Two for the Win
Mike is a U.S. Navy Veteran and Bryan has more than a decade of civil service experience. Together, these blue collar guys dissect the latest sports headlines and events.
Two for the Win
Two For The Win - E18 - Happy Valentines Day! Sporting Innovations, Superbowl Stories & Warming Up For Spring Sports!
What if the NHL's new All-Star game format could revolutionize sports entertainment as we know it? Tune in as we pay tribute to the legendary NFL coach Dick Jauron and explore the Olympic-like energy that’s captivating hockey fans worldwide. Witness how Canada's electrifying overtime win against Sweden could spark a trend for other leagues, with potential ripple effects reaching the NBA. We’ll also bring you up to speed on the latest MLB transactions, ensuring you don't miss a beat in the sports world.
Ever wondered how Trae Young's hair has become an iconic yet humorous part of NBA culture? Journey through the chaotic world of NBA trades with us, where the Lakers' pivot from a rescinded trade to the surprising signing of Alex Len and acquisition of Luka Doncic stirs up the league. The Mavericks, meanwhile, find themselves in hot water with Anthony Davis's injury woes leading to fan unrest. And as we turn to the NFL, discover the strategic moves of prospects like Travis Hunter and the hopeful paths for undrafted players like Shiloh, inspired by the likes of Deion Sanders.
Our episode wraps up with an analysis of the NFL's financial landscape, from the burgeoning opportunities for college athletes through NIL deals to the smart money strategies of pros like Marshawn Lynch. Reflect on a surprising Super Bowl outcome as the Chiefs fall to the Eagles, stirring debates about Hall of Fame prospects and the Chiefs' future. We dive into the quarterback drama off the field and the intriguing trend of former players turning to coaching roles. Plus, Cam Newton’s candid comments about his former team spark controversy—don't miss the full story on this and more.
February 13th 2025. Happy pre Valentine's Day, everybody. Welcome back for another romantic and casual conversation around sports. I'm Brian with an eye and I'm Mike and we are two for the win, mike. What do we have on tonight's agenda?
Speaker 2:well, we're going to touch on the Four Nations NHL action. We're going to talk about some MLB transactions, check in with the NBA and the WNBA, see what's happening with the world of college and talk about this past week's Super Bowl and what's going on in the NFL.
Speaker 1:Man, I'll tell you what it's bittersweet as we get ready to say goodbye to the NFL for another season and welcome back basketball and baseball. But on that note, before we get started here, before we jump in too quickly, y'all, I just want to say real quick our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Dick Joron, former head coach of the Bears and the Bills, passed away this week at the age of 74. Dick was drafted by the Lions as a player in 1973 in the fourth round, 91st overall. He made the Pro Bowl in 1974 and then again, going on, later, become a head coach of both the Bears and Bills franchises. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him, his family and those communities yes, yes, I hope his family and those communities.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I hope his family is doing well. It's never easy losing a loved one, but switching gears and moving on to the NHL. So the NHL has come up with a solution to their All-Star game. So it used to be you just got the best players together and you just had the two teams face and it was just a fast-paced scoring game and that was the end of it. Well, they weren't really getting too many eyes. Well, the NHL has found a solution to this. So they have broken up the teams that would be the all-star teams and filled out teams based on where they're from. So we have a US team, we have a Finland team, we have a Sweden team and a Canada team. So it's almost like a mini Olympics.
Speaker 1:I was just about to say Mike, it's almost like a miniature Olympics we have going on here with hockey.
Speaker 2:Well, last night kicked off the first game, and the first game was between Canada and Sweden. Now they had a great opening ceremony, had a lot of former players and honored those former players and honored the ceremony itself. But, man, if you saw this game, at the drop of the puck, within a minute, within a minute of the game starting, canada gets a penalty or Sweden gets a penalty, putting Canada in a situation that they much I'm stumbling on my words but Canada gets their best team out there and they set up and within a minute they get a goal. So penalty, goal within a minute. So it's like oh man, is this about to be a blowout?
Speaker 1:Way to make a statement.
Speaker 2:So they get another goal and so sweden's down to one. And you know, because that first goal came off a power play that was what I was thinking, power play.
Speaker 2:So yeah they get that first goal off the power play, they get the second goal, with both teams fully, fully armed, and it just looking like, okay, sweden, what are you going to do here? And sweden gets a, gets a goal on the second goal, with both teams fully armed, and it's just looking like okay, sweden, what are you going to do here? And Sweden gets a goal on the second quarter.
Speaker 2:So it's starting to look like okay okay, it's starting to look like a game. Well, canada scores another goal to be up 3-1. And it's like all right, all right Canada. It's like enough of this, we're going to pull away. But Sweden kept fighting, kept pushing and they actually took the game into overtime, going 3-3 into overtime, with Canada finally coming away with the win 4-3.
Speaker 1:Way to go, Canada.
Speaker 2:And I'm telling you, man, this game, I watched it. It was like playoff hockey. It was so much energy in that stadium. People were loving it. You could tell both teams were in it and they were fighting hard. Nobody was taking a play off. It was fast paced and great to watch. Oh yeah, and you said, they really just dressed it up well too, as well, oh, yeah, the graphics they were putting down on the ice showing the players and putting their number on the ice before game.
Speaker 2:And they did the national anthem of both teams for their nations, Canada and Sweden. Actually, tonight, right now, we have US going against Finland and these teams are going to keep playing each other for the next nine days. We actually got two games on Saturday Telling you, if you like playoff hockey, this is 100% for you. We actually got two games on Saturday telling you if you like playoff hockey, this is 100% for you. It's the best of the best being teamed up.
Speaker 1:Check in, you won't be disappointed that sounds like a fun time and you know, hockey is just a fun sport to watch all around. Like you say, it's fast paced, they're always moving, there's always some kind of contact. Occasionally you see a fight, uh, just, it's all around good spirit. This is good. This is good for the family, this is good for the community. This is good fun time.
Speaker 2:Hockey's always been a fun pastime sport, so certainly, and obviously gaining much more popularity as we go um, well, the nba needs to really take notice of that and address their their situation with their playoffs yeah or not, playoffs with their uh, all-star game.
