perspective. You saw them do this. They tried to do this in 2020. They brought in Rich Skangarella to be the Kyle Schanagan, Whisperer, like the run game and the passing game. One thing you see about the Seago's offense, and it goes to the lack of creativity with it. They run motion at the lowest rate in the league. There are no real easy buttons. They're terrible against zero blitzes. They need fresh perspective. And so maybe that's nick Ciriani saying, I agree with that. I need to get back to the drawing board. Who are some people I know around the league? It's not a new problem to have the brain drain of backfilling your coaching staff after losing your top lieutenants. But I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to bring somebody else in. Again, Deserve doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it. I think if there is real dissension in the locker room between the players and nick Ciriani, Harry Roseman is going to choose the players over the coaches.

I think that what we know of a decade of watching the way the organization is run is that the reason they think they are successful is because of what they do personnel-wise. I think that of the three most important people in the organization, Ciriani, Hertz, and Rosman, Ciriani is the least important in Jeffrey Larrie's mind.

Well, Dom is.

First.

Naturally. Listen, this losing streak coincides with Dom.

Curse of Dom.

Curse of Dom. I floated it. By the way, there's a different team seemingly every January that's having the same conversation. Matt, we really like Matt. He's a good guy around. He's a friendly guy. I don't know if we need to have him around, though.

There's been this long feud between and Matt Patricia. You meet Darius Slay the first day you meet him. The first thing you find out is he doesn't want to be called Darius, call him Slay. The second thing you find out is he hates Matt Patricia, and then they bring in Matt Patricia. They say that they have mended those fences, Slay says everything is fine. They hug on the field before the game. But it goes to tell you that - It all started. -he's every side of the organization caring about.

Every other side. Right. No, he calls him Darius. That's why it happened. I'll put you on the spot before we say goodbye and check out at allfilly. Com, where they do great coverage of the team. You mentioned it. They're most likely, unless the Cowboys gag, which is certainly always possible, they're going to be on the road against the NFC South winner the first weekend of the playoffs. Let's say things go sideways. Baker and the Bucks 31, Eagles 17, all sorts of breakdowns on both sides of the ball. All that bad body language, it all comes out during the late stages of the game. The Pressers are pretty woeful in terms of what people are saying. The energy is terrible. Percentage chance, nick Ciarionis, the head coach, gets fired after an event like that. Cataclysmic, Flashpoint focus it for us, percentage.

You're going to get me in trouble with Zach, I think. I'm going to go in that situation.

Yes, that exact situation.

I mean, he doesn't listen to.

This show. 31, 17 bucks.

I'm going 60, 40.

Whoa. He go.

He going. I mean, that's a lot of ifs to get to that point.

We're not going to pull it for social. Pull it for social. No, we won't do that to you, Bo. But I just wanted to ask you that.

I'm giving you the same odds, Bo, if what we thought might be an annual occurrence, we have a tennis rematch at this Super Bowl, the Eagles somehow sneak in. I don't know if Dan even knows this, but me and Bo.

Now you're playing.

Tennis with the Super Bowl? Me and Bo, it was probably the most fun I had.

In Arizona. Also, Craig won't bring it up unless he won.

No, I lost. Bo took care of me in a big spot. A big server. I could still move, but the lack of tennis playing over the last 20-somewhat years came back to haunt me, and he took care of me.

You're used to taking down Walker, right? It's a little bit different.

Greg, often as stated, he was a tennis champion where he was from. My team wanted-What does that say about Bo?

He's a big hitter.

It lays out the truth. Wow.

I think I might actually be in the Super Bowl this year. I think we're doing shows there for Al P. H. L. I. We're making rematch whether the Eagles.

Are gone or not. Maybe we can do it there.

I think I'm going to watch. I would need a couple drinks, but I feel like we.

Could commentate that. I've not played tennis this year.

It could be a podcast. We clearly were invited to watch the first time. This is another one of the secret Super.

Bowl week. I'm sure you are going to get an Uber on Saturday morning out to some old folks' home where we set up. It's a great setup. I would not.

Have thought.

Saturday is going to be a tough one. My three year old is making all this noise upstairs. I'm sure you can hear. She's probably wondering, are you going to finally pay attention to me now?

