The Favorites - AFC East Betting Preview with Michael Lombardi

Will the Buffalo Bills no longer a beast in the East? Are the Dolphins tough enough for a long regular season? Action Network NFL experts Chad Millman and Simon Hunter are back to discuss the AFC East. They are joined by former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, creator of the Daily Coach newsletter and host of the GM Shuffle Podcast.

Together they talk about the chances of a New York Jets playoff run, Simon's feelings on Tua, and so much more.

Plus, for those interested in betting college football this season, Action's own Big Bets On Campus now has its own YouTube channel. Subscribe now for free early access to our conference preview episodes, our best bets, along with exclusive content all season long. #Volume #Herd

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to The Favorites, the podcast presented by BET three
sixty five. We are part of the Volume Podcast Network.
I am Chad Moman, Chief Content Officer of the Action Network.
I'm joined as always by my co host, my companion,
my capadre, my BFF professional better, Simon Hunter ros I Man.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hello, Chad. How are we doing? Brother?

Speaker 1 (00:31):
We are living it. We are deep deep into preview season.
I'm excited for today is because it involves the most smug, arrogant,
controversial player in the NFL. It's our fifth installment in
our annual NFL Division preview series. We are discussing the

(00:52):
AFC East and we are joined by a special guest
who has had his fair share of controversial characters that
he has had to work with. He is a longtime
NFL executive, creator of the Daily Coach newsletter, author host

(01:13):
of the GM Shuffle podcast. It is Michael Lombardi. Mister Lombardi,
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank thank you, chat, Thank you Simon. Appreciate being here.
I enjoy listening to you guys talk about the game
and talking about the betting. It's as I told Simon
when we had lunch one day, for me somebody who's
never been in the betting world and working at Viison,
I never really understood betting and listening to how it
applies to handicapping teams. I've learned a great deal from

(01:43):
listening to you too, so it's helped me out a lot.
I appreciate you having me.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
I love that we've got an old school South Jersey
Jersey shore Barnburner on this show. And also look for
those listening who don't know, Lombardi worked for Al Davis
and I sat with Mike and he has told me
stories about working for Al Davis that would burn your

(02:11):
eyeballs how insane it was to work with Al Davis.
So you are no stranger to working with controversial characters,
to working with people who have big egos. Aaron Rodgers
obviously in the AFC East, we're going to get into that.
As a reminder, the Favorites podcast is presented by Bet
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(02:52):
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(03:13):
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this episode description. Before we get into it, Mike truly,
did you have a secret? And now you've been in media,

(03:36):
so you've continued to deal with arrogant, controversial, crazy personalities,
which we working for the Raiders, working for the Patriots.
What was your secret to dealing with unbelievably sort of
high touch, precious personalities.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
You know, when I watched Hard Knocks, I thought Joe
Shane's the luckiest son of a bitch in the world
because John marras such a nice man that if Al
Davis would have been his president and general manager, I
don't think Joe Shane would have been alive today. He
would have been like Mussolini, hung out in some square
because some of the answers that he was giving weren't
go to got to fly with Al. I think it

(04:17):
the other way. I've learned a lot from him.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
If there's anything we've ever done, then I'm particularly proud of.
I would have to say perpetuation of the greatness of
the Raid is to take a professional football team and
give it a distinct characteristic that's different from all of us.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
You know, I learned a lot of football from Al.
Was a young kid driving Bill Walsh around in a
car and Coach Wall said to me, he said, you know,
the most football ever learned in my life was working
for Al Davis. And I thought to myself, well, I
got to go work for Al Davis, and I did,
and I learned a lot of football. I learned about
game management. I learned about players, like for example, if

(04:54):
I would have gone to Allen said we're going to
spend twenty eight million in trade for Brian Burns and
he's got eight and a half sacks year, and we're
going to cost us a two and a five. He
would have said, well, how many secks did he get
against Tyron Smith? How many sacks did he get against
Charles Leno? How many sex did he get against Malatta
from the Eagles? And if I didn't have that answer
off the top of my head, he would have cursed
me out and I would have been shot at sunrise. So,

(05:17):
you know, it's a blessing to work for some of
these people. Egos just part of it, you know, it
just goes with the territory. And as long as your
ego doesn't get in the way of you learning, it's
really beneficial.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
I had a dream that someday I would build the
finest organization in professional sports.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
I think I might have told you this story. I
don't know, Simon, I have ever told you this story. But
Al Davis so he used to be a coach at
the Citadel, you know, going back to the fifties and sixties,
and before he was, you know, in the NFL, and
one of my closest friends. His dad grew up dirt
poor in Brooklyn, had never been to a restaurant, but

(05:56):
he was an All city football player in Brooklyn. Davis
was recruiting him to go to the Citadel, and Al
Davis took him to a really nice restaurant in New York.
The only restaurant he'd ever been to that had had
tablecloths on it, right on the table. So he's sitting
with Al Davis and in the middle of dinner, Al

(06:17):
Davis takes out a pen on the tablecloth, the white tablecloth,
starts drawing up plays for this guy to diagram, break down,
talk about and then again nice restaurant, you know, coat
and tie kind of plays white tablecloths. Al Davis gets
up out of his seat and gets into a stance

(06:37):
and tells my buddy's father to get into a stance
so they can start wrestling, like blocking with each other
and practicing so he can see his technique. In the
middle of the restaurant. My buddy's father thought, this is
just what you did in a restaurant. That to me
is when I think about Al Davis, Mike, that is
what I think about.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, I mean, there's so many of them. I mean,
I met with a published in New York City. Michael Lewis,
the writer lived in my name, would live behind me
in Berkeley when I worked for the Raiders, and when
I got down working for the Raiders, when as Al
Davis would often say, I'm going to send you to Elba, kid,
I'm going to put you at Elba. Eventually I went
to Elba to meet Michael Lewis and he says, you

(07:17):
got to meet my publisher, Star Lawrence. He's in New York.
You should write a book about Al and all that stuff.
And I did. So I'm sitting with Starr and I'm
telling Star Lawrence all these stories and he looks at
me and he says, no one's going to believe this, Like,
no one could possibly believe these stories, Like I get
your ideas, but there's not a book here because it's
going to be a novel. And he was probably right.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I mean, that.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Story doesn't surprise me at all. I mean, there's so
many of them. But again, that side of Al was
what people know. But the brilliance of him as an executive,
as a drafter, you know, I mean, he signed lance
for Renssel on the field at the University of Arkansas,
made him sign the contract at the fifty yard line.

