September 7, 2022 • 40 mins
Football season is upon us! NFL Network’s Colleen Wolfe and Dan Hanzus joins to recap a fun season of ‘Hard Knocks’ before predicting which teams will make it out of each division, through the playoffs, and all the way to the Super Bowl.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Before we begin, a reminder to please rate and review
our show. It helps new listeners discover us and grow
the program. On this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, we
review Hard Knocks and preview the NFL season with Dan
Hansis from the Around the NFL podcast and Colleen Wolf
(00:20):
from NFL Network and also our living room. I'm your host,
John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. This
is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Dan and Colleen, Welcome back to
Sports Illustrated Weekly. It's so great to be here. Thanks
(00:42):
for letting me borrow your headphones. John. I love having
repew offenders on the program. So great to see you guys.
We're gonna talk about the upcoming season. We're also going
to talk about the other show that you two have, Cooking,
but first I want to discuss the show that you
two are wrapping up, Hard Knocks with the Detroit Lions.
You've reviewed every episode. It's always a great show. Although
I think it's really amazing that they've managed to do
(01:03):
something that Hard Knocks had never previously done, at least
from my experience, which was find a team that did
not convince me that they're going to win the super
Bowl that includes Bill O'Brien's Houston Texans, which Colleen will remember.
I was like, I think this is their year. Turns
out it wasn't. What if you guys made of the
lines on Hard Knocks so far, it's true. I think
it's a good call. Sorry, Colleen, go ahead, No, it's
(01:25):
all right. We're still finding our rhythm, you know what
I mean. Listen, we all of us are are doing
the dance right now, and you can't. You can't can
this chemistry. It's just like it comes natural for us.
Oh God help us now. Anyway, Hard Knocks, it's amazing.
We've had so many ridiculous recap episodes. I feel like,
(01:46):
just talking about like the word art that is in
the auditorium behind the players, or in Dan Campbell's office,
or just like the many different catchphrases and weird quotes
that Hamble has. He could really have the show and
carry it for an entire NFL season. So it's been
(02:06):
it's been fun. They're not gonna win the Super Bowl,
but I still feel like they're gonna be a little
bit better than they were last year. You know what,
John I I I agree with you too, And I've
I've written about Hard Knocks for over a decade for
NFL dot Com, and I always almost always came out
of it the same way as you did. Maybe that's
maybe there are some minor tweaks to the storytelling for
NFL Films for this season, and I think it has
(02:28):
been a really kind of in a way of return
to form for the show. You kind of see some
of the warts there as well, and you see, especially
on defense, they have a long way to go. The
fact that one of their underdog stories this year, Malcolm Rodriguez,
who they called Rodrigo, is probably starting at linebacker. Not
only is he making the team as the sixth round
picky starting kind of tells you and gives you an
(02:48):
idea that the line still have a long way to
go to really build this thing up to contention. And
I feel like to another big thing John, I think
that you would love is the fact that the coaching staff,
and specifically Do Staley, is such a huge character on
the show. And I feel like this year, specifically, the
coaching staff takes a character in and of itself, almost
(03:10):
like it it plays such a huge role in the show.
The way that the coaches interact and the way that
they are former players, but they want to be known
as coaches that played instead of former players that are coaching,
and kind of like that is a huge driving force.
I feel like behind the season in Detroit. Yeah, I've
enjoyed Hard Knocks. I always enjoy Hard Knocks. It's a
(03:30):
credit HBO. It's consistently fantastic. I think your point, though,
for the two of you just made like when the
coaches are the stars of the show a little bit
of a red flag for me. Maybeally, I'm like a
little nervous about this. Um, what about Jared Goff, Like,
do you guys have any faith in him at all? Well,
we're gonna do the preview of the actual season coming,
I'll let you take this. That's a loaded question because
(03:50):
if you're talking about him as a sports documentary entity,
I would say the floor is very low here, John,
and there's not We're pretty after the fourth season of
him being covered by NFL Films for a major documentary series,
we kind of know what we're getting at this point.
But I think that kind of also speaks to what
you're saying that the coaching staff that is a secret
(04:11):
weapon in these Hard Knocks seasons. So it's less of
a red flags we more of a bonus because if
you have a charismatic head coach, great that that you
can hang a season on that. But the shows that
stand out to me are the ones where the offensive
coordinator there's some juice there, the d C when there's
heat between those two guys, that famous Brown season a
couple of years ago, where the coaching staff is just
(04:33):
warring at each other in a private meeting. That stuff
is really good. So they are a disadvantage because they
made a purposeful decision to kind of not push the
QB one, which you would think would be a centerpiece
of the players studies for any any football show. But
it's the right move because we know Jared Goff. Let's
learn about somebody else. Yeah, I'm after the Rams appearance
(04:54):
with Jared Goff where he didn't know where the sun sets,
I was like, I'm probably good on Jared Goff. That's
a Hard Knocks related question for you guys. Where did
this season fall in the overarching pantheon of hard knocks seasons?
The middle of the pack? How do you well? I
think Dan has a better barometer for this because he's
(05:14):
been doing the Hard Knocks recaps for years and years,
so he's really been combing through all of these episodes
every single year. I feel like I kind of came
in this year, and because of the podcast, I'm watching
it in a much different way. I'm just consuming it
in a different manner because years past, it was just
like a way easier thing and I wasn't diving into
(05:35):
all the different like minutia in every episode. But I
think that this episode is really interesting because of all
of the characters that you didn't think we're going to
be characters on the show. Like, I mean, we knew
that Jared Golf wasn't going to be like an A
type guy on the show, but other people have kind
of stepped up and colored that in. So for me,
(05:56):
I think that this this season is pretty good, like
Top Wild, Top five. So wait, su Ser, let's get
some chocolate in the peanut butter. Give me some Hard
Knocks power ranking here for this. Yeah, you want some
Hard Knocks power rankings. You know I'm a Hoomer. You
know I'm a native New Yorker. And there's only two
things that Jets fans have. We have Joe Namath, which
(06:17):
many of us weren't around for and we have the
two thousand ten season of Hard Knocks with Rex Ryan.
Those like the two things we have. And even though
it comes off as Homer, that was a special season
of that show. And you talk to anybody behind the scenes,
uh with HBO and NFL films, anybody that loves the show.
The Jets season with Rex kind of stands to me
above everything. I love that aforementioned brown season because they
(06:40):
were coming off oh and sixteen Baker was entering the
scene and he had his own charisma, his own like
party RV if you recall. And then all the drama
around Hugh Jackson, who was kind of a charming presence
in the Bengals Hard Knocks season when he was the
o C. But here he was under siege at head coach,
with a bunch of snakes underneath him looking to take
him down. So you had all this great intrigue around
(07:02):
the Browns. So I put that kind of in the
number two spot. Um, you could argue lines maybe number
three in the power And I think this has really
been a fun story because I think the city and
the football town always plays a big role, and everyone
kind of likes Detroit They like the idea of the
lines finally finding their way, and Campbell is this guy
(07:25):
that's saying, we got grit, We're prideful of where we're from,
but we're willing and we're ready to change the script.
And you kind of feel that energy. I think it's
been a really warm season. I feel like you could
tell the closeness of the players and um, you know,
I need to see them stick the landing in episode five,
but I think I could slot him in at number
three here potentially, wow, much higher than I thought. As
(07:45):
people listen to this episode of our show, the final
episode of your Hard Knocks show will be out, so
we encourage everybody to go back and listen to that.
That chemistry that you saw or listen to between these
two earlier in the program will be Hold Hold the Supply. Uh.
And also they've got a new show coming out. We
encourage you to listen to that and also watch it.
It's the Power Ranking Show. UH. That will be a podcast.
(08:08):
And also Dan it will be streaming. Correct, it is
streaming as well, and it's it's a podcast Colleen's hosting.
It's like the first parts I've ever done where I'm
not the host and uh so, John, it's like she's
in the driver's seat. It's like you guys in your house.
It's it's gonna be interesting for me to see how
she guides things. Now. I know it well. I know
it well, and I wish you well. Uh So, I
(08:28):
encourage everybody to listen to that. But I thought for
you too, because you're gonna do the power rankings. I'm
not gonna have you power rank here on this show.
I don't want to give away the game just yet.
But we're gonna go through the divisions and find out
what you like, what you don't like, and maybe pick
some division winner. So we're gonna start in the FC East.
As Dan mentioned, he's a Homer. He's got his New
York Jets there, that Dolphins, the Patriots, and the Bills.
Uh what are we like from these? It's the Bills
(08:49):
probably what Yeah, I feel like if this is like
the easiest division right down to pick out of all
of them. Yeah, this one is Bills all the way,
if anything that you know, the Bills of the team
with the high sealing, the Bills of the team that
came off that heartbreaking playoff loss and have reloaded now
with von Miller. I think this is the division I
would actually feel the most confident saying that is the
(09:10):
team that wins the division and probably gets a buy
in the a f C. Colleen, are you buying any
Dolphins scrappiness? No, I mean I think that they're gonna
be way more interesting than they've been in the past.
And I like Mike McDaniel and his like mad scientists
way and he's really good just in terms of like
a run game, So I think that that could be
(09:31):
interesting because I'm not like totally sold onto his arm
like most people right now. But the Bills are Super
Bowl favorite, so of course they're going to be favorites
to win the division. Dan is a self respecting Philadelphia
and I would never normally do this, but here's your
opportunity to talk about a New York team. It's not
the Giant, so we'll allow it. It's the Jets. How
do you feel about the Jets this season? I think,
(09:53):
you know, I just the new Power rankings, that's that's
out has the Jets. I believe that about twenty six,
So that's where I have him right now. But here's
the thing, like they really are building something there that
you couldn't say the last couple of years. They have
skill players, an interesting young talent on both sides of
the ball. What they need, and this is gonna feel simplistic,
(10:15):
but it's basic, Like if they just get proficient quarterback play,
they don't even need star quarterback. But they don't need
Zach Wilson to be a stud or Joe Flacco if
he ends up getting more starts than Wilson. You need
somebody that could be a professional and run that offense.
