Would Cam Newton improve the Titans & Big Ben vs L-Jax part 2

Dave Dameshek is joined by Matt "Money" Smith, Handsome Hank and Eddie Spaghetti via video chat for a mid-week DDFP! The crew first started talking about the NHL's 24 team playoff bracket as sports are slowly coming back during the COVID-19 pandemic (8:35). Next, Shek debates with the the guys that the Tennessee Titans would have a better chance at winning a Super Bowl with Cam Newton as quarterback (15:10). Then, the group revisits Shek's hot take that he would rather have Big Ben in 2020 over Lamar Jackson (28:55). They round out the show discussing the golf match between Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (55:45).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dave. The Dave Damashi Football Program, available on the Appel
Podcast and at NFL dot com slash g DFP. Now
here's your host. Hi and hello, and welcome to the
Dave Damagecheck Football Program. I hope all as well, safe

(00:23):
and otherwise wherever you are here in my cave, Welcome
the uh Not Studio sixty six, joined as usual by
the Cowardly Quartet the rest of us, starting off with
the voice you just heard it there and you're about
to hear it again of your Los Angeles Chargers, also
one half of the great radio show Petros and Money.

(00:45):
Track it down Dot I Heart Radio. It's mout Money Smith,
what's the poop? Fellow Colonel Coward reporting for not Duty.
I think that is an accurate description of the four
of us. Excited, excited to do some some cricket battle
with hankin. I'm most excited, Dave, about you taking some
incoming on the Lamar Jackson, Big Ben uh John six.

(01:06):
We had at the end of the last pod that
I truly enjoyed that I have to be so put
it out there right at the start. Oh. I have
vexed to ac fan bases in the last seven days.
First of all with the Lamar Jackson one, We'll get
into that, and then also um Ryan Tannehill, I have
a good replacement or a good idea to elevate their

(01:29):
Super Bowl chances. Turns out a lot of Titans fans
very upset. I in fact chopped it up a little
bit with another courtet. I filled in for one Chris
Westling on Around the NFL. Go back and listen to
that podcast earlier in this weekend while we're talking about
Around the NFL, muzzle tough to West, and two Lakisha
on on Baby Lincoln. Beautiful stuff. Happy to see it,

(01:50):
especially with everything West has been through in the last
handful of years. I'm sure you're familiar with that and
so very happy for them. But to the matter at hand,
old football and QBS and all that stuff. Who better
to talk about all that stuff with? And the guy
who's going to be rooting for Tua this uh this
autumn all the way from London, England. He is our

(02:11):
resident Miami Dolphins fan. It's handsome, Hank. How are you?
I'm good and I'm hoping not to just be rooting
for two of this autumn. I'd like to take it
through the next decade or so, if that's possible with you,
because I've I've had a few Dolphins quarterbacks that have
rooted up for just for one year, uh and then
had to pull the plug hoping that that won't be
the case with this particular one. That's a good question. Actually,

(02:34):
who is Hank's favorite to a not included post Dan
Marino quarterback? Wait, I want to get someone makes so
Scott Mitchell happened during Marino? Right, Yeah, that season when
Marino he's two games. I think, right, I think there's
a favorite here. I think I think there's got to

(02:58):
be one, clear cut right right, Well, I'll tell you what.
I'll tell you one that isn't the favorite, but just well,
you guys are thinking about it. A guy that gets
left out. He's one of the whatever it is twenty
or so quarterbacks that have started between Marino who only
lasted one season but was way better than advertised and
then disappeared off the face of the planet. Was Gus

(03:18):
f Rock was going to be my guest? I was thinking,
I think he went nine and I think he went
nine and seven during his his the one season in Miami.
It's completely forgotten year. I wouldn't couldn't tell you what
year it was, or why it happened, or why he
was never brought back. Um, but but he suddenly vanished,
um having been Okay, so he's close to the top list,

(03:40):
but he's not is not there? How about this Dave?
How about Pennington? Well, I was gonna say, it's got
it's got to be Pennington. I guess you could make
a case for Feedler, but now I'm thinking about it.
Feedler in un reflection, yes, probably is the good one.
But at the time you were like, well, he's the
next guy off the Marino. This is terrible. He's he's right,

(04:03):
thoroughly average quoterback. So he never actually kept my hut.
Yeah though, well I pointed that out. I was. I
was talking about some Danny White, the successor to Roger Staubach,
and how a couple of little turns in his career
he would have been a Hall of Famer and instead
he's this weird footnote in pro football history. And it

(04:24):
reminded me of Mr Furley, of course, who is the
ultimate and how difficult it is to replace alleged Mr Furley.
Matt money Smith is of a certain age that he
remembers through his company, I trust right money. Yeah, although
I I guess for me it was tough because my
old man's favorite show was Andy Griffith. So I just

(04:44):
kind of had this I don't know, sort of television
relationship with Don knots that that I probably should have
hated Mr Furley a lot more than I did, because
you know, it's Don Knats. He's there on the TV,
and I'm excited about that. But yes, Roper far superior.
I'm not here. I'm not I'm not here to impugne
Mr Furley. It's not I'm just saying how difficult it

(05:08):
is displaced it. Yeah, I mean listen, yeah, that that's
as we've discussed, the greatest, the greatest device, or one
of the greatest devices, that's so great in fact that
in a world of copycats in comedy writing and everything else,
apparently it is just it's too golden to steal. Is

(05:30):
Mr Roper In the middle of an episode of Three's
Company would zing the misses, He would zinger, and then
he would break the fourth wall and just look at
the camera and smile and then go right back to
the scene. And I can't believe no one has ever
swiped that since then and use that themselves. But yes, anyway,
see here we go off off down Pennington, Chad Pennington,

(05:54):
anything else, anything else you want. I want to throw
one more in there, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Right, he gave you
a little dignity. He a little dignity. You're both you're
you're overlooking a very obvious answer. But yeah, I'll give
you one. If I was being if I was being
just malicious, is Ronnie Brown was probably the best most

(06:16):
effective quarterbacks when playing wildcap. But no, Ryan Tannehill is
the answer. Tannehill for all his for all of the
um ultimately disappointment. I I still hold a candle for
Ryan Tannehill. He was that one season where he got
injured and when the Dolphins went to the playoffs unexpectedly

(06:38):
with Adam Gaze, the Great Villain um as their head
coach in his rookie season with the Dolphins. Um, I
think Tannehill. People forget how well Tannehill played, probably for
an eight week span. Then he reached what everyone hoped
when they drafted him as a as a first round
quarterback he might be. And and so last year when
I saw him doing it with Tennessee I definitely wasn't

(06:59):
someone who was rooting against him. I think he's a
good human being and someone that you can root for.
He was. He's definitely the guy that I've had the
most fun rooting for. The handsome to his let's uh,
let's complete the fourth corner in our courtet here um
wearing a New York Knickerbockers. That's Sons. That's that's because

(07:26):
it's got the silver. That's exact thing when he said,
it's not that it's the bad New Knicks jersey, the
RJ Barrett it's a terrible Uh. Yeah, I'm with you
on that spaghetti you know. Do you know what? I
still bought it because r J Barrett is He's the
guy I gotta get behind. Even though I hate the

(07:46):
way that jersey looks, I don't like what they did,
I'm still gonna buy it because I gotta get my Barrett.
And I bought it from my go to Chinese whole
sales side for that much your kids in your bootlegs.
Many like the Yeah. This degraded version of a Phoenix
Sun's jersey is kind of emblematic of amri stodomy or

(08:08):
the son to the Knickerbocker, right, and I guess I
think there's uh, there's um some sort of message in there.
But was great for that. He had a stretch where
he was like an m VP candidate, not for you though,
not for the knicker There was, yeah there he had
a about a year and a half Amari had, but
it was still fools gold. It was still fools gold.

