Hey, we're still a listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcast and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon music. The course is calling and your Chevy Equinox can take on whatever the day throws at you. Stylish and ready for anything. Equinox handles your commute weekend trips and even those last minute T times easily load up your clubs and gear with plenty of cargo space plus hidden storage under the rear floor to keep things neat and with a big standout touch screen. The Equinox puts all your tech right where you need it. Bold and confident Equinox looks just as good on the road as it does down the back roads. From the first drive to the final putt Equinox is built to do more so you can focus on the game. The Ryver Sillo show is presented by DraftKings. On today's show from the Super Bowl champ, Seattle Seahawks, it's Jackson Smith and Jigba led the league in receiving last year. We're going to talk about his career, his journey from Texas to overlooked as a recruit to Ohio State and whose meaner whether spoon or even worry. And we've got Kevin Clark previewing the biggest story lines from the NFL this season. We'll do a little over under on how many quarterbacks we think will be bench because of play and life advice. DraftKings game day is officially here. All day today sports fans can score massive deals that exclusive offers during this one day only. It's happened right now folks celebration of everything sports and this game day is bigger than ever. The DraftKings sports app is now live in all 50 states from Texas to California, Florida and everywhere in between. Fans across the country can get in on the excitement. One app every sport all 50 states this game day is yours. DraftKings game day is live right now kicking off a new season in a new era for sports fans everywhere. So get ready, get in the game and make the most of game day. New DraftKings customer sign up today with code Ryan join the game day celebration. That's code Ryan R.Y.E.N. in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Bet with DK Sports book gambling problem called 1-800-Gamilar 1-800-My-Reset. Connecticut called 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of boothookasino in Kansas, that tax pass through may apply in Illinois. Twenty-one and over. Boyd in Canada, event contract trading with DraftKings predictions involves risk of loss. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Terms at dkng.co/audio. Nationwide based on sports book predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability varies by state. He's an all pro. He's leading receiver in the NFL last year. He's a super bowl champ and he joins us from Seattle. Remember the Seahawks? It's Jackson Smith and Jigbaugh. He is here on behalf of Levy for the Food and Beverage Hospitality Partner of the Seahawks. He has a huge announcement on some new products that they're doing up there at the home of the 12th man. It's good to see you. How are you? Yes, sir. Thanks for having me. Did it feel like the NFC Championship game was your super bowl last year? Nothing's like the Super Bowl, but that NFC game was definitely close. We knew we knew those guys. We knew those guys we were prepared for them and it for us to play them three times in the season, it was a you could say two super bowls. How about that? We'll say they were both super bowl. I get it and I think you're being very respectful, you know, because you don't want to be respectful of the opponent and then all the pomp and circumstance that goes into Super Bowl. But I just loved watching you play the Rams last year because the first game is weird and tight. I think the second game is the strangest game of the entire NFL season. So I wonder with you winning that game the second time around, if you won it in a way where it was a great way for you to not be overconfident against an opponent that you had beaten and having this rematch, because again, it was it probably felt like they should have won that game that night and then you walk away going how the hell did Seattle do this? Yeah, and I've been on the other end of that many times. So, you know, I would say we deserve to win that game and we earned the right to win that game. It was a definitely a close one and like I said, they knew us, we knew them and it's going to be a four quarter battle like to the end and like that's what we preach all season long and I know the mindset of my guys in the locker room is like we're not going to stop until 0-0 and then we'll see, you know, what happens. So, you know, it was definitely a fun matchup last year and you know, it gets a little better this year. So we're looking forward to it. And to the first half, they go up with the touchdown and you have very little time to work with. And I think that arguably like the most important drive maybe of the season, you know, considering everything that happened, you go up for a deep shot. How bad do you know that you're going to get hit by a curl? I do know he's there and I know he's ready to clean, you know, he's ready to to put me in a dirt. So, I did feel him that awareness of him, you know, ready to clean my clock. So, I knew I had to jump for the ball because if I would have ran through it, it probably would have been an even worse collision. So, really just jumping up and trying to protect myself at the same time and just like going and get the ball now, I thought was the best case scenario. So, selectively, that worked out. But is it because it's, it's, I was just was watching it and you pop right, is it all adrenaline? Like does it hurt? But you don't even know that it hurts yet? Yeah, no, that didn't hurt. That didn't honestly didn't hurt. I was really in a great position to take on the hit and to absorb the hit, kind of like in a cradle position in the air. So, that was a, that was an easy one. Okay, fast forward, few plays later, the touchdown. I don't know, they lose you and it's a great design too because you've got somebody in the flat to take the underneath man you have, I think a tight end running through the middle that brings to the other safety over. And if you're not lined up in the backfield, I don't know that you're able to just kind of run through the coverage there. They lose you there because I think of where you're aligned as opposed to if you were in the slot or kind of like assigned to somebody. 1000%. A great play called great play design. And if you see me, I'm kind of like, I kind of hide behind the offensive tackle and then she's running a post right at the corner and I'm just praying, he grabs him. So, I'm kind of, I kind of go in line with and Cooper Cups also running out. So, I kind of like hide between those guys and then once they're, once they make their move, I was able to just make my move as well. So, just, just happen to play out real well. I mean, with the respects of Cooper Cup and Shaheed, I mean, they open the play up. Yeah, what did Shaheed do for your offense this year? I didn't realize this. I'll share it with you. I don't know if you knew this, but like a certain number of receptions that you have. So, basically the high volume guys, the guys that really play, he has the lowest drop rate going back to 23 now, like he doesn't drop the football. 1000%. I mean, his consistency and of course his speed and his vertical threat is something that defense has to take account for. And even his third downplay, you know, was, was great for us. And he's just something, somebody you have to account for because he will burn you. And I think his route running is very under, it's not underappreciated because he runs great clean routes. And like you said, he has reliable hands. So, I'm excited for what he's going to do here too. He's really going to take the next step. And we are receiving core, you know, we don't get talked about a lot, but you know, we're here to take the title for sure. Yeah, I think a lot of times like the go route guys, we just assume they're not quick. They're not good slot guys. They're not like short route burst guys. And then even times, sometimes I think because they're like, oh, it's just a track guy. How good are his hands? And your front office is incredible. You know, so you, you rarely, rarely make mistakes. I want to go back to high school. I was looking at the stats. They're insane. It's the million touchdowns. You're in Texas. How'd you end up at Ohio State? Honestly, the lack of recruiting from the Texas schools, you know, I would say I wouldn't say all Texas schools, but the the majority of the ones, you know, I wanted to go to where did you want to go? Well, growing up, I growing up as a baby. I was a A&M fan. And then I went and then in middle school high school, I went to Texas OU game, you know, the con Bowl each and every year. My dad would take me. So I was kind of like, I'll definitely, I don't know which side I'm going to play on, but I'm definitely going to play in this game. And then Ohio State comes in and soops me up, you know, before they can, I guess get their hands on me. And that was, that's history. First of all, I love that you're sitting there with your dad, because I know your dad used to work you guys out like crazy. And then he, basically from the interview that I saw, he was like, then they were good. So I was like, oh, this isn't just a bonding session. But you were going to the Cotton Bowl as what, a junior high school kid watching the game, thinking I'm going to play in this game one day. 1,000. Yeah. It was something, you know, me and my dad did. And it was fun. Look forward to it every single year. Was able to, to talk to OU a little bit, you know, Texas a little bit, but it wasn't like we want you to come here and like commit today. So, but yeah, I definitely have my mind made up on those two.
And then, and then out of nowhere, Brian Hartline comes Mark Fantoni and Coach Day come and they're like, you know, we want you here. Like, you need to be here. So, and then after that, I was just like, turn my back on them and we're going to Ohio. - So they came in late then. This is fair to say, Texas came in late and there was like too late. - They came in way too late. - I don't know what they, I don't know what they do to the receivers up there in Columbus. So maybe you can give us some more insight, but that program is on an absolute heater of putting not just, you know, crazy college stats, but just NFL talent. What stood out to you the most about your development there to turn you into the receiver you are today? - Man, gotta give credit to Coach McMorrady our head strength coach coach there. I mean, a legend, a legend been doing it for years and years came in, you know, with Urban Meyer from Florida. So I would say, you know, the toughness and the things he had us do definitely built. And I think the recruiting aspect of it all, honestly, you know, I love to compete and they want competitors in that receiver room like to be the best. And we had about six guys who were wanting to be the best, you know, at all times. So for me to compete against that and understand and to be in that room with those guys just elevated my game to a whole another level. And that's for me, that was the, that's why I went there to develop with those guys. I knew being around great players was gonna make me great. So that was my mindset and yeah, now we're here. - You have the incredible sophomore year and then you're limited only three games, your junior year. I mean, I can't help but think like, you don't want to be that guy and another dude in the locker room looking at his draft projection. But did that get to you at any point where you're starting to go like, man, if I were coming off my junior year with those numbers, like this would be a wrap. And now I gotta worry about this a little bit. What was that like? - Oh man, at the time it was hectic, it was stressful at the time. Yeah, it was very disappointing, you know, not being able to play my last year of college. And at that time, you know, just the decision for me, I thought was best to just go ahead and get it done, you know, just go ahead and, you know, get to the league and develop and, you know, we're here. I'm here to be great and you have to dominate at the highest level. So looking back, you know, sometimes my question like, should I have just thought about staying, but there was no, at the time, it was like, I'm gone. Like I didn't even think about staying at that point of time and we were out. - Yeah, I don't, look, I don't blame you. You're dealing with something, I mean, that gets the good part for you in the pre draft is it wasn't some ACL, it wasn't like in Achilles, it was this lingering hamstring thing. But you know how the football world works? Like did you feel like people were holding that against you trying to, because I sort of, if you would come out after your sophomore year, if you've been allowed to come out, I think you're a top 10 pick. I mean, you absolutely lit it up. And you're like, dude, is he better than the other guys? Like this, this Ohio State Room is ridiculous. And then, you know, you go 20th in that, you know, to remind everybody, I know you remember, but it was the first, you were the first receiver taken, but that's so late in the first. And even at the time, it's like, oh yeah, he was kind of nice two years ago. And I'm kind of like, man, he was, I couldn't unsee the sophomore season. - Yeah. - No, I was definitely sweating in the draft room for sure. But yeah, that was going on. That was the thing that was talked about was me just kind of, you know, me just not really being heard and-- - Right, right, that was it. - Right, you were hearing that. - Yeah, definitely. And for those who know me, you know, they know, you know, what it was and people who were a part of it, understand what was going on at the time. And if I could play, which I wanted to very badly, help my team win a national championship, you know, I would have, you know, there's no doubt in the world that, you know, but, you know, the circumstances, the circumstances prevented me not to. And, you know, I just had to deal with that and to move on, honestly, and which was a big step in my life, you know, personally and obviously, you know, in the sports world. So, yeah, dealt with that, but definitely just made me a stronger individual, a stronger player and person for sure. - Every guy I've ever asked about the draft process. Like, I assume there was another team that told you they were going to take you and then it doesn't happen. Was there any other place you're like, oh, I'll probably go there. - No one told me they were going to, like, they're going to get me, I mean, I definitely had some, some teams in mind going into that draft. I was like, I think Chicago might take me at 12, maybe Houston takes me at 10, maybe Green Bay takes me, but they don't take first round receivers like that. Maybe the Patriots at 15, and then it will be where I 18. And I'm, and I'm sweating and then the Seattle had to pick and the rest is history. - Yeah, then four straight receivers went too. So, I mean, at least you had the bragging rights over the rest of the class there, 'cause then it was like, all right, we were sort of taking these guys. I love Witherspoon and Emanwari. I love them in college. I love that they're nasty, that they play mean. And knowing how like the offense defense works out, can they even do that to you when you come in in the same class with Spoon and then he's, and then Emanwari's after you. Like, can they, they can't really mess with you though, can they? I mean, they can try, but like, it's not like they've been there five years before you show up. - Oh yeah, no, I give it to 'em, you know, you can't, you can do all that to them, but, you know, when you see me as a different animal and just having those back and forth battles, I think it is very fun and sharpens both of our tools, for sure, for sure. They've done a good job on getting these young guys in. - Who's meaner between the two of 'em? - Who's meaner? Gosh, those are two mean guys. Like, honestly, they're super cool though. Like, it's crazy because they're the coolest guys too, but when they get on the field, they're super mean. I think I'm gonna have to give it to Spoon. You know, Nick had his rookie season, so I'm sure he'll get even more, you know, uglier, uglier in the years to come, but I think Spoon's been doing it for a while, so he really, so he really knows. And Spoon's loud too. He knows how to get that Florida out of 'em to get the defense. I mean, to get the opponent off track, for sure. - And when you're a little skinny or too, and you're that tough. - Oh man. - Those guys are even meaner. Like Nick's thicker, and he's-- - Exactly. - Although I would give Nick probably another year, 'cause the South Carolina stuff that I watched, I was like, this is a bad dude. And that's what I love about your defense so much. When you first come in, though, with Lockett is there, who I think had some really nice years for Seattle and Metcalfe's a beast. I mean, it's like twins with Swartz and Egger and Danny DeVito with those two. And I think it's a credit to your skill that, you know, we know how the league is. They turn the page on guys, but they're like, all right, we're good. What did you take from two completely different style of receivers in your rookie year, as far as influence in you and how you saw the game? - Oh man, I took a lot. You know, I'm always learning from my peers and to have two guys like that. You know, it was, you know, I was living the dream in the receiver room, just picking up on information about the game and about how they see things. And two totally different perspectives, just in totally different players, you know? - Right. - So it was awesome to kind of see that between the two and kind of pick, you know, what I think, you know, I could put in my game here, what I can pick and put in my game here, which is, you know, DK wants to run through people, which at times, you know, there's a time and place for it. Then Tyler Lockett, you know, he wants to get down and make sure everybody's safe on the play, which there is a great time for that. So just being able to be with those guys and learn from them and put into my game is something I feel like I'm really good at doing and understanding and visualizing. So, in and off the field as well, you know, just two great guys, two great competitors, you know, I was definitely lucky to have them in my first two years. - I was watching your Mike Dup game against Tampa. And I, I know because you were Mike Dup, like, look, I'm aware of how receivers, hey, you come off after a series, you're like, "Hey, I'm open." But you were very specific and there was a certain thing, I think 25 or 22 was doing to you. You were like, he's kind of like sitting inside of me, like, he's playing, he's giving me, he's giving me the route behind him 'cause he's kind of like sitting down inside and then you come back and you just go like, look, he's flat-footed if he does that again. Like, I'm changing the route on him and like, here's the heads up. Does it take some success in the league? Does it take a little seasoning to feel that comfortable? As opposed to the receiver, there's just come, like, you know what I'm talking about, not anyone specific, but the guy who comes back who's like, "I'm open every single route." And you're like, "You're not doing us any good, man, this is super annoying." That was very specific and it was also accurate. And then, you know, you hit the big shot, you get the touchdown on the inside, cut on all that kind of stuff.