And I think they could hang around hypothetically or potentially
in the a f C playoff race, not in the
a f C East, but in the a f C
(10:36):
wild card race where there's three wild cards. It's just
a matter of getting that play. They have a really
good running game and approved offensive line, some real interesting
talent and wide receiver, and the defense has interesting players
in the back end with Sauce Gardner there uh and
the front seven, especially a defensive line is stacked. So
it's just like, give us decent quarterback, like give us
(10:57):
Ryan Fitzpatrick in two thousand fifteen, and I think this
team could win like eight or nine games. You are
the hard knocks of Jets. Fans because you just sold
me on the Jets all of a sudden. I'm like,
and you know what, you do this to me in
the same way that hard knocks does it to me
because you get optimistic about them. You were super high
on Zack Wilson coming out, and then you know last
year happened, but you you sold me again. Maybe this
(11:18):
is it for the Jets. Fingers crossed body fingers. Let's
go to the a f C North. You've got the
defending a f C champion Cincinnati Bengals. Shouts to West
Baltimore Ravens, the rebuilding Pittsburgh Steelers, and the revamped Cleveland Browns,
who have not covered themselves in glory off the field.
We know when we don't like, what do we like?
I actually really like the Ravens. Here. We always see
(11:38):
teams go worst to first every year, and I think
the Ravens have the best shot to be that exact
thing this year. They had so many injuries last season.
They lost all of their running backs before the year
even started. They had like no cornerbacks whatsoever. It was like,
really really bleak for a while. So just getting those
guys healthy, they're automatically better and then when you have
(11:59):
the Brown send the Steelers with their quarterback issues, Like,
it's really to me just the Ravens and the Bengals,
and I think the Ravens might edge out the Bengals
this year for the division. M I certainly could see
that they're my top two teams. That seemed like a
very doubtful skeptical from you hands us. No. I certainly
could see because I have the Bengals at number five
(12:19):
as we start the season in the powering is I
have the Ravens at ten, and they both have the
potential to win eleven twelve games. Health is so important
for both. You know, can Burrow stay healthy at offensive line?
They put money and resources into it this year, but
I'm still not so sure it's good. And with Baltimore,
if there's regression, then they're gonna stay healthy, and then
(12:40):
Lamar is gonna be an m v P again. The
Steelers are the kind of interesting team for me in
the division in terms of let's see what happens here,
because we'll see what when Kenny Pickett enters the free quarterback.
I assume it will happen unless you're a Mitched Robinsky truther.
But the offensive line for them is woeful. I don't
think that got much at or at all. And and
(13:01):
you just you just wonder if pick he gets put
into a bad situation, if they can't protect him. But
if they work things out on that old line, and
and Mike Tomlin is such a great coach, they're always
in the mix. I would not be surprised if they're
also in the running for the division come December. Man,
that Bengals season last year was so magical and we
had the two of you on to mark the one
year anniversary of Chris Westling's passing, and like it just
(13:23):
felt right. It would be awesome if they could recapture
that magic. Anytime that the Bengals are doing well, it
makes me think of west So that's the fingers crossed
from me on that one. A f C South, We've
got the Texans, the Colts, the Jaguars, no more Urban
Meyer r I P. He's gone off to Broadcaster heaven
well maybe not having uh Tennessee Titans as well. What
(13:44):
you know, Urban not the greatest guy. What do we
think about what do we think about the South? Here?
This seems like a like a really boring, awful division. Sorry,
I'm just thinking about urban Meyer at the Gates of St. Peter,
just like trying to explain that you know it was
it was Cincinnati. It's a good nightline. She was friendly,
it was a Thursday, like exactly. I love the Colts.
(14:12):
I think obviously, whenever I stopped at these cities and
these teams for training camp, I end up drinking all
of the kool aid. But the Colts I drank the
most kool Aid. And I love them. I love Matt
Ryan with this offense, with he hasn't had a running
game like this and so long, and obviously the running
game is what makes this whole team go. But their
(14:33):
defense is also really underrated, and I think they have
actually some pretty good pass catchers that just aren't really
like top of the radar. And when you put a
guy like Matt Ryan in there and you pair him
up with Frank Reich, I mean, the Carson Wentz experiment
went so wrong last year, and I think that they
have all of the pieces. They just needed someone at
(14:56):
quarterback to not turn the ball over, to not make
at breaking mistakes at the absolute worst times. And I
think that Matt Ryan can be that guy. Dan can
I tell you that between the combine and inside training camp,
Colleen spends an inordinate amount of time in Indianapolis, and
every time she comes back, she's like, you know what
I love and I'm like, no, get out of people
(15:18):
who live in Indianapolis don't love Indianapolis that much. That
is yeah, that's you know, the cults. I picked them
to win the Division two and and the Tennessee Titans
lost Harold Landry, their best defensive player in their front seven,
to an a c L tear and practice recently. And
that's just crushing because I think they're right on the
margin where they could drop down and be a five
hundred team. You take out a playmaker like remember he
(15:40):
had three of the nine sacks of Joe Burrow in
that playoff loss in January. Now he's just gone and
there's no time to identify a replacement from outside the building.
So I think the Titans are gonna be an uphill climb.
I think the Texans, despite my buddies on around the NFL,
Greg and Mark gassing them up, I think the Texans
still have a long way to go. The Jaguars are interesting,
(16:01):
real they are. They are out of urban Meyer that
was definitely Urban Meyer. Hell, they're out of that, and
they put a lot of money and resources into the team.
They got a professional head coach. I think you guys
know who the coach is, Doug Peterson, who had some
success that you guys might know about. And Trevor Lawrence.
It's not like he's no longer a generational prospect. He
(16:22):
was just put in the worst situation a rookie could
be in. I would he takes a big leap. I
want to ask you both about Trevor Lawrence because he
was so hyped up coming out and I realized that
he had to overcome the urban Meyer hurdles, many of them.
But how much of it was Urban Meyer and that
whole situation being toxic and like just terrible coaching, and
(16:42):
how much of it was he didn't play well well?
I mean, they also weren't built for him to succeed,
so he didn't have what he needed even if he
had a normal coaching staff. And the way that the
urban Meyer thing unfolded, I mean it sounded like borderline abusive.
I mean he's kicking kicker, like physically, physically, mentally, all
(17:04):
of it. I can't imagine being a rookie coming into
the NFL with such a high draft picks status on
your shoulders and then being thrown into that scenario. Like,
I think he's going to be way better than what
we saw that first year, because that first year was bonkers.
Like he caught St. Peter on the good day and St.
Peter's about to walk through the let him walk through
the gates, and then St. Peter looks at his notes
(17:26):
one last time, it's like, oh, wait, you kicked the guy.
Can I tell you that you both know him? But
sys connor Or was on the program to discuss urban
Meyer's departure, and I don't think he's ever been more
excited about anything than to discuss urban Meyer kicking the kicker.
So I guess we're not on Jacksonville, but I hope
Doug Peterson does. Well. Uh, we'll move to the a
(17:48):
f C. What did you end up picking handsas we
know where Colleen is. I had the Cults, but I
had the Jackson maybe flirting with a playoff spot. If
things break the right way, that'd be cool. That'd be
cool for Peterson, all right? Last one in the f
C West loaded Bronch Those chiefs Las Vegas Raiders and
the Chargers. Great division. Which way do we go here?
And my powering is I got Chiefs seven, Broncos eight,
(18:08):
Chargers nine, and Raiders eleven. So so I like I
like the division. I think I don't think it's hype.
I think they're all very good teams. Now we know
how sports work, there's probably gonna be one team season
gets ruined by injuries or the ball doesn't bounce the
right way in crucial spots and then up seven and ten. Yeah,
that's certainly possible. But just from what their potential is,
(18:30):
the talent on these rosters, they're all very good. And
I have the Chiefs mostly because of my homes, but
I understand with no Tyreek kill there, they have to
change some things. But maybe that's not the worst thing.
Gonzo like the idea that if we all we all
watch that a C Championship game in the second half
against the Bengals where the the offense just went to
sleep in a unbelievable way, that maybe it was time
(18:53):
to mix some things up, change some things up. And
even if you don't get better by sending a Hall
of Famer out your door and hill, that makes you
think differently how to attack teams and they get a
refresh that way, Colleen, Uh, you run into I feel
like Siarra and Russell Wilson regularly. How do you feel
about the Broncos and Russell Wilson. It has happened. Um,
(19:14):
actually it has happened regularly because it happened to training.
It happened at the Super Bowl. Sierra gave me a hug.
I was like, well, friends, this is what this is.
Did you give you a hug and say hi? Colleen like, hey, no,
but I did get like a high sweetheart from someone
in the elevator near them, and I was just like sweating,
kind of like I am right now. So that was
(19:37):
that was interesting. But yeah, I was with the Broncos
for a little bit during training Camp two, but this
whole division, like I don't know. I keep talking myself
in and out of different teams because I think that
the Chiefs is the easiest way to go, and it
probably makes the most sense because they have this track record,
they've won so many years in a row. You can
(19:57):
never really trust the Chargers. They all ways charger it up.