(08:29):
And Eddie would admit as much. Yeah, Hey, you know
what I really don't know, Spaghetts is um. I'm happy
to hear um that it sounds like the puck is
going to be dropped in a Stanley Cup, is gonna
be handed out in a matter of months here, I
I honestly don't know, So I'm not tweaking you if
they're not. But did the Blue Shirts make the cut?
They did, and they're really and they're part of a interesting,

(08:51):
um little issue that went on. One of the only
I think only two teams voted against this twenty four
team format, and the one of the teams was the
Carolina Hurricanes. Because the Carolina Hurricanes are playing the Rangers
in the first round. The reason why they voted know
is because the Rangers are foreign over them. This past season.
So it's looking really good for the Ranger right now.
If I'm not mistaken, I think I've kind of tuned

(09:14):
out on all the negotiations between the labor union and
the ownership and in all leagues. I hope they just
let me know when we're coming back, is is what
I want to hear. But um, I think the Penguins
are the other one because they didn't want to play
carry price of the Blue Blanche rouge between my bank.
I think that they also. So anyway, that's great news.

(09:35):
But you got, Hank, what do you got on this?
I'm excited. It reminds me I've always wanted to know.
And this is just before my NFL fandom. I believe
in the NFL, um you know, trying to trying to
bring the parallel here because of the strike entered all
the teams into kind of a knockout format, wasn't the
season was shortened and it meant that sort of it

(09:56):
was a free for rule. Is that what's happening here
with the NHL? What kind of I think I think
that I think you said at all I know was
here in southern California, the Ducks and the Kings. Somehow
managed to be like thirty three percent the teams not
included free for all. Why would they not be included?

(10:18):
They're terrible, It doesn't matter. Of the worst seven teams
in the in the NHL, and the seven worst teams
got kicked out. Yes, not that I know that. I
want to spend too long on this. But then what
about their players? So they don't get paid for the
season because their teams are bad or the But no,
I think they still got I think they I think

(10:39):
they got everything right. I think they think they have
to send their checks back in or something. What about
because the season is just Oh, I see okay? Somehow
and somehow, As a as a side note, I took
Jean Claude van Dama check out and somehow watched the
mighty Pittsburgh Penguins lose to the aforementioned l A Kings.
I don't know how that happened, but anyway, seven in
wind streak before they pulled the plug on seven in

(11:03):
a row. Interesting fact about the NHL. I don't know
if you guys know, there are only three quarters in
an NHL game. It's funny because they just don't finish it.
They're just every time They're like, let's leave it there.
I'm trying to remember, now, Handsome Hank, you go, Handsome Hank,

(11:23):
you go, obviously Miami Dolphins in Pro football. Um, you go,
Milwaukee Brewers. Yep, Beer brew Crew number one in baseball.
In hockey, I don't. I can't recall if you ever
embraced the team. I haven't embraced the team. I haven't
honestly embraced the sport. As I said, it was only

(11:44):
last year that I discovered that they only played three
of the quarters of the game. Um. So I don't
have a hockey team. I'm open to you know, anyone's
I once. Um, yeah, I've watched games, but it's never
one that that Dave and Eddie do not support. You

(12:05):
live in Los Angeles, a team that has won two
Stanley Cups in the past decade. Uh. The arena is
maybe fifteen minutes from your house. Uh, and it is
a wonderful venue to watch hockey. There's no need to
be so angry. I know it's a shot. It's a
shot at this guy who takes his son because of

(12:28):
his passion for hockey to a hockey game twice a year,
once in Anaheim, once in l A when a team
from miles away comes to town. Yes, that's what this
guy does. And although Dave just accused me or not
accuse me, mentioned that I I supported the Brewers, and

(12:48):
that was true. There was a day where when I
first arrived in the US, I was trying to pick
a baseball team, and the Brewers were playing the Padres,
and I said, this is for all the marbles, this
is this is for my fa them um and and
the brewis one. But actually I've been with Dave and
with some of other friends to to a bunch of
Dodgers games, and I would say, definitely a Dodgers fan.

(13:10):
I've never Prince wentz when when Prince Fielder left the Brewers,
he was really my guy, um and um, just because
of his heft uh and uh. And after that point
I kind of lost the monarchy. A reference to a prince, ay,
I'm only prince, a loge prince, A large prince was
what I was looking for. Well, let's talk about this.

(13:31):
I do want to talk about some Brady Peyton and
their golf buddies. I know or I assumed that Matt
money Smith was Prince fixed by day, I loved it
I loved it. You must have, especially because Tiger Woods
has your legs. Did you ever notice that I had
no idea. You know, they've always been covered up by pants.
I will say, uh as and this is this is

(13:52):
a total I'm gonna do it. I'll drop it. It's
it's the biggest interview we ever scored. We somehow because
of Tiger's The president of his charity was a fan
of our radio show. When Tiger came back to play
Riviera for the first time in like fifteen years and
became the charity host of the tournament. Uh, he inter
he was he interviewed with three people, and we were
one of the people that got to interview him. And uh,

(14:15):
it is it is very surprising, Uh when you see
Tiger up close his size, that he's kind of a
thicker guy than you would have thought. And uh he's
probably And this was It's what's funny. I was watching
Brady and Peyton Manning and I think people forget how
tall these guys are, and Tiger looks so short. Tigers
like six one, Phil Minicholson's six three and and the

(14:37):
Tiger just looks tiny next to Peyton Manning Walton around
but He's a pretty big guy, big kind of muscle.
It's a great pointed guy. It's a great point you make,
Tom Brady. You get so um so used to seeing
him and his underwear at the Combined twenty years ago,
and now he's not an athlete and all that kind
of talk. I mean, he's a tall drink of water.

(14:59):
He's six war I mean, yeah, he's a handsome devil.
He's a he's a striking figure in person. And that
brings us to the two QB questions that I wanted
to talk about. We'll go back to the golf tournament
and some other incarnations that perhaps the future holds, but
I do want to talk about these things, starting off
with the guy Handsome mentioned. First of all, I said

(15:21):
a few days ago, kind of picking up on what
I said to you Money about about the Chargers. Tyrod
Taylor is fine. I think he will in in a
world where we have achieved QB saturation. Tyrod Taylor is
absolutely in the bottom third. He's of starting quarterbacks going

(15:42):
into the season. Um, but the rosters loaded ergo. If
the Chargers really want to challenge for a Super Bowl
trip this year, especially in the division with Mahomes and
the Rising Raiders and the Rising Broncos. I submit they
should go get Cam Newton. Now, of course this requires
his medicals, check out and everything. But if they do,

(16:03):
I think he gives him a much greater chance. I
moved off of the Chargers, though, and onto the Tennessee Titans,
the reason being Ryan Tannehill is highly, highly, highly unlikely
to repeat what we saw him do in the second
half of nine. And this is coming from somebody, as
Eddie Spaghetti can attest said, if they make the switch

