Zampi. Throwing, caught. Henry, touchdown. Whoa. This quarter, almost had the fifth, and the kick is going to be blocked. Myles Killrow, their special teams, Maven gets in there. I don't need to. Going deep, going for it. Oh, an incomplete. Intended for Johnson. Blame Canada. Decant. A go-ball on fourth and two. What an absurd ending. Too frankly, an absurd game. The New England Patriots. Get the stop late and get the win, whether they want it or not. Beating the Pittsburgh Stealers at the field, formerly known as Heinz, 21 to 18, a win that both damages Pittsburgh's playoff hopes badly and damages the Patriots' chance at the number one pick. So maybe it's one of those weird, funky situations where a game ends in both fan bases are annoyed. Dan Hans is here from my home. Mark Cessler there from his home. Mark, where to start? A strange game? Let's start here, though. They hit the over by half time, but we didn't get much after that.

No, I guess they hit the over because we got the best half of football offensively. The Patriots have produced. Bailey Zappy, I don't like any of these quarterbacks, but Billy Zappy, arrow up on Mac Jones. I'm looking at a Steeler's team that, if anything, they've been imperfect, but they've been resilient and they keep out wins. But in a five-day period, you've lost to the Arizona Cardinals who were an apparition, essentially, in the National Football League. And tonight to a Patriots team that, despite allowing 10 points or less in three-strike games, had lost. Tonight, they win. The Stealers to me are fading away. A lot of it has to do with the fact that former first round pick, Mitchell Trabiski, amounts to 60 yards through the air in the first half. The offense that we thought two games ago in that clash with the Bengals had reawakened with 400-plus yards. Two games in a row since we have evidence that that's not the case. Whether they're a playoff team or not in a really weird A-C, they are very flawed.

Yeah. I don't want to be that guy, but I was less bullish about the Steelers coming off that 400 yard game just because we'd seen so much shalak to that before that. I'm never totally on board with just putting everything on an offensive play collar because there's usually a lot more going on like bad quarterback play and bad blocking and inability for the wide receivers to make a player show that they even care or want to be in the building and Pittsburgh too, the 12 and 5 dream is over, obviously, Mark. It's funny because a week ago we were talking about how they don't really look like a 12 and 5 team, but the schedule sets up so well for them, they might just get there. To drop back to back games to two-win teams over the course of four days, I guess it does this, Mark, because we've been talking about how the Steelers aren't really passing any of the smell tests throughout the season, and yet they kept winning. Well, now they've been exposed and with the schedule now tightening up, I think even though an NFL season isn't very long, even with the added game, just 17 games each, it does have a way of filtering out the pretenders and the contenders by the end of December into January.

I think that's what's happened to the Steelers here. On the Patriot side, yeah, you get three touchdowns from Bailey Zappie in the first half. Some of the biggest playcalling I thought down the stretch in this game, including before that fourth down failure by the Steelers that basically ended the game. The Patriots just running the ball three times into the line, trying to get a first down, but also trying to burn Pittsburgh timeouts. It's like you're two and ten. Don't be so conservative. Go and win the game. Then even the next possession after when Pittsburgh failed on that go ball, they are inside the Pittsburgh 40 yard line and it's fourth in inches and you send out the punter and it's like, Oh, my God, this is such a stupid game that we're watching and it just refused to die. I'm glad it's over. Mark, I'm sure Greg is upset about it and all the other Patriots fans because they now also have put themselves in the position where they might not get that top two pick. This could be a very costly win for them.

Well, I think it was mentioned on our Thursday show that there's the world where if Belichick knows he's not going to be with the Patriots next year, we don't know if he knows that, we don't know what the situation is, but maybe you go Lovey Smith and you're not trying to lose these games and it's like, Leave the next coach without the number one overall pick. I mean, in this game, though, I think it's pretty much on the nose when we predicted all week long that this would be a bit of a disaster. And it turns out to be... I think there just aren't really seven real playoff teams in the AFC. We very well might get the stealers in the postseason, and they're a very incomplete team. I would say the one on top of the loss, I don't love Alex Highsmith, who you've got TJ Watt, but Alex Highsmith has probably even arguably been the more productive pass rusher, leaves the game with a neck injury. There are just problems with this team. They're very incomplete. To lose these two games the way they did, it's like these should have been the two opportunities to propel you and inflate your record beyond what you are and take you to that potential 11, 12-win scenario.