The same thing with the Raiders, but now the Broncos
are so interesting with Russell Wilson there, so it is
really tough. I actually though, am in between the Chiefs
and the Chargers because I want to believe so hard
in the Chargers and they always let me down. But guys,
I think this might be their year. I'm gonna go
(20:19):
with the Chargers. Yeah, justin Herbert's my m VP pick,
so I see them as a playoff team, and if
I pick a teams a playoff team, obviously they could
also win the division. Herbert is such a stud. We're
talking to Steve Wish of NFL Network last week on
our podcast and he's like, when you just have conversations
with coaches in front office, guys, they're all just completely
in love with Herbert and how special he is. And
(20:40):
we see it on the field too, and he's being
put in a situation to thrive with a really good offense.
You could see that that season happening for Herbert, and
then who knows what happens. They are the Chargers though,
they are the Chargers, and even if it happens, it's
sort of tree falling in the woods because we all
live in Los Angeles and like nobody will notice. Uh No.
I also think it's interesting. I don't I don't want
(21:02):
to take over your show, Gunzo, but do you think
the Police Chargers actually go let's say twelve and five
and they're playing in the a f C title game
against Hell the Bengals. Do you think l A is
gonna catch fire with the Chargers or you think it's
I think that building will still be if in that scenario,
(21:22):
that building will still be predominantly Bengals fans. I mean,
you know what, Let's bring in producer Isaac Lee. Resident
Angelino knows the city as well as anybody who's also
he's a Clippers fan. Uh, he knows how this goes. Isaac.
In this scenario that Dan has just painted, do people
all of a sudden start caring about the Chargers in
(21:43):
l A. I don't think so, because people barely cared
about the Rams winning the Super Bowl earlier this year. Um.
I was living in Portland at the time, and I
just remember like texting a bunch of my buddies who
are who are down here in Los Angeles and being like, hey,
you know Rams and the Super Bowl? You guys doing
anything fun? They were like, no, man, We're just gonna
(22:03):
go to bed. Yeah, like football. Football is like a
third rate sport in Los Angeles. Yet to understand, Uh,
it's basketball. We actually, you know what DoD Argers is
its own sport, and then it's Lakers. And then there's
like a big drop off to football, which is you know,
odd because everywhere else football is king but here. Yeah,
(22:25):
and and there's a huge drop off between the Rams
and the Charges. I mean, you guys know you work
in that building or adjacent to it. The Rams draw
pretty good crowd. The Chargers are just a venue for
people to hey, oh they're playing the Chargers this year,
let's fly out to Los Angeles and we'll get a
cheap ticket and see a road game. It feels like
the Rams own that building and that they just let
(22:46):
the Chargers play there. Yeah, literally and figuratively is what
it is. Um, go ahead. No, I had nothing else
to add. Anything else said. They can sound like I'm
being a homer for the company, but like we went
to Rams camp this summer and the place was packed
with thousands of fans. They're like, there's definitely a strong
(23:06):
vibe with that team, the Chargers. Well, seeing they're actually there.
Um building a new facility in Elsa Gundo right near
Sofi Stadium. It's gonna take some time for them to
build roots here because obviously that was a San Diego
team and starting from scratch, especially like Isaac was saying,
in this market the way it's kind of unique, it
will take time. Winning will help, though, winning always helps.
(23:28):
I'm glad that you brought up the Rams like a
professional host. It's a wonderful transition. We'll go to the
NFC West defending Super Bowl champion Ellie Rams. I know
that Colleen is concerned about Stafford's elbow. We've got the
Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco forty Niners and the Seattle Seahawks
shot to J j R. Sega Whiteside, who was jettison
uh to the team that also took DK Metcalf. We'll
(23:51):
discuss that later. Uh. I assume we like the Rams here,
but Colleen, you had mentioned the forty Niners maybe being
interesting to you. I do think that the forty Niners
are going to be a risky team and that they
could potentially finish ahead of the Rams depending on how
bad Stafford's elbow is. Because we don't really know, we
have no idea at this point, like we haven't seen
him play. We don't know if this is a serious situation.
(24:14):
I think he was asked about it today at a
press conference Matthew Stafford, and he had this like long, weird,
awkward pause when he was asked how he was feeling
and how the elbow was, and then he was like, yeah,
it's fine, I'm fine, everything's great, and it's just to
me feels like it might be a little bit more
of an issue than the team and he are leading
(24:34):
onto even though yes, he played all last year with it.
This is an issue that the team knew about when
they traded for him. But at a certain point, like
as you get older and you have these lingering injuries,
they become a problem. He's thirty four. Uh, it was
an injury to the elbow he suffered last season, played
through it last season, played great in the playoffs, won
the Super Bowl, got an injection in the elbow this
(24:57):
spring or I don't know about the timeline when, but
after this Super Bowl was carefully managed through the summer,
the Rams probably the hesitations because the Rams have been
very careful about how they've managed the message around what
the elbow situation is. But the regular season One of
the many reasons I'm just so thankful that real football
is about to start is the team can't control certain
(25:17):
things anymore once you're out on the field. And on
Thursday night against the Bills, he has to throw forty
five passes. How is that going to feel? And he
takes a couple of shots helmet to the arm or whatever,
he goes down awkwardly. We'll have a better idea of
where he's at physically after the first couple of weeks
and maybe even after one game. Colleen, you had mentioned
the forty niners. How do we feel about I mean,
(25:39):
Jimmy j still exists, But how do we feel about
Trey Lance? Because there's been so much hype and I'm excited,
as Dan said, to see real football and see whether
or not this kid can do it? But how do
we feel about his prospects and that team's prospects. I
think it's almost more how do we feel about Kyle Shanahan?
Because Kyle Shanahan's gonna simplify everything for Trey Lance to
make sure that he does look good. And Kyle Shanahan
(26:02):
loves a run game, and he loves leaning on his defense,
and those are two things that are still strong with
that team. So as long as those things are good
and Trey Lance can just keep it together and and
keep things simple and keep things moving and not make mistakes,
then he'll be able to get into a rhythm and
get better as the season goes on. And I think
that's when they could be really dangerous. Mm hmm. This
is a situations, the naughty situation, as I say on
(26:27):
a t N because I think that the surprising revelation
that Jimmy g wouldn't be going anywhere this year, it
was good news for the Niners. I think good news
for the fans who have a safety net Trey Lance.
You know, not only do you have this guy in
the building that's been to a super Bowl for this team,
that's had success for this team. All we ever hear
(26:48):
from the forts, even though people study the game and
analytics and just watch closely, say well, Garoppolo struggled for
long stretches of time. He was very ineffective through the
playoffs last year. But at the same time, that team
loves him like the locker room really likes him as
a person and as a quote unquote leader and a
quote unquote winner. So Lance has that guy right behind him.
(27:10):
What happens if they lose three or five to start
the season. Where's Kyle Shanahan gonna How much rope does
Lance have? It's it's kind of a fascinating subplot for
us on the outside, But for a kid like Lands,
that's a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure. Although
I'm not in that locker room and I'm not that kid,
so I'm looking forward to this. Yeah. Fun, Well, I
have a level of empathy that you just can't approach.
(27:35):
I think it's the Rams. Which way are you guys going,
I'm gonna say, ultimately there ams too? Yeah, I got it.
Nobody's in on the Cardinals right, No, No, I can't.
Kyler Murray got his video games taken away. He has to,
you know. I think it's and that was the craziest
story of the summer in the NFL, that whole contract provision.
I just you look at the roster and with new
(27:55):
Copkins out for six games with a p D band
and he's on the wrong side of thirty. So who
knows what we see when he comes back. Um, I
don't know if they've set him up very well Kyler
for success when you look at his surrounding talent, and
then nobody knows if Cliff Kingsbury really is a guy
that could thrive at this level yet it hasn't really
been proven. So we're gonna learn a lot about Kyler
and the Cardinals very quickly. I think technical difficulties, all right.
(28:21):
So we were about to talk about the NFC South
and what a disaster it is, but this recording turned
into an even bigger disaster than that division. Dan explained
to people who are listening, what's happening right now. I've
got a tough situation here on the remote set up.
I blinked and John and Colleen were gone, and when
they finally returned, it's a grainy video of them sitting
(28:44):
next to each other. And now they don't have real microphones,
there's a there's a headset there sharing. So I just
think we're heading towards some of the greatest broadcasting ever
in the twenty one century. That's just my prediction. How
this is gonna go. There's there's no other way around it.
This is a exactly what's happening. UM, welcome to our
work from home set up. Our work from home setup
(29:04):
has failed us much the same way that our air
conditioning has failed. This we're gonna soldier on because we're
professional broadcasters. NFC South Atlanta Falcons, Marcus Mariotta, No Calvin
Ridley because he gambled Carolina Panthers. I want to discuss
Baker Mayfield, the New Orleans Saints, no Sean Payton, and
then we get to Tampa Town, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Tom Brady's very angular face. Uh, this is a
(29:28):
foregone conclusion, is that the Buccaneers? What do you think?
I think it's a bucks. But I feel like too
that the Saints. I don't think they're going to be good,
but I don't think they're going to be as bad
as some people say they're going to be because Jamis
Winston just I feel like, takes a lot of cheap
shots and he was actually pretty good before we got
hurt last year. And then you add in Chris A Lave,
(29:51):
the wide receiver who's gonna be a rookie that's really good.
Dan is shaking his head. No, he's not buying it up.
