Kenny Pickett QB1, Revisiting Fearless Predictions, & TNF Preview

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Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast. It's ready for their bye. We from the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. The new voice of Around the NFL. Jason Smof could not be more spot on. Just got off of you know, fourteen hour flight from London, yet we soldier on. Dan hansis Mark Sessler and that wonderful voice you heard listen, You're wonderful husband, John Gonzalez. My name is Colleen Wolf. Everyone. He's been taking your polaroid around Europa. Photos galore with the polaroid. So you're kind of you did coming to the present exhausted from all this traveling. I've been doing stuff in l A and in London. It's a lot of work. Um yeah, So Colleen Wolves here, Marks here, Greg handled a Monday night football recap rams forts with j B Long our buddy, so you could check that out for a deep dive on the final game of week four. I am I have to say, and this probably will not come as a surprise two people, given the narratives in place on this particular program. I'm happy to be back in America. I U it was time to come home. Old Juicer put in the seven Days and I had an incredible time uh in England, meeting all our wonderful listeners and getting to experience these career highlights really together, Mark, you and I and with Greg and with Grave, Digger and Jessica. But it was time to return to the stars and stripes, and I'm feeling good. I am with you on that front. I we we did the best we could. I thought we did um some great shows, uh, most of them. Uh. And my feeling was that I was becoming more Are you that the show in which we were recording from the hotel respective the hotel rooms at three thirty in the morning maybe not our best word? Yeah, I just I if I could remember any of it, I could comment on it. We just did a power rankings podcast, Colleen and I, which you could check out wherever you get your podcasts. And as Colleen was teeing me up to talk different teams, I'm like glancing down at the power rankings that are live on NFL dot com. But I'm like, oh, I don't agree with that. Oh that's a good point. I'm like, now I will talk about this. I have no memory of writing the entirety power rankings on the Transcontinental flight, but here I watched you write some of it, so I know that you did. I saw you just like staring at me from the side of the plane. So, I mean, we had a lot of kind of rather celebrity like people on our on our flight. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow, Lindsay Buckingham. Do you want to hear something crazy about chilling with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac for twelve hours or whatever? It turned out? Yesterday was his birthday, right, I don't know if we were chilling with him. I don't know if he ad And then the dude from Scrubs McGinley, he was on the plane too, yes, sitting right next to me, Like it's the kind of sharing the conversation with McGinley. I did not want to. I don't want to bug him, but I also was like, it seems like a nice guy. He seemed nice, but you know, it's a kind of thing way the way those seats were arranged, like his hair was like an inch from my face, Like, so, I you know, it was like, how do I even started coming in a halt the whole time? So maybe you should tell a story that makes sense. Well, I mean, you could see the hair coming out from under the hat at the bottom of the hair that was coming off from underneath the cap. He has actually actually did take it off for a while and he's got quite um nice flowing white hair. Well what great salt and pepper whitish hair. I think there's some red to it too. I think he's a bit of a ginger. So again that were you on the plane with me. That was less than the case yesterday in the terms of ginger and a Yeah, that is the other breaking news here. I got some developing news. Mark Sessler got up, slept three hours, and then drove into the office at three in the morning. And you understand this is unusual behavior by an eccentric. Well so, I mean it wasn't just to hang around the office. It was I'm a professional and had an article to write and UH needed to get in here and get down to business. Sounds amazing that you've been here. So you're now almost impossibly almost ten hours into a work day by choice basically right now. I don't know if i'd say by choice by professional choice, where it's like I I like to continue to fulfill my job responsibilities so that I don't get essentially acts from the company. He really wanted to be on time after what happened in London, right, Who was that unnecessary? Um? You did have some struggles with punctuality for some for me, to be honest, so I thought, I hope we can view that as a typical You don't see me writing you on it, But the producer seems to no. I mean it's he found a way to He saved that till now write a dagger put right through your chest when we got back to America. All right, let's get into things coming up today the Thursday night football preview. Can you believe it? Week five will kick off in just a couple of days with a Indianapolis Colts against Denver Brown Broncos matchup at Mile High Stadium. Is that all correct? It seems like it checks out, and uh, we will also check in you guys, remember do you remember back in August? Connie, thank you? Justin he's sharp today. I don't know what's gonna on with this guy. He got he got plenty of sleeping right yeah. Um. On July, we each offered some predictions about something in the NFL that will happen or be a reality come October four, the day after Lindsay Buckingham's seventy third birthday, and guess what that is now that day, So we will now revisit those fearless predictions from July ninth. Now I'm seeing a graphic that says the twenty night Justin came in hard. I'll have to double check check our sources on that one. Uh, somebody, somebody somewhere created a major error that is now part of that. We have it. There's some dynamic in this part of the room. On the other side of the glass, there's a Drew Christians in versus Justin graver dynamic. What was the correct date for the fear And if we know Justin, he'll just take true if possible and whip him under a bus from Drew. And who's Drew? Drew is our video producer because guess what you could catch every episode of around the NFL um pretty much at this point streaming. Where can you get them? This is where Greg would come in because he's good at having this baseline channel NFL dot com slash NFL channel that's the name, that's it, the NFL channel. There you go. According to Apple Podcast, that show came out on but who knows where, Mike, maybe there was a time. And then you go to the NFL channel on the app and you can find the show. If you're watching this on the stream, they've correctly just changed the the subtitle the graphic to July. So I think we've solved that for now. Nobody's wrong anymore. And I think you can get this on YouTube as well, right, yes, yes, go find the show the video show if you care, and see Mark and I super jet lagged and Connie decked out in her