It's like, They're not that team. They're not going to do that. This is a Steeler's team that's going to win about 10 games, 9 games, and float out of the playoffs if they even get there at all.

Yeah, I don't think they're going to go near the playoffs as the team going in the wrong direction. I did think watching Mike Tomlin in this game that he called them JV after the Cardinals game. I wonder what he's thinking in this game. You could just, the high, excuse me, the Acrishore fans in that building just going nuts, booing that offense out of the building in the first half. Because I think there was this very quickly because New England's offense was putting a point surprisingly, it became clear that, oh, whoa, this was supposed to be just like a three and a half hour celebration here in Pittsburgh. We were going to move right along to eight and five and be in great position going into the home stretch of the regular season. It turns into a nightmare. I should clarify because I just said that the Pats put themselves in a tougher situation for that Drepic. Even with the win, they still hold the number two overall pick as action rolls on in the NFL on Sunday at three and 10. But so Carolina, which is actually the bears this take, they are in very good position, the bears now to get the number one overall pick for the second straight year.

They're two games up on everybody else. But what that win for the Patriots does, it moves them away from number one, obviously, further. But also all these other three and four-win teams now are right in the mix for a top three pick. You got Arizona, Washington, Chicago, New York, New York, Tennessee, all with four wins right now. So that tightens up significantly. Anything else that jumped out to you in this game?

I just don't remember a season where within a one week period, you had the fans in New Orleans who are some of the greatest fans around and loyal to the end. Same goes with Pittsburgh. Both raining down booze and catcalls and annoyances in their home stadium, with their own team. That's the year we're in a little bit. The other thing that comes to mind is whenever they show Cam Hayward, the monstrous defensive lineman for the Stealers, that Dan, we did a broadcast boot camp with a number of NFL players, and he was one of them, and we did a little 10-minute how to do a podcast type class. We're just us. The class ended and Darren Waller and a bunch of other people marched out of the room, but Cam Hayward came over to us and he's about six foot 600. He's just giant and he's like, Hey, guys, how do you do a podcast? How do you come up with your episodes?

I was like-That's a great Hayward.

But now he's doing like... I just saw him on Good Morning Football the other day. He's doing great. He does all this stuff. But it's weird to watch these players and be like, these are absolute athletic feats and giant, gigantic men. He came over to us and just had this little tiny question for us. You and I just stood there like, Well, we'll see what we can do. Here we are doing a show.

Yeah, he was a really nice guy. I'm trying to think in our years working at NFL Media, the biggest guy ever still for me was Chris Jenkins, the old Panthers and Jet Stee tackle. When he walked into the old newsroom in Culver City, I remember just being aghast that a human could be that large. Also, he was like super athletic. But I think he's number two on the list and also was super nice. Did the Thursday Night Football during the postgame show and and they're saying, Stay right here. We got Bailey Zappi coming up to the desk. I'm like, Oh, boy. Tony Gonzales is saying, they're trying to explain what's wrong with the Stealers? What happened to the Stealers? Tony Gonzales is saying, The reason they didn't win this game is they don't have an alpha male on their team. Can we, I mean, Jeez, can we come back to us? Tony, I mean, you're one of the greatest tight ends that ever lived. You played football for your whole life. They don't need an alpha male. They need a quarterback. That is so much to do with their offensive struggles is that inability to have somebody.

Obviously, Kenny Pickett is no great shakes, but Trabiski is just so inconsistent. That's why it made it all the more puzzling with the game and potentially season on the line there at fourth and two near midfield. To throw a goal ball there is so strange to me. I know part of the problem is, and I think Mike Tomlin obviously has a lot of work to do to try to get this season straightened out now. If it doesn't work out, how do we make the team better? The running game once again disappeared here. They averaged less than three yards of carry and 28 rushes. I know the one thing New England has going for it is that the defense still plays with a sense of dignity and pride and they have not been pushovers. But man, that is not Pittsburgh Steeler's football in any way, shape or form.

