A GM’s Perspective with Michael Lombardi

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
From the King of sports Books comes the Key sports
podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Ferrara and Olivia Harland Decker. Welcome to Unleashed. The sports

(00:31):
calendar is absolutely packed. Oh my gosh, last weekend, Jerry,
it was a lot. I was kind of overwhelmed. I'm
not gonna lie. The college football chaos, some NFL playoff
type games, all these quarterback injuries that could affect some seasons,
some betting. Were you overwhelmed? I was overwhelmed, but I
couldn't help but think of you because you also were
working this weekend, so you throw that into a full

(00:54):
NFL and college slate. I was perusing Instagram. I saw
you doing that. We call that like the home a loan.
You're home alone in it through the airport. Yeah, so
you must have been. Oh god, I was home alone
in it. I worked the SEC Championship game, which I
do every year for like five or six years. I
love working that game. My alma Maters Georgia, so it's

(01:15):
really fun. They're usually in the game. Five of the
last six years they've been in the game, but they'd
only one once leading up to this weekend, So it's
so exciting. It been since since Georgia had won, despite
winning a national championship since then, so they had lost
in this game. It had just evaded them. So it's
really fun and like really sweet to get over that
hump um and just the game was really exciting. Uh.

(01:39):
One of my favorite moments if I can for a minute,
just because this was a fun weekend for me. Uh,
there's this really good defensive player for Georgia named Christopher Smith,
and he blocked a field goal and l s U
started getting off the field. They thought, you know, it's
going to be a turnover, and he just stands there
for a minute. He pauses. I don't know if he
saw it on social media, and then he starts running.
He takes it all the way into the house. And

(02:02):
during the game, I'm on my phone and I see
this clip is going viral. Of the Georgia coaches in
the press box and they're going no, no, no, no yea.
And so in my postgame interview as the first person
to talk with Christopher after the game, and I said,
when you get back to the locker room and you
get on your phone, you're going to see that there's
this clip going viral, and I told him about it.

(02:23):
He was shocked, and so it's just a really fun moment.
But then I had some key shift moves to do.
I leave Mercedes Benz Stadium, which is in downtown Atlanta,
and I'm going to Hartsfield Jackson, and you know, I
want to get home to see my baby. I want
to wake up at home tomorrow. It's just different when
you got a kid. It really is. I used to
be able to stay on the road forever. Now I'm
dying to get home, and I look at my phone.

(02:47):
It says we'll get there in like thirty minutes. My
flight boards in fifteen. I made my I made my flight.
I made my flight. I still don't know how that
was physically possible, because my flight was boarding as I
was in traffic, and anyone who knows that airport, it's
a mess. It's huge. You had to get some lucky

(03:07):
breaks along the way. I'm guessing you didn't check a
bag right, carry on nor carry on. Your gate couldn't
have been too far from security, right. Sometimes you get
like a twenty minute walk. It was at b gates,
And again, we're really in the weeds. Here Cardsfield Jackson.
When you going through South Security, I mean it goes

(03:28):
all the way to f so B. I got a
little lucky. I only had two of those like train stops.
But then I was at the end of the concourse.
That's when I had a home alone it and I
was in heels, Jerry, I was in heels and my
roller bag. I was in like a blazer, like I
was in like a full work woman outfit. And I'm
just Lookingna And you can tell my voice is still
a little bit gone because working that game, you're just

(03:49):
so excited and you're extending your voice over the crowd.
But it was a really, really great weekend. I can't
believe I made my flight. And that was the most
well deserved can of wine I've ever had in a
pasta cup on that flight. That that one tasted really good. Yeah,
I I enjoyed this weekend a lot. Obviously, the Giants
Commander's game was interesting. With the time we'll get into

(04:12):
all that. We have an awesome show. If Mike Lombardi
joining us, who I mean, I he has one of
those podcasts that you just learned stuff from, Like that's
where you go if you really want to learn. I'm
not saying we don't teach anything, but if you truly
want to learn about the NFL, so we'll talk to
Mike Lombardi about everything that happened this weekend. But I
talk a lot of trash about Sunday don't have no

(04:34):
kids birthday parties, stuff like that. I did attend one
because I have all this guilt because I'm working like
a day job these days with this writer's room that
I'm in. I Sunday one o'clock Giants Commanders. I was
at Playhouse Square in Cleveland watching Rudolph the Musical with
my three year old son, which was incredible. I'm not

(04:55):
gonna fly. I was a hundred percent watching Red Zone
on my phone and I don't care. I was not.
I was not the whole time, but a lot. And
I think that's why they have WiFi in that building.
For Dad's mom whoever, I just like was bre hitting
you like a little bit. Jacob was on her lap,
but like I just kept passive aggressively saying, yeah, you know,

(05:18):
it's only the biggest game of the year. That's all
the biggest game for the Giants in five years. But no, cool,
let's go the route off. All good, all good? And
how do you justify it? Because then after you're walking
out a picture, she says, so you know, did the
Giants win? Tie? Yeah? But because like was it worth it?
You had to watch a tie? So what are your
takeaways from that game? I don't know if either of

(05:39):
those two teams are really good or really bad. I
can't figure it out. I think they're both decent. The
glaring thing to me is I think that was actually
a really positive game for Daniel Jones and the Giants.
He made the play to win the game. He hit
Slayton on a pass that would the game would have
been pretty much over from that point, and Slayton dropped

(06:00):
its second most drops maybe ever. So I do think
the tie will help make the playoffs. It's better than
the loss, but it just puts that much more pressure
on two weeks from now when they play the Commanders
again in d C, and that's going to be a
tough game. I am definitely one of those people who
cheers on Taylor Heineke, I gotta admit, and he had
to seventy five yards completions forty two touchdowns. I'm not

(06:22):
sharing against your Giants I'm just saying that Taylor Heineke
is a great story to get behind. But yes, his
work cut out for him because now all of a sudden,
there's a bigger underdog quarterback in the NFL. Can you
even believe what's going on in San Francisco, Mr Purty, Yes,
I mean it's hard to say you feel bad for
Jimmy g but you do feel bad with every injury.

(06:43):
You don't ever want to see players get injured. I
think that was one of the most interesting questions of
the year going into the playoffs. If the Niners reached
the Super Bowl and or win the Super Bowl, you
gotta run it back, right. We talked about it last week,
and that's something I want to ask Lombardi. Is it
automatic that you run that team back or as much

(07:05):
as possible? Now? I just think that that obviously doesn't happen.
But Pretty looked good. I'm sorry that. I mean, the
defense looked phenomenal, and he didn't need to do a
whole lot, but Pretty did look very, very competent. Yeah,
he looks great four to ten, two touchdowns, but I
don't think they're going to need him to do that much.
I gotta say That's why I'm not that worried. I'm

(07:27):
not sounding the alarms for San Francisco right now. They
have one of the best defenses in the league, one
of the best coaches in the league on the offensive
side of the ball, best left tackle, some of the
best playmakers. They're undefeated since Christian McCaffrey came. I think
that Kyle Shanahan's system has him playing point guard in
a basketball sense, like he doesn't need to take his
own shots, he needs to set everyone else up. I
really think it's it's interesting. But like you said, with

(07:48):
Jimmy G, this guy's snake bite. I feel really bad
for Jimmy G. I was just thinking about his career
as a hole leading up to this. Drafted by the
Patriots to be Brady's back up, I thought, maybe the
last couple of years, Okay, Brady's going nowhere, So he
goes to San Francisco, comes within a play or two
of winning the Super Bowl. They draft a young guy
third overall, so now he has a second season ending

(08:10):
injury in the last couple of years. I mean, it's
this guy. He can't catch a break. Thank God, he's
so pretty, but he that's kind of it his football career.
He's always just right there and he gets he gets screwed. Yeah,
and we're coming off that Instagram clip of him at
the Warriors game where every single Warriors cheerleader walked by
and was like Hi, Jerry. I just kept going. Do

(08:33):
you know much about brock Purty? Obviously? I think everyone's
done a lot of research since he's been playing, and
now seems like the guy who's going to be there
because I don't think they really I know they signed
Johnson off the Broncos practice team, but right for a backup. Yeah,
what do you know if anything about brock Purty, Well,
you know, if it's a guy who's like a rookie,
first second, third year, like I probably covered them in college,

(08:53):
and I did. I covered Brock pretty a lot in college.
Actually he has. At Iowa State, he was really relevant,
big name in college football for a handful of years
because he played super exciting. He had a big arm,
he was confident, he was swaggy. He beat out the
guy in front of him, like mid season. I remember
one game I think he actually was inserted midway through

(09:14):
a game I had at Oklahoma State and he was electric.
So but that's a college you know, completely different game. Honestly,
it is a different game in the NFL. But what's
kind of cool about him He got most of his
college offers really late his senior year because he had
mono his junior year, so he didn't play much football.
He didn't get many offers. And then he has this
amazing senior year, but Iowa State had offered him so

(09:36):
early that he wanted to stick with them, so he
even turned down a scholarship to play at Alabama and others,
but Alabama like so, this guy is talented so much
so that Nick Saban wanted them. And then he goes
to kind of a school no one thinks about Iowa
State and does well in the Big Twelve. And I
don't think they're done with Brock Purty. No, And the
defense showed you. I mean, it was a great example

