Can Buffalo Finish, Will Miami Cover, and Is McDaniel Out in LA? (Feat. Lance Zierlein)

My fellow football Americans, it's time for the week 4 review, a splendid showdown in Vegas, between ancient rivals and this time at least, it's not just because Chiefsit Raiders is the world's best uniform matchup. Meantime speaking of costumes, the Chargers got to jump on Halloween by dressing up as contenders in August and September, but that's all done now. They're finished, so are the bucks. How about the Lions and Eagles? Were all these teams supposed to be contenders? Meantime America's alleged team and McVeigh's super team both got huge wins. The Gators got a huge ass kicking. The Jags won in the Queen City. Are they now headed to the City of Angels on Valentine's Day 27? Refs are F bombing players, pollsters who can't pull. Players trolling cities. Sheesh, is it possible we have too much show? We better get roll and start the show! Yes, hi and hello, my fellow football Americans. Welcome to Football America. Presented as ever by Draft King Sports now in all 50 states. We are live, subscribe right now. Very quickly while you're watching or listening to go ahead, text your friend, text your mom. Let them know and also put a comment in the comment section. Speaking of that, I think major Randy social mead and I are going to go on YouTube on Tuesday to respond to some of your questions. So get those in ASA and P in the comment section on YouTube or wherever you prefer. We'll track them down and respond to those like I say I think on Tuesday. So be on the lookout for that on YouTube in the meantime. It's episode number 88. So buddy Badalski and me Caballo. Tony, let's dig in here. The player who wore the number 88 best. It's Lynn Swan. We can just move along, right? No, Dave. Come on. I mean, this is a big number here and we have to mention if you're going to talk 88, you have to mention the Dallas Cowboys franchise as a whole because look at these names here. You've got Michael Irvin, the playmaker, Des Bryan, Drew Pearson, and CD Lamb off of 17 cats on 21 targets game yesterday. Dave, is either, I mean, what a performance yesterday. Top three top three to answer your question. Yeah, I know America's alleged team is very excited right now. Their fan base is and by the way, I told you the Cowboys were going to win that game in Houston with the with the Texan season. Basically on the line, we're going to be talking with our old pal Lanzerline, a Houston based radio, Muckity Muck and a draft guru want to dig in on the state of the QB class for spring 2027. And I'll have some thoughts on that in just a little bit. But Lynn Swan, right? That's what we're going with. No, no, is that what I heard? No, you can also go Tony Gonzalez. You can also go Alan Page from the purple people leaders. You can even go Marvin Harrison. If you would really like to, we got it, you know, you know what? Alan Page is a great shout. 88 is a great number for a defensive lineman. You know, it's ignored too off. It's a great number in general, 88. It's the it might be the best football number. And also if you want to talk hockey to great hockey all time hockey players that we got to talk about real quick, Patrick Kane and Eric Lindros got to get a shout out for number 88. Good shout out there. But that reminds me happy birthday to the greatest hockey player in the history of people. Number 66, Mario Lemieux. Now, speaking of that, I'll be honest, I have not watched any of the baseball playoffs. I don't know if I should be ashamed by that. But listen, there's hockey going. And there is so Cal based high school football action that I not only am interested in, but I have to attend and speaking of that shout out to our football American of the week. My guy Rob Moffett, his boy in mine played together in high school. And now his boy is matriculating and playing at UCLA. We sit up in the stands every Friday night and watch the games. And he said to me, sort of randomly, hey, you know, my favorite thing on your show is when that one guy always picks against the dolphins. And that made it. But didn't come off this week. Dave, the dolphins covered. Don't ask how. Don't ask how it happened. TJ Hawkinson sliding down at the one yard line. But the dolphins, they covered the number. Good teams. We all know good teams win. Great teams cover. Okay, we have we have to go through how we did with assessing the week before and then maybe have to revise thing. Let's power rank the importance of each of the victories. I think this kind of gets in the wave. And I don't know that we have time and plus with Lance coming up and all that we have to talk about. I don't know, even though we have time. I think this is a great question. Put a pin in this one. It came up last night with with the little ones is rank Snoopy Bugs Bunny, Kermit the Frog Mickey Mouse and Scooby Doo. I don't we don't have time for it. But I mean, like imagine if you had to do those. That's all season fodder, Dave. That's all season stuff. I know, but it's an interesting question. You have to admit, you have to admit, that's a pretty good one. Okay, go. Fine. You want to stick to football? You snoot. You want to talk about the Florida Gators? How about that? You want to talk about them, buddy? But the outskirts should you just give us our update on our picks, picks, picks presented by draft Kings sports last week and see how we did there. Yeah, you mentioned putting a pin in something. Let's put a pin in the Gators. We'll get to that later because I obviously have thoughts there after we got routed by Missouri over the weekend. Let's talk about our picks, picks, picks. Devo, let's start with you. Another one in two week for you. You nailed the Rams minus three against the Eagles. They won 24/20 there. The Cardinals in Giants, you asked where all the points were coming from. Who had more points than the Cardinals in Giants this weekend? That game goes over 44 and a half and then the Jets do not cover in Chicago. Geno is not here today. And I wait a second for the record. I told you the Seahawks would whip the chargers. I think that one ultimately pushed. Yeah, I think it did. I think that was that final was seven, right? Anyway. Geno must be afraid to show his face today and I can't blame him because he went over three this week with the Packers. He told us the Lions and Panthers would go under because that game was going to be playing them on soon. I didn't see any rating that game, Dave. I have no idea what he was talking about there. And then the commanders do not cover over in London. Tonya won in two week. The Raiders plus four and a half. Come on. What a great cover there. That team is that let's talk. We'll talk about that team later. I like what's going on in Oakland in Las Vegas there. And then your boy brings it home with a two