Are we talking about Jamis Winston on the field, the
guy that became the first guy to be a thirty
thirty guy with thirty interceptions off the field, all his
various misdeeds, every shot has been well earned for Jameis
Winston as a pro. But you know what, what you're
saying makes sense. There are a lot of people, a
(30:13):
lot of people that know things, that follow the league closely,
that think the Saints have a real chance to beat
out the Bucks. I'm not one of them, but I
could see them being a playoff team because the defense
is excellent front to back. It is about if you
buy into the offensive line without Toronto Armstead, Winston staying
healthy and not destroying the team with turnovers, and then
(30:36):
Michael Thomas returning and being Michael Thomas. And then you
have Chris Olavy is a really interesting rookie wide receiver,
and then Kamara, Alvin Kamara, who's a when he's right,
when he's healthy, when the offense is efficient, he's one
of the top five running backs in the league. So
it's it's there. It just feels like a lot of
puzzle pieces have to lock in, and usually those are
(30:56):
the teams that it doesn't happen for when the season
actually starts. Yeah, it's gonna be the box that take
the division like, it's gonna be Tom Brady. He's going
to do his thing again. They have such a good
team and Todd Bowles he's finally gonna get some like
great credit for being a head coach because he's set up.
I remember when I talked to him this summer saying like,
when you were the head coach of the Jets, did
(31:18):
you ever think in a zillion years that you would
one day be the head coach of Tom Brady? And
he kind of laughed for a second and he was like, Yeah,
that's kind of funny how these things happen. Like I'm
I'm excited to see this team and I think they're
gonna be really good once again. Briefly, before we move on,
I want to discuss the drama in Carolina with Baker Mayfield,
who said that he wasn't thinking about his former team.
(31:41):
He doesn't have anything to do with this former team,
and then all of a sudden he's got merchandise specifically
aimed at his former team. How do we think that's
gonna go? Well, Bakers a lot gonna be embarrassing if
it doesn't. Baker's a lot. He's just a lot to
deal with, and you're not gonna catch me defending the
Browns and how they handled their quarterback room. But I
(32:01):
get why they were ready to move on it. Just
Baker just seems to be a dude that is out
for Baker in a lot of ways above other things.
And I think, can he being improven on Sam Donald? Yeah,
he can because the offensive line is better and Christian
McCaffrey's healthy. But at the same time, I think people
that are thinking he's gonna now be the guy that
(32:23):
Browns thought he was going to be, and he was
certainly at times effective in Cleveland, I'm not buying it.
I think we're gonna see Donald and Baker this year. Alright.
Moving moving along to u NFC North Packers, Vikings, Bears,
and your hard knock Lions. It's not the hard knock Lions.
We've discussed of the other three of you, who do
we like Packers again, Packers, It's it's the Packers. For me,
(32:46):
I think that the Vikings are gonna be really good,
but I think it's a tough It's a tough thing
to ask Kevin O'Connell in his first year to make
the Vikings the division winners, especially with Aaron Rodgers still
there even if he doesn't have Davanta Adams, Like, it's
not going to be this swift downfall for Aaron Rodgers
and the Packers. Like I think that the Vikings will
(33:06):
give them a decent shot, and I think they could
be a wild card team if everything falls right. Like
I love the Darius Smith and Daniel Hunter on that
defense playing together, like that's gonna be their stuffs. But
we'll just have to see if Kirk Cousins can hold
up his end of things and how they're really able
to make this passing game evolve. Anybody who doesn't pick
(33:28):
the Packers in the NFC North is trying way too
hard and they should be viewed with suspicion. It's their division.
I think the Vikings can take a wild card spot.
I think the Lions could be fun, but they're still building,
and I think Justin Fields is in for a hard
time again in Chicago. Godspeed Justin Fields. All right. The
last division. I saved this one for last on purpose.
(33:50):
It's the NFC East, the Washington football team. I will
not call them the Commanders. That is an exceedingly stupid
and get ready to go on and you know, take
command it's such a dumb named they had. They had
the perfect, no frills name that they stumbled into by accident,
and in typical Washington franchise fashion, they decided to move
on from it and pick I'm much so, I'm so bummed.
(34:13):
I thought you were going into a monologue defending the
initial name. I was like, all right, this is a
spicy podcast topic. John going In didn't see this coming.
I really like working at us I and prefer prefer
not to get fired. Also in the division the Giants,
the Cowboys, and the Philadelphia Eagles, Dan, Colleen and I
are going to momentarily recuse ourselves from this conversation. I
(34:34):
want you to start, you know, say whatever you want.
But it's really freaking me out as a Philadelphian how
many people are on the Eagles. It is on good.
I don't I don't like it. It's not good. I
would not feel good about it. If I were an
Eagles fan, I'd feel really good about the team. But
I feel like it would have been much better if
it was like last summer where people were with the Cowboys.
(34:57):
But the fact that everyone's bailed on the Cowboys, and
I think that's a little premature to totally count out
the defending division champions. The Eagles do have the best roster,
and they have really gotten better in different spots, and
they have set up a quarterback that has the opportunity
to kind of take the leap and and and take
command in Philadelphia. So they are the smart pick to
(35:20):
win the NFC East. But I think it's a little
bit to what you're saying. People are a little too
confident about the Eagles because that's still a projections. Some
things have to fall into place. And the Cowboys this
idea that the Cowboys should just be completely thought of
as an afterthought. They get to play the Commanders, sorry,
and the Giants four times, they have a chance to
(35:41):
split with some of the better teams in the league.
I think they could hang with other teams and be
a ten win team, and I think that's ultimately I
think it's gonna win this division around ten games. I
think it's it's not a coin flip. I think Eagles
are the pick, but the Cowboys aren't as far behind
as people seem to think. I think it was one
thing when the Cowboys on Michael Irvin, also of NFL Network,
(36:02):
was just gushing about the Philadelphia Eagles. But when it
really hit a crescendo, a fever pitch for me was
ESPNS Mina Comes, who was also a friend of Sports
Illustrating and all of us here on this program saying
that they have a top five roster, and I wanted
to throw my computer in the Pacific. And what I'm doing,
don't tell anybody that. Well, anytime a team from Philadelphia
is supposed to do good, they never do good. So
(36:23):
this is I wouldn't say stream team vibes with Vince Young,
but that is exactly what I was telling because that
actually wasn't a good you know, that was a roster
that made sense on paper, and then it became apparent
very quickly it wasn't gonna work. Howie Roseman has done
a really nice job building this roster out, but let's
not play the second parade and start building another statue
(36:44):
just yet. That's all. Are you taking the Eagles in
this division? I have the Eagles, And again my entire
life now refers back to the power rankings. I have
the Eagles as my number four teen team in the league,
right just ahead of the Cowboys. So I see it
kind of as a coin flip. But if you if
you're like saying, pick the team to win the division,
I will go with Eagles, like ten and seven? All right,
(37:05):
I I like, normally i'd be excited about this, but
I'm not at all. I get it. I totally get it.
Let's wrap it up with some super Bowl predictions, because
between actually talking to you guys and then the technical
difficulties that we've had, we've been doing this podcast for
about three days. Uh So tell me who's who's playing
in the Big Game? Dan, this is it, this is
(37:28):
it for the Bills. It's happening. You know, the same
thing that you feel about the Eagles is what the
Bills fans in and Western New York feel about this situation.
They hate that everyone has them winning the super Bowl
or get into the super Bowl. But I just think
they have a great roster and a Hall of Fame
caliber quarterback just reaching his prime, and I think this
is the year they get over the hump. And it's
(37:49):
very hard for me to pick an NFC team, it's
so wide open, but I'll say I will say Bills
over Bucks. Passing of the torch, you know what, Okay,
I'm I'm actually with you in the a f C.
I think it's going to be the Bills as well.
I feel like they showed us that last year and
just you know, we're out out of time. But it's
gonna be the Bills this year. And I think, just
(38:12):
to just to make it a little crazy, I'm gonna
manifest this for the NFC. I wanna say, don't do it.
I'm gonna say do it. No, you know I'm not
doing that. I'm not going there. I'm not gonna I'm
not that crazy. It's the forty niners and it's gonna
be Jimmy g Did you say that the Bills ran
out of time? The problem for the Bills last year
was there was too much time. There's twelve seconds on
the clock against the Chief Tradabus. White's a big guy.
(38:36):
They need to get back in the lineup because they
don't lose that game without their star cornerback. If their
star cornerback was in the playoffs last year, he'll start
the season on the pub list. They'll have him right.
That's gonna be a big piece for Buffalo too. Just
one little bit of insight there before a little bit
and now we have mercifully revamped postseason overtime rules, which
is wonderful, but this was great. Two guys watched them
(38:57):
on the NFL Network. Listen to them on the Around
the NFL podcast, catch the final episode of the Hard
Knocks pod, and be sure to check them out on
the forthcoming Power Ranking show. You can listen to that.
It's also streamable. These guys frankly on my on my
personal power rankings. They're very close. I'm gonna give a
slight edge to Colleen for domestic tranquility purposes edge. I
(39:19):
love you both, Dan and Colleen. Thank you for thus
Thank you just doing a podcast with the jay Z
and Beyonce of sports media. That I mean, I pinched
myself which one's Beyonce? You better say, mate, you know what?
But you said you like it's Colleen better than me.
But actually that makes sense, John, you are the Beyonce. Alright,
there we go. You're the best body. Thanks Dan, alright,
(39:40):
bye bye. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production of Sports
Illustrated and I Heeart Radio. For more podcasts from My
Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your favorite shows and for more of
Sports Illustrated it's best stories and podcasts visit SI dot com.
This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jordan Rozsieri,
(40:03):
Jessica your Moski, and Isaac Lee, who was also our
sound engineer. Our senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry
sward Out. Our executive producers are Scott Brody and me
John Gonzales. Our theme song is by Nolan Schneider. And
if you've stuck around this long, we leave you with this.