(07:56):
I mean, this guy was the whole history of the
AFL and one of the reasons why the Chiefs and
the Raiders have such hostility towards one another. I don't
think people realize this. I wrote about it in Football
Done Right. Al was the commissioner of the AFL and meanwhile, Lamar,
Hunt and tech Shram were negotiating the settlement between the
AFL and the NFL and they didn't tell Al, and

(08:19):
Lamar signed the contract without telling them, and that burned
his ass forever.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Mike. Here at the Favorites, we also pride ourselves on
our commitment to excellence. So let's get intore. Let's get
into the AFC East. Reminder for everybody who's been listening,
in all of our previous installments, nineteen of the past
twenty one seasons, an NFL team has gone from worst
to first in its division. Last year's AFC champ was

(08:49):
the Buffalo Bills, last place New England Patriots. Could the
Patriots be that team? Could the Patriots be that team
that goes from worse to first? All right, Buffalo, Good.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Afternoon, everyone.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
This is Van Miller and the Road to the Super Bowl,
goes through Orchard Park, New York.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Fifteen to one to win the Super Bowl, a little
bit lower than it's been in the pat a little
bit longer than it's been in the past couple of years,
plus one seventy to win the Division. Ten and a
half is the win total. As everybody knows, our strength
of schedule ranking goes by the aggregate wins in twenty
twenty four from the projections of bookmakers. That's how we

(09:27):
are ranking a schedule. Buffalo has the tenth artist. Also,
as everybody knows, we focus a lot on O line
and D line because that's where we think differences are
made far beyond anybody gives credit when we're talking about
power rankings. O line ranking for the Bills eighth, A
lot of questions, though their best player is Spencer Brown,

(09:49):
who was a tackle was the thirty second ranked tackle
according to Pro Football Focus. They are replacing their center,
filling a lot of other holes. D line ranking very quiet, sixteenth.
Traded for von Miller. He has not been right ever
since they traded for him. He's faded. Ed Oliver is

(10:11):
mid at best. Mike, I'm going to start with you,
do you feel like the Bills have just completely missed
their window.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well, you know, that window thing is always fascinating to
me because when you have Josh Allen, you always have
a big window. But I think this is a team
that has to be If you were to bring in
Brandon Bean or Sean McDermott into this conversation today, they
would tell you they're worried about their defensive front. They're
worried that they paid all this money to Von Miller.

(10:44):
He didn't have a sack or an assist last year.
I no, he's coming off the injury. But you know
they're worried about the size of their team. See, Buffalo
is an interesting team, guys, because Buffalo believes in the
concept of we're going to get the lead. In football,
everybody thinks the West Coast off is about smash seven
curl twenty bingo cross. Walsh invented an offense that could

(11:06):
score early in the game and then have a defense
could rush the passer. And that's what Buffalo is. Buffalo
is a nickel defense. When you have Matt Milano and
you have Binar, two guys at barely weigh two hundred
and twenty five pounds playing linebacker. For you, you're going
to have a hard time holding up against a run
in a tight game. But when you play from in front,

(11:26):
they can rush the passer. And that's the issue I
think for Buffalo is their defensive front. Can they rush?
Are they going to be good enough up front? Daikwon
Jones was their best defensive lineman last year the way
I see it, and he got hurt and they missed
some games. There's no real depth here. You know, Miller
doesn't look anywhere near the same players. So when they
have that lead, who's going to really be the guy

(11:47):
to rush? Who's going to be their defensive player? I
worry about that. Allan will keep them in games. They what,
They didn't lose a game by more than six points
all last year, But to me, that's my biggest concern.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
No value on this team.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Actually, you're gonna be shocked. I'm finding to be positive
about a division. I love this division and I like
three teams of this division. So Buffalo is one of
the teams I like. If you're telling me that, you know,
this is the year people started doubting him because they
got rid of his two receivers. That's the year I
buy It was the same thing with the Chiefs. The
Chiefs got rid of Tyre Kilchad. I was buying heavy
on that team because I told I just kept saying

(12:23):
he's important. But they have some of their best minds
in football. They'll be able to adjust. Is Joe Brady
sold the offensive coordinator, I'm in then. I love him.
I love their style. And this is the team that
I just bought into last year, and me and you
rode them. I think we got them at plus four
hundred to win the division. And we just saw the path.
We saw how it could break for them last year
because the offense started clicking right once they made a

(12:45):
change a coordinator, it really started clicking. I just believe
having an offseason now, you know, Kinkaid, it might be
one of the best tight ends. We're not talking about
football like this. This kid's ceiling might be really high.
He might be the next type Kittle type. Right. It
might be a great blocking tight end who's also a
dominant receiver. So there's a lot of things I'm excited about.
Stuff you had a camp sounds great, right. Coleman kid

(13:07):
they drafted this year out of Florida State. He's funny
as hell. But when he gets on the field, he
seems like he's a dog like he's really serious, and
he works really hard apparently, and he's been working putting
extra time on Josh Allen. So to me, Josh, he's
the difference maker, Chat, I mean me, and you keep
talking about we have him a second ranked quarterback. I
can't bet an under on a guy like that at

(13:28):
die respect. So ten and a half is plus one thirty.
The professional is clearly like this team's under because they
believe this division is better. Right with Aaron Rodgers stepping
up and Miami is sending it from last year, I
could see what they've taken that position again. They play
a first place schedule. It's it's tough to get those
wins when you have a first play schedule. I got
him right at eleven wins, Chat, so it's not that
big of an advantage. I got it by half a game.

