Tackles, Trades, and Touchdowns in the NFL Power Struggle

Risk, strategy, and the ticking clock of opportunity – this episode of our podcast brings all that to the table as we scrutinize the NFL's most recent tactical plays and rule changes. Discover how the ban on hip drop tackles might just rewrite defensive playbooks, especially with the likes of Derrick Henry rampaging down the field for the Ravens. We also weigh in on the shockwaves sent through the league as two of Washington's young stars, Montez Sweat and Chase Young, find themselves on the trading block, and what that means for the team's future and the league's balance.

Time to buckle up for a no-holds-barred analysis of off-season maneuvers and their reverberations across the NFL landscape. From the Texans' draft day gambits to the Miami Dolphins' shake-up, we're not just forecasting outcomes; we're peering into the crystal ball of competitive dynamics. Plus, we're sizing up teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, and the Miami Dolphins, who have been anything but quiet. Have they orchestrated the right moves to go the distance, or are they just playing a high-stakes game of bluff?

Then, we confront the urgent narratives of franchises like the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys, whose championship aspirations hang in the bal

Thank you for listening to the All Purpose Pod for an All Purpose Life and your Weekly Mirror Check before you go change the world! You can find and subscribe to our show on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Theycallmemistayu

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Hope you enjoyed today's episode! You can find and subscribe to our show on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Theycallmemistayu

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:56

Thank you're here and they call me Mr U the podcast. We thank you again for making us a part of your morning, your day and your week. We are in the building Football Talk with Bold the Herb and Raj podcast represented this morning. Fellas, good morning. How are you Doing good? Doing good, you all right, hello?

Speaker 2: 1:14

We were both waiting for the other person to go first, and then we realized the other person wasn't going, so then we talked at the same time.

Speaker 1: 1:20

So we are in sync.

Speaker 1: 1:23

This is a league of gentlemen. This is a league of gentlemen. That's what this is Preferring each other. I love it. That's awesome. All right. Well, we got quite a bit to get into man, but hope you guys are doing well, all right.

Speaker 1: 1:36

So we go to the annual league meeting for the NFL Kicked off, I think last, not yesterday, but last Sunday, all the way to Wednesday of last week. Last, not like yesterday, but last Sunday, all the way to Wednesday of last week. They talked about several different things in Nashville, some things we liked, some things we didn't like. The five topics on the table that they had were abandon, the hip drop tackle, which we talked about a little bit, all in regards to player safety, I suppose, the new kickoff rules, which we discussed, of course, in a couple of episodes as well, a later trade deadline that we can get into a little bit, if you'd like to, the play clock review and, of course, crackback rules, which I don't think we talked about at all.

Speaker 1: 2:16

But those things have all been proposed and they've all been accepted, so I don't know how that looks for you guys, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of these. We discussed how we felt about the hip drop tackle and what we thought was going on there we felt like a lot of it was much ado about nothing. And now defenders are going to try to figure out how to tackle again, even though they've been learning how to do that since they were like five in Pee Wee League, and they're trying to figure out how to do it again as adults with grown men. And we've mentioned Derrick Henry now of the Baltimore Ravens 280 pounds, 6'4", trying to find a way to tackle him where you can't hit him high and you can't hit him low. What do you? Grab him?

Speaker 3: 2:58

No, you can't hit him in the middle.

Speaker 1: 3:00

So it's like there's not much room left on the human body to tackle after that. So we've got all these little things in play that they were discussing and they've all been approved. What are your thoughts about any or all these rules? Any of them jump out at you, Anything specific that you want to talk about? So jump in guys.

Speaker 3: 3:17

Well, I mean, the one that I didn't hear about was the crackback block, because that's already been something that's illegal, so I guess I'm not familiar with that one. I didn't hear about it. Uh, do you have more info on that?

Speaker 1: 3:30

it actually is. It's all scattered around all over the place. But yeah, I read it.

Speaker 3: 3:34

We're gonna keep going oh no, I'm curious because it uh like if you have more info on that, I'd be. I'd be curious to see what it is they're changing because you already can't do it. So are they making it a more severe penalty or added fines? Are they trying to bring some of it back like I don't?

Speaker 1: 3:54

I'm not familiar yeah, it feels like the changes along the lines of, you know, any contact may add or below the knee, so they're trying to tighten it up a lot more. But then I mentioned anything about what they're going to penalize them a lot more or not. They're not really saying that. They're kind of positioning it as if they're trying to protect the defensive players from a block in the knee or a block in the back, something like that. So it's not.

Speaker 2: 4:24

So not a crack back, you're talking about a chop block they're, they're calling, they're, they're putting it under the crack back rules is what it is, though oh, it's like they're expanding the crack back definition to include players who go in motion and move beyond the center to block a defender in his lower legs, so it sounds like they're just putting the chop block under the crack pack. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 4:46

Under that umbrella. That is a wildly different Like those aren't even kind of close to the same thing, I know, I know, but that's exactly what the definition reads.

Speaker 2: 4:58

Wow, yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:00

I mean, you kind of can envision it. You know a defender, you're going to make a play.

Speaker 3: 5:07

Well, yeah, but a crackback is typically on a defenseless play Like I'm not a victim of a comeback.

Speaker 2: 5:12

It's more like on wide-open football, like on kick returns and stuff like that. No, exactly.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Yeah this is some of what they're saying is that's what it's talking about?

Speaker 3: 5:20

Well, but shot blocks typically the defender still sees it coming. There's nothing you can do about it, but usually you see the block coming. Crackbacks are usually, you know, somebody filling your ear hole with their helmet, even in the definition.

Speaker 2: 5:32

They mentioned the center which means they know that this is more of a tight formation. Play versus crackback, I think, is more open field. So it is weird and I think they're trying to put these together and then make a stricter penalty. I don't say what the stricter penalty?

Speaker 3: 5:47

is yet.

Speaker 2: 5:47

But I don't know why they're going to just say they're just making more. It's like they want to just have one definition, to put everything in it and then have a strict penalty so they can call it all the same, I guess.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Let me. Let me help out a little proportion of one of the reports and what it's saying, and if you feel like that doesn't clarify it, we can keep on moving. No need for us to reinvent the wheel. But it says the proposed change would expand the rule to include players who go in motion and move beyond the center to block a defender at or below the knee. Under the current rule, for example, a receiver in motion could sprint across the backfield and hit a defender on the edge at the knees legally because he isn't working toward the middle of the field. So if that doesn't help at all, it's fine.

Speaker 3: 6:34

It's just a weird designation to put it with the crackback, because it's a wildly different block. I mean they could have just said chop blocks are not legal anymore. I feel like that would have had much more clarity than you're including something at the knees in a crack bag, because it's just by definition a very different block. There's not a problem with them blocking it. I mean adding it. It's just the name for it doesn't make sense. That's all I was saying.

Speaker 1: 7:04

I feel like out of all of the jobs, they companies that had a couple of the least most important one on the docket, probably the last one you knew you knew chop blocks were going to go away, though, because the potential for knee injuries are really high, right?

