The Around the NFL podcast. Hasn't lost Mark to the desert yet. Hello, and welcome to day 2 from Radio Row in Las Vegas of the Around the NFL podcast. Dan Hanses here, of course, with the heroes Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sesler. I think we should start here, Greggy. Mark, how are you feeling, dog? Because it was a little touch and go yesterday, looking at you. He was.

I typically feel terrible when that's happening because it's like people are having to listen to someone's voice that is not radio row ready. Greg is looking at me and I understand, is this person going to fall in?

Get him.

No, I would say I was at 12% yesterday. I'm at about 38% today.

That's great.

In fact, we had-Sending upward, slowly.

We took a car to get to Radio Row, and Mark leads with the fact that he thinks that he might be on the way out and his illness is raging. I could see the driver getting very uncomfortable in a March 2020 way.

In this huge, vast radio row, a lot of people were huddling together and talking and catching up. There's a seat over by the wall over there. I was just sitting over there trying to respect everyone else's-As one does?destiny.

As one does. It wouldn't be your normal antisocial proclivities that are contributing to that at all.

I don't think that's-Mark, let's be honest, you're sitting against that wall no matter what.

Well, in this case, it benefited multiple people.

Well, I hope you remember this. You say you have no recollection of what happened yesterday. None. We had to-That sounds like more than a head cold, by the way. Drag you out of here. I think it's going to be a big show.

I'm so excited because this is the episode of the year for me, guest-wise. And reviews are in. The pilot episode of Mark's Man Cave. People love it. They love the energy. They love the tone. They love the conversation. Coming up today, it's the Sauce Dog Spectacular. Sauce Dog. We have Sauce Gardener, New York Jets Superstar. We have Chris Mad Dog Ruso, icon of sports media, both on the show today. And if that's not enough, we got a pipe here. We got a pipe. In person. Which was an incredible surprise to me because it was off my radar. Nick Shook, who is so important to our show during the season, is here covering the 49ers He had an interesting bar experience that we're going to get to later yesterday that really tied it to our show in a really neat way. Here we are. What a show. Again, this is the Sauce Dog Spectacular. With a little side of pipe.

Well, I love anything with the side of pipe. It's our preview show, too. We're diving in, no one I'd rather do it with than Shook, and no one I'd rather fawn over and tell the same stories as we introduce how we grew up listening to him than Mad Dog for the third straight year.

We can skip that part this time. Greg maybe is less into that aspect of it.

No, I love Mad Dog. I don't want to hear that.

It's like you could say... Someone who is a pessimist could say that we cater some of our guests' appearances to our own personal interest. We've had two Browns. We're going to have a jet. We're going to have... Shook is everyone's interest, but Mad Dog, our childhood hero. But you know what? You go do a podcast for 12 years and bring the guest on that you want to bring on.

Whose show is it? It's our show, baby.

Well, can I get a pro woman's tennis player on the show or something? Let's get-I would say you could.

We'll see if you can get a Steffy Graff here.

She has been getting out in the mix more lately.

See if we get Steph. A little... Now, already, I'm in the hole a little bit with the tenant, Cornie Cova. We'd see if she's available.

Monica Cellas.

Cellas.

In a big spot, yes.

Let's go with the legend. A little Chrissy Everts. Martina. And by the way, Mad Dog, he loves talking tennis, too. So if you want to get a tennis question in there.

Why don't you do that, Greg? I'm sure that would be of interest to our listeners.

When he did solo shows, he talked tennis for an hour on a rip. He would love it, Greg.

I think what Greg was he's directly saying is he doesn't want you to tell the story about driving with your dad in the car, listening to Mad Dog on Saturdays again.

I think we've covered that.

But I would love it because Mad Dog is going to hear it like he's never heard it before. Right. All right. Anyway, without further ado. Let's start this. Have I mentioned that today's episode is the Sauce Dog Spectacular? So let's bring him in. Our first guest, Half of SauceDog. Saucegardner. All right, so let's get into it. I mean, enough. Because right now, as has been mentioned, it's time for the SauceDog Spectacular Part One. Saucegardner. Of the New York Jets, All-Pro, former defensive rookie of the year, the best player on my favorite team in the world. This is cool. This is when it's cool to be here. What's up, Sauce? How are you? I'm great, man.

I appreciate you all for having me. It's a blessing to be here.

Tell us what you're doing with Verizon.

It's always great to have my name, the Verizon name, mentioned in the same sentence. I'm a huge fan of them, and I just enjoy working with them. Like I said, I'm here on behalf of Verizon, the official 5G network of the NFL, a network that the majority, if not all, of the NFL players, fans, and coaches rely on. So it's a blessing to be here.

How do you feel about this is the Sauce Dog Spectacular, being the opening act here for Mad Dog Ruso coming on later in the show?

That's fire right there. I like that. Okay.

I'm glad you're with it.

You got a sound effect and everything. I think that I saw them look in your eye when that played.

I hit it. Sauce. Here's a theory to get into things. You know this Chief's team, your Jets, our Jets. We beat them in week four if the officials didn't... Shenanigans, let's be real. I don't know if you could say it, but I could say shenanigans. By the transit of property, if the Chiefs win on Sunday, the Jets are the Super Bowl champions.

Yeah or no?

I guess just fans can't possibly say that. But, reality is everything. So if it's not actually saying Jets Super Bowl, then we ain't winning.

What was it like going up against them at that point in the season and everything and what they presented to you. How was it different?

It was great. Competitive, a whole bunch of elite players on that team. I still feel like we should have won that game.

No, come on.

You know what I'm saying?

Did they get you on one of those penalties? Yeah, they did. Oh, come on. You're going to penalize Sauce in the fourth quarter of crunch time. It makes me sick, Cecil.

It does. What did you learn about Patrick Mahomes in that game?

He got lucky.

I learned that he... How do I put this? In this crunch time, he knew exactly what to do. He knew the guys to rely on, he knew when and when not to do certain things. He's a smart player.

He made those big plays with his legs, I remember, in the game. Sure. Always an underrated part of his game. And we're going to, I'm sure, see more of that. So it's interesting. Two years ago, and you talked to a million people, and so you probably don't remember. But an hour after you were drafted, we had you on the show right here in Vegas, and I was giving you the sadsack jet fan routine of like, When is the thing going to get better? And you cut me off, which I loved. And you were like, That's in the past. That's over. I don't care what happened before I got here. And of course, then you and Garret and us, young nucleus, is coming together and you've made steps. Of course, still, there's been disappointment in the two years for the team, and the Roger's injury was an all-time blow for the franchise in terms of gut punch. I'm usually an optimistic fan, but I'm worried about where things are and how things go moving forward. Could you do me the favor of spinning things and making me and Jets fans feel good about what's going to happen this year, and maybe this is the year things change.

Make Dan happy. Make him feel better.

Or try. I don't know. If you could.

Aaron will be back. Defense, we're going to do what we do. Special teams, we're going to do what we do. Like I said, Aaron will be back. We'll be bringing some new pieces in for the offense. Those new pieces are going to be great for the offense. Great additions. We're going to dominate.

I feel it. I feel the confidence. I felt it from day one. I'm getting there now. You're working on a one-game winning streak against the Patriots. I'm a Patriots fan. I remember the Jets Patriots game at the end of the season more than probably the average NFL fan who was not paying that close attention to that game. But at that in the season, you figured it was the end of Bill Belichick. And so many things had happened for the first time in the Belichick era or a streak's ended. But the one thing he had left in life, the one thing he had left with the Patriots was that winning streak against the Jets, and you took that away from him. How do you feel about doing that on his way out? Nice set up, Greggy.