and one week. The Cardinals let me down. But I told you 24/20 gets you over and Rams Eagles. Guess what happened? Rams win 24/20. The Cowboys with a big win to cover the plus three on the year. I lead with seven. Tony and Dave are tied with five points and Geno's got four. This is a disgrace me, Cabaya, for both of us. We should both be red in the face and I for one am. I mean, I nailed the the Raiders pick. So for me, that's actually picking. That's like two picks. I should have plus two next to the Raiders. Yeah. I was worried at the end when they fumbled the kickoff and then Kenneth Walker scored again. And I was like, oh, no, the plus four and a half is an absolute danger. And then Kirk cousins came down and threw a touch of a prayer over the Brock Bowers. So once I saw that, I was like, all right, we're in safe hands. We're good. Well, listen, so instead of just putting a strike in the win column for one team and a strike in the last column for the other team and telling you what you already know the results of those games, let's try to see if we can figure out the value of those wins and losses here. In the week four preview, we said the most important games ever of the week would be at number three Broncos and and Rams and the jacks and diners Broncos. I way what did I say? You said the ramps. Oh, yeah, no right behind that. I had Rams and Eagles. And then I'm sorry, Bronco. Yes, I'm confusing myself. Broncos, Niners, Jags at Bungals and number one, most consequential game chiefs at Raiders. Do we need to redo those? Do we need to restructure that list? I think it's worth shouting out, like I said, at the very top, goodbye to the bucks, goodbye to the chargers. And I think goodbye to the Texans. Is that a worse loss or a better win for the cowboys who keep pace with the Eagles now and are right in contention? Meekabayo, how say you? I'll start with you. I would say it's a bigger win for the cowboys. As you can see, the Eagles and we'll talk plenty about them coming up on the show, but if you see what what's going on in that division, right, there's a lot of flux. The cowboys just need to keep pace. Make sure everybody stays healthy. And that was the thing. When you look at Houston, I'm like, man, CJ Stroud didn't play that bad. Dave, like I looked at his stats and I saw him play. And I was like, he's kind of playing well. I think he's been great this year, honestly. And he's been good and their defense is also good, but also allowing a lot of points. So it's kind of a, I mean, it's not good. I mean, that's the thing I can't wait to talk to Lance about is what is going on there with that defense better said they have great pieces, but they're not a great collective unit yet. Right. And that's what we we were sold. This Demiko Ryan's front was going to be like, all right, their front is great. Their secondary is great. This this defense is going to be a force to be reckoned with. And you know, what a 17 for 280,000 yards and 14 touchdowns for for a CD land for CD land performance. It was it was an incredible performance. And for me, it's just you look at the cowboys and it's all right. This is what they needed at this moment. Well, we can also talk about the Steelers and Browns game way back on Thursday night and the best thing that the Steelers have going for them now at two and two. They're kind of jammed up in my opinion is their next four games are relatively breezy because then it gets real bad after that and they kind of need to win. You can make a case all for those to be realistic, um, playoff contenders in order to get to 10 wins is probably what, what it's going to take there. Um, where do we come down on, um, where the steal or slot in here? Are they relevant? Are they are, as their goose are ready cooked? Are we buying the browns, buddy Badowski? How's he? Uh, I'm not really buying the browns or loving what's going on there in terms of the discussion around, obviously the quarterback. It's so hard to have any genuine discussion about what everybody's announced. We've moved on. Yeah. No, you as the network has, because it's uncomfortable for you to have conversations with the central figure of the game and the QB, being a scumbag. But the rest of us are allowed to pause and question why you're doing this. We understand that money is influencing why you guys are moving on. The rest of us are not required to do so. Yeah, it was, it was really ugly, to be honest with you, that broadcast on Thursday night. And I don't want to harp on it too much. But in terms of the actual stature of the games, like, okay, you've got a two and two Pittsburgh team, kind of where we expected them to be, just hasn't been kind of the results we expected, necessarily with them dropping to the browns. The browns are obviously one of the surprises in the league right now at three and one. We'll see how long it holds up if he can continue to play this well. Todd Monkin seems to be doing a pretty good job there. But Dave, one game I really want to talk about is last night. We talked about the CD LAN performance. That might not have even been the best performance from a receiver this week. How about the coming out party from Ted Oroa McMillan in Charlotte last night? 14 catches, 192 yards and two scores. We've talked a lot. Bryce Young is leading the league and passing so far this season. We talked so much about him, his rookie year. He gets bench-fran, he Dalton. It seemed like he was going to, they were going to move on from that guy completely, has a nice bounce back year last year. Sometimes it's okay to just be the 15th best quarterback in the NFL. Like, you can win with that if you have good structure around that guy. And it seems like right now, Bryce Young is kind of entering that middle tier of quarterback where he's turning himself into a guy that is bringing a lot of value to his team is winning games and his another fantastic performance last night. Tony, that lion's defense man, like, I'm seriously. The lion's defense is an atrocity. And we predicted that before the season with me and a kind that the lions were going to fall on their face this year. So Tony, do you now, lions are only two and two. They're not completely cooked yet or anything, but the bears are the rabbit of that division right now. The panthers are really interesting and and buddy just said there's some good pieces on another defense. I think that's how I would sort of quantify what the panthers have going this year. They are at least. It's not bereft of some talent on that defense and the offense seems in a lousy division. Good enough to win it. How say you? I look at Bryce Young and I'm like, all right, when he's had capable coaching, right, he looks good. When we see him in college, then we obviously a small time in the pros where the coaching wasn't up to snuff. And now we see