(09:57):
of defense versus offense. The defense was flat out just
good enough to beat. They didn't even need him to
do anything. So but let's just say, my Seahawks ticket
to win a division, which would dropped last week and
I was thinking about getting off it back in play.
There's still only one game back from the Niners and
they will meet again, so that Seahawks to win the

(10:19):
NFC West. I know they're the underdog and the Niners
of the favorite, but that is still very much in place.
Seahawks looked good. Yeah, I was looking at opening nods
for that division, so forty Niners opening nods was plus
two thirty and now it's minus four hundred. That's with
the Brock pretty news. So there's still the favor in
the NFC West. Seattle's next up at plus three hundred
if someone's still trying to buy that ticket. But look,

(10:40):
if the playoffs started today, San Francisco would play the Giants,
and I think they'd win. I think they'd win to
just I don't know how with everything that Giants have
going on at receiver and lack thereof, I just don't
know how they would move the ball against the Niners.
I mean it would have to be a flukey fluky
type that which Giant. Historically Giants and the Niners that

(11:02):
hit fluky stuff has happened. You know, Joe Montana got
knocked out of a game and Colin Kaepernick had an
awful game like this only bad game of the year
versus the Giants in the playoffs, so there is a
history there, but no, I don't know how the Giants
had moved the ball against that Niners defense since they
Now this weekend we have a much anticipated, a just
classic on the Gridiron meeting Rock Purty and Tom Brady.

(11:27):
Listen to very late draft. I mean, brock Purty potentially
could be like, you can't say he's gonna beat Tom Brady,
but he has the origin story at least so far.
You know he was Mr. Irrelevant. But let's just be clear.
If San Francisco makes a deep playoff run here with
Rock Party at quarterback, we need have Jeff Perlman write
his book now just started now because this would be

(11:49):
the most unheard of thing. It's never happened in the
NFL before. And you look at Tom Brady, what he
was a sixth round pick six or seven? Yeah, I
always confused if he was six or I think six,
and brock Purty was literally the last pick in the draft.
Mr Irrelevant. That's kind of a different story. I mean,
that's that is falling so far, and he's a rookie.
He's a rookie. It's not like he's been like an

(12:10):
eternal backup that you know is competent whatever, he's a
rookie and he was Mr. Irrelevant, so this story would
be incredible if if they can play with him. Yeah,
and Brady, if you remember, people forget because he's been
around for a hundred thousand years that first Patriots Super
Bowl up. All you gotta do is just manage the game.
Because the Pats had a good defense, I had a

(12:31):
good run game. They had a great coach. So there
are eerie things. But look, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Because although Tom Brady for every moment that you're like,
oh he's done, the Bucks are done, and he does
some crazy stuff with three minutes to go, it is
awful watching the Bucks. I I hate I'm like hate
watching the Bucks all the time. I mean that Monday

(12:52):
night game was unprecedented. I would love to know the
viewership from like at the final five minutes when they
were down there team Tampa Bay and then they come
back obviously to win. I would love to know how
many TV sets were turned off. I sound like I'm
in the nineteen sixties right now. How many people have

(13:12):
turned off the game and then quickly turned it back
on at the end when you know, someone texts them.
Are you watching this? So you just reminded me of
my when Entourage first started. My mom would put like
all the TV's on in the house when Entourage on,
thinking that each TV like a viewer. So yeah, okay,
that's adorable. By the way, later in the show, we're

(13:34):
going to get back to our entraged segment. We missed
last week because I was traveling and I didn't have
time to watch. But now I am caught up and
I have so many questions to ask you later in
the show. I'm excited, can't wait. Yeah. I think you're
entering season five, which is my second favorite season, so
I'm excited to have a little chat about that. Okay,
I wanted to ask you two on the heels of
the forty Niners conversation, and we do record this on Tuesday,

(13:54):
so this might be settled by the time this air
is on Thursday. But Baker Mayfield was cut from Carolina
this week, and a lot of people thought, oh, perfect timing.
San Francisco needs a quarterback. Baker is a former number
one pick, He's a former Heisman winner. There's still something
to like with Baker Mayfield. I know he's got a
lot of haters, but he can play. It's sad that
he failed a third string in Carolina. I don't really

(14:17):
know how or why. But do you feel like San
Francisco is a good spot for him? In last Michael Lombardi,
But do you feel like there's any team that could
use his services with the way quarterback was this year?
I definitely don't think that Baker necessarily needs to worry
like will he get another shot or not? I think
he will. I don't think it's gonna be with the
Niners unless it's it's going to be an insurance package

(14:40):
almost for them, because I think they're going to roll
the dice with pretty I think they probably liked what
they saw. And he's been with the team. He's been
the backup while he was third string, but then Trey
Lance went down so early he's been getting reps as
the backup quarterback for a minute. So I don't see
it happening unless truly they want to just bolster up
the quarterback spot. I don't. I don't think it happens

(15:00):
with the Niners. I don't think they need. And the
Josh Johnson part of it all, who he knows, you know,
the la Florsa. He knows the system, so I just don't.
I just don't see it, and I don't know what
team really does that. Why not why not just wait
and then bring him in for workouts and talks and
sign him in the off season, because you don't even
if they signed him, and Lombardi could speak to this
better than I can. You know, you don't have his

(15:20):
rights for next year or so why not just wait?
I don't see I don't think there's any other team
that's just close enough where Baker would put them over
the edge. The Niners will be the only team. I
don't think it happens. Do you know. I don't because
they asked Kyle Shanahan about it on Sunday or Monday,
and he was like, I'm a fan of Bakers, which
is not true. I'm a fan of Bakers, but I

(15:43):
think we're okay, which I think says it all. But hey,
it's not his decision, so we'll see. Okay, there's one
more quarterback qualm. I wanted to pick your brain on.
So we haven't talked about this before. I want to
air this out and see what you think, Okay, and
we'll ask Michael Lombardi too. But just as I'm kind
of looking at where the Packers stand with Aaron Rodgers,
and everyone's like, oh, the Packers are stuck with them.

(16:04):
They're stuck, And recently both sides came out saying they
want to him to return next year. I feel like, again,
I'm not a GM obviously, and I don't know if
this really is the best solution, but it is a solution,
and I just wanna I want to hear what you
think about this. So Tennessee, they are right there, they

(16:24):
are ready to win. They have a great defense, good coaching.
I think could use a better quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is
building a house in Nashville. Now, a lot of people
do end up moving to Nashville. We were just talking
before the show, like a lot of Californians moved to Austin.
This is a similar thing. But as the Packers and
Aaron just signed a three year, hundred fifty million dollar
extension and the only way out of it is really retirement,

(16:46):
I wonder if he would try to get traded or
retire and then unretire and try to go to Nashville
where he could probably win more games sooner, and then
I don't know if it necessarily is horrible for the
Packers because they'd get a bunch of draft picks, they
would hit dead cap space, but it would be like
sixteen million the first year, million the next year. But

(17:10):
if Jordan's Love can play, which again we don't really know,
I think it's a wash because you're not paying Jordan's Love,
You're not paying all the young guys like Christian Watson,
Romeo Dabbs. The only like big money guy on that
team is David Bactieri, your left tackle. So if you
get all these draft picks from Tennessee, you get a
receiver that hits, then you can kind of even get

(17:30):
rid of the next level of money guys like Randall Cobs,
Sammy Watkins, Alan Lazard and again this may be complete
vs I'm spitting out here. I just feel like it
kind of fits for both sides, and it gives green
Bay a fresh start. I think that is a really,
really good case that you just laid out because when
you think of Aaron Rodgers, look with green Bay, they're

(17:52):
going to get a good draft pick this year, but
that's only one pick, and they'll have a better second
round pick, so they will have assets to make the
team better going into next year. I get and Watson
obviously has shown remarkable bounce back factor since his start
of the year, so he's a piece too. It's a
really interesting scenario because I do think I haven't thought

(18:13):
of the Titans till you mentioned it. But and I
clocked the building a house, I don't really ever. I
think the only time that ever truly factored in was
when Lebron was building like his mega giant mansion in
l A. It's like, because he's going to the Lakers,
like what not a surprise. But I think for a
lot of these guys, just because they're building a house
somewhere does not automatically plant No. But I think you

(18:36):
it brought you to a good, good point because it
is a good fit and the Titans are really close.
I liked Tannehill, I don't. I kind of would say,
see how it goes with Titans this year if they
make a run with Tannehill and who knows, but if
they get bounced out early, fou was him, I'd much
rather play in that division than have to deal with

(18:57):
the Vikings and the Lions, who look like they're actually
a juggernaut coming in. I mean, it's insane to see
what the Lions have put together. I can't believe that
the Lions are favored at home against the Vikings. Someone
tell me why I think the Lions are making the playoffs? What? Well, Okay,

(19:19):
I would love to hear your case, because I sniffed
around at that too. They're basically two games out and
their schedule, they are obviously home for the Vikings this week,
so if they win this week, then I do think
you are in business. Then they go at the Jets,
which is no longer a walk game, a walkover game,
because Mike White has something to say about that. At
the Panthers. The Panthers are so confusing. They're one of