That feels great. You know what I'm saying? I'll be lying if I said that's not what we wanted to do, and that's not what our thought process was going into that game. We knew it could be the end of that Patriots era or whatever, so we had to make sure we sent them on his way the right way.

But he's like a future Hall of Famer. Couldn't you have just given him that much? That one little bit that the Patriots could hold on to?

He's already a future Hall of Famer. He's a great coach. He's always done great things, won multiple Super Bowl. He knows so much about the game of football. So it's like doing that would have just been an extra little cherry on the top. It was no point of view.

On the Belichick point, So this is, I think, before you were even born. But when Belichick, spur in the Jets and went to the Pats in 2000 and then went on the greatest run ever for a head coach and a quarterback with braided. I've been scratching my head and yelling on microphone in the past couple of weeks. I cannot believe all these head coach openings, nobody went and got Belichick and gave him a second bite of the apple like braided got in Tampa. Are you surprised that he's not going to be coaching this year? How sure were you that he was going to pop up somewhere else? And you might see him on the field next year?

I don't really know because I don't know what going to all of that when it comes to job openness, what they talk about with the other teams. I'm sure those teams know that he's a great coach. He's a Hall of Fame caliber coach. You know what I'm saying? I don't know why he wasn't selected. That's not my place. I don't really know. I just know he's a great coach. I wish him the best in the future.

Couldn't get a job.

Well, maybe he will down the road. On the Jets front, because I feel like you probably have learned a lot in your first two seasons. And in college, everything's going great, but you hit a team that's... Aaron Rodgers goes down right away. It seemed like two years in a row, You've got this glowing Jets defense and an offense that just was struggling. You don't have your number one quarterback two times in a row. And it's like, how do you... Because there were a lot of reports coming out in New York. How does the locker room stay unified when the defense is doing one thing and the offense can't find their way? What have you learned about how to not have the team completely be a sinking ship?

We're brothers before anything. You know what I'm saying? The football, that's the game. That's what we love to do. But the bonds and the relationships that you make when you're coming into this game, when you're leaving the game, that's what matters the most. So it's easy to maintain that bond. You got guys that's on defense that's closer with guys on offense. So it's just that easy to keep the locker, keep the bond and the brotherhood.

So you were named first-team All-Pro this year, again, doing that back-to-back years to start your career. That's only been happened... That's only happened a handful of times at that position in the history of the NFL. Usually, it's players from winning teams, too, that get recognized. I think I was the first one. You're the first one. You're correct. Corner. You're on it.

I'm like one or three. I just found that out. Michael Parsons, Lawrence Taylor, and me.

Hit him with this thing. That's an incredible achievement to start your career. Also incredible dexterity to keep giving guys like, dap them up as they're walking by while you're doing the interview.

You're also the first person to ever do that on our show. You're still five. History.

It's just certain faces. I don't really get to see too much.

So when I see them-Tee Jay Hussle walk by.

One of my all time favorite But I did want to ask you about the All-Prize. What do you think you did this year, specifically, maybe different than your rookie year, and that set you apart, where you got the nod over some great players. Well, Jerry Steed didn't get it. He's in this game. Charverry Sport didn't get it. Sorry, bro. Jalen Johnson didn't get it. What did you do that put you ahead?

Just dominated. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, Greg. It hit different.

It hit different when you dominated. You know what I mean?

But you got to add the things to your game from your first year. No, he doesn't.

I do.

I'm still finding ways to get better. That's what I'm saying. Still finding ways to get better for sure.

Hey, before we say goodbye, one of our favorite segments with guests, where we really get to know them is a little game we call 8 o'clock Delight. It's a speed round. First thing that comes to your mind, and then we'll say goodbye. Hit it. Eric, the producer. Spring or fall?

Fall.

Jersey Shore or the Hamptons?

Jersey Shore.

Tarantino or Scorsese?

I don't know who that is.

Jay-z or Nas?

Jay-z.

Chapelle or Kevin Hart?

Kevin Hart.

Friends or Seinfeld?

Friends.

Are we alone in the universe?

Hold on. Are we alone?

Are there aliens?

No. No, yes. Let me say yes because I don't want an alien to pop up. You know what I mean? Sometimes you got to believe in stuff just so they don't...

Come and show you. The taser out. You didn't believe it.

Good strategy.

The jet switch to the throwback jersey is full-time. I mean, come on, right?

I like that. But I do think we should have got some new ones. And never mind. I like that.

Where is your Defensive Rookey of the Year award right now?

At home in my game room.

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Scarberry Cheesecake.

What's the movie or TV series you've rewatched the most?

I don't rewatch TV series.

Interesting. Have you ever seen a Ghost?

Yes.

We'll get back to that. Minigal for play 18. Minigal. Do the Yankees have enough starting pitch or depth? I have my doubts. I haven't got to watch the Yankees, but I'm a huge fan of them. All right. Pineapples or pizza? On pizza, yay or yay?

I had it before and it's good, but no.

Are people inherently decent? Are people inherently good? Yeah. Are people good at their heart?

Yes.

Okay.

And the final... Oh, would you time travel if you could?

Is it backwards?

Or do I have to choose forward or backward? I could choose, probably.

Good question.

All right. And finally, this one's from my dad, Keith, who's been a Jets fan since the name of days. Who is the toughest receiver to cover in the NFL right now?

I don't know. I can't answer that.

Can't do it?

I can't answer. It's not just one.

Because you shut them all down.

I can't just put one. I had the name multiple ones. Do I name one?

Name multiple.

You got Tyreek, Stefan, Amari Kuba, Taylor Waddle.

Okay.

You know what I'm saying?

They don't have a chance against the great Sauce Gardner. Sauce, I can't wait. Next year, we're not going to be able to do this because you're going to be playing in the Super Bowl. But the year after that, or maybe a couple of years down the line, we'll do this again. Thank you very much for having us, and have a great Super Bowl weekend. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, there he goes, Sauce Gardner. I'll tell you what, I already do use that particular phone carrier, but... You would have been convinced. I might sign up again after.

Yeah, I think he made it clear that the vast majority of NFL players, coaches, and fans use it.

Well, he's not wrong. I do not have a second phone. I have my NFL official phone, so we have no choice. Great. He doesn't have a burner? A beautiful. It's a beautiful thing.

Greg, you don't got no burner?

No. That's good. It always makes me suspicious of the people. He's like, You don't have a second. I was like, What's going on in your second phone?

I think the same thing. But people look at us like we're crazy. Anyway, that was good with sauce. I wouldn't say that I now feel better The sell about why things are going to be okay really boiled down to really what the Jets party line is, which is, well, Aaron's back. Then maybe that will be enough. Maybe. I don't know.

I think Sauce is like, what more do I need to do? I don't think he's the one going to be making the huge speech before week one. That's not his spot. Why don't you guys be as excellent as me and then we can be somewhere? Right.

Go get a couple of get another receiver, and then let's see if we can not fall apart in horrific fashion. All right. We are just getting warmed up. We're going to take a break, and when we come back, friend of the show, Extraordinaire, will join us. All right, welcome back. Scheduled guest, nick Shook. But nick has run into some issues with getting through the masses and into radio row. We do have a fallback plan. Sitting to my right is Dave Ealey, chief news editor, NFL Media. Luckily in love, but a good man with a good heart. Dave, welcome back to Around the NFL.

And also bald. So I feel like I'm covering for Shook as well. I noticed you pushed the mic up higher when I got here, so I appreciate that. So not quite nick, but I feel like he can feel in.

I was approaching from a distance and saw a balded white, and I thought, Well, that must be Shook. And then I realized, just seeing the dimensions, and I'm not a tall person either, so it's no knock on you. That is absolutely not nick Shook. But what is happening in your love life, Eilidh? I want an update. We've only got a couple of minutes here. Wow.