No. I mean, New England has led the league in allowing the least amount of points over the past three weeks. It continued tonight. Their defense is legit. Bellachick is still coaching that up. But Pittsburgh has been running the ball consistently and that went away tonight. And it's like, Mitch Trubiski is not going to get you out of that. George Pickens vanished this evening. I would so argue against the concept that they lack an alpha male on that team. I mean, what is TJ Watt? What is Cam Hayward? They've got a bunch of them.

They're just not a lot of offense. I think they're talking about an offense, just to be fair, I think he was talking about the offense. But even then, I think we're on the.

Same page there. I just think that we don't... That's just not the case. You're dealing with average quarterback play. You're dealing with a quarterback that gets injured every couple of weeks. It's all over the league. We've got backup.

For that. By the way, an Alpha male? I mean, that's what the NFL is just filled with. There's 500 Alpha males. These guys are highly aggressive, physical marvels. These guys, that's not what they need.

I'm with you.

But shout out to Zeke Elliot, who obviously stepped into a larger role here with Ramonger Stevenson out with the high ankle sprain. He has 140 total yards in this game and a touchdown. That obviously helped the cause for New England in the first half. His last run of note looked like it was a run for a first down in the last minute there to kill the rest of the clock. They challenged it and they ended up moving it behind and put it to third and short. Then, of course, they weren't able to make the first down and had the silly pun and all that. But I did like the shot, Mark. This is a good way to end this because we love us some bell check in different ways. Bill pumping his right arm, first down, first down, first down on the sideline. I don't know what's really going on in the old coach's mind right now. I know he's probably very embarrassed about the state of New England Patriot football at this point. But don't say he doesn't want to win or he's checked out. Bill wanted that game badly. I think to get a prime time win in Pittsburgh, it was like a little taste of the old days, the Steelers who could never beat Belichick and braided or Hell, Bloodsoe back in the day.

And once again, with the Stealers desperately needing a win at Heinzfield or the artist formerly known as Heinzfield, again, the patriots somehow stick it to them. So I think Bill, it probably felt good. A little whiff of nostalgia there.

I'm with you. And he did it with... He's got this fashion choice going on of late where you've got a winter bonnet on with a little ball on top hanging sideways off his head. It looks like a Christmas Eve drunk in a dive bar. But I think he's doing that on purpose, too. But am I wrong? That look throws me. I feel like he can't be doing that intentionally.

He used to be a ski and... I'm a snowman instructor. A long time ago in the '80s. This is in a sleepy town in Vermont, a snow town. Now he's more in a managerial role, let's say. But he spends most of his time at the pub at the bottom of the ski slope. That's where you could find Mr. Belcheck these days. One of those vibes like he used to own this town, but now he's just a townie with the, what did you call it? A bonnet with a ball.

On top? I think that, I mean, we can explore further, but I think that's what you'd call that hat, like a winter bonnet with the little bobble on top and it's hanging sideways. I don't know. Strange choice. I wouldn't walk around town with that outfit. But he's got a different agenda than I do.

You know what I'd like? I'd like to see Bill and Levi, your jacket. Probably have to size up a couple, but.

Yeah, I think he's not going to fit in my jacket.

I think it's time for Bill to have a reinvention, wherever he lands next. I know we're talking about it with Weish, and Steve was less bullish on the idea that A, people want Bill Belichick in the modern times in football if he was a free agent, if you will. B, whether he is that gung ho about getting that record, I think Bill would die for that record. I get that feeling that he is going to find a way to get that record. It's going to be one of the most important group of months in his life after this season is over and the end of the New England Patriots era, because I think this is his chance to cement his legacy. He has a big decision to make. I still think he'll have options, but we'll see.

There it is by the way. Someone's going to want him. I'm with you. That record, if he achieves it, look what had to happen for Bill Belichick to get there. How many eons it took. It may never be achieved again with the way that coaches are hired and fired so quickly now. So nab it and maybe no one else on earth can ever achieve it again. So I'm with you.

All right, let's take a break. When we get back, a very special guest will hit one very odd news item, and then we will have a conversation with our very special guest. Stay right there. Oh, Mark, we don't usually use this on Thursday night. Must be special. Welcome back. Our next guest needs no introduction. She's on the Mount Rushmore of around the NFL producers, now doing the damn thing with the rams and the Mbiam, quite frankly. Some call her Erica Tamposie. We know her as Ricky Hollywood.