(13:50):
But at a plus number, I'll take that bet, but
I don't. I haven't bet anything on the division wise yet, Chat,
I have not touched their division olog yet. A plus
one seventy, I think it should be plus closer to plus.
You on, you're just like the Jets, right, I kind
of have these teams right there by each other. So
to me, I have not taken a position on the
Bills division ob ject, but I have had bet the

(14:11):
over ten and a half.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Buffalo Bills. You just mentioned their schedule on the road
at Baltimore, at Houston, at the Jets at the Rams
at Detroit, plus Kansas City and the Niners at home.
This is not a schedule that is for I feel

(14:34):
like Matt Mitchell is listening to this as a resident
Buffalo Bills maniac. He knows that this is going to
be a miserable year.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
This sucks and it's horseshit. But I'm too polite to
say anything because I'm a class act.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
I was making notes on this, and I was trying
to think, like Josh Allen, transcendent talent happens to have
the bad luck of being a transcendent talent at the
same time as Patrick Mahon. Homes is not only in
the same league, but in the same conference. So I
was trying to think of comps for the Bills, and
in my notes, I was like, is he Dan Fouts
of the Chargers or in the eighties when they couldn't

(15:12):
get over the hump, right, Or is it the is.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
It Philip Rivers of the Chargers, Philip Rivers, Philip River
to Brady Simon.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
We'll get to this in a second because you'll you'll
like this too. Or is it the Houston Oilers of
the seventies and like they couldn't they got to those
championship games and they couldn't quite get past the Steelers.
And so Mike knows this because like we are of
the same generation of football fandom where those teams like
are It feels like yesterday. So I'm sending to the

(15:39):
dinner table with my kid and I say to him,
give me a comp for Josh Allen today. My kid
is seventeen, Mike, give me a comp for Josh Allen
any sport. We're like, he's the best, but might not
get there. And he goes, well, James Pardon of the Rockets,
And I'm like, huh, that could be better than Dan

(15:59):
Fouts of the nineteen eighties. For our audience, you're with me, Mike.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
You're with Mike. Well, I think to me, you know
all those teams you cited that, like, I think the
Houston Oilers were the most talented team to never win
a Super Bowl. I think Mike Holliback, the former general manager,
belongs to the Hall of Fame for the assemblance of
that team. I wrote about that, But this isn't that
talented of a team that way. I think they've changed

(16:24):
their style offensively. Look, you know, they gave the Chiefs
the hardest time of any team in the playoff run,
even worse than forty nine. They ran for one hundred
and seventy three. They threw the football effectively on them.
You know, Bass missed the field goal. That Bass is
an issue that you have to be concerned about with
this team. You know, he's missed two kicks in the
forty he missed two outside of fifty. They kick in
Buffalo not easy to kick. You have to be worried

(16:47):
about that. But they changed who they are, guys. I
think they used to be an eleven team all the time,
one tight end, one back, and now they're a twelve team.
But how you define twelve as different? See Kaid can
win against slot corners, kN k can win against other safeties.
So they're really they can be. They're a little bit
like the Niner. They'll excuse me, the Patriots when the

(17:08):
Patriots had Hernandez. They were a twelve team, but they
could be an eleven team. They could be a ten
team without having a substitute. And this is a little
bit where Buffalo is in that vein. They can be
an eleven team or a twelve team without a substitution,
which makes it harder for the defensive coordinator game plan
against it. Also, because of the value of Cook, we
can't underestimate Cook's talent as a runner. Now, he fumbled

(17:31):
four times last year, but Cook's really good and so
he makes the spread. And what Simon's saying about Brady
is they can be in that and I think their
leading receiver will be Kincay. I don't think the digs
In trade is going to affect them as much because
of this is how they've actually changed the offense, and

(17:53):
they changed it last year right before our eyes.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
So I'm glad you guys are saying this because the
other notes I had is I don't know that I
get the identity for this team right now. Are they
going to be the team that was trying to run, run, run,
Are they going to be the team that is spreading
it out? Are they going to be the team whose
best weapon is going to be whatever Josh Allen decides

(18:17):
he wants to be that day, without any rhyme or reason. Either.
He's the best rusher on the field, the best passer
on the field. We're going to bet his over rushing
props in every game. So this is interesting to me,
and Simon, I agree with you. Like when you were
saying ten and a half, I was thinking to myself,
if I'm betting the Bills ten and a half, why
wouldn't I just bet the plus one seventy at a

(18:39):
better number because they'll need to get over ten and
a half to win that division. But you kind of
framed it that you don't think the value is there.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, I just wish it was a better number. Again,
they deserve to have a lower number. They should have
the most respect in this division. It's their division. I
mean they've wonted how many times now with Josh Allen
four or five times? Shit, I mean it's his division,
so they should be the favorite. I just thought it'd
be closer to plus two hundred than is that plus
one seventy?

Speaker 1 (19:05):
All right, New York Jets.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Still it's real good.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Be the best is yet to come.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'm fairly certain that the Atlantic wins have floated a
rumor to me that you guys might have different opinions.
Here New York Jets twenty to one to win the
Super Bowl plus one eighty to win the division. Season
win total of nine and a half fourth easiest schedule,

(19:35):
And I will not lie to you guys. I don't
like Aaron Rodgers at all as a personality. I don't
know him. I think he's a brilliant quarterback. I just
don't like the way he presents himself as a personality.
I think he's just way too smug, tries to use
word to play to get himself to thread the needle
so he can be right no matter what he says.
I just think it's obnoxious. But they're offensive and defensive line.

(20:00):
How they can control the line of scrimmage their foundation,
that's just it might be too good to bet against
the gents. O line ranks according to Pro Football Focus
is fifth. They signed to Ron Smith. They signed Morgan Moses.
Both finished among the tenth highest graded offensive tackles in
twenty twenty three, could be one of the best dudes

(20:21):
in twenty twenty four. They also get Elijah Vera Tucker
who missed most of twenty tony three. He's going to
be back. And then their defensive line, like even with
a couple of departures of John Franklin Myers and Bryce
hoff they were hopefully offset Bias Son Reddick depending on

(20:41):
what happens with his contract situation. Jermaine Johnson showed improvement.
Then there's Quinton Williams, who was obviously other than Chris
Jones and Dexter Lawrence, the most dominant interior defender in
the league, behind both of them only for total pressures
amongst interior alignment for the past two seasons. Simon, I

(21:05):
want to bet against the Jets. I don't want to
root for Aaron Rodgers, but I look at the overall
of this team, I look at their foundation and I
can't do it.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
I like him, and I'm not here to convince people.
I like Aaron Rodgers. But you have to see this kid.
Where he's come from is he went to Juco and
when he was in college apparently he said people basically
told him he was gonna be dumb in a failure
in life, and he is what we talked about. He
just likes revenge, like this guy likes to prove people
wrong and he's very vindictive, and you know, him dropping