Right, right. Appreciate me, Daddy. Go do that, Bo. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate you. Thank you.

Thanks, guys.

All right, another big performance from Bow Wow. Never under consideration for Hit It and Quit It. Just we waited for the right moment to bring them back.

But we're so vague about who's on the bad list that if you haven't been brought back, it would go through your mind.

He's in a tough spot because he goes to one of my adopted teams. Colleen handles the Eagle situation, so it's tough. It's tough to break in there.

I think if I was playing singles with one of the hosts of the show, Singles Tennis, I'd assume I'm on the good list.

Yeah.

Well, if Bo listens to the show, he knows I'm not the one making that list, ultimately. I can contribute, but what does that mean? You're making the list.

I don't make the list. Listen, if you are...

Who's making the list, Mark?

I would say- I have a voice. -i'd say there is very little controversy between us about who's on that list. That would be true.

There is consensus. Absolutely true.

There is consensus. We're not going.

To be bullying. There's never been a one where you guys like, No, he's good. No, he gone. No. Usually we're on the.

Same page. It's a short list.

Very short. I could think of one in particular. Yes. By the way, I figured out what it is about-I.

Don't know which one you mean because I can think of two. All right, go ahead.

Oh, yeah. No, I know what you're talking about. The thing about it is, because I want to make sure we're on the same page in terms of credits for production on Flash Point Focus.

That's.

Imperative. I think what it is that we're bumping up against Cess Dog is that Greg really is important to it. It's almost like to take it and frame it in a TV show. He's a real talent in the writer's room. But there's also he's erratic. He's very confident, he shoots from the lip and gets some people uncomfortable. There's been a couple of inter-offense romanceinner office romances that went sideways.

He crashed- Wait a second here.

He crashed a Porsche after the holiday party one year. He's such a talent and we want to promote him and keep him within the enterprise.

We do.

But it's always just these things in the back of our mind we don't want to create a monster or feed the monster. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I think that when you give Greg a little bit of power, you start to become concerned with what can unfold at that point. We see it in various tangible ways, even with this production.

I'm a weirdo.

But you know what I mean, Greg? It's not personal. I want to make sure this is such a.

Valuable property. Yeah, you're threatened. A little bit. You're threatened.

I think you're a little eroded. You're using a guiding hand in, like a fatherly guiding hand. You don't want-We.

See it. We see it. We see what's happening, and we're like, Can we control this?

I don't know. I know the answer to that.

Look, he's about to say something else annoying.

You're Officer Winslow on whatever that show was. You don't want Erkel taken over. You don't want to become the Erical show.

Okay, that's a wrap. You framed yourself as Steve Erkel here?

Family Matters.

Family Matters. Yeah, Carl Winslow, he got banged that actor because he was coming off diehard. They were like, Oh, we got a vehicle for you. You're going to host this very family-friendly sit-com on ABC. He's like, That sounds great. He becomes the star until Erkel shows up. Greg, his position himself was the Erkel, Can I do that? All of a sudden, it was Erkel merch and everything hung on Erkel.

Yeah. Wait, so I'm not a religious watcher of that show or no- It's.

Been a while.

You want to know who you are? Did he not appear early in the show? Did he come.

In-erkel, initially, he would show up every once in a while. No, you are not, because I know you sometimes get worried, you're not the... They had one daughter that just disappeared on that show. That's not you.

How did she disappear? I always liked that one day she was gone. I was gone. They're just like, This isn't working.

Do you have a grandma or the daughter? Someone one day was just gone.

Written.

Out the script. Any Family Matters watchers behind the glass?

They were not even born when that show with... They probably just waited. They're probably looking at their clocks right now.

All right. That's it.

Anything else? Good show. Got the big Thursday preview.

It was fine. We're a B-minus. B-minus, I would say. Really good, though. Sounds good. Strong B-minus. B? I think it was good. B-minus. That seems fair.

Good? It's fair.

I mean... Unfair. You're saying it's unfair.

I think that's the level we've been at. That's our level. Our seven years. Why go high?

Why go for today? We said we changed nothing from last year to this year.

All right, until... Let's see, what is today?

Today's.

Tuesday. Tuesday. We'll see you on Thursday with the week 18 preview. Hopefully, another B-minus. Until then, leave the call.