Hey.

That's our girl. That's our girl.

That is music literally and figuratively to my ears.

Ricky.

Hi.

This is so nice.

This is so good to see you guys, to hear you guys. We got a cat call from Mark. We got a bonnet. We've got Slope Side from Snow Vermont. I mean, this is great. This is exactly what I needed.

Ricky, did I describe Bella Chick's hat correctly? I don't know what the.

Name of that thing. Yeah, I would just call it a beanie with a palm on it.

Yeah, Big Funk, chimed in in the comments, palm beanie, which I've never heard of.

Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily call it that either. Calling Randy Big Funk, that's new to me.

Now, it must be nerve-wrecking, I would think, for Frank to have one of the legendary producers in the history of our show on right now. People who know Erica her history with ATN know Erica is a Patriots fan, born and raised in New England. I was thinking, and we ended up getting a W for The Patriots tonight, which was not expected. But the way the conversation I wanted to get into with you to start was, what is it like as a millennial Patriots fan? What is your earliest Patriot memory? Let's start there just to let people have a little context. There's obviously millions like you.

Yeah. No, it really is 2001, 2000. It was the millennium. No, I had an amazing 20 years with braided.

Did you say the millennium or the willenium?

The Millennium, right?

I thought it was the Wilenium.

What's that?

See, you're so young you don't get the Will Smith joke. It was an album you put out around the time. It's all good.

Wait, what was on that one? Was that like Welcome to Miami?

No, I think that was on Big Willy style. Got you. I think this one might have had Wild Wild West on it.

Okay, well, I'm familiar with that one.

I mean, she's so young, but, Dan, you're so old.

I was going to say I qualify as what they callgeriatric millennial is a 1980 baby. Mark is your straight-up baby boomer. We're covering a lot.

Of-is Mark Boomer? I think he's Gen X.

Absolutely not. My parents are boomers.

I think you're Gen X.

I'm on the edge of that, too. Well, no, I'm not trying to be in.

The category. I think you're a geriatric expert. I think they call you guys.

That's what you say.

Ricky, anyway, what's it like? Somebody whose formative memories start with Tom Brady's first beautiful run there in 2001. For them to be in this situation where they are right now, arguably the worst team in the League or certainly perhaps in the AFC, has it been really strange? I know you're busy with the Rams, obviously, so how closely are you following? I'm curious about that, too. But what's it been like the last couple of years, but especially this year?

This year has been horrible. I woke up the weekend of the by week for The Patriots, and I was like, Oh, we probably lost this week, too. I watch every game that I can. Most of them. I watch pretty much everyone, unfortunately. It's tough. It's also hard to have a public rooting interest now for my job, too, which has been weird. Tell me about it. Yeah, it's been weird to maneuver that aspect of things. But yeah, no, I'm still watching and hurting. One of my best friends from home texted me right when the game ended, We suck so much, we even suck at sucking when we need to suck. That's what's going on in Pat's nation here.

I have a.

Question for you. That sounds amazing. Are you ready to move on from Bill Belichick, Erica?

I feel for him. I think there's a lot of people, especially when braided went and won the Super Bowl, that it's like, It was braided all along. But all of the other weapons, like you said, talk about an Alpha male like Bailey Zppy looks like he should be in a third grade classroom. He's so little. I and Mac Jones isn't it, but also just the issues that the team has been shooting themselves in the foot with on special teams even and all of the penalties. It's such a disaster in every phase of this game right now that I'm like, I almost feel bad for Bellatracca. I would love for him to, in a weird way, get another shot.

Somewhere else. You know what? Well, somewhere else, obviously, that would be one way to do it. I mean, listen, Vince Lombardi ended somewhere else, I believe, with the Redskins. Very rarely do you just end where your glory goes down. Part of me wants to say I'm surprised when I hear, and I know a lot of Patriots fans as well. I went to school up in Boston and everybody wants to build out and everybody wants to flush the whole thing. I'm thinking to myself, Oh, how could you be so cold blooded? All the glory that I gave you. But I'm also a Yankees fan, and I remember them coming for Joe Tori the same way back in the day to get him out of town once the championship started to dry up a little bit. That winning breeds this need for more winning, and then when the losing starts, it's a really nasty thing. It's a tough and nobody really feels going to feel bad for Patriots, other fans. But it really is a tough come down to be high that long and then suddenly be this low.