So we're just diving right into it. I knew we were not going to talk football.

Well, before we get to that, I just want to give a little background. So I ran into Eilidh yesterday, last night. It's called the NFL House. They invite all NFL network and NFL Media and NFL New York office employees and UK to a venue. And it's a nice scene. There was bowling, There was booze, food, all that good stuff. Zuzer, we had a meeting with some iHeart people. I had a couple of Titos. Then we go to this event. I meet up with Handsome Hank, and I have a couple more. Then Dave rolls over with his posse, Dave and the Dave posse. You know how Dave does.

Dave starts-He's going to Dave.

Dave's going to Dave. Dave's 100% Dave, and that's what we love about Healey. Got to be Dave. All of a sudden, we have a conversation that I didn't recall until this morning, and I get a text about, All right, so when am I coming on the show? I had apparently agreed to have Dave on today's show, and then I had to let him know the bad news that nick Shook, who just walked by, so you're about to get bumped again.Later in the night.It's five words. It's okay.Later in the night, I contacted Shook, or Shook contacted me, and he took your spot. But because nick was late, you are now here to talk about anything you want.

I mean, thank you for letting me talk after what felt like a two-minute introduction. To go back to what Mark- That's how the show works, Dave, just to let you know. But yeah, Dan did agree around 10 o'clock last night to have me on. Had no idea what he was talking about when I texted him this morning. It was great. I did say, I guess, promises from 10:00 PM at open bars don't mean anything anymore.

Wow.

Yeah, I apologize. I wasn't blackout drunk. I just didn't remember the conversation very well. It came and went and didn't stick around.

It's like any scheduling with talk, talk with Dan. Just assume he'll never remember it.

Yeah, I guess so. Whatever.

The floor is mine.

The floor was yours because Shook's here now. But just want to say we've been kicking around some ideas for offseason shows, and the idea of finding Elia Mate would be near the top of the list for a spinoff summer show.

I think we'll wait till then for that update.

I don't love Find Elia Mate as the name of the show, but I think maybe we could workshop that.

How are things going? Because you're going full Dave, the shirt.

You guys have said full Dave so much. I'm not quite sure what that means. I'll take that answer off the air. Dave, we got 30 seconds. Mark, things are going fine in the Love Life Department. I'm still single, but you know what? It's a journey.

Those are two different things, but okay.

Right. So there's the option. You could go half Dave, you go three quarters. Dave, you've chosen to go full Dave. That's what it means. I love that.

I think we've reached the-Yeah.

Dave, we have to bump you. Not unlike how your college sweetheart had to bump you from her long term life plans after Cam didn't dive on that fumble in '50. So thank you for joining us. Come on, Shuck.

Can I do a Super Bowl prediction really fast?

No, I don't think so. All right.

Let's welcome on nick Shuck. Shucky.

Thank you, Dave. There he goes. Dave Ealey. Come on, nick. And now another bald white rolls over. This one, different than the last. Also bearded.

It's different stature.

Here you go. Sitting down with us now is none other than... Man, you're trying to get this Oh, we got this pipe. Nick Shook now sits down with us.

Yeah, and apparently, Ealey is short. Because this thing's way down here.

Ealy is taking some fire here. We love Dave. He's 100% Dave. Shuki. Here's a great story with Shook. Last night, I'm coming back from the hotel after I had agreed to have Dave on the show, and Shook hits me up and says, I'm at the hotel bar, and you're not going to believe this, but what?

The pipe was within 5 to 10 feet—we're a little wobbly here—of the pipe god. The namesake himself was right there, and I was frozen in time. I was actually going to go somewhere else. I saw him and I was like, I can't leave. And then I was trying to muster up the courage.

Wait, who is this?J.

R. Smith.j. R. Smith, the former Cavs, Knicks, enter probably five other teams great. He is the original pipe. So two pipes in the same bar right next to each other. It feels dangerous.

I never talked to him. I chickened out.

I blew it.

Why, nick?

I don't want to be that guy who's like, Hey, can I get a picture?

You don't need to do that, but you can just break up a conversation.

Well, the problem is I would have walked up and been like, I was in downtown Cleveland for game seven in 2016. That's even worse. You're my second favorite Cavalier. I would have just exploded with adoration.

It would have been bad. It's like, How come you didn't know what the score was the year after that? Yeah.

No, that would have been a bad That's George Hill's fault.

Anyway, so, Shucky, you are boots on the ground. And thank you because it's great to have someone here that is covering the team. You're covering the Niners for nfl. Com. Check out everything that Shuk's writing up over there. What is your overall vibe about what's going on around the NFC champions?

Well, everybody likes to talk about the rematch, but that was four years ago, and the Niners have been pretty quick to point out that that was four years ago. A lot of things are different. But one thing that those returning players who were on that team have We've repeatedly said, there's two. One is talent won't win this game, and whoever executes will win this game who plays better. And the other one is, they're all bent on washing away that feeling of losing. And you even add a guy like Javon Hargrave, who lost the Super Bowl last year to the Chiefs. Same thing. We don't want to feel the same way we did the last time we got to the end of this game.

The one feeling I get from the Chiefs is that they've been here so many times, so many of the same players. There's this calm and ease and a sense of like, We're just going to do this and we're not concerned or isn't fear. Do the Niners have... Because they've been up the upper echelon, too. Do you sense that they also go in with that calmness and serenity, or is there a little more pressure on them?

No, actually, I feel like they're not operating with very much pressure. There is a professionalism, a bit of we've been here before. What it is, is there's less of a circus. You're still getting those off the wall questions and everything else. But it's not like it was if you followed a team that had been there for the first time in many years, and they're all really just happy to be here. They know the task at hand and what they have to do. And they also know that the challenge is very great and that this is a team in the Chiefs that people have not beaten in the last few times that they've been in the Super Bowl.

I hesitate to get too deep into the psychology of the team because, look, it's 53 players, it's 45 players on game day.

And it's just a couple of-But you don't believe in momentum, things like that?

No, I'm just saying it's very hard. We found this over the years to figure out which team is going to play well based on how they act during During the week. But I do think there is something with the 49ers potentially that they got over the pump in the NFC in games they were expected to win, in games they didn't play well. I don't know whether to take that as like, Okay, they got past that, and you're right, now they're in the biggest moment of their life. They got to it, and it's somehow almost a release to get past it, or to be more focused on the fact, which I keep hitting, which is that their last three big games, they played They didn't play to their best ability, certainly on defense. But even offensively, in parts of all three of those games, they weren't at their very best.

Yeah, that could go two ways. You could either say, Look, we haven't even played well. We're playing with house money. Imagine if we actually put together a good game and do what we're supposed to do for four quarters, we should be able to win against anybody. But on the flip side, you also have that fear in the back of your mind of, What if we lay out another clunker and this time we can't come back? We can't overcome the hole that we've dug ourselves in the first half. And that's going to be the big test because they're facing a team that has plenty of experience, knows exactly how to win these games. And if you think about the psychology all the way back to Super Bowl 54, they were in a great spot to win that game before it all fell apart. Sure. So they have to avoid that as well.

It didn't used to be a thing that there was a 10-point comeback in the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl. The Patriots against the CX were actually the very first, and then it happened a ton since.

I mean, if you hit Manny Sanders, Jimmy G, it's a whole different story in that game. And the question for me, part of this matchup is, we've all been impressed by the Chief's ability to just turn it on and get to this point. But even when you look at the game, game by game here, they're still not the old Chiefs in terms of offense. I'm wondering, San Francisco's defense has been pretty disappointing down the stretch. They've been able to get by even with the struggles. How do you like the game from a matchup standpoint? Let's focussing in more on the secondary and the coverage against the Chiefs wide receiver, and of course, there's Kelsey. But the ability to keep MBS from making play that he's made the last couple of weeks to really open up and give the Chiefs that extra dimension that they've lacked so much this season.