(21:37):
in the draft, he talked about like that changed his
trajectory in life, Like he worked so hard because he
was just like, once again people didn't believe in me
and all these other people's I get where you're coming from.
That's what made him in that personality though, where he's
just he's totally gone the other way because it has
worked out for him. Chad, right, So it's like he
does think his shit don't stink when it does stink.
It's like he ain't the smartest man in the room

(21:59):
just because he's incredible gifted at football. But for this season,
it's all there, Like it's just it's perfectly set up
where they have the schedule and I do think you know,
even if you know things don't work out, Reddick, I
still chug that defense. I just think overall they had
the talent there and then offensively, it's just I mean,
fantasy people know this right now. Rees All and you

(22:22):
know Wilson are both first round picks and fantasy football,
it's these guys ceilings are you know, Hall could be
the number one running back in football at the end
of the season. And we've seen Roger's career. He likes
a lock on the number one targets. It's just his
playing style. He always finds a guy he likes and trust.
He doesn't care if that guy's doubled. He's gonna try
to fit in there. Trust and put that on the
guy we just saw get Wilson have an incredible season

(22:43):
with Zach Wilson. I mean, it's just I just can't
get over how much potential is there. And then we
mix in the schedule, Chat, what are you talking about?
You know, if they lose their first game this year,
we could easily see them ritt all of five wins
afterwards and be five to one heading into mid mid October.
So this is the team that it's all set for them.
And even if Rogers does go down with an injury.
I told you, I like the fact they picked up

(23:04):
Tyrod Taylor. It's like they picked up just the robot,
like the guy that they know can run a very
boring and emic goffense. Because I won't lie to you, Chat,
I do not trust to do the other these other
teams in this division. That's my biggest pause with them
right now is the coaching. I just don't know if
offensively don't trust it and defensively I don't know. I'm
a trade I have right now. So this is a

(23:26):
team where I get your hesitation, but a nine and
a half I'll take it. And you can actually take
this because it's minus one fifty nine and a half
if you want a plus number. I have no issue
taking a ten and a half bet with this team either,
because it's just another team. I really like their win totals.
So if you just want you know you're gonna tie
money for six months here you want to make, I'm
sure it's plus money through the ten and a half.

(23:46):
I've done it, plus one thirty five plus one forty.
So this is a team that you know, I hate
being I hate like we talk of all the time chat.
This is a media darling, right, This is a team
that will be all hype just because the Jets have
had nothing hold on to since Mark Sanchez and like
you'll never hear the louder market that's done nothing in
twelve years. It's crazy that Jets the Jets fan base,

(24:07):
So I get that it's chalky people, but I do
think it's all lined up perfectly for this team, like
last place schedule in a division that you know those
those games matter. You just talk with The Bills have
a brutal schedule. The Jets will benefit playing from a
much easier schedule.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Mike, you spent years in this division. Bring some Jersey
Shore reality to Simon Well.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
I call him on my on my show and on
my podcast. I call them the offfers because everything that
Simon said, if if they're healthy, it's true, they're the effers.
I mean, what Aaron Rodgers are we getting? Are we
getting the Aaron Rodgers from the last year in Green Bay?
Are we getting the Aaron Rodgers from the MVP seasons?
I don't know that. You know, I've never seen a
guy come off the Achilles and play to the same level. Now,

(24:55):
the procedure he had on the achilles. If you talk
to medical people about that procedure, they say it allows
you to come back quickly. However, the propensity for reinjury
is there, right, so you can rehab quicker.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
But there is a.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Propensity for that, all right, So you worry about that.
Tyron Taylor is always injured. I mean he's going to
play a couple of games, He's going to get hurt.
They do have a backup. You know, I don't agree
with them being the fifth best offensive line in football.
I haven't seen it yet. I mean, Tyron Smith is
always hurt, Morgan Moses is always on the ground, Tucker's
coming off in ACL Tipman and Simpson are just average

(25:33):
players so far. So maybe when we get if they
get going, they're the bout fifth best line. I can't
say that. I think Bryce Brice Hall is remarkable for
gaining eight hundred yards behind that really really bad offensive
line that they had last year with all those backups
in it. So and Mike Williams is another effort. The
guy's been trending on the downward slide and saying in

(25:54):
Los Angeles, even though he's got great big playability, can
he stay healthy. So if you're betting against him saying not,
all these things are going to come to fruition, and
you're also saying what Simon said. Robert Salah is leading
this team, and you know, I don't know who sends
him out to a press conference, but obviously he doesn't
have anybody talking to him before he talks about the team.

(26:14):
You know, everything's always in disarray. The strength of the
team is their defense. But I think Bryce Hall was
really good for him last year. I think John Franklin
Myers was really good for him last year. And I think,
to me, they haven't really replaced those two players. I
think they were the two of the two best defensive players.
But I agree with that there logic to bet over
because if all this comes in, you got it, but

(26:36):
there's a propensity for it might not happen.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
When does it happen? When in the NFL does everything
work out exactly as you need it to, especially when
the quarterback is forty years old coming off a full
miss season with an achilles injury. And to your point, Mike,
people will remember a couple of great years with Lafloor,

(27:03):
but they will forget that for three of those I
think five years he played with Lafloor, he was on
the downward tread. So it is like now, all of
a sudden, I don't really like Simon's take. I think
I like your to take better, because.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well, it's something about your strength to schedule, your strength
of schedules. Like for me being in the league, I
never really gave much thought to the scheduling because I
wanted it was about what quarterback are replaying and if
the team's not healthy at quarterback, that's a that's an
easier game. So but one thing about the Jets and
the strength of schedule, because of the media reaction because

(27:42):
of Aaron Rodgers, they'll be everybody super Bowl. No one's
going to take them lightly. Like no one's saying, hey
we got the Jets this week, no big game. But
the bad teams are saying, hey we got the Jets
this week. We got we got If we show up
to the Jets, we're good. See, that's a whole different
You go from being the hunter to the hunted. It's
a different game. And you know, that's why the NFL

(28:02):
is so hard to handicap all the time because you
can't always understand the emotions that go on in locker rooms.
The Jets, like the first game, they're what I think
it's five and a half, it's gone down to four
and a half. It's jockeyed around based on the forty
nine Ers in the Ayuk situation. But to me, that's
a good matchup for the Jets because their front will
get the forty nine ers offensive line without Trent Williams.