Speaker 1: 7:17

yeah, they can. They can change the turf as well, so that that that'll help out with some of that stuff too. But that wasn't on the docket apparently. I didn't see that in all the proposals, but that's another story. Yeah, and they got their also. The play clock review was also discussed too.

Speaker 1: 7:33

For me, I don't have a lot to say there, except to say that what it does is it creates more stoppages, more opportunity for refs to throw the flag, and I think it was the past three years I know I was a what I was a complainant in that regard that it's like the referees were kind of taking the spotlight and trying to make it about them. So this does not help. That this kind of adds more fuel to that fire. So I'm not super thrilled about that part. But the later trade deadline part what do you guys think about that? One week 10 instead of week 8. I think that it gives you a chance to in some cases tank, and I have one example of that that I saw last year and we'll see it even play out in the draft, and I felt like that kind of thing could be more of a recurring theme. How you guys feel about the later trade deadline. Are you in favor of it for any particular reason, or does it not move the needle for you?

Speaker 3: 8:31

I mean, for me I'm indifferent to it, like it doesn't matter. You knew that it was probably going to change, with them adding games and ultimately probably going to go to an 18-game season. So you knew that at some point it was probably going to change from week eight to something else. So adding a week or two makes sense because they're extending the season. So it doesn't bother me, but I just don't care either way, because after the trade deadline, yeah, you can't trade with other, but there's, there's free agents that you can go pick up. I mean you know you can pick up players all year, so I mean it, it's not really going to change much, right?

Speaker 2: 9:14

so it's officially moved to week nine for next year already, and so then, okay, except for week 10 to week eight.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Yeah, I mean from week no, I mean yeah. So it's week nine coming this next year it may, it may go to week 8, yeah, I mean from week you know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 9:25

Yeah, so it's week 9 coming this next year. It may go to week 10 when they do the 18-game season, because everything they're doing makes it look like that's on the horizon, right.

Speaker 1: 9:35

That's not what they had in the report, but that's fine, it's just splitting it.

Speaker 1: 9:38

No, I mean, that's what I'm looking it up and it says they actually voted to get it to week nine. So yeah, uh, I guess, yeah, okay, yeah, for me it doesn't really bother me, it's like only thing. I think about it because, no, I know we all love football. So I'm gonna separate myself from you guys. We all love the sport. We talk about it all year round and we made that happen. As much as we can, don't say, but I care about the competitive part of it.

Speaker 1: 10:04

I look at the situation that Washington had last year before they implemented this new trade deadline. They had two guys that were deciding which one they were going to keep, which one they were going to let go. That was Montez Sweat and Chase Young. They decided to trade both of them. They were both on expiring contracts. Did they gain draft capital by doing that? I think it was the third or something for for young and forgot what it was for sweat, uh.

Speaker 1: 10:30

But they went winless after week nine. So they, they played almost eight or nine weeks I guess that's about what it was without a win and they were awarded the number two pick for that and it's like imagine if multiple teams do that same thing. That's not going to be. I mean, people in fantasy football are going to hate that because they know that. You know it's going to be an impact to them winning the fantasy championship. But for us, as fans watching a game that we love and looking for the competition even toward the end of the year, we know the playoffs are going to be competitive because the best teams are going to be in it. Theoretically, that's how it should happen, but those weeks leading up to that week nine, week ten that's still football time for us. We're still watching that, we still care who wins and who loses, and these guys are going to potentially have the ability to decide to do that, to tank, because they're going to have a little I mean for your fantasy guys, though.

Speaker 3: 11:25

If you are, if you're picking up players on a team that's going to have the first or second overall pick, you ain't winning your championship. Those, those teams about to get smoked all the time. So I mean you know it. If nothing else, the guys that you have on that team, if they get traded, might start playing better on a different team.

Speaker 1: 11:48

OK, that's a fantasy perspective. That's fine. I played for 15 years, so I know how it works. I know all the ins and outs of it. That's why I don't do it anymore.

Speaker 1: 11:58

As far as the competitive part, it's like that's not football that I want to see, that's not football that I want to see. I mean and we know it's hypocritical to say anything different because every time we see a game on a TNF, I won't name teams, I don't want to insult them, but you know who I'm talking about. It kind of seemed to be on TNF and it's like wow, I'm struggling to decide if I'm going to watch this game or not. Who wants to see that stuff, with guys that are legit tanking giving everybody away to get draft capital for the next upcoming draft. You don't want to watch those again.

Speaker 1: 12:29

I don't care what you say, it's equal to the third week of preseason. It's not going to be great looking and you're not going to be excited about it and it's going to take eyes off of it. So I don't know if this is a good thing in that regard, but maybe, like you said, it may not be good for you at all, but for me, this is me talking now this is me just talking about me. I don't want to see that. I want to see competitive football, especially going into it. It's about momentum. I want to see momentum going into the playoffs, not a big hole, a big eight-week hole, and then have playoff. No, I want to see momentum.

Speaker 3: 13:09

I want to see good football going in there, you know, and guys gutting it out, not quick I think you're talking about two different teams here, though because you're talking about teams that are falling apart and teams that are trying to get in the playoffs, so like if a team that's getting in the playoffs they're going to make a trade so they can add that piece to get them over the hump. And the bad teams? Yeah, they're sellers, right, they're sellers at the deadline. They are currently.

Speaker 3: 13:33

And that's because they're like OK, we're obviously not going to make it, we're fourth in our division. You know, we got to, we got to reload for whatever next year is. If nothing else, a later deadline probably increases your trade value with a team because, as every week goes by, injuries happen right. So there is a potential that more teams need a guy that you have, and if you're a seller at the deadline and now you have multiple teams with guys that are injured or someone that needs a piece, you might actually get some extra draft capital that you otherwise might not have.

Speaker 2: 14:09

Right, and those teams that are typically selling off like that you weren't watching on TV anyway and at some point for those teams you have to protect your long-term versus your short-term, Exactly.

Speaker 3: 14:19

And that's why they throw those teams on Thursday night, because they know you're going to watch anyway, because it's only game on oh god, yeah, that that works in theory. I've turned the channel a couple times, you do, but not most of it, yeah yeah, ratings say that Thursday night does fine some stuff is really hard to watch yeah, no, I mean, you know, the commanders versus Patriots last year was. You know that's a tough game.

Speaker 1: 14:47

Everybody played at TNF. It was like the same thing.

Speaker 2: 14:51

My favorite thing is they'll blame that on Thursday. Oh, it was awful. No, it was awful because you guys are bad, Like let's not I mean what's happening to those bad games that happened on TNF?

Speaker 1: 15:01

That's the part.

Speaker 2: 15:03

Those bad games are bad games regardless of the trade deadline. So exactly well, and I mean that's probably the best thing about thursday night is al michaels clearly doesn't care anymore yeah, because he's like this game is terrible you're just like yes, yes, it is yeah, he's gonna start showing up in a bathrobe or something just to show you how little he's worried about the whole thing Blow-drying his hair in the booth in the middle of the game Some guys get all the luck.