Yeah, I think it's really important that you point out what you just did, that this is not the Chiefs team that we came to know a few years ago. They're not the super explosive team that they used to be. I think about that one hallmark play from 54, Jet Chip Wasp, where Tyreek gets open and Mahomes has enough time to run that play, and it's a game changer. That's not this team anymore. They don't do that anymore. Mahomes is best in zero to 10 air yards. Short passes, getting the ball out. So it's It's going to be hard to compare the two different situations. But if I assign confidence points because you look at it, nobody really knows which way this game is going to go. It's not like there's a heavy favorite in either way. But if I assign confidence points of it and try to make sense of it, I feel the best about the Chief's defense. I feel okay at best about the Chief's offense. I feel all right about the Niners offense, especially if they get their momentum rolling, which I know you don't believe in, Greg, but we're going to talk about it anyway.

And then the Niners defense, they're talking about they have effort issues this week. That's concerning. So that's the unit I have the least confidence in. So But we do still side with the Chiefs.

We talked about the effort thing and how that just that word, it's an ugly little word that's being thrown around. And is there a reality here where their defense collapses here with Mahomes leveling up and all of a sudden And then Chelsea goes 11 for 174 and two touch downs. And it's another red and yellow confetti day. I think that's certainly a possibility if you just look at the trending nature of the two teams.

There's another world where that being told about your players maybe writes the ship. But again, we don't know how that actually works behind the scenes. But I do like the fact that the Chiefs are a defense that has been consistent. They're playing their best. They've allowed the fewest yards after the catch of any team in the league. That matters against the Niners. That matters against Debo Samuel. And it's a team that has gotten to the quarterback. And if you can get Karloftis and Jones into Brock Purdy's B-House, I think you got a Beehive, B-House, whatever it would be.

No, you had it right the first time. It's a B-House.

It's one of those things.

Beehive doesn't really make sense either.

If you make him uncomfortable, I think that when Brock Purdy's made mistakes, that's been a big factor. Mahomes, when he's thrown multiple interceptions, he's overcome that, and they still have won the game. It's like that who... Purdy is in a different world when the mistakes start to occur.

Yeah, I think- Hey, Keisha just called me live on the show, and I just thought this could be a chance for La Keisha Westling to just join the program now. You are live on the NFL, the Around the NFL podcast, Keisha, right now.

Oh, it's okay. Okay. Okay. Oupsy. Sorry.

Okay. Love you.

Talk later. Who's winning the game, Keisha? Give us a score. Oh, man. I'm still stuck on Ravens, lions, and it's weird being in St.

Lawrence. Got to get over that.

I would say I'm going to still go Chiefs Man. Okay.

That's all the analysis we need.

Chiefs Man. There it is. Keisha, see you next week.

Talk to you later, Keisha. That was nice. I just felt like that would be nice to get her into the show.

Back to the sess dog point. Seth, is that what you're saying? Good to hear Keisha.

No, that's what we're saying. If you can just... I found it interesting that you had Brock Purdy at number seven in your QB index, and down at number nine was Mahomes. And that flips the script from what some people think how this will play out, who these quarterbacks are.

Really? I got one more shot. End of season? I got one more shot. Comes out next week.

Well, here's the thing, though. You said you were only so confident in in the Chief's offense. I'm really impressed with what they've done throughout the playoffs. They were fantastic, and that's all that matters to me at this point. They were fantastic against the Bills. They were excellent, I think, overall against the Dolphins. And they did show some vulnerability against the Ravens in the back half of that game, where the blitz really affected Mahomes in a negative way. But I did think that the game script was a big part of that. I mean, they were throwing way short of the sticks on third down with a lead and being extremely conservative. And so that's actually one of my big questions of this game is, it's weird to say, but how aggressive will Patrick Mahomes be? Because I tend to think Steve Wilkes is going to look at that and he's going to take some chances. It's not like they're just going to be sitting back there in a shell coverage or anything. They're going to go for some situations where they leave their guys in one-on-one situations. And will we get a little more of an aggressive Patrick Mahomes instead of just the taking a profit, Patrick Mahomes?

Yeah, I think that's the only way that you get an early control of this game because you cannot afford to do what the Ravens allowed themselves, the position that they got into in that game, which is Andy Reid's opening script basically worked to near perfection. The Chiefs dominated time of possession. They got the stops on defense. They had control of that game before the Ravens were able to adjust and shut down that offense. So the 49ers have to take it to them. They have to do what the Ravens did in the second half early and then play off the adjustments from there. But I think even back to your point, Mark, what you said about Brock Purdy is incredibly important to the value of Chr. Mcafee to this game. And I think Isiah Pacheco as well. I think the running game is going to factor way more into this than we're probably talking about because, of course, it's a quarterback-driven league. But I think if McAfee ends up making the impact on the ground, breaking tackles, picking up extra yards and that thing, that'll keep this offense afloat. Against the Chief's defense that's done a really good job of limiting opposing quarterbacks.

So even if Purdy's not on, if you can rely on McCafee heavily, then they'll have a fighting chance or even more than a fighting chance. They will. The same goes the other side.

I mean, the idea of McCafee getting, what, 25, 27, 30 touches. It's in play because he's so incredible. And I love watching that guy play. No one turns just a zero to three-yard gain or a seven to twelve-yard gain like him. And he's, I think, almost a little under the radar. His ability to maybe just go off and have that Marcus Allen type Super Bowl game, that's certainly something I'm thinking about when I'm trying to decide who's going to win this game. Now, one other thing I circling back to Mahomes, who's been so good as a scrambler, and he's healthy this year. He has another bad ankle that he had in the playouts last year. Ken, the Niners, this The last time these teams played, which again is ancient history, but they did a nice job for most of that game messing with Mahomes, and then he got loose and they had that nice comeback, obviously, to win that. Are they going to be able to keep Mahomes in check? Because that is the part of his game because he can't beat you deep as much anymore. He's still an assassin inside the short yardage, but it's those runs that are ripping the hearts out.

How the Niners, do they have the personality, think, to handle that? It's the runs, it's the extension of the play.

It's not even that he has to cross the line of scrimmage, but just buy more time to throw. I looked at that third and five that they converted against Baltimore early in that game, where Travis Kelsey essentially ran a route that was equivalent to when you take your kid to a diner and you get the kid's menu, it's a piece of paper, and they give him crayons and you just start scribbling. That was the route that he ran, and they pulled it off with an incredible completion. That's the stuff you really have to worry about. If you're worried about him actually getting out and running, you're in deep trouble. They do have the personnel for that. Obviously, Fred Warner is a great linebacker all around, and he's good in coverage, and he's fast enough, but he's not necessarily the eraser of a mobile quarterback that you might expect him to be or want him to be.

You're not going to put a spy on Mahomes, right? He's not that type of dude. I don't think he do that. But if you can take away his scrambling, you already know the personnel, they don't really have that deep game, then maybe you're in It's an interesting to see how they combat it.

It seems like Mahomes also because it's plays breaking down, it's out of pocket stuff, and he knows exactly when to go and where to go. And he leads the league in first downs on the ground. And you think of other quarterbacks, the Josh Allen as being more dangerous on Terra Ferme. But it is Mahomes that in these huge moments, last year and this year, have done it with his feet in the most critical third down moments and big yardage moments.

I thought of it, by the way. Not Beehive. It's Kitchen. It's the Kitchen.

I know, but I'm using Beehive because he's back in this area where all these enemies and things that can sting you are moving around.

