The Around the NFL podcast.

It's another show with Levi.

From the Chris Wesley podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansus. I've got heroes here, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Cessler. Yes, you are in the iconic Levi jacket.

You're lucky that I complied from a wardrobe standpoint. I had to have been here with more time. I was going to switch into.

A button-down shirt. What a coincidence it is that you're.

Wearing the jacket when that drop hit. Yeah, it's a day that ends in Y. We lucked out.

Also with us, listen, it's been a while since he's been on ATN, and we're happy to have him. If Rich Isen is the face, then this man is the conscience of NFL media. You know who it is. Yes. Steve Weiss.

He's the.

One with.

That.

White hair, man.

I think it's like.

Wisdom or something.

Steve Weiss. Oh, man.

Steve.

Weiss. You guys, man. If this is awesome. A bit.

About life.

I have to say we've had so many great songs submitted by our listeners through the years. But I don't know if there's anything better than the Steve.

White theme. That's effort. I am just so like...

It sounds very professional.

It sounds really professional. We have to get To it to play this on the endseason Hard Rock. He's a big reggae fan there.

He was great on the Manning cast. He was great. He was playing the guitar? Yeah, some guitar. I would roll around town listening to this on Loop.

Yeah, nothing like Tears of Heaven to really bring the party going.

Evan Hornsby.

With that-Well done.

-banger.

Yes.

It's very good. All right, we got here. I love it.

Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited.

Big show. A little housekeeping before we get going. We got so much to get to. We're going to do open up the mail bag. We're going to check in on that TNF Banger. What's the over, under, at now? Is it in the 20s?

I will check. I believe they kept it at 30.

It keeps sinking.

Pittsburgh, New England. We're going to play-It made it to 30?

It's at 30 and a half right now. It fell down to 30, yes.

Oh, it's down to 30.

Oh, my gosh.

We're going to get some news. But just so little palace intrigue for around the NFL. Today, Steve, was picture day for around the NFL. I love it. Yeah. Greg and I were here. Mark wasn't. You told us you had a perfectly good reason not to be here. Yeah. Okay. We're good with that, Greg? Are we cool in-house.

With Mark? I mean, we have to be, right? We were here. We took the pictures.

It was supposed to be headshots and then group photos.

Which I did not know that second part, but I couldn't have changed.

My-it was right there in the email. It was all very clear. But we got you. We asked, what was her name? Maddie? Maddie, of course. Maddie, who did an awesome job. We did this. We got one of the shots, check it out on YouTube. We made sure to leave a spot for Mark. Then I went ahead and I took care of this and did a little Photoshop to get you. I know Camp Happiness is your favorite era. Here is the other photo. There we go. Yes.

This will be the photo. -un believable. -we'll send it out. -then I.

Don't need-We don't need to do anything.

-no.

You're good.

We got you.

All right, cool. We got you back. Slightly ominous that the first group shot in about a decade doesn't include me. I don't know what that means for the future, but I took a child to the dentist today. I hope that it works as a... We got you back. All right.

We're good.

That was from high school, that picture, by the way. That was not from.

Summer camp. That's not from camp happiness? No. All right, I'll get back.

To work. It's from a ridiculous field near.

My house. You do look like you could use some lotion or some sunscreen.

Yeah, no, dangerous sunburn back then.

All right, Steve.

You can Photoshop. Sorry, Steve. I mean, on the promo for NFL Game Day preview, it's Photoshop. So like Andrew Cicilliana and I are at the same height. They can get you in there. You'll be fine.

I took a new photo.

They've got.

The skills. I was saying we took some photos of Greg and I. We're not a good match in photos because it makes me look bigger and Greg looks smaller. Of course, Greg's like, No, I don't see that.

I was like, We look good. We look great. I thought you.

Look stunning, the two of you. Nice to see you.

Here we go, Steve. Yes, yes. You have a Derwent James interview, so we can't be like pussy footing around here. You know? It's all right.

Derwent will wait.

Yeah, yeah, you can wait. Let's do it. We got so much to get to. Let's start, though, with some news. Ucdk set.

The record for the renal. This year.

They're the.

Ball game of 35.

Over 22 miles an hour, still as fast as ever in his.

Fifth.

Year in the League.

Twenty two to six.

I hit 23-mile rookie. I probably will never hit that again. That is.

Tyric Hill from the Hard Knocks in-season- Which is amazing. -the Dolphins.

Which is spectacular.

I have not checked it out yet. It's great. It is great. As I've said many times in the show, Next Gen, Big Next Gen doesn't want people to know that everyone goes 21 miles per hour. But we're starting to see some cracks and movement there because DK on Thursday night on that 75-yard touchdown, crack 22, and there's Tyreke, I believe him when he was a rookie before he got a little older and some injuries, was hitting 23. We're starting to move away from 21 miles per hour. That's good.

This is a big... Dan's been on this beat for.

A while. I can tell. He's hung up on this.

What about you, Steve? You ever have a PIC 6 or anything in college or the pros and you were able to get- Never in the pros.

-the pros. Come on. What are we talking about here?

You never know. Did you ever hit 20, you think?

No, because back when I was playing, everything was being measured by sandials. There was no such thing as next-gen sports. So maybe if a shadow moved a.

Little.

Bit in front, that worked. I was on the Sofoclees timescale. We were definitely Socrates, not Sofoclees. But no.

All right, good to know.

Did you have a PIC 6, though? In any time in your picture? In high school, yeah. That's pretty cool. In front of all your classmates are watching you.

Achieve that way. I've had some PIC 6. I've had some big runs. That's great. I've had some big runs. That's great. Quarterback, about a 65-yard quarterback sneak to the house.

Oh, hell, yeah.

I've got a nice.

Little- If they gave Jake Browning a full segment about his high school exploits, few weeks ago, why don't we just drop it into.

Game Day Mourning? I don't know if Waste had 91 touchdowns in a season, but.

We don't have that. No, I don't have 91 touchdowns in a season. I don't have 91 touchdowns in a career. Again, there's probably video of Jake Browning. Mine was on tape that has warped.

And- Steve is 114 years old based on the.

Development of.

Yes. All right, let's get to it. We'll start with Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars quarterback who suffered that high ankle sprain on Monday night. Man, it looked bad when it happened, but here is the good news. The injury is not one that ends this season. On top of that, there's a report from Jeff Howe of the athletic that he is going to, quote, rehab around the clock this week to give himself a chance to play through his high ankle sprain per sources. Too early to know how the ankle will respond and whether it will be available Sunday, but they are not ruling it out. Here is Doug Peterson on the situation. Starting with.

Trevor, obviously, it's just a right high ankle sprain. Everything's stable, everything looks good. We'll see where he is here in a couple of days.

One of those injuries that you just don't know how serious it's going to be because there's different high ankle sprains. Kenny Pickett required the surgery. Trevor Lawrence isn't getting that. I even think of Ryan Tanehill. He's had multiple high ankle sprains. Some he just played through, essentially. Some he's missed two, three weeks. This week seems like a stretch, but they do have a Ravens Sunday night game in week 15, so maybe he's pointing towards only missing one game. It's still just the way that they were talking today is definitely not going to practice. Cleveland. That would be a big surprise. They could potentially lose their lead in the division if they lose two games with that.

Yeah, sitting at eight and four, that is a nasty two-pack of games. The Browns are pretty banged up, too. But if you have CJ, Bethard, in there who didn't look terrible in relief, but that's a completely different situation. Trevor Lawrence is very tough to prepare for.

Well, I mean, look, they're playing Cleveland, which is going to be either flacko or D-T-R. As a Jacks defense can come up and make a couple plays, which they should be able to do, I mean, it gives them an opportunity. This is one where you say, okay, we're playing a backup quarterback. One way or another, one is coming out of concussion protocol or one who's playing in a second NFL game. Our defense should be able to get us there if we're as good as we think we are defensively, if you want to win the division, you win these type of games and you have your backup quarterback. Yeah.