(16:24):
soon enough, Tannehill is capable of taken to the playoffs. Mario,
it is not. The Only question is when will Rable
pull that trigger. He did it in enough time they
got in II though, staying by what I say, Cam
Newton is better at football than Ryan Tannehill and would
elevate their chances to go into a super Bowl. And
oh boy, Tennessee Titans fans who knew there were so

(16:47):
many of them, but they're quite vexed with me for
having suggested that number one is greater than number seventeen.
Let's start with you, handsome Hank. They did the same people.
Would they upset with you when you said last year
that Tannehill was better than Mariota. They are. They just
laid onctated on whatever the current situation is. Look, I

(17:08):
don't disagree. I think the sample size shows that Cam
Newton is definitely a superior quarterback to Ryan Tannehill. And
and the question mark is obviously that we haven't seen
Cam Newton play football for twelve months or more. Um.
And that Ryan Tannehill, you know, I guess going back
to what I was saying earlier, it may not be
the perception of Ryan Tannehill I think is slightly different

(17:30):
to the reality of Ryan Tannehill. The beginning of his career,
he was underwhelming, but he has when he has stayed healthy,
and he's you know, he's got as many injury We're
only a year removed from people having serious injury concerns
around Ryan Tannehill as well. Um, But when he has
been healthy, he's put he's strung together kind of stretches
of of you know, high quality football player. I think

(17:51):
we saw that at the back end of last season
when he took his team on a you know, obviously
Derrick Henry was the catalyst for most of it, but
he took the team on on a on a journey
that not many people suspected they'd be capable of. While
it's also you know, people started shooting at me repeatedly.
The number one thing that was thrown my way on
social media was Ryan Tannehill's passer rating once he took

(18:14):
over one seventeen point whatever. And it's funny because ironically
or coincidentally, I guess somebody said I saw on social
media around about that same time Joe Flacco's passer rating
for the postseason when he took him to the super
Bowl one seventeen point whatever. It's a it's spot on,
and that's the cautionary tailor. Yes, the Ravens had the

(18:36):
sign Flacco no matter what. They no doubt knew this guy.
We're kind of been boxed into a corner here, but
he's our super Bowl hero. We must bring him back.
The Titans didn't go to the super Bowl. Blake Boardles
almost took the Jacks to the super Bowl, but he didn't.
The idea that you can to some degree hid your
quarterback in the twenty one century and still end up

(18:59):
a season hoisting the Lombardi unless everything breaks just right,
I mean, that was the Titans chance with Ryan Tannehill
as their quarterback. I do not suspect that they get
back to a Super Bowl was seventeen at the helm.
I think they need to upgrade at that position. I
know it's harsh because he was he was very good,
but he's not good enough to make them a perennial
contender for the next three to five years. Agree or disagree?

(19:22):
Matt money Smith disagree, and I think just you know,
we we play. The Chargers played the game after Ryan
Tannehill was inserted as the starter. That was his first
game as starter. And uh, in talking to you know,
some of the broadcast team, Dave McGinnis is on that
that brought you know, the former head coaches is the

(19:43):
analyst there. And then also down on the field talking
to some assistant coaches. Uh, and this was before he
took a snap as starter, right. They pointed out that
it's just, you know, with Mariota, it was just a
tick slower than Tannehill and and that that beat is
what they they were missing in that offense to to
get Corey Davis and A. J. Brown and all these

(20:05):
weapons they felt like they had that weren't really showing off.
How talented they were in the passing game because Mario
was holding the ball a little bit too long, and
sure enough, man, we saw that come to fruition in
that game and every game after. And it's it's not
necessarily you know, statistical measures or just stature or resume.

(20:27):
I think sometimes you just find someone that's the right
fit and in that particular offense where Derrick Henry is gonna,
you know, shove it down your throat for the offensive snaps,
it's all about that guy on play action and in
that moment when the defense freezes, being able to get
that ball out at the precise time. And Tannehill's very

(20:49):
good at that and proved that he was there. I
think his I think his passer rating off play action
was even another ten points higher. So I think it's
fit and and I think, you know, we we go
through this a lot, you know, on the on the pod,
and I just think you have I I believe you
have a much higher um regard for Cam Newton than

(21:09):
a lot of other people. Do. I really believe that.
I just I think you look at the postseason resume,
you look at the touchdown to interception. I mean, he's
got a losing record in the playoffs. He's got I
think a sub ninety passer rating in the playoffs, he
only had the one and even in the year he
had that run to the super Bowl, I think he
had more picks than he had touchdowns thrown. I mean, look,
he is unique. He is unlike anyone we have seen

(21:31):
or will ever see um. But I just think you
really have to have everything right for Cam to be
your quarterback and to be successful. And I think that
that leads to a change in the locker room because look,
he is a dynamic, superstar personality. He will immediately become
the alpha in the locker room and guys are going
to gravitate to him and he will be your leader,

(21:53):
and you have to be comfortable with that, right. So
I think that's I think all of that is mixed
steps why he couldn't go to Pittsburgh, you know, because
I believe it or not, Ben Roethlisberger one super bowls there,
He's one of the greatest quarterbacks of his era. Tim
Newton will immediately become the dominant personality in that locker
room just because that's that's what he is. So that
that's the danger up bringing him in and I think

(22:14):
that was that's a great point money, and I think
that was why they will probably were comfortable bringing Ryan
Tannehill because he's not that guy, and that was constant
complaint about him in Miami is he can come in,
he can be a backup guy, and then to Dave's point,
when you need him in the season, he's going to
probably especially compared with Mario, to elevate the team, Cam
Newton is is you're you're exactly He's going to pull

(22:35):
all the players towards him, and pretty soon that then
becomes potentially a toxic environment, which is not something that
the coach wants. When Bryan Tannehill, to to no extent,
has done anything kind of warranting him being yanked from
the starting lineup based on what he did last year
that I said, you look at the Titans roster. Sorry,
they just one other thing. It's very clear they need

(22:55):
a backup quarterback. If Ryan Tannehill goes down. They have
a logo in Woodside and Cole McDonald, rookie from Hawaii,
is the two backup quarterbacks. So it's you know, you,
while you probably don't want necessarily someone of the statue
of commutant to be challenging Ryan Tannehill front. Tannehill goes

(23:15):
then the Titans. You know, no one's buying a play
action with Cole McDonald. And where where you hope that? Look,
you don't hope, but you know, if it happens early enough,
then you go get Cam. Well then then then if
he's still out there, you go sign him and he
comes in and and then that to me, Dave makes sense,
but I think you bring him in now, and it's

(23:37):
just it's yeah, you know, all the players are gonna
be looking at tann and then they're gonna look at
Cam and they're be like, well, why why isn't this
guy starting? And then it's funny and it gets ugly.
I hear you, and I agree also that the personalities
are very different Mario to v. Tannehill, Tannehill v. Cam
all of that, And I agree with you also about
Ryan Tannehill, who who might be right at the top

(24:00):
of the list of that third tier of quarterbacks as
I would kind of construct it of the play action pack.
He really is gott guys qbs who are largely play
action dependent. And I know that people can debunk the
need to be able to effectively run the ball for
play action to work. But I do think Derrick Henry,

(24:22):
for what it's worth, is going to regress. He had
almost four touches history UM is not kind to guys
that have that level of workload the following season. Why
Derrick Henry is gonna buck that. I don't have an
optimistic spin for either way. It occurred to me and
I and by the way, ultimately you're definitely right. I
think at least that would be my guest money that

(24:44):
at this point Cam is gonna wait and see, oh
who's gonna get hurt? Because somebody's gonna get hurt, and
then I will go play hero in that football town.
But I also it occurred to me watching some Mike
Rabel stuff looking back at some games UM from last year,
that he kind of fits that vibe. There's something very
likable about that collection that they've got down there in Nashville.