Like a hornet's nest in war. The bolts are flying.

I'm creating a new term.

I didn't know that. I thought you were searching for Kitchen.

It just came to me. Obviously, I went down a path that was needed a little-In the honeycomb.

I like that. Maybe that.That's a little too welcoming.That's.

A little too welcoming.

That feels like a sweet place. I do remember when my cousin hit that Beehive when we were back in the forest, just looking back there when I was 10 years old, and he didn't know he was swatten a beehive. It's not what you want to do. He got stung by 27 people. Are you just giving us the plot of My Girl? Yeah, that was what I was going to say. Yes, but it really happened. He got stuck about 27 times. I got it like two or three. My other cousin got three.

Did you run outside the funeral home and Dan Ackroy came after you? No, we just sprinted back home. Greg has no idea what we're talking about.

Greg escapes again. Just two bee stings, 26 for the cousin.

Well, he's the one that hit it. My running ability was a big factor that game. Well, he also tripped him. You pushed him down on your way. See, I'm trying to transition it back. I'm trying to transition it back. I do think the coaches, with the willingness to stick with the run, is a big deal. One of the most memorable moments of that AFC Championship game to me was when the Chiefs got to the six-yard line in the second quarter, and they just ran two inside runs in a row. A four-yard run for Pacheco to the two, and then a two-yard run for a touch-on. I was like, When was the last time we've ever seen the Chiefs do that? The second run was against 10 men in the box. There's like, Oh, you can't ruin the box against eight. You can if you want to, if you're a good running team. I love that voice. They did it. And I think both of these teams, when you look at the opposing off defense, is that's the vulnerability. So Shana Khan might have some regrets of how he handled his play calling in the Falcons Patriot Super Bowl.

Reid's been knocked plenty for not sticking with it. And so I think that's just one issue. Who can just be comfortable and stay with it? Because we know these quarterbacks, they just refuse to get sacked. So it's tempting to to just throw the ball all the time. But I think that's the way you attack these teams.

I mean, that even marks a change from last year's Super Bowl when the Chiefs got down on the goal line and they ran the same play in opposite directions, and one of them was the wrong formation and still worked. And they scored two touch downs that way. They didn't do that this time around. They trusted the run game. It's a bit of a throwback. That's them adjusting to the fact that they know they might not have the personnel to pull off what they were able to pull off in previous years.

One weird, they did play a year ago in the regular season, and there's some connective tissue and some of it does not connect. But Chiefs 44, 49ers 23, the The Chiefs ripped off six touch downs on seven drives, and it was close, but then the Chiefs went nuts at the end. In that game in the final three minutes is when Brock Purdy entered to throw his first NFL passes, and they are again.

I like that. That was peak Chiefs.

But did you know-It was also Christian McCaffrey's first game as a Niner.

And did you know that Sam Darnold is the first quarterback in the class of 2018 to make the Super Bowl? Okay.

What? Is that a backhanded shot at Baker Mayfield? I saw Sam yesterday.

He ain't here. The Provo MVP. Does Samy look confident? Does he look ready to go in if Brock fails?

Samy looks content. He's like Teddy Bridgewater on the sideline for the line.

He's like, Don't put me in. I'm good.

I'm just happy to be here.

Shook, here we go. It's time for the game of the week presented by DraftKings.

What should we choose?

Well, I don't know. There is no Pro Bowl game, per se, but the kick-tack tow is pretty elite. But we're going to go with Super Bowl 58. What do you think? Give us your pick.

Niners favored by two, Moneyline minus 120. That moved a little bit. Slightly went down, yeah.

Out of the tic-tac zone, as they say.

Look, I talked about confidence points earlier, and that's really what I tried to use to come to a conclusion on this. And I don't like to be the guy who's like, They've been here a million times, so they're definitely going to be better.

That means you're going to be that guy.

But I'm going to be that guy because look, the Chief's offense was terrible for most of the season. They had glimpses, and they weren't good until the play. Like you said, Greg, that's all that matters. I feel confident enough in them that if they find themselves in a situation where it's 20 to 23, they're trailing by three, it's the fourth quarter, and Patrick Mahomes has the ball, and he authors a couple of signature moments, and they score a go-ahead TD, and it's Isiah Pacheco running in from seven or eight yards out.

Okay, get specific.

Speak your piece. It's 27, 23, Chiefs, over the night.

They do it again. I'm struggling with my pick. The rest of the heroes are going to pick on Friday's program. You just gave me a lot to think about Shuki. Shuki, what do you got going on the rest of this weekend? You got friends coming in? Any buddies?

We We got a lot of friends coming in, but we got some more coverage to finish up today.We got some stuff to do tomorrow.He's a pro. We're going to go head over to the Madden Bowl, watch the top two Madden competitors who are also best friends, face off for the final Championship game of their competitive series.

Sell it, baby. Best friends. This is like when the mega power has exploded, Macho Man.

Wait, but they're not NFL players anymore in the Madden Bowl?

No, it's all highly competitive esports kids. Greggy, come on. Stupid good. I've played them, and they have destroyed me.

You don't need to come after me for my Madden Bonafides. I covered the Madden Bowl in 2008 for Patriots Giants, and it was just like at a bar. It wasn't that big of a party. And you got to sat down and do segments. I did segment with Marshawn Lynch while he played Madden in the Madden Bowl. So don't come at me with my Madden Bowl bonafides.

Apparently, you've put me in my place. And you're going to be at the Madden Party as well?

Yeah, I'm going to stop by there on Friday. We're going to do a stop by? See what else happens.

If Killer Mike gets out of jail, we're going to be able to watch him. Big boy, Green Day.

He's not in jail. He's not? He's out? He never was in jail. Just arrested. Got arrested, but was not in jail.

The PR flak, Greg Rosenthal.

I like to be factual. I like to double-source my facts. Maybe you've gotten a little with your reporting.

Was he in jail? No. Yes, he was. He was detained.

Is that technically jail?

Are you in jail in the back of a police car? It's not prison.

You're tangling with the law, though.

He was arrested. He had just like, Words Matter.

Sorry. What's wrong with you?

The Irreliable Podcast. Anything else? Words Matter. No, that's it. Words Matter. I'm happy to be here. Happy to sit down. This is great. We've done it remotely all year. I love being in person.

Yes. I was texting with the boys earlier that you're such an important part of our show every season on the Flagship Sunday program, so to be able to reunite in person and see the pipe up close, by the way.

Yeah, you don't have to cover Falcon's Bucks this time. You got a real game.

Yeah, the game of the week, actually.

Not the F-tier game. A-tier. A-tier, baby, because there's only one left.

Shuki, back into the huddled masses. You go.

I'm going to go fight my way out of here. It took me forever to get down here.

All right. Don't let Eilidh, because Ely was throwing you under the bus a little bit. He said, Oh, he the wrong way.

Let him know that-He said he got lost in the way here.

He said, Oh, he got lost.

I was right outside. I had to walk all the down and around and upstairs.

Just so you know, next time you see him, that sometimes he's not looking out for your best interest. Maybe if you have to say something face to face, this is the time for that as well.

That's a bald on bald betrayal, and I'm going to have a long, hard thought. That's not right. Think about that.

All right, very nice. Thank you, nick Shook. We'll take a break and we'll be back with the Mad Dog.

Beware of the dog, like in the Mad Dog.

On Sports Radio, 66 WFAN.

Wow, you saw that at me there. That's 30 years ago. Oh my goodness.

That's a deeper cut, I think.

That's a deep cut.

Yes, it is. Of course, that is the voice of the great Chris Mad Dog Ruso. I stumbled upon on YouTube a clip of all the different stings from your old place of work, and I was looking for the one specific one that starts with Beware of the Dog, which didn't get as much run. You're right.