(19:42):
these teams I can't figure out, Like they flirt with you,
like we might be good, and then they just saw
like they just ghost you because then they suck. So
I don't know what happens in that game. But then
home against the Bears, final game of the season in
Green Bay against your potentially Jordan's love Packers and potentially
just dead in the water Packers. I they're already dead

(20:04):
in the war on Every game they win only hurts
them at this point, it's just the truth. It's just
I know, I know, but we had to beat Chicago, like, yeah,
someone had happened. But I think the Lions beat Chicago
and Green Bay. I think they certainly can beat the Panthers.
Could they still get in the playoffs if they lose
to the Vikings and Jets, But when I don't know

(20:26):
that will put them at Let's see their five and seven.
If they go three and the two, then because they
go three and two eight nine, Yeah, I don't think
that gets in because right now you got the Giants
seven four and one, Commanders seven five and one, Seahawks
seven and five. It's a it's a two game chase,
so it would be tough thing. There's a few winnable

(20:46):
games Allions had earlier in the year. But I am
just blown away. And fans listening to this show, if
you are willing to lay, everyone's gonna take the Vikings.
This is gonna be insane. The Vikings are plus two
and a half. The Vikings are what eleven and one?
I don't even know the Tenant too, whatever their record is.
This is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. Suspect line, do

(21:08):
you think Peter Andrew is gonna hit on that one
in their final segment. I don't know what we could
leave it to Peter Andrew because I think he had
the giant. He so lucky. He I think he had
the over. You know, we had the under forty and
a half and the game ended in the tie. Soe
but a half point. It's like he was rooting for

(21:28):
the time over time. Oh my god. Certainly he was
not the only one. So what do you mean these
teams that are flirting with you? What do you mean
by that? I mean from a betting perspective, the teams
that just look when you look at the lines from
the beginning of the year till now, it's like, this
is my team, Like if it's like relationships. I ran
this whole bit out in my mind of just the

(21:50):
teams that I've had relationships with this year flirty we're dating,
we're not relationships, and where they end, Like for instance,
Jacksonville Jacksonville Jaguar are that exact team that you actually
think you're dating them and they just ghost you completely.
You never hear from them again, Like they win two
weeks ago and then they get absolutely crushed by the lines.

(22:10):
The Raiders are the team you want nothing to do with.
But now you moved on, they're like, hey, wait, we
we want to actually date you because you're looking at
other teams now. The Vikings are always screwing up and apologizing,
and you always forgive them. The Vikings, they're always again,
they're just that team. They're like, so sorry, I know
I was supposed to meet you. I'm sorry. Won't happen again?

(22:31):
You forgive them. Of course it happens again. And then
I think there's a t like the Steelers earlier in
the year. Yeah, I think the Steelers of that team,
they got like a makeover, They got in shape, they
bought some clothes, they got their hair done, Like the Steelers.
All of some walked in the room one day and
you're like, oh damn, look at the Steelers because they're
they're they're kind of hot right now. Yeah, Steelers are

(22:54):
kind of hot right now. Yeah. I think Steelers just
got a nose job or something and they've had some
working there had Okay, that was really good. Do you
have a team like that? Do you have is there
one team for you on the betting perspective that you've
been in a relationship with that it's been rocky. Well,
now that you've thrown out this whole narrative and I'm
liking it, and I'm following you here. What about the Titans.

(23:16):
They've won five straight and their streak was stopped by
a strong chiefstand team could just beat them by three
at home, but then they won two again since that
they're looking strong leading their division. And then a home
lost by four to since and then what they did
in Philadelphia is unacceptable, thirty five to ten loss, a J.
Brown's revenge game. All of that, so I don't know

(23:37):
what's thet there? You ready? Okay? The Titans were at
the bar, and wow did they look hot. They were
the hot guy the hot girl at the bar. Everyone's
eyes are on them. And then it hits two am,
cancer out lights come on and oh god, whoa, you
were away hotter when the bar had the lights off.

(23:58):
That's what happened because everyone bet the Titans this week.
Everyone bet the Titans this week. Everyone took the points
with the Titan. Then they turned the lights on it
like that game should have been much more competitive than
it was. No, you were so right. That is the equivalent. Also,
anyone who's been in that position, whether it's someone you're
talking to, or you're all of a sudden self conscious
about you. That's a horrible moment when the lights turned

(24:19):
on in a bar. Listen like, oh my god, and
the girl. Yeah, these are just I makeup everywhere? Do
I need? Yeah? Oh it's horrible. Okay, okay. Big story
this week in college football was coach Prime Dion Sanders.
He was named the new head coach at University of Colorado.
So he turned Jackson State into a winner. Now, he

(24:41):
said to dot the Pac twelve, try to replicate that
in Boulder. I was really surprised by this, just because
I thought his coaching career was going to be to
really help HBCU. Like I thought that was the point
of bringing his celebrity, all of that to HBCU turn
a program around shape young men. I didn't think he
was trying to climb the coaching ranks, to be honest,

(25:03):
I didn't think that's what he was getting into it.
For clearly that is what he's doing, and I think
it's incredible. I think it's anyone who's a hater of
this move, it's really hypocritical because all we do is
say that blackhead coaches need more opportunities and then he here,
he is climbing the ranks, taking this power five job,
and I just saw a lot of people being like,

(25:23):
you know, how dare he leave? Jackson stayed after after
recruiting all those guys and getting them there. But I'm
a fan of this move. Go coach Prime. I'm so
excited to watch Colorado next year. And I actually I
have a speaking gig coming up in January with Dean
Sanders that was booked like a month ago before this happened,
So I really hope he still makes it. Yeah, I

(25:44):
think you will, because he's coming. He's he told me
he's coming. We loved his meeting with his new players
so much that we thought of a new segment for
the show, and it's called Audible of the Week. So
go ahead and listen to yourself. Know, okay, not to compete,

(26:06):
but to win, not to show up, but to show up.
Not to be amongst the rest, but to be the best.
Oh come, I'm flat up coming. This is real. We
got a few positions already taken care of because I'm
bringing my luggage with you, and it's Louis. But I

(26:27):
told him I wanted these kids focus on in FA
or nothing in high are but guess what they told
they come. I love the line when he says be
focused on the NFL, not n I L And that's
so refreshing. Everything about him so refreshing. Like I think

(26:48):
people in this day and age, regardless of industry or whatever,
people just tiptoe around feelings and everyone has to be
like so woke and blah blah. I feel like he's
like old school. I love in an era to where
we've seen every version of a coach is like Rara
speech or introduct We've seen every version of it, have
not seen this version of it. It was awesome. And look,

(27:12):
I'm just I think he's gonna do great over there.
I just think I'm a big believer. And I think
some people, athletes, actors, reporters, whatever your job is, just
need to feel believed in. And I feel like if
you get coach prime to believe in you, I feel
I feel like the confidence level you'll probably get to
do extraordinary things you didn't think you can do. Oh yeah,

(27:33):
that's a guy you want behind you. Yeah, so I'm
really excited. So that'll be fun. End of January will
come back to this topic. And I'll ask you what
I should ask him, because I'm like, I'm seeing an
interview with him on stage or a National Auto Dealers conference.
I'm really I'm really exciting. He'll be fascinating. Let's bring

(27:57):
in our guest. He's a former NFL general manager or
who won three Super Bowl rings during his time in
the NFL, and when he's not breaking down film of
NFL games, he's breaking down actual whole film from the
Godfather and a good fellas host of the GM Shuffle podcast,
which is amazing. By the way, if you haven't listened,
Michael Lombardi is here again a second appearance. Thank you

(28:18):
so much for joining, Michael. I appreciate it. Good to
be here, Jerry, nice to meet you. I'm a big fan.
I enjoy it. It was always a good time to
watch that show and kind of live a life we
all wish we lived. I mean, you know, you're a
dream come true right there. That show. Well, I appreciate that.
I've been a fan of yours for a while, and
also you are someone who's on my list, like I
want to have dinner with you because I want to

(28:38):
like less, I want to talk football, but I'm more
interested to talk. I'm a big Sopranos guy. I I've
watched that show ninety seven times through and all the movie.
I just would love to do movie and show deep
dives with you because I love when you do love that.
I think what makes that show so from from a
writing standpoint for me, and I'm not a writer, and
I have an idea for a show, but I haven't

(29:01):
been able to sell it. But I think what makes
that show so unique and so continuous that in our
minds is every time he goes to see Dr Melfi,
the show can take on a different life. So the
Therapist Sessions, although somewhat annoying and tedious, they really directed
the show and she wrote the show. And that's what

(29:22):
makes it so much fun to watch because she controlled
the narrative of the entire six seasons by her being
in that office. And yet yet we don't realize that.
You know, it's kind of fun, and that's what I
loved about it before we get into some fun football stuff.
Right when I moved to l A, I had an
audition for one line on The Sopranos, which was for
the Jackie Junior part. No one knowing how much of