(25:07):
And I could imagine Mike Rabel jibing with Cam and
being able to push down the negatives that you hear
about Cam in the locker room. He is a big
personality and not for everybody. Somehow, I I suspect a
guy who's an outlaw head coach type like Vrabel could
make that work. It's very twenty one century Raiders kind
of vibe. I I'm kind of reaching a little bit

(25:31):
to make some sense of it. But um, I do
want to add to Dave just real quick before we
move off of it, just because it's it's interconnected, you know.
And I've said this and people think it's like I've
got something against Derek Carr. I don't. I just I
believe that you are going to see a different Marcus
Mariota in Las Vegas. I have, you know, And it's

(25:52):
perhaps my Pact twelve bias coming out, just my my
like for the guy and everything that I know about
him from coaches that have been around him, players that
have been around him. He is easily one of the
most likable individuals playing in the NFL. Is good a
person as there is, and I think that perhaps played
against him that when Tannehill came in, he was trying
to be welcoming, and you know, I don't want to

(26:13):
view this as a threat and be a jerk. And
I think after this happened to him, in the class
in which he conducted himself after it happened, I think
He's going to feed into him getting after that job
in Las Vegas, and it's I would be floored if
it wasn't a fifty fifty split in first team snaps
in training camp, and that Mariota is just the far

(26:35):
superior quarterback to Derek Carr from a talent standpoint, from
what John Bruden wants to do taking chances down the field, um,
the ability to run, uh, the athleticism that he has.
I like, I I still believe in the second chapter
of Marcus Mariota and that that he is going to
end up being a really, really good quarterback. Well, and
I I say that the Titans with Rabel could maybe

(26:57):
kind of assume that position of the seventies Raiders Madden's Raiders,
but the O G is in fact the Raiders. And
when when I think about if you blur your eyes,
Marcus Mariota plays pro football a lot like rich Gannon did,
and that and Jon Gruden just so happened to be
the head coach back then when they were really at
the dawn of the new millennium, We're thriving. I I

(27:20):
kind of could see that not rooting against Derek Carr
at any level, it would have been fun. It would
be a fun narrative if the year after it happens
to Mariota Um in Tennessee, he goes to Vegas and
does it again. I also and also two nice guys, right,
It's it's funny that these are all nice guys go
about competition, Ryan Tannehill and Marcus Mariot tripping over each

(27:41):
other to say, oh no, you take the first snap.
And then probably the same thing happening with Mariota and
Dark car Um in Vegas. Him versus James would have
been the funniest. Again not rooting against Derek Carr, but
but Mariota and Jame Is hooking up in Vegas in
August to win the starting gig would have been That
would have been one and we would have had to
put them on hard knocks for a second straight season. Um.

(28:04):
Let's jump over then, though, to the other controversy at hand,
that that I've manufactured the hot take controversy. But I
think actually money, I think money manufactured this for you thing. No,
you doubled down on it. I listened to you on
the NFL podcast and you managed to somehow double down
on your bad thinking. Can let me just say something
because as soon as we wrapped with with the around

(28:26):
the NFL fellas, I I said, just I I said,
I think you know that I'm not a hot taker
for the sake of just throwing out path to see
if I can get some heat for it. I I
would love to not be charged with like, you're so
delusional that you would take thirty eight year old Roethlisberger
over the reigning m v P. At least I can

(28:49):
tell you. You can call me crazy, but I can
tell you I'm not driving you that I would again
to calling you crazy, you're calling you a unabashed home
or that's not Yes, it is. I would take a
lot of other reason. There can't be another reason. Okay,

(29:10):
how about Matt Stafford. How about I'll take Matt Stafford
over him? Is that a hotter take if you remove
my royalties? Because he is the reigning MVP with the
best record in the league last season, the most exciting
player in all of football, who gets to play offense
on a team that has one of the great from

(29:32):
front to back defenses in the league. It's funny because
we're talking about because it's the same thing as the
Ryan Tannehill argument. It is it's more difficult to assume
the position that I am taking, which is, yes, I
know what you just saw five months ago. It doesn't
mean it's going to repeat itself a five months from
now is the same. We didn't see anything from the

(29:53):
guy that you're comparing it too. We didn't see saying
about that. Actually, actually yes we did it. We did.
We saw a zero and two wreck and him looking
terrible before we haven't seen. You can't say, well, I'm
going to throw out the one guy who was the
m v P slust five months, but the other guy
who we didn't see play for twelve months, that doesn't matter,
and he's going to be better. It's just it's insane.

(30:15):
It is such a specific offense that they're running. And
if you assume that that that that league wide, the
defenses will figure out how to do the so called
East West that the Titans did to them in that
divisional round, and then Lamar is gonna have a sane

(30:35):
Are you just saying that Lamar is a system quarterback
and then when you pull him out of the system,
he cannot Oh, this is what I know is here's
the thing you did this to me all last year

(30:57):
so it is. It is coming right at you right now.
First of all, that's that that thank you for reminding
me of that. Yes, the fact that I seem like
a lunatic ignores the fact that that spaghetti Again, What
what did I say? All through July, August, September last year?
Look out for this Lamar Jackson offense. It's gonna it's

(31:17):
gonna storm the NFL. My only concern is can the
defense in Baltimore support it? It ended up being better
than what I expected it to be. That's the that.
But I did think that the offense was gonna be
a revelation. I also thought it was gonna be a
one year one off. To their credit, they built that offense.
You couldn't half ask that what they what they did
with Lamar Jackson. Now, though I'm not sure where they

(31:40):
go if defenses rise up and that Jared Goff and
the mighty Sean McVeigh offense had no answers to what
the NFL defenses did to them a year ago. After
all the songs and poems written about the boy genius
and the Super Bowl run, the Rams were destrian at

(32:00):
best a year ago. Why will those same defenses those
same defensive coordinators who have spent this entire offseason sequestered
studying what Lamar Jackson and company did last year? Why
will they not be able to solve something and force
Lamar and company to do something different? And how do
we have any idea well, Lamar Jackson's ability to respond

(32:21):
to that will be any better than we did well.
Jared Goff's failed failed ability to do it was this
past season? Did you feel that way about Pat Mahomes
and Andy Reid in the Kansas City Chiefs? So I'm
saying season people said, Okay, we've had a year to
see it. Now you kind of know what Pat Mahomes
does really well. Defenses are going to have an opportunity

(32:42):
to adjust. You saw what the Patriots did to them
in the a f C Championship game. Let's and what
do you do. He's a supreme talent. He's able to
overcome it, and he proved that he's arguably the best
talent in the league right now. And then that's the question,
how many times we had this conversation? Money? I grew
loving college football because let wait, that's why we brought

(33:07):
this conversation to your house. It's like, look, what they're
doing nothing, but now hello already, come on, come on,
can I come here? Did you miss Week seventeen with
a with a potential playoffs spot on the line for