Be at the floor.

Yeah. Yeah, you're taking it very well, Eric, and it does not surprise me that's just the woman that you are.

I feel for players more than I ever have, especially the past two seasons, being so involved with the Rams and seeing these guys every day and what they actually put themselves through win or lose every week. You hear those cliches like, We just got to keep stacking building blocks. But they do. They go back out and they keep showing up and they keep... They're just killing themselves to play and also put stuff on tape for them, for their careers and everything. To hear these Steeler's fans booing the team that first half, I'm sitting on my couch like, Oh, my God, but they're trying so hard.

You're too.

Close now. Yeah, but they're working so hard. I was also like, screw the pets. Come on. You could get a franchise QB with that second overall pick, and then they're going to blow that, too.

Oh, boy. Lunk said he has something for Bellcheck from the postgame. Check it out. Check it out on YouTube, everybody. That, who did he just do that? He just celebrated a cool guy.

He dapped him up, but he looked really sad, too.

It's a good night. It's a good night for Bill in a bad year. Mark, the floor is yours.

Well, Ricky, I would ask you a question. With your RAMS employment, you have told me some stories where you've been in the coffee room and there's a bunch of RAMS players coming. Who is your favorite player to hang out with? Who's the guy that we would be surprised maybe just the coolest dude of them all?

And conversely, who sucks?

Go ahead. Yeah, we need both ends. Okay, so sucks, I have a top 10. No, no. No one really sucks. There are some that are way more down the clown than the others. I know there's been so much talk about this Ram's Rucky class, but they are so fun. They haven't been beaten down by the world and agents haven't got their claws in them yet and stuff, too. All the hype about Kobe Turner, the conductor, is the sweetest guy on planet Earth. It's so funny, wants to do everything, is singing around the corners and just through the halls. Pouca is the sweetest guy to ever step on planet Earth. It's so fun to see their innocence because they're just so excited to be here and they're not beat and down yet. This rookie class has been so much fun.

How much.

Like- Is McVeigh cool to you? How about that?

Yeah, he's great. We dapped like me and him and Belichick, in that video we walked by. He's like, Who.

Is she? How often do you have contact with him? Are you guys in a commissary together? How does this work?

Yeah, well, our corporate office for the Rams, we're moving to Woodland Hills. I'm at the end of this season, which will be the whole new complex that they're building. But right now, the corporate office is separate from the facility. So my studio is at the facility. So some days, when I'm at the practice facility, that's when I'll see the players. Or Steve Avila, the center, not the center, the left guard that we drafted, came into the corporate office just to bring us donuts last week because he was just like, Oh, well, where are they? They're just so nice. They're so nice. I can't say enough.

I have a question for you, Erica.

Yes.

You know us. Very well. You know like nobody else. Nobody else in that building. Funk's starting to try to edge his way into the inner circle. He's doing a great job with it. But Erica was in deep. She was embedded. I want to ask you a question.

Okay.

That felt like a vaguely confrontational with Randy. Randy, I love you.

Wait, where is this going?

I don't know. Erica, what.

If- Yeah, I'm so happy Greg's not here, of course. Why wouldn't? I'm like, Why would you even have to ask that? This is my ideal show.

Greg included. What would the ATM guys be doing if they weren't NFL media employees/podcasters?

Yeah. I was thinking about this earlier today, and it's so funny because any odd, random job that I would come up with, like Mark has already done. The text message of him with a private investigator, with the crazy stories that you have, I was like, It needs to be something eclectic, but also something... I see Mark as a park ranger who, nine to five when he's done, gets to just experience the wilderness in whichever way he chooses to do so. You know what I mean? He's very much one of those park rangers. It's like, Hey, kids, you're drinking around a fire. Put it out. If you give me a beer, I'll let you keep it up. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I see. Underage drinking?

Yeah. He would just be like, Okay, cool. Give me that doobie, kid. That's what your.

Age says, right? Yeah, hand over the doobie.

Yeah, hand over the doobie. Yeah, I wouldn't do it. That's a boomer. I certainly wouldn't stop you.

That's what the boomer said.