(29:44):
a big character will become. I had my tickets booked.
I'm like, do I stay in New York for this
one one line thing that's going to be nothing? Or
moved to l A. And I just went to l
A and go on the audition and that part did
become the thing, as you remember. So, oh no, sure
you could have almost drowned three inches ago, like Jackie. Yeah,
I mean seriously, he could. I mean that's why the

(30:06):
jumble Jor's greatest lines. He's got the napkin on his thing.
He said, the kids wig and he said the dumbch
fuck almost driving the three inches of water. You know,
every time I see Jackie Jr. That's all I could
think about. Yes, agreed, Oh god, you got me. That's
an interesting decision there, Jerry. But a good, good backstory.
And I want to know the backstory too, because we're
just talking off air about the Seahawks tweet with Pete

(30:29):
Carroll and the entourage and everything, and Jerry, you were
saying that there's something more there, and then Michael, I
think you have a take as well. Yeah. I mean, look,
I think Seattle, I said on my podcast all summer,
and I apologize to Pete Carroll into John Schneiger. I said,
I don't know how they could go on vacation though,
And Gino Smith was the quarterback, and you know has
proved me we're out wrong. I mean, like Gino has

(30:50):
played really well. I think they actually thought Drew Lock
would win the job. I mean Gino was accurate, I
mean his pocket presence. Yet last weekend was tremendous. He
stepped up, he made great brows. They turn the ball over,
else the game would have been as close. They turned
it over twice in the Ram territory. But I think
there was this perception that Russell needed to cook. It's
always with somebody else's fault in Seattle. You know, it

(31:11):
was Daryl Bevil's fault. They fired him. It was Brian
Schottenheimer's fault. They fire him. They bring Shane Waldron and
oh no, he's no good. You know, you gotta let
Russ cook, you know. And there was a time Russ
was cooking at the French laundreef. But slowly Russell became
the chef of the Hackensack Diner. And now I'm not sure,
I'm not I'm not even sure he's cooking in cafeterias
in high school, Like it's just not the same guy.

(31:33):
And I think that that relief for Seattle is almost
like this giant cloud got lifted off their shoulders. All
I'll say is Russell Wilson was in the Entourage movie.
At one point he was very close with our show
creator Doug Allen, who has since been iced out from
Russell Wilson's life, Like they were really close and one
day I think Russell just they actually talked about on

(31:54):
their podcast victory of the Podcast, So I definitely think that, yeah,
they had a lot of Russell Wilson connotation to it.
And of course I was on the Ravens a little bit.
In that game he finally scrambled, which I thought was crazy.
When the game was on the line, he had a
nice run which I don't think we saw all year.
We've seen all year long. You know, one thing that
happens in sports is a player, but he's a really

(32:15):
good player, and then people just think he stays great forever.
Like everybody just assumes Odell Beckham is gonna come back
and be O'Dell with the one hand to catch in
New York, Like, who does coming off a second a
c L. He's gonna have a hard time getting up
to the level that O'Dell wants played it. Let's just
be fair, like he's not gonna play at the highest.
I mean, Chris Godwin. Just last night they were saying
Brady was saying to the announcers that Godwin is just

(32:38):
finally back from his a c L. Right, and he's
been practicing football for six months. So like, we just
assume a player's great and he's gonna stay great forever.
And I think when you watched Russell last year, the
lowest run at rushing totally had his group was a
hunt at eight three yards. That was last year. He
didn't run last year. There's a reason they don't run
quarterback sneak. He doesn't want to run. And when Russell

(32:58):
can't make those plays, And Olivia like, I think, you know,
being married to a basketball player, you can appreciate this.
To me, when I watched Russell, I'm reminded of Allen Iverson.
Iverson was a little guy who was great. He had
an incredible burst to the basket. Nobody could handle his quickness.
But when he lost that little bit of quickness and
lost that burst, he became a little player. I think
that's what's happened to Russell. He doesn't have the juice

(33:20):
in his lower body, and now all of a sudden,
he's you can catch him, he can't escape, and he
looks like a little player playing quarterback. Okay, that's interesting.
I want to stick with Obi j for a second
because rumors are as we record this Tuesday, he just
wrapped up meetings in Dallas with Jerry Jones, with the
leadership group that includes Dak Prescott, went to a Mavericks
game with some of the guys. He sounded like it's

(33:41):
all but done. Jerry Jones sounded a little bit more trepidacious.
What are you hearing? You know? I think to me,
nobody's gonna know what the reality of the situation is
until they examined the meat. Where is he in his rehab?
What does he look like in a workout? You know
last night they were talking on the Television's gonna be
really expensive to sign Odell? Yeah, it might be, but
if he's only if he can pass the physical. One

(34:02):
thing I learned in my career in the NFL. The
doctors will say he's past the physical, but that doesn't
mean he's ready to play at the NFL's highest level.
That just means he can start rehabing. That just means
he can start preparing. We only got five weeks left now.
If you're signing him and you think it's gonna help
you in the playoff run, okay, but you're not gonna
get as much out of him as you think. It's
gonna take time. Look how rusty DeShawn Watson was. It's

(34:24):
gonna take time to get back into the flow of
the game, the physicality of the game, and you're coming
off a knee injury, a major significant a c L,
which is the second one you suffered. I know he's superhuman.
I know he's a talented player, but I think it's hard.
You mentioned Godwin and I want to stick with the
Bucks because we were joking earlier abol we wonder what
the ratings of that game were for three and a

(34:45):
half quarters versus the final five minutes of that game
when it just turned into like, oh, Tom Brady is
doing his thing. I don't know if that's what Tom
Brady envisioned. We came back, but it's ugly win after
ugly win, and uglier loss after uglier loss. I had
what do you think the Bucks offense like, why have
they struggled so much as it was was grunk that
much of a factor? Is that health of Godwin or

(35:05):
all the above. I think if you understand quarterbacks, the
quarterbacks are like basketball players. There's certain spots on the
field that they shoot the ball well from, just like
certain spots on the court. Right and Brady wants to
throw the ball in the middle of the field. He
saw it last night. Every time he threw a nine rounde.
It really wasn't what he wants to do. He wasn't
accurate with and he missed it. It's just not his strength.
His strength is the between the numbers. And when you

(35:27):
look at his career over his extended time in New England,
he always had a nickel running back, start with Kevin Fall,
Shane Vereen, James White. He always had tight ends Ben
Watson Brown, Aaron Hernandez, and he always had a slot
receiver Wes Welker, Danny Amidola, Julian Edelman. He's always had
three players who could control the middle of the field.

(35:48):
He's in Tampa, he doesn't have that. He's got Godwin.
Everybody keeps wanting to get the ball to Mike Evans,
but Mike Evans doesn't run routes that are really complimentary
to Brady's game, and so to me, it's a design
problem with their personnel, like they don't have the ability
to have the guys inside that can win one on
one routes. And last night they got the biggest break

(36:08):
of all. I mean, if mark Ingram gets the first down,
if anybody was a wake for it, if he just
gets the first down, They're gonna run two more minutes
off the clock, and I don't think Brady's gonna have
time to come back down the field to score two touchdowns. Okay,
so we now know that Lamar Jackson sprained his PCL.
He's definitely out this weekend against the Steelers, and it
maybe up to three weeks. Look, a lot of people
are saying he should hold out and wait for some

(36:29):
guaranteed money, wait for the Ravens to make a move.
Why do you think the Ravens are dragging their feet
and what do you think is the best course of
action for Lamar? I think that the Shawn Watson contract
really through a loop into it, with the Shawn getting
two hundred fifty million dollars guaranteed. Buttoned up the first
NFL player in the history of the sport to ever
do that. When I was in the league, nobody was
getting any buttoned up contracts. It's still until the Sean.

(36:51):
When I say buttoned up, that means skill and injury.
A lot of players get skill guarantees. They get injury
guarantees when you get both the owners that have to
fund them money to the league office in an escrow account,
which is really hurts their cash blow no matter how
wealthy anyone is. So they've always been able to use
this nineteen sixty rule, which was essentially put into place

(37:11):
because they want the owners to cheat the players and
go bankrupt and say, oh, I know we owed you money,
but now we're bankrupt. I mean, the NFL was never
this incredible machine that it is today. So that rule
was put into basically to help the players not get
ripped off. That's the rule that stayed intact, and then
the Browns violated it. They went above and beyond for
a player that had a lot of off the field

(37:32):
issues that was suspended. Of all the players to get
that type of deal, Watson should have been the last one,
and he did, and the Lamar wants that deal, and
Steve Bashotti came right out after the deal happened and said,
that's really bad for our game. And I think there's
the conflict. I think Lamar is they're gonna have to
pay Lamar. To me, I don't like Baltimore's passing game.