(33:28):
the Steelers and they just got whipped there. The door
already got kicked down in the a f C. North.
It's not that would be retroactive for me to say,
let's stabilize the door, like there's no door anymore, old man,
it's already got wiped out. It was, it was decimated.
My point is, Patrick, the reason I loved college football
growing up again from a distance objectively, of course, my

(33:50):
loyalties to my various teams. Notwithstanding, college football in my
youth was superior to pro football on some level because
of the variation in offense. There was wishbone down in
the Big Gate and and passed first in in the
State of Florida and Pac ten, and there was grinded
out three yards and the dust in the Big ten
and so on. That captive that was captivating to me

(34:13):
versus the sameness of pro football and how good uh
your skill position guys were was the difference back then.
Now it's inverted completely. Everything is spread in college almost
even I mean even Stanford at this point, and and
pro football is now the home to look at what
the Baltimore Ravens are doing versus how the Kansas City

(34:36):
Chiefs get it done. It remains, though, that there are
very few exceptions of that kind of very specific kind
of offense where your quarterback is running first and so
on of that leading to Lombardi victories that you give
me no pleasure to say that that's the case, but
go through history and disprove it. I mean that Russell

(34:58):
Wilson ran around some, but that's about as close as
you Steve Young ran around. It was was quick to
take off with the ball. I mean, that's about as
clothes as you're gonna get in the last forty years
where the football pro football. I think what happens in
in in the NFL is um as as you point out.
You know, there's a reason why every team for the

(35:19):
most part, runs the same offense because it's the one
that works best. And I think what you saw Baltimore,
do you know, I don't think there's look is it
different than the rest of the league. Yes, but it's
different because of how ridiculously fast and talented Lamar Jackson
is and that threat that he has. But I think
you saw last year, like just think about Cliff Kingsbury
in Arizona, right and where he started out, where he's

(35:42):
running ten perconnel. He's got four whiteouts for the majority
of his steps. And as the season goes on and
he's moving the ball between the twenties, and as soon
as he gets into the red zone, he can't do
squat because he recognizes, Okay, well this isn't gonna work.
And before you know it, now he's running more eleven
and then starts to run a little bit more twelve.
And I think that what you're starting to see in
the league is a lot more to tight ends on

(36:04):
the field, even a fullback, because of what's happened. It's
kind of it's just the pendulum, right, Oh, we're gonna
run ashean McVeigh and all this pre snap motion, these
jet sweeps and it's all you know, it's all eleven
and there's three wide receiver. Well that what you see
towards the end of last year, when when the Rams
started to play a little bit better, it's a lot
more too tight end sets. Uh. It's basically all that
the Forts were doing or at least they have the

(36:26):
fullback out there and use check and kittle um and
I think you're gonna see a lot more of that
this year. And I think what the Ravens did was
they're like, Okay, you wanna you want to play a
lot of nickel against us or even some dime like
And in the case of the Chargers in that playoff game,
seven defensive backs, well, guess what, here's thirteen personnel with
Lamar Jacks and we are going to beat the living
crap out of you. And I think now you'll see

(36:48):
and I think that's why you saw kind of the
draft play out the way it did, where more inside
linebackers were drafted in the first round and they were
talking about, you know, the just unleashing these weapons like
Isaiah Simmons and Kenneth Murray and Patrick Queen because they
gotta counter that. So I think what happens with Lamar
is to some degree kind of where I think the
league is gonna go. And I think you'll see a

(37:09):
lot of that this year and even and just to
make a long, you know, kind of comment longer, I
think what Kyle Shanahan did in bringing or not bringing
back but at least putting the spotlight back on that
wide zone and the Alex gives offense of of the
Denver hey day. A lot more teams are gonna start
running that. I know for a fact the Chargers are.
I mean I talked to Anthony Lynn about it, and

(37:30):
he said exactly. He's like, I'm getting back to what
one Super Bowls when I played, and and we're gonna
start We're gonna do zone blocking this year. We're gonna
change it up and and we're gonna do what I
think works. And I think that's a product of watching
it works so well, uh in San Francisco even the
Raiders were doing a lot of it last year. Um,
and I think a lot of that as a product
of what the Ravens were able to accomplish, you know,

(37:51):
with a rookie and a and a second year quarterback.
I I you listen, I hear you. I mean the
copycat stuff obviously is nothing new. As we predicted in November,
some teams would start talking about Taysom Hill like maybe
he could lamar Jackson. It stop with the nonsense. He
is one of one in the NFL who is able

(38:12):
to do that. And I'm not I'm just Taysom Hill.
Like the idea that you're just gonna go out and
find a Taysom Hill. You've ever when you get down
on a field and you see Taysom Hill, it's like, oh,
that that guy is six ft three thirty pounds and
runs a freaking four four or five forty. Like, there
aren't a lot of guys that big, that's strong. They
can they can do what he does either, So like

(38:33):
that's what's funny to me. It's like, oh, we'll just
we'll get We'll get our own Taysom Hill. Oh yeah,
that's that's They're they're everywhere guys. But what it's interesting
you say what works, and that the specificity of offense
to some degree, tailoring an offense sure um to a
quarterback and that balance of you as an offensive coordinator

(38:55):
must bury your ego. This is what I've learned from
enough football guys over the years, is if you try
to jam a quarterback and your players into what you
want to do, it's probably gonna be diminishing returns as
you go along. If you can build it around what
you have, And again that's the brilliance of what the
Ravens did. They realized, Okay, we dipped our toes in

(39:17):
these waters, and we either go back to Flaco or
we roll with Lamar. But if we're rolling with Lamar
in and beyond, we gotta we gotta play to what
he does. I though, I remained skeptical, and I don't
mean to sound like an old man, because I would
love for the wishbone to thrive in the I wish
there were different offenses all over. I just haven't seen

(39:37):
a ton of evidence that you can shake up the
way things work. And why what do I think about
Patrick Mahomes. I think he has an arm that defeats
best intentions of anybody. If you have fast guys out there,
he's gonna be able to defeat you with just raw
physical ability. I suspect that Lamar Jackson's gifts don't lend

(39:57):
themselves to three pound guys who are almost as fast
as he is chasing after him. I mean, he's built
like you, money, he's a little taller than you. I
wouldn't I wouldn't want you. And he's not he's not.
He's a little. He's a little slight, he's a little
narrow shouldered. Um. But I think it goes back to
kind of the point you know that that came up

(40:19):
with r G three is he's got to learn how
to get down, how to not absorb contact, and I
think Lamar Jackson is a pretty good job of that.
Of me definitely, then shots square. Now that the one
thing that I that I would push back on is, remember,
this is a guy that threw what what was it
thirty it was it was over thirty I think it
might have been over thirty five touchdown passed last year.
So it's not like, I know, the yards weren't eye popping,

(40:42):
but the touchdowns are there because of the threat of
him running and the resources you have to commit defensively
to stringing that thing out horizontally so he can't find
the vertical lanes. And and I think you look at
the you know, Hollywood Brown and drafting him, and you know,
a lot of people think he's gonna take that a
this year because he was injured so much last year.