Speaker 1: 15:32

Yeah, but there was a few other proposals also. You guys heard about the one with the third replay challenge.

Speaker 3: 15:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:42

You heard about that one. If you have two successful challenges, hey, coach can be the third one.

Speaker 3: 15:49

Only one of them has to be successful to get the same.

Speaker 1: 15:51

I ain't making this stuff up, so we gotta make sure we get on the same page what we're reading here, because no, so the the existing rule is you have to win them both to get a third and the.

Speaker 3: 16:01

The way that they're trying to change it is if you win any of them, you get a third. So basically, if you win one, you don't lose the challenge you just used, right, so then you'd get that third challenge. You still only end up with three, but the way it currently works is if you win both, you get an extra one, right?

Speaker 2: 16:18

OK, all right.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Good morning West Coast Wind and for joining us, sir, did you guys watch any March Madness yet? Of course, have you watched anything? I know Bam will watch something. Yeah, I've watched a little bit.

Speaker 3: 16:37

I watched my Zags get bounced this last round.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Your zags Okay.

Speaker 3: 16:47

Yeah, I'm a Gonzaga basketball fan.

Speaker 1: 16:50

Okay, all right yeah. All right so who's this guy?

Speaker 3: 16:52

I wish one of these times they'd actually close out the championship as opposed to leaving in the Sweet 16 a lot.

Speaker 1: 16:58

Copy that, copy that. So do you guys have a dog in the fight, so to speak? Of course, who's that? Herb Alabama.

Speaker 2: 17:14

I mean, did you just ask to have a dog in the fight?

Speaker 1: 17:22

Yeah, because you weren't even watching anything. I want to make sure we're on the same page.

Speaker 2: 17:28

Wait, did I say I wasn't watching March Madness? We just don't talk about it on the show.

Speaker 1: 17:33

The very first week it came out I asked about it. Right here it's recorded.

Speaker 2: 17:38

And I said I wasn't watching March Madness.

Speaker 1: 17:41

You ain't gotten any games yet and voting to any brackets?

Speaker 2: 17:47

I didn't say I wasn't gotten any games yet and Bo didn't do any brackets. I didn't say I wasn't doing any brackets. We had a bracket challenge that we were doing to give away one of the title titles.

Speaker 3: 17:51

I didn't do brackets this year because I was moving.

Speaker 1: 17:55

Bo, who's your champion? I'm sure Herbie's going with Bo, with Todd, who's your champion?

Speaker 2: 18:00

No, I mean it's most likely going to be UConn versus Purdue.

Speaker 1: 18:03

I mean UConConn just looks like a juggernaut. That's how my jacket looks right now I'm holding on for dear life and everything else, a lot of updates, that kind of messed up my record, but that's the only thing I have that's still in play.

Speaker 1: 18:15

I'm going to have to go back and listen to this where you say I say I didn't even like March Madness because that did not happen happened you just said I wasn't watching any you just said I wasn't watching any at the time that I asked my period, at the time that I asked you haven't seen anything yet oh, the the first day of me, yeah, before it started you're right.

Speaker 3: 18:38

Before it started, I hadn't watched any all right no and for me it was no brackets, because we were literally moving and my TV was in the back of the truck.

Speaker 1: 18:48

A couple things going on in the NFL free agent. I want to jump to that real quick. The Rasheed Rice thing I don't even know where to go with that. It's kind of one of those things that's like these guys make so much money and you don't want to sound like you're jealous of them. It's like, man, you got an opportunity to do some stuff in life, you know, to make some real impacts, and it's like what are you thinking about? You just won a championship. I mean, you're riding high. I'm not saying he's done anything because that hasn't been reported yet, but certainly there's some kind of involvement there and the police are actually looking for him and have been for a few days. I'm like what are we doing Every day that they look for you? It just makes it look worse for you.

Speaker 2: 19:33

Oh yeah Again I said every day that they're looking for you just makes it look worse for you, like if you've done nothing and you weren't in that car, then, like this should be cleared up by now.

Speaker 3: 19:43

The report this morning is he has retained legal counsel. I would imagine that he's going to be advised to turn himself in here real soon.

Speaker 1: 20:04

Unless you guys got something else on that one. That's just a current story. I'm going to go ahead and drop real quick Anything else on that.

Speaker 3: 20:10

No, the other guy I don't know why I'm mind-blanking his name that had the domestic abuse. He did actually turn himself in in Florida.

Speaker 2: 20:19

Oh yeah. Sudden.

Speaker 3: 20:23

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 20:25

He just turned himself in. It was either last night or this morning, something like that, oh God, All right.

Speaker 1: 20:32

I read about the Texans trading out of the first round. Now that didn't blow my mind per se. I know they got a couple of knees, especially a cornerback and a defensive tackle, but they traded out because I think their philosophy is that they can get more value in the in the middle rounds, based on how their team is constructed and what they did last year. How do you guys feel about the fact that they made that move? Is it a good idea in your mind or was it a a missed opportunity to stay in the first round? In regards to the Texas, what do you think in there?

Speaker 3: 21:02

So did they officially do it, or is this a mock draft?

Speaker 1: 21:06

No, they're out of the first round. Oh, okay, interesting.

Speaker 2: 21:12

I'm okay with it though, because I think, because they took two first rounders last year and they're probably thinking, let me just fill a couple more holes, versus me needing a big time guy and this draft really feels like an offensive draft. So if I'm trading back for a couple of defensive players, being a big time guy and this draft really feels like an offensive draft. So if I'm trading back for a couple of defensive players, I feel like I can probably fill those whole second and third round versus like. I mean, you know you're looking at what four or five wide receivers and like six quarterbacks in the first round, Plus linemen. You're probably thinking I can get my defensive guys later and still get the pick of what I want.

Speaker 1: 21:43

Yeah, they got two seconds. I don't know For me. I know I've mentioned Tank Dale a couple of times, and for good reason, but I kind of feel like they don't need to neglect offense per se. I think they can do some things there. So I hope that they can talk to the area because I think it's an area opportunity. I love me some, nico. I mean everybody knows that already it's area opportunity. I love Mr Nico. I mean everybody knows that already it's go blue. But they got some needs there in regards to running back as well, really as well as the wide receiver spot. So I was wondering why they were going to do that. But they obviously have a plan. Also, the Ravens cut OBJ. I guess you guys knew about that already. They lost Duvernay to Jacksonville, so their wide receiver situation is changing up a little bit. They had some visits from former Cowboys, michael Gallup and Josh Reynolds. Any thoughts on the Ravens grabbing one or either one of those guys, or do you think they're fine the way they are? What do you think in there?

Speaker 3: 22:40

I mean they're probably fine the way they are. It's not like they used OBJ a ton anyway. Right, like he he is more or less a splash player at this point. Like he's not a workhorse Not that he necessarily ever really was Right, like it's not. Like it's not like he's been that guy very many times in his career. Right so as far as having huge seasons times in his career. Right, so as far as having huge seasons. So I mean I don't think it really hurts them to move on. Do they need to add another guy? Probably, but you don't have to spend a lot to go get them. You know it's a team that's run first and then they added a mountain of human behind Lamar, so I think they'll be fine.