I would say they probably felt the same way about Jake Browning, and that was a bit of a national surprise.

Yeah, you think?

I mean, Browning was pretty spectacular in that game.

In.

Other news, Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs will start on Sunday against the Raiders. This speaking of palace intrigue, I think it went on everyone's attendance a little bit after the Monday night loss to the Bear is before their by week, O'Connor came out in the postgame presser and was like, Yeah, we're going to have to evaluate everything who makes Justin Jefferson the most dynamic. Here is Kevin O'Connor after making the decision to stick with Dobbs. I want to address the quarterback position.

We will be.

Starting Josh.

Dobbs.

In the football game on Sunday.

Feel great about.

Our biweek process of.

Really two layers to it evaluating.

Where Josh has been as far as.

Immediately providing a spark and helping us.

Win two football games, and then transitioning to some.

Tough outcomes where there's all kinds of things that we.

Could do better, we could coach better. Josh has.

Continued.

Comfort.

In.

Our offense.

And how we play, but also.

Our offense.

Our staff's ability to evolve and help Josh thrive.

He added that nick Mullins, the backup will be ready to go. There's also a rookie in the mix, Jaren Hall. Greggie, I liked your theory. This is the team around the NFL, by the way. This is an important decision being made by the head coach. I liked your theory. Throw it out there. Now, this isn't based on any reporting, but I was into it.

No, because he caught us off guard, Kevin O'Cano, right after that game. Then the Monday after saying how he's going to have to look at everything, including the quarterback position and changes could be made. My theory was in that game when Dobbs was throwing interception after interception, maybe at that point, they're having a conversation. It's like, whatever you do, just don't turn the ball over anymore or be careful this or that. He and Dobbs, that fourth interception he had in that game was one of the worst interceptions anyone had all season. He's just fallen down, James Winsun-Saw throws it to nowhere. I think it blew Kevin O'Cano's mind there for a couple of days and he had to calm down emotionally. But I'm glad to see Josh Dobbs over Jaron Hall or nick Mullen. Nick Mullins leading the team of around the NFL podcast just doesn't.

Have the same vibe. That's things grow dark at that point.

Well, I mean, the Dobbs also. When the guy came there, I mean, look, he's moving. He's doing all this stuff. It gives him the immediate spark. But that's when where a coach has to say, Okay, this is one where my guy got the yips in a game where everything just came, the snowball came downhill. It was a total collapse. If we start seeing it in the next game, then we can go to nick Mullins. But right now, we're going.

To give him another shot. And build an offense around him. He's a very different quarterback, and this gives him a week to do that.

But that by we came at the ideal time.

It really did.

In other quarterback news, more palace intrigue. This one out of Floran Park in New Jersey. Oh, boy. The New York Jets dealt with a major, major drama around Zach Wilson. We talked about the backstory with this, that word had gotten out and reported by the athletic that Wilson was apprehensive about returning to his starting role two weeks after he had been benched by the Jets sighting concerns about his health and an uncertain future that likely doesn't involve the Jets. Bob Sawa, that's a poor guy. I know I'm coming down hard in Sala and the Jets in general on the show lately, but I really do like Robert Sala. He seems like a really good and decent man, and he is not in a good situation. Just things are snowballing on him, and he's the face of it. I can be frustrated as a fan, but also I feel badly for Sala. Now here he is announcing that indeed, Zach Wilson will be his quarterback on Sunday. Zach gives us our best chance to win and giving him another opportunity to go prove that.

How did that.

Conversation go when you told him? He was good. He's fired up. Like I said, on Monday, he came into my office. He wants the ball, and he's excited about getting this opportunity to finish the season strong. So is he your starter the rest of the year? No matter what. Godwilling. Oh, man. Steve- God willing.

Is not where I would have gone with that.

Aaron Rogers on the McAfee show. On Tuesday, he skulled the whole Jets locker room for too many leaks this season. Esbn reported that what likely happened, per source, is that Wilson asked the teammate for advice on the risk reward of playing a late-season game with no playoff implications. From that, word got out that he had reservations. Someone in that locker room, Steve, snitched on Wilson based on.

That reporting. Or the front office or somebody in the building.

Right, somebody snitched on Wilson and just an ugly situation.

It's terrible. This is one thing. Look, I love Robert, Paul. I think he's a fantastic man. He has been put in a very bad spot because your organization sold out for Aaron Rogers and he got hurt. No one saw this coming. Now, when this reporting happened that Zach Wilson was reluctant to play, I'm like, Tell me a time when a player has really had an option to say, I really don't want to back in there and not get cut. That was what was up there, the Robert Solis says, We will cut you or suspend you without pay and basically shame you to where no other team is going to want to touch you to make you look like a quitter, or you're going to come back in and start because we need you right now. We know we've yo- yo you back and forth with. It's just multifaceted dysfunction with this. Either Zach Wilson just comes off looking as somebody completely ungrateful, spoiled, doesn't want to play, or he comes off as he has every right to feel this way. But at the same time, you're getting paid handsomely. You have to go out and do your job.

You think, Garrett Wilson, some of these guys want to be out there? We see, Jonathan Allen with the commanders be like, Jeez, it sucks going back out there and getting kicked every week. But they are in a profession that they're compensated for most people very handsomely. A bunch of people would love to have their pain, their dysfunction, to go out there and do it.

It does feel like for the season started with such hope. I've never seen Dan feel that way about his jets. It obviously quickly fell off a clip. But now the team feels like last year where there's just fractures. I don't like the fact that... I don't like what Zach Wilson... I don't like where he's coming from. I'm not wanting just to go play like anyone should. But if you go and tell a teammate or you seek advice or counsel, you are a young player. Again, I feel like a lot of.

Zach Wilson. That also sounds like spin. I feel like for it to be as widespread as it was. It's like people knew it.

Yeah, I think you're right. But if it was a teammate or something like that and then a person went and just told someone else right away, it just speaks to the whole thing is falling apart in such ugly fashion.

They don't want to play. A lot of these players you know, especially the skilled players, they've been done with Zach for a year now. You could see why would get out, but also like it does show. I was saying Rogers, what has he actually done for my team so far? I have frustration with him. But he's right. It's like if you want to actually be an organization that has it together, the first thing you got to do is stop leaking things to the media and creating more of a circus, clean up everything. There's so much.

To do. And something that the Rogers leaked it.

Well, and real quick, I'll tell you this. Two teams that were on the same dysfunctional organization track that have tightened it up are the Browns in some ways and the Dolphins. These were two absolutely disastrous franchises. They've got leadership in there that buttoned up the leaks. They parked the clown car away and it can no longer be found. That cannot be said about the jets right now. Look, no one talks about it, but the giants are actually a more disastrous football team, talent wise and things like this, same record. But the jets just outshine them in absolute absurdity in the same market.

Oh, this is bad. Never mind.

Yes, it's bad. They outshine them in absurdity. So the giants get overlooked for all the bad stuff that's happening there.

We can't fix stupid. I do this every December where I hit this frustration level. And then I also have to think to myself, but the Rogers thing had so much, the injury blew up everything. I'm trying to take a step back. It was emotional on the show the other day. This is a loss season. Let's see what happens.

This winter. This is your place to be emotional.

You're not allowed to. Roger, not practicing Wednesday, and doesn't seem like there's-Everybody take a deep breath. -that probably was never happening. Take a.

Step back. It's time to wipe this season away and see if they could fix things next year. Okay. All right. Again and again and again. Finally in the news, my favorite coach, Mike McCarthy, he had appendix surgery or has that coming up after experiencing abdominal pain Wednesday morning. As a result, he is going to be in a hospital and getting a procedure done. The hope and the plan is that he will be coaching Sunday night against the division rival, Philadelphia Eagles. Well, I.

Mean, the Penn decided is not going to knock Zadi out of the picture.

Oh, Zadi. What's wrong with your insides?

What?

I like it.

Well, if you must know, Frags, it was an abdominal pain, and it's appendicitis. So there you go.