(41:02):
I mean, he's got now legitimate tight end, legitimate receivers, um,
I think, so they can continue to pound the snot audio.
I mean, I think it is a pretty balanced you know,
it's a pretty balanced offense for something that regularly gets
tagged as oh, it's it's you know, like you said,
it's like the old T formation or they're running the

(41:23):
wishbone out there, which it really it is, because that's
the strength, right, that's the when the chips are down,
that's what they're gonna go to. And they I think
they've proven in their losses, specifically the playoff game and
the playoff game against the Chargers, is it's an offense
that is not built to come from behind, and that
they struggle when it becomes one dimensional and they have
to pass. That's a bad that's a bad approach. That

(41:46):
the negative of that offense. But that's a Madger. That's
a major negative. First of all, I will just say
not that not that I'm wishing for this to happen,
but I keep saying that too much. So now people
are going to the synics are gonna say, you're saying
it too much. Now. I think you do want it
to happen, But no, it is weird for a guy,
especially because the north Well listen, if if he dominates,

(42:08):
then good for him. I'm not wishing he's a plainly
a nice kid. I'm not wishing any ill on on
the guy um, but he does. I mean, for what
it's worth, just as I completely agree with you that
the elusive thing and talking the football guys over the year,
they have no better answer than I do, except that
Michael Vick and RG three were too competitive to know

(42:28):
when to get down. But Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, those guys
never got blown up. And r G, I mean, and
Lamar Jackson hasn't gotten blown up. They have some weird
intuition about like now's the moment to go down, But
Lamar Jackson comes to a literal stand still on the
football field sometimes like he does that, he does the
madador like oh they like, stops and then goes and

(42:49):
starts running it. I just think he's gonna get smacked
at some point and he ain't built the to uh
to handle that kind of a thing. But also, as
I always say, I mean, really, I remember any you
might be old enough to remember this when Oklahoma and
Miami would meet in the Orange Bowl or whatever and
the national title was on the line there or Notre

(43:10):
Dame would play those great Miami teams. This like Tony
Rice kind of like wishbone kind of attack option kind
of offense. The limitation is well that it doesn't do
well when you have to come from behind. Well, that's bad.
When you play good teams, like you're gonna trail to
good teams in the playoffs, you're not playing. You don't
get to play the Jacksonville Jaguars every week in the playoffs.

(43:30):
You play good teams in the postseason. And that's what
happened to them. I also say that the at worst,
the Ravens would have gotten to the title game if
things would have broken a little bit differently for them.
But and they really should have, but they didn't, and
they panicked. If they can respond here the two that
the things to play Devil's damn scheck to myself at

(43:53):
Arrowhead early in the season, and then in that Tennessee game,
you got a sense like if they just stick with
what you want to do, and that's how you're gonna
come back in these games. If you try to throw
it around and change who you are, that's when you're
gonna get sideways. If they just stick with it and
they fall ten points down early, they got to just
keep grinding. Maybe that is their salvation. I'm with you,

(44:14):
though they have the tight ends and you know the
two tight end sets if if those become ubiquitous, they
already were in Baltimore. And that is why Lamar Jackson
was able to do it. If you have to focus
your efforts on slowing down the run game and he
can pitch it up the scene to one of those
tight ends, Mark Andrews. I mean the whole season was
that it just seemed like, over and over again, it

(44:35):
was some play action, uh, fifteen yards downfield to Mark Andrews.
No answer for it. Um, I just I would put
a button on it like this. Going back to the
original question of Ben Roethlisberger versus we got we got
sideways with the whole Conversa's okay, I would say, Uh,
I would ask every defensive coordinator in the league who

(44:57):
would you rather prepare for in two in twenty you're
playing the Steelers. Who would you rather have to get
your defense ready to play Ben Roethlisberger or Lamar Jackson?
And I would say, out of the thirty one defensive coordinators,
twenty five of them are going to say I'd rather
have him prepared for Ben Roethlisberger in in summer. But

(45:20):
the but you become a victim of your success when
it's that exotic because everybody starts to mimic what you
do and then it's no longer special. Yes, the actually
we're talking about the individual, and I don't think you
can mimic what he does. I think the money's point
you can't mimic it. The one place you can, you
can run that. You can run that offense, though it'll

(45:42):
be a diminished version of what you do. But but
if you get familiar with that look and you see
it more regularly than when the Ravens are coming to town,
then you're more equipped to handle it. Right, I mean
that makes sense. I mean it's a it's a much
smiller look. I'm not trying to draw a parallel between
these two exact situations, but at first kind of that
that that sort of way of looking at something jumped
out at me Um with the Chargers, and when we

(46:05):
would be talking about, you know, with the with the
opposition coaches and stuff, and I'd be done on the
field with DJ and every single defensive coach would say
the same thing. Man that Austin Ekeler, what do you
what do you do? I can't that the guy you
see that that move that he had the outside he's
got a double move and the guy's catching these slants
on the inside and then you try to slow Not
one of them would say, Man, that Melvin Gordon. I

(46:27):
don't know what we're gonna do with it, like not one.
And that's when you knew, Like we were like, oh,
are they gonna bring Melvin back next year? And it's like,
I don't know if it's based on the defensive coaches
that we talked to before the game, they're a hell
of a lot more concerned about Austin Ekeler than they
are Melvin Gordon. That's the one guy that they bring
up more often than anybody else because of his versatility, strength,
ability to shake off contact, break tackles and do everything,

(46:51):
and the way he catches the football and like that's that.
To me, it was just sort of this moment where
it's like, oh, well that's that's a pretty easy way
to figure out what you should be doing off pensibly
is what what has the defense concerned the most going
into it? Like for the Chiefs, st kill, Hell, you'renna
doing that guy? You know what, I don't know that
guy gets loose, it's over, you know, So okay, well,

(47:12):
now you gotta commit to resources to him. Okay, well,
now we have to worry about Travis Kelsy. Oh and then,
by the way, Pat Mahomes is going to extend the place,
So it really doesn't matter because your defense is gonna
be twisted into a pretzel and he's gonna find the
open man. I mean, that's that's what we're talking about.
It's really interesting because, I you know, to try and
couch it in twenty one century pro football terms, Belichick's

(47:33):
Patriots have screwed up everything. And and maybe my perception
or your perception impacted by that, because what you're getting
at is I'm a pedigree snob. Talent wins. What's scary
is what you have to worry about. And then that
opens things up for everybody else. That the Patriots did
it with Danny Woodhead and Shane Vereen and Julian Edelman

(47:56):
has thrown the whole thing has made it all a mystery,
like how you do everybody else is talent dependent. The
reason that the Chiefs finally got over is to your point,
they had Travis Kelsey, antireek Kill and Patrick Mahomes and
maybe the Ravens are just so loaded your right that
they'll be able to able to overwhelm. But I I
go back to not just because it's old man and

(48:16):
I've seen it with my eyes. There are no more adjustments.
The game of cat and mouse between Roethlisberger and defensive
coordinators is over with. Now we know what he's gonna do.
They know what he's gonna do. He knows what he's
gonna do. Now stop it. I am more suspect of
what is the second year of this revolutionary offense gonna
look like. After the last time we saw it, the

(48:37):
Tennessee Titans, which is not a world class defense, completely
shut it down. What have they been able to pick
up or not have the defensive coordinators picked up from
that one sixty minute stretch that they can apply now
to stopping Lamar Jackson In so anyway, I think my
response to that that would be almost the same thing.
I think when you asked us this time last year,

(48:58):
you'll go to questions summer was what's going to be
with Lamar Jackson this season? And I think I said
at the time, fact I remember I did say at
the time, I think they're the type of team that
flies through the regular season and we'll do great and
and hit the hit the postseason, and everyone will expect
them to be hot. When you get into the postseason
and you're playing in January and you're playing against obviously
the best teams in the league and most importantly the

(49:20):
best defenses, I think that's where those kind of teams
come up short. We were joking earlier on about Ronnie
Brown and the Wildcat was the same thing. That was
an offense that caught fired during the season and was
able to you know, people hadn't seen it before and
worked quite sure how to shut it down, although I
think it got shut down quicker than this because it
doesn't obviously didn't have the same skill as and talent
involved as the Ravens do. But when it gets to

(49:43):
the playoffs, it's hard, especially to come from behind with
that offense, as you said, and especially if you have
to really you know, if if the passes secondary and
and you're really you can only pass, or your passing
becomes more effective at the end of games, which is
actually where most teams then want to be running the
game to to win. We're running the ball to win. Um.