that development of your game, feeling comfortable? Like, how long does that take? - Yeah, and I think it's huge. I think it's huge to build that relationship strategically, honestly, just to come back to your offense and not come very emotionally, but just coming back and understanding, like having them understanding it takes time, to build that relationship and to build that understanding, like, I kinda know what I'm talking about. You know, you don't wanna come off and be like, like, arrogant, something I say, but I just want them to be able to trust me and trust, you know, what I'm looking at and what I see. And I think that's just the best route to go, because there's a million things going on, you know, with the coaching staff and the quarterback. So there's a million things going on, and they don't wanna hear or do with all that. So, but, you know, if I can give valuable insight, you know, on what I'm seeing and they trust that, you know, that itself takes your game to a whole nother level. - I'm telling you, I was very impressed 'cause it was a specific thing. You were sitting down and I've just seen so many Mike Duffs where I'm like, this isn't helping anybody. Like, I used to always joke that you should have receivers play quarterback every now and then drop back and then go like, hey, do you realize, like, you think you're open or whatever? 'Cause it's just, I get what happens. Like, it sucks. Like, sometimes your job sucks. You're running, you're blocking. You don't get a target for an entire half and you can get really frustrated, but you can also get so frustrated where it's like to the detriment of the team. And if you're Sam Darrell, they're the offensive lines. Like, oh great, you know, 81 was open again. Cool, he's gonna tell us all about it. - Yeah. - I was, yeah, I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. How you set that up? I really do love this team. I love the mentality. I love your head coach. You know, everybody talks about culture and all these different things. But what feels very real to you about this group as you prepare to try to defend a Super Bowl championship, which we know is really hard, but it feels like your team, and there's a team that has the personality, certainly the roster, but the personality to like accept this challenge. What do you think it is about your group going into this year that maybe has kind of impressed you as you prep up for 26? - I think it's just that just accepting the challenge. And with accepting the challenge, you gotta understand the challenge, which is like, we're in a different space than we were last year. Like we are the defending champions. We did win that. We can put that mentality to the side and focus on what we need to focus on, which is weak by weak, you know, game by game and understanding that, you know, kind of the outside noise, we don't want it to really dictate on how we think about ourselves or go out there and play. Like we are who we are. This is a new team. This is a new season. And we understand that it's gonna bring new challenges. So I feel around the building and definitely the players, within the players that, you know, we're gonna, we accept this challenge and we're ready to, you know, move it forward like we say. And, and attack it head on. - So on the way out here, I know that your collaborative would leave you to create a special rotational menu with each dish constructed using the JS and ingredients, like ordering a BLT. So we've got the jerk salmon nachos. We've got the breads and the JS and spreads. And then the, the Hicomba, Hicomba, that's right. Stake noodles, silent J. What went into this? Were you in the lab just cooking this up or were you just telling them, like, can you cook a little? What's going on? - Man, leaving reached out and I definitely wanted to collab with them. I've, they've been doing a great job and making sure, you know, the 12s have enough energy, you know, because we have the best fans in the world. And, and sometimes they need their, their bread and, and spreads, you know, to, to attack the fourth quarter. You know what I'm saying? So, just wanted to give that back to the 12s and making sure we're in tip top shape to attack this season. And I'm excited. I've tasted all, all the things on the JS and menu and won't steer you wrong. It's, it's the way to go. - Well, your name's all over it. So obviously the standard is the standard. So, hey, congrats on an awesome season and what's been just a kind of a rocket ship two years for your career wise. It's been a lot of fun to watch. So thanks for the time today. - Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. - Netflix is expanding its NFL coverage in 2026 from week one to the first ever Thanksgiving Eve matchup and two Christmas day games and a playoff game in January. Week one of the upcoming NFL season will feature the leagues first ever regular season game in Australia on September 10th between divisional rivals, the LA Rams and the San Francisco 49ers that will air on Netflix live from Melbourne Cricket Ground. Thursday, September 10th, 835 PM Eastern, 535 PM Pacific time. I gotta talk about the Rams. I picked them when the Super Bowl. Obviously, they're the heavy favorites. So it's not that exciting. I'm not doing anything outside of the box, but there's a couple different factors. One is I couldn't help but feel like they were better than Seattle last year. All right? And I know Seattle on the whole thing. The Rams could not get off the field in that fourth quarter of the NSC championship game. They addressed that defensively. This is kind of insane. Just to remind you of what they've done with this roster. All right, so they trade for Miles Garrett, which means versus out, okay? But they are hurry had Byron Young in, who I love. Kobe Turner's the other defensive end across from this guy named Aaron Donald, who's the right defensive end, who's gonna come back and even at 35 with two years off, the worst version of him is still gonna be nastier than probably 90% of the interior defensive lineman in the league. That actually moves, 'cause Pune Ford is their detackle, that moves Fisk to back up now. And then at corner, they didn't like what they had there. Jalen Watson comes over to Kansas City and then they trade for Trent McDuffie, who's even better than he is. Obviously with a new contract and that was part of the Exit and Kansas City the entire time. So that's two new corners. Cam Crowe who plays more snaps than like anybody at safety on top of what they have on offense, which is a steady hand. Some of you trust in Stafford. You trust that McVay is going to whatever their challenges are, whether it's offensive line injuries, whether it's receiver missing, they drafted another tight end in the second round to go with the three guys they have from last year, Parkinson, Hickbee and Ferguson. They're going to adjust, I would say week to week, offensively, probably as well as any staff. I would say staff with quarterback combo. That would be your favorite. Sure, you can throw Shane a hint in the mix there because of what he's done offensively over the years. But if you're looking at active quarterback with a coaching staff and an offensive philosophy of like what do we need to do to adjust throughout the entire season as every team battles injuries, they're the best bet in the sport. So it's not just a rosters thing. It's also that the team that they had that ridiculous loss to at Seattle and then the playoff situation in that fourth quarter, they've addressed it defensively. Like they are trying to do whatever they can and you would think based on this personnel, be able to get off the field if they are faced in that kind of scenario again in the NSC championship game or perhaps an earlier playoff game. So it's not just Stafford, it's not just puking to cool. It's not just this offense. It's not just an offensive line that, yeah, you could ding here a little bit. Although there's some upside. I think on some of the preview stuff that you go through, it's a loaded, loaded team that should be motivated. Kind of like the spurs when they lost the Miami Heat and the NBA finals rail and hits the shot. It felt like the spurs came back that next year. So mad at the world that they were undeniable as they came back and won a championship. So some parallels there. Watch week one of the NFL on Netflix, the Los Angeles Rams versus the San Francisco 49ers live. Only on Netflix Thursday, September 10th at 835 PM Eastern, 535 PM Pacific. He's still too young to be called an old friend, but Kevin Clark joins us from ESPN. This is football podcast and ESPN to end part of the Scott Vampelt slate this fall. Good to see you, man. I'm fired up. We both have facial hair right now. How are we feeling about that? I don't think mine's going to be hanging around as long as yours. If you look like an extra from Magnum PI right now, which is in, which has been in for a while. I mean, I saw stage coach footage where I went. OK, this is-- I was at a rodeo in Montana. I'm like, OK, you know, so I think you look great. And I think you can-- How old are you? 38. Yeah. So it actually makes sense. You got to do something. I also look a little young on TV. And I wanted to just throw a curveball in. And I kind of like it. I think it's kind of-- it's at least through the football season. I've committed to it through the football season. Have you got any net flanderers comps? No. Good. Not getting any-- no, no. I'm not doing that. OK, is it come off as flanderers? No, not at all. OK. I want to make sure it wasn't happening. Yeah, internet comments tend to tell you what's going on pretty quickly. And I actually haven't gotten a ton of negative feedback. Like, when I first started doing stuff at the ringer, my hair was always kind of wet and combed. And so that's it. Well, every comment I got on the internet was about me being looking like the child of the president. And so we had-- they bullied me right (laughs) Little older.