Get well soon, Zadi.

There are going to be kids listening to this. That's what's happening in the news. Do you have anything to add?

You top that. Yeah, you can't. You got to leave it with.

A frack. You don't want to be the next person to speak after.

She speaks. Yeah, I play by play terms. Just let it break.

Exactly. All right, let us take a break and then we'll get into everything else. It's time for you, boy. Joining some heroes.

I don't even remember this one.

Welcome back to Around the NFL. Stephen Weiss.

There.

We go. Does everybody.

Call you Stephen Weiss? Mom. My wife, my mother. Like when.

They're mad at you? You guys.

Would say Stephen might be- Stephen. -or even- -or even- -in the hot water there.

It depends.

It's.

A fluid situation. It could be like Stephen or it could be like...

I don't know what I'm saying. Bring frags back in here. All right, so with Steve Weiss with us, I thought this is a perfect time to bring back one of the Warhorses segments for around the NFL. It's been a while. We've done it on the live show a couple of times, but not a while. It's been a while since we've been in the studio. Hit it, Robbie.

Live from Englewood.

California.

It's time for everybody's favorite game.

Show, What's more likely. The right, yes, What's More Likely, a game where we present two realities in the NFL, and it's simple. I mean, which one is more likely to be what occurs? I kept mine in the regular season, but it's anywhere you want to go with it. Steve, you are a guest, so I defer to you to get us going.

Oh, I got it. This is a 2024 Offseason, more likely. Okay. All right, more likely. The jets pass on a quarterback with their top draft choice, or Robert, Sala, and Joe Douglas will be the ones making that decision whether to pass or draft.

What's more likely? Oh, that's a tough one. I thought on our last show that Sala, it was the end of the road for Sala because I thought based on the, it was the wonky reporting. It was just a sloppy day that Wilson had told him he didn't want to play and was putting Sala out directly like that. I don't think that's what happened now that we have more clarity. But I still think if they lose out, I got a feeling that Woody is going to potentially act off that. That said, if they have a top five pick, they got to take a quarterback, right?

That's the top. I don't think so. I think it's-The quarterback is 40. I'm going more likely Sala or wait, it's more likely Sala or Douglas are making the pick.

Or not. -are making the decision whether to use.

The pick on the quarterback. -okay, I guess I'm going to go quarterback then. I don't think either is particularly likely. I think either Sala or Douglas or both will be gone if I have to guess. But I actually think Aaron Rogers being there, I guess it depends. I'm thinking first round, if Aaron Rogers is there, he's not going anywhere. They're all in. They're still all in. They are. Hes answered the question about the coaches a little more noncommittal to Pat McAfee this week than I maybe would have expected. It wasn't anything noteworthy, but it wasn't a full throated, I'm the boss, they better be here. It was like, That's out of my hands. To me, he's there, so you're not taking a first round quarterback. Maybe you take a developmental guy later.

I tend to think the latter that Sala and Douglas will be making the decision. The reason I think they'd stick around, they look like a disaster to all of us on the outside. I don't know what the owner thinks on the inside. There's been so much change there. The fly and the ointment is with Aaron Rogers attached to Nathaniel Hackett, attached to big chunks of the rot, certain wide receivers that are there. If you want to keep Aaron Rogers happy over the offseason, which was a chore for the Packers. It looks bad right now, but if a whole new org comes in and blows a lot up and says, We'll build around Aaron Rogers, but forget Nathaniel Hackett, forget all his buddies. I don't know if that's what you do with one more year of Rogers. Do you try to say, Salah's defense has been good. The thing he was brought in to do, he's done a pretty good job with. Do you give it one more try?

Well, he's brought in to be the head coach. That's part of the problem. Right. They need to be more globally successful at this point after three years. I'll say it's more likely all they have to do is fall into one or two wins. I think that will give Johnson enough to say, all right, just wipe this past, wipe this whole thing. They lose out.

I think everyone's gone. Here's why I think Salah and Douglas are back. Who's going to take that job knowing that you got Aaron Rogers for one year and you're not taking a quarterback to build on.

You could also spin it. You got Aaron Rogers in a very good defense.

There's ways to- Again, who's going to take that job for.

One year? A lot of job openings, too. We'll get to that a little bit later in the show. All right, here's another one. What's more likely? The Kansas City Chiefs get the number one seed in the AFC, and they've gotten, how many years in a row now? Five. Five in a row. Patrick Mohomes has played very few road games in his life.

Zero postseason games, I believe.

What about the New England AFC title game?

That was in Kansas City.

That was in Kansas City. Wow. He's never played on the road in the playoffs. The Chiefs get the number one seed to keep that streak intact for the homes or the struggling Kansas City offense does not score more than 31 points the rest of this season.

What's more likely?

31 points in a game versus total. That would be a real problem. That would be a real problem.

They would not make the playoffs.

The Patriots would challenge you on that one. I'll jump in and say it's more likely they don't score 31 points. Just because they have the Bills this week and maybe I'm projecting too hard, I think that's a tough game for them. I've been high on the Bills making a stretch run. That would get them to five losses. At that point, the Ravens and the Dolphins, but I'm thinking especially the Ravens, are in pretty good shape. I just haven't seen the team and I know they scored 31 against the Raiders. They did it against the Chargers. They did against the Bear. It's happened three times a season. They have some pretty easy matchups at the end of the season, Raiders, Bengals, Chargers, and they might be needing to play. Those are pretty bad defenses. It's close, but I'm going to go more likely they don't get the one seat.

That's.

Tough, though.

I just believe that they're going to wind up with the one seed somehow. I look at the other games, though, they've scored in the last five, like 9, 17, 19, and 21. I don't see their offense figuring this out just because there's five more games. With the part of the year where they do what they do well and what they don't do well, I don't know how you fix it with the personnel not changing.

Yeah, I think they get to 31. I think the AFC goes to Florida, either Miami or Jacksonville. Yeah, I mean, look at the Dolphins schedule. Theya day, should click off another three before things get really nitty gritty. Raven schedule's a murderer's row. I think they get to 31. I think they have a couple of big games. Also checking the previous 31, I think there were some defensive scores in there, too. I think the question was the Chief's offense. But I still think the Chief's offense ends up getting a 31. They will not get the number one seat.

Although I am looking at the tie breakers, which is a point in the Chief's favor.

They always seem to.

Find a way. Six and one in the conference. They've had three losses.

They.

Beat Miami. They beat the NFC North.

They beat Miami and they beat Jacksonville head to head.

Right. They have the heads to head win. I maybe already would change my answer if I too late. I need an official answer then. Now that I'm going to go over 31 points.

All right, Greg, you're up.

Okay, I will look at the MVP award and say a non-quarterback wins the MVP or the Bengals make the playoffs?

What's.

More likely?

I think it's more likely, and we should cross-check these before the show because something similar will be coming up, but I think it's more likely the Bengals.

Make the playoffs.

You have to pivot now. I will not be pivoting. I wrote this in the.

Think on the fly were performers.

I did it my.

Way, you'll see. Let's see. Well, Cincinnati 6 and 6, they are obviously in the mix from that standpoint.

Tenth right now.

Tenth right now. They win the tie breaker over Buffalo based on head-to-head win percentage. Right now, Denver is ahead of them, Houston's ahead of them, Indy's ahead of them, Cleveland's ahead of them.

They're two and.

Six in the. They get to play a bunch of those teams.

But again, you're looking at this rationale versus what the other more likely scenario.

Right. The other one is-I'm saying all these.

Teams I'm mentioning, they don't frighten me and like, Oh, how are they going to hopscotch past them? I think this is more likely, and I don't want to sniff too much of the Jake, Brown, and Glo right now, but that was a fun watch and I'd like to see where that goes. Yeah, Tyreke, CMC.

Probably those.

Two guys. Those are the two guys. I just think a quarterback is going to take that, whether it's Brock or two or whomever. Yeah, I think it's more likely Cincinnati finds.