(37:52):
Even when Lamar was the m v P in the league,
their passing game wasn't good enough, and it showed up
when they played Tennessee in a playoff game. Lamar is
a lot like Tom Brady. He wants to throw the
ball in the middle of field. That's why Mark Andrews
was so good. When he had Hayden Hurst and Mark
Andrews inside, they were more dynamic. They keep signing little
receivers on the outside, when when you watch Lamar play
at Louisville and you watch him play in any game,

(38:14):
he's a better inside the number thrower, and so to me,
I don't know what his mindset will be do I
come back. I know he's a competitor, but to me,
I think their offense has been broken. Everybody wants Lamar
to play out of shotgun. I want Lamar to be
under center. I wanted to take a handoff. I wanted
to roll out. I want them to play bootlegs. I
want them to be more of a traditional quarterback then
this this RPO guy and their offense. Frankly, if they

(38:38):
don't run the ball, they can't move the ball. I
say on this pot all the time, we know m
VP is basically a quarterback award, which bothers me. And
I've listened to you many times on your pod talk
about like how Tyreek kill even it's just the m
v P at the very least of the Dolphins, right,
I've heard you say that. I can't agree more. I'm
finally at the point I'm ready to see it. I'm
ready to see a non quarterback m v P. I

(38:58):
don't think it will ever happen. But in your opinion,
who do you think if you could take quarterbacks out
of the equation, who is Michael Lombardi's m v P
if it is a non quarterback award. Let's just take
the first play in the San Francisco game. If you
want to understand how great Tyreek kills and how he
tilts the field. He motions across the formation. Sheffield's standing

(39:19):
on the line, he motions across the formation. Two guys
run with him. He starts to run down the scene.
San Francisco is so worried about him going down the
scene they forget the cover. Sheeft field. He catches an
eight yard past for seventy five year a touchdown. The
guy tilts the field. I mean he tilts the field.
He's hard to defend. Coverages have to go to him,
and even when he's covered, he still makes a play.
And he's got insane quickness. I mean, for a guy

(39:41):
who's as fast as he is, he's got really incredible quickness.
I mean, you could have this conversation about Justin Jefferson.
I mean, where would Minnesota be without Justin Jefferson. I
don't know. These guys are tilting the field in their
favor and they're really helping him. I mean, obviously, Jalen
Hurts has done a remarkable job and last week proved
it against Tennessee that he can throw the foot all.
But I'm with you. I think if there's one player

(40:03):
outside of the quarterback position, I think it's Jefferson and
Tyree Hill. I like that Jefferson, especially as you look
at what the Vikings are doing. They're nine and oh
in one score games. They're a scary team to bet,
as we are a betting show. When you actually look
at what they're going to do in the postseason. What
sticks out to you that's going to make this team,
you know, make or break up? You know, they're like

(40:24):
the TCU of pro football. Nobody does going to Detroit.
They're a dog this week against Detroit. They're all I
do is so I do a power ranking every week
on my show on Visa, and I do nineteen categories
of what I think determines the outcome of winning. And
when you bake down the Vikings and just take the
Jet game last week, I mean, they do the things
you have to do to win. They played great in

(40:45):
the red zone, right, they controlled the middle eight. I mean,
when Sally goes for it on fourth down in his
own territory, they get three points out of the deal. Now,
the Jets came back and scored, but those three points
that that that Sally ended up giving them end up
being the difference in the game because the the Jets
didn't manage the middle eight correctly when they had the football.
So to me, the Vikings played really good at red zone.

(41:07):
They're really good on third down. Their situational aware. When
the Jets came back to making a fifteen game and
they said that momentum seven play drives seventy five yards touchdown.
They're timely. Their offense is timely. I just think to me,
the more you win games in the NFL, the more
resilient you become. Now, could they lose against Detroit. Absolutely.

(41:27):
Their defense gives up a ton of yards, but they're
hard to score on, and they're hard to convert third
downs on at times during the game. In their offense
is very talent. I mean the Miami game to me
was unbelievable, even though Miami was playing a backup quarterback.
I mean, they had fifteen drives in the game. They
punted thirteen times. Minnesota. I wanted to ask you about
this too. We do record this Tuesday, so by the

(41:48):
time this air is Thursday, we may have our answer.
But as Baker Mayfield is going through the process today
Tuesday of clearing waivers, is there a situation that you
think fits both him and a team and is at
So he's got a million three of salary coming to him, right,
So if you take him on, you take on that salary.
So for the for the forty Niners to take him on,

(42:09):
they're saying he's an insurance policy. Would they do that?
I don't think so. I mean, if you watch Baker
play this year, he did not pay, has not played well.
He did not play like the first pick overall in
the draft. He missed open receivers. He didn't really have
a great sense of timing. Whether it's Carolina's offense or him.
I'm not sure you know the Texans if they claimed them,
they could sign him. He won't know their offense. It
may take a week or two to get him up

(42:30):
to speed, and then he's a free agent at the
end of the year, so he automatically you don't have
him for next year. Would the Rams sign him? Considering
Matthew Stafford's back problems and I think Matthew Stafford considering
retirement again, the Rams would give up a million three
of cap room something they don't have to sign a
quarterback that probably isn't going to play right away for them,
and then they lose cap room for next season, so

(42:53):
and then not have him under contract. I think he
clears the waiver wire. I would be surprised unless Houston
claimed him. I mean, look, Houston's a disaster there. I mean,
they're not very good. They've gotten worse this year than
they were last year. You know, and I know that,
you know it's another first year head coach. But I
mean in eight years that Love Smith has been a
head coach too in Tampa, five in Illinois, and then

(43:13):
this year at seventy three and one, I mean, he
hasn't been able to fix it as a head coach.
And you have to imagine Houston is gonna be going
quarterback and they're gonna be having Baker's old old team's pick,
so they're gonna have a lot of options at the
QB spot in the draft. So I want to go
to New York for a second. I didn't want to
do this to you, but I gotta get some giant
stuff in there. I'm struggling with the Giants in the

(43:35):
sense of I'm obviously thrilled with the way the season
is going. I'm thrilled with coach Stable and say Kwan
and all that, but basically the long term plans and
the contracts going forward, Daniel Jones is mr Like, we
need to see you need to prove it. But how
could you judge him when your number one receivers Darius Layton,
who dropped the biggest play of the game that would
have iced the game versus the Commanders. I'm basically asking

(43:57):
you about Daniel Jones and Sa Kwan going forward, Well,
how do you handle that giant situation? Well, I mean,
I think they've done a great job of managing Daniel Jones, right,
So they basically said, look, we're gonna run a six
back offense. We're gonna use Daniel Jones in the in
the running game a little bit offset that, we're gonna
try to throw a lot of short passes so we
get a lot of completions, and we're gonna try to
convert as many third downs as we can and slow

(44:19):
the game down. We're not very talented, and I think
they've Daniel Jones in this system has played well. The
problem is how much do you pay him in this system?
Do you pay him thirty five over two? Do you
pay him forty over two? That gets the sixty over two?
Is he's worth that? He's not winning any games, So
that's a hard decision. S Quan is not as hard.
The question is how much do you want to pay
a running back. I think that's really the issue, and

(44:40):
they've got so many needs. I think what Brian has
done for the Giants, he's come up with a formula
for them to win. They're well coached offensively, they're well
coached defensively. They typically play well in the red zone
against you know, like Houston. They had a chance to
lose against Houston, but they played so well in the
red zone. They didn't Detroit, they didn't play well in
the red zone. So their formula is really why they're winning.

(45:02):
And if they break that formula, you're not gonna win.
And so to me, that tells you there's a value
for Daniel Jones, but it isn't at a normal quarterback rate.
I think it's gonna come down to that. I think
they've got to improve at the quarterback position to get
somebody who they feel like they can put more of
the game on him. Whereas right now they're managing Daniel
Jones real quick, because we'll sticking New York for one

(45:22):
more second. Because I love hating on my Jet fan friends.
But uh, that's yes, Like you know, I'm looking at
I call him a kid because I'm forty three. He's
not a kid, he's a he's a young man. Zach Wilson,
I get it. He has not and he's out of
a job, out of a job, like is he out
of a job for the Jets in general or you know,

(45:43):
like I don't know what his future is And can
it be just that press conference that did him in
and the team's wearing Mike f and White T shirts
getting on the plane. That's as bad as I've seen
it in a while. I don't think it was the
press conference. I think his interaction with the team. If
you watch the games, you could tell it's Kyler Murray's
interaction with his teammates. I mean, they can all talk that.
You know they love him as a teammate. Watch the interactions,

(46:06):
you know, you know you can feel it, you can
see it. It's just like Tyler Herneke. You know he's
not the best player for watching him, but the players
gravitate to him. They like him, you know, they really
believe in him. And I think it's the same thing
with Mike White. They believe in him. He's not the
best player. If you watched Mike White workout and Zach workout,
you would say Zack's the better player. But Zack doesn't
really build any confidence with his teammates. He's a little

(46:27):
aloof He's not very mature. His mind seems to be
other places, and he's not taking the game as serious
as he needs to take it. He hasn't grown up.
It happens to a lot of guys that are second
pick in the draft, third pick in the draft. You know,
Smith was this way when he came out. He wasn't
really mature enough to handle the situation. And over time
he's now become a talented player and more mature. I

(46:48):
think that's the problem. I mean, Zack's got two more
years of highly guaranteed money. They got to try to
rehabilitate him. I don't know if they can, because his
personality isn't endearing to his teammates. When you used to
go into the Patriots Kich cafeteria, Brady would be sitting
there with the offensive lineman. Garoppolo would be sitting there
with the There was a bot you could tell the
players like the quarterback. And then when Brady got got suspended,

(47:10):
everybody wanted to lift up Garoppolo and move forward. There's
a bond that has to be creative with the quarterback,
and it doesn't have to be necessarily the best player
on the team. He's gonna be able to players gotta
believe them, and I think Heineke leads them. I think
White will lead them. I think that's the key, and
I think that's the bigger issue. Speaking of Garoppolo, that
is something you always here with him, that he's a

(47:30):
well liked guy. He's the type of guy you want
to go grab a beer with like that has gone
a long way in this league. It's amazing that the
layman would believe that. But looking at what San Francisco
has to deal with now, do you think and to
bring up the Baker Mayfield part of it again, by
skipping any affiliation with Baker, does that say more about
their trust in brock Purty or more of their disinterest

(47:52):
in bringing in another quarterback besides who they just got
as a veteran backup. Well, I think they've watched Baker
and he wasn't very good. I mean, brock Purty played
better in that game on Sunday Baker for the six
games in Carolina. That's just a fact. And I think this,
I think you gotta go with what you have. When
Tom Brady got hurt in New England. Belichick had two
quarterbacks coming in that day for a workout on Monday,

(48:12):
just for his emergency list, and they sent him home.
They sent him home. They work either quarterback out because
they wanted to show mac Castle they had confidence in him.
And I think that that's what they want to do
with Party or Josh Downson. This has happened before in
the national football and we just have short memories and
we get caught up in Oh, we gotta score, we
gotta have offense. Right. The seventy two Miami dolphense Bob

(48:33):
Greasy gets tackled by Deacon Jones in Game five, breaks
his ankle, and he's out for a while. Earl Morrow
comes off the bench and leads them to the playoffs
in an undefeated season. I mean in Hosteddler takes over
for Bill Sims and leads them. I mean, go back
to Trent Dilford. I mean there were three games at
the Baltomore Ravens played in two thousand. They scored fifteen
points total, right, and yet they were able to figure

(48:54):
it out and Dilford was able to make enough plays
and their defense was great. The forty Niners defense can
be great. There's teams can be really good. They can
still win games. Now he can't come in there and
make mistakes. Go back to the playoffs when they went
to the Super Bowl. I think he threw it seventeen
eighteen times against Minnesota and then eleven times against Green Bay.
I mean they won those two playoff games before they

(49:15):
played the Chiefs with their defense, their kicking game, and
their ability to run it. I think there's something interesting
happening in the NFL that I'm a big NBA guy.
I know you. I've heard you talk some hoops to
always comment on like who would you rather be? The
lakers of the Pelicans meeting, Like you got your bubble championship,
but now you have no picks and the Pelicans look
like they have a great future to have all your picks.

(49:35):
That's starting to happen where teams have gotten off their
quarterbacks who are vets who can maybe still win. They
give up a ton of first round picks. So if
you look at the Broncos and the Rams, who both
give up their first round picks, they're gonna be pretty high.
Which team out of the Broncos are Rams? Do you
think sort of in the worst shape for the future
because things don't look bright without that first round pick.

(49:57):
Off of the way they played this year, well, the
Broncos said the better team. They just haven't gotten a
good quarterback. They've always been a good team without a quarterback.
The Rams have always been a very talented team with
five or six talented players, and when once they got hurt,
they are not a very good team. That kind of
fell apart. I don't know where Sean McVeigh is gonna be.
Does he want to come back and coach her and
really take part in a reconstruction project which is gonna

(50:19):
take some time. If Matthew Stafford decides to walk away
from the game, I think that's a hard one. Look,
they went all in. They deserve it, they got it.
They were fortunate. You know, there was a couple of
things that went really well for them. I mean, think
about the Tampa game down there and Tampa. You know,
Tampa ties the game up and then they convert that
third down, they kicked the field goal to win the game.
And then you know, they play San Francisco the next week.

(50:39):
San Francisco drops it interception, they win that game. They
play the Super Bowl third and ten from their own
fourteen yard line. The false start, nobody calls it, Cooper
Cup gets called for, they called for legal and next thing,
you know, and then they don't get it into I
mean they a lot went right, they deserve to win
it great, but it's gonna be a long haul. Denver
to me is the problem is when gonna do a

(51:00):
Russell like. Somebody's gonna have to have a man and
man conversation with Russell and say, hey, Russell, you know
you're not the guy. And they had this with Iverson
and iver said what did he say? Said, Look, when's
the last time an m d P comes off the bench? Well, Alan,
you're not an m VP anymore, Russell, You're not the
same guy you were anymore. So that's gonna be a
hard conversation to have. You know, this whole notion that
you know you can win in that you can rebuild

(51:21):
your team quicker in the NFL than you can in
the NBA because it's more of a team, it's more
than just one player. But someone is getting fired in Denver,
so it's not a very desirable head coaching job. I
don't think a guy like Sean Payton would want to
comment and take that job. What does Denver do there? Well,
I mean that's a hard one because George Peyton, the
guy picked the coach, and he picked the quarterback. And
not only did he pick the quarterback, he game two

(51:42):
or fifty million, and those are that's three stops and
you know you're stuck. None of this the owner approved
any of it. The new owner just walks in and said,
wait a minute, these are your three decisions, and I'm judge.
I gotta judge you on that. That's a hard thing
to do because if when you have that much authority,
and a lot of guys, including me, we've never had
that much authority in the league. You know, you can
have the title GM, but you don't have the authority

(52:03):
to do what George had the authority to do in
those situations. And you're gonna have to pay the price
for it if eventually that's a hard job. I think
Denver is gonna have to really sit down and figure
out what they're doing with Russell before they can start
talking to anything else about their organization and Los Angeles.
To me, it really comes down to the Sean want
to take part in this rebuilding process or is he
going to go to Amazon? Where is he going to

(52:24):
go to some other TV platform? I know he redid
his contract, but when you don't have a quarterback in
the NFL and you don't have any assets to get
a quarterback, trust me, that's a hard drive to the
stadium Sunday morning. Look, I've realized to also having that
coach in place, finally having one, I think with coach
table with the Giants. But do you think we see
Peyton returned to the sidelines somewhere? Was it not? The

(52:46):
job is not quite there yet for him. I get
that Amazon money. I think that if Sean had a
chance to get through a great quarterback, like if say
something happened with the Charge. You know, the Chargers just
are not very good defense. They have been. I mean
Brennan Staley is a defense coordinator and their defense has
really not been very good in two years that he's
been there. So that's a concern. I mean, they're wasting

(53:07):
Herbert's great season's here now. I know him, like Williams
is hurt and Keenan Allen is not the same. But
you know, this is really a talented player and they
should be better than six and six, which is what
they are. I think a lot of that. Anytime a
guy wants to come back in the league, he wants
to go somewhere where he has a chance to get
a quarterback. Right. You know, Peterson comes back, He's got
Trevor Lawrence justin Herbert's sitting there waiting for you if

(53:29):
that job opens up. But if you go to Carolina,
who's our quarterback? I mean, Matt rules at the breast
because he couldn't fix the quarterback problem. I got a
good one for you, and this is the last one
for me. Do you think there's any credibility in the
rumors that Tom Brady might go back to New England.
I don't know. I would never put anything past that.
I mean, look Tom, when you watch Tom throw and

(53:50):
you watch him play, he doesn't look forty five, and
he still seems to have the same competitive nature. I mean, look,
he's addicted to the process. He's addicted to winning. See
all of us that have been under that program when
I was in Cleveland with Bill and then New England,
we are products of that system, and it's hard for
us to look outside of other systems and feel comfortable.

(54:11):
And I know how Brady feels. I mean, he's in
a different system. That's not something he's comfortable with in
terms of adjustments, how we practice, how we play, all
those things. You become institutionalized when you're around that program,
and it's how you see the game. It's how I
see the game. And so I would never put anything
pass him. I think he wants that. I think that's
something he wants and needs. Were you in Cleveland when

(54:33):
Nick Saban was defensive coordinator? You know what sure was? Yeah? Absolutely? Yeah?
How how was he there the first day? You can
tell he was gonna be a head coach. Now he
just came from Toledo where he was the head coach
of Toledo. Nick had such a commanding presence and a
knowledge and the ability to focus and have strategy. You
know a lot of people think yelling is you know,
is something coaches do. Nick can be demanding, but he

(54:55):
also is really smart and he could adjust the game
and he understood how to play the game different based
on the opponent. You knew it instantly. That's why he's
at Alabama. Ozzy Knwson was with us there too, as
he saw it, and so when he had a chance
to get him to go to Alabama, as he wasn't
gonna waste that time. He's scary as hell to interview.
I'll tell you that my least favorite coach interview. You

(55:16):
got to ask the right It's like Belichick. If you
ask the good questions, you're gonna get good answers. If
you throw used to say at the scouts all the
time of the draft room. If you start dangling stuff
out there to him, he's gonna just smack it out.
You know you gotta throw fastballs against him. You gotta
throw good heat. Guys got stressed thinking about asking a
question to any of them? We'll let you go. But
I know you've got a new book coming out next year,

(55:37):
which I am excited for. Can you tell our listeners
just anything about it? Because I know what it's about.
I've heard you talk about it before, but something for
our listeners, Well, thank you, I appreciate it. It's called
football done right. So what I've tried to do is
basically go over the coaching trees in the NFL, grade
the coaches in the NFL, the seventeen men that have
been coaches, and try to put some understanding around, maybe

(56:01):
some injustice. Marty Schottenheimer is one of nine coaches in
the NFL with one two hundred games. He can't even
get up for a Hall of Fame vote because well,
he didn't win a big game. He's won two hundred games.
Only nine men out of seventeen one two hundred games.
The guy deserves to get in the Hall of Fame.
So we talked about that. We talked about the impact
of the draft, television, and trades. Talk a lot about

(56:23):
the trades and how trades come down. And then I
grade the top one hundred players. According to me, over all,
the eras from one to a hundred, So it's kind
of a comprehensive book. It was really a pleasure to
write because I studied a lot about the game. I
got to watch a lot of the great players and
see the players Like when I watched GAYL Sayers, I thought,
Jesus looks like Tony Pollard to me. You know, there's
so many similarities. And now when I watched the game,

(56:46):
you know, when I watched pro football with this six
pack attack, I think I'm watching some of the single
wing stuff that was going on before we started to
throw the ball by the by when Clark Shaughnessy decided
to put the forward pass into pro football. Well, it's
always a pleasure having you on. Do you remember who
you nicknamed the mayor of munchkin Land on our podcast
last time? Well, I know it's it's my man. I mean,

(57:10):
look one thing, Buddy Ryan had this great line, He's
buddy Ryan said, there's a place in football for the
little man. It's just not in front of the big man.
And I still, oh man, I had to remind you that.
Thanks so much for being on. You can follow Michael
on Twitter at m Lombardi NFL, and of course listen
to him every week on the GM Shuffle Pod. Michael Lombardi,
thank you for being here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

(57:33):
Appreciate ye, Darry, There's nothing like hearing that opening track.

(58:00):
I've am when I'm up with my baby and we
binge a bunch of entourage before the sun comes up.
And that's exactly what we did this morning. So I'm
about four episodes into season five. I am loving it
and you, I know, really enjoyed making this season. Why
you know what, I've given too much away because I
sometimes send the spoil things for you. Yes you do,
Yes you do, I will say with season five, and

(58:22):
I love so much. It really shows you the path
for an actor of maintenance that it takes to keep
a career going. All I'll say is like the Vince
character does get tested in season five, and you really
just see what it takes to keep a career going
because he's at such a high and then you meet him.

(58:42):
He's at such a low in the season five, So
can we build him back up? You have a lot
of fun. This is my second favorite season. Season two
is number one because we started really figuring it out,
and then this season is my second favorite. I'm loving
it so far too. I cannot believe how far Vince
has fallen. He's bankrupt, where I'm in, Where I'm the
show he does the Sweet sixteen. The first episode of

(59:02):
season five is Fantasy Island. Where did you guys actually
go to shoot that? They say vaguely it's in Mexico. Yeah,
it was not in Mexico. It was actually in Hawaii
sou which yeah, and looked at It's amazing trip to
go out there. As you saw in the episode, the
Turtle character and the Vince character are hiding out there,
and then Ari and E and drama take a little

(59:23):
sea playing in to come get him because he has
like a job offer. So what was cool about that?
We saw the whole jet ski thing that we did,
and there was even a moment where you saw it
like these whales that was all real. We were shooting.
And then you know, we had walkie talkies on the
jet skis, so the guys in the boat were like,
cut off your engine, cut off your engine. So we stop.
Our engine almost flipped us over the jet skis and

(59:45):
these whales just started coming out from the water and
they were like swimming alongside us. You have to legally,
I think, shut your engines off when they're there. But
we went right from that scene on the jet skis.
I think I showered in like a porter potty in
the trailer. We went right to the flight back down.
We're shooting in l A like the next day, but
a long flight too from l A. But that was

(01:00:07):
that was a lot of fun to shoot. Now. I
know you always do these trips like in forty eight
hours or whatever, like especially the can trip. I cannot
believe how quickly you guys were there, But how long
were you in Hawaii? I think Hawaii was all in all,
I think it was like four days, but it was
only two days. For I mentioned like ri e E
and Drama flying, they're only in like a bit of

(01:00:29):
that stuff. And then Adrian and I were left there
for the extra two days, which was kind of nice
because we'd work a little bit. I got to play
some golf. I was like, I think that was my
first time in Hawaii too, So yeah, I got to
grow a beard because we're supposed to. That's where I
really started getting a beard growing out and the hair
because uh, we were supposed to be on the run. Okay.
I haven't gotten a chance to ask you about all

(01:00:50):
of your co stars very much, but since this episode
is you and Vince a lot, tell me about what
it's like working with Adrian, and especially as you've got
a couple of days, Like really, just you guys to
hang out in Hawaii. Adrian's the best I I He's family.
All those guys are family. Adrian was always interesting because
he would always tell us, you know, I was an
only child. I didn't have brothers or sisters, so you

(01:01:12):
guys are the closest thing to brothers I have, and
all the rest of us all have siblings, so and
Adrian was raised by amazing single mother. Stuff like that.
The joke with Adrian, I think the first or second
year of the show, we gave out an award at
the Space. Adrian at the time, maybe he's watched sports
a little more now knew nothing. Nothing. I say nothing

(01:01:32):
about sports, nothing zero. We're on the red carpet at
the ASPS. We're doing some interviews and someone asks Adrian
about like the Yankees and who his favorite Yankee is,
and he's like, oh, he didn't even know Jeter. He
didn't even think to say Jeter at the time. It's
fifteen years ago. I just walked by and you could
see it in the clip. I go Matsum. He's like,

(01:01:53):
I love you know, Deckie Matsumi. So I claim Adrian's
favorite baseball player of all time that I fed him
on the red carpet at the SPS. Okay, that is
a good story. I was saying you off air, and
I want people to tweet at us if they'd be
interested in this. But I think we should do one
whole Entourage episode and have on as many of your
peeps one episode and asked them about their favorite sports stories.

(01:02:18):
Sports fandom everything. So if you like that idea, tweet
at us. We'll run it by our producer and our bosses, absolutely,
and then yes, we'll have them on. And then you
for sure have to go on the Victory podcast with
Dylan Connelly and Doug Allen because they're recapping them in detail.
So you'd be a great guest because you're watching in
the moment, right, very fresh, very fresh. One more question.

(01:02:39):
Tony Bennetts in an episode, and I mean, what a
legend and what was it like shooting with him? Do
you have any funny off off camera story with him?
It was amazing. I'm a Tony benefit and my mom's
the biggest Tony benefit and ever the only story I
really remember. I don't think he was too great with
some of the language, Like you know, he'd shoot his
scene and then he's in the background of ours and
then my characters like the fun girls here drama. You know,

(01:03:02):
you can always feel him be like, ah, these kids
in the cursing, why they got a curse. But that
he even says that on the show, right, I think
that's where that came up from. I think, yeah, I
think that right. I think he even said like, yeah,
like off camera. I've enjoyed the show You guys curse
a lot, though, so I think that's where that came from.
He just was a class act the whole way around

(01:03:24):
him and Layton Meester got to do some cool scenes
on that stage where they're singing together. And then also
Layton Mester, was this like peak gossip girl fame as well?
Like she was a big deal in the middle of Yes, absolutely,
so yeah, Layton did. She was in like episode two
I think of Entourage, and then a few episodes here
are there, And yeah, this was all time, I think

(01:03:46):
I remember because it was we had to work around
scheduling and stuff like that with her. She was always cool.
Every time we called and asked her to come back,
very very busy woman at the time, she always came
back and and hung with us. So, yeah, she's filly.
Uh got his Entourage? O G. Did you have Tony
Bennett signed anything for your mom or call her or

(01:04:06):
do anything? You know? I didn't, and I should have
because my mom's maybe the last person on earth who
loves and autographs still who asks for autographs anymore. Now
it's all about the selfie and the picture my mom.
If you asked her, would you rather like a selfie
with Tony Bennett or his signature? She would pick signature
for sure. She still values the autograph as a thing

(01:04:26):
of memorabilia. So no, I I didn't and I should have.
But I've I've always had a philosophy with the cameos
and stuff we've had. I I'm obviously cool and talk
to them and but I try to give them their
space and not nerd out. But Tony Bennett was a
tough one. Not to nerd out with Tom Brady. You
said he's coming up. You didn't ask for anything with him? No, no,

(01:04:46):
but I do think our crew asked for had conveniently
had some footballs and stuff. And to to Tom Brady's credit,
and we'll get to that episode, he was so patient
and signed everything and he was I swear that he
doesn't need any more love of that I'm about to
give it. He was so cool the one day he worked.
He was unbelievable with us and the crew and everyone. Okay, good, Well,

(01:05:10):
I have plenty of early mornings ahead of me that
I will continue to watch and get to that episode.
I'm excited. I'll end with back in the day when
it was airing. Most college kids were coming home at
five am watching Entourage. You are waking up at five
am with your baby watching Entourage. My how times have changed?
Oh yes they have, but I'm loving It's good. All right,