Mike probably didn't I like that one.

Yeah, of course. We were just talking about you went to see you, too, and I was talking about I'm a big fan, and they're playing some deep cuts. That would be the deep cut of the WFA.

You have to be a pretty big fan to know the Beware the Dog was part of our jingles. Again, that has to be at least 20, 25 years old that you found.

I haven't seen Mark's face glow like that all week. You actually cured Mark's sickness just by playing. You haven't been feeling well? Mark.

I'm not, but I would say that it brings you back. Here's the to a childhood innocence.

It's wonderful. So thank you. Very good. Good to be with you guys again.

It's so good. How are we doing? We're doing great, Chris, because... And everyone now is talking about the Ruso third act and everything. We've been...

Even if there was no- You like the first act better?

No. Well, there is a nostalgia factor, but I think we're all, as fans of yours, just so pumped up to see this. And I'm curious from a fame standpoint, because you know the business better than anyone. Terrestrial Radio, back in the day, WFAN, everyone was listening to you and the dog. I'm sure you couldn't go out in public without people. But now you're on this national platform. Are you more famous? Do you get recognized more now than you did in 1995?

I Yes, I try not to make too big a deal about it, but you do notice it from a first take standpoint, there's much more notoriety. I do a lot of things on first take that I've been doing forever on the radio, and nobody said anything forever on the radio.

What's an example?

The example would be, Shut up and play the game. Shut up and play. I said that a million times. Really, Steve? Really, Mike? I mean, I've said that a thousand times. There's a lot of them. My old sayings, my rants, the pauses. I put the pregnant pause in there. There's a lot of little examples which I'm using now that I've always used. And now people, Wow, look at that. I never heard of somebody do that before. I haven't done it since 1989, for crying a lot. But now they've picked up on it. So as a result, you get notice Loom aboard.

Chris Mad Dog, Ruso headlines the Mad Dog Sports Radio channel on SiriusXM and hosts the channel's Anchor program, Mad Dog Unleashed, weekdays, 3:00 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Central, noon Pacific. You can also see him on MLB Network's High Heat. And of course, as you just said, ESPN's first take. I think when I watch the arc of the Ruso career, which is now, let's be honest, you want to talk about Mount Rush more in terms of longevity and you are at a high level. I think what surprises people, and I think, Mark, what makes Chris have the success is you're so real. That is who you are.

It's authentic.

The authenticity, especially in not to take any shots, that genre, there's so much of it is play acting, and you're saying things you maybe don't believe. But I know when you're faced up on the camera, on the zoo TV tour. You are being yourself. I think that really matters. When we talk about the announcers, like Romo when he had his big rise, and Olson who gets a lot of pop notes because they authentically love the game, and you hear that as well. You can't fake that stuff.

Now, 100% of the The gummies is a perfect example. When I say the gummies, and that's not embellishing it. The gummies are real. And you say that, it's relatable to people. I think that is probably the key to this little run here is the fact that I say things that the average person wishes he You could say or do, and I say it for them, and I say things that they're uncharacteristically, they don't necessarily listen to. Now, I said that on F-A-N, and I said that on Sirius for 100 years. Now, I say it on the TV, it gets viral, it gets the clips. And if you get involved with the ESPN, you get in that machine, and they churn it out, so you can't miss it.

But not gummies before first take.

No, definitely not. You have to be sharp.

That's after you sign your next contract, and don't care anymore. You You have to be sharp.

You can't be fool around.

We used to work with Molly Kieram at NFL Network, and I love-She's a great kid, by the way. The Molly expression or whoever else you're with, whether it's Steven A. Smith or just looking at you.

That's Swagu. That's Swagu. It's a good one. They look at me, Really, Chris? This is what you're going to say. No, I've gotten in trouble a couple of times, but they, for the most part, allow you to do what you want to do. The other key to the whole thing, relatability is one. Passion is the other thing. I still enjoy it. I still love watching a game, and I watch the games. Regardless of working or not, I would still watch the games. That's a big factor, too.

Before we get into this game, there was an incredible rant that you had a couple of weeks ago coming out of the Chiefs, Ravens, AFC title loss for Baltimore, where Greg is part of what you'd call the Lamar me, and a lot of people see him as the MVP, and I see that. I grew up a Browns fan, so I have some issues with the Ravens to begin with. But that experience in that playoff game with Lamar Jackson, you seemed irked by what happened there, and I thought you spoke from the heart. And it's like, I think you connected with me in my own irate anger about the whole thing and how the season ended up for the Raven.

I like this. Mad Dog v. Greggy. Let's go.

I'll move out of the way. That's funny, too. I thought you were going to say Campbell because I did that thing with the field goals with him, which got a lot of attention. You're right. See, the thing that would bother me about Lamar is remember, when you're working on an ESP, they all love Lamar. He's the greatest thing in the world, and he had one, two playoff games. So I will go the exact contrast to that because I want to say, Hold on now. Let's not put him in... And Shannon Sharp said, he wins this Super Bowl. He's going to be one of the all-time great. So Shannon, take it easy. First off, he hasn't won a two games yet. And one Super Bowl doesn't make him one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. And then he lays an egg. Now, listen, they had a lot of issues in that game. He wasn't all of it. They flowers fumbled. They were undisciplined. The chief scored first possession. So it wasn't all him. But he didn't do anything in the game to rescue his team from their demise. And that's what a great quarterback has to do.

A great quarterback has to recognize, All right, now. They're paying me 40 million. We were down 1710. We haven't played well. I got to do a job here. I got to get this team down the field, get some first downs, stabilize everything. And he didn't do that, and he hasn't been able to do that in a big game. And that is the reason why when people put him on this unbelievable level, I get turned off on it. Think about it. He's not better than Burrow. He's not better than Josh Allen. He's not better than Mahomes. He's probably not better than Matthew Stafford, right? Stafford is a great group.

He certainly was this year. Stafford was great.

And then Stafford against the Lions was tremendous. He was heroic in the game, and he won a Super Bowl. If I asked you right now, the biggest game of your life, you want Matthew Stafford or you want Lamar, you're taking Matthew Stafford. You have to. 370 yards against the Lions. He was banged. You have to.

This is a tough one because I love me some Stafford and thought he was a top three MVP pick this year and wasn't getting a lot of love. When I rewatched that Lamar game, I realized just how poorly he played, watching the coach's film and seeing it again and taking the emotion out of it that my reaction to the game was partly what you said, which is there was a lot going on. And there was. Of course, that was true. But it was also his worst game of the year. He was even more of a disaster.

So you watched it on the film and he was worse than he thought.

I thought he was even worse than I thought. And I'm a huge fan. And that's a tough spot for him because that's just how the playoffs are. But I also just think he's a two-time MVP as a 26-year-old. Part of the reason everyone loves him is because there's never been anyone like him. He's the greatest running quarterback in the history of the league, and he's going to have to adjust his game because he's no longer that guy. If he was that guy still, he would have scored on that play in the divisional round where he got free a little bit. He might have had a bigger run when he caught his own catch. That's true. He doesn't have the exposure, so he's going to have to adjust, but he's 26 years old. And I just get sick of these great players in the middle of their career having this same conversation over and over. And then they inevitably do win the title, and they do play better and through good. That's not inevitable. That's part of it. It's not inevitable, but it's the same players over. We had it with LeBron, we have it with Dirk Nowitzky, we have it with a million You had it with Paul- You have it with a billion different people who eventually get over.