(50:06):
I just think that's probably what the story will be until,
you know, unless their defense becomes until it's not and
until their defense really because if their defense becomes one
of the league's five best defenses, which it isn't wasn't
far off last year, and and and certainly has the
talent to be, and based on the pedigree of that
team and who they draft and getting Patrick Queen in

(50:26):
the first round, that's where their defense holds up. Then
I think you know they're going to become that first
team to your point, that doesn't beyond into the super
the defense is. I mean you always hear about complimentary
offensive that as much as anybody in the league, they
they have to have a good defense. And because the
double down of frustration to the other sideline of like, man,

(50:49):
they're taking nine minute drives on us, and their defense
is three analities, we get the ball back because that
that allows then it to be ten nothing for teen
nothing in the blink of an eye. Or you know,
early in the second quarter you feel like, man, where
did where's this game going already? And we're already down
two scores. I hear you again. I go back to

(51:10):
ask Jamal Holloway, Barry Switzer and all those Oklahoma Sooners
or or Tom Osborne and his Nebraska teams. When you
get up against you know, Vinny testaverdes Um you and
you're playing Michael Irvin and and this high end offense,
like there's just no wiggle room. You can't. If you
don't sustain drives against that, they're gonna jump you, They're

(51:32):
gonna score on you, and then you have to play
catch up. It works against Kansas Jayhawks, it doesn't work
against Florida State. You know, not not not to help
you out of here in this mess that we have created.
It has been so wildly entertaining Dave. But to me,
like you know, Hank touched on it, the pushback for
for Ben over Lamar is I'm projecting Ben's gonna be healthy.

(51:56):
I'm projecting the Steelers are gonna get into the playoffs,
and in the playoffs, Lamar Jackson has not just failed,
he has failed miserably. The guy has thrown I think
I know he threw a pick and fumbled three times
against the Chargers, and I think he threw two interceptions
last year against the Titans and might have had a
fumble in that game as well. So I'm guessing it's

(52:17):
probably somewhere in the four to five fumbles and two
to four interception range. Where when they needed their quarterback
to play at the level he played in the regular
season in the playoffs he did not. And that is
the one thing with that offense, and you just said it,
those are this is not a quick strike offense, believe
it or not. Even though some of those regular season

(52:37):
games against inferior competition they're putting fifty burgers on the board.
These are long, sustained drives, a lot of mesh that
create turnovers, a lot of you know, a lot of play.
The more plays, the more opportunity for turnovers. So that
would be if there is one, you know, if there's
one sort of space to occupy, that would be the

(52:58):
one is is Hank said, tell you show me to
do in the playoffs, then I'm gonna assume you can't.
And here's the numbers of you in the postseason against
good defenses. The Chargers defense that was really good going
to that wildcard game. In the Titans defense, it was
pretty darn good going into that divisional round and they
got the best of you. And you can't say that
about Ben, you know, for the most part, in the postseason.
The reason why the guy's got a couple of Super

(53:19):
Bowl championships. I mean the at bottom line, I had
to really put a button on it. I feel like
the this is seems like a massive overstatement, and perhaps
it is. But to me the a f C. If
if it's the Kansas City Chiefs, heavy favorite, the number
one team that everybody would point to, I imagine that

(53:41):
has a chance of taking them down, it's the Baltimore Ravens. Ergo,
how easy is it to replicate what the Titans did
if you don't have Jurrell, Casey and uh and Simmons
there in the middle, Because that was everything that they
were able to that they did that for that sixty minutes.
That's why that. Can you do it with league average

(54:04):
pieces or do you need to really be able to
just say? One thing you're not doing is running to
pass these two pound mooses who can move um anyhow?
All right, So that's that, Eddie Spaghetti, Is this all right?
We're just about done? I think it's great. I think
you had to address the the elephant of the room,

(54:24):
of the Lamar Jackson stuff in the room, since that
was pretty much the Twitter buzz with you for the week,
and the Tannehill stuff too, So it's fine. I hope
you guys had an enjoyable I know, moral days like
a hot topic. You can't say happy more all day.
But I hope you grilled wieners and stuff like I did.
So you know what I did, I will, I will
tell you we um uh. This new show on Food

(54:47):
Network Gamy Schumer. Her husband is a chef and he
makes pretty easy dishes that even I can make. And
he put together some baked wings and I said, you
know what, those look easy and delicious. I'm gonna try.
I did, and they were delicious. They were delicious. It's
a it's a fun um show. Everybody else had a
good Memorial Day, handsome You don't, well you acknowledge that, right, Well, yeah,

(55:12):
that's one American holiday I can get behind. It's not celebrating,
you know, the one embarrassing, embarrassing playoff losses by by
the UK, not the one in five six weeks from
now though, that's not that one though not that important.
You know that that was similar to Lamar Jackson, you know,
not not coming up to the you know, cruise through
the regular season, but then when it came to the big,

(55:34):
big battle if you like um, you know, falling short.
So um yeah, money money. Let's wrap it up real
quick here some quick thoughts. First of all, the Big
Golf Tournament, your takeaway, kudos to the broadcast. I think
you know what they perhaps learned from the DJ Rory m.

(55:56):
I would describe it as a bit of a debacle
is don't puke over. You know, the natural sound of
these guys talking amongst one another, the trash talking, the strategy. Uh,
that's part of what makes golf entertaining, and you don't
get access to it regularly, if at all, during the
PGA tournaments weekend and week out. So that we got
to hear a little bit of everything, a little bit

(56:18):
of the trash talking from Tiger, you know, Goose and
Brady about hitting the drive. Oh I got on a fairway,
the seventh fair way. Just little stuff like that. That's
fun to needle your buddies. If you're playing golf, you
get that. Phil, you know, crazy brain over analyzing every
shot tells you exactly why he's going to chip the
ball in a tight lie. But because it's raining, it's
not gonna skid and stop, so I'm gonna be able

(56:39):
to hit it a little bit soft, and then it
goes to three inches from the hole. You get that.
And then the fact that every rich guy in America
is throwing money at Tom Brady because he's so bad
just to get it on the green, to get apart,
to get a burdy. I mean it was. It really
had everything. And then there was a bit of a
redemption story there for Brady. You know, he holds out
with a wedge. He plays much better on the back nine.