A way. Yeah, more likely the Bangles get in. They're not going to give the MVP to a non-quarterback.

People keep saying that as if they are not the people that are deciding. Let's decide it.

We're the people. Rick, why do you think there's an offensive player of the year to give it to the non-quarterback?

I get it, but I keep hearing that. But it's from the people that essentially that decide it. Who are these people? These are if we, and I mean the media, we decide on some level, it becomes consensus. If people are just stumping for it, then it can happen.

Not us because Bob Glober wouldn't let us into the pro football writers.

Well, I get it, though, but I.

Think it's.

The people that have microphones, people on shows as influential as this one and people as influential as you.

Well, I mean, look, if Tyra Keel goes for 2,000, we're like, Wow, that's never happened before. But he wouldn't have got 2,000 without Tua. So Tua is the MVP. It's just how it goes. Because there are definitely people, non-quartbacks who should have been MVPs before. Because some people were arguing, How can you be an MVP if you're not the best player on your team?

I think that's legit.

Well, is it, though? I mean, who are some of the people who've won it? I guarantee you right now, if Doug Prescott wins MVP, is he the best player on their team?

This year, yeah.

No, he's not. Michael Parsons is the.

Best player on the team. I think he's.

The most valuable. Now you're.

Throwing-he's the most valuable person on the Cowboys, though. Doug Prescott.

That would just be-Every quarterback is.

Tyree Kill this year.

That's the argument that no non-quarterback is going to win it.

Yeah. Then that's why the quarterback is going to win the award, even if the bankers.

Finish 10th. It is a unique year that there aren't any totally crazy quarterback seasons that are going to speed people away. But maybe it ends up being, Doug, I think that's more. He's like fourth or fifth right now and McAfrey is like seventh, I think. They're not.

Too far off. Way to get the people talked to, Greg.

-by the way, yards per route run, which is a weird step, but yards per route run. How many yards do you get every time you just go out for a route? Tirek Hill this year is about four and a quarter yards per route run. That is more than a yard. That's like 25. It's more than a yard better than any wide receiver in the last decade, and basically more than a yard better than any wide receiver ever. Only this is the thing. I mean, in the last 20 years. The next closest people, by the way, are Tirek Hill, like last year. But still, this year, his season is that far ahead in terms of efficiency of him on the field.

It does. I feel like every time I'm watching Tyreeke Hill catch the ball, he's 25-30 yards down field, flying a secondary personnel.

One of the smartest personnel moves that any player made in the last decade is Tyreke saying, I'm not going to the jets. I want to go to the Dolphins. I don't know if Mike McDaniel is there yet. It might have been maybe, but that couldn't have worked out better for him in all ways. All right, Mark.

This will be a study in relativism because there is a similar concept here, but let's just go with it. Jake Browning, what's more likely? Jake Browning goes Brock purdy on our ass and in nothing short of a visual feast on the gridiron, unfurls four wins down the stretch, falling in a thriller to the Chiefs. They don't get that one. But executing backup on backup crime and wins over Minchu's Cults, Josh D's Vikings, Trabiski as Stealers, and Flacko as Browns. He goes 10 and 7 and prants into the wildcard. Or before he is named Coach of the Year, Dameco Ryans and his star pupil, C. J. Straud, take out the Ravens and Dolphins in January before facing the Chiefs in the AFC title tilt. Tbd on that result, but the world becomes attuned to the unusual skill set of former PFF numbers bot turned plague-calling wizard Bobby Slowik, who arm and arm with Ryan's, wins assistant coach of the Year. Straud, no shocker, wins Offensive R rookie of the Year, and the three immediately buy a string of Huston-based four dealerships to funnel passive income into their checking accounts for years to come. Straud also becomes the new face of a Dell computer ad campaign attempting to tell the nation, Hey, guys, desktop computers are cool again.

Clear off that Oak desk and plant one of our three foot by two foot, Hulking technology centers where that Quickbook used to be. In the ad, Straud comes across as a capable and easy to believe thespian.

Think? What's more likely?

I'm going to A just because C. J. Straud, you can't go to Dell because it's a Microsoft League.

That's a.

Good point. See, Steve just knows these things.

I mean, I'm just saying.

I think you.

Just nailed it. I mean, look, you put a whole bunch of addendums on there, which nicks out the latter scenario.

Right, if it was just Texans making the conference title game compared to the Bengals winning four straight and then making the playoffs at 10 and seven.

I mean, you could base it there if.

You'd like. They were very... Well, I can't because you read a lot of specific things that I personally don't think... I mean, even if the desk is not oak, it all falls apart. That is the problem.

I would say this, though, Coach of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year for what he's done with Strowd and Bobby Slough and Strowd winning what he should win. If not MVP on some level, he keeps going, but offensive rookie of the year or player.

This is my principle that all segments with Cessler all end up in the same exact place. Everything just funnels to the same spot every time. I do like this is your new thing. The Texans are your team. They're not going to win the division, they're going to win a playoff game. Good luck to you. I hope it works out.

I think that's more likely than the Pengles.

Winning.

Four out of five, which also could happen. But the.

Texans-we can't get too sucked in by the Browning thing. It was.

One game. This is a week year. It's reminding me more and more. I keep thinking of 2011, which I always think about that there were no good teams in 2011. By the time you got to the playoffs, and I don't think we're there because the 49ers are great, Cowboys are great. But in the AFC, we'll see how it all shakes out. You could see a surprising team in the AFC Championship game. -sure. -it would not be crazy.

I see you're trying to minimize that second giants title. I see what you do.

I've had multiple shows in a row.

My point, it's not the giants. When I said it off camera, I believe.

You've said it many times. I've let it pass each time. But now that you've said it for the third.

Time in about a week. That was one of the worst Patriots teams of the Belichick era, and they were a drive away from winning the Super Bowl. It was a huge disappointment, but that was a bad, bad Patriots team, one of the worst defenses in the League. They were a drive away from winning the Super Bowl. Some years don't stop in the teams.

They were no good team. That must mean the team that won the Super Bowl actually wasn't that good that year. You got your point. You got them.

They did go like nine and seven.

Another zinger from Rosenthal. They also became better and better, though, as they're passed rushed by the... They were the worst rushing team, I think, in the League, too. Steve, back to you.

They outscored that season. I think it's fair to say they weren't a dominant team.

They weren't an all-time great team, but.

That was- Yes, had a.

Great run. It was a fun Super Bowl. I enjoyed the playoffs, a lot of good games. Well, save for the 2011 podcast.

Can you imagine living with me? Thirty-second, I think, in DVOA, defensively the Patreons that year.

Were we even using that metric.

Back then? I was, may not.

I think they go back in time with it, too.

All right, Steve, next one.

Well, this dovetails beautifully into my next one. More likely, Bill Belichick retires because so few teams pursue him in the offseason to be their head coach.

Whoa.

Or.

Mac Jones remains in New England in 2024 as their quarterback.

Oh, man. Jeez.

That was a good one. Does he have to start Mac Jones or is he-.

He's on.

The team. No, there's no starter. He's on the team.

I'll go back to Jones then.

Yeah, I would find it almost impossible to think. Sometimes fans and analysts and people on the outside aren't seeing what's really going on inside the league that maybe there wouldn't be a big market for Belchick. But the idea that he would almost be blackballed out of.

The league? No, I don't think blackball. Honest to God, do you think they're going to be teams lining up? Do you think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

I think absolutely, there's an owner out there or Six, that would say, I would love to have Bill Belichick running my team right now.

Well, explain this facial expression, Steve is making. I know, I know. What's going on, Steve?

I was just say it. There's definitely ulterior motive behind this one. Come on.

Steve, give us it.

I think we're going to have as many openings from the coaching angle as we've had in a long time. It just feels like we're heading there. But I do wonder because every Bellichick biography talks about how it was drilled into his mind and heart in Cleveland that the ownership matters so, so much. Correct. Some of these teams that are out there that might want him, he may not want in reverse. The only thing is there is that Don Schula record sitting out there.