Philadelphia Phillies gears, the Fighting Phil's Clinch, a playoff spot red October to the Dance You Go. I wish Charlie Manuel was still all right. So, yes, we got ten f preview. We're gonna check in in a fearless predictions. Um, we are going to do all that. Before before we do that, let's hit some news. You can watch this NFL season like a fan, or you can prep like a scout if you listen to the award winning Moved the Sticks podcast. Now, as we discussed recently on a Friday Fun Show, I have been known to occasionally check in on episodes just to see how certain things came out and just out of curiosity, uh, and just interest in our program. And because of that, I am aware of many of the ads that air ahead of or during our episodes. Okay, can you play that again? So this is the one that Moved the Sticks, which is one of our new podcasts that we've launched apparently alongside, uh, this flagship program. Uh, let's hear that again. You can watch this NFL season like a fan, or you can prep like a Scout if you listen to the award winning Moved the Sticks podcast. You could listen like a fan, which is being sort of condescending to listen to the Scouts or engage in a massive vanity project but don't be paid for it. And I'm just curious if anybody else found that to be a subtle shot at the Kingmakers over at a t N. Just throwing it out there, Colleen, I know, I believe this is the floor. Is you ares here? My throat is closing up and I won't be able to answer. Can we get water? So she'll be potentially her life will be saved. Um. So I just you know, there is what can I hear one more part of that? By the way, you'll learn a talk about the NFL, and I promise will make it fun along the way. So what happens if you break a promise of the podcast? If are there any repercussions? I think your credibility, Like you're the way that we view you, right, not you being in this case being Daniel Jeremiah and the rest of the people on that show. How are they held accountable? It's like kids, kids gather around, we have fun news for the whole family. Oh, Disneyland, No, the sticks is available. Are all platforms. This feels oddly personal because it is vengeance is mine? Hey, Dan, who hosted the power ranking show while you were in London? I don't know, I don't care. Who was it, Colleen Well I hosted with Daniel Jeremiah. Now we're following some bread crumbs vengeance. All right, let's get into it. Here we go. I bet he did a great job. Brown knows it was good. Whatever, it's good. It was good, up, good fun. Yeah, I bet he was great. Mark pick a side. It just did. Apparently I'm out of here. Let's get to the news. Kenny Pickett Stunner. He is going to be the starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We got this is the best show ever. Kenny pick it will be the starter for the base all team that plays in Pittsburgh, the Pirates. I don't know about that. I don't follow the Pirates closely. I know it's the end of the season, but I know he'll be starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers UH this weekend. Here's what head coach Mike Tomlin had to say about the move. I don't want to dump the responsibility of what transpired. It at Mitch's feet. That's not fair to him. He's played better than that description, but we have it. And so in an effort to be better, in an effort to score more points, in an effort to move the ball more fluidly, we decided to go to Kenny and in the hopes that he would provide a spark for us. UM. You know, we felt that um um, not only in terms of our ability to move the ball, but just in terms of energy and so hopefully, um, that's a catalyst for us as we try to move forward and change the outcome of some of these games. Man, yes, there it is. Mike Tomlin, UH said, I don't want to dump the responsibility of what transpired at Mitch's feet, but ultimately mark for everyone in these Steelers and Pirates organization, it just felt like it was the right time because it's not all Mitch's fault that the offense wasn't working with him at the controls, But we kind of knew what the ceiling was here. It was the next straining type of ceiling and pick it gives you a chance not only to add some juice to the proceedings on offense, but also to develop a young quarterback that you see as a future of the offense. Yeah. I think that the what was happening in Pittsburgh a little bit too, And it wasn't all on Mr Robisky, who didn't play terribly if we kind of agree that we know what Mr Robinsky was coming into this exactly. But I think that the there was a growing war cry from the other skill position players at wide receiver and tight end saying, look, we're just doing what they tell us to do. Uh, we can only get open the way that we're allowed to in this offense. And it was a growing critique of Matt Canada's scheme and Strabisky's sort of unwillingness. I think too, maybe be more of a gun slinger, which I think could get that with Kenny Pickett. You know, I know through three interceptions. One of them was just a deep shot that was sort of ended the game material, but one of them, I thought there was a bit of a silver lining to it because it was him choosing to target Chase Claypool deep down the field turned into a misfire that landed in the hands of a Jets defender, but it was Kenny Pickett. After the game, we basically said, if I'm going to tell the other players on this team, I'm gonna trust you. If I see you downfield, I'm going to take the shot. And I think that's really all these guys were asking for. Will it work, I don't know, but I thought he he brought life to the offense and this team needed a change because the Mitch thing just ran its course. Will we see him again? There's no guarantee that Picket's going to pick this up right away, but he also forcefully and confidantly said, I know this playbook, I'm completely ready to do this. So it was time. Yeah. Tomlin said that the offense needed a spark, and Kenny Pickett brought them to life, but then also put them to death with the interceptions. He had the two rushing touchdowns, but he only had three in completions. All three of those were three interceptions and the one was really ultimately like the turning point in the game. So the fact that their next four games they're pretty pretty rough. They faced the Bills, the Bucks, the Dolphins, and then the Eagles. Um, So yeah, that's where you can get on Tomlin a little bit if you want. And it's all in the past now. It is what it is. It's not going to make a big difference at the end. But they had a mini bye week after the Thursday night game against Cleveland, and then they got the ten days to get ready for the Jets, who are middling at best team right now. And if you wanted to put Kenny Peckett in, just do it at that point and then give him a long runway to his first start against the Jets, and then he'll have his feet wet for the schedule and it tightens up instead. I think Tomlin got caught in between a little bit. It was a half measure. He's like he wanted to, he wasn't fully ready, in my opinion, Tomlin after years and years and years with Ben Roethlisberger wasn't ready to start