Speaker 3: 23:22

Yeah, same here I kind of like the two-tied. I like Andrews sorry, good man no, I'm just saying I kind of like what they have already yeah, yeah, you said tell me go ahead, all right I'm done right.

Speaker 1: 23:37

There's a pause between us. I'm sorry, good no, I'm good, I'm good yeah, so dubonnet was a huge in a return game and the special teams game, so like that's, that's a loss there. They're gonna have to replace that.

Speaker 3: 23:52

Yeah, but I mean he had. Obj has a durability issue, like that's kind of the thing is you don't know. Not only is he not going to be a huge part of your game, but you don't know how long you have him either. Realistically, they can probably pick up a cheaper speedster to fill up. You know the special teams roles, especially with the new kickoff rule. You're going to want a guy that's fast.

Speaker 1: 24:20

Fair, fair, all right. Did you guys watch any UFL this weekend?

Speaker 3: 24:26

Just some highlights. Just some highlights, because Comcast slash Xfinity is terrible. Thanks for giving me a bad box out of the box. I didn't get to watch any of the games this weekend because my TV doesn't work, because Comcast sucks.

Speaker 1: 24:42

Wow, and they're out here right now and they're forcing themselves on the community. I'm like I'm like people are doing streamings, they're doing their own thing. They're coming here and they're digging up people's ground and putting stuff in their yard. I'm like I didn't know you could do that. So Sphinity's name out here is like it's not good. It's not good. It's not apparently not All the way where you are mild for me.

Speaker 3: 25:15

The reputation they keep changing their name, like this, was viacom cable. They just keep changing their name.

Speaker 2: 25:20

They're like oh, you know, we get a one-star rating.

Speaker 3: 25:23

We're just gonna change our name today, yeah pick up and it comes somewhere else.

Speaker 1: 25:28

Okay.

Speaker 1: 25:29

So what the? U? I would be honest, I was excited about it because we won the spring football. I mean, I didn't even have some kind of football going on. There's no college NFL. Free agency is starting to dwindle down a little bit.

Speaker 1: 25:43

So that first game, which was the USFL champions, birmingham against the XFL champs and the Renegades, I was excited. I think the fans were too, the ones that were out there. I think they had about 14,000 fans out there. I don't know if it was a mic thing or not, but you can hear them. They sounded excited to me. They sounded pretty pumped for the entire game. All the way through they were vocal for everything that happened, every single play. They were really loud and vocal. So that was a really good sign. I think from an attendance standpoint that number is still low or lower than what they wanted. I'm not quite sure what the expectation was, but 14,000 was not what they were looking for. So overall the number is pretty low.

Speaker 1: 26:31

The next game that was the Panthers and the Battle Hawks. That was like 9,000 fans out there, and St Louis they've been known to be kind of serve as the middle finger to the NFL because of what happened with the Rams and everything. So they're kind of like fighting for their relevance out there. So when they have a home game, those folks up. But this game wasn't that it was. I think this was a. It's an away game for them. So their fan numbers were really really low, but we kind of thought that could happen. I mean, they changed up and made everything uh, I guess regional, for lack of a better word. I'm not quite sure what the level is, but but overall excitement. Now you've got one weekend in the books. How do you guys feel about it? Do you feel like this is something that you're going to watch or is it going to be background noise for your to-do list?

Speaker 3: 27:24

I mean it'll be background noise You're not going to see this thing out, but especially after being yeah, see, concast is terrible we.

Speaker 1: 27:36

We're in three different parts of the country west coast bowl myself and I'm sure herb has a story about in this world too I mean, we've already the name is chop suey in all of these places. That's not good.

Speaker 3: 27:52

Yeah, well, I mean, at least they're consistent, I guess.

Speaker 2: 27:54

You know what to expect.

Speaker 3: 27:58

Like, as long as you go into it knowing it's hot trash, you're fine, so yeah, no, I might be slightly bitter about it.

Speaker 2: 28:06

Slightly, we can't tell.

Speaker 1: 28:09

Plus every time you have to call customer service.

Speaker 3: 28:11

It's going to be a two-hour phone call for no reason, yeah, but anyway. So on the ufl front, uh, being regional hurts their sport for sure. Um, you know there's going to be elements of it that are that are good. Uh, you know, like the 64 yard field goal to win a game, uh, the first weekend, obviously that that's something huge. That kid will will probably be on an NFL roster next year, so you know it's a plus. He hit it twice, right, like they called a timeout, and he drilled it, and then he came right back around and drilled it again. So I mean, it's not like it was a one-off. He randomly hit from 64 or the one that went through. He could have hit from 70.

Speaker 1: 28:53

Like it goes through the uprights and hit the net. So I mean it was a super competitive game, though. Oh, for sure it was a good game, for sure. I wonder if they're going to be able to top that. Can they top that game for the rest of the season? That's what I'm wondering about. That game was. To me it was really competitive. It was like I was watching football. I don't mean to be insulting, but it was like I was watching the NFL. You know, it was really good, really good. I had to leave right before that field goal tried. I'm like this is a bad time to leave out of this house, but I had to go. I had to get out of it.

Speaker 3: 29:24

I just like that you explained that, like the condescending dad, you're like good job, buckaroo.

Speaker 1: 29:39

I still love your son. I was just talking about uh having spring football for a few months to kind of uh buy it all time between now and then of course. Well, the draft will be in the middle of that and then heading into whatever pre-season looks like. But yeah, I'm excited, I did watch.

Speaker 2: 29:51

I did watch some of the uh the birmingham game, but like, honestly, I was switching I was cleaning the garage and I was switching back and forth between lsu women's uh tournament game and it's just like I'm just not emotionally invested enough yet in the birmingham game. Now big mike and I are going to go to a couple games, so I'm going to give it a try. I do think something they probably never even thought of, though birmingham's first game, first home game, is the same weekend as alabama spring game, and it's like that's just not something I would have scheduled down here, like I would have scheduled around. I know a pro league is probably not thinking that, but we're an hour away from each other like way more people are going to the spring game than are going to the Birmingham game. That's something I probably would have worked around, because I would have loved to see the home opener.

Speaker 1: 30:40

How far is Beham from you?

Speaker 2: 30:42

About an hour. No, I'm in Birmingham, but I'm saying that Tuscaloosa is an hour from here. You're going to get a lot more people going to Tuscaloosa for the spring game than going to the Stallions game. I mean, that's just how it is down here.

Speaker 1: 30:55

Yeah, so they're going to travel an hour there and stay local for them, okay.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Well, no, but I mean you got a lot of people already in Tuscaloosa, but you got. If you're in Birmingham and you have a choice between going to see the team versus stay here for the Birmingham game, yeah, it's what it is.

Speaker 1: 31:17

I don't know what to say there. Good morning Raj.

Speaker 2: 31:20

I don't think I'm alone either though I think there's going to get a lot more people in Tuscaloosa that weekend than they are going to have here.