Yeah, and I know people say he wants it like this, but does he want it that bad to go through? Because first off, if you've seen how great he's developed quarterbacks in the past couple of years, why would a team like Carolina want him? You're stuck with Bryce Young, right? Okay. All right. Tampa, they're going to go through a cap cleansing. They're going to have to get a quote. Are you going to bring him? Maybe. That's one of the few teams. But of all of these other things, I think the fact that you said, Mark, that ownership is huge to him. Everyone's going to want the Chargers job. And that's where, like Ben Johnson or someone's going to come coach this quarterback. Again, guys like Ben Johnson, believe it or not, Dan Quinn, there's going to be some defensive coaches, guys like Dan Quinn, they are going to be on shorter list than Bill Belichick. So that's why I think this, to me, is the bigger story, not how the parting is going to happen, but how many teams actually are going to give him a call saying, Do you want to come be our coach?

I think there'd be more teams saying, come be our director of football operations. I could see a team like the giants doing that, especially since they take his advice so much, some of their coach hiring and other hirings, come run our overall operation.

That's his roots.

Right, instead of being the head coach.

Well, and he has a long time assistant is coaching the team.

They.

Always start to forget about what the Belichick tree. That Dave O was there for 14 years.

I think Belchick and Parcells' careers are so intertwined. That's what Parcells did at the end. He was off the sideline and running from upstairs as well. I could see that. But I don't see such a... Bellcheck's such a student and a lover of the sport. Having the opportunity to have that number one stuff.

So was Don Shuel. How many people came after Don Shuel?

Right.

So was Tom Landry.

Bellcheck will require an ownership, humbling himself a little bit, which is not always easy for ownership to do, and possibly clearing out the entire front office structure that exists, and that's hard. That's a pain in the butt. Maybe people don't want to do that. I can't quite imagine Belichick's like, Oh, yeah, go work for Scott Fitter. It's like, That's not happening.

No, no, no, no. All right, here we go. What's more likely? I don't know. This one, we'll see. We'll see what you guys say about this one. What's more likely? The Green Bay Packers. Mark's ears perked up. Steal the NFC North or the Buffalo Bills steal the AFC East?

Whoa.

What's more likely?

Bills.

Why?

I just believe that we haven't seen the-What have we just moved on? Because I think it's self-explanatory. The answer is they've been doing this for years and you'd need the Dolphins to collapse, obviously.

They play week 18.

They play week 18. The Bulls beat the Dolphins 48-20, so they would clinch to head to head if they beat them in week 18. That means they.

Just got to tie them. They got to get to within one.

They just have to tie them in the standings and they would.

Win if they win week 18. Free up is rich, but I do feel like we're going to get another version of the bill. I've been very down out of this buy in this.

Whole situation. How about Detroit? They may be a little more vulnerable than we could have thought a month ago and the Packers is heating up.

I could see getting tight. They're also separated by three games.

I would see the Packers making the run because they're starting to play in all facets, especially defensively. Great situation of football, Jordan Love looks real. I don't think the Lions will collapse. I think they're getting ready to regather. But I just think Miami is just going to go ahead and click off the rest of the way. They may lose once.

It'd be a pretty huge collapse.

Well, they have Titan's jets the next two weeks, which they're going to be heavy favorites. But then they have Cowboys, Ravens. Their Bills in this scenario would have to run the table. They would have to win every game. I think they're capable of it, but at Dallas, home for Cowboys, that's tough. What if.

They split those games and then what else?

They play four.

Out of five. They'd play four out of five at home.

They would need it.

You better believe they are going to be playing for home field advantage. They do not want to go.

Anywhere else. Unless the Bulls went out, the Dolphins would have to stub their toe against the Jets or the Titans and lose their hard games. They'd have to lose three out of four before even facing the Bulls.

They've done that a.

Few times.

This year.

It's been a weird year. I think the likelihood of one of these things happening is probably greater than people think. I don't have a hot take on either, but to me, the Lions are a little more crickety. Is that a word? I'm going to go that's more like a rickety. Yeah. Just like the foundation is a little...

A.

Rickety. Their defense is.

Not big. Yeah. They were quite like... When was the last time they played a good defensive game?

It's been a week.

It's.

Like seven or eight weeks. It's like a Fortress that's on wooden planks at the base. Yeah, it looks strong.

-i know what rickety means, but...

-is that the lions?

-i don't know. Is that the lions? I mean, you went crickety.

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Termite.

You get blown out. You get the doors blown off you by the Ravens. You have to win on the last possession against the Chargers. You have to win on the last second against the bears. Same thing against the Saints. I mean, these are not great teams, so just a little rickety. Yeah, the Saints can't score. -graggy. -this one's pretty simple. Kyler Murray is the Cardinals quarterback next year, or a rookie quarterback is the Cardinals quarterback.

What's more likely?

Yeah, I thought that these, they're genuinely looking at Kyler Murray with new, fresh eyes. You've got all new people there. They've done a quietly... Beyond the tanking thing this year, they already accrued a bunch of draft picks in the previous draft. I always thought they were like, no matter what happened with the season, they were in good position to leverage those to get the quarterback that they want. I think new coach with new quarterback, buys you time, buys you years. New coach attached to a Kyler Murray experience that's always been up and down and weird, is a little more perilous. You could get assets for him. I think he's very tradable, and I think they're going to go rookie. I think we're starting this experience over.

I put Kyler in the same category, Steve, as Justin Fields, where they have maybe some control of their fate, but they are going to have to ball out to end the season and change some minds in that building. I think it's more likely he does, though, get traded and they start over.

I think it's more likely Kyler is back. Everything I've heard is that him and the OC really get along. They've designed some things. Look at Kyler Murray's won loss record. When he's on the field, he wins ball games.

He won two this year.

Yeah, I mean, he wins ball games. I think it could be a situation to buy them more time to say, Let's get other pieces around him. We've got one more full year to evaluate Kyler—but if we've got to move off of him after 2024, we at least have pieces around him where we can go out into free agency or something or trade up and get a quarterback because now we've got all the other pieces we need or more of the pieces that we need to be competitive.

It's telling that they, with very clear eyes and comments said, He's going to come back and play this season. We're going to get a look at him versus some phony thing where, Oh, we're not sure he's ready and he's quietly never appeared.

The contract makes it trickier to trade. I'll be talking about him a little on NFL Plus this Thursday in our inventory. There we go. Oh, yeah. Check it out. I think the way he's playing, he's cementing his.

Spots here. I agree.

Because he's just playing too well that they're not going to want to deal with what's behind door number two. By the way, it's a great receiver draft. Maybe you have the third pick. Maybe you get Marvin Harris. You could give him a nice weapon.

All right, last one, Mark.

Okay. All right, A, this is a three-parter, and it's not as long as the other one. I'm not going to make you seat here for four minutes. A, the Super Bowl features a backup quarterback. Okay. Not a person you went in with your starter. Okay, there's a lot of that going on.

Or.

Either.

One of two people, Dan or Mark, pass away from what the NFL reports as natural causes while sitting through Steeler's Patriots on Thursday night.

Dan, Mark, die.

Okay. Yeah. Or pros, pro reporter and noted wine connoisseur, Steve Weiss, this offseason, announced is the unveiling of his own handcrafted.

Pinot noir.

It's coming. Yeah, a zesty, rich blend of Northern California grapes. Wine drinkers go utterly bonkers for this new offering entitled First and Drunk.

You.

Know what? I think Steve and his wife are a little bit too classy to have drunk in the title.

I thought about that, but I think it's a marketplace. When you go look for wine and you're with some friends, it's the label, it's the name, and you're like, try.

That at least. It's Steve holding a football on the cover.

Yeah, if we're drunk, we could sell it in your corner market stores and bodegas around if we're putting drunk on there. By the way, I'll be getting the grapes from the Central Valley. That's where the pino grapes grow. See this guy. There we go.

I challenged him with a wine concept and he came right back with facts.