Didn't we lose John? He's left the riverside. The hostess
(40:26):
quit on the show. Now I am hugging the Internet. Urban,
very urban area
Before we begin, a reminder to please rate and review
our show. It helps new listeners discover us and grow
the program. On this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, we
review Hard Knocks and preview the NFL season with Dan
Hansis from the Around the NFL podcast and Colleen Wolf
(00:20):
from NFL Network and also our living room. I'm your host,
John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. This
is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Dan and Colleen, Welcome back to
Sports Illustrated Weekly. It's so great to be here. Thanks
(00:42):
for letting me borrow your headphones. John. I love having
repew offenders on the program. So great to see you guys.
We're gonna talk about the upcoming season. We're also going
to talk about the other show that you two have, Cooking,
but first I want to discuss the show that you
two are wrapping up, Hard Knocks with the Detroit Lions.
You've reviewed every episode. It's always a great show. Although
I think it's really amazing that they've managed to do
(01:03):
something that Hard Knocks had never previously done, at least
from my experience, which was find a team that did
not convince me that they're going to win the super
Bowl that includes Bill O'Brien's Houston Texans, which Colleen will remember.
I was like, I think this is their year. Turns
out it wasn't. What if you guys made of the
lines on Hard Knocks so far, it's true. I think
it's a good call. Sorry, Colleen, go ahead, No, it's
(01:25):
all right. We're still finding our rhythm, you know what
I mean. Listen, we all of us are are doing
the dance right now, and you can't. You can't can
this chemistry. It's just like it comes natural for us.
Oh God help us now. Anyway, Hard Knocks, it's amazing.
We've had so many ridiculous recap episodes. I feel like,
(01:46):
just talking about like the word art that is in
the auditorium behind the players, or in Dan Campbell's office,
or just like the many different catchphrases and weird quotes
that Hamble has. He could really have the show and
carry it for an entire NFL season. So it's been
(02:06):
it's been fun. They're not gonna win the Super Bowl,
but I still feel like they're gonna be a little
bit better than they were last year. You know what,
John I I I agree with you too, And I've
I've written about Hard Knocks for over a decade for
NFL dot Com, and I always almost always came out
of it the same way as you did. Maybe that's
maybe there are some minor tweaks to the storytelling for
NFL Films for this season, and I think it has
(02:28):
been a really kind of in a way of return
to form for the show. You kind of see some
of the warts there as well, and you see, especially
on defense, they have a long way to go. The
fact that one of their underdog stories this year, Malcolm Rodriguez,
who they called Rodrigo, is probably starting at linebacker. Not
only is he making the team as the sixth round
picky starting kind of tells you and gives you an
(02:48):
idea that the line still have a long way to
go to really build this thing up to contention. And
I feel like to another big thing John, I think
that you would love is the fact that the coaching staff,
and specifically Do Staley, is such a huge character on
the show. And I feel like this year, specifically, the
coaching staff takes a character in and of itself, almost
(03:10):
like it it plays such a huge role in the show.
The way that the coaches interact and the way that
they are former players, but they want to be known
as coaches that played instead of former players that are coaching,
and kind of like that is a huge driving force.
I feel like behind the season in Detroit. Yeah, I've
enjoyed Hard Knocks. I always enjoy Hard Knocks. It's a
(03:30):
credit HBO. It's consistently fantastic. I think your point, though,
for the two of you just made like when the
coaches are the stars of the show a little bit
of a red flag for me. Maybeally, I'm like a
little nervous about this. Um, what about Jared Goff, Like,
do you guys have any faith in him at all? Well,
we're gonna do the preview of the actual season coming,
I'll let you take this. That's a loaded question because
(03:50):
if you're talking about him as a sports documentary entity,
I would say the floor is very low here, John,
and there's not We're pretty after the fourth season of
him being covered by NFL Films for a major documentary series,
we kind of know what we're getting at this point.
But I think that kind of also speaks to what
you're saying that the coaching staff that is a secret
(04:11):
weapon in these Hard Knocks seasons. So it's less of
a red flags we more of a bonus because if
you have a charismatic head coach, great that that you
can hang a season on that. But the shows that
stand out to me are the ones where the offensive
coordinator there's some juice there, the d C when there's
heat between those two guys, that famous Brown season a
couple of years ago, where the coaching staff is just
(04:33):
warring at each other in a private meeting. That stuff
is really good. So they are a disadvantage because they
made a purposeful decision to kind of not push the
QB one, which you would think would be a centerpiece
of the players studies for any any football show. But
it's the right move because we know Jared Goff. Let's
learn about somebody else. Yeah, I'm after the Rams appearance
(04:54):
with Jared Goff where he didn't know where the sun sets,
I was like, I'm probably good on Jared Goff. That's
a Hard Knocks related question for you guys. Where did
this season fall in the overarching pantheon of hard knocks seasons?
The middle of the pack? How do you well? I
think Dan has a better barometer for this because he's
(05:14):
been doing the Hard Knocks recaps for years and years,
so he's really been combing through all of these episodes
every single year. I feel like I kind of came
in this year, and because of the podcast, I'm watching
it in a much different way. I'm just consuming it
in a different manner because years past, it was just
like a way easier thing and I wasn't diving into
(05:35):
all the different like minutia in every episode. But I
think that this episode is really interesting because of all
of the characters that you didn't think we're going to
be characters on the show. Like, I mean, we knew
that Jared Golf wasn't going to be like an A
type guy on the show, but other people have kind
of stepped up and colored that in. So for me,
(05:56):
I think that this this season is pretty good, like
Top Wild, Top five. So wait, su Ser, let's get
some chocolate in the peanut butter. Give me some Hard
Knocks power ranking here for this. Yeah, you want some
Hard Knocks power rankings. You know I'm a Hoomer. You
know I'm a native New Yorker. And there's only two
things that Jets fans have. We have Joe Namath, which
(06:17):
many of us weren't around for and we have the
two thousand ten season of Hard Knocks with Rex Ryan.
Those like the two things we have. And even though
it comes off as Homer, that was a special season
of that show. And you talk to anybody behind the scenes,
uh with HBO and NFL films, anybody that loves the show.
The Jets season with Rex kind of stands to me
above everything. I love that aforementioned brown season because they
(06:40):
were coming off oh and sixteen Baker was entering the
scene and he had his own charisma, his own like
party RV if you recall. And then all the drama
around Hugh Jackson, who was kind of a charming presence
in the Bengals Hard Knocks season when he was the
o C. But here he was under siege at head coach,
with a bunch of snakes underneath him looking to take
him down. So you had all this great intrigue around
(07:02):
the Browns. So I put that kind of in the
number two spot. Um, you could argue lines maybe number
three in the power And I think this has really
been a fun story because I think the city and
the football town always plays a big role, and everyone
kind of likes Detroit They like the idea of the
lines finally finding their way, and Campbell is this guy
(07:25):
that's saying, we got grit, We're prideful of where we're from,
but we're willing and we're ready to change the script.
And you kind of feel that energy. I think it's
been a really warm season. I feel like you could
tell the closeness of the players and um, you know,
I need to see them stick the landing in episode five,
but I think I could slot him in at number
three here potentially, wow, much higher than I thought. As
(07:45):
people listen to this episode of our show, the final
episode of your Hard Knocks show will be out, so
we encourage everybody to go back and listen to that.
That chemistry that you saw or listen to between these
two earlier in the program will be Hold Hold the Supply. Uh.
And also they've got a new show coming out. We
encourage you to listen to that and also watch it.
It's the Power Ranking Show. UH. That will be a podcast.
(08:08):
And also Dan it will be streaming. Correct, it is
streaming as well, and it's it's a podcast Colleen's hosting.
It's like the first parts I've ever done where I'm
not the host and uh so, John, it's like she's
in the driver's seat. It's like you guys in your house.
It's it's gonna be interesting for me to see how
she guides things. Now. I know it well. I know
it well, and I wish you well. Uh So, I
(08:28):
encourage everybody to listen to that. But I thought for
you too, because you're gonna do the power rankings. I'm
not gonna have you power rank here on this show.
I don't want to give away the game just yet.
But we're gonna go through the divisions and find out
what you like, what you don't like, and maybe pick
some division winner. So we're gonna start in the FC East.
As Dan mentioned, he's a Homer. He's got his New
York Jets there, that Dolphins, the Patriots, and the Bills.
Uh what are we like from these? It's the Bills
(08:49):
probably what Yeah, I feel like if this is like
the easiest division right down to pick out of all
of them. Yeah, this one is Bills all the way,
if anything that you know, the Bills of the team
with the high sealing, the Bills of the team that
came off that heartbreaking playoff loss and have reloaded now
with von Miller. I think this is the division I
would actually feel the most confident saying that is the
(09:10):
team that wins the division and probably gets a buy
in the a f C. Colleen, are you buying any
Dolphins scrappiness? No, I mean I think that they're gonna
be way more interesting than they've been in the past.
And I like Mike McDaniel and his like mad scientists
way and he's really good just in terms of like
a run game, So I think that that could be
(09:31):
interesting because I'm not like totally sold onto his arm
like most people right now. But the Bills are Super
Bowl favorite, so of course they're going to be favorites
to win the division. Dan is a self respecting Philadelphia
and I would never normally do this, but here's your
opportunity to talk about a New York team. It's not
the Giant, so we'll allow it. It's the Jets. How
do you feel about the Jets this season? I think,
(09:53):
you know, I just the new Power rankings, that's that's
out has the Jets. I believe that about twenty six,
So that's where I have him right now. But here's
the thing, like they really are building something there that
you couldn't say the last couple of years. They have
skill players, an interesting young talent on both sides of
the ball. What they need, and this is gonna feel simplistic,
(10:15):
but it's basic, Like if they just get proficient quarterback play,
they don't even need star quarterback. But they don't need
Zach Wilson to be a stud or Joe Flacco if
he ends up getting more starts than Wilson. You need
somebody that could be a professional and run that offense.