(28:23):
They play from in front. All that, but after that game,
they're always going to be somebody's target.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
I think this is the most fascinating team to think
about betting in the NFL. It's lined just a little
bit high to make you nervous about betting the over
nine and a half because it's all on the if.
It's all on if Aaron Rodgers is good. It's all

(28:50):
on if toront Smith can be healthy for a full
season and be as dominant as he was in his
prime with the Cowboys. It's all can Breis Hall make
that leap in the second year after an ACL injury.
It's It's a fascinating team. And to your point about coaches,

(29:10):
nobody's got confidence in these coaches. Let me give you
a stat about Nathaniel Packett. He's in his second year
as offensive coordinator with the Jets. Eleventh as a coach
or offensive coordinator. In those previous ten seasons, his teams
were ninety three seventy eight to the under, going five
hundred or better to the under for all five with

(29:34):
all five teams he's been a part of. I don't
think we can expect this to be an explosive Annon
Rodgers offense. Which means their defense is going to have
to win because these games are going to be low scoring,
which speaks even more to the power of what we're
saying about their defense. Simon, are you still on the Jets?

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah? I liked about the upside of it, where it's
all there. Yeah, we're talking, you know, week the week.
This is the team that we might not be on
just because they're overvalued. But I think long term, yeah,
it's just you know, this bet could be dead by
you know, early November, which is no worries. It's like,
all right, well swinging a miss, it's the damn Jets.
But if it's not this year, Chad, I feel bad

(30:19):
for these fans because it's going to be a dark
four or five years out of them. I mean, they've
really gone boom or bust with this team.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
The schedule is what the schedule is. Mike makes a
good point about how you look at it in season,
and we're both all aligned that it plays to the
benefit of the Jets. But for the record, they will
play six night games. Again to Mike's point that everyone
is aware that Aaron Rodgers is playing for the Jets,
and the NFL wants to put them in prime time,

(30:47):
six night games, and a game in London without a bye.
No other team plays more than four night games in
the first eleven weeks in the last twenty years. The
Jets six night games within the first eleven weeks, the
most by any team in the NFL. So even if
it's an easier schedule, the actual scheduling doesn't do them

(31:08):
any favors. But Jets, however, at the Niners, as Mike said,
they will be one of the teams that we play
in Week one. There's no doubt about it. Miami Dolphins
twenty two to one to win the Super Bowl plus
two hundred to win the Division. Nine and a half

(31:29):
is the total strength to schedule eighth easiest O line
rank midling eighteenth according to PFF. You could argue that
this O line it's a perfect reflection of this team,
better than it looks because of the system. They don't
have to hold their blocks because two, it gets the
ball out so quickly thanks to Mike McDaniel's scheme, which

(31:52):
by the way, makes two will look better as well.
D line rank twenty fifth. This is a problem, and
not in a good Miles Garrett problem kind of way.
This is just a problem. Christian Wilkins best player left
in free agency. Andrew van Ginkel had a career year
he left. Bradley Chubb was supposed to be an edge rusher,

(32:14):
game changer. Still recovering from the week seventeen ACL. We
don't know when he'll play Mike two. It just got
a bag. I feel like this team is in a
position where it's not going to be it's never going
to be a contender. It's a middle of the road team.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well, I think there's a couple of factors going on here.
He's the only quarterback really in the league when you
study that's still effective in the RPO game. The RPO
game is dying. I mean, you look at Jalen Hurt's
numbers in the RPO game from two years ago to
last year. It's gone significantly down, almost by five hundred yards.
This kid's his that's his strength the RPO game, and

(32:55):
he's you've eloquently said it perfectly. He is enhanced by
the system, by the skill around them. But the second
half of the season, with the skill and the system
around them, have been a failure for the Miami Dophins.
They're four and ten. The second half of the season
with Mike McDaniel over the last fourteen games okay two
of last year throws fourth eleven touchdowns, seven interceptions the

(33:18):
second half of the season, same system, same players, all
those things. And now you add in the flavor that
he's got the contract. At thirteen fumbles last year in
the quarterback pocket, he's much skinnier than he was the
year before. The concussion protocol is still in play for him.
One of the reasons why he wanted a new contract
because he wanted to make sure that he got that done.
And we've yet to see them beat a good football

(33:39):
team ever under Tua's leadership. I mean the Eagles, and Simon,
you're an Eagle fan, you know this as well as anybody.
They were not good on defense, and they shut down
Miami's offense because why because good defensive coaches understand how
to play Miami. You play the rpo game. The balls
are going to certain spots. Now, it's easier said than done,
because Hill's an incredibly gifted player, unlike any we've ever

(34:01):
seen before. He's got Barry Sanders quickness with Brandy Moss speed.
Those are hard things to put together. But I'm not
a fan because I think at some point there has
to be a level of toughness. I think at some
point there has to be a defense that can take
and win the game. And when I read all the
comments that they said about Vic Fangio when he left,

(34:21):
it tells me this is more of a softer team,
and the evidence supports it. So I'm not buying it.
You know, wins on Pup Brewer got hurt yesterday, their
offensive lineman. I think this is a team that everybody
got paid, but nobody's going to be happy.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
That's a great NFL line right there.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, this was a team I wanted to like, Chad like,
they're really funny, exciting, like we said, an offense and
they kept all the guys together. But when you really
do go into what they let go on defense last
year again arguably the best detackle on football. How do
you not pay that man, that's a position you just pay.
You just you suck up and you pay that positions
because it's such a key anchor to that defense. So

(35:02):
the fact that he's gone, you know, Fangs is now
up in Philly coaching like that's that's a big loss
for them on defense. He eyeled a lot together on
that defense last year. And you know, to me, it's
a team that it's it's easy to bet their aggression. Right.
It felt like a lot of things broke their way
last year. They had a lot of really crazy close wins.
I mean even Week one, that Chargers game was just
a back and forth shootout. They kept winning those kind

(35:23):
of games, right, and that's why we kind of, you know,
grew to respect this offense. It's like, to a I agree,
he's probably slightly overpaid. He's right for this offense. Like
what he does though, those one two reads, that's that's
what he is. He's a first or second red quarterback
that gets a ball out of his hands whether it's
there or not. He's gonna let his receivers do their
jobs just because he has two top twenty five receivers.