(01:05:41):
it's time for one of my favorite parts of the show.
He's back. He might be in the green. I don't know.
We got total some things up bet MGMs betting analyst
Peter Andrew, Welcome back, Peter. See now this crazy awful
parlay I did two weeks ago starting to make more
sense because now we're in the green. We we're trending
in the right direction. Here, we're power rankings. I went

(01:06:03):
from ten to like probably teetering in the top five.
There's how many there's only ten teams, right, yeah, yeah,
we didn't talk about how many teams there were. But
let me get a little bit of energy and excitement here. Well, yeah,
you did that that every favorite parlay that got you going.
You know, you also were the I don't know how
many people were rooting for the tie in the Giants
Commander's Game. You were one of them because you had

(01:06:24):
what under forty and a half? Right, So yeah, that's crazy.
Sweat out that one is right, and I think it
was twenty third team with like six minutes left in
the fourth quarter. I was like, there's no shot this hits.
Sure enough, it hits, So yeah, I was rooting for
the under miss field goal at the end by the Giants,
so we hit on that for a couple of units.
I think that was a three unit player right there,

(01:06:46):
Dolphins Niners. That was the one I was really confident
about hitting over. So the over forty six and a half,
I think that kind of showed me what I expected
somewhat of a high scoring game there. Um and then
the teaser which almost hit. So the teaser we had
ounce minus one. I think we collectively we're talking about
feel good. They're Chiefs over forty six and a half,
so even though they lost the game. And then Dolphins

(01:07:07):
plus ten. So that late touchdown that fumbled by to
uh Dre Greenlaw put it in the end zone that
actually killed it. So that would have been an extra
seven units there, but we stayed above. We're about two
three units up last week, so so we're going to
continue to trend in the right direction here. Peter, I
gotta ask you if you ordered your brock pretty jersey
yet funny that you say that is because I was

(01:07:28):
just at my desk and I was about to pull
the trigger in order to do it. Why not? Yeah,
you're Mr Irrelevant. I love it. Are you worried about
your team? Yeah? I think this week is gonna show
a lot. I think he played really well, but I'm
also not sold on the Dolphins defense. You saw it.
They were sending seven eight people at once to try
to contain him, which is never a good sign for
a guy who's probably never to start a game, especially

(01:07:49):
this year. But probably looking at a Bucks team, if
Lavonte David's healthy, I know he got shaken up on
Monday Night, a more worthy defense here. But again, looking
at it the other way, they're gonna be able to
build a litle bit of schematic offense around what he
can and can't do. So it's it's gonna be a
really telling week on on Sunday, the Bucks can't score.
So that gets right into my first pick. Okay, let's go.

(01:08:10):
That's a transition is what we call in the business.
That's the transition that is that is like you read
about it, so Brock Purty, Jimmy g Trey Lance kind
of didn't matter for me. Niners defenses playing unbelievable seven
points in the second half in the last five games.
That is a number one ranked defense. Nick Boss somehow
slotted himself back in the conversation for DPOY with Parsons

(01:08:34):
just thirteen and a a half sacks now, so he's he's
playing real role all pro season. He's incredible, amazing. So
their defense versus a Bucks offense that just frankly can't
do anything, Niners are minus four. So I have four
units on that one. We've taken that one unit we
normally put on an O G P and taking that
out this week Thursday came is awful and I just

(01:08:54):
don't know which way to go on that. So we're
gonna go four units. So that's forty dollars to win
seventy six Niners minus four. Third straight game for the
Niners at home, and I think they're starting to get
more healthy. Defense is fully back. I think they are
probably the team to be maybe outside the Eagles in
the NFC. So Pee, I'm gonna actually, and I'm looking

(01:09:14):
at bead MGM right now, it's actually minus three and
a half, so I'm getting used that number. We're gonna
give you, I say three and a half because you
would know you would have waited until right now. So
it's getting even better Niner fans. Yeah, so it looks
like there's a potentially a little bit of sharp money.
You go in the opposite way, but that's what I
want to see. Yes, I think that's a Niners team
that can disrupt them to a way different degree than

(01:09:35):
the Saints did yesterday and frankly lucky that they pulled
out that win in the last minute and a half.
So you've got four units there, fort to win seventy
six are you? Are you teasing? Are you par laying
the rest of the way. Yeah, So we're going to
different teasers here. So we had some success last week
on the totals, so I want to start with that.
So we're doing all three overs here. So we've teased

(01:09:57):
them down six points, so it's finns argers. We've teased
that down to forty six and a half. I think
that's again another high scoring game. You have pretty potent offenses.
Herbert had a tough week last week versus the Raiders,
but I think that is a probably a high scoring matchup,
two teams really really fighting for that potential last couple
of playoff spots because the Chargers are right there, Dolphins

(01:10:18):
start a little bit as kid, they can put themselves
in a bad spot. So I see that as a
high scoring one out in l a second one over
forty one and a half. So this is a really
appetizing number to me. Going down that six points for
Brown's Bengals, I think you saw Watson start to get
a bit more familiar with plan. That's been two years.
They looked fairly well against the Texans, which is not

(01:10:39):
saying much, but I think there'll be some points there,
and obviously playing the Bengals, who are just absolutely rolling
right now, again, see that being a probably a forty
five to fifty point game collectively. And then the last one,
this is the one that I think is a little
bit tricky, but it's over forty seven and a half
in the Vikings Lions games game, that's two teams that
can put up points, and as we've seen in the

(01:11:00):
season and then again more recently, the Lions give up
a lot of points. So I can see this again
being a an absolute shootout. This could be a forty
to thirty five ish score kind of kind of game.
So three units thirty two win seventy two. So as always,
that's that plus one forty mark right there for three teams.
What do you guys think about that one? So I'm
going all over here, which is always risky. But it's risky,

(01:11:22):
but you're the fun guy at the bar who's rooting
for the over always fun dick who's rooting under. I
have to balance it after last week rooting for the tie.
So yeah, I like it, and I agree. I'm still
trying to wrap my head on the Olivia and I
were talking that the Lions are minus two and a
half in that game, so I wouldn't even want to
touch a side in that game. But I do like points.

(01:11:43):
I'm actually gonna mirror that teaser on my own. I
think I love that one. But if Vegas is predicting
a close game two and a half points, then you
gotta like the vikings there, you know, if they're nine
and oh and one score games. So if you're that's
why I like the overpee. I like your play. Yeah,
there's some really really questionable lines this week that that's
one of them, and we'll get into some that I've

(01:12:05):
teased either down or up. It seems like a really,
really weird week in the NFL, So staying away from
those to your guys point there for the second teaser.
So this is all spreads. So we're going kind of
a back and forth approach here. First one, Texans are
last time I checked, plus seventeen. That is a big number,
especially where I'm going to tease it up to twenty three.
I mean, there's still an NFL team at the end

(01:12:26):
of the day. That's way too many points for me
to pass up. I was considering taking the the Cowboys down,
but I think playing with three scores plus, I think
is a pretty safe bet. Although they are pretty poor team,
I think they still have a lot to play for.
I think Jamie and Pierce still can be a premier
running back in the league. I think they have lots
to prove to themselves. So don't see them winning that game.

(01:12:48):
I think that's pretty clear, but I see it being
somewhere around a ten to four teen point game. So
plus twenty three there, Chief's going to Denver. That was
a minus nine. I've teased that down to minus three.
Chiefs coming off tough law us Denver got absolutely killed
by Carolina. I think three points there is pretty pretty
favorable all things considered. So Chiefs bounced back week, probably

(01:13:09):
the best team in the NFC. I think they look
they'll be just fine. And then last one Brown's I've
teased it up from plus six to plus twelve versus
the Bengals again, same game we touched in the in
the totals, I think they'll look a bit better with
Deshaun Watson. He looked pretty shaky kind of first couple
of drives on one o'clock on Sunday, but I think
he got back into his own rhythm as needed. So

(01:13:31):
I think that's generally a closer game than two scores.
Still think Bengals win at home, but again a seven
point game and still gives us some points to work
with there, So I think pretty good all things considered.
And then again thirty dollars to win seventy two, so
the same plus one forty and can put ourselves in
a good position here, and we're playing with I think
a couple of different totals and a couple of different
spreads that are pretty appealing with those six points. Pete,

(01:13:53):
you know, I'm sorry I questioned your strategy of getting
on base a few weeks ago because it's working. Good stuff. Pete, Hey,
why we have of all of our mics open and hot.
I want to wish a congratulations to one of our
friends and fellow employees, Zach Gayner, who welcomed a baby
girl this week very anxiety. Yes you won't be for

(01:14:16):
I'm seven months out and I'm not sleeping well. Pete,

(01:14:38):
thanks so much a lot of fun. If you see
Zach before we do, tell him congratulations from all of
us at Unleashed. Make sure you subscribe to the Unleashed
podcast presented by bed MGM YouTube channel. That's right, you
can watch us and not just listen to my horse
voice after an exciting football weekend, and we hope to
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