over with a rookie and everything that goes with that, as we saw in the second half with and overs. But it got to a point where I think he Tomlin was like, I gotta make this move into your point. Mr Sessler, in that debut against the Jets pick at average nine point two yards per attempt and thirteen point two air yards per attempt, and Trabiski season average UH in three and a half games was five point six per attempt and nine point nine area. So he's airing it out, which is good because they have talented players, especially a wide receiver. And I like it about the schedule, but if you're gonna be Pittsburgh's starting quarterback, you're gonna get these games no matter what. You can't really protect him, and their schedule is like Bills, Bucks, Dolphins, Eagles. Then you're by like, are we waiting a month to protect him because we have missed. That was the original plan, like can we get to and then it became an unsustainable thing. But I think going back to what you're saying, yeah, he was gonna face these opponents that's part of life in the NFL. But the idea of getting his feet wet. First, he got one half with the Jets and now he gets a week of practice and you know, good luck to him. Well, I have no affiliation with an f C North. Maybe none of us do. I don't know, but some will be rooting against Kenny Pickt. I kind of thought that I was surprised that it went down like that with Tomlin because I think we talked about it on the show that Tomlin is not a reactionary coach, that he's someone that I view as having more patients and maybe a little bit more leeway to have patients because he's been there for so long because he always has a winning record. But also he's never been in this spot because of Ben Roethlisberger. So I wasn't sure how, but yeah, it was I think it was interesting. I was kind of surprised, all right. And one more note about this the um Mitch Drobinsky is still team captain and Mike Tomlin confirmed that he'll be going out for the coin flip on Sunday. That seems kind of a rough rough, but that's just the way it is in the NFL. A bigger slap in the face to suddenly also just removed. Also Toppy Toffy next level. In other news, we all know what's going on with Cooper Rush in the Dallas how Boys. Dak Prescott broke his thumb in Week one, got surgery, and the thought was Dallas would go down well. Instead, Cooper Rush has stepped in and played really well, and the Dallas defense has been among the league's very best, and they've won three straight games. And now it's gone from reports of he'll be back by week four, week five to now Jared Jones going on Dallas local radio and saying, well, you know, Dak, he can't quite you see where I'm going with this. He can't quite grip the ball yet. Here's some more from Jari, because it's just fun to hear Jared talk about football in life. Considering the injury, considering the location of the injury, I don't know that you can make any more progress. And there are some things here about healing that again, how often say only the man upstairs knows how that works. But he'll have a big week and he'll be hard on himself getting ready to go. That's my favorite yes of coming you have the big man upstairs, right, Uh. Prescott a schedule to meet with the doctors today Tuesday at surgery and September twelve and had the stitch removed from his right thumb September twenty six. So Connie, Yeah, the big Man upstairs does dictate many things. Uh, we'll save it for the theology podcast. But at the same time, if the Cowboys were one and three instead of three and one, I think Jared might be having some conversations with God and saying, no, it is time for Doc to return. Whether you can grip the damn ball or not. Cooper Rush has bought Dak Prescott some time. Best case scenario a totally different story if they don't win these games. But with Cooper Rush, he's not making mistakes and that defense is really holding up the team. They're so legit. They're really, really good. They've only allowed one touchdown and each of their games. Um and obviously playing Carson Wentz that's kind of a gimme. That's nice for a defense because you get sacked so many times and picked off. But is the confident Eagles fan come out again? That's I mean, you're probably right, but but yeah, this is um, this is nice for the Cowboys to have. It's a luxury to have this, to have Cooper Rush in there, and to be able to let Dak Prescott hell because now at this point, with the record that they have, he can come back and they're not up against the wall. They were such a mess in that Week one lost to the box. Not a lot to do with the Bucks, I think, and just the fact of you know, week one is week one, but it kind of gave I thought. The only thing was kind of tough for Dak Prescott was like, there weren't there wasn't a history this season of him being in that offense with three or four games like this, I think in general the offense is rounded out a little bit where when Prescott comes back, he should be able to duplicate what Rush has done. Otherwise all hell is going to break loose. I mean, I think they're hoping he'll be better than Cooper Rush. But is fourth and QBR right now? I know, well that's what It's just one metric out there, But he's been interception. I think one thing that can't be overlooked with what the Rush situation, what's going on here is the defense is putting him in a positive game script. Every single game, they've given up one touchdown each of their first four games. If if I don't know, if we see that, we're talking about the same things. And by the way, he had two interceptions that got wiped away by penalty on Sunday, So these certain things you see when you you check out the game. But at the same time, he's been very good and been putting a very good situation, not a very good situation for tow a tongue of Viola, who is already been ruled out of the Week five game against the Jets UM after suffering that really scary brain injury on Thursday Night Football this past week against the Bengals. The right move obviously here Mark Teddy Bridgewater is one of the best backups UM you could ask for. So that was a good job by them building in some security blanket there. And now he gets the call and the question becomes when do we see two again? Because obviously this is a very hot button issue. Yeah, I mean, we spent all offseason talking about not if, but when Bridgewater would supplant to ah in the in the lineup because of frustration performance and instead too has had a surprise season. He's been I think you know that one game was an outlier against the Ravens in terms of thinking that that was gonna be the way that the offense was going to produce week after week because it's just not been the case. But to uh, I think they have to at this point because it's become a national story. Um. Although I think Mike McDaniel had had one of the better coaches around in terms of how he responded to and just being real about it. Yeah, we talked about this on the way to the airport actually yesterday that um McDaniel, who's eloquent and he comes from a different um angle, and I feel