him with Dave Canalis. And I've got a couple of stats here that I want to read for you guys from Josh Norerson from Yahoo. No quarterback has faced more quick pressures in the NFL 53 than Bryce Young. Despite that, he leads the NFL in passing yards, second and passing first downs per game, first with 55 completion percentage of throws 10 yards down the field, first with 13 completions of 25 yards down the field and tied for third with touchdown passes with nine. He's he's exactly what he was, you know, belt out to be, which was, all right, we're going to get him quick passes. We're going to force the line to try to like almost lose him where it's like a drew breeze magic in the sense of, all right, where is he? I can't see him, but the balls coming out. And Nathan Hutchison was going crazy last night trying to find him and couldn't find him, especially on the one where he rolls out and throws a perfect ball to make. Oh, the one of the sideline that one where the foot comes down. Yeah, exactly. And it's like he he was he was sold as a guy that had above average arm. But for some reason, just had it. And since Dave Canalis has taken over Dave, like he's got it. Yeah. I'm a big fan of Dave Canalis to be honest with you. What he's done with that Panther seem in two years. It's really, really impressive. And the way he got under the rain, his career back on track. It's amazing. They're victims of like we talked about last week of being in the NFC South where there's, you know, there's not a ton of enthusiasm, but Sunday night football sort of expressed a different story. That crowds into it. That's what we said. If you can get to October and be a contender, the locals will buy in the panthers have done that again and allows a division. It still counts. And I don't know if the lion's goose is cooked. I do think even if they are a player, the rest of the regular season kind of feel like they're Super Bowl winter window his clothes. That defense is an atrocity. Meantime Eagles fans very upset. What did I tell you? The last thing we talked about on Friday show was that I think the Eagles are in some real trouble. And no wonder their head coach is Nick Seriani after all. And now Jalen Hertz doesn't look great. And you know what it reminds me of Tony. It reminds me of the Jenga theory, which is if you're a newcomer to to the show, if you take out the wrong piece from the equation, the whole thing will implode on you. I think in his absence, Lane Johnson proves himself to be the eagle's offensive Jenga piece. How say you 100% right? And we've seen this throughout Jalen Hertz's career when the offensive line is healthy and ready to play. He's a guy who's an MVP in the Super Bowl. He's a guy that out duels my home's in a Super Bowl and loses like that's his ceiling, his max ceiling with a completely okay and healthy old line. When you start taking pieces off that old line, and I see Devonte Smith is out, Dallas Goddard is out, Sequan Barkley goes out early. Jalen Hertz had 31 pass attempts with 68 net passing yards. Like that is that is that's not even high school football. That's JV. That's pop Warner football. All right, we're just going to throw and the quarterback doesn't really know how to throw and the Y receivers don't really know how to catch and like good luck. And that's what the Eagles offense has been lately. Dave, it's funny. You mentioned the Jenga piece theory because during the games I write down notes just throughout the day, just have things to jog my memory when we do the show. And one of the things I wrote down is when we did the Jenga piece conversation, we forgot Sequan Barkley. We like we've mentioned Layden Johnson, but we forgot Sequan Barkley. What that offense looked like before Sequan, they were winning that game. I think they were pretty handedly and it wasn't great, but at least they were winning the game. They were scoring points. They looked like the better team early on. I mean, they had a couple sick touchdown catches from Cooper. Yes. Thank you. But that is a huge, you want to talk Jenga pieces. Like it doesn't get much bigger than Sequan Barkley. But it's still it's still and Dave, you can agree with me here. Like I think it's still, you know, the linchpin is the offensive line because regardless of who's back to tank. Busby will will ship. If you have those guys, they're not going to produce maybe at the level that Sequan is, but you're going to get an arbitrage of what Sequan can do. And we saw when the offensive line was fully healthy, when Sequan was there and ran for nearly 2000 yards, what they were what they were able to do, Dave. Yeah. And then so then you marry that up with the Cowboys big win. And they would be one and three. And we would be talking about is it time to throw dirt on that team? Instead, they're now right there. Like I say, with the Eagles and I am leaning towards the Cowboys, the rest of the way in large part because they have become Steel City South now, the trade partners of the Pittsburgh Steelers, they get Joey Porter Jr. to go along with George Pickens to Nairdew Wells. And everybody up in Pittsburgh is arguing with me online and elsewhere about like, they don't you know them dudes is no good. When did it well, everybody understands they haven't want to play off game in more than a decade at this point. But, but they are choosing to play like what was it called the drumming movie? Like the, you know, the, nah, the, the, the, not quite my tempo. No, not quite my tempo, whiplash, whiplash. Yes. I don't know why the Steelers front office is now behaving like the bald guy in whiplash. Like, Joey Porter Jr. Not quite my tempo. Hey, you need a corner back. I don't know if you've heard. And you need a, you need a highly, these are top 10 guys at their positions and you're just dismissing them like, nah, not quite our taste. You know, he doesn't quite fit what we're looking for. Who the hell do you think you are? The Rams we thought had maybe the best quarterback in the quarterback league. Stafford has not been great. It's one of the sort of under reported elements so far this season. Nevertheless, a huge win and shout out to Sean McVey because we've been talking about 13 personnel and all of that. But all of a sudden, two of those tight ends go down. Pukka Nukuah comes back just in time and they kind of flipped the script just in time. They returned Pukka Nukuah to the main man, AKA their Jenga piece on that offense and they steal that game. And now the Eagles feel like they're in dire straits, even though they're tied for first place with, with both the Cowboys and with the Giants. So I don't suspect they're going to hang around for that long. What do we make in the other East, though? I was legit stunned by all the conversation we've had a lot of people have had around Drake May and what's going on