Speaker 2:They do have a bracket type format but it still just doesn't. It doesn't have the same kind of feel like this does with hockey. So they might want to start thinking about what they can do to dress this up a little bit better. Then they probably will. But you know, kudos to hockey for figuring it out. But moving on to MLB, we're going to hit some transactions here. So the Minnesota Twins signed Ty Francis, former first baseman with Seattle Mariners and former All-Star. So that's a good pickup for them. Hopefully on that one-year deal they'll see something good out of him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not bad there.
Speaker 2:So the San Diego Padres signed Nick Pavetta to a four-year $55 million contract, which might be preluding them still moving Dylan Cease, adding pitchers to their starting rotation.
Speaker 1:Not bad. I was just about to ask you what you think that means for them.
Speaker 2:It could mean a move on Dylan Cease, but you never know, padres sometimes do some wild moves when you're not thinking about it and it's like, oh, wow, they got them. Some wild moves when you're not thinking about it and it's like, oh, wow, they got them. So, speaking of uh, california teams, the Dodgers have brought back Clayton Kershaw for his 18th season.
Speaker 1:Way to go, kershaw.
Speaker 2:Now Kershaw. He's going to be still recovering from surgeries so he probably won't even start pitching until June. But coming back for that 18th season, all with the Dodgers fan favorite, definitely hoping that he can strike up some magic and help them win another World Series.
Speaker 1:And go out on top Trying to run for two in a row there.
Speaker 2:Exactly exactly. And that wasn't the only player they brought back. They also brought back Kiki Hernandez, a great utility player that will serve them well. And the Angels didn't want to be shortchanged here. They signed Canley Jansen, former Dodger closer, who is now on a one-year deal with the Angels, to be their closer.
Speaker 1:That's going to help them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's actually the active saves leader right now, so hopefully so much needed help for the angels. Yes, they need that bullpen help and hopefully he'll be able to find that prior form. But the big move that happened just recently alex bregman, longtime houston astro, signed with Red Sox on a three-year $120 million deal.
Speaker 1:Boy way to jump ship.
Speaker 2:Well, now this brought a question because they already have Rafael Dovers, who's their third baseman. Now you had to question well, bregman's the third baseman too, they don't need two. What are they going to do with them? Well, it's already come out that he's going to move to second base for the Red Sox. So now they're going to have two really good infielders on their infield and also two really good bats.
Speaker 1:That's going to be tough to defend. That's going to be fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's going to be fun to watch.
Speaker 2:Yes, it certainly will. Good pickup for the Red Sox. They've kind of had a quiet offseason, but you know, getting a good bat to add to the lineup is always a good thing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So, moving on to some NBA news, do you want to hit on that? Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Let's hit this off, you know, with an almost local favorite. You know, I know he's not local anymore. His local could be to our area, but Mr Kevin Durant, come on down. Notable Washington Commanders fan Just became the eighth member of the NBA's 30,000 career point club. Congratulations, kevin Durant. What a spectacular career this man has had to this point, just being a positive light on every team.
Speaker 2:One note to that, kevin Durant. It may have took him longer to get to that scoring milestone, but he did it in fewer games than LeBron James did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's notable too, and, honestly, just being the eighth player to even get there, I don't care how long your career is, there's only eight of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's Hall of Fame worthy. He will be in the Hall of Fame, that's not a question and he probably will go down as one of the all-time best scorers. I mean, the guy kind of finds his shot wherever on the court, so you can't really say, hey, let's just push him out to the three-point line, he can't hit that.
Speaker 1:No, he can't hit that and honestly, just a positive personality and a good guy to have in the community all around. I mean this guy is, you know, what you call Larry Fitzgerald stand-up type of player. So I know I keep it great.
Speaker 2:Well, he's had his moments where he's, you know, been upset with people on social media, but that's about the extent of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I mean nobody judges anybody by social media. We're all monsters there.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean the Internet's undefeated man, the.
Speaker 1:Internet's undefeated and we're all going against it, so I don't judge anybody by social media. That's not the place to judge somebody, anyway. Next up, brandon Ingram and the Raptors. Three-year $120 million extension. This is big news for the Raptors. Yeah they just traded for him we literally covered this trade last week. Yeah, they literally just traded for him and now he's signing an extension, so they're really happy to have him in the building.
Speaker 2:Exactly so go Raptors.
Speaker 1:Good job, go ahead and just lock him up. I say that's a good move, honestly. And here we have. You know this may not be news to anybody, this is probably old news, but Trey Young's replaced Giannisnis in the nba all-star game due to giannis lingering left calf strain, uh, but young is averaging 23 and a half points over 49 games. Uh, for the hawks who, by the way, are 25 and 28 and kind of in the middle of the pack there uh, they lead the league with 11.4 assists per game. Uh, and the hawks are currently the ninth and east. Honestly, trey young, a big part of that push.
Speaker 2:Uh, what you got, mike so I heard an interesting take on trey young and, uh, every time I see him now I can't. I can't help but think about this. So I heard somebody say one time that Trey Young, his hair looks like when you have a lollipop and you drop it on the carpet and you pick it up. They said that's what his hair looks like. And every time I see him now.
Speaker 1:I'm like man, it really does look like that. Wow, I can't get that out of my head now. I'm glad you shared that with us, but that's. I'm glad you shared that with us, but that's cool. But anyway, opportunity for trey trey young to step in. Uh what you got there.
Speaker 2:One more thing bud so, uh, I just want to touch on this, the uh trades that happened last week. One of them, yeah, got rescinded the trade last week oh, you don't see that very often it got rescinded because the lakers medical staff said they nixed the trade. They were like they found medical issues with mark williams, now the hornets.
Speaker 2:They are like we did see this because, let me, let me put it this way if I say you have a product, you have a product, and you try to sell it to me and I say that that product is garbage and I don't really give you a reason or I can't really produce why, and now your, your product, takes a ding for that, people get mad, they want to, they want to have some retribution, because now you just said this player that they were trying to move and that they thought they were getting a bunch of players for is now damaged goods. So there's going to be more to come from that.