like the way he's handling the situation is helpful to the Dolphins as opposed to and more. I don't want to say basic, but your typical head coach, you might say something the wrong way and it makes a story bigger and worse for Miami. Here are some comments made um late last week by my McDaniel that really kind of caught my interest and how he went about the answer and the tricky idea of when do you play to it and how do you handle a very tricky situation. If I if I were to sit someone for a uh uh medical issue going against medical people abstractly, then when do I play him again? Uh? And that is kind of what what struck me there. What he's saying is he's McDaniel says he's passing all the the eyeball test to him, and then he has the doctors telling him one thing. He's referring by the way, to the initial um, what was ruled as a back injury um, and then turned out he compounds it with the head injury the next week, even though it looked like a head injury the first time. He's saying, he's in a tricky situation because if you're telling him that, oh, you just can't play him, Uh, that's kind of an abstraction, like you're you're just so when do you put him back in at that point? Um? That that that kind of tells you where McDaniel and the dolphins are right now, because they know eyeballs are on them right now. And it's hard to have a right answer when you want to protect the guy, but you also need to listen to what the doctors are saying. And if the doctor's gonna say he's ready to return. Does McDaniel just put him in the lineup? You would, it would make sense if he felt confident about it. But you could tell in his voice that it's something that he's, you know, struggling with. It. Seems like he's really wrestling with it, just like having having this conversation and the way that he's talking about it, because normally he is a little more streamlined in his responses and that full response. You didn't hear the full response, but everyone, but there's a lot of halting and very carefully choosing his words. Yeah, right, So you can tell that he's obviously under a ton of pressure. And everyone saw what happened in that primetime game and Amazon played it a lot too, so we all we all were there for it basically, and they when they do get cleared for two, um, I think that they will put him in. But it's like, yeah, yeah, I mean, how do you really know? How do you really Nobody really knows to be honest, Like, I don't know how a concussion is so difficult too. I've had a concussion before and like a lot of times, those things come back like it's not something that is so black and white. His job as a coach is to play players when there he's told that they're healthy. He's not claiming to be a doctor. And I do like the line essentially about saying if I go against medical people abstract lee, then him as a coach, when is he supposed when is the decision correct to put anyone back on the field. And I think that's what's different about him as a a speaker. Uh, there, you're right. Then there could have been a lot of coach speak from other people where you play dumb or you just like you kind of put the reporters and the people, the fans in a tough place. Um. He does kind of remind me of when I would attempt to like call girls on a rotary phone in like sixth grade. I sound very much like that in that performance back in the day. Tell me more about the seventies, that was the eighties as much as I can. Finally, as a report from the New York Post that Brady and Giselle, Tom Brady and Giselle have hired divorce lawyers. So this might be turning into the end of that road, but you'd be sad. I haven't really enjoyed Giselle in the football orbit, and of course i'd rather than being a happy family dynamic. But that's a report that's out there, Marky, it is and I feel like we've been on the case of this UM situation. We don't celebrate it on any level. We just we we observe it. And I'm sure there's a lot going on inside the mind of Tom Brady beyond just robotic football situations right now. And they just went through a a big storm down there. To be Tom Brady, you gotta make a lot of sacrifices, I think too, to have football be such a huge part of your life and to be that, you know, on top of the game we should. It gives me an idea because I know Aaron Rodgers is a weekly guest during the season the Pat McAfee show. Uh, justin, can we get Tom Brady on every Tuesday Tuesdays with Tom Brady? Yeah, I'll just I'll hook that up and that'll be a thing and just let him know, because I think this will be a part of the hook of getting him to agree a lot of it. Most of it will be based on his personal life and what's going on and some private conversations. UM and unpaid Yeah, of course, I think we're the right show to handle that with um, with kid gloves and a sensitive fashion that would also elicit truth from him on that is what's happening in the news. Let's take a break and then we will get to the fearless predictions of late July. Welcome back up, fearless prediction. We felt strongly about something in the summer, and now it's time to pay the pauper. Here we go, totally absurd. Yeah. Us, in late July on this very program, we tried to read the tea leaves. I wish Colleen you were on this episode. Yeah, but me too. I listened. Did you like that episode? I loved it, one of my favorites. Oh wonderful. Okay, So then you'll know exactly what we're about to discuss because you've processed it all and retained it apparently incredibly. Um. We'll go through each of our late July predictions, and the way we set it up was these predictions. This is what people will be talking about on October four, once the week four Monday night football game is over between the Niners and Ramps. So let's go in order. Um, the Great Eric Roberts another. Really got a really talented crop of people working behind the scenes for NFL media and this show put together this dock flawlessly. Let's get to it, Greggy. Um, did we mention that Greg's not here today? I don't think we had nobody? Where's this doc? Where could I check out this doctor? You could share? You can. Let let's talk about just take us through the second all right, that's what the talk about does. Greg obviously wasn't feeling great over the weekend. He couldn't even do the Sunday Stadium experience with us, but he he was a trooper. He gave us the Monday night show and then he said take Tuesday off. Let the iron men and women handle it for Tuesday. See you Thursday. Well, he'll love that. Nice summarization, Greg said, Mark Sessler. Do we have this, let's hear it. Let's listen. In QB Index after week four, Um Mark's writing Lamar Jackson number two. This is his his profile. Wow, Lamar is up at number two through a season. In subsequent off season of Endless, Storm Clouds, Waves of Chaos, and Old Fortune, Lamar Jackson never blinked. They're in emphasis on Lamar's legs and the Ravens running game is overshadowed how Big plays with his arm left the Patriots, Bills and Bengals looking like soaking school children who lost their umbrellas. The voters now resemble bright yellow chickadees, but the only foul