there versus the high flying bills. Obviously they're going to drop a game somewhere. I did not expect it to be in Buffalo with the bills understanding. I know that very often early in a season, the team that absolutely needs to get that game is going to get it. But nevertheless, the bills surely recognized that they had a chance to seal up the AFC East with a victory there, right? If they get the four and oh, and they knock the Patriots down, that's a wrap. Nobody's getting them in that division. The, the, the Patriots steal this one. Me, Kobayo, your thoughts. I thought that when I look at All right, and I think I think Juju got he said it best the other day were on the on the Libertar show He said watching Josh Allen is like a Superman Movie or or episodic Superman show where you know at some point he's gonna do something that is just better than everybody else in a planet But we're just we're not accustomed to him winning these big games and for me I feel like he has such a mastery of the offense and he's so Just gifted at having people bounce off of him and create plays off platform that he gets ahead of him Like the play that he threw behind his back. I don't know what he was doing there I guess avoiding the safety, but that could have been disastrous when they allow a ball I mean, I like to talk about who the guy is doing it I mean, imagine how many guys what they would say that you can't do that they would not they would not allow that but The poor kid from Washington that they brought in the Greek kid they would have sent them off to England somewhere But you can't play anymore. That's what we do now. We deport people to countries that aren't their own. That's how we do thing So he has that I guess that that craziness that he had when he was younger and It showed it on the final play of the game where that interception he breaks off An obvious sack. He loads up. He sees three different Receivers at three different depths in the field and says you know what screw it I'm gonna try and go for the home rumble in double coverage gets it picked off So it's like he has such a mastery of the offense that I think he gets bored in making routine plays I don't I don't know if it's that necessarily or if it's just it's like staring at him like the green goblin mask because remember He did the same thing in the Texans game, right? And if Kamari That's one too many superhero analogies there buddy We already know he's a super man one He too admitted he is a superhero that Josh Allen But Kamari last year if he comes down with the ball the bills are two and two the Texans who knows what's with them They're at least one in three, right? And and and we're all saying wow Josh Allen has lost two games this year on just end of the game Disassures place so sometimes he gets away with you you live with it because sometimes he gets away with it And then he does he makes that throw at the end of the game where you could literally hang laundry off of it because it's on Such a rope rope right and and he makes the play at the end of the Texans games that that throw to Joshua Palmer, right? And all the other stuff he does you live with it, but it years it's ugly head sometimes, right? And it reared its ugly head in this game where I don't know about wrapping it up this early day because you never know and injury happens Well, I'm not gonna stop to asterisk every time I say something like that to say now keep in mind if the best player on that team gets hurt Obviously, it's a what this is a factor, but I cannot stop down every time to to make that asterisk But continue with your thought. Yes. Yeah. No, I was just saying that you know any anything can happen and and the Patriots They're they're two and two they're lingering Drake may look awesome yesterday looked like the guy that was an MVP candidate last year It makes that sick throw on the touchdown to chism the third whatever his crazy first name is there But I just think that we're slowly Starting to see the Patriots. I don't believe that Drake may will be down and look like the guy He was the first four weeks of or three weeks of the season. David is that the biggest storyline is it is a Josh Allen? Doing that or is it Drake may looking like that? I think it's Drake may, but you know to your Superman analogy. It's okay Like in Superman 2 when Clark Kent on purpose removes his powers He goes in your memory goes into the into the ice box and he like he turns mortal But then he's he's an incapable lover to lowest lane and he can't take care of general Zod anymore That's fine as long as at the end of the movie He's at his most powerful unfortunately for the bills this Superman Tends to give up his powers in the most critical spots of the season come January All right, listen We have much to get to including we still have to talk Broncos and Niners in the cat fight in Sincere and chiefs and Raiders and all of that, but right now let's jump in with our guy I am excited to be talking about him. He is the NFL draft was an NFL median He's one half of the John and Lan show on ESPN 97.5 in Houston where I bet he's taken a lot of very passionate calls About the local football collective. He's our old pal Lanzerline. What's happening man? How are you? We say check how we doing well. I'm doing all right. I could be better of course some of the best Pittsburgh Steelers players or Former Pittsburgh Steelers players are now wearing a star on the side of their hat and probably making the Cowboys better But you know all about those cowboys. You got an up close look at them Just yesterday and your Texans are in a bit of trouble Dire Straits for the for the fan base there. I imagine Yeah, dire straits and one of the reasons it's dire straits is because they started off on three last year So it's getting they started on to or worse in three of the four years to Miko Ryan's has been here Haven't won a game for five straight games dating back to last year so on four on one last year when they lost last year to the Patriots so Yeah, the offensive line is still an issue. They don't run the ball well at all even after Making some moves with in the personal moves in the offseason drafting a starting guard Dave Montgomery has been a non-factor except the first game in the first half and Your defense. I think the thing that scares you the most is when Niko Collins has been there The Texans have scored 30 points or more in both in both those games but the secondary has really been a problem and That doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Texans fans who watched them last year I'm sure it doesn't make sense around the league that your defense should have given up leads in three of your four losses in the fourth quarter That's why here's something that has happened. I guess in roughly the last decade or so I don't know why this is