Speaker 1: 31:28

You have more than 14,000, don't you.

Speaker 3: 31:32

Yeah, you have more than 14,000, don't you? Yeah, you have more than 14,000?

Speaker 1: 31:35

Your point is made, then If you got more than 14,000, that's.

Speaker 2: 31:38

Oh yeah, well, I mean we're going to get close to the 100,000. So we're going to. That number is going to be smoked. So, if I was starting the league, I would have scheduled around it.

Speaker 3: 31:53

So really, what the question is is what's the over under on 5?

Speaker 2: 31:55

000 for the uh ufl game. I mean, that's tough. I just don't think it's going to be indicative of of like the rest of the season, because I'll be at games later but you have to schedule around certain events well, and that's why I think you know it's probably going to be a low attendance game.

Speaker 3: 32:11

I think 5,000 might be that benchmark, like it could be right around that number, I agree, the numbers, that's going to be bad then.

Speaker 2: 32:21

Yeah, I mean, but you have to look at those sort of things when you're trying to get your league going and you've only got a certain opportunity. That's one of the things I would have looked at, you know?

Speaker 3: 32:30

Yeah, well, especially because it's a brand new league, so people aren't traveling to these games yet. Right, it's not like you're following your team around and doing whatever. You know there'll be some of that. Or because it's regional, when you're looking at, like, the Texas, the Texas games, they'll probably travel between those a little bit. But outside of that, I mean, there's just not the following for the sport yet.

Speaker 1: 32:55

Copy that Good morning Raj. One half of the Herb and Raj podcast, which you can find, of course, on their YouTube channel and on Twitter or Facebook as well, at 9 pm, maybe Tuesday evening EST. Good morning, brother Roll Tide. Congratulations on making the Final Four. I know you guys are excited. First time ever that we get to play the best team in the country. What's up, man?

Speaker 3: 33:20

It's too bad, herb's not into it, I know Well according to some, I haven't watched any games.

Speaker 1: 33:31

Oh man, you're so petty man. I'm just telling you what happened. You know I love you, man. You don't know that by now. What's the matter with you, man?

Speaker 2: 33:38

We're good man. I am not feeling the love this morning. No, no, no.

Speaker 1: 33:44

That man supports me on TikTok. I need some love out there. He got my back. I appreciate you, man. Thank you for helping me out. I feel kind of funny sometimes and I feel like I'm alone out there. Thanks for helping me out, brother, make me feel real good. Brother, mom, happy April. Hope you're doing good. Thanks for always being a strong supporter of the show. Appreciate you guys. April Fool's.

Speaker 3: 34:06

Day. There's three fools on this right now Ken Wisconsin, beards and Fitness.

Speaker 1: 34:13

You can shout out to Herb and the panel.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Yes, sir, if you're going to try and help me get fixed up down here, maybe look a little bit better.

Speaker 1: 34:20

You want to go a beard?

Speaker 2: 34:23

Yes, get some little beard oil going in there. Okay, sir, let's go Sean.

Speaker 1: 34:29

Roll with it, brother. Roll with it. Roll with it, brother. Roll with it. Roll with it. You ain't roll with it. Roll with it, cool, all right. So we already see that free agency is starting to die down a little bit, but amazingly, there's some guys that still don't have jobs. I'll be honest, I looked at salary caps. I probably spent too much time on that website. I see what the numbers look like. These guys kind of shouldn't be hanging around, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on there. Now I know Bo has talked a lot about Jamar Adams. I get why he's still on the street.

Speaker 3: 35:04

Oh, no, no, no, he should be on the street. No, I was talking about Quandre Diggs.

Speaker 1: 35:08

No, no no, I'm with you, I ain't, we're in the group. I'm saying it, just it, just it's. I understand why he's still there, but there's some names I don't get why they're still there. Guys like, for example. I mean there's been this up and down about fly. It was hilarious. I feel like he has some real ability. I don't know why it didn't work out with a championship team. I think maybe it could have just been injury, because there was some of that going on there. I don't know what was going on there.

Speaker 1: 35:37

Michael Thomas he's not at the height of his career anymore. He's still out there hanging around. Justin Simmons is the name that is at the top of the list and he's only 30 years old. He's not anywhere near done yet. He can still play at a high level and he's still hanging around. It could be financially motivated. I'm not quite sure what's going on with that one, but he's still hanging around. Like you said, quandre Diggs is there. Julian Blackman, somebody who's been linked to the Giants, which is the first time I heard that he's still hanging around. Guys like Keanu O'Neal is still hanging around. Lavisca Chateau is still hanging around. Dj Chalk and, of course, I mentioned Michael Gallup visiting the Ravens, hunter Renfro and, of course, rodgers guy Xavier Howard, former Dolphin, is still hanging around. Any of these guys jump out as guys you want to have on your team or guys you think can go to a certain team that you can see that can make an impact there. Anybody that's a impact free agent out of this list or somebody I didn't know perhaps the biggest.

Speaker 3: 36:39

The biggest problem I mean why you're seeing so many safeties on here is there's actually a lot of safeties coming in the draft okay, and you're going to be able to get them later. So, even though these guys aren't that old, right guys like quandary digs, iiggs I think he's 30, right Might be 31. I don't know Something like that.

Speaker 1: 36:57

So I mean yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:59

so there we go, and then I'm, you know, but multiple time pro bowler, like good player. So. But the thing is is you can get a safety out of the draft for nothing, Cause you're probably going to pick them up in second, third round, something like that, you know. So it's not like their contracts are going to be crazy. So I mean, some of these make sense because of where the talent is in this draft coming up.

Speaker 3: 37:26

So, you'll see these guys get picked up after, probably after the draft at this point, because they're going to be like, okay, we didn't get our guy, this guy's still available. Let's guys get picked up after, probably after the draft at this point, because they're gonna be like, okay, we didn't get our guy, this guy's still available, let's, let's do something. Um, zeke is interesting because the cowboys have kicked the tires on him a couple of times already during this period like they talk to him and then they stop and then talk to him again.

Speaker 3: 37:50

Mostly it's interesting because you're going to get him for a vet minimum.

Speaker 2: 37:55

Right.

Speaker 3: 37:56

He worked well in the system. They need some cap-friendly deals because they don't have any money, so I mean things like that could have made sense, but all that being said, he's still available.

Speaker 2: 38:14

It almost feels like Dallas or nothing.

Speaker 1: 38:17

I forgot about those guys. Kareem Hunt and JK Dobbins are also in that list, which is like okay.

Speaker 3: 38:23

Yeah, but as you recall, Hunt was out of a job for a portion of last season also.

Speaker 1: 38:29

He worked so well with Chubb. When Chubb it's like something changed there, yeah, but I think with running backs.