People thought Matthew Stafford was one of the most overrated quarterbacks. They did. And it's like, maybe don't talk about him like that so much when it's actually happening. And understand there is an to his career, and he's a 26-year-old who I believe, because he's in that organization, is going to get chance after chance after chance. And one of those, it's going to turn out different. Maybe he won't even play that well in it like Peyton Manning didn't play that well in his winning Super Bowl in 2006, by the way. So you're best at point brings that up.

That's a good point. To me, you- He's feisty. Well, I'm getting fired up.

You measure quarterbacks by 16 game samples. I think that's the best way.

I got to measure them in what they do in a big game. The problem that Lamar has, Lamar Holmes is not going anywhere, nor is Josh Allen, nor is Burro. Yes. And he's not as good as those three guys.

Stroud, too, is now there. Stroud is another one.

Good job. Stroud is another one. And Herbert, with hardball there, he's good.

Just say Aaron Rodgers to make the Jetsman feel better.

There you go. I will say that. Good for you. So you can make an argument that at the beginning of next year in the AFC, you could take five or six quarterbacks ahead of him. You could take the big three, no issues. And then Rodgers is four and Herbert is five.

Wait, what's the big three?

Well, Allen, Burrow, and Mahomes. He's not as good as Josh Allen. No way.

Burrow's got to stay on the field. I think if Lamar Jackson missed half of his career. Here's the thing about Burrow. In two of his four seasons, he's missed.

Burrow beat Mahomes on the road.

Yeah.

That, to me.

But Burrow is another example. That first playoff run Burrow had, he didn't play that well. That was his worst three-game stretch of the year was the AFC playoff, and he made the Super Bowl. So it's a team sport.

That's what it gets a little unfair. You're right, because Burrow doesn't carry that around because the team, the field goal kicker went nuts, and they had that match goal run. And he played well in the Super Bowl.

He played okay. And he also won a Championship in College, too. I think that carries into it a little bit as well. I know he had an LSU. He had a great team, but he was great in College. And he won against Saban and Tua in Alabama. He scored 45 points. I think that comes into the... The feeling when you think of Burro is maybe he hasn't played quite as well, and you look at it down deep as the record would indicate, But you think he's played great because he's had big games.

It's funny. It's like that thing where you're watching the TV inside the TV inside the TV. It's when Greg and I both during that conversation go, That's fair. That's fair. It's like Chris Ruso.

That's fair. I say that, I I say a lot of those wacky sayings.

We've listened to you so many years that that's just ingrained in my head. Oh, that's fair. That's fair.

I do say that, or let's be honest. Mike used to say, Let's be honest all the time. I say that, too. But I'm going to take Kansas City in this game because I'm going to take Mahomes and Reid over Shana and Purdy. I'm the kicker. That kicker is a good kicker.

We were talking about yesterday.

And Moody Stings. This close game, Berkman. He don't miss kicks.

He's incredible.

And bad weather, too. In minus 50 degree weather, it goes out there and makes kicks. I like him. I think the Chiefs win a close game.

All right. Before we let you go, Chris, we always need to dig in on what's Chris Washington, there's more of the Ruso, especially when the gummies get popped. Mark, you had heard something around Chris. You guys share a passion for something.

Well, Dan and I long had an ongoing debate about the JFK assassination.Oh.

I love it.Oh, jeez.

All right. We're with iHeartRadio, and we know that Rob Reiner did it, the JFK vibe.

I had him on for an hour.

He was good. Just wondering. There's also this thing floating out there where they have duo pictures of Brock Purdy with various pictures of Lee Harvey Oswald.

They do look alike.

There are places where they do. I was just wondering with the whole-And some people think Brock Purdy is a patsy, so There you go. Where are you with the whole JFK?

And Oswald's birthday is the same as mine, 1018.

Really? Yes, go ahead. Where are you on the whole-Oh, I mean, the Reiner podcast is excellent.

I haven't heard the last two yet. There is no doubt in my mind, if anybody thinks for one second that Lee Harvey Oswald, there is evidence that he may not even kill that cop. I tip it. Outside that movie theater, there's evidence. Did you know that they found two wallets and the police both said they were Lee Harvey Oswald's two? You found two wallets. They found one at the scene at the thing, at the movie theater, and they found one in the depository. I mean, come on, two wallets. This was a guy with a lot of money. He was a CIA operative.

Well, there's a picture of him so-called in a CIA file down in like Nicaragua. There's another one overseas, and it's basically like the double of Mike Dithga that they're trying to tell us as Lee Harvey Oswald. A mustachioed heavyset man, and they're passing that off as Lee Harvie Oswald.

It was Brock Prudence's dad.

Remember, again, if anybody says Oswald did it by himself, you have to ask me this one question. Okay. Why did Jack Ruby kill him? Jack Ruby didn't kill him because he was trying to prevent dismay for the Jocelyn Kennedy and the Kennedy's. I feel bad for them.

The Ruby situation, that's fair. I have to say my stance has been, and Mark hates it, and you do as well, I'm sure now, that someone, and I don't know where Greg stands on this, but we're going to hear from Greg on it, too. But there's something destabilizing to us as Americans, the society, to think someone so inconsequential as Oswald can change the world with a shot from the depository. So your nature is to say, Well, no, that couldn't be it. It has to be a larger conspiracy because this is the President of the United States. This is the most powerful man in the world and a special person. I named my son after John Kennedy, Jack. But I understand there's... Is there someone in the grassy knole?

Reiner thinks there's about three or four shooters. The Warren Commission, 1976. You know who ran that Warren Commission? Alan Dulles. He was in charge of all the information they received. Alan Dulles is the guy that Kennedy fired for the Bay of Pigs. Now, how the hell is Alan Dulles? Yeah, the dog of war. How is he the guy that is doing a Warren Commission who, in 1964, said that Lee Aviaza was an only student. There's too much smoke there to think they did it by himself.

Okay, well, I've got- You disagree? Go ahead, Greg.

No, I don't. I think Slamar Jackson did not do it.

I don't have a take on this because I'm uninformed. Regrettably, in general, about this topic. But it's not a conspiracy. It's something that I've done some reporting on myself. Dan likes to think of himself as the ATN Media Insider. I am. I have sources in this very building that tells me Chris Mad Dog Ruso was involved in what we'll call an incident yesterday,coming into the building.I was. Where he was very upsetI was.that they were trying to take the tags off of his-Good job, Greg.backpack..

Did you hear about this?

I want to hear what happened here. Can you confirm this? What is going on? Yes, I will confirm. That's good reporting, Greg.

That brown bag right there that you see is a bag that I've had for a long time.

Nice leather, nice strap.

There you have it. Those Those little tags there at the top, those yellow and green tags. I've had that bag for 25 years. And so maybe 20 years, a lot of the tags I had on that bag were from events that I had been at, whether World Series, Super Bowl. So they had a little sentimental value. I bought the bag Monday, nobody says it work. I come in Tuesday, and the guy's there at the X-ray machine, Well, we got to take the tags off. I said, What? Why you got to take the tags off? Well, we We got to take them off. We were assigned to. So why don't you take them off yesterday? If you would have told me that, I would have left the bag here today and not bought the bag. So they grabbed scissors and they start cutting the tag. I was upset and I gave them, and I never do this. I gave them one of those, Don't you watch first take deals? Oh, you gave him an earful. I hate that.

You hit him with a, Don't you know who I am?

And the answer was no. So as a result, I got my bag. I got my bag tag cut. Matter of fact, I have all the tags in the compartment there. I was going to use it yesterday as a what I'm mad about segment, but I didn't get around to it. But I was annoyed. And I noticed in the last two days, they didn't have anybody cutting with the scissor. There was nobody there doing that on Wednesday and Thursday. Yet there were Tuesday, which I can't understand. So my little tags that I've had on our dopey bag for 20 years, 15 or 18 of them, World Series, NBA Finals, US Open. They put the tag on when you go through the X-ray machine with your little bag, you put a little tag on it. All of them are gone. So that's what bothered me, Greg. Good job on your part.