true only that it is true Defense is dominant defensive units only say sustain that dominance for like a season or two starting with like the 17 into the 2018 Jaguars. What is going on here? We depended on the tech I'm sure you as a as a Texans supporter a guy who's focused in on that anticipated that being at least An area of strength for them. They're 27th now in terms of scoring defenses and by the way the Broncos who also were right there in terms of profile With with with your Texans are only what are they like 17th in the league in scoring defense? What gives here? Why are defenses not able to carry it from one season to the next? I Can't explain it to be honest with you. I'm not I'm not really sure. I mean Obviously some of it has to do with level of competition and the Texans have played Joe Burrow. They played Josh Allen clearly they played Dak Prescott. I mean those those teams can throw it around a little bit so obviously the challenges who the competition is that can have an impact I think they'll come back to the the pack a little bit or being aggression And I guess a progression to the mean in this particular instance when they have some weaker offenses but you know some of it Even the head coach has made a point of basically saying did our defense You know read their their press club needs too much to the defense Think a little too highly of themselves after last year because every year is a new year We know that in sports check no matter what we think one year to the next can look totally different and even without a lot of personnel moves And that's what the Texans are experiencing. I think with the You know with with I can't really speak to the Broncos issues. I've watched them and and you know I think they've been hurt by some inconsistencies from quarter to quarter the Texans are just It's it's I think there's some schematic and Some technique stuff that's at play for the Texans that will eventually get fixed But it wouldn't shock me if the head coach took over play calling duties on defense He gave him up a couple years ago and he might take them back based on what's been going on Um, I'm just gonna flow to theory. I don't know if if you'll buy it, but like maybe After the wild card win on the banks of the three rivers some of the Texans players shouldn't have ripped The terrible towel up. Yeah, I mean it's a yeah, it's a cardinal rule. How many times do we need to see this before people will believe it You know what keep doing it Maybe that's what's doomed the Houston Texans. There is a bit so as you know, you don't trust fate um You remember what happened when the Brady's took the tiki statue off the ancient burial ground is major problems Alice got hurt someone almost died in a in a surf accident the tarantulas all over the place So yeah, I did see the video of Toro their mascot who we don't even like Ripping up the the terrible towel, you know, you got it you got to be careful with things like that You don't have enough cash a to fade karma and that's how I see it check. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to entice karma I'm not trying to You know to to to crap on karma's doorstep because the bear right when you don't the bear check you never poke the bear now And you know that Dave I have two things here real quick. Sorry one Did you just say Lance did you just say you don't like a mascot and two I love every week finding out how Why your friends with all the people that you bring on because there was just a Brady Bunch reference on the show here And it's just so fitting that you would bring on somebody that would immediately make a Brady Bunch reference within five minutes of being on the show Dave So I love it, I love seeing you and your friends interact, it's great. - So the Brady Bunch thing is easy, it's so applicable for sports because I am, I am very superstitious as well. And everyone knew that you just don't take stuff off the barrel ground. The Brady Bunch angle came up on my radio show today. So yeah, check and I have that in common. The other thing is, yeah, I don't like that mascot. He tries to play that angle of, I don't know, he's always rubbed me the wrong way, the mascot. I used to do a pre-game show and for whatever reason, for the Texans, for whatever reason years ago, like 2004, a couple years after they started, one of the hosts tried to interview the mascot and he would just do one stop of his hoof and two stops, I'm like, get out of here, this is the corneous thing I've ever seen. And it's just, I don't know, that mascot. Some mascots I like, a lot of them I don't like, he's one I don't care for. - Yeah, I'm with you on that. I did like the red socks of the Texans, but yeah, terrible towel, plus the Letterman's jacket. I, you would think maybe they could cancel each other out apparently, not now. Part of why I wanted to get you in here today was with the Falcons visiting the Saints and the anniversary of the big, the Block Punt with Steve Gleason and all of that and what that led to for that city. And Katrina on the mind, it, I think, most football Americans are not really aware of how significant a role the city of Houston played and helped out your cage in neighbors around Katrina. Talk a little bit about that. And then I'll tag it with what I think is the great benefit that ultimately has been delivered to the people of Houston, like yourself, especially a foodie. - Yeah, we were, yeah, so maybe a lot of people don't know that. That was a major, major deal on us had implications isn't the right word, but it is, it has changed the culture of New Orleans in some ways, moving beyond that and I lived in New Orleans for a couple of years and I was at Tulane. My brother and sister graduated high school there and we moved from Texas over there on my dad coach football. So New Orleans is different now after Katrina in some ways. Texas is different after Katrina in ways as well. Some of the best prospects coming out of high school football here when I write at draft prospects, I always look at their background, their bio. And then I will see, I'll read a story about, oh, this guy's from Houston, so I'll read a story about him. And the story, it so happened probably three to five times a year at prospects I'm looking at who come out of the, probably three times a year, their family moved from, you know, from New Orleans. Now a lot of these guys will have been one, two years old. Now we're going to get to the point where they will, the family moved over before they were even born. Soon I'll be reading that. But yes, it changed some things food wise a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I know you talked about the food angle. We did have a cage and contingency in Houston for dating back to the late '80s is when it really came over hot and heavy into Houston as well. So he had