I've been drunk with Steve and D in the past.

We've all been there.

We've all been there. I'm not saying they're above get loose and having a good time. I think that's the most likely that Steve has some type of wine operation in his future. I hope you and I survive Thursday Night Football.

I am concerned, but I think that's the least likely.

I think it is certainly possible we get a backup in the Super Bowl, but I'm holding out hope we're going to get a superpower matchup with Healthy Stars.

I guess I'd go back up. You could also have him injured in the playoffs or conference championship. I just think Steve's at a point in his career. He doesn't need to be adding jobs right now, do you? I mean, you got a lot going on.

Yeah, there's too much horticulture and farming.

That have to go on. I just feel like that's.

Too much. But did you put time on this? This could be the... It was a.

Pretty.

Amazing.

Thing. Let's say this off-season, I think it'd be a situation where you're not stomping grapes like that newsperson that fell through. You'd outsource the operation, but it would be your name and your powerful brand.

All right, well, I'm still going to go backup quarterback. I still have visions of nick Foles in my head, so it could.

Possibly happen. How about Teddy Bridgewater for the Lions there in the Super Bowl?

Teddy's been off the grid this year.

Then Danny Mark. A lot of teams could use a Teddy right about now. The Lions did that well. How about that? They have a needed one. They have a needed one. And a drafted one.

It's good to have somebody.

It'd be a long Super Bowl week.

All right, good stuff. Good, what's more likely? Do we have the Grapes Lady, by the way, still on the board?

I don't think so.

We had Grapes Lady. What do you mean, I don't think so? Do you know.

It's on the board? I just mean, it's been so long. Isn't that seven.

Years ago? It wasn't actually that long ago. We used it for a segment. I can't remember what it was.

It was a grizzly set. It wasn't that long ago, actually. I feel like it was just a couple.

Of years ago. No, it was this year, I think. Was it? All right, let's get to that Thursday Night football game that Mark and I will be co-helming around the NFL tomorrow evening. It is the New England Patriots 2 and 10 traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Steeler. Steeler's got to have it, Steeler's. Steve, as Tomlins want to do after a really bad game, he comes after the team hard. He puts himself in front of the line. I need to be better, but we were JV. And I just wonder, here's my curiosity, because I almost want the game to be really bad now. Oh, me too. Yeah. So it's like, do the Pittsburgh Stealers play down to the level of their opponent with a backup quarterback themselves now, Mitch Drabisci? I could see this one getting real grizzly, low scoring, going down to the wire. Maybe that's giving the pets too much credit.

Yes, it is. Okay. So we were talking about stomping grapes. So let's pretend that Tomlin and the Steeler's Defense is the winemaker. They are going to be dialing it up to stomp some grapes. Okay, Bailey Zappi, you can see a lot of Alex Highsmith, TJ Watt, it's not going to be kind because the page just can't move the ball. There it is. This is a.

Poor woman. I can't.

I'll, I'll, I'll.

I'll stop.

I'll, I'll.

I'm happy. Poor Bailey is happy. See, you.

Got to outsource the grapeage. We're going.

To outsource it. There will be two defensive scores by Pittsburgh.

Two? Fire up your fantasy Ds.

Hey, Mark knows that the Browns week two.

It.

Will turn out to be something sloppy like that. But defensively, I think the stealers know this is won.

And no Ramon de Stevenson, Greg. That was the only thing they could do on... He's got a high ankle sprain. I don't know if we're going to see them again. Here it is, Greg. The last five weeks, Patriots scoring 17, 17, 17, I don't even know if there's a defensive score in here, 17, 17, 6, 7, 0.

Right, you mentioned the over under was 30. The games that they've played the last three weeks haven't gone over 17 because their defense is playing pretty well. They actually have the number one rush defense in the league in terms of yards per carry allowed. That is what Pittsburgh's best at is running the ball. That's what I'm saying. But offensive, and Zappi was an upgrade. It shows you how bad they are that they literally didn't score a point and Zappi was unquestionably a little better than Mac Jones had been. They had two drives, which really just to me typified where the Pagets are at. A 13-play drive that didn't pass the 30, and then an 11-play drive that ended at the 43. That is where they are at. I'm going to go Steeler's 16, Patriots. Eleven, they cover the next one. They cover thethe game on the board? Yeah.

Okay.

I think that's how it projects. That's why it probably will be like 31 or nothing. But even.

That's under. That's under even.

The Patriots just are so inept and hard to watch on offense. They've gone 41 straight possessions without a passing touchdown.

We're going to get 25 carries from Ezekiel, Elliot.

It's going to be a lot of Ezekiel, Elliot. I think it's going to be a lot of Alex Highsmith, too. They've given them 12 sacks to the Patriots in the last three weeks. They're more numbers-wise productive.

To have the past rusher. The one thing he doesn't is get rid of the ball. He just.

Holds it. He holds it. It's not going to.

Go well. Here's the good news, everybody. And again, I said it on Monday, and I'll say it again. You're thinking to yourself, I listen to ATN every week. I listen to every episode. But you know what? I'm going to clear my Thursday night plate, my Friday morning. I'm not going to listen to the recap of that game. No, no, no, mistake. Because me and the Cess Dog are going to cook something up as an auxiliary Segg.

As long as you survive.

Well, that's true.

But that would be just like sharing memories of what the other.

Guy did. It's such a flexible operation that early in the week we had come up with what would have been a killer Seg. But then the news cycle forced us to talk about some of that in real time when we bring the news to them very quickly. So we're just pitching, we're coming up with new ideas now and we're drinking the first and drunk wine.

We're doing it to do something.

All right.

Don't blow this. They got to get Mali Cunningham in the game.

It sounds like he's been taking some snaps. Don't blow this bell check because I want that top two pick. It would be a callback performance to some very big owning of Mike Tomlin in this Steeler's Operation moments, which dotted much of the 2010.

Belichick's going Lovie Smith, man. He's like, I'm not making this pick, man. I am not giving them the.

He is trying to get this win.

All right, so check out Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime and of course, game coverage anchored by Colleen Wolf, not with us today, on NFL Network. Okay, here we go. Before we say goodbye, always fun. Steve's here. It's special. Let's open up the mail bag and- Oh, this is going to be great. All right, producer Eric, who by the way, producer Eric is more likely to start for The Patriots next season than Mac Jones. I feel confident saying that. Yes or no?

Well, not more likely.

I.

Mean, he's missing a large part of one of.

His fingers. But not his throwing finger. You just got to spin it with the right-hand. It's a.

Good counter.

Is it? No, it is your right-hand.

It is my right-hand. But don't they say it's the index finger.

That is the important one? Did you know that our producer lost part of his thumb in a slicing accident in the kitchen?

I didn't.

How is the growth on that, by the way?

Dude, I was actually having a talk with my wife about it yesterday. It looks.

Pretty normal.

It looks like it has a little gummy.

Point to it. A little bit of the shape but not too.

-yeah, but it's-Do you know that body parts grow back if they're cut off? I didn't know that. That's what baffled me from the start.

I know your liver can regenerate. I didn't know that.

Like a finger. If I took it to the nub, like the.

Knuckle, I'm presuming I wouldn't be in the same situation. But I took off a slice and I looked at the picture the other day of the actual incident. Based off that to this, it's night and day. It's crazy, to.

Be honest. Any chance you could grow a second thumbnail?

That would be something. We'll check back.

In a couple of months. I'm holding out hope. I'm holding out hope. We could charge for that. A little side asshole. All right, let's get to it, Eric. First question up. All right, this is from Death Metal minivan. Niners are clearly the best team, but the universe refuses to let Kyle Shannon have nice things. So how are they eventually going to lose? I do think the Niners are the best team, but it's a little bit too much to say like, Oh, what could possibly get in the way? There are some really good teams in the NFC alone atop that conference.