This is an exclusive. That was good. Did you know that?

You didn't know that one?

I got scooped on that one. I kept it.

I didn't want to tell them.

That's good job. Well, and that guy has been fired now, so I wonder what he does next.

I hope he wasn't. And that's what somebody said, Chris, really, you're making a big deal about your stupid tags. And it only was five minutes. Greg caught the bad five minutes. I deserve it. I have to give him the credit for digging it up. There you go. Nice job.

Greg, you're a muckraker is what you are.

I was not there personally. Yellow journalism.

All right. You guys have been doing this show a long time.

How long? This is season 11.

You're on what? Once a week during the season? Or once? Have you had the game? Or five days a week?

We do what?

Five shows a week? Five shows a week during the season.

Five shows Monday through Friday.

Plus other digital stuff.

Sunday nights after the games, we got a show. Monday night after the primetime games, we have a show, and then a couple during the week.

If you want an NFL Plus subscription, we can get that to you. Two shows a week.

You'll work Sunday night and Monday night, and then two other shows during the week.

Yeah, Tuesday, Thursday.

How about when it's a Saturday game at the end of the year, you work those nights, too? Detroit, Dallas on New Year's Eve. Did you work that day?

I mean, those are tough. We got young kids and everything. These are tough for the holidays. They keep on building out the schedule. It's a joke.

A lot of mouths to feed for the NFL.

Offseason, though, two, four shows a week during the offseason.

Oh, do you really? We crank.

Good for you. How long is each show?

They're getting longer by the hour.

60 to 80 minutes.

That's a hell of a job.

That's a good effort. Thank you, Mr. Ruso.thank you. It does sincerely mean a lot coming from you. Don't give me that nonsense. That's a good job. It's true. I mean, the tag incident, that put your reputation. We're now restoring it right now. All right, again, check out Mad Dog on Sirius and everywhere else where he is blown up. He's a superstar, and we're happy to have you every year. It's a great tradition.

You guys do a great job. Who do you like in the game?

We have to announce it tomorrow.

What does it really matter?

I can't say until Friday.

I picked Chief's Niners before the year and picked the Niners to win off a pick six in the final two minutes. That's where I'm going.

He's staying. How about you? I have the Chief's 2317.

I'm not betting against my horse. I like that you have the number low. I got a 27, 27, 20 Chiefs.

Come on. I went under. I went under the number. All right. You're the best, guys. Mad Dog. Thank you, buddy.

All right. Welcome back. And I mean, Mad Dog is the best. Also the best, if you are a football fan, if you love the game and the history of the game. Just looking over my right shoulder, and there he is. Doug Williams, Super Bowl 22 MVP, the first as a black quarterback. To win a Super Bowl, unbelievable story to him. It's everywhere. It's all around us.

It's almost like if you lived in a land with only hot people, hot people aren't hot anymore because everywhere you turn, there's an NFL icon walking by, and then a second, then a third. And it's almost an oversensitory explosion.

I was almost nine years old for that Super Bowl, and that's the first one I really remember when it happened. And that actually is a good example. I think I thought And I thought it at the time, too. Like, blowouts can be entertaining, because I remember when that was happening, thinking like, this is crazy. This is great. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. And it was just this fire show. It's a good topic.

Because I remember I was seven, and I was not young enough to be plugged in, but I remember running through the living room with my cousin Matt and my uncle Bob and my dad were watching the game, and the Broncos were up 10-0. And then we came back in from outside or wherever we were, and all of a sudden, it was like 35-10. I think I saw a 35 in the second quarter.

That broke records.

That's what it was, where that quarter was so exhilarating.

Timmy Smith, the running back who had been a non-factor, came in. But I will tell you one thing, I watched that game in horror because it was two weeks before that the Broncos hit the Browns in the drive. No, the fumble. It was the fumble. I'm watching the Broncos get the doors blown off thinking like, Wait a minute. The Cleveland Browns could have taken this team.

Anyways. Anyway. And then the first one I remember truly watching was Bangles' Niners. I always remember thinking it was really cool that I was watching it with my dad. And then the start of the Bud Bowl, that was the first Bud Bowl commercials, which I was as invested in the Bud Bowl as I was.

Tim Crumrise's broken leg, which was horrific.

They almost pulled it off, Cincinnati. Anyway, Mad Dog was an excellent guest. You knew he was going to be great guy, I got to say, that was incredible reporting. It is on brand. You took the risk to bring it You don't know how it's going to go because that was a moment, and he was acknowledging Chris, that was diva behavior. He was fired up. But it was something that had to be uncovered. That's the job of a true journaal, so I respect that.

He doesn't strike me as a guy who takes things too personally. You know what I mean? He's got to fire back. He's going to have fun with it.

I was watching his facial expression as Greg was telling that story, and it didn't seem too disturbed. It could be his last appearance on the show, and that would be-I guess we'll find We'll find out next year.

Also on brand for Greg. We'll find out next year. This is an incredible SauceDog spectacular, by the way. I wouldn't say they both had the same level of energy between Sauce and Chris Rizzo. Different vibes. Different vibes, different people, different places in their lives, but both Titans in their respective genres. All right. And by the way, Sastog, what are we doing? What are we doing in this business? You picked this Super Bowl before the season?

I picked it correctly.

Why are we hearing that as a comment made off the cuff in the middle of that interview? I would have loved to lead with that all week. I don't know. That's branding, baby.

I mean, two things. I was alerted to it. I didn't even remember I picked that. Then people were saying, Use it as an explosive secret weapon at some point.

I could be wrong, but I think we did talk about this on the show last week.

I don't know. I don't believe it. Very briefly that you mentioned. Perhaps, but I mean...

That's a good job. That's a good job by you.

I also didn't I did. You make those pics back in August, and so I don't cling on to them. I'm not on... You're on a pick show, Greg. To me, it's like I made it in August. It happened early in the morning.

I'm still holding out hope for my Eagles Chargers banger. I have to.

I had Jets, which-I get why you did that.V-9ers. But again, by the transitive properties of the conversation with Sauce today, it really is Jets-9ers because we should have beaten the Chiefs in week 4.

Sauce didn't even really buy into your theory, but...

I don't It's tough to get Sauce to buy into a lot of theories.

What did he say? He said, Reality is important or something like that. He's into reality. I think reality is overrated. That's fair.

It was also notable that he didn't know who Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino were.

He's much younger than us.

He is. I think that's what he was telling. He comes from a different world.

All right. So good job by you on the prediction. And we're going to have our... You got to stick the landing, though, of course, now. Now we need to know who you will pick to win the Super Bowl, and we'll share those pics on tomorrow's show. We're also going to have more fun guests. So just make sure you check out our Friday show, our last show before the Super Bowl. And Mark, we've been concerned about your health the last couple of days. It's come up in front of guests. They seem to be alarmed when they realize how close a sick person is to them. Greg and I are on some level alarmed knowing there's a big weekend. We're in jeopardy. But you are going, and this is an amazing thing, you're going to NFL honors tonight.

I do not believe I will be going to that. What?

I thought you were going suited in a boot in tonight.

The person I was planning to go with is also in dire straits. So we will see how any of that... Well, I'll let you know. Maybe it's early in the day.

All right.

If I go, I will- If you do go, give us- It's not that early.

It starts in two or three hours.

It seems like a long shot. If I go, I will file a report.

That's what we're looking for. All right. Thank you, everybody, for listening. We said, we'll be back Friday, and then the weekend, and then the big game. We're getting closer day by day. Until then, you know what you got to do. Heat the call.