(35:44):
So it's like, all right, if Tyreek kills covered double
cover here or bracketed, I'll just go to wide on
the single coverage. It's it's not that complicated an offense,
especially when we're talking about the RPOs, which is always
gonna have the all the offense open the middle up
just because the linebackers are always stepping up just you
know they give it. They do hand the ball off,
which I know it sounds crazy there. Their best offense

(36:04):
is when they do run the ball like that's if
you go back and look through their history of the games,
that's when they're so dominant. That's why I issue with
this team this year. They're not gonna have the defense
to have games where they can just run the ball.
It feels like they're always going to be chasing points
just because they're always going to be kind of behind
because of this defense. So nine and a half is rich,
Like I got them right in nine wins. So I
don't really have a bet either side. I probably lean

(36:25):
towards the under here Division odds are terrible plus two
hundred and what world would you bet this? It's just
to me, it's either the Bills or the Jets. I'm
shocked when Chad said the Jets were down a plus
one eighty. They were plus two thirty a month ago,
so that they've been they've been hit pretty hard now
these last couple of weeks. This Miami team, I don't

(36:46):
know who's betting them. I just don't know who would
believe in this team to win this division, let alone
put any type of money on Super Bowl futures, Like
when you know, no matter what, they're having to go
to somewhere cold to win a playoff game. Doesn't matter.
If it's Baltimore, it doesn't matter, if it's Cincy, doesn't matter.
I like, you know, the Chiefs. It's all bad right there.
So to me, that's that's a bad bed if you're

(37:06):
typing type in any type of future on a team.
This is one I've not even thought about it at all.
It just does not line upright for them. But like
I said, if for the owner of the team, you
just want to have nine to ten wins every year,
congrats you built that team. Like that's what this team
feels like they're going to be for the next four
to five years. They're always going to be in it,
but no one is gonna have faith in them actually

(37:27):
going doing anything with this team. So yeah, it's it's tough.
If you're a fan of the team, you have high hopes,
but as it better here to be really honest, yet,
I just there's nothing here I really want to invest
in on this team.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
You guys both pointed out two was kind of a
beat up on bad teams win at home, flashy, mile wide,
inch deep as a quarterback. Two and ten straight up, three,
eight and one against the spread are way from home

(38:00):
versus winning teams in his career. His last straight up
win came in September of twenty twenty two against the Ravens.
So that's seven consecutive losses. And I think we all
remember that game crazy hot. It's one of those early
season games that like, it's really challenging for the opposing team.

(38:22):
Looking at the Dolphins schedule, Miami is projected to play
away from home versus a winning team, potentially in Week
three against the Seahawks, Week nine versus the Bills, Week
ten versus the Rams, Week thirteen, versus the Packers, Week fifteen,

(38:45):
versus the Texans, Week seventeen versus the Browns, Week eighteen
against the Jets. That's one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven potential games against winning teams over the course of
the season. And that does not build well for this
team at all.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
No, No, it's and again that's Bill for cole Weather.
They're not. Now that's not like that's I picked up
when you said a bunch of those are cold weather games.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Yeah, I mean, look, he struggles go back to Tennessee.
Played Tennessee three years ago, and the first quarter it
looked really good. It started to rain in Tennessee forty
five degrees in rain. His hands are small, he can't
control the ball in bad weather. I mean it's perfect conditions.
He's good. Look they got Tyreek Hill. Could he stay
healthy for all seventeen I don't know. Armstead the left

(39:34):
tackle can't stay healthy for a game, let alone all
seventeen games. So you know, Isaiah wins on pup And
of course you haven't mentioned ched. They have the great
O'Dell Beckham, which is guaranteed you to get bet by everybody.
I mean, you know, Odell's the greatest receiver that ever played.
I mean people are going to put him in the
Hall of Fame. But at some point, at some point,
all that all what we've learned is you could talk

(39:57):
all the offense you want. Kansas City one last year
with their defense, Let's make no bones about it. They
have the greatest quarterback. Don't get me wrong. They won
with defense. They were able to stay in games with
their defense, and I don't see it. You know, they
signed Jordan Poyer, who's going to StEB a hard time
staying healthy. Ramsey's a good corner, but everybody's going to
throw on Kendall Fuller. You know, where's the rush. Kalais

(40:17):
Campbell actually was Atlanta's best defense of lineman. He had
nineteen quarterback pressures last year. So he comes in, But
can you expect him to fill in for Wilkins? Who's
a Really they made no attempt to sign Wilkins at all,
which I thought was ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
You know a Kalays Campbell, Mike, I think he played
for that nineteen seventies Boilers team. That's how long he's
been around b Ramsey. He's on the pup list too,
Like we don't know when he's going to be coming
back from his injury last year, so that defense is
in shambles. You're the GM of this team. We as

(40:52):
Simon and I as generally layman me. More than Simon
could see from a mile away, this team was building
self towards mediocrity. What do you do with tua if
you're the GAM of that team, do you feel like
they have handicapped themselves?

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Like?

Speaker 1 (41:09):
How are you building a team to escape the inertia
of eight to ten wins?

Speaker 3 (41:15):
I'm waiting for a team to have enough balls when
they know who their quarterback is to draft a quarterback
and have the balls to replace them. See. I think
the biggest mistake we made, I made it in the league,
we all make it is when we overpay replaceable players.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Right.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Look, I'm not saying too is not a good player,
but he's certainly if they went to Mike White or
Skyler Thompson, they would be a lesser player. But maybe
if they drafted one. I think to me, when you
go down that road of overpaying good players, you end
up with a bad cap and not a good team.
Daniel Jones the perfect example. I mean, this is a

(41:50):
team the Giants thirty six percent win percentage since Tom
Kofflin left. But you talk to John Mara and he'll say,
Daniel Jones is a really good player. Well, you overpay
for good. You can never overpay for great. You can
never overpay for great. You're never overpaying Patrick Mahomes. You're
not overpaying Josh Allen. But you're going to overpay Brandon
Au because the media wants you to overpay him because

(42:12):
he thinks he's a top five receiver when yet his
numbers don't even are not the same as DJ Moore,
who makes twenty seven and a half night. That's where
you get in trouble with the cap and I think
that's where Miami is now. You know, they've paid no
attention to the offensive and defensive lines, which to me
is the essence of how you win championships.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Isn't it interesting just to go back to the GM
thing for one second? You know, I watched the Hard
Knots with the Giants, and I thought they're GM. In
those early couple of episodes about Saquon Barkley, they tried
to frame him as being a little bit out of
his depth, when in fact, he very well may be
on the right side history here because that offensive line

(42:53):
was so bad, and if you've invested in Daniel Jones,
you basically have this season to figure out is he
any good or not. You can't overspend on Saquon and
not do anything to improve the offensive line, which, by
the way, it's why we look at offensive and defensive
line rankings when we're doing these previews. But Mike, from
your point of view, when you saw how Joe Shine

(43:15):
was managing that situation and came across in Hard Knocks,
was that a nightmare for you as a GM. Did
you think, oh, he's managing as well? What was your
take on that.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
I thought he managed like somebody at Biggie Sports bar
up in North Jersey. I thought he hurt our profession
in the sense that it wasn't That's not how it
should be run. There should be models. If we signed
Brian Burns and pay this, this is what our team
looks like. If we sign, if we don't, we sign
these five players. This is what our team looks like.

(43:45):
It's never about one thing. And he's talked about what
you said. I agreed with offensive line, but signing Germaine
Alumino or doesn't. If he's your best top offensive lineman,
you better go back to your pro personnel guy and say,
wait a minute, something's wrong here. This guy's been on
six teams. He's our pro best, he's our best player.
And then they signed running and that's it. See, everything

(44:07):
the Giants have done is always about protecting their draft picks.
Evan Neil's still on pup, can't play, they need to write.
So now Allumino's playing right tackle. So they signed Van
Note who is Now they have the Raiders right side
of the line of last year? How do you think
that's going to work out for him? So for me,
what I had a real issue with.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
I learned this.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
From the Giants because of Belichick and because of everything ourselves.
There's no identity there. We don't know who they are.
I want a general manager walk in and say this
is who we are. We're going to rebuild, this is
what we're going to build, a deep like I would
have signed Christian Wilkins and pay whatever it took, then
signed Brian Burns because with Lawrence and Wilkins inside, now
Jalen Hurts is going to have to run around the pocket.

(44:49):
Let me ask you both this question. Did you ever
hear them ever say how are we going to beat Dallas?
How are we going to beat Philly? Al Davis is
going to deserk not launce? Did they ever mention ol
Davis would have gone berserk by not hearing that? So
for me, it was a little too fandom for me
because I take great pride in the profession. But it's

(45:11):
not about what players should we sign, it's how are
we going to build this team?

Speaker 1 (45:17):
New England one hundred and eighty to one to win
the Super Bowl twenty five to one plus twenty five
hundred to win the division.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
You know what I call those odds. Those are Saint
Jude's plays. Chad, give them money to Saint Jud's. Give
them money to Saint Jude's. Right, say give them money.
Those kids at Saint Jud's are fighting and we should
help them. Don't waste your money on the Patriots. Give
it to Saint Juds.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
It's only people out on Route one who are betting
those numbers.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
I don't think they are.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
And the win total is four and a half. Combine
this with the second hardest schedule, an A Line rank
of twenty eighth, a D Line rank of fifteenth, Simon.
What I do know is that we're going to bet
the Patriots in Week one. After that, I pretty much
think we're at again.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
No, it has to be per set, but yeah, they
like they're already having a disaster camp where I think
their best de tackle has like blood clots or something
like that. And he came he's out for the year. Yeah,
And if you watch his tape chat, this is like
a hand picked Belichick guy, Like this guy is ascending
to be one of the better players in the league,
and now he might not play this season. You know
they're they're putting a lot onto Christian Dallas at the

(46:29):
quarnerback position, which is a guy that I thought, you know,
Belichick coached up great and he was one of their
best corners, and you know, you think he's gonna be better,
but again Bill's gone. That's my biggest issue with this team.
It's like people want to keep talking abot how good
their defense was last year, and it's like, I don't
think they understand that having the greatest mind ever that
coach the defense, it's gonna be a big loss, Like

(46:50):
he's not gonna be there and put them into these situations,
which is what Belichick's so great. He's so great at
putting these guys into great situations where it's like, oh,
we've practiced this situation a thousand times, exactly what to
do in these spots. That's gone. Even if the coach
they brought in is a guy who's off Belichick's tree,
it's still different. They're just because the guy played from
doesn't that means gonna have the same style. So this

(47:11):
is a team. I wanted to bet their over honesty
check because I wanted to be like, you know what,
they're not gonna be as bad as people perceive. But
it's more I dug into if they've drafted these two
really good wide receivers's this upcoming season, there's still not enough,
not enough there for me to build on. Where you
already talked about. It's the division's brutal, and their schedule
is brutal. It's just I can't find the wins there.
So they right now are the number one team for

(47:33):
worst record. So if you want to bet them worst record,
I think it's only plus three fifty, which is the
smallest dodge you can get right now. And worst team
of football. Now, let you know where the bookmakers are at.
They envisioned his team being, you know, either one number
one or two pick, and that means you're gonna have
to have to make a decision on Drake Namos likely,
which sounds stupid, but it's like we've seen it before.

(47:53):
Right when Josh Rosen, the Cardinals were like, all right,
we're out on this guy. They were happy to take
clim Erray with the number one pick. I mean, we
didn't eve talk about the Eagles. They did pay Wins
all that money and they took Hurts, not even two
years later in a draft the Bears the best most
recent example, they moved on right away. So the teams
are quickly pro Trey Lance, right. So I wouldn't be

(48:15):
shocked to see Drake May by a week four or five,
even if we don't think he's ready and people don't
think he's ready, they might be in the position where
it's like, well, this kid coming out now is upposed
to be the next big thing. We might have a
number one pick. We got to see what we have
here in Drake May, which again I don't totally agree with,
but at the same time, they might not have a
choice here. So yeah, it's like you're talking about these

(48:36):
numbers here. It doesn't even seem to real that they
are twenty five to one in the list division. That's
how far they have fallen. And it's it's all over right,
Bill's gone, Tom's gone. It's really dark days ahead for
this new England team right now. So I think them
having the most the best on odds that number one
pick is not shocking. We just think it's gonna be
a bottom feeding year for this this new England team.