restaurants like Papadot and Budros, things like that. But it really did change sports culture. It changed, we took on a lot of people here in Houston. I was, my radio station was part of a, we were part host along with the rockets of a food drive and a job fair for people who came in. And you know, Shack, it was someone, I had ties to New Orleans from going to school there. So when the levy broke, John and I, my radio host, we got on, when we were at 6'10", which was the big sports station at the time. And we just started raising money to go to Red Cross and we raised something like $65,000 that morning on the show. People call it a mattress, Matt called in and his wife was from New Iberia, which is South Louisiana. And she's now in KABC. She's like the president of KABC here in L.A. Now she was just doing local news at the time here in Houston. But yeah, it changed Houston a lot. And for a year to two years, you know, you saw people who were just kind of days. People from Louisiana coming over, they just, they lost, they lost everything, was watch a documentary on Katrina, the 20th anniversary. And it was, it was very strange to relive that. I remember going to the senior boat, driving through New Orleans to a mobile and then we were driving back. And this was, you know, I guess the year after it happened. Driving back, I just kind of forgot about Katrina, and I was, I'm driving through New Orleans on the way back and you see a car upside down on top of a roof. And you were like, oh, wow, that's right. And the more you look, blue tarps, you start seeing cars overturned you. And this was several months after Katrina. And so the devastation, I don't know that everyone, some people kind of, once they saw it, they kind of turned, okay, let's on to the next thing. But it was not on to the next thing here in Houston, Texas. It certainly was not on to the next thing there in New Orleans. But yeah, you're right, you hit it on the head. It was Houston's changed a lot in terms of the influx of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. And I think we're better for it to be honest with you. Yeah, that's cool stuff, man. Yeah, it's funny. I went to New Orleans four and a half years after Katrina, just after the Saints won that Super Bowl. And I was there for Mardi Gras and Guillermo from the Kimmel Show. We were doing, he was on the float and we also shot something. I don't remember exactly why we did this bit. But somehow it involved Roman Harper breaking into Pierre Thomas's house. I don't remember what exactly the comedy across me there, there must have been some built in there. But, you know, not in the main thoroughfares that everybody lines up, but where Mardi Gras kind of starts in the residential areas that were wrecked by Katrina, the people there still, that four and a half years after some of the houses still just destroyed and otherwise, but the people with the combined, it's Mardi Gras and the Saints won the Super Bowl. And those people out in the streets at 9 a.m. dancing and otherwise, it was really something. I know we do the thing after a citywide or statewide tragedy, blank, strong. I really wonder, I don't know how many cities would have been able to recover. And I really do attribute it to the spirit of the collective people of New Orleans. There was something about it that you just could not get them down. That they're, that their entire lives were basically wrecked. Are there sense of what life was in New Orleans was destroyed? And they were still out in streets dancing and celebrating like, like, nothing like they didn't have a care in the world. It also shows the power of sports. All right, let's take a hard right turn into more mundane sports related stuff. And I'm fascinated by the ebbs and flows of the draft class process. And I will talk more about it at the end of the show. But let's talk about as it is right now in October of 2026. How do you see this QB class shaping up? Because there's already now, we've reached the station in the process. Where it's like, I don't know if all these guys are good. Nothing. Maybe you want to wait till next year. Not this not 27, but wait till 28 now. How good is this class as you see right now and whose number one and number two, let's say? It's been a little disappointing up to this point. We're still pretty early. But it was disappointing last year. And so a lot of these guys went back to school and we thought, okay, now they have a chance to reset and maybe it will be better. Now archmaning's been very average. Dante Moore is now recovering from the concussion and certainly didn't get it off to a great start over the first couple there at Oregon. Mensa has looked really good with the Miami hurricane. So that could be, you know, he's got to keep an eye on. Tritidad Chambers, smaller quarterback, but makes a ton of play. So so he's exciting. There's, you know, there's there's Drew Mesta maker who's at Oklahoma State, who may end up going back to school for a big NIL deal at Oklahoma State or elsewhere. It's just really, the North sellers has not been very good. We've been talking about Lenores for literally three years. Yeah, I'm done talking about him. CJ Carr is interesting one, but I think he needs to play more football, just like J.J. McCarthy really needed to play more football by the time he came out. And it hurt him. So it's not, let's just say that the pack is running together right now. And we're not down the, we're not down the backstretch, but, but we are getting to the point where we need somebody to separate sometimes soon. Mensa could be the separator. Jeremiah Smith is obviously the best player in college football. He'll be the highest, he'll be my highest rated prospect that I've had since Miles Garrett. So that's, you know, he truly is generational. I hate the word generational, but this is where it fits rare speed, rare size, rare ball skills, outstanding route running, tremendous competitive nature. And then what he does to the opposition, he looks like he's two or three levels. But he looks like a pro playing against college guys. So I want to see that, you know, that level of production, well, there it is. He's providing it. So you're going to have a team have to, you're going to have teams trying to fight over who they think is at the top of the quarterback rack. In the meantime, a generational player is going to get passed over just because quarterback is that important. I'd be curious if a team has a decent quarterback. Are they going to sit still and, and pick Jeremiah Smith? or they trade back and take their chances of maybe missing on Jeremiah Smith. for a team that's willing to give a multiple picks for a quarterback, like I'm already thinking in those terms, like what if the what if the what if the team finishes last, what the Texans finish last and this