but I got bullied out of that particular hairstyle. So internet comments are kind of a great corrector in this. And I actually haven't gotten pretty positive as far as this goes. - I feel like you have a high approval rating. Like of content people. I feel like yours is, people don't give you as hard of a time, which just means the content is that good. I said you know last night, we were going like, let's run through some storylines here with the NFL. And you had mentioned an emphasis on running heavy packages. I started looking at some of the splits on the run past stuff. I think the numbers are kind of all over the place, depending on what kind of site you're looking at here. But I mean, Saddles is a good example. 48% run on the run past ratio. Number one in the NFL. 19 teams running it over 40 plus times on available plays here. And we know the commitment to just going heavier against lighter teams. So where are we in this run past cycle? - We're at the peak right now. You know, it's funny, the innovation cycle is so quick. Now I was actually watching a thing this morning on the 85 Bears. And they were talking about a big sideline fight between Mike Dicke and Buddy Ryan because Marino was torching the 85 Bears. And Dicke was like, hey, we might want to put out an extra corner back. And Buddy Ryan was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You don't tell me what to do. And it was like, it was some foreign thing. Obviously, nickel defense was a thing back then. But it wasn't like, hey, we should probably not let damn Marino do this to us. And the innovation cycle now, teams remake themselves like almost over a quarter of a season. And you saw this, a Pukana Kua gets injured last year. The Rams throw out three tight ends. And then you look at the draft and everybody is drafting these tight ends. And why? It's because there's not a lot of depth that linebacker around the league, explosive plays are more important than they ever been. And so you want to be able to pass out of those looks, but also had the power running game out of it. And I just think that there's, right now, we're going to see a bunch of teams try as many big bodies as possible, because just the way that the defense has gotten faster and more spread out. And again, the linebackers are not the, you want to put linebackers on the, get as many linebackers in the field as possible, because not a lot of teams have three linebackers. And then you want to just get as many explosive plays as possible. So we saw the tight ends get overdrafted a couple of months ago. And we're going to see this all season. Now, having said that, as I said, the innovation cycle is so quick now that by the back half of the season, it could literally swing back. And that's kind of what you're seeing now. And a lot of that's like the internet, the way that the coaches are able to install new things very quickly, because you can just send these things to the iPads and home and all that stuff. But right now, I think in September and October, you're going to see a lot of tight ends, a lot of the plays. And you talk about the explosive running game. Like the easiest thing to do, if you're the chiefs, against two high looks for the past five years, it's been to run the ball. And they've not done it effectively. So they'll go out and spend money on Kenneth Walker. Some of the off the coordinator hires we saw over the past couple of past year, at least, have been about the guys with the best run designs in football. So explosive runs are going to be a huge part of it. And that's what you want to see from these big bodies, too. So that's literally the defining trait of this season is the big bodies everywhere. Yeah, but we haven't seen the investment on the running back position, though, which just kind of speaks to what you're talking about. I mean, here, and I keep talking about Ferguson for the Rams, he's third on the depth chart right now. I tied in and then they drafted another one out of a higher state, like really high. So the amount of emphasis, not only a personnel, the irony of all this is that I don't know that we'll see that swing back to spending the money on the running backs, though. So it's a lot of things, right? So you spend the money on Kenneth Walker, but it's not anything like spending the money on a cornerback or spending the money even on a wide receiver premium tight end. But any read set at the end of last year, the team just weren't fighting on play action. They just didn't care. They were like, everyone Katelyn Clark did the little wave, whoever the woman was, the three-point line. Like, eh, don't worry about that. She's not going to shoot her if she does who cares. Basically, that's what read was saying people were doing the running game. Like, eh, we don't need to fight on play action. Don't say-- So it is a new year and out. Somebody had figured it out, you know, with the run game. And so I think that, if I had to guess-- and guys have been paid as far as, you know, B. John Robinson, obviously, a couple of weeks ago, Jeremy, I love being a third overall pick and getting at the time the most guaranteed money in history for running back. The Eagles rewarded, say, Quan Barkley after the Super Bowl season. But if I had to guess, I think teams see the running game still as a function of offensive line play and run designs. And how many guys are-- how many times you're running into a light box and all that stuff. And so it goes more into the-- Running back is not about having-- I know what you're saying. Running back is not about having a great running back. And the one analogy I've used or so low is if you ever heard the phrase, don't drink to feel good, drink to feel better. Have you ever heard this face? No. OK, so essentially, it's like an old kind of an old dad, old granddad rule that, like, if you're feeling bad and you start drinking, you're not going to feel good. But if you feel good, you can't be like, hey, I'm going to delete 15 beers, and then at the end of it, I'm going to feel awesome, right? That doesn't typically happen. But at the end of it, if you're feeling good, you're going to feel better if you have, if you do leave 15 beers, depending on your tolerance, tolerance, uptrend, responsibly. But I feel like the running back is-- And who is the actual record? Yeah. The running back position. I don't think you can run your way into being a good team. I don't. I only can go from bad to good with the running game. I think you can go from good to great with the running game. I think you can go from average to good with the running game. But if you're a bad team, we sell this with the Raiders last year. We're probably going to see if Jeremiah Love is healthy. There's not a lot you can do with that. And I think that's the problem the running back faces is that you can't be a pillow where it's like, all right, well, we're going to have this guy. And then in three years, he's going to be the cornerstone to our franchise. It's a hard position to do that then. OK, how does that relate to tempo? Because of defensive personnel, disguises, pre-stab stuff, and then maybe even under center. Because I want to share some rams, specifically Stafford Numbers with you, who's obviously a big fan of the show here. But there's more to it, though, because we had a lot. But there's these Stafford Numbers, and I'm going to share with you at the end of this part of it, which I couldn't believe how surprising they were. So there's a little tease inside of the show. Yeah, so let's start with the tempo thing. So whenever I talk to OCs on my training camp tour a couple weeks ago, a lot of them are like, hey, we're going to apply pressure. One would be the aggressors. And what happened the last couple of years were so low. So defense has got really good at disguising looks. Because the simplest way to read a defense is that one safety or two safes, and then we go from there. That's high school. That's college. That's pros. In college, and then in college, and in pros, the last couple of years, especially in the pros, they've gotten a little better at disguising those things, and rolling at the last second. Hey, we're not actually in this. We're not in the safety's actually going to drop back. Or the safety's going to come close to line at the last second. So what happened the last couple of years were so low as a number of plays with one second left in the playcock exploded. Because there was this chess match of, oh, we're going to do-- I'm going to do this, then you're going to do this. And I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. And the offense is reaction to that over the past offseason. Basically, it's been like screw this. We're opting out of the chess match. And a lot of this stuff is Indiana, if you saw it, they lined up really late, because they didn't want to do the chess match with the headset stuff. They didn't line up until there was 15 seconds left in the play clock so that no one could get in the linebackers year and tell them what to do, right? And so I think we're going to see more of that at the pros, where you just line up and snap the ball. We're not going to go through this chess match. We're not going to go through identify, yeah, we'll do a little motion to find out where the cornerback wants to go, or we'll do a little motion to see if there's pressure. But we're just going to get up there and snap it. And Nate has talked about this a lot. He thinks the Kingsbury going to the Rams is partly to get more tempo there. They have had that those pages installed into the Rams playbook. I just think there's a lot there. And Sean Manion, the Eagles OC, that's going to be a big point of emphasis. Just sit, you know, line up. Not a lot, the thing that the Rams seem to, the Eagles offense line keeps talking about is like, there's less on the plate of the offensive linemen in this offense. It's just put your hand in the dirt and go forward. That's it. There's less chess match. And so I think offense is doing what they do and not worrying about what the disguise on the other side is going to be a huge part of that. Now, under center is a huge part of that. Jaden Daniels, the whole thing, Dan Quinn told me, is that the whole thing is run action, play action. Jaden Daniels, you know, gets a little bit of time and then he builds his explosives. Explosives have become the most important thing. It's almost like the three point offense now. Where if you look at the research, if you haven't exposed to playing a drive, you're going to score way more. It's like 25% than any other team. And because of the way the kickoff rules are now, really, if you get one first down here at midfielder, so if you get a third of your play, you're going to get points in the board. And so the whole, if you look at it like the difference between how many explosive plays you get versus how many you give up is literally the most addictive stat and football. And we're starting to see teams do that where it's, again, heavy person now we talked about, it's the play action and then bang, we're going to have a 40 yard shot. That's what most offense is doing right now. Like I just Ted Winn had a great article about Leigh Lembrank in the play callers and he was saying that one of the DCs was saying that Liam Cohen's best trade is, he knows exactly when to time a shop place. And that kind of three point.
Offense type deal is becoming a huge part of it. So the entire plane is built out of shop plays now. - Because when I was looking at, I look at it like intended air yards for QBs, 'cause I think that tells a real story, it also tells a story on like either what your QB is limited to or the design of what your offense is. And so Stafford is clearly number one in intended air yards last year, which speaks to those shots. And it's funny though, 'cause you compare that with like his bad throw percentage in his on target percentage. It's shockingly lower than you would think. Like on target, he was 24th, bad throws, he's 28th. That means like not good. And it's like, wait a minute, did Stafford, there really be 27 other quarterbacks in the league that ranked higher than him on bad throw. And I know like some of the stuff in the tracking or whatever, but like that, I think those match each other a little bit with some of the stats that are underwhelming for Stafford, but then also realizing like, hey, we don't care the bigger picture as those intended air yards for what we wanna do. - Well, that's what the tape guys talk about with Caleb Williams where his completion percentage I believe was league low for starters last year. But again, it's at three point offense. So it's gonna be a little bit lower 'cause you're trying to push the ball down the field and get explosive plays. The Bears had the most explosive plays in football last year. That's not an accident. Would you take, you almost have to get into effective field goal percentage, right? Would you take less completions if it meant the most explosive plays in the NFL? Every coach, hopefully, would take that. If not, then they need to look at football in a different way. And so the bad throws, those are just part of it. I remember one year Brady and Mitch Trubisky were the least, had the most bad throws in football. That just gonna happen sometimes. By the way, Trubisky did not have the highest of Tom Brady. So it's just a little bit of a different way of looking at it. You know, Sean Payton has always talked about explosives like, interceptions, not, you don't care, it's not that you don't care about interceptions, but interceptions can sometimes be the tax you pay for explosive plays. And I've heard Sean Payton talk about that. And so I think there's gonna be a little more of context about what offenses are trying to do. There's never been more touchdowns in the league than there are now. Teams don't wanna look at fuel goals as much as they have in the past. This is a touchdown league and it's a shot play league. And I think that there's gonna be more margin for error when you're when you're Ben Johnson and you're saying, hey, I want Caleb Williams to just connect on four of the shot plays per game. And then we score 28 points a game. Then it is, hey, I want him to be 65% completion percentage. I mean, there were so many times, I actually heard a bunch of the tape guys talking this, this preseason about like, you know, in the NFL now, especially in preseason. If you wanna scheme up a nine for 10 stat line, you can. It's really easy. You just have a bunch of bootlegs, hit the tie down, you're good, but that's not what the league is becoming. And I think that's, that's gonna be those interesting things. How we even view completion percentage stats, all that stuff going forward. - I need to apologize to Philadelphia and Eagle Spans when we did our kind of contenders thing with Nate Tyson. I had it written down and I just missed it. I just, I mean, it's a shocking mission, but maybe a little fruity in in that. It feels like Philadelphia is completely overlooked. And I'd offer up, and I'm guilty of it too, because it's just feels so stupid to be wondering like if Hertz is an issue when they have this resume, but then you watch and you're like, look, there's some stuff here that's clearly an issue. And maybe AJ Brown, even though I don't love the execution of his issues with it, like maybe he had some points here. And now we kind of understand it, it's the Go balls. It's those deep shots. So that's kind of like what you're talking about there a little bit like if there was one thing that you loved in Philadelphia is that you had two receivers on the outside, they're just going to win all of those balls. And so maybe it covers up from some of the deficiencies and Hertz games overall, but you know, from a personnel standpoint, it's, it feels like the Hertz thing is dragging down the perception of the Eagles to depths that are just absurd. (laughing) - So I've become a bit of a Hertz defender over the past couple of weeks. And I, you know, I keep joking about it. We're still a bit like, if this entire operation were in Gwondale, Arizona, we would just be like, "Oh, they're a machine. "We'll see them in January. "See you guys. "We would never check in on them. "We would certainly never have weekly debate." So part of it is the market. The Hertz thing is so funny to me. I mean, he's still one of the most gifted down ball throwers in football. He's, to me, the only guy who gets punished narrative wise for having help because we always say, "Oh, wow, Josh Allen gets TJ Moore hell yet." Like, we do, "Oh, when is my home's gonna get the wide receiver?" And we go, "Wow, whoa, my home's has, Hertz has help." Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no, no, no, we can't have help. We have to do this all by himself or else he doesn't get any credit. So, but my argument for the Eagles is, first of all, I don't think the difference between the Eagles and the Rams is all that significant. I think that if the Eagles that acquired all these guys of the past few years and it wasn't through the draft and all that stuff, they obviously don't have a Miles Garrett. But I think that the way that they draft and develop is a little bit boring. So we don't talk about them as much. But when I was going, and let's leave the Rams out of this for a second, but when I was going to some of these camps, one of the things I like to do is ask people there like, "Hey, we know that the quarterback, especially on a contender is usually the best player, who's the second best player on this team?" And a lot of these contenders were silo, as kind of bleak who the second best player on the team is. Or it was, or you know, there's a huge drop off after three or whatever, the Eagles have a bunch of guys, a bunch of guys who would be the third or second best player on legitimate contenders in this week. And we know who they are. Like, I just had kind of long on my show. We said, "Lan Johnson's still the best offensive "alignment of football." Jordan Milott is in that conversation. Sequan Barclays in that conversation. Jalen Carter, Zach Bonn, Queenia Mitchell. - Queenia. - Yeah, Queenia Mitchell. Like, so these are just like elite. And Jonathan Bernard is gonna be healthy at some point. These are blue chip guys, and they're everywhere on that too deep. And because Jalen hurts, because we think the barrier for entry is having a elite quarterback, by the way, Sam Davies won the Super Bowl. Because of that, we discount the Eagles every chance we get. Now, I don't know if that's a, we just, we underrate Nick Sireoni or whatever. But I've become a little loopy with the Eagles disrespect and then the Seahawks disrespect. Seahawks disrespect is that the Monday after the game, in February, we just started talking about 31 other teams mismove gone. And I don't remember probably since the Peyton Broncos or the Giants after 2011. I don't remember a Super Bowl team where we did that. And so I am leaning towards the Rams between the NSU champion, but I don't think that this is, this is not, you know, Miami in the ACC. This is not like the talent difference is so significant that we can just call it. I mean, the stat yesterday that came out Ben Fox from Yahoo had this that the 20 biggest Super Bowl favorites in the modern era are over 20 in winning the Super Bowl. And some of those didn't even get close. And so a lot of them made the playoffs couple and made the Super Bowl, but they're, you know, football is, it can be a very, very weird sport. And there are no four gone conclusions. It's certainly not this one on the help thing with Hertz. I kind of understand the overall premise, but I think specific to Philadelphia, like during this run, they're like, okay, offensive line is insane. And when Kelsey was there, it's two Hall of Famers with Lane. And, you know, I don't know what's going to happen with the left tackle, still some work to do. We bring an AJ Brown. We spent another first on Devonte. We have an incredible defense because they're just good at this stuff. And then it's like, oh, now we're also going to add sake on Barclay. I mean, that's, that's an absurd amount of help. And I think also plays into the point of like, you're going, look at how many players we can name. It would be the second or third best player on some of these other contending teams. The weird thing about this team is because I'm with you. Like every week when I watch him or you're doing whatever your preview work on this stuff, you're like, look at all of this talent. And if you look at the PFF grades, you go, okay, O line. What's the only O line you would take over Philadelphia? It's probably Denver right now on paper because all five guys are back. Maybe somebody would pick Philadelphia. But I think the lane injury stuff probably plays in at least for 26, what do you think? Okay. I don't know if you're shaking your head. No, no, no, it's Broncos. It's hundreds of the Broncos. I just saw I was actually doing some work this morning on deep ball works. So we're doing a shot play discussion. The Broncos have by far, by far. When Bo Nick throws it deep, he has by far the least pressure rate in football. And it's not even close. Like that is a huge competitive advantage. Okay. Cool. We're both on the same page. Defensive line. Phil is done a really good job on the edges of kind of making it work. But the interior part of this, if you look at that PFF grade, I think the D line is fourth. There's the Rams and everybody else right now, but yeah, there's conversations to be had. There's no doubt that Philadelphia and this personnel group. But I think last year when you look at some of this stuff, like the pass block, run block rates are average, the pass rush, run stop rates are average. This is a high profile roster that at least for 25. The stats do not back up the resumes of these guys. I'm not to say that like, oh, they're all collectively done. But 25 was a very weird year based on some of the success failure rate stuff for a group that we all love. Yeah. To your point, say, Juan got hit behind line way more than you had in any group, run block, yeah. And that was real. What I'd say about the Eagles were silo is they very rarely make the same mistake twice.
And I think that there was an unsettled offensive line and then they go out and they get it's you know Lane Johnson This is his last ride they probably had some idea of that I doubt link that the how he was finding that out At the moment that he said it a press conference couple weeks ago But then they go out and they draft Mark Helbell a huge guy out of Miami. I think he's like six nine three forty or something like that He was the biggest lineman in the draft They go out and they get him I think that there's going to be a little more health than there was last year across the offensive line So I'm always going to bet on talent and I'd also say like with with the Rams Miles Garrett hasn't really practiced the last couple weeks You know, there are questions Aaron Donald hasn't blatant two years and so there are still questions about that and you know I There's whenever you have a bunch of guys on your second contract whenever they're your best players And that's true that's mostly true of the Rams and mostly true of the Eagles You're always going to run the risk of of a cluster of injuries and like even with the Niners I don't believe the substation thing. I believe there's a bunch of guys in the second and third contract Which is typically old by NFL standards even though there've been some young guys who've been hurt in San Francisco And so I think they're going to they're going to even out with with the health And then I think that some of the moves they made have been have been really really good I think hopefully my Kylemman is healthy. I mean when I was there A couple weeks ago and I was watching the practice for so low You just see these things where you're like why why wasn't their motion in the Eagles offense about a couple years Like that seems like a really easy thing to help Jaylen Hertz Just like move one guy over from the right side to the left side to just give a little clearer picture And I think that's what you're just going to be a little bit more simple And and I trust Sean man need to do this and I trust Jaylen Hertz to execute it I was think that the practice interception thing and the preseason interception thing training camp Interception thing whatever is the most overblown thing on the planet And I think that it's just a guy learning his his We've seen it with a lot of elite quarterbacks when they're trying to learn the limits And the new offense. I think I think he's going to be good Raising canes is sponsoring pga tour pro golfer Sam Burns LSU alum Louisiana native and a good friend of raising canes owner and founder Todd grays You may have seen the canes logo on his collar during tournaments this season ahead of the BMW championship Sam and raising canes hosted kids from first tea and boys and girls clubs of st. Louis from meet and greet and golf lessons by Sam himself At a driving range in st. Louis and of course canes chicken fingers and canes sauce I can imagine the kids had a part of time let him go with the chicken fingers then they did Let's say a seven iron That's just how good it goes down. We all know that we all know how much I love that can't wait for our ad to come out In scouting out your tailgate for all the necessary requirements because canes has you covered raising canes chicken fingers one love Aaron Donald look at it again the other night eight Not provost all pro now all pro okay all pro. I think the only time he didn't make it was like the second to last year So he makes all pro in his final season and so you're right as I'm played in two he's gonna come back at 35 I know we all love Chris long there is a reverence not just in his talent, but the nastiness of Aaron Donald of like If in an alley type of thing against bigger people and all that kind of stuff the fact that he has that mentality and they'll probably manage him a little bit more I expect it to be nasty so like I don't Maybe it doesn't have to be peak beating triple teams for 70 80 snaps But with this rotation of talent that they have if he's managed I just I expect really impressive games from Aaron Donald even at 35 with two years off You know Andrew Whitworth said some of the makeup a few years ago. I think it was during his last season that stuck stuck with me about Donald Which is he's truly and everybody says they do this, but these guys are not the silly then they don't Aaron Donald Whitworth said it's the only person he's ever seen who actually like he was an undrafted for age in every day of his life Where he was out there doing way more work and I had had a GM tell me this one time and I thought this was probably the most interesting Scouting nugget I've ever heard which is that Pitcoaches used to tell The the visiting scouts or or gm's or whomever they say you got to get here early Just to watch Aaron down warm up because it's not unlike anything you've ever seen you don't want to see him first of all But he in this happened the NFL too. He's such a game record That you they had after removing from practice because he was so you know Especially Jeff Fisher who's talked about those they've removed from practice. He couldn't even see him in all his glory in the in the practice Because they needed to install you know play actions means he will blow up But if you saw him warm up you'd understand why he was so great That's why scouts used to go look at that and so if you're hearing all of these stories From the defensive tackle standpoint. It sounds like frickin Michael Jordan stories, right? It sounds like they Totally psycho about being the best you can be so if anybody is gonna come back and be good I mean obviously Jordan didn't have that great of a comeback But if anybody can do it and be 80% of himself and by the way, well, which one he's gonna be managed Second comeback is pretty good. Oh, yeah, but then the wizards come back Third come back. So the second come back was good. Okay, so we're in the second come back So we're good because he was running the team and he said who better to sign but they'll be a third come There'll be a third come back when he's the GM of the uh of of the Panthers and a couple of years Yeah, there you go. Uh, it won't be Dan Dan will do that at a shop in a pre-show meeting next get up pre-show meeting be like what if Donald Retires and then at 41 he comes back as GM of the panthers then he plays Does that settle the Jordan LeBron debate All right, so um if anybody can come back 80% of Aaron Donald is like the best defensive tackle and most franchise is history and so The front seven is still gonna have a lot of talent Braden Fisk is good Kobe Turner is good Puna Ford is good Byron young is good. Byron is nasty too. Yeah, and so Even if he just plays six to percent of his snaps and and the one thing About it and this is something that Fisher has talked about Aaron Donald and we always talk about this with quarterbacks But Aaron Donald Knows when winning time is as a past rusher and a lot of that means Setting up a move all game just to to to use the opposite in the fourth quarter two minutes to go and bring down the quarterback and win the Super Bowl, right and so It's gonna be even if you save him and only give him a part-time role and then turn him loose in the two-minute drill Like that that is as effective a weapon as you can possibly have in the modern game So I'm I'm pro adding the best one of the best defensive lineman of history. Oh, I'm uh on August 31st Yeah, I love it two years off. You know the real question to be how many years could you Take off of your Aaron Donald and still be good. So I asked kind of long this yesterday. Who's the oldest guy that could come back and still play a role Does I love Yeah a lot of tread on those tires. Yeah Yeah, um, that's a good one. I said Kurt Warner I'm not laughing because I think it's legit. You know, it might work Yeah, he had to eat one if he had to one intriguing name he had was mic all-stop could mic all-stop play a role in 2026 I feel like when you take that many hits like even mic all-stop would be like the first time I ran into a 320 pound detackle at this age with this many years off It would be like hey this sucks. There's just something that happens when you get older Like when you get punched or whatever. There's just there's an age north of that age where you go And I'm not I'm not into this even if you're a psychopath, you know and mic all-stop would be but I think he'd probably go I mean the Kurt Warner thing's probably ridiculous too. By the way, so uh I do love this exercise though. What a great you should do a whole I asked I asked Swagu about this a couple years ago and he said good July pot He said DeMarcus where could come in and get you a sack right now He looks good enough. He does that also drives me crazy too like when somebody looks good in their older But like oh you get your couple snaps right now. You're like he's 68. He has a tan like I'd fortunately this whole thing steps from I saw Jason Taylor on the sideline of the Miami game last year And I was like Jason Taylor going right now and wrecked this game and it was because he looked great That's it. It's just because he's gonna look for red socks fans know this. I've already done this rant I'm talking about it's been 40 fucking years since Fredlyn played and They show him like in game And he just looks good. He's aged really well and it's just Hey Freddy you get you get you a couple a bees right now and every single reds It's this happened every year since I was a little kid Where whenever they show his face the announcer by law has to say he thinks redlin can play today Because he's not overweight and close and he's he's got a nice olive tone going on. All right Opposite and we could do the opposite to all all all can't get me a bucket team of just guys who just look awful And it would just be the worst possible There are look. There are some NBA point guards where you go What the hell what So you really hated working out you hated practice you hated all this stuff. All right questions for you
I love it. It's clear. So last year's staffer, 5,358 intended air yards, Aaron Rodgers, just under 3,000, only one less game. The Rodgers film feels a bit like, hey, they gave me a uniform and a helmet. And I played quarterback, but I'm kind of like, there's guys that it feels like they're hacking the game a little bit because there's just stuff that they don't want to do that they know is going to be worth it. So I think it's going to be worse, but it limits your offense on top of everything else. I'm wondering if we could have kind of a a second to last Ted Williams season, Aaron Rodgers, 25 and then Ted Williams last season. And I know you remember this, but just around everybody because we should do yearly, if not monthly, Ted Williams reminders. His 40 year old season, he hit 254 or 10 home runs. He was so pissed about it. He had finished top four and MVP for nine seasons. So then he comes back, has an incredible season at 41 years old. Great batting average again. And again, somebody who missed five seasons, military service, Mrs. 24 25 and 26 year old season. If you just gave him an average of 37 home runs in the five seasons that he missed with Korea as well. At one point, considered maybe the best fighter pilot, bone fisherman, and hitter, three things you're the best in the world at tough to pull off, he'd be north of 700 home runs. Is there any chance that Aaron Rodgers has kind of a limitation 25 into a reminder of how talented he is in 26 type of end to his career? Does the Ted Williams, the end of his career, does the phrase God's God's not answered letters resonate with you at all? Do you know what that is? Yes, yeah, that done up like essay. It's really good. If you haven't read the John Optic essay, I'm Ted Williams last game of Fenway Park. I I encourage it. We get in my home. We had to read that. All right, so Aaron Rodgers 16 29 home runs 41 years old, not going to happen. So Aaron Rodgers, average intended area, it's according to pro football reference, was six last year. And I know I've done some research on this earlier in the off season, believe you had the quickest time to throw since next 10 stats started tracking, which I believe was 2018. He's just getting rid of the ball. He can't move anymore. And I think that the value of the fact that he can be, you know, average NFL quarterback, because he knows where the ball can go is actually impressive. But what he used to be able to do was buy three or four seconds when he needed to let that vision and that arm and all of that stuff come together for an incredible explosive like we talked about. But right now, all he's doing is getting rid of the ball very quickly, knowing where to go with the ball and that service bowl. I don't see much of a ceiling high ceiling on that. And you know, it's fun. I think Barnwell pointed this out, but they got Michael Pittman. Michael Pittman was the best short yardage receiver in football last year. Like he's not, he's not going to change. If anything, he's going to lean into this, right? And a lot of Steelers fans get really mad at me and say, no, no, you don't understand. He'd never any weapons and Arthur Smith was calling the place. I promise you, if Arthur Smith could have taken shots down the field, he would have with Aaron Rogers. I promise you Aaron, Arthur Smith did not say to Aaron Rogers, you have to have the quickest release and lowest average depth of target and in on record. I promise that three yards shorter, per pass in the air than Drake May. Three point offense, three yards shorter, per pass in the air than Jalen Hertz, who had nine, which was tied with Matthew Stafford. And so I don't, I don't see much going on in Pittsburgh. Now they can win a bunch of games because they've got a nasty front and they've got some talent there. But Mike Tomman is a much better coach than Mike McCarthy. Aaron Rogers not getting any better. He can still be serviceable. But I'm not seeing a throwback. I'm not seeing a Ted Williams season. I just want to talk about Ted Williams. I think the tape on Rodgers last year is bad. And I don't know why that would be better. All right. Good answer. All right. Edwin Pope from The Miami Herald used to go fishing with Ted Williams. And he used to tell stories about fishing with Ted Williams in the Dolphins press box when I was there. And it was the coolest thing ever. And I wish you were there. Can you, can we get him? Do we get a contact for him? He, he, both have passed away, both Ted Williams and Edwin Pope. He was one of those guys that went like the first 55 Super Bulls though. Hell of a life. How much sacred Fredwin Pope? Yeah, absolutely. This is an ad in Verk level of shout out to other people, but they're all good. So that's the difference. So keep him coming. If you could have any quarterback on an NFL roster right now, for the next five years. Oh boy. Five years. It's not to effort because he's old. It's right now, right this instant, it would be Josh now. Is Drake May considered? Drake May was not on my short list, but he's on the list to be on the short list. I still'm not giving up on my homes. I think we'll look back and say, no, I love homes. I'm just saying, right, this instant coming off an AC. I just, I want to, I want to, sure, but you get five years. This isn't just. I know. I know. I know. I know. The front quarterbacks. I know you know this. I can send you some numbers. Okay. In three years, who will you rather have cam water, Jackson, dark, cam or there's not. I shouldn't ask you any camera. Yeah, that was it might as well. Yeah, give me a talk about everyone. Pope again. Should ask you, do you think your kids cuter than Van Peltz? Mike, I was in this good. Oh, he did. What do you think? He was great. He had an awesome time in awesome time. A lot of good shout out to the Red Sox department that does the kids entertainment because he had an awesome time. And he's a, he's all ball. Family friendly thing. Oh, anyway, definitely. Uh, do you think we'll ever come to a consensus on Dak Prescott? He has to win a Super Bowl for him to get the recognition that he deserves. That's the taxi pay. I saw it. Did you see there was a is Treyekman overrated debate like last week? In 2020, the kids got somebody's phone again. So, so that just tax your pay. It drives me credit. It's like when somebody brings up that Larry Bird actually wasn't that good of a shooter because they like look at three point stuff. And you go, Hey, you can't do this to Troy Ackman. Yeah, we can't do it. And and so it's it's deeply unfair to him. Uh, we talked about explosives. I think that they were second and third, second or third in the NFL and explosives last year. George Pickens, CD Lamb, the line will be good enough. It's about the defense. And he's going to get judged off of the defense, which is I think will be better clean Williams last year. And maybe the last couple of years, most pressures after double teams the entire NFL. I think we're Sean Garis, at least a professional body in that spot. Caleb down, he's an eraser. I think that love that term professional. I just I don't know how to I don't know how to how else to put it, but like I don't think he's that good, but he's not, he's not an NFL flunky, right? Get you some snaps. Yeah, we're shot garrists, the oldest. Well, you drop a hill and get you some snaps about somebody you're just sort of man on a TV. Just you get a month. Yeah, I could do that. I'm on first day tomorrow. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do for you. Um, uh, Caleb Downs can be an eraser instantly, uh, at every level of the defense. So I'm willing to buy that can be 14th best in the NFL. And then that gets you that gets you 12 or 13 wins in the mix with the Eagles. I'm coming around on this. I really, yeah, because there's some really good win rate stuff from this group that was the worst defense in the NFL. You're like, you know, if you can just kind of put this whole thing together. And there is some personality. This is not a roster that's devoid of talent, obviously, even on the defensive side. Okay, we brought up the Caleb stuff on the big shot because like the staff are on target bad throw stuff. This is where the Caleb thing scares me because I think my Caleb thing is pretty simple. I think he does the hard things better than most people already do. And it's about doing the easier things better. So like he's passing the tougher tests and maybe getting some seas on the ones are like, what the hell is wrong with you? This thing was a layup. We're doing spelling. It's 10 more. It's gone. Um, but out of 33 quarterbacks, like he's 30 second on our target throws you 30 first bad throw percentage, you know, he's behind should door in a couple of these even who shoot does not qualify. So that's out of 33 to qualify. Then you can expand it out and see everybody that threw a pass here for this kind of stuff. Um, do you think we saw enough last year where we don't worry about this? Because if it were, okay, yeah. So just give us your answer. All right. So so you hear the most total volume bad throws in football. Caleb limbs number one, Stafford second, cam ward number three, bonix for Jared golf, five, patch from home six. So it's a mixed bag as far as whether or not that's, we think that's sticky or not or a sign of anything. Obviously, you don't want bad throws. Um, but that, you know, golf and my homes, they'll get you, they'll get you some buckets, so get you some staps. And, and they had some bad throws last year, Stafford as well. Obviously, um, my bigger, my bigger concern is the leap has to be so significant for them to take the step that people or at least bears fans think they can take. They don't have a pass rush. And the thing that worried me was they didn't really address it in the offseason and ask Ben Johnson, where the pass rush is going to come from? He said, well, we're going to coach better. I don't believe that pass rush is a coach better position. I think you either have dudes or you don't. And so my concern is, you know, Drew Daumann retires, although Kyle Long said that that's not that big a deal because Bradbury, I care about Barry's good. Um, and we'll see what happens with the health of the offensive line. But I think that the way
to take the next step is with Caleb to have a massive leap and I don't want to put that kind of pressure on him because he had an awesome leap last year and two huge leaps in a row is pretty rare and so I still think he can be a star quarterback. I still think he can be a star quarterback of Ben Johnson's offense. I just don't think that the Bears are NFC contenders because of what's around him. All right, I'm going to give you this number. Oh, you know what, I have one other little quick exercise, general blank. This quarterback is good and I don't want to talk about it anymore. Who's that guy for you? Wow, aside from Jalen Hertz. That sounds like it's Jalen Hertz. That can be a big answer. Baker Mayfield. I think that I think that the box are going to be really good this year and I think because I think that there's an. I mean Jared Goff too. I'm going to and they had the same story. Which is if an NFL team gives up on you or the NFL, if the NFL deems you on worthy even for a minute, your narrative permanently changes and when I was in Detroit, I had one of the guys on the line said to me, if you chad powers Jared Goff and put a mustache on him like you and me and just said his name was was Steve Simmons. Don't incade. Don't incade. If his name was weirdly don't incade, he would be like a guy like a guy from Landman. Yeah, the guy from Landman. Let's call this mining Dave. Like he's 14. Throw a Texas Tech hat on him. Let's go. Get out there mining Dave. It's Jared Goff. We're just a new guy. He would be he would be considered an MVP in it because McVague gives up on him. That becomes part of his narrative. Baker. Same thing because he was playing defensive end for the Panthers a couple of years ago in practice. That becomes part of the narrative. I feel like Tampa's messing it up on the Baker thing. Like hey, okay, you want to get you with it. Like there's some quarterbacks. I'm like, I actually respect the cuteness on this one. And with Baker, it's just what do you what what's your other option? Like what do you what do you think you're also going to do? Okay, it's not perfect. Yeah, we can dig into some of the stuff and not necessarily love it. But like you always pointed this out, especially with the cap increase every single year, like when you sit and dance around of like taking your time, just pay that pay that we don't want to do this tax now because it's so much worse when you wait around on it without another in house alternative. Well, that's also why the Cowboys don't maximize the roster as they wait on all their extensions. They wait all the time. And the price never, ever goes down. The Eagles are able to get out of their mistakes very quickly if they make them, including Carson Wentz because they sign guys as soon as they show any talent. They've been doing that since Andy reading Joe Banner 30 years ago. We're in there and Jeffrey Laurie kind of learning how to go about things. It's okay. Well, if it gets if everything gets more expensive, the cost of his superstar NFL players never gone down ever in history of the world. And the idea that, oh, we're going to sign like you see this now with like Stroud and Bryce Young where they're like, oh, we'll sit down to a team friendly deal. Point to me, what where the team friendly quarterback do was in NFL. Just point to me one. Like, yeah, Sam Donald, after you've been blown out like a million times. So I'm not saying you're wrong, but there's a very clear like path that you have to go through that sucks for you to be the bargain quarterback. It's not after the first deal. Right. And once you reestablish yourself, you're not taking the discount. You're simply not taking the discount. And so I would pay guys as soon as I possibly could. I mean, I wanted to listen, the bills give Josh Allen an extension every 30 minutes. And they should be doing that. You know, like they gave him one a couple years ago or was like, why they do this? They just wanted to, you know, little tip of the cap to Josh Allen for being the most important guy in the entire region. And so that that's that's what I would do if I had a quarterback. Now Josh Allen's left out of the Baker Mayfield. But you can win a Super Bowl of Baker Mayfield. And that's the thing with golf with Mayfield. There's this constant. Oh, he's not this is not that well, you can win a Super Bowl with them. And with the bucks, the way that they're building that defense, the way they're going to be healthier, you know, they had so many problems just stopping the run last year, stopping explosive plays, just tackling just very simple stuff. They were throwing resources and stopping the run. They couldn't do it. I think that's easily fixable, especially with a coach like Todd Bull. So the bucks have the capability to make the NSU championship game this year. And I don't know why you look at this in the paper and be like, eh, I don't put the quarterback like I'd much rather a Baker Mayfield. They're not going to be good enough to draft at the very top of the draft next year. So if you're saying we're going to let Baker walk and we're going to draft, you know, Dante Moore 15th, or we're going to draft Darian Mensa 18 whatever. I'd rather a Baker Mayfield. I'm with you. I was going through the contract stuff with that a little bit. And then you know, Baker also has the rep, which is sometimes deserved like, oh, is he all pissed off about something again? And then I went through it because it was like sort of a break for me from some of the headlining stuff and I went back and read it. I was like, he has every right to be pissed off on this one. I actually think it's a mistake. Okay, speaking of quarterbacks as we finish up here, I'm going to give you this number eight and a half. How many quarterbacks are benched because of play? How many starters week one will be benched over eight and a half? Okay. Do you want to go through it? Because I wrote, yeah, I wrote all of the potential options. I do. So I've actually thought about this as far as like, as far as who I always say this, like, who's a bad month away from their career being over? Like I always ask that question. And so I think that this is kind of the cousin of that. So let's, let's go through it a little bit. Let's do. Let's do. So start with the jets. Yeah. The jets certainly have the capability for that. So I'm going to, I made the cake. Most important point is the cake club. Nick is the number two guy. And they're going to want to see him at some point. So I'm going to go, yes, here. One. Do you think you're going over under eight and a half before we do the exercise? I bet I go over. Okay. Miami with Maliki in there. A little game's been shipped way by the jets getting ready for that week seven matchup. Yeah. Kyle McCord stuck it to Miami a couple of years ago in Syracuse. Not not a good afternoon. Although Syracuse is an entire institution. Here's to be failing. So, you know, won the war on that one. I don't know if you followed that one. But I don't even care what you're talking about right now. Okay. That's fine. There was this big story about Syracuse. It's like failing financially or something. So big east, big east, tough for the big east anyway. Uh, no, Maliki was going to keep his job the entire entire season. Okay. So let's know there. Um, DeShawn Watson Cleveland. Yes. That's, that's the easiest yes ever. Although, I think they could, I think they're going to start forward it from quarterbacks this year. I agree with that. I think all four guys will get a start this year. I know I think she their ends up starting the most games. I think Dylan with the back thing right now, but that meant to get back. Thank you. You think a little roster management. Okay. The foxes to call it the foxboro flu. When like Alex, I could put Jeff Dempson season ending IR as a red shirt. All right. Jeff Demp's could go and college. All right. That was sorry. I'm taking too long on this. Jeff Dempson is one of my favorite. I mean, obviously nobody's the guys from West Virginia. But all right, Rodgers. I love that Mason Rudolph's back in Pittsburgh seven seasons now after his rookie year is only started on games. This is reaching chase the annual territory of like, people must just love Mason Rudolph. Mm-hmm. Bench for play. No. Would be my guess. I don't know. I mean, it's possible week 16 or week 17 and say, hey, let's see what, let's see what we have with the young guys. I think they're going to be decent enough and then Mike McCarty's going to feel a weird way about writing Rodgers out off into the sunset. So no, I'm a little worried that our Netflix UK division may be blurring out your hands during the segment. Oh, yeah, I didn't think about that. Okay. Tennessee. No. Not going to happen. They're going to they have to let them play the entire season. See what they have. But I also do you know, somebody said to me the other day, oh, Robert Salis said, you know, I this kid's not going to fail. He's taking a job on it. Well, if he fails, your job's gone. So you might as well be as strong as possible. So I'm good with that. Mitch is also the backup there. All right. The Colts, little Daniel Jones correction, perhaps Riley Leonard. I don't and Andy was still in the roster. Well, it's third on the depth show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what they have. No. No. That's a no. Okay. DJ keeps is a yes. Yes. 100% 100% and it should be like in September. Yeah. So I was watching something the other day. It was like, Oh, Kirk and the whole offensive staff, like, this is where he's always been his best was like, yeah, before he was hurt. So maybe further away from the injury, he's a little healthier and everything. There's just no way Mendoza is not starting at some point. What about Jackson Dart with the Giants? Don't think there's a you think there's a maybe like, Hey, why don't you calm down a little bit? Yeah, there could be like a. He's better that it would have to be. He's really not protecting himself. And that's what I mean. Yeah, why don't you sit from the bench and wash from the bench. You can't go outside today. Yeah, that would be the only pathway. But I think it happens because it happens. Yeah, I think there's well, here's the thing. He's probably going. If he tries to play like he did last year, he's going to get hurt. James is going to start anyway. But that's not what we're talking about here. But I don't think it's crazy to go. Can we do a mental reset? Just hang out with a hat for a week or two. Okay, so you're all right. Go ahead. Kyler, Minnesota. I think it's possible that he's not old Kyler. My concern is that his backups are
person once who's awful and who gets just a task but he's awful. And then Jason McCarty. Jason McCarty who's not playable. So I'm gonna send you. - You have him down as not playable. Like are you hearing, is it? - JJ McCarty. - Well, he's only started 10 games. They spend the pim- - I would not mind if things, the defense is so good. We expect the defense to be competitive every single week. There's a lot of personnel again, like a lot of these teams, but Kyler's going to get her, I would imagine, because he just, his tendency for injuries on plays where you go, how did he just get hurt, well, he's hurt. Unless you would know way more than I would, is there a hey, this guy cannot play stamp on JJ, or is there a, let's give this guy like another look in a non-pressure situation, middle of the season, to just make sure we know we screwed this up. Or they already know. - I think everybody's moved on. I really do. The issue was, he just couldn't hit the layups last year at all. And then, I don't think he handled the competition that well. I don't think we're going to see him unless something really bad happens. - That's fine. I'm riding Carolina down here only because, you know, if I wrote down, what's that? - It's a possibility, 'cause I like Bryce coming out. We knew they were going to be major challenges. They make the playoffs last year. I actually think he was at best average, and I'm probably being nice last season, but then it gets kind of packaged. This is the whole thing, like turning a corner. I don't think any corner has been turned whatsoever there. But it's also Kenny Pickett. So. - And then Haynes Kang, baby. - Haynes Kang, who I do, I love his competitiveness, but he's speaking to Jackson Dark. Like if he tries to play it like he did in college, he's going to be sent packing. - At least Jackson's thick. Haynes Kang is the man. - He's the man, but. - Yeah, I know. It's probably a no. - It's probably a no. The only thing I think of is his big contract year, and if it's really trending down, and then make the decision that we're not going to, we're not going to resign this guy, and they're at least in a hunt, I could see maybe Pickett for a game, but I'm going to say no. - Atlanta's a yes, no matter what. - Who the hell, who the hell is they? Like, yes, the answer is yes. Without it, without a doubt, it's a horrible situation. And there's an element. - Jack Strand. - Jack Strand. - Jack Strand. - Steven Reeves' guy. - Tape guys love Jack Strand. There's an element with the Falcons. I'm surprised that Falcons fans get so mad at me when I talk bad about them. And I think Matt Ryan and Kevin Stephansky are too smart to know what's going on. To not know what's going on. Awful team, quarterback heavy draft. I think they're going to lose a bunch of games. And I don't think they're going to be mad at that. Get a little reset going. Tyler Schuck, New Orleans. - Dude, they love him down there. Like the Saints fans love him. - Yeah, but what about. - Ssssssss. - Ratler, Spencer Ratler. - What about the Ratler Lurken? - The Leap Tower Shucks better than Spencer Ratler. I'm gonna go now. - It's a no. Cardinals. - Cardinals. All right, so this is the last team I have down on this potential list here. So it looks like you're gonna go under. - I'm gonna go under. - Way under. Presets probably just better than, like that's how he's gonna be introduced 10 years after he retires. Like he's gonna meet somebody at some dinner, some function and be like, you know, you're a little bit better than you are kind of for. But with Carson back there, even if he's third on the depth chart, and they're probably not gonna be good, they're gonna play back. - They're gonna play back. I also think the back. - And that's jumping in shoe, by the way. - That is jumping in shoe. - You know, the thing with back last year, and certainly we saw it in the last 52 seconds with a Nash Championship game is the deep ball really flattened out with him. And I went to that game obviously, and I was actually right in front of that interception. And I was also with the Louisville game where he threw a bunch of interceptions. And 15 yards and in, he was awesome. 18 yards out, the ball would just die on him. I mean, just die and go into a defensive backs hands. We saw that over and over and over again over the course of the season. We saw it at the last possible second, with 51 seconds left, Nash Championship game. And what I saw, and he knows where to go with the ball. He's tough, guys like him in the locker room. I think the people thought that Twitter doesn't like him, which is probably a good thing. That's usually a good sign. But I think that when I saw the arm strength he showed, the first game of the preseason, I was like, "Oh, this can work." Because my concern was he couldn't throw those shot plays. If he's fully healthy two years from surgery, then it can work. And I'm not saying he's going to be a top five quarterback ever. What I am saying is he can be a serviceable NFL starter kind of a long time. And once that is established, they're going to get your Kobe out of the way. He's guaranteed 15 million this year, and they can at least have some hope going into next year if they don't want to go quarterback next year. - So you have you at six then? - Yeah. - The number probably should have been seven and a half then. If we're seven and a half, eight and a half, it's just hard. - It's just hard. How many guys were bench for play last year? Do we know? - A better host would have done that work. - I assume they would have been here. - I'm going to say over. I'm just going to say over because it's this league. - Yeah. - And then they'll be guys. They'll be guys that they get bench for play. I mean, like, well, you know, I think Malik Willis is awesome. I think he's a great troll with the football, but I've never seen him with the dolphins. So he's a lot of projection that goes on with that. Aaron Rodgers at his advanced age. Like, there's just a lot of-- - I'll be rooting for Malik as much as any quarterback this year. By the way, I hope it works out. I hope he has an NFL life at quarterback. - I do too. I do too. And I think it's going to be weird because there's no talent there. But I think he can play for sure. - Real quick, Super Bowl pick to make an official preview show. - Yeah, I'm going to go and I hate this because I've not been saying it's a lot closer than you think. But I'm going to stick with the pick I've made since before the Miles Garrett trade, which is Rams over Bengals. - Since then, Addy, with all that new defensive personnel, you're buying in. - Out Golden, maybe. - I'm going to go Rams, Denver, shock roster guy over here. You're the man. This is football, Kevin Clark. You'll see him with Van Pell throughout the season. You may see me with Van Pell. You also may not. So here you go on that update. Thanks, man. - Love you, buddy. All right, talk to you soon. - Look, we all know NFL Sundays are sacred. And so we found the perfect way to make sure we don't miss a single snap of NFL action. We're fully dialed into NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV. When you bundle NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game, every Sunday period. The best part, the multi-view feature lets you watch up to four games at once. So you can track your fantasy matchups in real time. Watch your favorite players and keep tabs on everything across the league. It's the ultimate setup for the NFL season. Plus, new users can jump in now for eight payments of $30 per month. Go to youtube.com/nflst and get it done. Don't be the guy guessing what's happening in the other games. Be the guy in the living room who sees it all. New users pay $240 or eight non-cancellable payments of $30 a month. First charge of purchase, availability varies. With NFL Sunday ticket for out of market games and YouTube TV for local and national games, YouTube TV require terms and restrictions and embargo's apply, device and content restrictions applied at multi-view, commercial use excluded, no refunds. We'll be right back after a quick word from our sponsors. - It's Fran from Chicks in the Office. The weather is getting cooler and Abercrombie's fall drop has everything I need for the season. The best-selling A&F Sloan Taylor pant is a closet staple for me. I'm always wearing it to work events. Happy hour, anytime I want to be a bit more dressed up. And the viral Dillon dress is easy, one and done perfection. But my fall uniform will always be denom pair with a Henley sweater, a bra-free top. It's comfortable, effortless. It just never fails. Find your fall capsule at Abercrombie, shop in the app online and in stores. - You want details? - Bye. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. - What's up? - I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. - I have every tour you can possibly imagine. - And best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. - Live advice, live advice
[email protected]. Kyle and Steve, with us today, point of order on my end. I thought back, I watched the tape. The hired consultants. I wanna apologize to Kyle. I feel like I was a little dismissive of cosmic bowling and finding lifelong friends. So then I started researching cosmic bowling and I was looking at stuff. I was even on Yelp, even though I didn't download it. But I'm like, damn, Yelp just teases the shit out of you. Like, no, I don't wanna do this right now. I just wanna see some of the pictures. And it just speaks to Kyle that he could go to cosmic bowling meet a stranger, saddle up, maybe a couple of sig breaks. And that could be somebody in his crew for decades. And I have, you know, that's a thing that
That's a me problem that I wouldn't even allow myself. I wouldn't open myself up to, people said, I can't open myself up to love. I don't know that I could open myself up to like a long-term check-in. What's the plan this Friday guy after just one session of cosmic bowling? So I don't like how I came off and I wanted to tell Kyle, I feel like I was dismissive. And if I hurt your feelings, I apologize, my friend. - You did it. And this is definitely a more do as I say, not as I do situation. I've never solo cosmic bold, you know? I just think that's a place. That's where you think about me. - People are loosened up, or our friend who wrote in more specifically, is I've only been there with a crew, but I could see a couple of Modelas at the bar. There's usually arcades, like you don't have to jump right into bowling, like do we want to reserve a line? You'd be like, you want to go through those axes, or do you want to go, you know, they got a Mario Kart joint over there. What about a punch machine? Something easy. So that was my point, but you don't have to apologize as much as you are, but it does feel good that you feel bad. We have seen Kyle Rock, a punch machine. Also, then we got a text about this and an update on the pot. You've really been thinking about this. So I, damn, just interesting about it. - Shadowlings and Ktown, that's my recommendation. - Yeah, there's a bunch of places out here. I'll try to do it up. - Yeah. - Again, I don't know that I'll go to any, but maybe, maybe I'll just put together a group. Hey, do you like the cosmic bowl? And who do you use it? Craigslist, or is that for hand jobs? (laughing) - No. - Sorry to the kids in the back seat. All right, I gotta think about, I gotta think about who's listening. All right, the two dates. Do I help remove guy has checked in? Remember he has 6,219, he's 24 years old. Following up on the last email, thanks for the advice, great listen. Very helpful, honestly. Especially the part about her dad being like, this guy said no, what the f, this guy sucks, or whatever. Basically, what ended up happening is I first kind of made some jokes about it. Didn't commit either way. Essentially kick the can down the road, but as I got closer moving day, I decided, you know what, I like this girl. I wanna see her, and I want her to know that I'm willing to help out in these situations. It's a nice thing to do, she'll appreciate it. So I'll tell her, sure I'm available, I'll help out. Problem was when I actually texted her, it was after a late night out. That's an awesome move. Like somebody you just are starting to talk to. It's actually a very good test. And then you send the late text where you're just excited in a way that doesn't make any sense other than the text is coming in like. - Out of the clear blue. - Out of the clear blue, yeah. It's 2.30 AM, that's like, and it's not like anything bad. It's just clearly this person felt the need to reach out. And honestly, if the other person goes, hey, that's so funny, ha ha, great. Or if they're like, why would you text me so late? I think it's a pretty good, like, okay, maybe this will work out and maybe this is a red flag that won't work out. So he says enthusiastically that he'll be able to help out. The problem was when I actually texted her after a late night out, I'd sort of way too enthusiastically, all right, I think we recovered this, committed, ended up being unavailable, which I felt bad about. But it was Monday and I physically could not make that work. Fortunately, she understood, appreciated the offer. We're still hanging out despite my unavailability. So that's good. It was like seven car trips up and down Manhattan. So it wasn't the worst thing to offer and to also be unavailable. That sounds like a full day. She now floated the idea of me building her a dresser, but I'm pretty sure that was more of a joke. Well, I don't know. I've never expressed any desire to build one. Do you have a catalog we could look at? Hopefully we can see the place. What's that? I was gonna say that's a way easier way of proving your prowess than doing seven car trips up and down Manhattan. If you just put together one IKEA thing, you know, there might be, you're gonna have to continue your rage on that page five when the shit doesn't make sense, but you'll get through it. And then it's like, look how I'm a guy who can do stuff and I didn't have to drive up and down Manhattan congestion prices or whatever. It's just a way easier way to prove that. Yeah, I went the other way where I thought he was gonna have like a little woodworking shit, but probably not Manhattan. So you're right Kyle, it is build the dresser. It has to be that not what I was thinking of. 'Cause I'm just thinking about like a later phase do I want a planer? Don't you think I'm gonna be on late? (laughing) Yeah, I wonder, like I started pricing it out and they're like, what would you do? Would you be a table guy? 'Cause stools just seem like, oh, you made some more fucking stools. Like not that many people need stools. We got enough stools, yeah. Was that popular? My stepdad has a Adirondack chair operation going. I think it was during COVID. Wow. He did like a bunch of Adirondack chairs and some just like all-in-one picnic benches. Now we're thinking. The price of lumber went up, but he's taking around with me. He's like, maybe I should get a saw mill and I'm just a hundred percent trying to contain my excitement. I'm like, yeah, I think that would just think about how many things you have to make before it pays for itself. It's 10,000. He needs a pot man. But I'm like, I'm wearing him down. Like, dude, I think, you know, you've been retired for a while. I think this is a great thing about the money you could make. Put a little like epoxy on it. Bring it to a farmer's market. That thing will be gone. I've thought about this a lot 'cause it does seem like relaxing, like cathartic to like, hey, just get just some woodworking, you know? Do your own pants and stuff. But the problem is, like, you watch like, you know, an Instagram reel about it. And it's like, oh, yeah, this guy doesn't do seconds. He's got all the tools. You need all the tools and I don't have all the tools. There's so many things you need to be able to do that. Like, I think I can follow instructions, right? If you gave me instructions on how to build a table, I'd probably build you a table. I don't have, I just don't have the, the technology to do that yet. I'm buying all this stuff. Am I going home and people to rent this stuff? That's probably not worth it either. So that's always been the hangout for me 'cause it does kind of seem fun. - Yeah, I think it starts the hardest part too. Like, you know, I find a recipe online. I'd be like, that's great. I don't have any of this stuff and it's like, great. This is an $85 chicken parm. Well, not chicken parm. I wouldn't have most of the stuff for that. But like, sometimes like something that you think is going to be awesome. You're like, holy shit, I could have just boarded out, this would've been a little cheaper. But I guess the next time I'd never make this, I'll have all that stuff. Yeah, you hate that 'cause you're like, this is going to go bad. Come on, I'm going to use this again. You didn't grow up with a lathe? - Nope. - Nope. - No. - No. I mean, my dad had a lot of things. I told you, his truck got stolen. I was like, wow, is that like 50 grand of worth of tools that are probably in there? Maybe what we have to add on. - I don't know. But no, not woodworking things, but he had all the incidents stuff. Why is dad on Zillow and Dan Berry? All right, so yeah, I think a little aside there on woodworking, I think buying the sawdust Vax would be the ducts thing, getting all that work, the ductwork, that would be awesome. But hopefully get to see the place find out, it's an 11 floor walkup or 100 degrees or something like that. - Just feel a little better about it. - Yeah. - Also, she was not trying to find out how much money I had and if I would pay for movers, that would be bizarre. Yeah, that's why we read that email when it was like, hey, the one thing you weren't thinking about. And it was like, I don't think many people were thinking about that. She knows what I do. I'm in law school, therefore do not have pay for movers or money right now in some kind of a weird structure there. I would also think a Google search of a jobseller who would come before a elaborate moving scheme if she was curious about my income. So something else on the subject comes up that is, no, I will follow up. But for now, I appreciate the advice, seems like I made the right call now by offering and was rewarded by being off the hook. Anyway, though, I didn't miss the chance to suss out if she owned anything weird like a Zelda costume or suspiciously good light. - Is that weird? - Might be awesome, honestly. - Depending on what you wear, yeah, it might be awesome. - Let's do one that sucks. Girlfriend of seven years cheated on me. About me, 33, 58, 150. Played soccer through college, now do triathlons, half Iron Man, annually with the boat. Wow. The Iron Man thing is nuts, the trainer at Equinox is telling me about it and the guy, he played like D line in college, I don't know why I said it that way, I do talk about sports. He played, that was some, did you guys wonder if I was going to ask Jackson Smith in Jigba, whether or not Dejon love reached out about his offices and workouts? I was so tempted, I was so tempted. But there's a new turn with that story where it's just even worse than it was before. So I didn't, though the last time I think I referenced him for a little while. Trust my mind, but if you had asked, I don't know if I'd be surprised. I had it written down, it was going well, I thought towards the end you might have been able to think it ended up would have been like, this guy's funny. - I'm telling you, he was so nasty as sophomore year Ohio State and then the word was, oh this guy doesn't want to play with his hamstring injury and he's a prima don and all the shit and like it dinged him. I mean, he went 20th. So the fact that he's this nasty now, I don't think it's a surprise because it was just Ohio State loaded with all these dudes who are like, now this guy's this good. And you know what I don't understand to speaking of that interview is he was talking about the Texas and M thing and like how he was a fan or whatever, none of the Texas schools recruited him until really late. It's like, how does that happen? Like if you're that good, how does it, how does this guy in Texas that you want? How does he say, oh yeah, we forgot about Jackson Smith and Jekyllis, it's going to go to Ohio State. Like if Ohio State's recruiting you out of Texas, you're obviously nasty. Texas schools just forget about you. I could just blow his mind. Yeah, he had 60 touchdowns, I think, his last two years of high school. Seems good. Yeah. So I mean, I guess you could argue like, oh, maybe he's not the biggest guy or whatever. But I, you know, I don't know in your backyard. And then if Ohio State is interested in a receiver in your backyard and this kid grew up hoping he was going to play for me and him and whatever she looked at, but I'm with you on that one. All right. So this guy's sitting here being like, hey, I'm super depressed. Can you guys finish my email? I'll not talk about Jackson. Yeah. But we will do so right now. Yes, defensive lineman in college. He's doing full iron man's at the gym and he's telling me all about it.
He's a thick dude, blows my mind. So congrats to you for doing this kind of stuff. Also running training for a sub three at Philly, Marathon this November. Hoops was my first love, but I capped out at five, eight in high school. All right, I've been together with my girlfriend who's 31, again, he's 33, seven years, living together for four. Everything was going all caps, great. We both have successful careers. I finally started talking about marriage, going ring shopping, looking into freezing eggs, embryos, great relationship, families are super close, travel the world, going to friends weddings, the whole thing, this is my person, bold font, underlined. Man. We both embrace the work hard, play hard energy, and still get after it once or twice a week. She's a relatively small female, five, four, one, 15. Wow, that is small. Size to keep up, it has a hard time knowing when to stop, history, stuff in her family, but never drinks alone, and only has alcohol going out. When she goes out, however, she goes hard as another person who likes to party, I never held it against her, even if it's led to her blacking out, need to be helped home more frequently than it should. The behavior hasn't shown a material change from when we were in our younger party in days. We both are big runners, actively involved in our local club last weekend. There was a beer mile at a local track, chug a beer, run a lap times four, and your boy took second place. This is obviously a drinking forward event. Everybody went to a bar in your body to keep the party going. After a while at the bar with things winding down, I told her I was heading home, and she said she wanted to stay out no issue. This has happened before. I trusted deeply. A while later, a friend who was still there called me and said that she was drunk, and I needed to come get her when I showed up. He told me that he'd seen her making out with another guy at the bar, not the guy that got first. Well, that's good news. Nice. But from the run club, which is my theory, my antenna's up to about run clubs. I've got a lot of thoughts on run clubs too, Kyle. I'm with you. Maybe everybody who's not in one is wrong, but I don't know. This is a lot of people for me. So then he gets shows up. I found her coming out of the bathroom with the same guy. We walked home, she claimed they were just, I don't know how much you want me to share this man. I'm just gonna be more vague than you are. You're little too specific, I think here. So they're coming out of the bathroom and she's saying like, oh, don't worry about it. It wasn't about kissing or anything. He's like, when I push back, telling her, what my friend told me, she said she didn't remember. We had a huge fight when we got home. I told her to the cold guy that she came out of the bathroom with she did. And dude, you got on the phone with him in the moment. Wow, that is a move. I would never forget when a girl I was dating, her boyfriend somehow. Well, I guess ex-boyfriend, because I would have been, it was an ex-boyfriend. It's 100% an ex-boyfriend and he called my house asking for her to talk. And I was like, I never want to be this down, ever, ever. I never did that, although I've been down. So when I pressed him about it, what happened? He admitted they've been making out and hanging out in the bathroom. So she was immediately remorseful crying, saying she messed up insisting this was one time thing that she'd never done anything like this before. She also claims that she would have told me and brought up that she's committed to therapy to figure out why this happened, basically saying all the right things. And truthfully, I believe her. I talked to my brother and members of her family, both know her well about the situation. They both pointed out the same thing. She gets after it. She loses herself and doesn't know when to stop. Her sister said that she's never seen her care about anyone the way she cares about me and that they care about me like a brother and supports me, however she's a proceed. Do I put the ring on hold, dude? I don't know if she has, that's this. But bury this deep, keep the relationship going while she gets help and treat this as a one time breach from someone I truly believe is my person or is this a clear sign to walk away? Much love. All right, Kyle, sounds like you had some thoughts. Well, I would say I'd say put it on hold. I mean, I think younger me would have been like, oh, dude, circle of trust, broken, move out. Like that's, but as you get older, you know that people, like you find out stuff later on, like old family friends and it's like, oh, you guys had like a pretty big problem in, oh, wait, or something. I had no idea because I was a kid or whatever, but it's like, you guys are great now. The family's still together. There's grandkids like, you know, people do get over this type of stuff. But, you know, I think you, the whole point of like waiting for the, you know, to give their ring is to scope out and you guys have this seven year relationship. You've been living with each other for four and there is one glaring thing here is that, you know, she can kind of claim, you know, I was hammered. I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't hammered or I don't know what happened. It's like, if that, if that behavior doesn't change in us, you know, it's, it, it's a measurable thing that you can take to be like, you cannot, if you want to go out fine, like I'm not going to be the person who tells you you shouldn't be going out constantly, constantly checking in. But, you know, if you just become like a total different person, you start missing pieces like this is before we commit to building something together. I can't know that, you know, you're also a wild card twice a week or maybe you're a wild card the twice a week that you go out. Like, that's a thing I think you would, maybe want to see some measurable improvement on before you're like, yeah, we'll fucking figure this out. But I don't think I would walk away. Younger me would have tell you like, you know, that's it. But I don't think, I don't have that worldview anymore. I think you're both in your early 30s people make mistakes. I understand that it's definitely, it's definitely not put the roundhold situation for me. Like, I, it doesn't mean that it's like, you can't come back from this or she doesn't love you. I, she probably does. I'm sure she feels bad about it. But like, blacking out a couple of times a week, like, do you really know this is the first time this happened? Like, I don't, again, I don't deny that she loves you. But if she's having this repeat behavior of like acting like she's still in college and she's 31 years old, like, again, tease their own, do what you want to do. But that, like, is a little bit of a problem. It's a little bit of a red flag. You go home, it seems like you leave her out a lot. Like, that's always going to, that's always going to be in the back of your mind. So, yeah, listen, therapies, therapies a nice thing to say and do. But like, if the root of the problem is, I'm still going to get hammered and just hope it works out. I think that's, that's the thing that's, you know, measurable. That's not saying you're an alcoholic, but that is somebody who has a problem with drinking. You know what I mean? I think there's a step before you get to, you know, needing it and having physical dependency on it. But you, she squarely has something that's, it's causing problems in her life from drinking to drinking problem. Is he going to be able to get over that though? Like, now every time, like, she, she almost can't do this anymore, right? 'Cause it's always going to be in the back of your head. Like, are you going to trust for again in these situations? Like, she almost has to not be that person anymore. In a way. - That's the big talk, right? We got to make a big change here. Otherwise, I'm not sure we can go for it. That's, that's a tough thing. I don't envy that you're going to have to do that. But that's what I would say. - And I do think, I do think to like, hey, I'm open to going therapy, you know, going to therapy to figure out why this happened. All right, like, or you just like, - Great one more thing I gotta do. - Awesome. - But it's just like, okay, like, is that just like, okay, you just, or you just fucked up and you're just like looking for people to feel bad for you about this. Like, I, I don't know. Like I, she, there have to be some real actual things that she takes. And again, if you want to go through that together and you love her, like, there's no reason why you can't figure this thing out a long term. But there definitely needs to be a pause. - A couple of things here. One is, like, it's, it's a bit like, when you tell your buddy about a fight scenario and then he tells you what he would have done, and of course he would have, like, if I would have blocked that punch and then I would have roundhouse kicked him. - Yeah. - I would have done this roundhouse. - And, you know, I can't believe you did that. - This is what I would have done. So it's very simple for like, any man, listen to this and you just go like, all right, I'd be 100% out of there, you know. I'm done. And I think there's part of me that would go, well, I can't do this at all. Like, I want to marry you and you're pulling this off, like, after seven years, just 'cause you wanted to hang out with a dude in the bathroom, like, what the fuck? And if there's also like a dependency, it would make me not to bump out the emailer and think, like, is this really the only time this would happen? Can you press her on that? Would she even know what she'd tell you the truth? You're right. It's really like in the argument, hey, I'm gonna go to therapy and the whole thing. Like, I think we can figure out why this is happening. Like, there is a constant. - We don't have the solve for X. - I'm saving the deductible. - Yeah, we've solved for X already. We know X is loose. But, this is about you. This is about you and her. It's not about anybody else. It's not about us. It's not about anyone listening or any of your relatives or any of your friends. This is about you caring about that person and no one else can put you in that scenario because it is just you. And the thing that sucks about this is the resentment you're feeling, you know, there's an ego thing. Maybe you don't have, like, maybe your ego's wired in a way that actually can be beneficial where you just go, hey, people make mistakes. Like, I think there are times you could say, like, hey, this didn't mean anything. It was an awful set of circumstances. It was a one off. I'm so sorry. But actually, this isn't some like coordinated thing where I've been texting with this. Like, say it was me and I was married and you get caught. It's like, well, you were texting this person for months and then you went to a hotel room and it's like, you can't blame this on just a bad night out. Like, this is a completely premeditated coordinated thing. So if it's truly the truth that this was just this random kind of one-off thing, can you get through that to still stay with, as you said, your person because the thing that sucks on some of the scenarios with this is that you end up doing nothing wrong and then you feel the greatest punishment because you don't allow yourself to be with the person that you truly love. And it's like, well, this sucks even more so. Like, she's gonna feel whatever, but she at least did something. I didn't even do anything, but I just can't trust you anymore. And now I'm even more bummed out because now this life that I've planned out in my head for multiple years, it's just not gonna happen. It's all disrupted. Look, it's 33 if that's the way that it goes. Like, I'm just telling you, it all resets. You will find someone else, you will look back on other things and say as much as that period of time, absolutely suck. I'm so glad that I got through it. I think that's true almost all of the time when you're going through those brutal relationship stretches of just reminding yourself if you go through it enough that you just go, hey, the next one, like, whatever. Yeah, 30.
You could still go to most bars and not raise an eyebrow, you know? It's tough. It's really tough and you're not going to get a definitive answer You just get away all those different things. So I would I would never sit here and say you absolutely should or shouldn't do this based on those Scenarios All right, we've got a lot of girlfriend ones here. I don't know must be the season Let's do golf quick here. Hope all as well a long time listener going back to my teenage years prior dual threat Limited release with how he long skit. That's Chris to you 6 5 1 95 currently recovering from shoulder dislocation about two months ago Ouch and anyone that said shoulder issues in the past. I'm sure they can relate how great the sleep is That said been a while But my pick up basketball game is Corey Brewer just not the 51 point game. What an awesome stat that is Thank you for reminding the world on to the actual content. I married into an extremely avid golf family I'm the Charles Barkley of 20 years ago a golf. So it's been an adjustment for me That I deep down could give a damn about after about five years of marriage and this summer has been kind of nice having a fucked up shoulder To have the big NO to say to family golf events. Well this past weekend. I decided effort. I'll go out and bond They're buying the car anyway, so I go with the wife of my in-laws and watch them golf insert your alcohol Sponsor here that I drink all day long on the golf cart. I like this Well by hole three or four I got to noticing how long it took my father-in-law and brother-in-law to hit the ball off the tee box after a while I got to timing them for the moment my brother-in-law put the tee in the ground from the moment He put the ball in the tee in the ground to him making impact with the ball on average was 35 seconds is this fucking insane Kyle seems like you had a quick thought there I just I like this guy and saw I like to like the way I wrote the email you know out of his jib. Yeah, okay For added context, they're both very serious About golf being sub 80 on just about most courses. They might have two alcoholic drinks the entire 18 holes. No big there But there's no shooting the shit trash talk laughing nothing. It's a straight face We are using the rangefinder damn near every shot on every hole even though we golf at this fucking place weekly You seem to hate this so let's just we could probably stop reading and say stop just don't go in. Yeah, I Just think of your home. Go ahead. No, I was gonna say just because you play a golf course It's me. You don't need the rangefinder. There's different angles. There's different distances like you don't I don't know placement Sounds like you don't like golf, which is fine. This guy doesn't like golf or this isn't your golf drive This isn't your golf drive. You're more of an easy-going Right whack that shit go find it You're into the bro golf culture, right? You probably you know You're probably watching the videos the taco challenges. You like guys getting hammer on the course golf carts flipping That's about about getting that a that fake golf club that actually dispenses cocktails. You know, I looked at that I I looked at I'd be like come on dude. What are you doing? Just get learn how to swing like that before you start doing shit like that. Yeah Yeah, there's just different five shifts and golf. I I will say like there if guys taking too long like that is annoying But you know, I don't know if you're getting a rangefinder route. That's not that's not like an abnormal thing to do Yeah, I think you're losing it sounds like the t-box thing bothers him more and like the other things are you know He thinks they're you know adding to the argument putting in a blues in the message when you start picking a part every little thing It's like a cow hurt monologue where it's like oh, and then it's like oh, you're adding even more shit to this I don't think the rangefinder's a big deal. Do you guys think I golf or do you guys think I drink when I golf? No Maybe when you do the night golf When you do your part three, you don't even do it there No, I mean if I drive I I wouldn't even have like a beer Maybe one I'm playing big cedar though big Vermont Shout out to big cedar in Missouri. We're coming in a few weeks. Maybe a month Dude's trip Vermont guys getting together Where are you in the handicap of the group like where are you where do you rank at Pinehurst people were really upset They thought that I I was lying because I played well and it's just so annoying Like the guys really you're not a you know, you're not so I think I'm a 20 right now If you've got a high handicap, you can do some damage if you play decent well. Yeah, I got a thing I almost won the whole thing and I'm glad I didn't because I didn't I didn't want to deal with it I got a quick thing before we sign off of this one I the next time you hear my voice will be I'll be in Scottsdale on a bachelor party with 17 dudes this is the minute can crew not that that matters, but I just wanted to tell you what's going on Me and my other boy he is the other white guy. I'm assuming he's way better at golf than me I'm very bad. We're talking about you know sneaking away and going golfing and the word has gotten out and there's a bunch of guys Who have never golf before that are really jazzed up to just do everything and they're trying to be like oh, we should golf We should golf no, you know, and I just don't think I should be teaching anybody how to golf or the rules I'm assuming this guy's better than me, but I don't know, you know, it's we've seen each other sparsely since college We're coming around you know You know rallying around our boy getting married and in winter and I'm just wondering if maybe I should even just not golf Rather than maybe there's eight other maybe six other guys who are going to be Swing renting clubs and swinging them for the first time and I just feel like this is not the time What we started as like maybe we could sneak off. I heard there's good golf out there till like Whoa, what's going on? I don't think I should be leading this charge on a golf course So you guys think I should cancel the just like forget about it I don't want to ask off. Yeah, it's nice. It's gonna be how hot is it gonna be? It's gonna be like 9800 98 a heart and we're there for like four days including the travel days and it's gonna Maybe over me. I mean, I don't think I have any discernible advantage But I imagine they might be doing baseball swings and you know, I don't know how many balls are all gonna have to because nobody's we're not bringing Sounds great. It's tough out. Yeah. I think I think you need to just you need to be the guy who just says that golf's not gonna happen It's not happening. I can't do it because that's you can't that you're you're gonna be it's gonna be miserable for you It's gonna be hot and you're gonna be worried about these dudes that don't One guy's eyes to be like dude remember that time Kyle took his golfing and that's where I got my start from but like It just seems like it's gonna be a problem Yeah, okay, don't think you're having fun there. All right, we could be done Back to our email. I asked my college buddy fantasy football group. They said he's Definitely very serious slash fighting demons. All right, so they do take a long time to tee off the range finder thing Isn't that big of a deal? They don't want to you guys are two completely different worlds around the garden No one's right. No one's wrong. You should you just shouldn't this isn't a bonding experience. You're super annoyed by the whole thing You shouldn't do it anymore Email continues not gonna lie it shit like this that makes me never really want to get that serious about the lifelong sport I extremely dislike golfing with them as compared to doing best ball and shotgunning drinks after missing a putt They're always golfing 18 and never just nine holes My wife's not your friend wonders why I've gotten sales rep of the year three of the past five years Maybe it's because I'm actually training store employees while the other reps are out working on their short game. Oh, it's getting personal now Yeah, they're great guys. They stick with what they're good at and only that not gonna lie I feel like a bitch when I've golf with them in the past But I just quickly remind myself that they wouldn't know how to gut a deer When it comes down to it take this anywhere you're like I Don't know how to get a deer Kyle, do you know I wouldn't even try to see I've seen like the post op of that and I mean no thanks, dude You're thanks to completely different people it just because there's a marriage here in the mix You shouldn't go I can't believe they want you to go with right you got to be showing some signs of how you feel I mean this would be a situation where there's somebody it's just two men and be like hey Do you not like me and the person goes I don't it's like that's great because I don't like you either And then you're like can we never pretend that this matters see that'd be an amazing like relief to me too Like I we've been wasting all of these hours over the years having to worry about this Dynamic and we don't like each other and it's signed off and this is fucking great. Do you want to hang out? No? I don't yeah exactly. I don't want to hang out either you guys need to go to your separate corners because I don't think they want anything to do with you either Yeah, I've been shouldn't you like did they get along otherwise or is it is the golf just kind of ring out the animosity in these feet Like I don't know like can you hang out some layers and just drink if that's what you want to do all day? I don't know like you can't got these guys can't cut a deer. Yeah, he thinks that's a very Yeah, that must be a sick burn some parts of this country. I'm not in that part But I felt less like a man when I read it. I'm jealous that he knows how to do it I wouldn't know how to do it. I don't know that I want I don't like I'm not thinking about it this weekend being like dammit, but There's other ways to get medicine stakes, you know your buddy has way too much to go around I have the way they're always trying to give it away. I swear Shen Waders all over I've got the way. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go if need be all right That'll do for the show today. Thanks to Tom. Thanks to Kevin. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to sorority good luck Kyle in your future endeavors Ryan Rassillo show all episodes available on Netflix our store sports [BLANK_AUDIO]
PodcastTranscript AI