I think for Maximum Pain, it's a Ravens 49ers Super Bowl rematch. Oh, you're going there. Just so that you can relive. Because that to me, it wouldn't be painful necessarily for shanehan, related to the 49ers, but for the fan base to have the same team beat you. Maybe it's in the exact same way where they get down inside the 10-yard line late and they throw a few past you. It would be.

Fresh pain to lose to the Chiefs, which just happened under shanehan.

That's true, too. I think, yeah, you get there all the way. That's how I.

See it. That would be tough to... I can't.

Deal with that. Can you just picture this stone-faced Mike shanehan with that chaka white hair and the luxury suite on the Super Bowl? Just looking down at his son like, Do not disappoint me again. I have multiple titles? When you're doing one on your own. Like one of those things?

Yeah, I could see that. I mean, based on, yeah, if that were.

This- Can you see that, Steve?

Yeah, I could absolutely see it. I could absolutely. The most painful ways are a rock party to get hurt again the NFC Championship.

Don't put that energy in the air, Steve. All right, next up.

Then we get Sam Darnell starting to think of the back of quarterbacks. Actually, wait a second.

Kevin McCarthy asks, Who will be the vaunted team? No one wants to meet in the playoffs from the NFC and AFC this season. This is a team that is, I guess, to make this work, is right now on the outside looking in, right?

Well, it's just that to me, the Bills pop up as like.

You don't want to build as much as-A team that has to get hot and.

Really catch fire. Right, not the number one-I can't see it right now. I think it's Texans personally. I think they're going to keep just going….

One playoff, wouldn't you say?

Maybe more. I said two in that scenario that they went to the AFC title game. I didn't say what would happen in that.

I guess Green Bay would work as.

The- The Packers would be the team I would. Yeah, we have.

High level counterback, boy.

Yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I would have been super into the Vikings in this case. Now we got to see what Dobbs looks like. But think about this. It's a good call, though. Don't get down too down on the Vikings. I know it's been a rough couple of weeks. The team around the NFL is getting Justin Jefferson back. And that is going to maybe be a difference maker. And then they get hot again. And the D is so much better with Floors this year. All right, what's next? All right, this is from. Can I nominate Tua to be considered for the Superstar Club debate next summer at current time, which QB would be considered to take off the list? All right, Steve, I know you have a connection to Tua, so I want to tee you up on this one, The Superstar Club. Steve is an article I put out every summer on NFL. Com, where it's a zero sum game. If I put someone into the Superstar Club, I have to take someone out. So here is who's currently in the superstar club if you are going to consider taking, putting two in.

Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hertz, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mohomes, Aaron Rogers.

Is this based on just whatever the upcoming season? Kind of like how we choose the 100 for the upcoming year, but we've reflected back on what they've done the previous year. Exactly. I take Aaron Rogers off. Right. Yeah. I take Aaron Rogers off.

But it's easy in a way.

But he is such a superstar as he's made sure to remain throughout.

The past year. Hey, after seeing Two on the Manningcaste rock the guitar.

Right, he's very versatile.

Two is there.

Surprising person.

I took out Daak last year. Freak. Okay, I got to put Daak in, too.

So I got to take somebody else out. I don't know if the Dolphins fans hate it, but I feel like I still need a little more from to a year.

Down the line. I think the rest of to a season will tell the story a lot.

For Superstar. Because his wide receiver is the superstar. And his coach.

You're putting him in the.

Brock purney category?

No, but which name am I taking out? Yeah, Rogers would be a good one, but I would maybe put Jack. If Dec end up winning.

The VP. No shame in that one.

I don't throw it out there. I know nobody wants to even talk about this.

I know, we're going to go on here.

I know, yeah. Herbert?

I mean, I think he's been the shinest of the road this time of the year. We're talking to the superstars.

I mean, he's the one in the... He's got commercials. He's got TV commercials. Got that. Just magnetic subway.

You could have left it attached to the TV commercial.

It's not as personal skills that have changed this year, though. I think it's just he's in a mess.

It's almost show. It's time to show.

I think this 12-inch footlong is going to be delicious.

They don't know where you're going with that. All right, next up. All right, Eric Blazell. I think I got that right. What do you think, Mark? Blazel?

Blazel.

Eric, let us know. Who is the most under the radar? Wicky Littletid. Offseason free agency signing. I like this one a lot, Greg. It's a great one. This is your world because you do the top 101. Who is the one that maybe you had lower in the list and then ended up being a star of the show?

Who is it? I went back to look at the list because you said- Wicky Littletid. -that top 20 is terrible compared to like 20 through 50. How about Bobby O'Karuki? I don't know if we've said his name. Okay, O'Karuki. We haven't said his name much on this program, but he has been dynamite. We mentioned- Has he been Wik-elitalind? -ebony's are... -maybe the answer is no good. -ebicom or the Colts has been great.

-they all have to be very difficult.

Names also. -zack Allen for the Bronco. Although I had him quite high, but he doesn't get a lot of pop and he's been fantastic.

I mean, to be fair, Travolta didn't know how to say that woman's name, so it.

Fits with the first two. There wasn't in me, only Nadel Azim. All right, what's next?

Jesse Bates, by the way.

That's a good one. That's a good one. Kaiser White, T. J. Edwards. Arden Key.

Parker Stewart asks, Hey, Dan, new dad here. Thoughts on kids growing up as fans of their parents team. I'm a Packer fan, but I live around DC. Is it cool, fair, acceptable to make the kid follow suit with no other connection? Thanks.

Is he like the Orials or the Nationals?

Yeah. I can only tell you what I did because I'm obviously in New York transplant here in LA, and I did not push the jets on them at all because I knew, first of all, the jets are a very difficult fan experience. Two, if all their friends are fans of a local team, I'm not going to take that away from them. My eldest son, and the dad juice, is still powerful. They're going to be what his dad like. My eldest son, I would say he's a jets fan. My youngest son has gravitated toward The Chargers, another Payne franchise, and they're also building a facility nearby to where I live. I'm like, okay, with that and they have a franchise quarterback, maybe he's a superstar, maybe he's not. Let them do their own thing. That's how I've played this because if you try to force it, bad news.

Right, my initial thought reading this question is kids have their own minds. You can't make your children necessarily do anything.

You can try to mold them if you wish. It's not the.

Healthy move to do. You can try, but it might not be successful. More importantly, every kid is different. Some kids, yeah, they might be down with it. Some, they're going to have their own thoughts. Then it also could change. What they like at eight might be very different from what they like at 12 because of a lot of things. They're going to have their own opinions. My daughter is diehard rams and my son is more with the Patriots with me and comes and goes or whatever, but they're going to do what they want to do, I.

Feel like. My dad, he was a giants fan, but he never pushed the giants on me. We watched a lot of giants games together, and it was just like doing that with your dad was awesome. But I wouldn't be here if I hadn't gone and picked the Browns back then. A lot of what happened there turned me into... Turn me on to writing and journalism and the story of those teams and everything else. I think you've got to not get in the way of the destiny of your child, whatever it is.

Walker is a fan of Scott Hanson and Red Zone and his fantasy team, which is like a lot of kids. That's his biggest team.

Yeah, my oldest son, I told him, Hey, when I was a kid, I love the Vikings and I lived in Minnesota. He's decided to like the Vikings. But my other two kids, since most of their lives are in Atlanta, they love the Falcons, they love the Atlanta Hawks. But the one thing I do not allow, I do not allow, Greg, pardon me.

There we go.

Any Celtics frandom in the house. It is not allowed. Do not tear for the Celtics. You could go outside, but in the crib.

Not happy. I like that. I think there are things that you'd say that won't be part of our family.

You can't be a Red Sox fan in my house.

I pretty much put the caboch on Lakers. That was the only thing I really put my foot down.

But it's funny, in opposition of everything we were just saying, but there's something that's just not, no, it's off limits.

It's like off limits. You cannot have it. It does.

Not work. All right, what else? Brandon, Laurie. I love this question. If the NFL started a franchise overseas next season, who would he... Who would he think would make the best head coach for an international audience? Steve, take this one.