Speaker 2: 38:38

I think with running backs you're probably going to get them so late in the draft and still have a good selection that maybe you're not searching free agency. You're waiting to see how that falls. I kind of want to see what happens. I kind of want to see what's oh good. I kind of want to see what's going to happen with, like a Hunter Renfro who seemed like the good possession receiver and just kind of fell out of favor with Raiders. I don't feel like he doesn't have anything left in the tank. You know what I mean. So you're never going to sign him to be like your number one or maybe even your number two guy, but I just feel like possession guy. Here you go underneath. Is Michael Thomas just done?

Speaker 3: 39:14

If you could pick him up as a slot receiver. It'd be amazing.

Speaker 2: 39:18

That's what I think about Hunter. I don't know how that answer works.

Speaker 1: 39:22

I don't know man Physically. I think something is definitely going on there, because look how long he's been out.

Speaker 2: 39:29

At first it's not me, it's like once a week on our street man. It's crazy, it happens in the neighborhood.

Speaker 1: 39:39

It's like you always go outside and see if everybody's alright. It's always something. But with Thomas, at first I thought it was a ploy by him. His last couple of years with the Saints I thought he was trying to force his way out. I wasn't sure he was trying to force his way out. I wasn't sure he was really really injured. I couldn't tell, I was just speculating, wasn't sure he was really injured. But now it's like all this time you can't be taking that much of a vacation. You must really be hurt to not be able to fully get back on the field and stay there. Now I'm wondering if he has some physical issues, then the legal stuff that's going on outside of that, those are not, uh, those are kind of red flags as well, at the very least orange flags, at least they're not. They're not good. So I don't know if he's done. Herb, I mean I do you want him on on your squad?

Speaker 2: 40:23

no, I mean especially not texans with you got a young team like that and you're you're kind of building together. You don't need a guy like you said, because I agree with you I think he was trying to force his way out at first. Then he was just kind of like, okay, it's not going to happen. Maybe I'll stick with this team, but I'm not playing that much. So I don't think that's a guy you add to a squad that's kind of young and growing together and have the success that they had next year.

Speaker 1: 40:52

There's just no way I'd touch a and I don't know. I'm not saying how he is in the locker room, but I know I don't want him in our locker room, like at all.

Speaker 2: 40:56

He's been linked to the Dolphins, so I wonder how Rodgers is going to feel about that. A guy like that who wants all these touches and everything. I just don't see him jumping in and being like the third option right out the gate, so I just don't see it.

Speaker 1: 41:07

on the Dolphins I mean honestly, if we're talking about the Saints versus the Dolphins and you're Michael Thomas, why wouldn't you? I mean Waddle and Hill, those are the main guys, we know they're going deep, they're scaring defense with their speed and you got Thomas working underneath. I mean, why would you not want to do that? The Saints was not a good situation. I see why you probably wouldn't want to stay there. They're in cap hell for the next couple of years probably, maybe even longer than what I can see. So if he recognizes that his own mortality, so to speak, he recognizes that he's not the man he thought he was or that he used to be I guess I can say it that way going to the Dolphins, a team that is on the cusp, perhaps, of doing some things in their area why wouldn't you want to do that if you were Michael Thomas? I don't think it's a bad idea at all. I think it's a great idea.

Speaker 2: 41:58

From Michael Thomas's standpoint maybe, but I don't think from the Dolphins. Like if I was looking at those two on that list and maybe even money-wise, I'd probably take a Hunter Renfro over him just because like you said I've got two speedsters clearing the way out.

Speaker 2: 42:11

I got one guy working up underneath and it's a guy like on a referee who's used to that position. I would rather have him knowing everything versus having having Michael Thomas at this stage and not knowing what I'm getting from Michael Thomas. Am I getting Michael Thomas for six games, eight games? You know what I mean. So he'll already is getting banged up a little bit. Wallow's already been trying. Like Hill already is getting banged up a little bit. Wallow's already been trying. I can't add another guy to that list that I might not have. I in that case. I'm not saying these are just all hypotheticals, but on that list I would rather have Hunter Renfro than Michael Thomas.

Speaker 1: 42:43

I think I would too. Definitely, from the shifting standpoint, I think it can help the Dolphins out. They got to deal with defense, so that's just something that we're getting around. We're going to be talking about that one next year because it's probably going to be an issue, but staying in that same division as the Dolphins. It looks like the Jets are in win-now mode, which makes sense because you don't know how much more time Rodgers has in him. I mean, he went out to four games with an injury that kept them out for the rest of the season. They've got a chance to see their full potential. But they got Mike Williams from the Chargers. But you can decide if you think that's a good deal or not. Williams feels like he's going to get a new lease on life, Right.

Speaker 2: 43:22

Is he going to stay healthy?

Speaker 1: 43:25

Herbert can throw the ball. Can we establish that part? Herbert's not going to throw a football and for some reason Mike Williams couldn't catch it Right. So there's that. And then you're talking about him being injured. Now you know, I watched the charges on the side. Everybody knows it's not I'm out of the closet, preferably about that. So I watched his games and it's like Michael Williams, on a lot of deep passes it's going to happen. You got to catch those and you got to be healthy and stay on the field. So they definitely just loaded that pass. They got more D-ends than they actually need. Probably they're flat-out loaded. They start to tackle. They got Tyrone Smith from the Cowboys and they got Morgan Moses. I forgot what team he was on, but he loaded up to protect Rodgers, so they're in a win-now mode. They actually just made a trade to get Hassan ready.

Speaker 1: 44:20

I was watching him for a few weeks and I forgot about him. He kind of fell under the radar. I'm like, oh wow, he went to the Jets. So I was kind of like I was hoping that he would not be going to the Jets. He was going to another New York team but that didn't work out. But he went to the Jets for a conditional 20-26. So he had to have, I guess, about 77% of his snaps. I think five sacks he needs to have in order to get that conditional.

Speaker 1: 44:42

Third, but he went to the Jets from the Eagles. He wasn't happy with the Eagles. Sometimes stuff was going on that we talked about on previous weeks In-house infightings, some culture stuff. Redick wanted to get out of there, so he got what he wanted, I guess to a better situation, I would assume. But the Jets didn't win now Moe, so I don't know if. How do you guys feel about the Jets now, with the assumption that Rodgers come back and he's healthy? Do you guys like them to do what we've been saying all that time and actually get to the top of the food chain?

Speaker 3: 45:14

Well, I want to see if this thing works right. Yeah, like I need some snaps. Yeah, like I'm, I'm curious, because the defense is is really good and the offense has some pieces. Uh, you know. So is rogers really the answer there? I don't know. Like I'm, I, I want to see it like there was all this hype about it. I'd at least like to see more than five snaps, right.

Speaker 1: 45:40

This is where I want Ross to chime in. He might be busy doing some other things. I want to know what he thinks about that because that's just one more impediment to them getting to the place where they can go beyond where they were last year, having a healthy Rodgers and a Jets team that actually does well, that's a nutmeg. Before it was just Josh Allen and the Bills. The Patriots weren't a thorn in their side at all. So like now you got Rodgers back. I'm like wow. So like, can the Dolphins overcome that, even with a healthy Rodgers? I want to kind of hear from him. But maybe we can get that some other kind of way. But, roger, if you can hear that, you can hear it with Tex or one of us and let us know what you think about that part. But I'm going to jump into the championship window so we can stay on task.