I wouldn't stop the campfire drinkfest. I'd probably find a way to keep other rangers or various authority fingers away from it.

Yeah, and we get weird, ominous text from Mark. I was on a horseback searching Yellowstone, where a young maiden was locked under a boulder, and I helped her. I just feel like that would happen.

You know what? That's my answer. You know me.

You would be like the Park Ranger version of Amy Polar's character and Mean Girls. It's like, Hey, I'm the cool mom. You can drink around me. Just don't go driving anywhere.

Yeah, right. Yeah, Dan, I, for some reason, couldn't get you out of my head as if you went the alternate route and was a stock broker in New York City, but not the one where as bad as you are at math, the personality higher, where it's like, Oh, Dan, he can't add for shit, but he closes every deal because you're the closer. You would come and Dan's loosening his tie on Wall Street after the long day, and they're like, Hey, I don't know how he does it, but you bring Danny in there and he closes the deal.

He's mentally challenged, but he is charismatic as hell.

Yeah, he can talk to anyone. We bring him in, we get their guard down low, and then he strikes. I don't know. I see that.

I could say for you, Ricky, I think I could see you as being one of those women that becomes a full-time reality star. You end up as like, you look 15 years later, you see a woman on some show and then 15 years later, she's on some other show and you're like, Oh, wow. Then you check her Wikipedia and she's never stopped being on different reality shows. She's fairly well-known in the medium. I see you as like a high-level difference-maker. Professional reality. Whenever a reality program needs somebody that the straw that stirs the drink, they dial up Ricky.

Yeah. I don't know if I take that as a compliment or a insult, but I think, no, I think that's great. Do I have all the work done and everything, too?

Yeah, ton of work. Lots of Botox. Yeah, just a mess, almost unrecognizable. I mean, in my defense, your description of my other life, I'm like wearing a helmet full-time. I mean.

So is Mark. Greg, I think, would literally be coaching tennis at a random podunk town.

Podunk? What's the word? Yeah, podunk.

Interesting. Yeah, podunk. I could see that. With Ricky, one thing I had the chance to go on one of these two-day cruises not too long ago. But what happens is the cruise-.

In the middle.

Of football season?

Well, no, it was like- Erica, Mark is going on cruises all the time now. Greg and I are always like, He loves cruises so much. He goes on cruises at odd times where the weather is bad, where he's going. What? He takes rickety old boats into storms. He enjoys it because he keeps doing it.

Well, hold on. Some of that is not accurate. I've been on two short ones. They are.

Three-day deals. You've been on two cruises?

Yes, I.

Went with some friends. In the last how much increment of time here?

If you live in LA, they're very affordable, actually. You can find these deals where they're super, insanely affordable. But let me tell you something. On these ships, okay? They have the cruise director who you think they're just there as to shake hands, but they're like singers and dancers and they get up and do these shows in front of everyone. I was always like, I could see Erica being like this. We're like, You're just on this cruise non-stop. No, I think you'd be great at it. I do. I could see it incorporating many aspects of your versatile talent.

It's like, Eric, you didn't make it in show business. Here's life on an old boat.

Literally, yeah. Everyone that can't make it as a comedian or a singer, they're like, Yeah, but I got booked on Princess Cruises for the six-month contract.

I see where you're coming from, but I found them to be the one that I encountered seemed to be a talented person.

In fairness, yes, a lot of people, that's where they get their start.

Yeah. If you're a listener right now and you work on a cruise ship, I think that's a great life, and I would love that.

Wow, way to clean that one up.

Yeah, I would. Cover yourself.

I would. But I just don't understand how Mark's going on multiple cruises. I just saw you out and we met up at a Star Wars bar, Mark and I recently. There was no talk of these cruise jaunts that you were going on. It's like a secret underground.

Well, there was so much else to talk about.

A cruise underground circuit going on here.

Yeah, you guys are sitting in the Spock booth. I mean, there's no time to talk about cruises.

It's a strange place that we met. There's no doubt about that.

Four seats in the Spock booth, please.

That's not how it actually, I would say it was a much more... It was not nerdy.

I wouldn't say it was nerdy. What do you mean? It was the nerdiest place I've ever been in my entire life. It's in Space Fighters to 12.