Come on, guys. There's only one answer to this. He's not coaching in the NFL right now. There you go. He's coaching at Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin. What? How much of a superstar? I'm going Ted Lasso here. I'm going complete, super handsome guy who doesn't care what he says or tweets. He's overseas, so he can stick shots at everybody. He would completely engage with the international audience. We know he will up and leave whatever. Lane Kiffen.

That is a wild one.

You know.

What he is?

So spectacular. Which I think with Papas, he's like Uber American. He is the best and the worst of what our country has to offer. He would represent.

Us in a way. You know who would have been good to? No longer with us. Mike Leach would be a good guy to send over there. He would have been.

The rest of the piece, Mike Leach. I think I'd go Uber American in the sense of, chip Dan Campbell over there and he'd be out. It would.

Be a star. It would be good.

Scones and-.

The Hooliganism would come back.

Yeah. I thought of, which who knows? Maybe he will get a coordinator and a head coaching job someday. Henry's friend, Aiden Dirty, the defensive line coach of the Cowboys, who's from London. That's right. And is legit. Grew up there, played in NFL Europe.

Home town hero angle.

I like that. Having a very successful run here as a position coach right now and move up the ladder.

There we go. That's a good.

One as well. Had some hard knocks pop back in the day.

All right, a couple more. What we got? Oh, Steven, there's another one I picked for you. You still working with the Falcons?

I am not. I have not worked.

With them. Okay, so now you could be completely objective.

Here we go.

Tom Marshall, is it the scheme in Atlanta or is Kyle Pitch just not lived up to the height? It's both.

Because look, we could sit there and say, Oh, Falcons. They don't know what to do with Kyle Pitch. Well, he's been targeted 68 times. He has 41 catches. That's 27 non-catches. Now that could be bad throws, part of it. They still haven't figured out how to fully incorporate him, whereas, oh, the Lions get Sam Laporte in as a rookie, and he's like an anchor of their offense. They figured that part out. Meanwhile, John O'Smith has 20 fewer targets and only four fewer catches and one more touchdown than Kyle Pits. Part of that is on Kyle Pits. He's got to do something better to make himself more of an attractive option and make plays when they come his way. I think that's a dual issue when it comes to Kyle.

Pits and the Fowl. He's years into.

His career. Correct. I wish I could remember who said it. He's still only 23, which is crazy.

Correct. I'd love to see him with.

A fresh start. He's one of those guys. He's going to be the next Sammy Walkins that you're like, He's still 27? We always joke that Sammy Walkins was 27 years old for seven straight years. I wish I remember who had said this, but I looked out for it when they said it in this last game. Now, Pits is showing some frustration at times. The thought was to me, he's frustrated about himself that he is not as explosive.

As he was-coming off the knee and.

Things like that. -coming out. I do think if you watch, he still looks like a great athlete, but is he next level crazy athlete that we thought he was before those CK injuries?

The unicorn we thought.

He was going to be. I don't know. I don't know.

All right, last one. Last one. Here we go. It comes from Fow real. So Fow, so real. Fow on X. Could you update the current Hot Butt rankings, please? All right, and Greg, just a qualifier here. I'm not celebrating the lack of job security for these men, and I know their staff and the families involved. This is just the reality of the sport. Okay?

This is the coaches under fire, not actual.

Yes, it's more the sound effects. Well, that really, I think, doesn't underscore the point you made.

That's show business, baby. All right, so like I said weeks ago, and I've been proven correct, and I think even Schaefer reported on it a couple of weeks back, this could be unprecedented in terms of how many dismissals we have come Black Monday and around that we've already lost two coaches. I have a list of 10 here, and I'm going to put an order of hottest butt to pretty hot butt. Ron Rivera won. Yeah. Stop me whenever you disagree, Steve. Brandon Staley 2. Dennis Allen 3. Bellachek at 4. Ibrof lose five. Sala, six. Artie Smith, seven.

Yeah, he's not going to get fired.

Okay, Todd Bowles 8. Frable at 9. He's not going to get fired. He's not going to get fired. And Sean McDermott at 10.

The McDermott one is going to be real and a real interesting one to watch.

Well, this doesn't feel like... Now there are always surprises. Vrabel fulfilling Patriots fans' dreams and somehow going there and getting traded or something would be a surprise.

You've got a young quarterback, man. I don't know if you want to.

Leave that. I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe there is surprise. But then now I look at this list and it's like, actually, the overrunners are around eight, which is normal, right? I would put Dennis Allen slightly lower than who are the ones right below? Belichick and Ibrifus. They feel like they're almost certainly-I think he's-Whereas Dennis.

Allen-no, I think he's about the final hundred meters of the Green Mile too.

I tend to agree because I don't think they'll win the division, but if they won the division, then maybe.

But here's the thing. If you guys are all on that, so Rivera Staley, Allen, Belichick, Ibrifoluz, that's five plus two already. They're already up to seven. That happens. I forgot.

The two. That happened. I've given me. I forgot about the two.

Well, I think he's done a good job. But is Todd Bulls, like a rock solid sticking around guy? No. Yeah, I just think it's like it depends who else becomes available sometimes with these situations.

Correct. Correct. If you have that many openings, how deep are you going into the well?

Yeah. Also, where do they view their development? If they view next year as a little bit of a resetting. Yeah, they've got to reset. It's like, do we just want Bulls to get another chance for that year and.

Then save? That's a lot of years. Teams don't spend two years just sitting around. There wasn't a lot of point, like a purpose to this buck season so far.

Well, I think they felt they had enough veterans and their cap was in such a way like, Okay, let's give this a shot. But they've got to... Them and the Saints have got to have their final salary cap, Older Player Reckoning coming up in the next year or two. I think that's when you clean everybody out.

I'm just going to say, Arthur Smith, do you think he's got enough rope there to survive three straight seasons without the playoffs, potentially?

If they go seven and 10, I think for a third straight year, I think he's in trouble. But I think they'll win enough games this year to contend. I think they'll give him an opportunity to get a quarterback. They stifled the process by flirting with the to Sean Watts and stuff one year. I think they didn't end in not getting him.

But.

I think he will get one more year because I think he can coach. I think organizing the overall team is taking some time, but they get a quarterback, they're going to be a.

Dangerous football player. Their schedule is quite easy, too. It's very manageable. But there is a hunger games feel to the end of this NFC South Season because it's Tampa, Atlanta, New Orleans all playing each other in feeling like, Maybe only one coach. You got to win the division to truly feel safe.

Yeah, I still think Arthur Blank will be patient with him. He's been patient with most of his head coaches.

Well, luckily for him, I think he's there the most likely. They got a game up and they got the most talent.

Hunger games. I would have went with, what's that? The Japanese Death Show on Netflix.

A little more current, Square Games.

Square Games. I would have went with Square Games as the pop culture rep there. Oh, wow.

Or we can go classic Lord of the Flies.

Go with that. All right, Steve, you've said it all. Please plug, Steve, where can people see you, hear you?

We are on Mondays and Thursdays with James Palmer. It is the N. F. L. Report on-.

Check this out.

-on- Check it out.

Good guests on that show. You're a good guest. Good show. This week we'll have Al Kinggold and Derwin James along with Steve Smith and Brian Walden on Thursday. Find us on Roku, Tubi, Pluto and all of your fast channels.

And as a podcast.

There's so much better than this podcast. And then on Sunday's, game day preview with Andrew Cicillianos, Cynthia Freeland. I don't know who our fantasy guest will be this week. I think it's Adam Rake. I'm not quite sure, but that's a very good show. Great reporters up to kick off. Getting good information there, so good stuff.

There he is. Thanks for having me, guys. Always a great time. Really fun. We'll be back Thursday with our Thursday triple header. Stay tuned for that. Until next time, heed the call. Turn this up in my hip bones. Steve Weiss. Steve Weiss. On the ATN podcast.

Everything is.

All right.

Steve Weiss.

Oh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy I know you were talking about.