was the big all this weight till 27. That's the QB class and we were gonna kick that one down the road. I know that's that's what it is. And then everyone's new favorite quarterback, Camario Taylor from Mississippi State. He didn't play well this weekend. They got wiped out, but he was supposed to be the big Mr. 2028 and they got wiped out by Alabama and Keel and Russell, their rookie will be, you know, I got to see actually he was there last year. So it would be he would be available on 2028 as well. And he actually played really, really well from Alabama. But you're right. It's wait until next year and those same same guys have some of the same issues. Um, I could spend five minutes talking with you or getting your assessment of Gunkam Iard for junior tech. That guy's got a pro weight bottom there. But let's move on from that. He was on the losing side of what happened on Friday night. Don't you know, I instead want to hear your thoughts about what the cowboys coming up on Thursday night football. What do you make of the new look Dallas cowboys becoming steel city south? And what do you think it means? What does it tell you about the Steelers operation, letting young talent? You know, I know that the other side of the coin is George Pickens is a head case in Joey Porter, junior is a bad actor pretending to be hurt and broader Jones didn't pan out yet and all that. But they, but the result is a lot of young talent getting moved out of that building. Yeah. Pickens, I feel like pickens needed to go because there, there was an issue with wide receivers. I don't know what happened there for a while with Kevin Colbert. And then, you know, I don't really put it on Omar because Omar came in after all those guys have been drafted. I don't get it. Aaron, you know, with a B Antonio Brown and jujus mischuster and Carl Pickens, I don't know what happened and, and oh, what's his name, Chase Claypool. I don't know what happened there in Pittsburgh. They just kind of lost. It was at first. It was, you know, you did get the update Johnson in that mix or did they throw the out to Johnson? Yeah. I mean, five guys with the Steelers that had those kind of issues and some of them were TikTok dancers for a while. And, and yet Antonio Brown who just, you know, turned into winning the became Antonio Brown, I guess. That was hard to believe. So pickens. I think you had to get out of there. Porter Hertz. That one hurts because he's a good corner back. I'm kind of curious. I know they didn't, they couldn't come to an agreement on how much they wanted to pay him. But that one's going to really hurt the Steelers because he's a legitimate man-covered corner. And it's hard to find those guys in the league when you have young one, you want to hang on to them. I was a little surprised. I don't know everything surrounding that one, but I was a little surprised that he left a project to me is not a big deal. He was, he was getting you beat. So you can go wherever you want to go. If you're the Steelers, you'll be ends up in your division. But as far as Porter's concern, that's a problem because that's a legitimate corner back number one. So we'll see how it's even doesn't have the idea that the Joey Porter, Jr., he's not getting paid by the Cowboys. Yeah, but he's gambling on himself now that he's found out the Steelers aren't going to pay him. They're going to tag him. They're not going to give him a long term deal. Maybe the bet is, maybe the Cowboys will give me that deal. Just as the Steelers are now betting the team that can't draft cornerbacks successfully over the last decade. Well, this time we will get it right. Yeah, I think he's got it right with this guy, but now we've shown him the door. Yeah, I think what the Cowboys are going to do is let Pickens walk and they're going to sign and they're going to, I don't think they make this trade unless they're going to hang on to Porter. So Porter, I think we'll get the long term deal and they'll let Pickens walk C.D. Lanams a one. We can go find a wide receiver. My guess is how they'll look at that because it's easier to find a wide receiver in the lockdown corner. ESPN 97.5 in Houston NFL media podcasting and come draft season. He's as good as it gets talking about the QBs and beyond. He's our pal Lancer line. Thanks for the time, man. Hope your Texans turn it around despite Toro. Yeah, despite that, despite that nasty mascot. Yeah, I appreciate it. I always love coming on the show, Shayk. Good to see you, pal. Be well. Say hi to that marathon and wife of yours for me. Well, I'll do that. All right, there he goes. Lancer line. Great stuff from him. And that reminds me to point out something else that's great. That's LeBad beer. It's brewed for the chirps, the salty jabs in your group chat, Hall of Fame. And for that one friend who hasn't changed his fantasy football team name since 2019. I'm talking to you, Kevin. We at LeBad know a thing or two about friendly rivalries born in Canada, brewed in the US, united by the sacred art of trash talk because the best kinds of friendships come with nicknames. You didn't approve stories. You can't escape and just enough roasting to keep things on. So when your team is staring down third and long crack a cold one, roast responsibly and give a toast to the people who give you the hardest time. LeBad brewed for the roast. All right, buddy. And meek of biotony. Let's get into it here. Let's wrap it up before I start talking more about these college cubies and this insane, never ending process that we all endure season after season, year after year. Let's talk about saints hosting the Falcons time of this recording, the home team saints lay in a point and a half total is 47 and a half meek of bio. How say you? I'm going to take the saints. I'm going to take Tyler Shuck and Kellin Moore over the combination of Stefansky and Michael Pennix. I just think at home, places going to be rocking. I love O'Lavi. Give me the saints minus one and a half and only the points, buddy. Yeah. The saints were my stress free pick of the week last Thursday, Dave. So I'm going to stick with it here. Nothing has changed to convince me otherwise. Oh, fight through it. Oh, look out. Oh, look, he skid and choked up. He just remembered what happened to the gators on Saturday. Wow. I am, Dave. I'm still real in from that one. Roberts is still running. Tony, I've heard that a little buddy told me a little buddy told me that you thought that kick and Virginia tech was good. It was. It was absolutely good. But you know, that's why don't they just do what I want? First of all, it was not good. If you see the angles, it proves it's not good. But let's just take the guesswork out and do what I've law said, complete the rectangle and put a cross bar across the two goal posts. And then there will be no guessing game. It'll either