And I think they could hang around hypothetically or potentially
in the a f C playoff race, not in the
a f C East, but in the a f C
(10:36):
wild card race where there's three wild cards. It's just
a matter of getting that play. They have a really
good running game and approved offensive line, some real interesting
talent and wide receiver, and the defense has interesting players
in the back end with Sauce Gardner there uh and
the front seven, especially a defensive line is stacked. So
it's just like, give us decent quarterback, like give us
(10:57):
Ryan Fitzpatrick in two thousand fifteen, and I think this
team could win like eight or nine games. You are
the hard knocks of Jets. Fans because you just sold
me on the Jets all of a sudden. I'm like,
and you know what, you do this to me in
the same way that hard knocks does it to me
because you get optimistic about them. You were super high
on Zack Wilson coming out, and then you know last
year happened, but you you sold me again. Maybe this
(11:18):
is it for the Jets. Fingers crossed body fingers. Let's
go to the a f C North. You've got the
defending a f C champion Cincinnati Bengals. Shouts to West
Baltimore Ravens, the rebuilding Pittsburgh Steelers, and the revamped Cleveland Browns,
who have not covered themselves in glory off the field.
We know when we don't like, what do we like?
I actually really like the Ravens. Here. We always see
(11:38):
teams go worst to first every year, and I think
the Ravens have the best shot to be that exact
thing this year. They had so many injuries last season.
They lost all of their running backs before the year
even started. They had like no cornerbacks whatsoever. It was like,
really really bleak for a while. So just getting those
guys healthy, they're automatically better and then when you have
(11:59):
the Brown send the Steelers with their quarterback issues, Like,
it's really to me just the Ravens and the Bengals,
and I think the Ravens might edge out the Bengals
this year for the division. M I certainly could see
that they're my top two teams. That seemed like a
very doubtful skeptical from you hands us. No. I certainly
could see because I have the Bengals at number five
(12:19):
as we start the season in the powering is I
have the Ravens at ten, and they both have the
potential to win eleven twelve games. Health is so important
for both. You know, can Burrow stay healthy at offensive line?
They put money and resources into it this year, but
I'm still not so sure it's good. And with Baltimore,
if there's regression, then they're gonna stay healthy, and then
(12:40):
Lamar is gonna be an m v P again. The
Steelers are the kind of interesting team for me in
the division in terms of let's see what happens here,
because we'll see what when Kenny Pickett enters the free quarterback.
I assume it will happen unless you're a Mitched Robinsky truther.
But the offensive line for them is woeful. I don't
think that got much at or at all. And and
(13:01):
you just you just wonder if pick he gets put
into a bad situation, if they can't protect him. But
if they work things out on that old line, and
and Mike Tomlin is such a great coach, they're always
in the mix. I would not be surprised if they're
also in the running for the division come December. Man,
that Bengals season last year was so magical and we
had the two of you on to mark the one
year anniversary of Chris Westling's passing, and like it just
(13:23):
felt right. It would be awesome if they could recapture
that magic. Anytime that the Bengals are doing well, it
makes me think of west So that's the fingers crossed
from me on that one. A f C South, We've
got the Texans, the Colts, the Jaguars, no more Urban
Meyer r I P. He's gone off to Broadcaster heaven
well maybe not having uh Tennessee Titans as well. What
(13:44):
you know, Urban not the greatest guy. What do we
think about what do we think about the South? Here?
This seems like a like a really boring, awful division. Sorry,
I'm just thinking about urban Meyer at the Gates of St. Peter,
just like trying to explain that you know it was
it was Cincinnati. It's a good nightline. She was friendly,
it was a Thursday, like exactly. I love the Colts.
(14:12):
I think obviously, whenever I stopped at these cities and
these teams for training camp, I end up drinking all
of the kool aid. But the Colts I drank the
most kool Aid. And I love them. I love Matt
Ryan with this offense, with he hasn't had a running
game like this and so long, and obviously the running
game is what makes this whole team go. But their
(14:33):
defense is also really underrated, and I think they have
actually some pretty good pass catchers that just aren't really
like top of the radar. And when you put a
guy like Matt Ryan in there and you pair him
up with Frank Reich, I mean, the Carson Wentz experiment
went so wrong last year, and I think that they
have all of the pieces. They just needed someone at
(14:56):
quarterback to not turn the ball over, to not make
at breaking mistakes at the absolute worst times. And I
think that Matt Ryan can be that guy. Dan can
I tell you that between the combine and inside training camp,
Colleen spends an inordinate amount of time in Indianapolis, and
every time she comes back, she's like, you know what
I love and I'm like, no, get out of people
(15:18):
who live in Indianapolis don't love Indianapolis that much. That
is yeah, that's you know, the cults. I picked them
to win the Division two and and the Tennessee Titans
lost Harold Landry, their best defensive player in their front seven,
to an a c L tear and practice recently. And
that's just crushing because I think they're right on the
margin where they could drop down and be a five
hundred team. You take out a playmaker like remember he
(15:40):
had three of the nine sacks of Joe Burrow in
that playoff loss in January. Now he's just gone and
there's no time to identify a replacement from outside the building.
So I think the Titans are gonna be an uphill climb.
I think the Texans, despite my buddies on around the NFL,
Greg and Mark gassing them up, I think the Texans
still have a long way to go. The Jaguars are interesting,
(16:01):
real they are. They are out of urban Meyer that
was definitely Urban Meyer. Hell, they're out of that, and
they put a lot of money and resources into the team.
They got a professional head coach. I think you guys
know who the coach is, Doug Peterson, who had some
success that you guys might know about. And Trevor Lawrence.
It's not like he's no longer a generational prospect. He
(16:22):
was just put in the worst situation a rookie could
be in. I would he takes a big leap. I
want to ask you both about Trevor Lawrence because he
was so hyped up coming out and I realized that
he had to overcome the urban Meyer hurdles, many of them.
But how much of it was Urban Meyer and that
whole situation being toxic and like just terrible coaching, and
(16:42):
how much of it was he didn't play well well?
I mean, they also weren't built for him to succeed,
so he didn't have what he needed even if he
had a normal coaching staff. And the way that the
urban Meyer thing unfolded, I mean it sounded like borderline abusive.
I mean he's kicking kicker, like physically, physically, mentally, all
(17:04):
of it. I can't imagine being a rookie coming into
the NFL with such a high draft picks status on
your shoulders and then being thrown into that scenario. Like,
I think he's going to be way better than what
we saw that first year, because that first year was bonkers.
Like he caught St. Peter on the good day and St.
Peter's about to walk through the let him walk through
the gates, and then St. Peter looks at his notes
(17:26):
one last time, it's like, oh, wait, you kicked the guy.
Can I tell you that you both know him? But
sys connor Or was on the program to discuss urban
Meyer's departure, and I don't think he's ever been more
excited about anything than to discuss urban Meyer kicking the kicker.
So I guess we're not on Jacksonville, but I hope
Doug Peterson does. Well. Uh, we'll move to the a
(17:48):
f C. What did you end up picking handsas we
know where Colleen is. I had the Cults, but I
had the Jackson maybe flirting with a playoff spot. If
things break the right way, that'd be cool. That'd be
cool for Peterson, all right? Last one in the f
C West loaded Bronch Those chiefs Las Vegas Raiders and
the Chargers. Great division. Which way do we go here?
And my powering is I got Chiefs seven, Broncos eight,
(18:08):
Chargers nine, and Raiders eleven. So so I like I
like the division. I think I don't think it's hype.
I think they're all very good teams. Now we know
how sports work, there's probably gonna be one team season
gets ruined by injuries or the ball doesn't bounce the
right way in crucial spots and then up seven and ten. Yeah,
that's certainly possible. But just from what their potential is,
(18:30):
the talent on these rosters, they're all very good. And
I have the Chiefs mostly because of my homes, but
I understand with no Tyreek kill there, they have to
change some things. But maybe that's not the worst thing.
Gonzo like the idea that if we all we all
watch that a C Championship game in the second half
against the Bengals where the the offense just went to
sleep in a unbelievable way, that maybe it was time
(18:53):
to mix some things up, change some things up. And
even if you don't get better by sending a Hall
of Famer out your door and hill, that makes you
think differently how to attack teams and they get a
refresh that way, Colleen, Uh, you run into I feel
like Siarra and Russell Wilson regularly. How do you feel
about the Broncos and Russell Wilson. It has happened. Um,
(19:14):
actually it has happened regularly because it happened to training.
It happened at the Super Bowl. Sierra gave me a hug.
I was like, well, friends, this is what this is.
Did you give you a hug and say hi? Colleen like, hey, no,
but I did get like a high sweetheart from someone
in the elevator near them, and I was just like sweating,
kind of like I am right now. So that was
(19:37):
that was interesting. But yeah, I was with the Broncos
for a little bit during training Camp two, but this
whole division, like I don't know. I keep talking myself
in and out of different teams because I think that
the Chiefs is the easiest way to go, and it
probably makes the most sense because they have this track record,
they've won so many years in a row. You can
(19:57):
never really trust the Chargers. They all ways charger it up.