Speaker 3 (48:59):
Mike, I think to me, you know, look, nobody talks
about losing Belichick. The sixth best team in red zone
defense last year, six best team and third down that's
going to change.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
You know.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
That's the scheme element of the game that's controlled by
not as much talent as is by scheme on third
and out and in the red zone. So those numbers
are going to go up. In six games, they scored
less than ten points. They had the worst field goal
kicker in football, and yet you know they were in games.
They weren't as bad as their record. They were horribly

(49:32):
coached offensively, no mistake. But the thing that worries your
most is moving forward with a young quarterback, is their
tackle poor. They have no offensive tackles. They signed Michael
Alanu to be the right tackle, but he showed up
at three hundred and eighty pounds. They had a movement
to guard. He's too fat, so they have no right
to the right tackle now is Calvin Anderson, who was
had malaria last year when he took a trip to Africa,

(49:53):
so I don't know where that is. And then left
tackle is the kid that Pittsburgh cut Okafer, he's going
to be They have no tax. You can't play with
no offensive line, and so you know. Yeah, I think, Look,
the reason you like that them in week one is
because Zach Taylor zero and four and two of the
first two games of the year the last two seasons.

(50:14):
So that makes all the sense in the world. I
get that he says he's changing how he's preparing his team,
but there's no way this defense. The defense played one
hundred and thirty one more plays in their offense last year.
That's two full games. Yeah, that's a doubleheader, you know.
And so you're on the field weight and that's what
the sixth best third down defense. So think about how
bad this offense is. And so I don't see it.

(50:36):
Mayo is a first time head coach. He's got twenty
five people on his coaching staff. How does he manage
twenty five people? He's never managed anybody in his life.
Covington has never coordinated before. I think this is a
mess I would play if I played anything. I'm going
to say, they're going to have the first pick of
the draft. They are going to be everybody's survivor pick
pretty much every week in the circuit contest. You know,

(50:59):
out where where our studio is that there, people are
going to run to the to bet them. And for
all the talk that Belichick can't be a GM, they've
signed all his players back. It's funny, it's it's all.
It's all the media. How the perception comes in.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Well, it is amazing the Belichick hate that has happened
the past twenty four months. You know, everyone loves the
Tom Brady narrative and that he was the reason. But
I'll pose a different question to you. Andy Reid has
now won two Super Bowls in a row. He's got

(51:37):
three overall. He's going to stick around, I guess for
as long as he wants, or you know, until he
realizes that he doesn't have Patrick Mahomes anymore. Do you
feel like there is any chance Andy Reid takes over
the mantle of best coach of all time from Bill Belichick?

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Well, I think no.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
But because you know, when he's an Eagle fan, you
remember a lot of the heartache, a lot of conference
championship games, a lot of some really strange game management decisions.
I used to say Andy should outsource his game management
to India at times when he would do some things
that I wasn't sure what he was doing, but.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Said the running Joko Philly is Andy Reid the best
coach for fifty eight minutes. It's the last two. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
And he's gotten away with it with Mahomes because you
go back to the Tampa game when they played down there,
four third down, he calls, Look, I think Andy's great,
but I think Bill. You know, that whole documentary irritates
the hell out of me because I was in the building.
I know what he did.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Right.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
The fact that Super Bowl winning general manager Terry Fottna
of the Alata Falcons says that he was not even
in their top three candidates is a little bit of
a ridiculous statement, right, you know you're telling me there's
four better. Meanwhile, if you asked Andy Reid who don't
you want to compete against? Or ask Kyle Shannan, who
don't you want to compete against? I think the answer

(52:58):
would be Belichick and the page have treated him like
he didn't do anything there, and so now they're going
to find out what life's like without a great coach.
And I'm going to enjoy watching it, I really am.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
If you're starting a team, right, you get hired tomorrow
by a team and you've got to hire a head coach.
Money is no object. You can go after anybody in
the NFL right now, you're not going to go after
Andy Reid. But of the class of coaches, which is
basically anyone who's ever shaken Sean mcvay's hand, who do
you decide to go hire?

Speaker 3 (53:32):
Well, I think to me, old school hasn't gone out
of style. Andy Reid's going to play as guys in
the preseason. Andy Reid has truft taty camps. He's the
best coach in football. Andy Reid finds ways to play
the game each week differently. So this whole notion that
you have to be a player friendly coach isn't exactly
how Kansas City operates their program. I mean I would

(53:53):
hire Bill because I would get the best defensive coach.
I'm going to have great team toughness. I need that.
You can't be a team like Miami without toughness. Mike
McDaniel is great for the media, but East four and
ten over the last second half of the season, you
know there's no toughness to that team. There's no idea,
there's no I'm going to punch you in the mouth.
Football is a game of punching in the mouth. So

(54:14):
I would do that. But this week we've become a
softler gentler league. Well, I worked for Bill Walsh when
we went to practice at Rockland in a hundred degree
heat at eight thirty in the morning. We didn't walk
off that field to eleven thirty, and we had an
afternoon practice that was a walkthrough with special teams or
it was a special teams. I mean, it was hard.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
It was grueling.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
That's what the NFL is. It's a grueling marathon. And
John Harball knows that. That's why I think the Chargers
are going to be better because Jim Harball is going
to give them toughness. So I want somebody who can
develop talent and who's going to give a team a
toughness and who can be a strategist. I mean, how
many times do you want to watch a coach Nick
Siriani's going berzerk on the sideline. I don't want that.

(54:57):
I want to I want a chess player. I want
somebody thinking. I want somebody like Belichick who's watching Seattle's
sideline and he sees Pete Carroll and they're not organized,
and he doesn't call time out even though I'm up
in the booth screaming for him to call time out,
and he blocks me out and he says something's not right,
and we intercept them in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
By the way, that is one of the greatest clips
from NFL films where everybody is begging him to call
time out and he sees that something isn't right and
he decides not to do a Simon. You know what
I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Yeah, the pic, Oh.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
So good, so good. Lombardi listen GM Shuffle is amazing.
You've written a book years ago. I remember you sent
it to me. Fantastic, Thank great insight, Thanks for coming
on the show. Thanks reminder of the favorite. What's that buddy?

Speaker 3 (55:46):
Thanks for having me. I'll keep listening all year, don't worry.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
I love it as a reminder of the favorite. Podcast
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(56:32):
of the Favorites on the Action Network. You two page Thursday,
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Speaker 3 (56:48):
Love you.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
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