carcass in the a f C North lying a nert to the north in Cleveland. Send that to me, I will use so. First of all, spot On Lamar has been one of the very best quarterbacks in the league through four weeks, So Greg nailed that one. H Are you just gonna use that copy? Wow? I'm really I'm really thinking about that right now because that's what I'm in the middle of. That's why you came in almost and possibly at three o'clock in the morning today, which has never happened in history of this company, to work on this. So you have the chance now to insert that into the copy for what's going live on NFL dot com tomorrow. Why would I not use it? Why would I not save an extra twenty minutes? It's a it's a slam. Good jobs, marter, not harder, Alright the bucket Danny said that the Buccaneers will be one in three after four weeks, the blame will fall on Tom Brady. This is the end. Type of talk will start, but they will figure it out in time. Greggy thought they'd be three and one. Mark said two and two. That was really gutsy. Uh, they are two and two, but they are not playing well and they just got absolutely hammered on Sunday Night Football. And I believe people are, you know, expressing some concerns about the Bucks early on, but my idea was more going to be, uh, the offense would be in a deep funk. And quite frankly, I'm gonna say, because of all the injuries, that hasn't even had a chance to be an issue. No one's giving the Bucks offense heat right now, Colleen, because they haven't had their guys on the field, so that they've kind of gotten a pass actually for their inability to produce a lot of points. True, but they did have their guys back for this game. I guess you could say, all right, well, maybe they're just not in rhythm at this point. And well, I mean they put up three D seventy three passing yards thirty one, barely ignored the ground game. They ran the ball like twice the whole game, and half that yardage was in garbage time. I don't know. I just don't. Do you think did you watch a game and think, oh, their offenses? I was sort of stunned by what happened to their defense, although it was the Chiefs and Mahomes playing at like his very best for big chunks of that game. That said, I mean, home is gonna be number one in your QBS? Well should I reveal that now? But I could say that if if you wanted to do what Greg just did, it would be the second thing that I mean, like you're saying you got this Bucks thing right? Um did all right? Well? I was it seemed like you were going there. Someone said they'd be too right. I kind of felt that way. What would it be fair to say that anyone's blaming Tom Brady for this? Nobody is okay? But I think you would be right about Mahomes very possibly being the top quarterback right now in this piece, in this piece written by one person, got it all right? Mark Baker Mayfield wins the job in Caroline. I don't know anything that just happened. Where is Lamar Jackson gonna be in the he is top three? But he's not two. But but now that I've remembered that, Greg said all that, and if I could get someone behind the glass to transcribe it directly, I'll just move him to number to transcribe it. You have to have someone do it for you. If someone could, it would be helpful if someone could. If they can't, then I'll do it. But I will just make him number two. Kind of a weird ask. Um, Okay, so number two, he's going to be here saying if I can get a transcription of what Greg's Baker man may feel Disaccording to Mark, wins the job in Carolina and beats the Browns in Week one. The Panthers lose the next three games, and now we're going into Mark universe. Sam Donald has announced the Week five started before being jumped by a child gang and losing the starting job to Baker for the rest of the season. Tell me more about the child gang. Well, this is happening um around the globe. There are outbreaks or instances of younger individuals, teens, adolescents, um, kind of group mobbing adults in the street and taking them down. And but this didn't happen. Yeah, as of today, it did not Dan has the Panthers started three and one and get their fans pumped for the season, but Dan won't be buying in and predicts the fade. Greg says Panthers feel like a team that can win seven games. Now the Panthers are one in three, so that is incorrect. But according also this prediction, Connie, I was going to be saying I'm not buying it because they stink, which they do. So I'm taking a half credit on this one and nobody could take it from me. Uh Greg did seven wins? Seven wins? How are you taking credit for this? Took a half credit because I said they stink and even if they're doing well, they're still not good. I was a head of curve. They're feel strong well al right up next, Greg? Uh oh, he did one for me to where he predicted how I would write about the Texans, which I already have done because that's live in NFL dot com. The latest power rankings. Uh, let's hit it behind the glass shares Gregg's prediction from what I would write this week Power rankings coming in at number twenty the Houston Texas And here's the content. The old zuser doesn't know what to do with these three and one Texans. One point went over the Colts, and the opener was all about special teams, and it's tough for dan Zeus to get excited when they dispatched the moribund Bears, and three and Sunday's win was a classic case of chargers gonna charger. Still, the old New Blue Eyes has to admit a fondness for Davis Mills. It is becoming impossible to ignore the eradicable greatness that Kiami Fairband has given the world. After another game winner, especially to Daddy Rich this one all right, so this one. The Texans are dead last in the power rankings at oh three and one. Also, part of the reason why Greg was spotting that one is because there was some Greg in uh sessy heat around the Texans that I wasn't buying into. And sure enough, Davis Mills is not. No heat around Davis Mills, no heat around the Texans. They stink. Any thoughts on that, Mark, I just I find it funny that Greg he would be agitated that he can't defend himself at all in the show. We hear him and what he said, and then he's just taken out with a bat right. Well, he got that one wrong. You got that one really wrong. Sorry, buddy. I can't believe he didn't have any thing on Geno or Teddy. True. We were at a point. We were at a point where those topics had tired in and Mark to such a degree that I think Greg took a left turn. Yeah, most likely all right. Mark also um went to mark Land and spoke of a bounty gate two point oh controversy. Eric at tempos. He tackles a streaker during rams fort is Monday Night football and becomes a national figure. One game is postponed because of an earthquake or birds turning on humans. I do remember this episode now one, and I think Mark was doing like a rapid fire. This is this is a bit of a cliff Notes version the way you're reading it, but it was I think there was more like option A B, C or D could occur right right right. One NFL coach fired because of an M D M A scandal. Kyler Murray has a new TD celebration where he fake reads a book and