The same thing with the Raiders, but now the Broncos
are so interesting with Russell Wilson there, so it is
really tough. I actually though, am in between the Chiefs
and the Chargers because I want to believe so hard
in the Chargers and they always let me down. But guys,
I think this might be their year. I'm gonna go
(20:19):
with the Chargers. Yeah, justin Herbert's my m VP pick,
so I see them as a playoff team, and if
I pick a teams a playoff team, obviously they could
also win the division. Herbert is such a stud. We're
talking to Steve Wish of NFL Network last week on
our podcast and he's like, when you just have conversations
with coaches in front office, guys, they're all just completely
in love with Herbert and how special he is. And
(20:40):
we see it on the field too, and he's being
put in a situation to thrive with a really good offense.
You could see that that season happening for Herbert, and
then who knows what happens. They are the Chargers though,
they are the Chargers, and even if it happens, it's
sort of tree falling in the woods because we all
live in Los Angeles and like nobody will notice. Uh No.
I also think it's interesting. I don't I don't want
(21:02):
to take over your show, Gunzo, but do you think
the Police Chargers actually go let's say twelve and five
and they're playing in the a f C title game
against Hell the Bengals. Do you think l A is
gonna catch fire with the Chargers or you think it's
I think that building will still be if in that scenario,
(21:22):
that building will still be predominantly Bengals fans. I mean,
you know what, Let's bring in producer Isaac Lee. Resident
Angelino knows the city as well as anybody who's also
he's a Clippers fan. Uh, he knows how this goes. Isaac.
In this scenario that Dan has just painted, do people
all of a sudden start caring about the Chargers in
(21:43):
l A. I don't think so, because people barely cared
about the Rams winning the Super Bowl earlier this year. Um.
I was living in Portland at the time, and I
just remember like texting a bunch of my buddies who
are who are down here in Los Angeles and being like, hey,
you know Rams and the Super Bowl? You guys doing
anything fun? They were like, no, man, We're just gonna
(22:03):
go to bed. Yeah, like football. Football is like a
third rate sport in Los Angeles. Yet to understand, Uh,
it's basketball. We actually, you know what DoD Argers is
its own sport, and then it's Lakers. And then there's
like a big drop off to football, which is you know,
odd because everywhere else football is king but here. Yeah,
(22:25):
and and there's a huge drop off between the Rams
and the Charges. I mean, you guys know you work
in that building or adjacent to it. The Rams draw
pretty good crowd. The Chargers are just a venue for
people to hey, oh they're playing the Chargers this year,
let's fly out to Los Angeles and we'll get a
cheap ticket and see a road game. It feels like
the Rams own that building and that they just let
(22:46):
the Chargers play there. Yeah, literally and figuratively is what
it is. Um, go ahead. No, I had nothing else
to add. Anything else said. They can sound like I'm
being a homer for the company, but like we went
to Rams camp this summer and the place was packed
with thousands of fans. They're like, there's definitely a strong
(23:06):
vibe with that team, the Chargers. Well, seeing they're actually there.
Um building a new facility in Elsa Gundo right near
Sofi Stadium. It's gonna take some time for them to
build roots here because obviously that was a San Diego
team and starting from scratch, especially like Isaac was saying,
in this market the way it's kind of unique, it
will take time. Winning will help, though, winning always helps.
(23:28):
I'm glad that you brought up the Rams like a
professional host. It's a wonderful transition. We'll go to the
NFC West defending Super Bowl champion Ellie Rams. I know
that Colleen is concerned about Stafford's elbow. We've got the
Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco forty Niners and the Seattle Seahawks
shot to J j R. Sega Whiteside, who was jettison
uh to the team that also took DK Metcalf. We'll
(23:51):
discuss that later. Uh. I assume we like the Rams here,
but Colleen, you had mentioned the forty Niners maybe being
interesting to you. I do think that the forty Niners
are going to be a risky team and that they
could potentially finish ahead of the Rams depending on how
bad Stafford's elbow is. Because we don't really know, we
have no idea at this point, like we haven't seen
him play. We don't know if this is a serious situation.
(24:14):
I think he was asked about it today at a
press conference Matthew Stafford, and he had this like long, weird,
awkward pause when he was asked how he was feeling
and how the elbow was, and then he was like, yeah,
it's fine, I'm fine, everything's great, and it's just to
me feels like it might be a little bit more
of an issue than the team and he are leading
(24:34):
onto even though yes, he played all last year with it.
This is an issue that the team knew about when
they traded for him. But at a certain point, like
as you get older and you have these lingering injuries,
they become a problem. He's thirty four. Uh, it was
an injury to the elbow he suffered last season, played
through it last season, played great in the playoffs, won
the Super Bowl, got an injection in the elbow this
(24:57):
spring or I don't know about the timeline when, but
after this Super Bowl was carefully managed through the summer,
the Rams probably the hesitations because the Rams have been
very careful about how they've managed the message around what
the elbow situation is. But the regular season One of
the many reasons I'm just so thankful that real football
is about to start is the team can't control certain
(25:17):
things anymore once you're out on the field. And on
Thursday night against the Bills, he has to throw forty
five passes. How is that going to feel? And he
takes a couple of shots helmet to the arm or whatever,
he goes down awkwardly. We'll have a better idea of
where he's at physically after the first couple of weeks
and maybe even after one game. Colleen, you had mentioned
the forty niners. How do we feel about I mean,
(25:39):
Jimmy j still exists, But how do we feel about
Trey Lance? Because there's been so much hype and I'm excited,
as Dan said, to see real football and see whether
or not this kid can do it? But how do
we feel about his prospects and that team's prospects. I
think it's almost more how do we feel about Kyle Shanahan?
Because Kyle Shanahan's gonna simplify everything for Trey Lance to
make sure that he does look good. And Kyle Shanahan
(26:02):
loves a run game, and he loves leaning on his defense,
and those are two things that are still strong with
that team. So as long as those things are good
and Trey Lance can just keep it together and and
keep things simple and keep things moving and not make mistakes,
then he'll be able to get into a rhythm and
get better as the season goes on. And I think
that's when they could be really dangerous. Mm hmm. This
is a situations, the naughty situation, as I say on
(26:27):
a t N because I think that the surprising revelation
that Jimmy g wouldn't be going anywhere this year, it
was good news for the Niners. I think good news
for the fans who have a safety net Trey Lance.
You know, not only do you have this guy in
the building that's been to a super Bowl for this team,
that's had success for this team. All we ever hear
(26:48):
from the forts, even though people study the game and
analytics and just watch closely, say well, Garoppolo struggled for
long stretches of time. He was very ineffective through the
playoffs last year. But at the same time, that team
loves him like the locker room really likes him as
a person and as a quote unquote leader and a
quote unquote winner. So Lance has that guy right behind him.
(27:10):
What happens if they lose three or five to start
the season. Where's Kyle Shanahan gonna How much rope does
Lance have? It's it's kind of a fascinating subplot for
us on the outside, But for a kid like Lands,
that's a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure. Although
I'm not in that locker room and I'm not that kid,
so I'm looking forward to this. Yeah. Fun, Well, I
have a level of empathy that you just can't approach.
(27:35):
I think it's the Rams. Which way are you guys going,
I'm gonna say, ultimately there ams too? Yeah, I got it.
Nobody's in on the Cardinals right, No, No, I can't.
Kyler Murray got his video games taken away. He has to,
you know. I think it's and that was the craziest
story of the summer in the NFL, that whole contract provision.
I just you look at the roster and with new
(27:55):
Copkins out for six games with a p D band
and he's on the wrong side of thirty. So who
knows what we see when he comes back. Um, I
don't know if they've set him up very well Kyler
for success when you look at his surrounding talent, and
then nobody knows if Cliff Kingsbury really is a guy
that could thrive at this level yet it hasn't really
been proven. So we're gonna learn a lot about Kyler
and the Cardinals very quickly. I think technical difficulties, all right.
(28:21):
So we were about to talk about the NFC South
and what a disaster it is, but this recording turned
into an even bigger disaster than that division. Dan explained
to people who are listening, what's happening right now. I've
got a tough situation here on the remote set up.
I blinked and John and Colleen were gone, and when
they finally returned, it's a grainy video of them sitting
(28:44):
next to each other. And now they don't have real microphones,
there's a there's a headset there sharing. So I just
think we're heading towards some of the greatest broadcasting ever
in the twenty one century. That's just my prediction. How
this is gonna go. There's there's no other way around it.
This is a exactly what's happening. UM, welcome to our
work from home set up. Our work from home setup
(29:04):
has failed us much the same way that our air
conditioning has failed. This we're gonna soldier on because we're
professional broadcasters. NFC South Atlanta Falcons, Marcus Mariotta, No Calvin
Ridley because he gambled Carolina Panthers. I want to discuss
Baker Mayfield, the New Orleans Saints, no Sean Payton, and
then we get to Tampa Town, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Tom Brady's very angular face. Uh, this is a
(29:28):
foregone conclusion, is that the Buccaneers? What do you think?
I think it's a bucks. But I feel like too
that the Saints. I don't think they're going to be good,
but I don't think they're going to be as bad
as some people say they're going to be because Jamis
Winston just I feel like, takes a lot of cheap
shots and he was actually pretty good before we got
hurt last year. And then you add in Chris A Lave,
(29:51):
the wide receiver who's gonna be a rookie that's really good.
Dan is shaking his head. No, he's not buying it up.