Speaker 1: 46:25

I know last week, I think a couple of times we kind of talked about it and we just ran out of time and didn't get a chance to get there. But there were several teams that you know in just some reading they were speculating about their championship window being closed. I name all the teams. You kind of tell me what you think about each one and who you think is the one whose championship window was truly closing. I got the Cowboys out there, the Eagles were out there, the Dolphins of course so Raj may chime in on that. The Ravens, the Bills and the Niners were some of the teams and it has specific reasons why they said the championship window could be in some level of jeopardy. But out of all of those or named now on that list, who do you think the championship window is closing? Why do you think that?

Speaker 3: 47:11

Well, I mean there's two of them really for me the Niners I'm not that worried about for this coming season, but the ones that the the window is I mean it's not slammed shut but it's close That'd be the bills and the Cowboys. Now, the bills, they always have a shot, cause you do have Josh Allen who can, will wins to happen, right, but he's going to have that Bretttt farve type of feel to him, so he's going to have that tendency to make the mistake sometime in the playoffs, but I would imagine at some point he's going to be able to to punch through once, like he feels like that one super bowl kind of guy.

Speaker 3: 47:52

Uh, the cowboys, on the other hand, last year was their year right like their window is closed because they've had to do a fire sale to get under the cap. I mean, you know so what do you mean? No, no, no, last year was their best shot, because now they're having to get rid of something. Like they were 20 million over the cap, like you're gonna lose a lot of guys, so it so it's ridiculous to think that somehow, shedding a bunch of players, they're going to be better.

Speaker 2: 48:20

Right.

Speaker 3: 48:21

So it's actually why I think that there's a real shot that they do move on from Dak after this season and they just eat the 40 mil Because you're in the last year of McCarthy's contract. They probably move on from him because multiple 12 and five seasons and nothing in the playoffs, you know you lose your job, like that's just. That's the NFL.

Speaker 3: 48:44

So, do you want? Do you want your new coach to take on a DAC that, if you do resign him, is going to be 60 million a year? Probably not, right, like you can't pay for great for good, right? So at that point, now you're rebuilding, now you're going to just start shedding the rest of the pieces and figuring out what you're doing, moving forward. So it um, yeah, I, I think the cowboys is pretty much a done deal. The bills is a narrow window. They could still do it, but they have to get hot at the right time.

Speaker 2: 49:17

Yeah, sounds greater. I feel like the Bills like just expended so much energy just trying to get through last year and it's like I'm looking at its offseason and now it almost seems to all hinge on what happens with Diggs, you know, and if that situation falls apart, Buffalo's done. You know, no matter what you got with Josh Allen, they still don't have a number two, I guess. A great compliment to them. And then the division, possibly with the Jets coming up there and deciding if Miami fixes the offense division, is just going to get harder. You know, last year on their run, that's one thing they could at least count on was they beat Miami and they were usually going to handle the other teams but Buffalo's in a tough position. So they were, and I hate, hate to agree.

Speaker 2: 49:59

But like dallas would be the other person, man, you, you went all in and, like I told you, I love listening to the podcast where, where things aren't the greatest, just so I can hear. So I've been listening to a lot of dallas cowboys podcasts lately and they're just like, what are we doing? You know, we said all in and we're doing the exact opposite. Like I said, they're bleeding players and you're not. I mean if you're kicking the tires on Zeke, you're just basically saying I have no idea what we're going into next year with and so they're not going to get better and no matter how well the regular season goes, they're not a playoff team anyway. So you know, I don't know that they're how I do.

Speaker 2: 50:36

They did have a great season last year. I'll say that doc had one of his best regular seasons, but I was never going to believe in them winning. And now you're worse from a personnel standpoint and a team that's win. Now, like you can't really be counting on the draft to prop you up. That's supposed to be for, like you know, kind of now in your future. So I don't, I just don't know what they're picking up.

Speaker 2: 50:56

You should listen to their mock draft. Their guys are like I guess we'll get this guy and that guy too, you were good enough to get a late pick and they're just like. Which one of these two tackles do you want? And I'm like I don't even recognize these names. So good luck with that guys.

Speaker 3: 51:10

I love the enthusiasm out of the Cowboys podcast Because they're just like You'll do it's not, it's their collective fault.

Speaker 1: 51:25

I mean because they keep doing this. They go into the preseason and they keep announcing themselves as the next Super Bowl champion, and it hadn't even been a game, it hadn't even started a preseason game yet they're doing it all on paper or post-draft and they're just making themselves the champions and then it doesn't happen. I mean, it hasn't happened since 1995.

Speaker 2: 51:49

You know the team had a lot of talent last year.

Speaker 1: 51:52

An NFC championship game since 1995. Understand the perspective. That was the year before I was married man, 28 years ago, and they haven't done anything and they've won two playoff games since 2016.

Speaker 3: 52:06

The roster has been stacked.

Speaker 2: 52:08

Last year was a great talent, but last year was one of their best. If you weren't going to get it done last year, then I'd tell you what's happening.

Speaker 3: 52:16

That's why I say they're in their window.

Speaker 1: 52:17

They were more complete than they had been in a long time in my humble opinion.

Speaker 2: 52:22

And you started off with a home game against the seven seed, Like it doesn't get any better than that for you?

Speaker 3: 52:27

No, exactly the team that looks like they're actually all in is the Steelers, though. Yeah, Like they're making moves that looks like they're trying to win Because they're adding defensive pieces, they're adding offensive pieces, they're adding special teams. They're just like you know what. We're going to be competitive in this division Because, I mean, they already had a good defense, right. So now you get competent quarterback play. I'm not seeing either one of them are elite, but they're going to be better than Mason, rudolph and Trubisky, right?

Speaker 2: 52:59

You can even mention Kenny Pickett, the disrespect.

Speaker 1: 53:02

You can even mention Kenny Pickett.

Speaker 3: 53:05

He didn't play that much. If you're losing your spot to Trubisky and Rudolph, how much respect do you want?

Speaker 2: 53:13

I'm going to say he could have just said the man's name made him feel good. He was on the team, he was the starter, he lost his job because of injury and then they just wouldn't let him get back out there.

Speaker 1: 53:26

It wasn't because Trubisky outplayed him I mean, Trubisky didn't outplay anyone.

Speaker 3: 53:32

That's the thing is they thought they had a better chance to win by keeping him on the bench, so that doesn't say good things, but uh, in any event, you got a couple of guys that are going to play better than the trio they had last year. They do add some pieces, I. I think that can be a dangerous team if they at least look like they're trying to win, whereas when you're watching the cowboys you're like, uh what, what are you doing?

Speaker 1: 53:54

I mean, honestly, the and the Bills. That is the epitome of low-hanging fruit. Absolutely those are the two teams that have to come to mind. I get why some of the other teams are being named in this. I get it. You may not agree, but I get why the Ravens and the Dolphins' names are in this list. Well, the Dolphins, for sure, because their defense is gone. I get why in this list? Well, the Dolphins, for sure, because their defense is gone.