says independent study this because that was back during the you know, we need him to be studying four hours a day. But in this case, he would have been a victorious player and basically said, take that clause and stick it somewhere. Now there was a prominent on field presence, um a unwelcome presence at rams forts Monday night football and in the Horseshoes and hand Grenades world of Mark's predictions, I'm sure you're going to take this as a w and if so, what is your attitude? What is the attitude? Why don't you say what actually happen? It was a streaker? It was not a streaker. Is it a streaker someone that's nude? Well, I guess technically, but I think that this could fall as a streaker because it was someone that ran onto the field. I'm getting I'm going I'm getting word that you don't have to be clearly he would be naked to figure you're getting word from who Drew Christensen behind the glass? I'm I think in general with these predictions, what I try to tell you is that you get a sense of something happening, in this case a disturbance, and then I to flesh out the show add too much detail, but in general, like the idea of spot, I said in The Horseshoe and hand Grenades World of Mark Predictions. We're gonna I'm sure you'll take credit for it. Right. You have given yourself half a point for predicting that the Panthers would be three and one and get their fans pumped for the season. No, I took the half point for the other half of that, which is saying I don't buy into the Panthers. They stink, And the judges granted the half point. I think the judges feel pretty good about this one. We're right back where we started with these, with these contests and games called a streaker on the field during rams for that's incredible that that actually happened. Was he was wearing clothes though? Yes, but if you look a little and search ram streaker, like there's a hundred millions and Tamposey was just dressed as Bobby Wagner was Erka, there was she the one? Was she the one that I'm just saying it really you really struggle with celebrating anyone but yourself. I'm just saying, it's not really that close. But cool. Uh, how about let's listen to our friend Harlan with the call of the protester, the clothed protest there that ran on the field and here comes and you stopped it him playing because someone has run on the field with a smoke bomb that is drink and he's running up the sideline. How a couple of rams come over there and make the tackle head first, and he's in a cloud of pink smoke. Tree can't see him, and now on him are a couple of security guards. That guy is headed to the slammer. Did wait a minute, Gummer, Didn't that happen at Bill's Rams? Two? There was a similar incident where at Bill's Rams there was a guy surrounded in pink smoke. And I just remember seeing it after I had left the stadium to do with the things. I love it. Kevin same same, probably the same unified sort of protest front, a small collection been on the show. There's no one else that uses the term slammer. And he did it so confidently, and he's just wonderful, just wonderful work. All right. The judges are coming in. Mark, here we go, and half a point. You got half a point for this prediction. That's cool. That actually seems fair because I suggested five or six other things that didn't occur within that. I was Erica and not Bobby Wagner that took him out? Would you would you still say oh with the technical streaker, like not you get point seven five points. It was Eric, which is a really nice like that nice bump. Um. I think it's incredible that a man ran out with a smoke bomb at a game. I don't think it's a good thing, but it did look kind of cool. The photos were kind of cool, like the hint of Bobby Wagner with all the smoke around him visually visual feast, Like if I'm Bobby Wagner when I retire and I have my whole room in my study with all the great photos from my career, it's got to be there. Yeah. Him and Attack McKinley just like coming in all right. And finally this one is um it's a bit of a I was gonna say shoehorn, but a horseshoe horn. Our producer Justin uh he uh. He says he had a prediction as well, do you wanna should we seed the Florida Justin because he did, he went out of his way to say I would like to also speak on the show on this. I think it's good to support a younger person beginning in their at this aspect of their career. Are I agree the turn the mic off? But since you took the lead there and and you spoke with so you'd agree with what either? If I could advise said, we don't say the other the other way. We've heard a lot from Justin on the show, and I feel like he's used up a lot of real estate already. Now you're totally right, that's enough. Enough is enough, is what I say. But which one are you going with? I think the ladder people, you know, is that it for the show today? That's it? You know how much it's killing Justin right now because we have a game to talk about. His fearless prediction was at the cult start one in three hates the cults. I mean, he's a big time homer for the Titans. So this is so exciting for him. You're crushing him and like this he already wants to do is talk about it right now? He can't do it, well, not until Mark gives him the clearance. But Mark, what would the ladder? Mark? What do you think? Let's let him back in? I feel I feel kind of mean and we already already seven time he could turn on my golf. He did a great chap in London. Alright, alright, you can come in justin. What do you got? Well, thanks Dan and Mark and Colleen. You're letting me come on. Yeah, I said the Coults would start one in three. The cults have like Star did one in three or worse every year since. I think, by the way, it is one, two and one. The judges to the judges, all right, here we go, and the judges say, oh, point to five a quarter point not bad, not bad, could be worse. It could be worse. I'll take it. Could be better. Could Wait? How annoyed were you justin when that game ended in a tie, because you already knew you were banged for this segment. I was mostly yeah, I mean the segment, sure, but just because like now, the Colts and Texans both get us stupid non loss whatever. It's fine, that's true, that's true. But and you and you did get a quarter of a point, so there you go. Alright, Uh, that is fearless predictions for week four. That's fun. That was good. That was good. We'll do it again. Uh down the line, all right, we got the TNF preview coming up. At first a break alright, let's hit the TNF preview before we say goodbye. It is speaking of the Indian apples cults. They're all banged up. I mean, it feels like everybody's banged up. I know what's going on with that. It's weird, weird time here. Mercury is now out of retrograde, so maybe this will fix itself. It's funny, the mercury out of retrograde bit that's been around forever. I never understand anything about I missed whatever the baseline, like when people what, I guess it was a news story for real ones and I didn't read it. And now people say that's all the time, and I never know what it means. Does it mean? Just like weird stuff going