Are we talking about Jamis Winston on the field, the
guy that became the first guy to be a thirty
thirty guy with thirty interceptions off the field, all his
various misdeeds, every shot has been well earned for Jameis
Winston as a pro. But you know what, what you're
saying makes sense. There are a lot of people, a
(30:13):
lot of people that know things, that follow the league closely,
that think the Saints have a real chance to beat
out the Bucks. I'm not one of them, but I
could see them being a playoff team because the defense
is excellent front to back. It is about if you
buy into the offensive line without Toronto Armstead, Winston staying
healthy and not destroying the team with turnovers, and then
(30:36):
Michael Thomas returning and being Michael Thomas. And then you
have Chris Olavy is a really interesting rookie wide receiver,
and then Kamara, Alvin Kamara, who's a when he's right,
when he's healthy, when the offense is efficient, he's one
of the top five running backs in the league. So
it's it's there. It just feels like a lot of
puzzle pieces have to lock in, and usually those are
(30:56):
the teams that it doesn't happen for when the season
actually starts. Yeah, it's gonna be the box that take
the division like, it's gonna be Tom Brady. He's going
to do his thing again. They have such a good
team and Todd Bowles he's finally gonna get some like
great credit for being a head coach because he's set up.
I remember when I talked to him this summer saying like,
when you were the head coach of the Jets, did
(31:18):
you ever think in a zillion years that you would
one day be the head coach of Tom Brady? And
he kind of laughed for a second and he was like, Yeah,
that's kind of funny how these things happen. Like I'm
I'm excited to see this team and I think they're
gonna be really good once again. Briefly, before we move on,
I want to discuss the drama in Carolina with Baker Mayfield,
who said that he wasn't thinking about his former team.
(31:41):
He doesn't have anything to do with this former team,
and then all of a sudden he's got merchandise specifically
aimed at his former team. How do we think that's
gonna go? Well, Bakers a lot gonna be embarrassing if
it doesn't. Baker's a lot. He's just a lot to
deal with, and you're not gonna catch me defending the
Browns and how they handled their quarterback room. But I
(32:01):
get why they were ready to move on it. Just
Baker just seems to be a dude that is out
for Baker in a lot of ways above other things.
And I think, can he being improven on Sam Donald? Yeah,
he can because the offensive line is better and Christian
McCaffrey's healthy. But at the same time, I think people
that are thinking he's gonna now be the guy that
(32:23):
Browns thought he was going to be, and he was
certainly at times effective in Cleveland, I'm not buying it.
I think we're gonna see Donald and Baker this year. Alright.
Moving moving along to u NFC North Packers, Vikings, Bears,
and your hard knock Lions. It's not the hard knock Lions.
We've discussed of the other three of you, who do
we like Packers again, Packers, It's it's the Packers. For me,
(32:46):
I think that the Vikings are gonna be really good,
but I think it's a tough It's a tough thing
to ask Kevin O'Connell in his first year to make
the Vikings the division winners, especially with Aaron Rodgers still
there even if he doesn't have Davanta Adams, Like, it's
not going to be this swift downfall for Aaron Rodgers
and the Packers. Like I think that the Vikings will
(33:06):
give them a decent shot, and I think they could
be a wild card team if everything falls right. Like
I love the Darius Smith and Daniel Hunter on that
defense playing together, like that's gonna be their stuffs. But
we'll just have to see if Kirk Cousins can hold
up his end of things and how they're really able
to make this passing game evolve. Anybody who doesn't pick
(33:28):
the Packers in the NFC North is trying way too
hard and they should be viewed with suspicion. It's their division.
I think the Vikings can take a wild card spot.
I think the Lions could be fun, but they're still building,
and I think Justin Fields is in for a hard
time again in Chicago. Godspeed Justin Fields. All right. The
last division. I saved this one for last on purpose.
(33:50):
It's the NFC East, the Washington football team. I will
not call them the Commanders. That is an exceedingly stupid
and get ready to go on and you know, take
command it's such a dumb named they had. They had
the perfect, no frills name that they stumbled into by accident,
and in typical Washington franchise fashion, they decided to move
on from it and pick I'm much so, I'm so bummed.
(34:13):
I thought you were going into a monologue defending the
initial name. I was like, all right, this is a
spicy podcast topic. John going In didn't see this coming.
I really like working at us I and prefer prefer
not to get fired. Also in the division the Giants,
the Cowboys, and the Philadelphia Eagles, Dan, Colleen and I
are going to momentarily recuse ourselves from this conversation. I
(34:34):
want you to start, you know, say whatever you want.
But it's really freaking me out as a Philadelphian how
many people are on the Eagles. It is on good.
I don't I don't like it. It's not good. I
would not feel good about it. If I were an
Eagles fan, I'd feel really good about the team. But
I feel like it would have been much better if
it was like last summer where people were with the Cowboys.
(34:57):
But the fact that everyone's bailed on the Cowboys, and
I think that's a little premature to totally count out
the defending division champions. The Eagles do have the best roster,
and they have really gotten better in different spots, and
they have set up a quarterback that has the opportunity
to kind of take the leap and and and take
command in Philadelphia. So they are the smart pick to
(35:20):
win the NFC East. But I think it's a little
bit to what you're saying. People are a little too
confident about the Eagles because that's still a projections. Some
things have to fall into place. And the Cowboys this
idea that the Cowboys should just be completely thought of
as an afterthought. They get to play the Commanders, sorry,
and the Giants four times, they have a chance to
(35:41):
split with some of the better teams in the league.
I think they could hang with other teams and be
a ten win team, and I think that's ultimately I
think it's gonna win this division around ten games. I
think it's it's not a coin flip. I think Eagles
are the pick, but the Cowboys aren't as far behind
as people seem to think. I think it was one
thing when the Cowboys on Michael Irvin, also of NFL Network,
(36:02):
was just gushing about the Philadelphia Eagles. But when it
really hit a crescendo, a fever pitch for me was
ESPNS Mina Comes, who was also a friend of Sports
Illustrating and all of us here on this program saying
that they have a top five roster, and I wanted
to throw my computer in the Pacific. And what I'm doing,
don't tell anybody that. Well, anytime a team from Philadelphia
is supposed to do good, they never do good. So
(36:23):
this is I wouldn't say stream team vibes with Vince Young,
but that is exactly what I was telling because that
actually wasn't a good you know, that was a roster
that made sense on paper, and then it became apparent
very quickly it wasn't gonna work. Howie Roseman has done
a really nice job building this roster out, but let's
not play the second parade and start building another statue
(36:44):
just yet. That's all. Are you taking the Eagles in
this division? I have the Eagles, And again my entire
life now refers back to the power rankings. I have
the Eagles as my number four teen team in the league,
right just ahead of the Cowboys. So I see it
kind of as a coin flip. But if you if
you're like saying, pick the team to win the division,
I will go with Eagles, like ten and seven? All right,
(37:05):
I I like, normally i'd be excited about this, but
I'm not at all. I get it. I totally get it.
Let's wrap it up with some super Bowl predictions, because
between actually talking to you guys and then the technical
difficulties that we've had, we've been doing this podcast for
about three days. Uh So tell me who's who's playing
in the Big Game? Dan, this is it, this is
(37:28):
it for the Bills. It's happening. You know, the same
thing that you feel about the Eagles is what the
Bills fans in and Western New York feel about this situation.
They hate that everyone has them winning the super Bowl
or get into the super Bowl. But I just think
they have a great roster and a Hall of Fame
caliber quarterback just reaching his prime, and I think this
is the year they get over the hump. And it's
(37:49):
very hard for me to pick an NFC team, it's
so wide open, but I'll say I will say Bills
over Bucks. Passing of the torch, you know what, Okay,
I'm I'm actually with you in the a f C.
I think it's going to be the Bills as well.
I feel like they showed us that last year and
just you know, we're out out of time. But it's
gonna be the Bills this year. And I think, just
(38:12):
to just to make it a little crazy, I'm gonna
manifest this for the NFC. I wanna say, don't do it.
I'm gonna say do it. No, you know I'm not
doing that. I'm not going there. I'm not gonna I'm
not that crazy. It's the forty niners and it's gonna
be Jimmy g Did you say that the Bills ran
out of time? The problem for the Bills last year
was there was too much time. There's twelve seconds on
the clock against the Chief Tradabus. White's a big guy.
(38:36):
They need to get back in the lineup because they
don't lose that game without their star cornerback. If their
star cornerback was in the playoffs last year, he'll start
the season on the pub list. They'll have him right.
That's gonna be a big piece for Buffalo too. Just
one little bit of insight there before a little bit
and now we have mercifully revamped postseason overtime rules, which
is wonderful, but this was great. Two guys watched them
(38:57):
on the NFL Network. Listen to them on the Around
the NFL podcast, catch the final episode of the Hard
Knocks pod, and be sure to check them out on
the forthcoming Power Ranking show. You can listen to that.
It's also streamable. These guys frankly on my on my
personal power rankings. They're very close. I'm gonna give a
slight edge to Colleen for domestic tranquility purposes edge. I
(39:19):
love you both, Dan and Colleen. Thank you for thus
Thank you just doing a podcast with the jay Z
and Beyonce of sports media. That I mean, I pinched
myself which one's Beyonce? You better say, mate, you know what?
But you said you like it's Colleen better than me.
But actually that makes sense, John, you are the Beyonce. Alright,
there we go. You're the best body. Thanks Dan, alright,
(39:40):
bye bye. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production of Sports
Illustrated and I Heeart Radio. For more podcasts from My
Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your favorite shows and for more of
Sports Illustrated it's best stories and podcasts visit SI dot com.
This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jordan Rozsieri,
(40:03):
Jessica your Moski, and Isaac Lee, who was also our
sound engineer. Our senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry
sward Out. Our executive producers are Scott Brody and me
John Gonzales. Our theme song is by Nolan Schneider. And
if you've stuck around this long, we leave you with this.
Didn't we lose John? He's left the riverside. The hostess
(40:26):
quit on the show. Now I am hugging the Internet. Urban,
very urban area
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