Speaker 1: 54:16

I get why these people I mean, I don't know who's writing this stuff, but it's like they're kind of just waiting for a tool Like this is your first round pick in 2020. You better get this done or they're going to have something for your replacement. I mean, people, that's how they're talking. I don't know if Raj feels that same way or not, because he's a diehard Dolphins fan. I'm not sure that's how he feels, but that is the talk. It's been a talk like that for quite a while now. I even say even since 2021. They've been saying that kind of stuff. It's been a while With the Ravens. What are they talking about? The playoff win on Lamar Jackson's resume, and it's like you can't ignore that kind of stuff, because, okay, so if you go to have an awesome regular season, then we've seen that with the Cowboys and who else. Someone's had an awesome regular season and they flamed out in the playoffs.

Speaker 3: 55:05

Yeah, I'm going to go with this. Last loss was not on him, though. That was solidly a coaching issue.

Speaker 1: 55:09

No, no, no, I agree with that. We talked about it on multiple shows. Yeah, we knew that, we definitely saw that, but it's like you know, but that's what. That's what people judge that by and nobody can say you know what it was. My coaching is the reason why you go ahead and fire me. When's that ever happened?

Speaker 1: 55:25

Never, they put the blame on somebody else, whether it be a player or even a quarterback, and they start bringing in their. The Ravens have their. Window isn't closed, but last year was rough to watch. You just thought you know what I mean. I think, even though you picked them to win the Super Bowl, I think right, or at least go to it right.

Speaker 3: 55:44

What's that? The Ravens, the.

Speaker 2: 55:46

Ravens in the Super Bowl. Oh, the Ravens, yeah.

Speaker 3: 55:48

Yeah, I had them in the Super Bowl, yeah.

Speaker 2: 55:50

Yeah, I don't know it but that seemed like a very safe pick once the playoff started, like if you had told me they weren't going to run the ball at all against casey. Maybe I picked different, but I mean how'd you know it was wild?

Speaker 1: 56:01

yeah, that was you know. How'd you know that was going to happen? I didn't know that that's that.

Speaker 3: 56:07

That's that clip from the movie.

Speaker 2: 56:08

That's a bold strategy, cotton yes, I hope it pays off. I mean, the defense held them scoreless for the whole second half and and you still don't win. I mean I don't know how, you know it gets much better for you, kind of like the Dallas situation. I don't think their window is closed. I think they've made, you know, at least a decent pickup offense-wise. Now again, listening to podcasts, they're worried about the losses you know, I guess, put on the line and defense-wise. But you know, I still think they have an opportunity. Now the division is getting better, so that's theoretically getting better, so that could be an impediment, but I don't think it's totally closed yet. But it's going to be a tougher road this year than it was last year.

Speaker 3: 56:46

Of those four teams, they have the best shot.

Speaker 1: 56:48

Right, it's not cold, but it's not wide open either.

Speaker 3: 56:51

Right. No, the Dolphins are a crazy one because people keep waiting for Tua to fall apart and they're just overlooking the fact that the couple of pieces that were good on the defense they got rid of.

Speaker 2: 57:04

Right.

Speaker 3: 57:05

So it's like it was already a defense that had some issues and now you're going to compound it by getting rid of the couple guys that you had.

Speaker 1: 57:12

Yeah, you find some way to keep that man on that field.

Speaker 2: 57:16

Exactly. That's a guy to build around and you just let him go. The reason why I don't know if their champion door is closed. I don't know that it was ever open. I think they were kind of trying to peek in it maybe, but I don't ever know. I didn't consider them a championship team Even going into this season. Rod was like, if we could win the division, get home game, that's a, that's a a win. But he wasn't counting on them to make the super bowl.

Speaker 3: 57:40

So I don't think their window was more like you know the 1950s, like wing window, the little triangle that's what was open. It wasn't like the whole window, it's just like a little window like you could do it, but yeah roger, like I got something to say there.

Speaker 1: 57:58

Well.

Speaker 3: 57:58

I mean, the big thing is I'm not a Tua believer. Right Like I can't feel good about him staying on the field. I know he did last year, but when you look over the course of his career, that's the only year he was able to do it.

Speaker 2: 58:10

Too soon, too soon. That's Alabama people.

Speaker 1: 58:14

Fair enough, real quick on the eagle. We only got a couple minutes left. But it's, it's not nfce stuff. I just don't. I don't feel great about them. Uh, just from right, I don't, I just have a football fan.

Speaker 1: 58:27

What I saw last year, I'm like, oh, that that could be the beginning of a trend or it could just be, uh, an abnormality that's going to change this season. You can't tell until the games start getting played and you start seeing what's happening. But look, that was not a great ending statistically. The last, I think I want to say seven or eight games, something like that. It was brutal and it was bad from a coaching standpoint too. And Sirianni is still there. So if he's a part of that or an enabler in some way, he's still there, no matter who you add. Then you lost two guys that are, in my opinion, quality character guys. You can try to replace them with other guys that are younger, but they don't. They're not going to bring that same character and integrity because they don't. They don't have that yet. They don't have that yet. They don't have that kind of cachet yet. So it's like it looked like a locker room issue, I don't know how that's going to work out for them.

Speaker 1: 59:24

It could be rough sledding for them.

Speaker 3: 59:26

No, it didn't look like a talent issue. It looked like a locker room issue. I mean, when you have one of your players having a team-building event and you're 13 weeks into the season, that's not a good look, yeah.

Speaker 2: 59:42

From a championship contender too, so yeah, it looks good though.

Speaker 1: 59:45

So I mean we're saying we can say it's not talent, but Hurston looked good either. So there's that All right, guys. Well, tell me about where they can find you on your socials.

Speaker 3: 59:54

Go ahead, tell everybody where they can find you on your socials.

Speaker 2: 59:58

Go ahead. Herb, the Herb Raj Podcast. You can see our Twitter handle, raj underscore Herb, or on YouTube, herb Raj Podcast, search us out. You can find us there too. Copy that, yep.

Speaker 3: 1:00:07

You can find me on my channel at football-talk, on all the socials, at football-talk with Bo and here in about two hours on Coast to Coast Sports on Roku. Today is our hater show, so that's going to be hilarious. Basically, if you hate me, my co-host, our show, our platform, our teams, doesn't matter. You'll have a link. You'll get three minutes to tell us exactly why you hate us.

Speaker 1: 1:00:30

Wow, I think a lot of you are going to show up. What did you say about the dolphins? Those comments are out of hand. I'm just kidding. I'm on all the socials at. They call me mr you. Uh, thanks again for joining us. Don't forget about, on tuesday nights at 9 pm, the herbert roger podcast est, by the way, 9 pm est, where the guys are talking football and a whole bunch of other stuff too. Uh, and of course, we're on the wednesday wrap at 9 am EST on Wednesday. Thanks for joining us. Please like, share and subscribe and, of course, if you get the chance, you're not too busy. Go change the world, we'll be right back.