Speaker 1:But when the lakers missed out this, is interesting here what's that, no, I just saying in general, this is interesting how this is unfolding yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean the lakers were quick to move on. They signed alex lynn to to a one-year deal to get that seven footer, get that big man for down low. Uh, alex lynn, he's kind of a journeyman player. Nothing really of note to really say on him. Uh, you know he's not that he's not going to produce anything for the, for the lakers, it's just, you know he's not as big as if they got mark williams I mean, he's seven feet tall yeah, I mean like they wanted a big man, that's what they got honestly, they went and got a good one in my opinion
Speaker 2:so you know this, all this trade all started because the lakers had asked luca donchett what he wanted and he said I kind of want a big man so we can get the alley-oop game going and get some rim protection down low. And if we revisit that trade, it's kind of a tale of two drastic situations. Because Luka goes to the Lakers he played his first game and he's trying to ease in minutes. But he looked okay. He did have a long transition pass to LeBron which, if you watched it, he got a big old grin on his face because he sees LeBron streaking up the court and he just throws it right to him for easy layup. But he had a big old grin on his face like, oh man, this is going to be fun. But you for easy layup. But he had a big old grin on his face like, oh man, this is gonna be fun.
Speaker 1:So but you know, fans seem to be pretty pleased there. That's another story if you go to the maverick side. So I bet they're, they're home.
Speaker 2:Oh lord, take, take us through this mike, it's going down, it's armageddon in map city so they trade luca, saying all right, he, he's injured. Often he's not in shape, we're gonna let him go on somewhere else because you know he's going to want a super max and we don't want to do the super max. And so they get Anthony Davis, who's been healthy for the last few years, but he's had some years in the past where he's been kind of injury prone. So it's like, okay, well, you said injuries, but you're picking up players that are often injury prone. So it's like, okay, well, you said injuries, but you're picking up players and often injury prone. And wouldn't you know it first game up, he is playing some darn good ball. He's a beast on both ends of the court. He's, you know, having a great, great game and he gets hurt non-contact injury and he's out of the game and he's going to be out for a few weeks. He's got an abductor strain. So they pick up the player and within the first game he gets hurt.
Speaker 2:So it's like man really, we just got him, so he's hurt, and now he's on the sidelines, being what Charles Barkley likes to call him street clothes.
Speaker 1:Because he's in his street clothes.
Speaker 2:Morning he's on the court. Dang Barkley likes to call him street clothes because he's in his street clothes morning he's on the court dang again. Anthony Davis is a great player. When healthy, you never want to have to say when healthy when you're talking about any player. Yeah, but fans of the of the Mavericks are man.
Speaker 1:It is not a good time over there. Uh, you fans even kicked out of the stadium with signs calling for Nico's firing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, literally the sign said fire, Nico.
Speaker 1:They literally are bringing signs to the stadium to fire. You know they want everybody fired.
Speaker 2:They kicked out a guy for mouthing the words fire Nico on the Jumbotron when they showed him for fan cam, you know.
Speaker 1:So it I mean it goes to show nico's not getting fired this is this is kind of eerily similar two situations.
Speaker 2:right, yeah, let refer to is one think about before the NFL season, how the Giants were playing around with Saquon and they were like, yeah, go find a deal. And he left and he played great, and then the team looked awful for doing it.
Speaker 1:And they wouldn't match the deal. Well, they tried to match the deal at the last minute, but it was done.
Speaker 2:Well, it was done. It was done because the GM handled it piss poorly. And we could say the same in this situation. You trade away the player that the fans love the most and on top of that he goes to the new team and he's playing. He's doing okay. He's easing back in his minutes, but he's playing. He's doing okay, he's easing back in his minutes. But the guy you bring in, the key piece to your trade, he goes down in the first game.
Speaker 1:They should have franchise tagged him.
Speaker 2:That's a bad look, kind of like what happened with the Giants GM. It was a bad look when he's like, yeah, go see what you can find, and then, talking with his owner, his owner goes. Man, if he goes to the Eagles, I am just going to be so furious.
Speaker 1:So that's one part of it. If I were Tom Morrow is it Tom or Jim Morrow? What's his first name? I can never remember Morrow's first name Owner of the Giants. If I were him the moment I found that out and then watching the GM all that play out in front of me because that happened in his office, I would fire him right there. He's gone. I'm sorry, bro, you're out.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's certainly not on a very. He's got a short leeway of what's going to happen if he doesn't produce something this offseason.
Speaker 1:I can't.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure he'll be fired.
Speaker 1:We'll get to that in a little bit though, but going back to the other side, shift back to the NBA here for a minute.
Speaker 2:Yes, going back to the other side of this Luka situation. So the other thing this reminds me of is the way the Knicks were for quite a while with their owner Now their owner. He kicked out Charles Oakley, a former NBA player for the Knicks who was a fan favorite. He kicked him out for him voicing his opinion to the owner, saying that he's disappointed about how the Knicks are playing and how the moves they're making. He was being a fan and he kicked him out. And he was even kicking fans out for for other situations similar to that, where people are like you suck, sell the team. Hey, those two kick them out yeah, you know, like that's what.
Speaker 1:It's nearly similar you what at least dan snyder didn't do, that he is no no, he just, he just let the facilities get so bad that poopy water yeah, they just oh sure and oh guardrails break and the fans fall in the field fire snyder.
Speaker 2:Okay, shit, water everywhere shit water should have been the name of his tenure it's like now. It's like the name of his album if he had a band Shitwater.
Speaker 1:See if I fix your flowing. Let it rain Anyway. Well, that's interesting how that's all playing out. And the NFL I mean the NFL, lord, the NBA heating up, you know all-star game, getting ready to come into their season. We're going to touch briefly on the WNBA. I'm sorry, we don't have terribly much. We're still trying to get into the groove, uh, with them, but we do have for them. Erica wheeler has now signed with the seattle storm. That'll be a good pickup for the storm. Congratulations, erica wheeler on that. Uh, we're gonna slinky on into some college talk here real quick, y'all. Mike, there's two things we got going on here with these next two headlines.
Speaker 2:Okay all right, what's?
Speaker 1:up and they are at opposite ends of the spectrum and no, we're not talking about shadur. Um. So first of all, and I kind of predicted this two-way player, travis Hunter is declaring for the Combine as a cornerback, which means he'll likely enter the NFL as a DB. What do you make of that? I think it's the better call to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:Well, okay. So I don't think this limits him in the ability to be an offensive player, because I mean it's been shown.
Speaker 1:They put on punt returns and kick returns.
Speaker 2:It's been shown time and time again that guys that are corners can also do other roles. I mean corners.
Speaker 1:Guys that can't catch play DB. Well, Travis Hunter can catch, travis can catch. There's a difference here.
Speaker 2:He's a two-way player who can play both sides of the ball, but in the NFL they might want him because let's face facts when you're in the NFL, you're split up into different groups for your different meetings Like you're going to go do your corners in DBs. In one meeting You're going to have your receivers. In another meeting, you're going to have your receivers. In another meeting, you're going to have your offensive line in a meeting.
Speaker 2:Everybody's going to be doing their own separate meetings at times, and then you're going to be practicing on the practice field all the things you went over in your meetings. Now, he can't be in two different meetings at the same time, but can they put in a play or two where he comes in and plays? Receiver. Sure Sure they can do that. They did the same thing with Deion back in the day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see. Do you remember when Gus Bradley was coach of the Jaguars and they drafted Denard Robinson, his designation officially was X Factor? I see him playing full-time on on the defense, but maybe being sprinkled into the offense.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, like you said I I could see that very much happening with him yeah you know, because, let's face it, if you got a guy who can kind of lock down as a corner and then maybe maybe you just need that change of pace or somebody to give a different look, or a guy to come in and just give a spark to the team once in a while when you need that catch, or you just need that guy to maybe be the distraction for that catch, you very much could use him like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and honestly I'll be real with you, mike, maybe he plays gunner on special teams or something, but I don't put him back as a return man because that puts him at higher risk of injury, especially with him already being a two-way player, if he even he might not even want to do it if he even plays special teams, it'll be as a gunner uh if you're drafted as high as he's going to be drafted, I highly doubt there's going to be a whole lot of special teams in his future.
Speaker 2:Usually that's the guys you pick up in the sixth, seventh round, or guys that are lifers, ones that they're known for their special teams, so they move from team to team being special teams.
Speaker 1:Or guys that can tackle. That may be not as well-known. They're not starters yet, but definitely guys that are skilled tacklers, technical tacklers, for sure.
Speaker 1:Right right and then we'll move over here. Let's see here. Sorry, this thing is not cooperating, but now we're talking about we're not going to talk really much about Shadur, but we're going to talk about his brother, shiloh. Okay, if you didn't know, deion Sanders has two sons coming into the NFL, hopefully coming into the NFL through his own college team. Shiloh was not invited to the NFL combine. Could this mean problems for the potential of his pro future? Now he's a senior too, isn't he? Or is he an underclassman? I don't know for sure. I didn't do that research yet.
Speaker 2:Well, if he's already declared to go to the draft, then he's got to be at least a junior. Well, if you declare to go into the draft, you are no longer viable as a college player. You can't go back. Yeah, you can't go back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can't go back.
Speaker 2:So once you declare that's it, You're on to the draft.
Speaker 1:What if you don't make the draft? What if you don't make the combine? Don't make the draft.
Speaker 2:Well, there are hundreds of players that get signed on after the draft. This happens all the time, you know. This is why, in the later rounds of the draft, you'll see teams. They'll go and pick up a player and it's like, well, wait a second, why'd they pick him up? They already have seven wide receivers. Why are they going to pick up another one? Because that particular player they want to get in the look at and maybe he doesn't make the team, but he could be a practice squad guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just about to say a practice squad, or they could use him to be traded to another team for more picks.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of. The end of the draft is really interesting because there's players that get called and they'll say hey, we really like you, we really love your game, but we're not going to draft you. And then you're like well, why are you calling me if you're not going to draft me? Well, we're not going to draft you, but we're going to sign you.
Speaker 2:If you don't get picked up, we're going to sign you to a, you know, free agent deal, you know an undrafted rookie free agent to come in and be part of the part of the mini camps and try to get to see if you can work your way onto the team. I mean, this is how we get the Adam Thielens, the Tony Romos. These players weren't drafted, they were unrestricted free agents that were college players.
Speaker 2:London Fletcher anybody who worked their way onto teams. So just because he doesn't get picked up through the draft doesn't mean he won't make it into a practice squad or onto a team in one way or another. It just it all depends on how hard he works and who he impresses.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree there. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's not going to make it. There are other avenues there and I mean he's on the best, most efficient one. So good luck to him and we'll see how it goes. Now there's something new going on here with college players and the widely popular College Football 25 coming out. College Football is almost the video game game, is almost, if not more, popular than the madden football game itself. Okay, probably the only legitimate competitor out there to madden is the college football game. Uh, and it's so diverse. Now, typically, the way these things works, uh, you know, I think it's what is the ea that produces that game, or is it? Uh, whoever produces?
Speaker 2:I have to go into the little more research, but there's usually there's been a few few game companies that have made college football games, but but yes, ea is usually the maker of the yeah, well, usually recent college football ea goes out themselves.
Speaker 1:They sign deals with these players be in the game, and players get like 600 bucks up front and then they get a small upfront pay and that's it. I think the players actually get like less than two percent of overall sales and profits from this market and that's just, and they're the primary. Without them you don't have a game, right? So, uh, what these, this uh new entity is, especially in the era of the nil, okay, you have a um pathways company they're actually called pathwayway Sports and Entertainment they are finding ways to monetize NIL deals. So now, players in the college and they're actually going through the front door with this this is considered above-cap space money or above NIL money, which makes it legal in the college system.
Speaker 1:Right, there's a lot of mechanics to the financial system in college football, um, so basically, uh, they seek to monetize nil deals specifically to to the college football game via royalty offers. So, instead of offering them a six-figure sum, these players are now making upwards of four, four figures or more for their video game appearance. And on top of it, they're giving them a fifteen hundred dollar signing bonus up front, which is more than double what they were getting before. Uh, so this allows them to get a bigger share of the profits from that video game. It just goes to show how much more expansive NIL is becoming as far as how these financial mechanics work and getting these players access to more money, as well as their programs too. What do you make of that, mike, mike?
Speaker 2:I think it's high time because for years these sports companies or these video game companies have been making these games and they've been making all the profit Like, yeah, they'd give money to, you know, the college programs, but they wouldn't give the money to the players because there was all these NCAA rules about we can't give money to players. That's why you had a lot of those backdoor deals. You had the bag man and the situations where the guy would he would be borrowing a car from a dealership or they would go back to their dorm room and there would be a bag of money under script sitting somewhere. Or in the case of, like Jameis Winston's back in the day, where you could just go in and get crab legs and walk out. Except this was the one time somebody said something and jamis winston's just happened to be the guy who was on the hookup. Hey, what are you doing? You're stealing crab legs.
Speaker 2:No, he said, I could have it yeah who nobody said, you could have it you know, and it just one of those deals, man.
Speaker 1:You know, one of those deals they had to do backdoor deals back then and I like how this, how this is set up, because this is not necessarily backdoor deal. They're going, they're going directly to the colleges and the players. I think they had something like over 20 million dollars invested in this venture, um, to pay the players up front and they're they're expected to have like a significant amount of college players signing on to these deals and it's royalty deals, so that's a continuous revenue right. So that's good for these players. I think it's good all around. And it's considered above salary cap, it's above NIL, so there's not really any restrictions on it.
Speaker 2:Hopefully they're getting a percentage of sale.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's where the royalty deal is well.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I know they're going to get some of that, but, like I mean, beyond just the hey, you know where we sold x amount of units this month. Here's your cut. Oh, yeah, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:I think it does include bonuses and things like that. I I didn't have the specifics, it did. The article didn't have the specifics. The article didn't offer terribly much specifics, but it's a relatively obtuse venture but it's really good. I think it's good for the college football landscape and again getting college players access to money before they hit the pros college players access to money before they hit the pros.
Speaker 2:Well, I think and it's not well for me, it's not so much that, as much as it is when you've got college programs, you've got TV networks, you've got advertisers, you've got sports companies and video game companies that were making millions and millions of dollars and some of these deals being worth billions, and these players it's like what do you want? We gave you a scholarship. Yeah, well, that scholarship is only worth whatever they do with it, you know if the scholarship they.
Speaker 2:You know, in some schools it ranges in how much that is worth. So, you know, if you're going to a lesser known college, your college degree by a, you know, hey, we gave you, we brought you in, we gave you this deal. Well, it's only worth like $ thousand dollars yeah but you just made millions. So and then other schools. You know some of the more prominent schools, the harvards, the, the yields or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you, you definitely got a deal there, but yeah, and it brings in money for their program and for their school too, so I'm sure that the schools obviously like it as well but this?
Speaker 2:well, yeah, the schools will always like getting more money, but the problem I had was all these schools making money and they weren't giving nothing to the players and they're just making all this money off of them, and it never sat well with me and it's like when people would tell me and I used to hate this.
Speaker 2:I used to hate when people would say I don't watch NFL because those players are making so much money. I watch college ball because those guys are passionate. Those guys are getting playing because they love the game and it's like no, these guys are playing college ball because they want to get to the NFL and get paid.
Speaker 1:They can't get paid in college and best believe, if they could get paid in college they would have.
Speaker 2:But and they don't mention the fact that the college is making buku bucks off of them and the college player's not getting anything. The college player can't even get a cheeseburger from them. So it's like okay, so you guys love the fact that they're being exploited in college, but you have a problem with the ones that are making money in the NFL. Let's understand something you don't get to the NFL by happenstance. You get to the NFL because you worked your butt off to get there. You don't just show up and get drafted.
Speaker 1:There's only like 2,700 players in the NFL. It's not a big organization. Walmart employs more people, so does McDonald's. So like oh, I agree, like I am never going to knock anybody for finding a way to get paid okay, especially college students. Because a lot of these guys and girls, a lot of these people go through college. They rack up a ton of debt just to get through college. Sometimes they make it in the pro league, sometimes they don't, sometimes they don't even make it in the profession that they went and got in all that debt for to begin with. And now they have all this debt that they've got to pay off and work off Crippling debt, and their life has hardly barely even started.
Speaker 2:So I'm never gonna knock uh people for finding a way to get paid, because that's literally what everybody else would do well, and the funny, the funny part with that argument of people I'm not gonna watch the nfl because those players make all that money that's stupid.
Speaker 1:To to me Exactly.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Okay, you say I hate that argument because when people say that it's like, okay, you hate that they make all that money, all right, fair enough. But do you watch a movie? Do you watch a tv show? Do you go to concerts? Huh, well, those people make 10 times what they do. You know, an actor like tom cruise will make 40 million dollars for making one movie that he spent three months making. But okay, you're gonna get mad at this guy because he makes maybe a million a game yeah, you're gonna get mad at him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean better than yeah, would you rather them make nothing and the rich spoiled owners keep all that money that you're funneling to them? Yeah, nobody, nobody ever mentions them I would rather see the wealth get spread, and that's coming down to the nfl players rather well as know.
Speaker 2:I mean it's not In these last few decades.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, especially when players and I know players like Aaron Rodgers, for instance they throw out no, I want to get paid. You know it's a slippery slope. I agree with getting paid, but at the same time I don't agree with screwing your team over to get to that point.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Which is what some of these players end up doing throwing hissy fit you can always make money on endorsements. Yeah, endorsements and appearances, and they do so, and a lot of people don't even think about that. Oh well, rodgers wants $51 million a year. Just give it to him, bro, how many State farm commercials he done paid for already, because whatever the nfl paying him ain't coming close to what he's making on commercials. I'm telling you that right now you know.
Speaker 2:It's funny that you mention, you know, commercials and stuff and money being made. Uh, I heard an interview one time with uh grunk where he literally said the money he made in the NFL he doesn't touch it. The only money he lives on is the money he made off endorsements and guest appearances and stuff like that. So he literally saved all of his money when he was playing for later. So as much as we want to be like, he was actually pretty smart in saving his money, yeah and Marshawn Lynch the same way.
Speaker 1:For his entire career he didn't touch a penny of any of it.
Speaker 2:Endorsements.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the endorsements. I mean and Marshawn Lynch might be the best example, because he didn't even touch his endorsement money. I mean, this guy lived on Skittles and had an apartment.
Speaker 2:I don't think that's entirely true.
Speaker 1:He had a studio apartment, you know, and lived on Skittles Like this. Man was beast mode for a reason, okay, Because he was always hungry. Look, look.
Speaker 2:Being a 49ers fan, I hated to watch that man play against my team, but I have mad respect for him and I did love watching him play, because he was one hell of a player.
Speaker 1:The hungriest millionaire I've ever seen.
Speaker 2:But here's one thing, a story I heard about him and it just shows to his character. So he started a clothing company in Oakland where he's from, started a clothing company in Oakland where he's from and he had opened a shop and you know, was doing quite well with his, you know beast mode wear. And he was walking up to his business and he got stopped by a homeless person. And a homeless person, just you know, said hey man, I just, you know, could I get some change so I can get something to eat? Hey man, could I get some change so I can get something to eat? And he looked at the guy and the guy was in some really tattered clothes and just not looking well off.
Speaker 2:He literally goes into his shop, grabs off a couple things off the rack and takes them out to the guy and gives them to him and says hey man, I don't really have any cash to give you, but here's some clothes so you can at least, you know, have some new clothes. And the guy thanked him. He was like man, that's so cool of you. I really appreciate it, you know. So the man, definitely a really good player and a really good person, you know, and now movie star and a really good person, you know.
Speaker 1:and now movie star, yeah, he's, he's in that, uh that one, uh new movie. Uh, what was the name? The man who never like love hurts or something like that the man who never did an interview and would wear his sunglasses when he had to and would say, I think a total of like not even a word maybe just letters.
Speaker 2:No, he said I'm just here so I don't get fined.
Speaker 1:I'm just here so I don't get fined with sunglasses. Now this man's a movie star total 180. But yeah, being frugal with the money is the other part. You know of it and they'll learn at this level how to be responsible if they make it to the next level, which is something that has eluded so many sports stars before them, because they get out of college or they make it to the big leagues. However, they get there Now they got all this money they've never seen in their life. They have all this fame driving them. They have all these people around them.
Speaker 2:You gotta have the right people around them.
Speaker 1:You've got to have the right people around you, you will, and the NFL does have a program for rookies to try to help manage that, but it's obviously only yeah the one with Chris Carter.
Speaker 2:Chris Carter comes in and tells them the stories from when he was a rookie and the dumb things he was doing and the reason he got shipped out of being with philly because of the dumb things he was doing and wound up with the vikings well, not well.
Speaker 1:Not only that, but every team also has a division now designed to help rookies. You know, obviously they gotta seek the help, but to help rookies manage the fame and manage, uh, the money to better set them up, you know, it's like advisement courses, it's needed.
Speaker 2:It's needed, because some of these guys.
Speaker 1:It's like extra credit courses you can take for your job.
Speaker 2:Well, they do these kinds of things, so these guys will be better served. Some of these guys are coming in here and they've never had this amount of money before yeah or or didn't have to manage money like this because they, you know, like most of us, they live paycheck to paycheck, if they even had a paycheck.
Speaker 2:A lot, of, a lot of college doesn't even have a paycheck but, point being, they're helping them manage themselves in a way that they can continue to have financial success beyond playing, because, let's face it, the average NFL career is not long, you're like three to five years and I think running backs are the shortest at like three to five years, exactly what you said.
Speaker 1:Receivers on average might get five years, four years.
Speaker 2:Which is usually a rookie contract, and you don't get much money on that.
Speaker 1:Most players don't even see a second contract. Did you know that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is why they say if you can get yours get it.
Speaker 1:But I mean it doesn't mean you've got to go and, like you said, bankrupt the team, but I understand getting your fair value pay share, and it was nice to be able to spend some time on the mechanics of this, because that's going to help us segue right into the nfl we don't?
Speaker 1:we don't have much more. We probably will hit on the nfl still going forward like other sports. But uh, as it's been our dominant subject here, mike, we're getting ready to phase out of this. Can you believe it is bit, mike, we're getting ready to phase out of this. Can you believe it? It is bittersweet. We're getting ready to step out of the NFL season for our inaugural podcast campaign.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to be moving into the offseason. We're approaching the saddest Sunday of the year, the Sunday where you realize you're getting up and there's no NFL football to watch.
Speaker 1:Unless you're a Chiefs fan, it might be the happiest Sunday.
Speaker 2:I mean, well, think about it. Think about it. We're moving on to a Sunday where there's no NFL football to watch, and that's because we just had the Super Bowl, and by now you've all seen what happened. You know the score, you know that the Chiefs lost a disastrous way to the Eagles in the Super Bowl and the Eagles are Super Bowl champs.
Speaker 1:Look them boys, just got whooped.
Speaker 2:That's all there is.
Speaker 1:Look, mike, sometimes you kick ass and sometimes you get your ass kicked. And this wasn't ass kicking, okay for the Chiefs.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, yes, I agree they did not play well and the Eagles played an outstanding game on their end. But with that, I have a question for you. Okay, who does the blame fall on for the Chiefs playing so poorly?
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of things that went wrong in this game for the Chiefs. Okay. First of all, the defense couldn't stop shit, but I'm going to put, if I have to put the blame on anyone. They came in with a weak O-line. I think they had one or two injuries already to begin with. Came in with a weak O-line. I think they had one or two injuries already to begin with. The O-line only saw, for the majority of the game, a four-man rush. That is basic, okay. And they were getting hammered and Mahomes was getting hammered. What you got for me, buddy.
Speaker 2:So, yes, you're right, they were dealing with injuries because their left tackle, humphreys, was injured, and so their solution to that was to move Joe Tooney over to left tackle, who is normally a guard.
Speaker 1:Now Joe Tooney is a Welcome to the Looney Tunes.
Speaker 2:Well, he's normally.
Speaker 1:The Tooney Loons.
Speaker 2:A Pro Bowl-level guard, not a tackle, but he was holding his own through the playoffs majority of the time. But you can't, okay. There's a common saying that if you have to move somebody from one position to fill the need, you have damaged two positions yeah and that's exactly what happened here.
Speaker 2:You basically you moved one guy over to solve one need and cause two problems. Because now your inside rush was weak, with Carter and Milton who were just feasting up the middle, because you had both defensive ends coming around the end, and they're pushing Mahomes up and take a turn. Carter and Milton come and pushing back and collapse in the pocket right on top of Mahomes. It happened time and time again.
Speaker 1:And I agree with you. I put the blame on the O-line because it, even on a bad day for the chiefs defense, that offense is high powered enough even with missing a couple pieces. Not talk about the o-line for a second, but typically speaking, this game aside, they usually can keep up with scoring. Uh, now, this whole season, if you watch, the chiefs have not had many high scoring games and mahomes has not had a relatively good season.
Speaker 1:He's had a relatively mediocre season he had a mid-level season by the numbers compared to the rest of his peers so the fact that they were even in the super bowl with some of their stats is rather incredible to begin with. But they just seem to know how to pull it out right. They seem to know how to win, but this particular game they weren't winning nothing.
Speaker 2:So this leads to another question. If the Chiefs were blaming the O-line for the failure, so who on the Eagles should get the most credit for them getting to this win?
Speaker 1:The refs for not calling any penalties. No no, no.
Speaker 2:Look, look.
Speaker 1:We all thought it. We all thought in that first drive Honestly, this was a relatively clean game okay.
Speaker 2:We all thought it in that first drive with that pass to AJ Brown, where they called offensive pass interference for a very, very minor interference with the, the defender. That really didn't have any any bearing on the outcome, but it just like just that play alone. You know everybody was thinking, oh, here we go there we go.
Speaker 1:We're bailing them out already. So I I saw something. I'm just gonna deviate for half a second here. I saw a couple memes, one of them um, try to gather my thoughts for a second, because I was thinking of another meme. We can keep going, I was it was it the state farm?
Speaker 1:no, but I was going to talk about that one in a second. I for I lost my thought. I was going to say something of what we were just talking about, but it went away for a minute. The State Farm one is a good one too. It said. If Patrick Mahomes had switched to Allstate he could have prevented mayhem like this as well. It's a picture of him and carter and the eagles front just dragging him down yeah, all the eagles taking him down to the ground, yeah yeah, he could have prevented mayhem if he had all state yeah.
Speaker 1:So oh, that's what. That's what I was gonna say. I'm sorry. I was gonna say I saw the meme, it or maybe it was somebody to talk about it. It said after all the hysteria around the Chiefs and the refs' scandal or accusations, the NFL dropped the original script for the Super Bowl and that's why the Eagles won. Oh man, they said we've got to change the script.
Speaker 2:So I saw a really good one. It was Patrick Mahomes embracing Drake, with both of them looking pitifully sad because they both had a horrible week. So that one was the one I liked. But, getting back to who deserves more of the credit on the Eagles for the win, who are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Honestly?
Speaker 2:I believe in my heart of hearts. I believe that it belongs to the defensive and offensive lines of the Eagles, because those two groups just paved the way to this win.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to give it to the Eagles offensive line because Saquon Barkley only had like 32 yards rushing.
Speaker 2:But they handled the Spagnola dialing up. You know where everybody goes. Oh, look at Spags. He's dialing up a blitz, you know, and all he does, this is all he does. He sends more people than your offensive line can handle. Any defensive coordinator can call that. He just picks opportune times to do this, like, oh, your team is in third and 12? I'm going to send an all-out blitz.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, he runs a zero. He runs a zero defense multiple defensive scheme.
Speaker 1:It's a very blitz heavy scheme and they ran it in the super bowl and they o-line handled it and gave now it's time to throw a pass, and I and I'm not just time- and I'm not disputing that fact, but what I actually had Philly pegged to win the Super Bowl, that was my pick to win. I actually thought that Saquon Barkley was going to be the factor, because the Chiefs, yes, they have Pacheco, but they really don't have a Saquon Barkley type of player.
Speaker 2:No, but going into it and I thought he was going to be the difference but he really wasn't that effective in that game.
Speaker 1:He got a touchdown.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but going into it, the Chiefs did what they knew they needed to do, which was limit Saquon. And if you would have told them, hey, we're going to keep Saquon under 100 yards rushing, they would take that 100 times out of 100. Because you know, normally when he's over 100 yards, it's a sure thing they're winning.
Speaker 1:But I don't even want him to have 100. I say keep him under 60 yards, bro. That is a bad game. I mean, 30 yards was a bad game, but 60 yards is really in my mind. If you're running back, if you're running back, if you're running back can't pass 60 yards. That's a good hold to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not taking anything away from them for doing that, but what I'm saying is both of those groups, in my opinion, were the ones that deserve credit. Now, granted, another guy who probably deserved a lot of credit on the defensive line was Sweat. That dude had two and a half sacks in that game, Josh Sweat yeah. Yeah, and what a great time to do it, because he's going to be a free agent. So now I think there's 31 other teams looking at that going.
Speaker 1:Huh, I think he's related to Montez. Sweat of the.
Speaker 2:Bears, can we bring that guy in? Oh, by the way, he's a Chesapeake native. He's from here in hampton roads.
Speaker 1:Uh, then he's not related to montez.
Speaker 2:No, he's not, so swear to god, I thought he was case in case in point another guy from hampton roads making a huge impact in a super bowl I see commanders written all over him can we say plexico burst no, no, I love pico, but I want a better example for this one. No, hey look man D'Angelo. Hall he caught the touchdown.
Speaker 1:D'Angelo Hall.
Speaker 2:No, I'm saying Super Bowl impact. Man, don't bring up D'Angelo Hall in here for that. Michael Vick, look, he caught the touchdown pass that put the.
Speaker 1:Giants to beat brady in the super bowl, the. You gotta say that's pretty impactful. He did, I'm not gonna lie, he did, oh you know, not more impressive than david tyree's head catch.