on. Everything just like kind of sucks if you're if you're attuned to it, it may not affect if you're if you're not buying into it. I mean you're calling it a bit. It's a celestial event to some degree, like uh, mercury and yeah, I told you, I don't know what it is. What is it? I don't really know exactly what it is, but I just know that something happens with mercury and then it just like messes up all of the alignment a lot of chaotic in theory, it creates a lot of chaotic um theology podcast. I don't think it's a theological event. It's more about if you view the star star movements astrology to that one planet Mercury is retrograding. It's like, if the tides are affected by the moon, why aren't the people affected by the right. It kind of just makes sense. I don't think you're the target audience stand necessarily at the for the way it's being marketed today, Cults Broncos. As as we know, the Cults are one, two and one, the Broncos two and two and a reminder, this TNF preview is presented by Prime Video, the new exclusive home for Thursday Night Football. Uh, Connie, here we are the The Broncos are favored by three points in this game. And you understand it because the Cults have been so bad. But um, I find it hard to get behind the Broncos in any scenario. And I see that they keep on getting put in prime time because everyone thought there were going to be a big deal, but so far, And we saw it again against the Raiders on Sunday They're just not a big deal. They don't seem like a big time team. Do you see them getting against the weaker opponent at home? Is this and I set up for them to get some swagger back. Do they have the ability to even do such a thing? You know, it's so difficult to say that because every time I watch their games, I'm just so frustrated by them, and especially like with Nathaniel Hackett with the decisions that he's made, and now you have Javonte Williams out for the year, and he was one of the things that kept me interested in their team in general. He was one of the things that made the offense pop and I thought that he could be one of the guys that would really help aid them. And we saw a little bit of Russell Wilson kind of becoming and channeling his old self with the more that he freelances, the more success that they have. But it's just really difficult to get behind this team. And we were told that the a f C West was going to be good and we believed it, and by we I mean me, and it just has not happened yet. And now going up against the Colts, who are in their own malaise right now. And they can't run the ball either. Jonathan Taylor. That whole offense was built around running the ball, and this past week he averaged two point one yards per carry. This is a team with all of the turnovers that Matt Ryan. He just can't he can't get into a rhythm. And now you have Shack Leonard who had his debut on defense and now he's out again. It's just tough with all of the injuries. Everyone is banged. Mark, before I throw to just a quick update on Jonathan Taylor. Last year's rushing champ, and he was unbelievable for them and really has not been able to get going the last couple of weeks. Suffered up what they believed to be a high ankle sprain on Sunday. Frank Reich said on Tuesday that this is the type of injury that he's not really at risk of injuring his ankle. War but also not like hearing that, Mark, because that probably means it's just something he's just got now pain management, and you worry about is either going to be the same player going forward after suffering it. Right, It's the kind of thing where after the season you find out, Oh well, this was why he never really became the Jonathan Taylor that anchored that offense and was such a revelation a season ago. And they are not an offense they can say, we'll just give it to our quarterback because he's thriving. I mean, one of the most really one of the reasons that the Cults have been totally unwatchable is that, you know, they backed into this Matt Ryan thing because the Falcons went and chased after Deshaun Watson and turned into a divorce for Matt Ryan in Atlanta. But it's not worked. I think that you could have projected Matt Ryan being in the same good situation that Carson Wentz was a year ago in theory, behind a good offensive line, a good ground game. Whether offensive line has been abysmal, and he's been on the run NonStop and it's created total chaos with turnovers, fumbles. I'm Matt Ryan right now. I mean, I feel like I'm watching him thinking like, is this guy playing next season? He has a league high nine fumbles, He's taken fifteen sacks and four games, he has five interceptions, a lot of them coming when pressure is all over him. And I don't know their way out of this. Here's something from our friend Zach Kiefer, who by the way, wrote that incredible piece on Chris Wesley on the Athletic seek it out if you haven't read it before, does a great job covering that scene in Indie from nahem Hinz on Monday had this to say about the Colts and their inability to get out of the gates past this year and many years. Him said, this not an excuse, but every year we have a new quarterback. So each year we have growing pains while we sit here and watch Tennessee, which has had Tannehill what my whole career, and each year where we're starting and we have to turn the page. So that sucks a little bit too that most teams we play have an established guy, but that doesn't matter. We have figured it out and we will figure it out. And two things people could say, and I'm sure Graver is probably shaking his head and saying, what a cry baby. I think he's right. What he's saying, I think checks out. Every single year since Luck walked away from the football, they are trying to establish a new identity with a new quarterback, and that is not easy to do. Um. The one thing that I pushed back on a little bit here is if the offensive line is not going to be what we thought it was gonna be, I don't think this gets better because you have Taylor. Maybe he will be healthy and he'll be the guy down the line. But this whole Matt Ryan thing was all built on him getting protection, having a better structure around him. The guy that we're getting now is basically the guy with the falcons last year, where he'll make some nice throws, but they don't have some lost weeks and he'll look like an old man at times. And I don't think that's something that's going to get better as the year goes out. No, And I mean I I you're already hearing and you can sense a lot of heat suddenly on Frank Reich, who a year ago, I mean before last season, like had one of the highest sort of tea. Yeah, it's true, I mean like, but you could say that if their owner was annoyed by what happened last season, he has to be extremely agitated right now. And so I think his job is on the line. Chris Bower's job is on the line. But I mean, also those are guys that have had to deal with this quarterback situation year after year. They're one of these teams that are kind of good but not great, and they've not figured it out at quarterback. If they can't run the ball, then this offense