go into the rectangle or it'll be no good. And that's that by the way, this is clearly why this is clearly why it is what that's clearly going over that ball. I don't know where that ball is. That could be that could be miles after the. I don't give a good god damn way. If you know where it is, the referee said it was no good on the UNC hailed a pit poor Mason high chill. That was a great, great win. Now also a great win for the chiefs because I think it, I mean, that's the big takeaway to go all the way back to when before Lance joined us. I think that is the biggest win. If we're trying to assess what it does, and the chiefs are now, that's a wrap on the division almost, right? I mean, now the Broncos and Chargers have an elimination game coming up next week. And the chiefs are pristine sitting there. I mean, the Raiders are a fun story. They're not going to challenge the chiefs for the division crown, right? I don't think so, but I think the Raiders have a legit shot to make the playoffs. I think there are a team that can hang around for sure and certainly surprise and win more games than any of us could have expected before the year. I think they might have already surpassed that by being three and one to be honest with you. I mean, Kurt Cousins, he's just, if he's in there, you're going to win games because he's just, he's just solid, man. Like he just, the offense is effective when he's in there. He can still make a lot of throws. He's like that old, wily veteran, kind of like what we saw from Keith Keenum, honestly, right? Where there are just those guys that just know how to get the ball to the receivers and score a bunch of points. And Kurt Cousins is one of those guys, certainly. And he knows who he is. That's what I talk about. Yes. If you used to be one of the great talents in the league, it's hard to modify your playing behavior and be like, Oh, I can't do that anymore. I have to play like a mortal. That was never Kurt Cousins issue to begin with. So he's accepted that I need the other guys to carry the day. And he leans on them to do it. Does beg the question when Fernando is going to get in there, because now the script is kind of changed. They are a player much more quickly than they anticipated. And that brings me to this presented by Jagermeister Servet cold or don't serve it at all. Feel that's getting chilly. It's easier. I said for you. And it's because they played inside and stood out on the Oakland athletics in field. That's where that game should have been played. But still it was a good game. Anyhow, Jagermeister damn that's called for more visit Jagermeister.com drink responsibly. So like I say, the eternal conversation around the endless cycle of QB draft classes flows season to season loosely like this. In summer, the experts declare these are the four first round QBs next spring. Then we get the evidence in autumn and opinions then changed like the leaves by winner. Two of those guys will be replaced by two other guys. And by spring, another player jumps into the first round. Well, one of the OG guys falls out of the first and maybe the draft altogether. Now I'm not trying to spook the teams doing their best to lose this fall on purpose. So they get a high pick. But do consider the last half dozen years in summer of 2020. Clemson's Trevor Lawrence was the clear number one Ohio States Justin fields number two. And number three was a debate between the potential of North Dakota States tray Lance and Iowa State steady hand Brock party. Six months later, no BYU Zach Wilson was the consensus QB to Bama's Mac Jones was a top 15 prospect and Purdy decided he had to go back to Ames because it's because it's draft doc. had fallen that far. The buzz was, if you needed a QB and weren't going to get Lawrence, you'd be better off waiting till the next draft for either the twin studs. Namely, Oklahoma Spencer Rattler and maybe even better UNC Sam Howell. By the end of 21, Rattler had been bumped off by Caleb Williams at Oklahoma. Sam Howell was lost at sea. And Pits can he pick it was suddenly a first round prospect, along with Ole Miss Guy Matt Keral and Liberty's Malik Willis. Post script, pick it and Keral were overdrafted. Willis was under drafted and Perty wound up just right when the team that had a higher grade on him back in 2020 than they did in 2021 still took him with the last overall pick. Jump to July 23, USC transfer Caleb Williams had a big lead in the two horse QB race against UNC's Drake May. But five months later, LSU's Jane Daniels won the Highsman. And by April, Daniels was QB 2 ahead of May. I'd say Jalen elbowed his way ahead, but thankfully, I'm not that cruel and insensitive. By May of 24, Georgia's Carson Beck was the consensus number one with Colorado Shedore Sanders, his closest challenger. Notice, I didn't mention Ole Miss Star Jackson Dart or Louisville's well-traveled QB in his mid-20s Tyler Schuck. Three months after that though, Miami's KM Ward had jumped all of them as the consensus number one. Then it got even weirder. Between the end of the regular season and the start of the draft, Dart became the second rank QB and ended up going 25th overall. Schuck went 40th. Sanders didn't go to the fifth round and Beck transferred to Miami. And before the 25 season, a lot of draft evaluators had Clemson's Cade Clubnick number one with Garrett Nussmire. Nussmire, Lenora Sellers, and Drew Allor right behind. Few months later though, Indiana's Fernando Mendoza had come out of nowhere after playoff wins against Bama's first year starter, Ty Simpson and Big Riser Dante Moore and Ole Miss's Trinidad Chambles. And Miami's new QB Carson Beck, Fernando went number one, Simpson went to LA, Moore went back to Eugene, and Clemson went in the fourth just a couple rounds after former first round prospect, Carson Beck. And guess what? Now it's all happening again. Just before last spring's draft, we were told teams would be better off waiting till 27 for Arch and Lenora's Moore, John Mateer, Jordan Mayov, and CJ Scar. But now Trinidad Chambles is the best prospect, unless it's manning. But you know, maybe it's Drew Mestemaker. You'd be crazy to discount Darian Mendoza though, and Ohio State's QB is looking good too, I'm just saying. And I'm also just saying none of this is meant to troll the draft experts. It's just to say everybody's throwing darts here. But since this dartboard, swinging back and forth wildly, maybe the best strategy is to just keep throwing darts till one sticks. And that's that. That's a wrap. That's all that we have time for. We could go on for another three hours. But the best we can do is talk to you again. On Friday, we'll look forward to doing that in the meantime. For me, Caballotone, and of course, Buddy Badowski, Danny B and everybody. Thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven.