The Around the NFL podcast. Wants you to show some damn respect this Black Monday. I mean, these are people, man. Exactly. From the Chris Wesling podcast studio, It's around the NFL. Dan Hansis, heroes, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Cessler, and people don't understand that. And it's not even Black Monday. How many times Do we have to come on the air the day after the regular season and remind you that Black Monday is defunct? This is New Horizons Monday.

It's good sometimes when the host of your show gets it. This guy gets it.

He really does. Dan, let's start here. Dan is a bastion of respect towards elders, towards people of authority, and NFL coach type. I think it starts with you, and I appreciate that.

I have a take, and I just want to say it because this is all an ongoing bit because, and Greg likes to align himself with these people, too, where This is one of the hardest days. These are people and the stabs and all this. I totally agree with that. People losing their jobs, no matter what the job is, is bad news. This is different in the sense that the coaching life, you sign up for this. Unfortunately, it's a transient type business where you never stay one place for too long. Look at Bill Belge. How long was he in New England, Greg?

Twenty-four years.

And counting, perhaps, who knows? We'll get to that in a bit. How many guys have been with him the whole time? Even The most stable position in the history of the head coaching in this century, that staff has been constantly churning. That's a great question. You're just moving and everything's moving.

I believe his assistant has been there, and then the other ones are the ones that came out of his ex-wife's body, I would believe. Gross. What a weird way to say it. The only people who have remained. Now, they weren't working for the Patriots the whole time, but they have been there.

Technically, it's true, great.

Can you just say that again? Just so we have it. Never. I had a different way of saying it. That would have been even gross. Could it have been worse than that?

Anyway, all I'm saying is it is by its nature, you're always moving around, and hopefully Hopefully, these men and women do find new positions for next year. It is you just rotate around, typically, and hopefully, you don't fall off the grid.

It's also high-level executive transactional business where if someone is working at Right Aid and they get canned, well, go find a new job and see if you can pay rent. These guys are getting paid lavishly by the-Not most of them.

That is why I think people push back that the vast majority of people are not.

I'm saying the head coaches. The head coaches and general managers. I understand there's-What about the assistants? I get that, and my heart goes out to all of them. Scouting.

I get that.

Sometimes, have you ever lost a job? Sometimes losing a job, it can refocus, make you think about what you should go do with your life. It's not always the worst thing on the planet. Well said. Maybe it's a great thing. Maybe we should celebrate.

Well, that's why we call it.

Yeah.

Not Black Monday. We're going to get into it all. Then we're going to check in before we say goodbye here. By the way, if you haven't gotten caught up, we just dropped the Week 18 recap banger, 2 hours of just the mastery of the craft. You check that out. Now we're going to get you caught up where everything stands in terms of personnel and also everybody cleaning out their lockers that didn't make the playoff. You have a bunch of pressers going on today, a lot going on. We will close the door on our preseason predictions in the regular season, check in on our over-unders, see where we ended up with a running back draft. Remember that? That was fun. Also our sandwich props. But let's start with the news. We learned late last night when we were recording the before mentioned week 18 recap that Arthur Blank had indeed decided to part ways with Arthur Smith, and they have started their search. Let's hear a little bit from the owner, Blank. This is not from CBS and Public Radio's coverage. This is from WXIA. They have started their search, but they do not have a timetable yet, Blank says.

As I said, initially, we've begun the process, if you will. It doesn't take long to get it going, so we're moving. But I also want to be clear on this is that there is no timetable. The only timetable is to do this correctly. Take our time, be thoughtful, do all the interviews, be respectful, make sure we have a full diverse slate of candidates that we're considering.

The most interesting part of the Falcon's Day, I think, was number one, Terry Fontana wasn't part of that press conference. They said he will be involved in the head coach search, but his role could depend on what the head coach wants to do. So that, to me, sounds like... Heard that before. He's tenuous. It'll depend in a plan for him to work together. But again, it could depend on the head coach. And thinking, well, who could it be? Diana Rossini, among others, have reported that they're interested in Bill Belichick, which just gets me thinking, who is putting that out there and what is the purpose of that? Is it Belichick's agent? Is it the Falcons letting Bill Belichick know that? I don't know. It is curious to me. Our network hasn't quite gone that hard there yet, but that is a very interesting combination.

Let me ask you this. Why does it have to be potentially Machiavelian? Why isn't the team just interested in him?

It's just being-You have to find out that way. You have to find out. It's probably from the team, but maybe it's Rich McKay who's heavily involved in this. I'm just curious, why is that necessary? Maybe they're just trying to let them know, put a little pressure on the-It's the dance.

Yeah, it's the ancient dance. I think also, if they're talking about patience. Belichick may take some patience. That whole process will... If you talk about Belichick, you're not going to go in with a powerful GM who's going to run the ship. It's like we want to find out what Belichick's role and all that is. I think Arthur Blank is probably wanting to make this one work. It's been tenuous.

Arthur Blank is not getting any younger, and he wants to find somebody that can ride the ship. Speaking of Bill Belichick, he called an early press conference this morning, and I was wondering late last night, early press conference, is he looking to hit the ground running and announced that he's leaving. This is the guy that once wrote on a napkin. He was resigning his HC of the NYJ. Maybe it'd be dramatic. Not quite that dramatic in his presser, Bill underlined that he can't really do anything right now because he is contractually obligated to be the head coach of New England Patriots.

As far as any decisions or direction or anything like that for next year, it's way too early for that. End of the year process is I don't think will be fundamentally any different from the standpoint of how it's done, the decisions. That's all another conversation. But how it's done, Meet with Robert like I always do, meet with the staff, meet with personnel department, recap the season, look at the big picture, and then look at some of the individual situations that are- Yes. Looming one way or another. But that's obviously a long way off from where we are right now.

Okay. But he's saying that, but this, I would imagine could potentially move pretty quickly here because we're in the business now of hiring new coaches. If the Patriots need a new head coach and people want Bill Belichick, this thing has to move.

I mean, so he's been there for 24 years. Rough out of the gate, rough first season. But in general, he's never had to answer questions like this before in New England, anything like this. It's completely new territory. I think that there's a couple of things happening, but it's like, if you're Kraft and Belichick, I thought the most shocking thing that could have happened was him coming out and giving you a note on a napkin because too much has happened here historically. It would have been cool. Yeah, it would have been cool, but it's not the Jets, and he didn't decide. He didn't want the job 24 hours after taking it or being having it shoved on them. If you're Kraft, if there's going to be an exit, it's not just... I don't think it would just be Kraft flat out firing Bill Belichick. It's going to have to be some... It's going to have to look a different way to the public, at least. It's going to look a different way, I think. But secondly, if you're Kraft and Belichick is getting interest from other clubs, do you just fire him or do you keep Bill Belichick who's under contract so that if he's going to go somewhere else, you can trade the greatest coach in NFL history for assets versus nothing?

It's like, what approach do you take? Is it respectful? Is it we're going to do this so it looks good for everyone and put a fine bookend on the story? Or do we get assets as the New England Patriots, a team in need of a lot, for giving away the greatest coach ever?

Gloria stated, reported Yesterday that Belichick essentially has the power or they can't make that happen, a trade.

They can't-He would have to go agree to it.

I mean, if it was a place that he wanted to go, like a show-But why would he-but if it was the Falcon.

So I do think you can take some interesting things from Belichick's press conference. Number one, he mentioned his contract voluntarily. He never says that. So right there-He's never had to before now. He's never talked… That was very pointed. It was saying, I'm under contract. I always look to our friend Tom Curran to interpret these. He knows it. He also says, as we tape this Monday afternoon on the East Coast, Don't expect anything today. He thought it It was very much Bill Belichick saying, If you want to fire me, you're going to have to come do it. The whole trade thing, why would he help them take assets away from the team? He's got to go. It's not going to happen. I don't think there's any chance. The whole, let's make this warm and professional if we want you to step down, we'll see. He might not be willing to do that either. He might be like, You want to come fire me? Fire me. He did express a little bit of flexibility when they asked him about, Would you take on a GM? Would you listen to having a lesser role? He said, Look, I would listen to whatever they think is in the best interest of the team.

Again, Tom Curran thought, he's only going to bend so far. He's not going to change and become a different person and start answering to some GM who has final say. He said, There's always going to be someone that has final say. I don't expect him to be there, but this does seem like he's telling Kraft, If you want to fire me, it's like, You got to fire me. I'm not going to just walk away and make this easy. I think there is some discomfort from Kraft of being the guy who got rid of braided and got rid of Belichick, which is natural.

In other news, this was expected, obviously, and it went down and became official on Monday morning, New Horizons Monday. Josh Harris and the commanders have said goodbye to Ron Rivera, who is He's moving on after, what was this, his third season with the team? Fourth? Four seasons at the helm. He went 26:40 and one in his four seasons. They won the NFC East with a 9 and 7 record his first year, but it's been uphill, Mostly with Rivera and their eternal search for an answer. A quarterback is a big part of that. New ownership, new head coach, new brain trust. Also reported on Monday is that Harris has hired two Two prominent executives, former Golden State Warriors. I'm interested to get your thoughts on this, Sestog. Warriors general manager Bob Myers and former Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman to assist his ownership group with searches for the new head of football operations and head coach. That according to ESPN. This is a NFL, the rare for those of you that follow the NBA. An NFL story with a byline, Adrian Wojnowski. Woj, and Adam Schefter. So a Wojbom in the NFL. Mark, your thoughts on a Warriors executive entering the NFL fray here?

Football is completely different than basketball.

All right, thank you, Mark. You're your thoughts on this.

I knew that was coming. Go ahead, Greg.

No, that was the bit. Go ahead.

Okay, so he's just helping with the search. I have no problem with this, actually. I've seen a lot of outrage over it. Really? Yeah, a little bit. Just listening to some stuff and people are like, Why are they... I think they do need to chill.

Who is specifically was outraged.

It's just some feedback I heard in general where it's just radio stuff where it's like, How could you possibly do this? It's like, Well, because you're Josh Harris.

Marks on that AM radio dial.

But you're Josh Harris, and you're doing what I think someone like David Tep or another owner should do is, I don't know how to do this. I want help. I'm not going to be some heavy-swinging guy that just does what I want out of pocket. I thought it was instructive how much anger, irritation, and mockery there was when the Browns hired Paul D. Podesta out of MLB because he was going to be coming from a completely different sport, different thinking, and he's actually done a lot of good work for them behind the scenes. This is not someone who's sticking around for years and years. Bob Myers, maybe he has good ideas. It's like they're looking for the right person to lead them. I don't know what the critique is, why it's a big problem. I don't know if there is a critique.

I don't think so. I think radio guys just need angles and they talk.

Here's Josh Harris on the path toward new leadership.

Even though this season was hard for me and hard for us, it's hard to win four games. From my point of view, we are coming out of this with poised for a Great Future. A lot A lot of draft capital, a lot of cap space, and I'm lucky enough to be supported by an amazing ownership group. And obviously, we think we're an attractive destination for for the next generation of leadership.

There you go. I think the best thing you could say if you're a Commander's fan, first of all, you got the number two overall pick, so you're going to most like to bring in a quarterback. This is not Daniel Snyder leading the charge. We don't know. I mean, Panthers fans. We're going to get to the Panthers in a second. Sometimes change doesn't necessarily equate to helping an organization, but it absolutely helps to get Snyder out of the building as they begin their latest rebuild here on the 21st.

They have requested to talk to an absolute absolute flood of people already for both coach and GM.

The thing that was interesting, though, is they said they were looking for the head of football operations first. They're just looking for someone to hire the other guys, but they're already starting the coaching interview. That is a little confusing to me. Supposedly, Raheam Morris, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, possibly Jim Harbaugh. Some people have said possibly Belichick. Those are some of the assistants. Then a bunch GM candidates, a guy who went to the same high school, I believe, as one of the executives there, Adam Peters, who's with the 49ers, Alec Hallaby with the Eagles, different assistant GMs from around the league. They're getting after it fast. Rick Spielman working at the 33rd team. I mean, the 33rd team could have a little coaching tree here, the website.

There you go. Other news. I mentioned the Panthers, and It's been obviously a rocky year, really a dreadful year all the way around with David Tepper at the front leading things, coming off a fine for throwing a drink on Jaguars fans and firing the head coach and Bryce Young struggling through his rookie year and getting shut out again in week 18. They're starting from rubble right now, and it will not be Scott Fitterer involved with this as well. The man standing next to Mr. Tepper when that drink went flying was to let go on Monday. So Scott Fitterer is out, and they are just casting a wide net trying to get this thing going.

It never makes sense to keep the GM. That's part of what I'm wondering with this Washington thing. It's It's like you are... Maybe it's just they're sending the request, but I do think you want to time this a lot. If you're going to have a football ops guy, you got to get that person in the building first, and then the GM. Sometimes you just pair the GM and coach, and that's worked out, too. Like, Lesnead and Sean McVay had no previous history. That worked out. Lesneed was already in the building there. But Tepper does not give me much confidence. Josh Harris has already owned a sports team, and I know some Sixers fans would disagree, but ultimately, they're a successful team. I mean, the process was painful, but it worked out. They're one of the best teams in the league, and I don't think people think he's a terrible owner.

I think it's going to be the most interesting coaching pathway here because Teper has been talking. We know that, and it's not been good. Not today. Well, it's like coaches that are smart. And Belichick literally wrote the book on this. I'm like, you don't go pair up with an owner that you don't feel partnered with, empowered by. And it's like, who's putting the Panthers on the top of their list? They've got your saddle with Bryce Young. You don't know what's going to go on there. You don't know what's happening with the general manager. The owner feels about as hot and cold and all over the place as anyone in the entire league. I just think it's going to be very interesting to see who even decides to interview and who would get farther enough in the process to say yes.

They've already started asking people, not like what, Chiefs VP of operation Brant Tillis, Bucs Assistant GM Mike Greenberg. We're not going to necessarily know these names that well, but it sounds like they're starting with the GM and then moving on after that.

Tepper released a statement, but we did not hear from him on Monday. Federer had been the GM since 2021. He was part of the search committee that last offseason hired Coach Frank Wright, who was let go after a one-intent start. So yes, you could not be in a more rocky situation. And money talks, obviously, it's not the most fertile ground for someone to come out of the woodwork, but the one thing Federer, the one thing that Teper does have is more money than just about any owner in the NFL. So he's going to be throwing a lot at whatever candidates they decide they want to be rebooting with.

That coaching staff under Frank Wright, they love to brag, was the highest paid coaching staff in the history of the league. All the assistants were doing really well, and they only made it through one year. Those assistants are still under contract. Hopefully, they get other jobs, and then it's like….

Do they get to double up or is it offset?

I don't know. I think it depends on. That's a real new horizon.

That could be packed into the contract. I thought that you don't double-dip. If you're Frank Wright and you took another host head coaching job, we'll have to Josh in an account.

We'll have to find out. He was the quarterback.

But Frank Wright right now could sit in the Bahamas for the next four years.

Frank, I don't think he's double-dipping. He indicated, I think he's had enough.

I was just saying he's making enough money for the next five plus years. Matt Rule didn't have to work in. He signed an eight-year contract under Tepper.

Right. Matt Rule then signed a $7 billion contract in Nebraska because that's what these college guys. They go back to college, they find great success, and get paid like crazy. Again, see, a lot of these coaches, they land on their feet, they bring their guys with them. Hopefully, that's what happens with all these Panthers people just fired off upon the hillside. All right, in other news, Mike Vrabel. A lot of intrigue around Vrabel, a longtime Titans head coach. He met with the Titans on Monday, and the reporting out there right now is that his future is uncertain. Greg, give me a percentage chance that Vrabel is back with Tennessee.

Well, I don't know. Has he met with the Titans? Yeah, I think Ian Rapport said that meeting is coming. Just the fact that enough insiders are floating this out there, and Ian did it in a very professional way that made it sound like Mike Vrabel likes Rancarthe on their GM, but changes could happen. What are we tabulating right now? I don't know. We're not tabulating.

You're asking for a percentage.

Oh, okay. That's good.

Did you give me the percentage?

No. I'm going to give it high because I think this This is like a power play. This sounds like a power play move where Vrabel is just trying to take as much control as possible, and I think they want to keep Vrabel. But there was a report, again, from, I believe, Diana Rossini that said he'd be interested in the Patriot's job if that came open.We've.

Heard that.

This feels out of the power play handbook, which is like, We're going to make the Titans bend to my will if I'm Mike Vrabel and get what I want, and he might want a little different structure in terms of the front office.He.

Seemed agitated.70. Dating back to the A. J. Brown trade. I mean, it was very like you could see him visually annoyed during that draft process when they traded him away. Whenever I hear Coach and GM have some issues, it's just like I automatically just buy that as that's absolutely true. Rable seems to be slightly annoyed with the way that things have gone with the Titans behind the scenes for a while. I would put it at 65% that he stays. I think if the Patriots since his job came open, there's going to be pursuit of him from Kraft. I could see that potentially.

Here's my hot take. Is Mike Rable someone to be excited about if you're a Patriots fan? We're five years in. I'm just thinking offense. Offense, offense, offense. He's never found... It's the same reason why I don't think Belichick is the right guy to keep right now because he just hasn't had answers on offense. It's just been this old-school thinking. Vrabel cycled through all these coordinators in Tennessee. He's never really hit on one. That's not what I want as a fan.

Well, quite frankly, that's why I've been pushing back a little bit on the Antonio pierce thing. In general, and I have it with my own coach, a defensive coordinator in solid. If you don't have an offensive mind in place that can count on, I feel like a defensive coach only goes so far.

Frank Wright, Josh McDaniels, Arthur Smith are three of the coaches that just completely They're completely fired and failed.

Vrabel is a good head coach. I think Vrabel is a very good head coach.

Two of those guys are total disasters at head coach, though, in terms of...

But Vrabel is a good... Yes, he is defensive-minded, but Vrabel is a good head coach. I'd push back a little bit that when they had Derrick Henry, Tannehill, and A. J. Brown, they had something going on there. It's just they aged out of that.

If he doesn't stay with the Titans, I'd be shocked if he didn't get another job.

Oh, yeah. I think he would be the bell of the ball, and I think the Patriots would be interested. I'm just saying, Man, that offensive line was bad for four or five I do want someone that is able to problem-solve or like a McDaniel.

Well, hence his annoyment with the previous GM and maybe the current one, too, though.

Yeah. They're not so hot. Rael Carta has only been there for one year, too. I think that feels a little more personal or maybe just that variable doesn't like having the juice.

That's been reported. Yeah, an arranged marriage that hasn't taken, and that's been part of the drama there. In other news, the Colts, they missed out on the playoffs in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday night. But Coach Shane Steiken is not planning to make any major changes to his coaching staff, and that includes defensive coordinator. There's been speculation around DC Gus Bradley, but Steiken said on Monday, I believe in continuity. I'll say that.

He inherited Gus Bradley.

Yeah.

I would say that for some of the defenses around the league where it's like, We need to make a coordinator switch, Green Bay, other places, I wouldn't point to the cults in my top five of that list. Their defense was and an asset at times. I mean, Gus Bradley wasn't a big problem there.

No, they've been fine. Then they worked together in San Diego, too. That was San Diego, right? Where Gus Bradley and Steiken were both there at the same time. He's a likable guy. Gus Bradley, he's always surviving high energy.

Don't look at his head coaching record in Jacksonville. I think it might be the worst percentage-wise, but he is a good DC and has been for a long time now. In other news, a DC opening is open in the lands because the Giants have parted ways with Wink Martindale. It's being called a issue where Martindale resigned as the DC, but it is no secret that Wink and Brian Dable, their relationship is the center of this, how this all went down. It was reported during the season that the two were in a, quote, bad place. Now Wink, after he was really celebrated, as was Dable last year, for the Giants back to respectability. But the team sank to 27th overall in defense this year, even though they tied for the NFL lead and takeaways with 31. Wink is a lifer. Wink will find a job as well, but he's done with Dable and company.

These things change fast. Reports early this morning from our network, from ESPN across the board, sources saying the expectation is Don Wink Martindale will return. Hour or two later, Brian Dable gets on the podium, is asked about it, says, Yeah, I expect both Don Wink Martindale and Mike Kafka, my offensive coordinator, to return. And by the afternoon, the word is out. They fired his assistance, and he's resigned. They might have done the thing where they fired the rest of his staff. Then it was like, We'll keep you if you want. But they knew that he wouldn't do that. He goes out a winner with a nice game plan stuffing the Eagles the Eagles. Who knows? Maybe the Eagles would want Wink Martindale next year.

I Or next week.

It's like an upgrade from what they currently have. I like Wink. I think he could do the job. In other Giants news, by the way, Saquon Bargly skipped his exit interview telling reporters, They know how to reach me. That sounds like essentially there's a lot of speculation that Saquon is ready for a fresh start, and perhaps he is after playing that one-year deal where a lot of drama around his contract played through injury and had a nice season, and he's probably looking for a fresh start. But you never know. Money talks, as I said.

He did all these goodbyes in the locker room and everything and skipping the exit interview and saying, They know how to reach me. Pretty strong statement. I like that movie. He was numb to them, possibly using the franchise tag on him again, which actually isn't that crazy an idea. Numb to it. He would deal with it because it'd be a lot of money. But I don't think he's expecting a long-term deal. Sounded like he wants out.

It shows you how fast the regular season to shop by because I feel like we were just dealing with this offseason drama in Saquon about four hours ago.

The Rosenthal 101 free agents, if Barkley ends up on that list, is he top eight, top five?

It's a really... Well, right now, because no tag has been issued, no, because it's a really good list right now. But he would be in the top 15, and that's where he was last year. I think he looks even better than he did a year ago. Had a nice year.

Put him on the Chiefs or something. Let's go. Let's fly. Well, maybe not the Chiefs. I would like to see him on a.

Why not? The Chiefs are now in old Patriots mode, where whenever a player becomes available, that's spicy.

It's like, Put him on the Chief. But then I thought of Pacheco, and he's like... Mike Evans, put him on the Chiefs. Who's a contender that really could use a Saquon Barkley? Put him on one of those teams, and let's see what happens. I like Saquon Barkley.

What about Texans?

Bronx native.

All right. Texans, yeah.

They could use a running back. Okay, in other Metallands news, the Jets had Their end of season press conferences, everybody spoke, including Aaron Rodgers, who told the reporters the number one thing the Jets need to do heading into next year is, Flush the Bullshit, which I find interesting because Rodgers is at the center of so much of the bullshit around this team. We were just coming off Jimmy Kimmelgate and all the every week. And part of this is about the way our league is covered. But every time he does the McAfee interview, it's a storyline. And some of these story lines don't have traction, but then some do. When he says that Jimmy Kimmel might be on the Epstein list that gets released, then it becomes an embarrassing situation, which, by the way, I didn't hear from the Jets on that. I heard Disney and ESPN spoke out, and McAfee did damage control on that, but I didn't hear anything from the Jets, which, again, reminds you the reason you didn't is because Aaron Rodgers runs the Jets. So the Jets aren't going to apologize for Aaron Rodgers saying anything because Aaron Rodgers doesn't want them to.

Anyway, Robert Salah is the head coach. Aaron Rodgers is the head coach, too. But here he is when asked about, Man, he's entering year four without ever making the playoff, Robert Salah. They gave everybody a mulligan. His next year, all or nothing. Do you see next year as a playoff or else? Rich Semeni.

I always feel that way. I always feel like we need to win. It's this profession. It's results-oriented. No one really cares about process or progress. It's about winning. For me, personally, always expect to win.

I mean, it's just shifted completely into coach speak at this point. Yeah.

He's 18. There's been times this year where he just didn't have answers, and he would just stare back on reporters with nothing to say. I thought Sal was exposed a little bit this year, but we'll see what happens with the quarterback?

Given their setup, I think it's the right move to stay the course.

Do you think it's the right move with Nathaniel Hackett? I would say specifically, and that's the one thing where it feels toxic because-My name is Nathaniel Hackett.

It's nice to see you out here.

It's obviously Aaron's boy, but it's like, can't we look at the evidence to suggest that we need to make an upgrade or a change? But we're not going to. Aaron does want that. That's where it starts to feel ridiculous.

Also, Salas says, in this business, the only thing that people care about is results, not progress, yada, yada. He's 18 and 33. Joe Douglas is 27 and 56. They are getting a long leash.

Yes, an unprecedented leash. I cringe with so many of Sal's press conferences now because he also said yesterday, I think that they exercised a lot of demons this year. It's like, Bro, what are you talking about? Because to beat Bill Belichick in week 18, one of the worst Patriots teams of all time. If you want to count that, I'll even give you. I'll be nice to you because the quarterback got hurt in play four. But tell me what other demons were exercised in your tenure since week one.

I feel like we opened the door and in came a legion of demons. What are you talking about, dude?

What's he talking about?

I got to give my old boss Florio some credit. I love his headline talking about Rodgers here. The headline Aaron Rodgers urges Jets to Shed BS, teases Tuesday ESPN appearance to talk Jimmy Kimmel.

There you go.

Because yeah, Rodgers said, I'm not going to talk to you guys about it, to Rich Sommini, but watch on Tuesday. I will address it then.

That's part of what you signed up for. I was willing, and still am, willing to live with it. But what you were supposed to get is also Aaron Rodgers on the field. It still blows my mind that I get all this, but I never got to see him play on the field yet. Here we are.

You got hard knocks.

That was an awesome, awesome run. It was a great summer. All right. In other news, Dennis Allen, not a very popular man in New Orleans, even after a strong close, the Saints finished 9-8, second in the NFC South, did not make the playoff, though, for the third straight year. However, Dennis Allen said at his end of season news conference that when asked if he expects to remain head coach, that is my expectation. Yes. So Dennis Allen, as of right now, he's feeling pretty safe. And since we're talking Saints, really, I can't get enough of Jameis Winston, who was the quarterback on the field when they are in a victory formation and then pivot into a handoff to get Jamal Williams' first touch down of the year because he's been such a warrior for them. By the way, one take about that. All right. If you really feel Jamal deserves it, and Then line up in the eye formation and run it to then also do the trick play, though. To Pearl Harbor it on top, that's a bridge too far. But listen, Jameis Winston was at the controls. So what do you expect? Here's a little bit of Jameis after the game because he was holding court and he was enjoying himself.

And I love listening to him talk.

Well, I apologize to DA because the play was victory. But I also explained to DA that it was a team decision. And I think when you have to team around and I ask the guys, I say, Guys, what do you want to do? We know how much Jamal means to this team, and I understood from DA's perspective. So I give him that. But DA didn't condone it at all. He didn't. However, we decided as a team to do it, and we got an interception to the one-yard line. If we were to score, it still would have been disrespectful.

I think it's the most enjoyable thing that's happened in months.

I love But he, with all due respect, it's like the fool that doesn't realize really what he's saying as he's speaking, that it actually makes it worse for your coach after you already sold him out on the field, then to be like, to explain it to the media in a way that actually made Dennis Allen come off worse. We decided as a team what we were going to do with no disrespect to DA. It's like, I don't know, man. Then to top it off, here is... You want to talk about comedy. It got better, Mark. Because then there's some other journo who comes in. I don't know what His deal is, I don't know if he's a Saints beat writer or a Falcon's beat writer or who he is.

He was a Saints guy. I'll try to find the name.

He starts to pontificate about his opinions and his feelings respectfully.

Do you think we regret that?

Well, you do have to play these guys twice a year.

That's all I'm saying. There's music in the back. I know what I'm talking about. Somebody has got to play these guys twice a year. That's all.

How do you feel about it? Tell me how you feel about it. Not Why don't you feel good about it?

Because you got to play these guys twice a year.

But what about it makes you not feel good about it?

The head coach shows you to deal it out.

You're asking my opinion? Yes. I think you should have deal with it out.

Okay.

I'm just telling you as respectfully as I can.

You answer my question as respectfully as you can, and he's telling you as respectfully as I can that I respectfully disagree with you.

That's all.

You're disagree with me or the entire team? I think we ever made that decision. Okay, so you're I disagree with the entire team. So thank you.

No, I'm being honest and respectful.

That's what I'm attempting to do to you. That's what I am doing.

That's what I am doing.

The siren and the club music going off in the background. You just can't make it up.

There was one part that was not part of that clip, and I recommend anyone find the whole three minutes. It's great. Where he was like, where he was like... Where he did let the mask fall down a little bit, where he's like, So the first 41 points, that It didn't make you upset. It was the last seven that did it. I love it. But you know what? I did think it was telling many, many Saints players have been tweeting out today from Jamal Williams to your old friend Mark Ingram, my dog Mark with a C, to Jimmy Graham, just how much they love Jameis Winston and that he's one of the best teammates ever. Here's Jimmy Graham. This man is the best teammate ever had. Get off his back. Loves the city. This game embodies everything you can ask. Was a rare situation. We all take responsibility. No one thought it would get blown out of a portion. Also, the Falcons.

Yeah, that's what a lot of it is, the rivalry. Listen, I would love to be friends with Jameis Winston. I mean, I'm going to win a playoff game before Jameis Winston does, though. I'm sure he's a great guy and a great teammate, but he is a gober, man.

I don't know. I genuinely enjoyed how he went through that conversation there. Respect. He's like, Dennis Allen does not condone it. However, doubling back into his own logic.

It was over the second he goes, Yeah, I apologize, the 8, but it was a team decision, which is so funny because Dennis Allen is the coach of the team, and he's like, No, this is our team.

But I don't... Does he realize? Does he realize in his-What I do. In what he's saying that he is essentially selling out the coach?

Yes, I think they know.

I don't think he knows, actually.

I think he knows, and this was I'm taking this from some of the writers. He knows he's not going to be back there. He knows he might not be a favorite of Dennis Allen. I don't think any of these things are made in a vacuum. When people are saying Dennis Allen has lost a little bit of the control, I think that's true. I think, I mean, I think like, James is just saying, I'm out of here. We're going to do whatever the hell we want. I know everything's awesome.

I'm just saying that was a messed up thing to do. That's all.

I hear that. I think the interview was It makes life difficult for Dennis out.

I know that everything is always like, Oh, it was so amazing. Everything was amazing. That was a tough situation for Arthur Smith, a tough situation for the Falcons there at the end of his tenure. Then there were elements of it that I would... If it was your team, you'd be furious, put it that way. But that's the rivalry also the Falcons and the Saints, and it makes next year even more exciting.

I think Falcons fans were so mad at that team. They were like, We deserve it. I think as fans, we would keep it all in perspective, which is part of what I enjoyed about Jameis. As, yes, in the context of what went on, I guess it's a serious conversation, but it's not the most serious thing that has ever happened in the world. You could almost see he was having a little fun with it.

The wild eyes he has, too. I love the wild eyes Jameis has. All right, let's take a break, and then we'll close the door on some regular season predictions, and then get out of here. Yes, the familiar Chimes. Chimes? It's a harp.

That seemed more like a harp. What would you call that then? I've never played a harp, though, so I'm not coming from a place of authority.

Not a plucking. That's a plucking of the strings of the harp, which means... It can only mean one thing. It's New Horizons Monday. Greg, you were in a band. It was an acid prog rock emo outfit. Did you ever play the harp with Delaware?

No. There were a variety of instruments. We had talented musicians, Andy Moody, Kristen Hinkley, Jeff Lash. I was not a talented musician. What was your role in the band again? My sister-in-law, Karen, though, can play the cello. I don't know. Is that a harp?

That's a cello. Your brother is a gifted guitarist.

Oh, yeah. What do you call it when you play a bunch of stuff? He's an every man instrument. But yes, guitar and piano, certainly.

Perhaps you should have recruited him to Delaware, and maybe you'd be touring the world right now.

But His music is a little more refined, I believe.

Well, now, back then, though, he was playing clubs and stuff with white snake type music. But yes, he did end up conducting writing classical music.

Your brother, an actual musician, what did heHow old? He's older, right?

Five years older, yeah.

What was his first reaction when he told him that you were in a band?

He was in college and couldn't have cared less and probably didn't ask me any questions for about a six-year period. He was off in Montreal doing his thing.

But you Were they the lead singer?

Lead vocals? Yeah, he was on Vox.

There was other people who would sing, but yes, I was the most- Were you the principal songwriter of Delaware as well? No, Andy Moody was, but I was number two.

We were-It was like a Lennon McCartney.

Sure.

I would say Andy Moody quietly was the key behind the whole operation. But yes, I wrote some songs as well. We did it together.

Give us a title.

Nordic Track. I remember that was a good one. Nordic Track.

You closed the show with Nordic Track.

That was a big hit, yeah.

When will you We release the tapes, finally, before we move on?

I don't have the tapes. I'm not aware of any tapes.

Why did you write a song about a treadmill?

A Society. This is feeling like you're on the treadmill and you can't get all of it.

No, that's a good... I'm wondering if you felt that way at that age, that you were already on a treadmill despite being in an emo band. He was listening to a lot of Billy Corgan at the time.

Maybe we were just big fans of Nordertrick. I think it was about it. It was a great piece of equipment.

Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage. I think that was Greg's interpretation of that thematically. How do you know? I'm a big fan of Delaware.

You've never heard a bar of it? Not yet.

I will find some other song titles.

I'll go look for them. All right. Again, the word is out on the streets. If you have any connection to the band Delaware, which came out of Worcester Mass in the late '90s, early 2000s, and you have access to a tape, any type of demo.

I grew up in Wilbraham, Mass, not Worcester. That's close.

We got We got to find this Andrew Moody guy. It sounds like we've got a name.

Andrew Moody. Anybody connected to this band, Delaware, Greg's brother. Maybe Greg, in a moment, as a teenager, he looked to his big brother and said, Hey, Dean, this is what I've been working on. Maybe he handed the tape over. The brother has a tape. Possible? Hey, bro, check this out. Let me know what you think. It's our debut album, which was called How do you want it cooked? How do you want it cooked?

I believe.

Fresh off the presses. Let us know what you think. Maybe that tape's sitting somewhere in….

No, Dean had no interest. I don't know if you had any older siblings, but five years older, he was He got too involved in what his high school brother was doing back then. He was like...

I bet there's a grainy VHS tape of someone who taped one of their concerts, like a backyard type of situation sitting out there.

Like he played Boston Garden or something. There's got to be something out there.

We've spent a lot of time on this.

Well, it's the most important thing we've talked about today. All right, let's get into our over-unders. Okay, so before the season started, we did an app with Barnwell, which is a tradition where we each picked, I believe, four teams and based the over-unders off draft Kings before the season started. Let's go through each of ours. We'll start with the Zuzzer. Let's see how I did this year. You can check on YouTube. I went two and two. All right, so I hit the over on the Browns.

Look at your Browns optimism.

I was always in on the Browns.

You were nine and a half.

All throughout the summer, I was in on the Browns. I thought, and a lot of that is I liked nick Chubb and Deshawn Watson bouncing back. Obviously, they had a big year without either of those two men for the most part, but I hit the over there. This one, I had to sweat out a little bit the last couple of weeks, but the Titans, I hit the under, which was seven and five. I'm looking back and remembering that that was the one I was the least confident about. In fact, I really wished I would have taken the over, but as it worked out, where did they go?

They got six and 11. 6 and eleven. You can clear that by a game and a half.

The Browns went eleven and six, so I hit that easily I lost my last two. I went two and two. The Bucaneers, I hit the under. I was not high on Baker and the Bucs this year. They end up getting to nine wins and winning their division. And then the Jets, that's not fair. There was nothing fair about the Jets, but Rodgers gets hurt. I wanted to hit the over at nine and a half, but didn't come close. The Jets finished seven and 10, so two and two.

It's interesting. I think the Bucs under, they were predicted to come in last behind the Panthers. Panthers were seven and a half. They were at six and a half.

Well, they showed promise last year and then added a first-round pick.

All right, let's move to Greg, who's had a big year with all sorts of predictions this year. Oh, stop it. Greg. Greg went four and a 0. Naturalcesdog.cesdog. I got to say something, Greg. First of all, before we get into this.I'm.

Happy for Greg.I'm impressed.

I've always been very complementary of your great knowledge of the game and your passion for it. But I've also been doing this with you for a decade, and I just want you to appreciate this. Okay. Because you've never been like this year, whether it's the game of your picks or what we're about to get. You were on a heater this year, and I just hope, do you appreciate the greatness of your season? I am appreciated.

That's why I was honking so much last night and teasing my potential retirement, because I know it will not continue. It will be like the Patriots, Dark Days. What is your record in the mix? I will say of any of the predictions, game day view or the locks or whatever, I think the over-unders, still, luck is maybe the most important factor, but I think it's the least amount of I think these are the ones I would care about the most.

Because I think you went 16 and 2 or 17 and 2 in the-In the locks. Locks, and you went 4 and 0. So let's go through them. You took the Panthers under, which was a home run, seven and a half, and they end up, of course, 2 and 15, the worst team in football. You always down on the Giants, so you bang me under at seven and a half, and the Giants, they almost come and get you with a nice second half.

They only got to six, but yes.

But I think they were one and seven at one point. They had a nice second half, all things considered.

Those two were good. The other two were more lucky. That's what I'm talking about.

You bang that a lot and you hit it well. The bears, you had seven and a half on the moment. You really are. You're stuck in it this year, buddy. They were seven and nine going into week 18, and everybody was optimistic about that packers game, but they get beat, so they stay at seven wins. So you hit that at seven and a half. You son of a gun. The Bills down in the fourth quarter on Sunday Night Football, staring at 10 and seven.

At 6 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10 and 10. They needed to win five straight to get that over 10 and a half.

At 6 and 6, and you hit the 10 and a half over behind a five-game winning streak to get to 11 and 6. Bravo, sir.

Well done, Greg.

What can you say, Mark?

I don't have anything else to say.

I said I'm excited for Greg.

Honestly, and you guys know this, if I ever had the season Greg had, that would be it. I'm gone. I'm going. I'm taking a right here about it somewhere in Long Island.

Why does this make it? Why do I feel like I probably went 0 and 4 to balance this Well, I went 2 and 2.

That's what I'm saying. These I was mentally tracking throughout the year. I have to admit, they did matter to me.

I was not mentally tracking my- By the way, add all this.

Greg's children advance the finals against each other in their fantasy football league.

Am I missing anything, Greg, in this year? It's nothing, if not impressive.

Of opulence?Un Unbelievable.Game.

Day view. I'm curious. I finished off the regular season title there, too. Over a sentence. You son of a bitch. Very difficult.

Greg, I am impressed and just filled with rage. To be this close to greatness but not have it myself. Good for you, sir. You say two and two for Zuzer, four and O for Greg. You're saying that naturally, you would have to go 0 and 4?

I'm just suggesting that's the narrative of this show, so probably something in that ballpark.

He can't make up what you went.

No narrative. All right. No. I mean, my own narrative that I created.

All right, Seth, what did you do? Oh, no.

Are you He went 0 and 4. Oh, my God. Everyone, check us out on YouTube. We've got fancy graphics, and most importantly, you can have Mark's facial reaction to this. I've heard from some people last week. They didn't even know we were on YouTube at all, so go check it out.

All right, so Seth Dogg.

Brett gets the pitch in for the show, too.

Let's go through it. Okay. So you bang the under on the Ravens, who obviously the best team in football, finished 13 and 4. You saw them as going under 10 and a half.

I thought they'd be a playoff team, maybe.

But you went under 10 and a half.

And I remember having this conversation because I took the Browns over. You took the Browns under nine and a half. And of course, they went 11, and they're going to the playoff. So maybe that was protecting yourself a little bit, but you lost that. You had the Chiefs over. Oh, this one's annoying.

I mean, I don't hate that I did that back then.

The Chiefs, they almost always hit the over, Greg, right?

11.5..

I believe they had hit it for the last six straight years.

This was the different year.

The Denmark picked them.

Yes. Just like I took Mahomes, I think third in my fantasy draft before Christian McCaffrey, this was the year everything changed. The Chiefs over eleven and a half. They have the worst eleven win season that I can remember for any team. So you get dinged on that. Then the optimism around the Falcons was real. You had the over eight and a half, and they finished what?

Seven and 10. That's Arthur Smith.

For the third year in a row. I got pulled into Falcon land, plus these other lands.

How about that with Arthur Smith? Three straight, seven and 10s.

We finished 500 as a group. You could look at it that way.

I like that.

How about that, Mark?

You're only as good as your weakest link.

Greg, unbelievable.

I'm uncomfortable with Dan saying these things.

I'm uncomfortable. I've never been around someone that's been this hot. I think you missed one Rainmaker all year.

I think that was four and one. That I lost track of, but yeah, something like that.

How can we monetize Greg's?

I'd say leave the NFL and move to Las Vegas.

Well, we're not allowed to do any of this stuff.We're not allowed to bet.I.

Didn't say betting. How do we monetize Greg's quality?

That's how I would monetize it.

Before I came here, I did some of that. You want to have some big years. You're not going to have a big year every year. You want to survive in the years that aren't big years and then have some big years.This would have been a big year.Good advice.

There you go.

Good advice for me to take.Let's check.Now.

Let's check in.You did not survive.

Let's check in on our running back draft, which was obviously a source of major consternation. Now, this is one place where if Greg somehow comes out on top here. I'm walking out of here because Greg famously butchered the draft back in June. But now we could use hindsight to look back.Let's see where we are now.I.

Don't even evaluate it.

Let's start. Let's do the same thing. Let's go Dan first. Let's see what I got. All right. I had nick Chubb Wolf, but what are you going to do? Austin Echler career-Well, hold on.

Can we view nick Chubb as who he really is versus the season he had?

Well, let's just look at it through the prism of the season for now. Because I was sure Chubb is an all-time-170 yards, didn't score a touch. And then blew out his knee in hideous fashion on a Thursday night. In October, I believe it was Austin Echler. I don't know what happened to Eckler.

That's a miss.

He totally fell off the map. Josh Jacobs, another guy, started very slowly and then started to find himself, had some big games, and then got hurt at the end of the year. Then Brees Hall, the four, this is the one I was least comfortable with. He ends up going over 1,500 yards of total offense for the Jets. A very bad offensive line.

Good fourth pick if this is listed in order.

Yeah. Obviously, I hit on Hall, and then Chubb, what are you going to do? But Echler and Jacobs, I missed on. They just didn't have great years. All right. So not that hot for does her. Okay, let's go to Greg Rosenthal. All right. B. Jean Robinson, who, very frustrating here for B. Jean, did have moments, including a long shutdown reception in week 18, but not the guy we all thought he was going to be.

Alvin-14001,600 yards.Not a miss, though. 8 shutdowns, though.

Did he have 1,400?

From scrimage.Not.

A total, not a miss or anything.Not.

A miss, I think. But not a big miss. We were expecting him to be a seismic land.A lot of these guys.Not his fault, though. Not his fault. I think he has huge years ahead of him. Alvin Kamara suspended to start the year, had a steady year, but he's not the same guy anymore. He was okay. He was fine.

1160 yards and 6 TDs, again, from scrimage, not rushing.

In fact, he is three straight years. I read this. He's been under four yards of carry for three straight years, which you don't see a lot. Kamara has fallen off a little bit. Jonathan Taylor, a guy who obviously started with a contract holdout and everything, the injury about that. He warmed up as the season went along. Taylor and then Aaron Jones, who did nothing for the first two and a half months of the season, but finished strong with three 100-yard games. Pretty good group.

That looks better. It looks a lot better than it did at other times during this season, though, all because of what Taylor became.

I was Very negative afterwards, and people came at me. In the end, they were fine. It was a solid draft.

Mark, coming off the 0-4. Let's win this running back draft.

I think you can. I know one of them is.

Let's see. Let's check out Mark's He had the first pick, I remember. He had Christian McAfree, so that's a big win. Saquon Barkley. Mcafree had maybe his best year, which is saying something incredible and might be the offensive player of the year as a result. Saquon Barkley slowed down, banged up down the stretch, but I really thought Barkley had a good season overall. Bad team. Bad team.

1,200 yards from scrimmage, 10 TDs, so a better Kamara, but he just looked better if you just watched it. The numbers are similar, but he was better.

Derrick Henry, like Alvin Kamara, it's pretty clear that he's not the same dude, but you saw even in week 18 that he still has juice in the tank, and then he'll get a job next year. I think he's a Hall of Famer, so nice guy to have there. Then Ramondre Stevenson, who quietly... Because I had him on my fantasy team. I remember tracking him. It was like all the bad stuff going around the Patriots. He was the one guy that was steadily just going about his business. I thought he was having a pretty good year until a high ankle sprain ended his year. Mark, you won the Around the NFL Running Back Strap.I'm.

Giving it to you, Mark.Yeah, I think so. You did it.I.

Think so.Give it up.Thank you.

This is your life.

I wish I could feel as much in the victory that I know Greg feels in winning the things He's got to take a shot. No, I'm not taking a shot at all. I really not. It's just like it's... I don't know where it's supposed to carry me.Unbelievable.

Speech.emotionally.unbelievable.sorry. Finally, before we say goodbye, let's go through the Go Get My Lunch props. You ready? Sestog. None of us really had a very good year with this one. So Sestog, here were your predictions. A kicker breaks the record for longest field goal. That's more than 66 yards during a Titans Ravens game in London. Nope, lost two sandwiches there. Ram's Trade, Matthew Stafford. You were very hot. I was. You were very down on the Rams and very hot on Stafford being moved. He obviously didn't move and then had a huge year. You lost three sandwiches there, including to Laquisha. Dak Prescott has benched for performance reasons.

I mean, yeah, these are huge things.

You have to remember, when I create these, the Stafford one, not so much, but I'm doing this for the show. Showman. I mean, this-Shama.

You're believing that Dak Prescott is going to be bad.

I think there is a world where-It was great. I think things could have gone real south for the Cowboys, maybe, and Dak gets caught in the crosshairs of it all, and that did not happen.

It was probably around the time of the Trey Lance trade. In your mind, you're like, Oh, then they'll play Trey Lance or something. Weird stuff happens. Then finally, a star QB loses at least one star. See, now this is the sestog ones. The other ones are just predictions gone awry. A star QB loses at least one star due to an off-field incident involving a problematic individual dressed in a costume. Anything? It looks like, according to nick Fortier, who runs gogetmylunch. Org and does an incredible job at it. Thank you, nick. That cost you three sandwiches as well.

That ended with yesterday's Bill's Dolphins game.

We'll give you the How about that? Last act over here.

Can it be a player who's not currently lame? Anything you want.

The loosest calibration of this, we'll give it to you. Greg Rosenthal, Justin Herbert finishes higher in MVP voting than Patrick Mahomes.

We don't know yet, but I will lose two on that because they're both got to get zero. Neither will get a vote.

Yeah, so that's a loss. The Lions win the NFC North. You got that? Okay.

Very good.

That's a W.

You guys took me up on that.

Took you up on it. Mac Jones finished. This is the one I teased on the Sunday show. Mac Jones finishes ahead of Daniel Jones in the QB Index, which Dan and Mark took you up on. Apparently, when Shook puts together the final version, we'll have every quarterback. I do not imagine, even though Daniel Jones didn't do squat this year, that Jones would be ahead of him. So I It's going to be the very bottom.

I'm going to lose that, which is right church, wrong pew. Daniel Jones, out of 68 starters, will probably not be in the top 40, but he will be ahead of Mac Jones.

There's no way. Let's see how far apart they are because it shouldn't be too, too far.

All right. So like you were down on the Rams, I just had this weird feeling about the lines flopping, which was obviously wrong because I have the lines never claimed sole possession of first place in the NFC North, and they win on Thursday night against the Chiefs.

Historically bad.

Darius drops all those balls, and they get beat by one point. They won the north, so let alone one day, they were there every day, pretty much. Or was it every day? Did they ever fall out of first place in that division?

No. I don't think they did.

No. Wire to wire.

Big old FU to Daddy Rich. Devante Adams or Mike Evans will be traded prior to the 2023 trade deadline. I like that one because I was thinking-You were the Bucks crashing. Raiders bad, Bucks bad.

Devante was talking a lot back then.

I think one or both of those guys are on a new team next year, but that was not the wager, so it cost me two. Jj Watt plays in 2023.

I took you up on that.

Only Greg, though, took me up on that, Mark. You stayed away. I love when the stay away has happened.

Because I think that made some interesting sense. I don't know.

But by the way, there's still a few weeks left. Then TJ Watt just got hurt. Maybe the Stealers pick up the phone.

Jj did break that news that he's out for these two games.

That'd be such a Stealers thing to do.

What if JJ filled in for nick for two weeks until he came back? Or TJ?

I mean, it's such a Stealers thing to do.

How about naming your kids JJ and TJ? How about that?

Well, or you named them what they stand for, and then they decided they weren't into those names and condensed.

All right, so I wasn't in on the Falcons, but I did believe in Bjan. Enough to say nick Chubb or Bjan Robinson lead the NFL in rushing. Chubb, we discussed, blew out his knee. Béjian was trapped in.

I didn't take you up on that, which was stupid. I was all in on Béjian.

This one is... Nick has this listed as a loss, but I don't know why. Tom braided is commentating games for by 2024. There's a report just came out that he's working on it, and it's...

By 2024.

This season, he needs to do it. This upcoming season, 2024.

I no longer would have taken that. I'm hoping we are right, Mark, but the signs are looking poor.

Then this is a sess dog one, which I like. The birds. Remember the birds falling out of the sky in Mexico?

Yeah, well, sure.

It happened During Super Bowl week. I said that will be the first of several unexplained phenomenon over the next two years. I have until next February on that one. That one, I guess, is just sitting out there still.

Did that get created at some other time?

That was created, I think, Super Bowl week because it happened a couple of days before the game. My cousin Mike, I brought to the Super Bowl who's a big UFO and conspiracy guy. I remember going down a worm hole with him in the hotel room in Arizona, and I was pretty hot to trot about more stuff happening. But maybe it does. Maybe it has. Any other conspiracy, tinfoil people out there, let me know if I've missed anything in the past.

Well, I'm sure people can come up with some several unexplained phenomenon if they just want to.

Mark, you did not, true to form, take me up on that. But Greg, of course, did. He's like, There is no such thing as unexpiant for not long. Something like that.

I don't like the two-year part of it. I think that's why I didn't get attached to that.

Eric Roberts. Now, the producers have They have a famously messy reputation when it comes. They never win a sandwich prop. However, the bills outsack and out-intercept the Jets. I like this one. Where did we come down on it? Oh, you got it.

No.

The Bills, 18 interceptions, Jets, 17 to the end of the season.

Oh, stop it. So it was the I&T on the wrap.

The wrap one not only locked up the ANT East division, but that intercepted.

Eric Roberts, you son of a bitch.

We were going back and forth, actually, about the Jets defense, balling out in that game against the Patriots, and the Bills outsacked the Jets 54 to 48. So ding, ding.

Wait, what? Because it says you lost it here.

I think nick was mistaken. I don't know. He has some data points there that don't appear to be accurate. So they were close. It was close. But you hit it.

I think the Bills went into week 18 plus 13 in Sacks. But what did the Jets end up with? They had five or six. Six that week, yeah. And then Yeah, there was a two interception swing in the Jets game, so they actually went into the final game of the season down one, but then that wrap one.How about that?Yeah, so big win for me, guys.Let's.

Give some applause to Eric.

Everything's coming up.Robbits.But a moment.

Everything's coming up.I'm going to have a kid.

Three sandwiches he gets. Honestly, that is a big deal because the producers never win.

Yeah, but the producers reach different individual people, so it's not going to predict how Eric would do.

Just saying, historically, in over their heads. No, it's true.

This was coming out of hard knock season, so we spent a lot of time watching the Jets, me and you, getting pumped up in defense. I thought something, okay, good, something to track throughout the year, and actually came down to the wire.

And they were two good defenses in the bill, statistically in those categories.

When Rapp made that interception, Eric, were you aware that that was winning you, San Luis? Yes. Wow. I wish we knew that. What a moment.

Because me and Dan were talking about it. Good job. I knew there was a swing because of the two in the morning game.

That was good.

There was the one and two. I'm a little surprised that the Bills out-sacked the Jets. Jets had a lot of guys that were around 6, 7, 8, Sacks. I didn't realize Buffalo's pass rush with Novon Miller was that fierce, but good for you. Were they top five?

Let's see here. The Sacks were That would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 54 behind Dolphins with 56, Chiefs with 57, and Rams with 60. Then the Jets were somewhere down towards the middle.

Interesting. Okay. One more. This one's not official, but we We had a major hit from La Keisha. Speaking of La Keisha, we did NFL Plus that's coming up a little bit later this month, where we're going through all the Super Bowl in recent years, and we talked about the incredibly difficult Super Bowl around Chris's passing. But we talk about Chris and the Bucks Chief Super Bowl, and then a great video that La Keisha made, a letter she wrote to Chris. You got to check out NFL Plus when that drops, and also on DAZN, if That's how you get it overseas and international territories. But La Keisha had a wager when she was on the show. Listen to this one. Lamar Jackson finishes top three in MVP voting. And guess what? All three of us took her up on it. A little surprising, Greg.

I think just in the spirit of taking the person that's here.

He's going to win the damn thing. Forget about top three. He might win it unanimously.

And La Keisha's mom, one of the bigger Lamar Jackson fans around. I think Lamar Jackson brought LaKisha's mom into football.

That's absolutely right.

She loves Lamar. We got a Claybon one, too. Jalen Rager had over 40 catches in 2023.

When was this?

I don't know.

I do you recall? That was like...

Let's see, where did he come down?

If I had known that, I would have enjoyed the bizarre Jets Patriots game on Sunday, where Jalen Rager was suddenly the Patriots' number one receiver.

I think Claybon regreted that after.

He did not come close to 40.

He had seven.

Okay.

Seven catches for Jalen Rager. Getting behind the pats offense is always a tricky proposition. All right, so there you go. There are sandwich props. Maybe we'll do a couple of Super Bowl week. We tend to do that. We make one Super Bowl prediction, and that's it. Here's the rest of the week. On Wednesday, we're going to have Connie Fox back with us. How about that? We're going to give out our awards for the 2023 season and then start looking ahead to Super Wild Card Weekend on Thursday when we preview all the games on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Anything else, boys?

I think we covered it.

It's a big week. Good job. Good job, everybody. Thank you to everybody Remember, when all else is lost, it's a new horizon. You need to call. New horizon. Eat the call.