By the way, I got a text from Erica being like, Have you heard of this bar called Scum and Billony? That's what it's called. She's like, Yeah, I've heard of it. It's up the street. She's like, Come meet me there. I didn't lure you in from the wilderness to this place.

Yeah, it was...

Hey, Ricky, we got to get going soon. But how about, like old times we hit a news item before we- Yeah, something light. -and we said we should do a little Muso and Frank get-together. How about that one? Yes. Absolutely. Cestog floated that, and I was saying, Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I.

Love that.

I like some of that. I like some of that. News item, and this one is a dozy.

This is a jarring right turn for us at this point, by the way.

Yeah, that's fair to say. This broke about, I want to say, right as we were wrapping up our Thursday preview, which you could check out right now, here is the headline at a BSPN. Bill's Coach Sean McDermott-Colen, apologized for 9/11 remarks in 2019. Here's the backstory here. This is a big scoop on the... Tyler Dunn has his own blog or website called GoLong. If you want to support Tyler or learn more about this one and do both, check out GoLong. But McDermott, back in 2019, told players in a speech to come together and use the terrorists on 9/11. For those that are not aware, multiple jet liners hijacked, and it was a group of Al Qaeda members highly coordinated, pulling off one of the worst days in the history of this country. Anyway, I used the terrorists on 9/11 as an example, asking players in the room questions about how the attacks were executed and referencing the hijackers getting on the same page. Multiple players who were with the team at the time confirmed the story to ESBN while others who were there told ESBN they did not recall it. Here's Sean McDermott. When this story resurfaced, thanks to GoLong, which I'm sure McDermott is thrilled about Tyler's project here, GoLong.

He had a unscheduled news conference on Thursday. It lasted about six minutes. Here's a little bit of his explanation about what went down in that meeting. Brought everybody together and said this was.

The goal, this is the intent.

I apologize if anyone, whatsoever.

Felt a certain type of way coming out.

Of that.

Meeting, that if anyone misinterpreted or didn't understand.

My message, I apologize. I didn't do a good enough job of.

Communicating.

Clearly the.

Intent of my message.

That was about the importance of.

Communication and.

That.

Everyone needs to be on the same page, ironically enough.

That.

Was.

Important to me then, and it still.

Is now.

Okay, Erica. By the way, that apology occurred that same day or in 2019 because he knew it didn't the way he wanted to land. That is a crazy explanation, even today, because he's still not apologizing or saying that was a dumb idea to ever in any way lionize what those psychos did. What he said basically is like, they didn't quite understand what I was trying to get across. This is a bizarre story featuring a Bill's head coach who's got his hands filled already with a six and a six team.

Yeah, it's also right now on the clock, which is really odd. That's true. As we're recording that. That felt weird for a second. Wanted to call that out. Let's just sign off. Yeah, good night. Just hearing that, too, the like, Hey, sorry if anyone misinterpreted what I meant there. I was covering my mouth watching that presser and some of those clips from that today. I don't really know. I mean, you have to address it. You have to apologize. But I don't really know how you can justify that or walk that back whatsoever.

Yeah, I mean, absolutely on that front. I think he's stuck in a place where there's no real explanation that anyone's going to sit well with. What Tyler Dunn has created in general, because there's a lot more to come with this report, and I think having met him, and I think he's been on our show once, he's an incredible reporter. What he unearthed about the Sean McDermott experience in Buffalo is news. It's incredible because I think that you've looked at this coach I have all along as they're a steady team. They've been in a Super Bowl window. If anything, he's been a positive the entire time. There have been not a lot of Sean McDermott anecdotes that would shake you on it at all. If anything, he's been out of the way. But what he started to create with this report is he is the problem. He spoke to, I think it was, 25 different sources who went to town on what's happening with the bills. And it changes everything you think about what's happened and everything that's happening right now and what could happen if this season continues on its wayward trajectory. So this just is part and parcel of what else you reported.

There is a paywall here, but I would say it is so worth reading. It's a pretty incredible, explosive, NFL report. You don't get a lot of things like this these days.