just does not work. They use the run to set up the past and then when you add in all of the turnovers, it's just a disaster for them. Uh. Mark, remind me again who was the first subject of the Around the NFL Flashpoint series, Baker Mayfield. I mean, I said, we all decided to really go ahead and star. No, we had Zach keeper on, didn't we Then we talked about the cults. Guys. Listen, I thought up, I tried great shaking his head right. Yeah, it was Carson Wentz. It was like a week before they traded him. Zack Keefer said they're probably going to trade him, and then they did, right, and we were talking about how did they move forward? And that went well. Um, So here we are with this game. I think this is a good set up for the Broncos, especially with Taylor potentially out. That might be gamesmanship from Reich as well, talking about at this stage in the game that Taylor you know, might not get worse. I don't know how you play Jonathan Taylor on a short week, given how important he is to the team. But I guess you could also look at it as this game is important for the cults. They need to start stacking some w's. I would say this is a Broncos win and the easy Broncos win at home. But there's nothing about the Broncos that's been easy so far, so it could be a close one here. And also Matt Ryan with the fumbles. I mean, I know we're talking about the turnovers, but it is really surprising to me that he has nine fumbles in four games. Like that is old guys that can't move, and we just saw it with Flacco during his time with the Jets, even guys that were established stars or real talented guys. Flacco was a Super Bowl m v. P. Ryan. We know it was a borderline Hall of Fame type guy. With the Falcons. Once they lose any mobility and they become that older statue, as we call the stone age pony, they don't hold out to the ball anymore either. A lot of it's not just him, you know, running around untouched in it. The ball is slipping out of his hands. It's I'm getting destroyed by two or three people. Sometimes he's taken some terribly brutal hits, so you wonder if he's gonna last the season. The Broncos don't have Randy Gregory. He's been put on I r with a knee and I will He'll be back. I will add one other note from Grave Digger that the game, if you're a viewer or a fan, appears only on Amazon Prime in the NFL Plus Mark, I was going to tag the cover with that, but you just went and grabbed the race. I didn't know. I thought that I didn't want to leave you feeling. Are you feeling some heat? Like maybe Mark is coming for you, just trying to help you. Quite the opposite, Broncos Country, Quite the opposite. I loved that Mark took that initiative that I'm going to get that plug. I'm Russell Wilson and if some guys are interested in a pregame show leading up to the game, it's emotional. We gotta get out of here. Good bye. Go ahead, get the plug in. You can check out NFL Game Day kick Off, making sure that it's the name of the show. Yeah right here NFL Network. She is the anchor of NFL Networks Thursday night football coverage is Colleen Wolves and check that out. Come on y'all, Russell Wilson. Very exciting, oh man, more innocent times, a different period at least, you know with Nate Hacke. By the way, we're not talking about the other grizzly mishaps in his coaching career in the first two weeks. That thing's calmed down a little bit less two weeks. But here we are again in another prime time spotlight game for our guy. That was the t NAF preview presented by Prime Video. The new era of Thursday Night Football is officially here and it's only on Prime Video, all right? Any anything else, anything, any final London takeaways Mark that you might have had in the chamber. I wanted to share my absolute um admiration for the recording artist young Blood. I had a note about young Blood two, so go on. I think that we both enjoyed that young Blood, who I was not aware of his material. He's a English I think he's like in the mold of kind of like I'm George Michael. But if I was Green Day, if I listened to Green Day growing up. Um, it kind of has that punk pop vibe. And I know I'm not supposed to like him, but I thought he had an electric stage presence in the halftime show Saints Vikings. I couldn't keep my eyes off him. The music seems to be catchy enough. I'm in. I'm a young Blood fan. And by the way, the spelling, why you n G B l U D And if you think that's him trying too hardy, aren't you supposed to like him? It just doesn't seem like I'm the demographic for the young Blood nation, uh, the Bloodies, the Bloody Noses. But I uh, I am, I'm a member. I'm not a young Blood. I'm at all Blood and I'm in. So I wanted to share that plug for young Blood. Yeah, the note that I had which I wrote during the halftime show, I don't know if they disappeared in the American version of the broadcast. Young Blood putting his all into it. I thought that that's what he was, Just a tremendous effort by young Blood. I mean, he really the showcase end with him lying on his back at midfield after he had a cameraman with a steadicam chasing him around for probably if they did the next gen stats on going exactly they always are, by the way, So John is still over there in London and I guess there is a rail strike coming up on Saturday, and he think it's ongoing. It's but they picked different days for so he's supposed to travel to some club and it's two and a half hours away. For the story, he was going he was going to train there. I asked him about that initially, Yes, And it's the day that he has to go that they're doing the rail strikes. He has to rent a car and drive two and a half hours on the other side of the street. I think it's going to go great. Oh what if like John was actually driving all around the country of England just to go to nightclubs. I got this four hour drive to go to the hottest club in Manchester and then I got to go to the This is for Sports Illustrated. Sure. The thing I would ask is like, because our experience in London in the in the deep urban area parts of it, like the taxis are going insane all over the place. Suddenly like it's want to get you dropped? Gonzo in his rental car deep out in the country somewhere. It's like he's got to find a way to get out of London where it's like it's like Central Iran trying to drive there at this point. So good luck to John. Iran known for its gridlock traffic. It just seems like a chaotic place to suddenly be driving a car, but especially ronalds born in March twel ninety seven is an American sports writer who's married to NFL media broadcaster Calling Wolf. John, who is a Pisces resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two dogs. All Right, that's it. Thank you to everybody for listening. We'll be back on Thursday with the Week five Preview show, and then Friday with the Friday Fun Show, and then yes, Sunday the Week five Flagship Program. Honey, always I've done and a pleasure and you've said it all. I always do. Get some sleep you too. That was really cool you to let Justin talk on that one in three Dare. I felt my heart pulled in that direction. I felt power. He the call