(57:00):
I think, just kind of the the very um calculated
approach by both Tiger and Peyton, who were very similar
in their approach, you know, very quick with their decision making.
You know what, what's my speed, where's my angle? What
am I hitting it too? All right, let's go executed. Um.
It was pretty funny I think to watch, you know,
some of these great quarterbacks and these you know except

(57:20):
these exceptional quarterbacks, some of the best who have ever
played the game. And the same with Golf and Phil
and Tiger partner up um and how they approached you
know what I what ended up being. You know, they
won one up on eighteen, a very competitive match. Um,
I'm with you. It was fun. It was a good diversion.
I didn't see all of it, but I and this

(57:40):
isn't me being cynical about the product, but what it
said to me more than anything, forget about the specifics
of what happened there, and what it shows to me
is baseball is making a terrible um mistake not figuring
this thing out. And if you later, if you thought
that that golf tournament was one and I understand that

(58:01):
star power makes a huge difference, but also the opportunity
before my beloved puck right now is is monstrous. If
they can get out there and there's no baseball going,
people are going to be if it's anything close to
what it is currently, If people are shut in and
desperate for any sporting event, hockey has a real chance

(58:21):
and basketball is gonna bury baseball. Baseball is already three
in the hierarchy if we don't count the college sports.
I don't maybe this is a little bit of a stretch.
I don't know that hockey speaks to giant swass of America,
but I think it. I mean, baseball, with its preciousness
about the like don't flip a bat, don't don't show joy,

(58:44):
and all those dumb rules, but like they can't come
out and play ball when everybody else is doing it
in contact sports is gonna be a black eye for
the sport. And I I really do think. I think
in ninety four the cal Ripken aspect of the big
comeback UM not ninety four after the strike, that people
were so transfixed by that and had been following it

(59:05):
for so long that cal Ripken was eventually going to
break umlue garage record. That people watched it and it
was such a charming kind of uh deed and career
long achievement that everybody was like, baseball, pretty nice, pretty nice,
and they got back into it, and then and then
beyond that, Sosi maguire and all that that. I don't
know what's gonna save it this time around. There will

(59:26):
have to be uh an event on the other side
that brings everybody back, because I think this is gonna
be a bad look for it. Handsome, let's suck pro
football very quickly. Here your thoughts on the proposed fourth
and fifteen player. I guess it's not fourth and fifteen.
It's a fifteen yard play to get the ball back
to replace the on side kick UM as a way

(59:50):
for teams to try and play catch up late in
the game. I love it. I think it's a great idea,
partly because I don't remember the last time I saw
an on side kick. I think the last on site
kick I saw success fully happen was was Sean Payton
Surprise one in the Super Bowl. But anytime on side
kick is lined up as an on side kick, I
don't know what is it? Like is recovered NFC Title

(01:00:13):
game Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson is wildly different if
that on site? If you around, you understand that it
doesn't happen often. So I think I think it's a
nice idea to make the games more competitive. The question
I think I have is I believe the way it's

(01:00:35):
been set up so far is that you could only
do it twice in a game. What if you're down
by twenty one point? What if you convert two of them?
Then what happens? You just have to kick off to
the other team normally? Yeah? Or can you do it?
Can you still do an on side kick? I don't
know what you know? You can try to kick? I
think those rules still apply. I don't like this, Demmickree,

(01:00:57):
it's it's it's it's how completely side a gimmick. No,
it's it isn't it's a it's a kicker doing a
ball trick, right, It's that's that that's masically what it is.
I mean, it's it's out of the same formation. It's
at least it's out of the same formation this is,
but it's still a gimmick. It's like, Hi, my kicker
has got to be able to pound this ball to

(01:01:18):
that spot on the ground, get it to bounce up
high enough. So my guys, you know what I mean. Like,
I think both of them are gimmicks. The one like,
I'm a fan of it. I got to see it,
call it and I hate to bring it up because
m but I got to see it in the Alliance
of American Football a couple of times, and I was like, oh,
this is much better than the than the than the
the onside kick. I think they I don't think either

(01:01:39):
of them worked, but it was fun to watch compared
to line it up for an onside kick nowadays that
we're like, yeah, whatever, this ain't gonna work. I don't know,
I I really am. I guess there's my kicks just
a waste of my time. I don't think I'm I
guess I must actually be a curmudgeon deep down. Maybe
I guess I don't know because I don't like I

(01:02:00):
don't like that, but I also don't like the d H.
I mean it just things like that, you know what
I would go for legitimately though, to not be a
complete old jerk is What was great from the original
XFL was that instead of a coin flip that you
that I think it was like from your goal line,

(01:02:20):
from the opposite goal lines. They would yeah, they would
say go and you would race to whoever got the
ball first. Got I think we should do that. Now.
That's fun, that's that's not a gimmick understanding. That's bringing
money on. We're bringing loose change on the field to

(01:02:42):
make important lineman. If you if the other team had
to nominate the guy that raced for you for the opposition,
so you'd say, right, I'm choosing your defensive tackle, and
then they'd say I'm choosing your God, that would be fine.
I'd watch it. But I'm not just putting like Tyreek
Hill uses whoever your fastest guy is. It's sort of
a well one conclusion at some point, well, by your

(01:03:02):
by your standard, you've ben doesn't this heavily favor the
Kansas City Chiefs over the Baltimore Ravens. Is a for instance,
who's more likely to convert a fourth and fifteen? Well,
I would say there is another's more likely. Jack Devin
all Day Man. Uh is when we when we kicked

(01:03:25):
this around on the radio show, Petro Say, a former
football player, I thought, brought up the best defense against it,
and he said, uh, he said, never in football should
someone just be given the ball. He said that that's
that That's that's my issue. You can't that that team
does not score a touchdown and then oh, by the way,
here's the football. Go ahead, no matter what the stakes

(01:03:47):
are against them. You have to earn that football back.
The defense has to earn possession back for its offense.
And the fact that that that exchange doesn't happen but
instead it's just the awarding of a football to the
team does not work for me. He's like that that
that possession of a ball is something that should be
earned and uh and not not handed out. Well, that's

(01:04:07):
why I was like, that's that's very that's that's a
very good defense of keeping the on side kick that Hey,
your kickoff team has got to earn the ball back
and figure it out. However, you gotta kick it if
you want to boot it off some guy's head, or
you want to pound it into the ground, it's it's
your duty to earn the football back for your foot.
Well that's why I I don't even like college footballs
over time, which which is maybe my ultimate curmudgeon take.

(01:04:29):
Besides the fact that I don't love march madness. Um.
I love the excitement, I just don't think it's the
greatest way to determine your champion. Um. But that is
a side note. Why can't any of these kickers figure
out how to kick a line drive like a chess
level line drive ten yards? That right, nobody's straightened hot
as you can the opposition. Nobody could get that one

(01:04:51):
that no one's no one's ever done. Not to sound
like like, hey, has anybody ever thought about washing the
pp you know and then reusing it. It's the same
sort of like, Wow, what an ingenious idea that no
one's ever thought of. But kickers have had to have
tried that before. But I find it remarkable that nobody
can kick a line drive with a football anyhow, the

(01:05:11):
you know, coaches are so conservative. What if they catch
it and suddenly they put the ball on on your whatever,
that's that's probably not not a good thing. Um, all right,
we've we've waxed more than enough for another day, another
great time. Thank you as always to the great mat
money Smith, Handsome Hank Hodgson and Eddie Spaghetti. It's been

(01:05:33):
a gay time these last few months chopping it up
with you and uh, you know, we'll we'll keep it's
down the line, right fellas exactly right, I hope, So
don't hold your breath. We'll see now, all right. So um,
we'll be back with more hooey and apple sauce later
on in the meantime. Thanks so much, football fans, it's

(01:05:55):
been a thin slice of heaven.