I guess, and obviously he made a mistake and he thought it was ancient history. He came back and we all make mistakes. I'm not going to bury Mark Dermit here. I will add, just as someone who grew up in the New York area, I grew up about 45 minutes outside New York City. There's a lot of joking talk a lot in the NFL about, well, there's only one New York team and the jets and giants play in New Jersey, but the Bills are the New York team. Let me tell you something. If Sean McDermott said this stuff and he was the coach of the giants or the jets, he'd be out on his ass tomorrow. I think he would be done. That would be how big a story that would be. If he wouldn't be done, it would have been a massive story. The fact that he's up in Western New York, it's a little bit different up there. I hope he just moves forward because it's an unfortunate situation and a bad idea that now is being amplified. A pretty wild story to just stumble upon.

Just with everything this morning. Yeah, like all the news that was dropping out and just the different college games in bulk. Then it's like, Oh, also this 9/11 headline. I was like, What is happening?

Ricky.

Yeah.

That's what's happening in the news.

Awesome. Thank you.

Ricky, let's get some plugs out there. Where can they see Erica?

Yeah, anything RAMs related on social. Then I host Ricky's Ram Jam, which is a once-a-week show. I think also some of my Game Day stuff airs on KABC Weekly as well, too. If you're in the RAMs LA area, if not, YouTube and social, check that out. It's some fun stuff.

Very nice. Mark, what do you got?

I am not featured on any Ram centric content at this point, but I support the Rams. I appear on this show the same days that you appear on it for the most part. That's so nice.

Yeah. Very nice. All right, Ricky, this was a great little treat for us. We're on it. We wanted and we told the listeners, I don't know if you're aware of this, Ricky, but we said we know Thursday Night Football is not going to be a good one, but we're going to cook up something special to make sure you tune in. You're that special thing.

That's so nice. I miss you guys. Miss the fan base. I miss working with you guys so closely. I have checked in to listen to your guys' rams recaps after the last three wins. I have been peaking in here and there.

How about that, J. B. Long is feeling himself. Oh, yeah. I think he said too that, You know what? I see Long at the barbershop, Jags in Westchester here in L. A. All the time. Well, not all the time. That'd be weird.

Yeah, like how often you cut your hair.

How would you ever seen the same person at a barbershop more than once by chance?

Multiple times. Multiple times I've seen a good.

Old JB- You guys are synced up.

We're on the same cycle. He said to the crib in his call, which I was like, That's how you connect with the Millennials. I like that.

Yeah, I feel everyone's like, Oh, yeah, the Ravens this coming weekend. Everyone's, Oh, they're going to get troused and whatever. I don't know. I got a sneaky feeling. I don't know.

Do you? Well, give.

Us a prediction. We'll see. I think that it's one of those teams where the Ravens are looking as just like a, we can put the W column here. I think sometimes those are the biggest games, any given Sunday. Drop game. Yeah, so I feel like, I don't know, anything could happen. I would love to see a win this weekend.

It would be amazing. I'd get off the fence and make a pick.

Okay, the Rams are going to win this Sunday. There you go. Any given Sunday. Where was Lamar today? He just disappeared from practice. What's going on?

Maybe he was heading over to do Ricky's Ram Jam. You never know.

Yeah, he's on. I got to go. We're going to record that. I've asked both of you to come on and you're both too busy because you do what, 30 shows a week now or something?

No, you got me. You called me when I was on the East Coast, but I told you any other time, I'm in.

I also want to appear. I do have a schedule that is complex, but I vow to.

Appear soon. Yeah, are you going to be on a cruise?

Erica, we couldn't even get Cessnaug at the ATM photoshoot organized by NFL Media yesterday. We couldn't even book him for that for Wednesday morning. It was just Greg and I posing in a room without the third guy. I don't know. Some facac the story about a dentist visit, and we're.

Just like, Oh, no. It was absolutely died in the wool, accurate and factual, and you cannot leave it down with this crowd.

Yeah. No, I get it, Marcus. It's tough. It is tough. I think that's why Park Ranger could be like a third, half third, the third-third of your life.

Because you're out of something.

You're on the third-.

You separated yourself, Martha. Just a solitary life in the woods might be the best thing.

At this point. She's basically just put me into the final third of my existence.

Not basically, I did say you're in the third third.

All right, everybody, enjoy your weekend. Remember, we are at the Dream at the plus. The Dreamatorium was open for business big time today. The triple header on Thursday is complete. See you on Sunday night. Until then, be at the call. Bye, Rick. Bye.