Speaker 2:But hey, all I gotta say on that okay, look, every time we bring up the Tyree catch or the Odell Beckham catch, the catch is what that's called.
Speaker 1:It's called the catch.
Speaker 2:Realize that those had to be bad passes in order for them to be great catches.
Speaker 1:Which is why.
Speaker 2:Which is why Each time they were thrown by Eli Manning, you know, Mr Did-Not-Make-The-Hall-of-Fame-on-the-first-ballot-thank-you-voters-for-not-voting-this-guy-in.
Speaker 1:I was just about to go there. That is why he's not in. Yes, he has two Super Bowls. First of all, I made this prediction before as well. Somebody say do you think he'll make it into the Hall of Fame?
Speaker 2:And I said only if he cries for it. Look bottom line, he didn't make it first ballot. If he would have got put in first ballot I would have been so pissed, because how can you let a man with such mediocre numbers and almost a 500 record for a career Granted? Did he have two awesome runs and two Super Bowl wins? Yes, but that's all he had.
Speaker 1:This is the trade right here. Dan Marino he's a Hall of Famer has zero Super Bowls. Eli Manning, not a Hall of Famer, has two Super Bowls. That's a fair trade. We call it done deal. End of story. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Look, this guy only led the league in categories like interceptions for the year. That's not a Hall of Famer. I'm sorry, look, if you take the Super Bowls away, he's not a Hall of Famer. You have the Super Bowls he is a Hall of Famer. You have the Super Bowls he is a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1:Look the defense largely got them there and it was a fluke they went 7-9 both seasons that they went to the Super Bowl yes, they were a wild card team, they did not even have a winning record.
Speaker 2:And they won off of their defenses and off their running game mainly.
Speaker 1:And one or two wild plays.
Speaker 2:Yes, but getting back to the Super Bowl, we were just talking about the Super Bowl. Yeah, we just got distracted with Eli junk.
Speaker 1:So, getting back to, I'm going to name one of our chapters, that Eli junk.
Speaker 2:Getting back to things that happened in the Super Bowl. So there's a lot of speculation now as to kelsey's status going forward. Should he retire, should he go ahead? And, you know, keep playing like what? What should he do?
Speaker 1:if I had number one, if I had as bad of a game as kelsey did in the super bowl and if my girlfriend got booed out of the stadium like she did, I would definitely be like you know what. This might not be for me anymore.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I got a couple things to say on this. Now, mind you, Kelsey, it didn't help that he put out a post before the game saying you know time to turn it on. If he was trying to turn something on, he should have checked to see if that thing was plugged in, because it looked like it was off the whole time.
Speaker 1:It's why I talk about Taylor Swift. He probably didn't even turn that on, you know how Ronda Rousey used to have to fuck before every match. Kind of like that, except his was probably done by a hand.
Speaker 2:Neither here nor there. So, kelsey, everybody wants to look back and say that he's done pretty well this season and that he's still an impactful player. Understand that. The game before against Buffalo he had two catches.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And not much yardage to show for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The game before that he played against the Texans Was not much of a factor in that game at all, except for getting one touchdown, which was a kind of a garbage broken down play that he just sat in his own, which is what he's turned into. Okay, People will say that he's got 95 receptions on the year right, but his average yardage for those 95 receptions this year is only eight yards.
Speaker 2:for those 95 receptions this year is only eight yards. As somebody who's supposed to go out and get receptions only getting eight yards a catch, that's not somebody that's going to make impactful plays.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just like Patrick Mahomes, kelsey has not really had a spectacular year Aside from just simply making the super bowl. This team, his stats wise, has really not had a spectacular year at all.
Speaker 2:It's been a tale of their defense bailing them out yeah, very, you know.
Speaker 1:So, are they stepping back? Are they on the cusp of regressing? Is regression on the on the? Are we on the precipice?
Speaker 2:are you saying? Are they in rebuild mode?
Speaker 1:no, I don't think they're in rebuild mode, but I'm saying they've been through three straight Super Bowls. The third one they lost. This year was not a particularly good year for them. In general, as far as playing in stats, I mean, yeah, they won games, they made the Super Bowl, that's great, but stats-wise they really didn't have a good year Performance-wise they really didn't have a good year.
Speaker 1:They had some injuries to overcome. Do the Chiefs take a step back after this kind of performance or are they going to continue to be a powerhouse, as they have been in years past, in years recent?
Speaker 2:So to answer that, I say to you one of two things or one of a few things. I got a couple things on this, so we got to find out what is happening with Kelsey. If he is returning or not. That's a big question for them. Personally, I have eyes. Everybody else has eyes. We all saw that performance in the Super Bowl. He looks spent, he looks shot. He does not look like Kelsey we've seen over the last few years.
Speaker 1:Thank you for recognizing that we all have eyes. Can we now recognize that we all have a voice?
Speaker 2:Look, that's not true. There are people that are mute.
Speaker 1:Truth. Sorry for you, guys.
Speaker 2:I can say look. I say we all have eyes. I didn't say we can all see they speak to their.
Speaker 2:Some people see. Some people just choose to ignore what they see. And what I see is a player who is diminished substantially. So he is a player who is diminished substantially. Well, he might be distracted. No, it's not a distraction. He is not the same player. He does not move the same, he is not producing the same.
Speaker 2:So, beyond that, they also got to figure out the free agent situation, because Smith, one of their best offensive linemen, is a free agent. Nick Bolton is also one of their best defensive players is a free agent. So they've got to figure that out. They've got to figure out their offensive line. They've got to figure out what they're going to do as far as receivers and stuff, because I mean, let's face it, worthy was the only one doing anything for them really in that entire Super Bowl. You know like Worthy was the only one doing anything for them really in that entire Super Bowl. You know like Worthy was the only one that seemed to be getting downfield and getting them big chunk plays, but that was so late in the game it didn't matter.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But now they have hit the portion of Patrick Mahomes' contract where his contract is going to take up a lot of the cap. So now they're going to have to figure out restructuring stuff if they're going to restructure, and then after that you've got to figure. If they don't hit on some draft picks it's going to be really hard to get back. I mean, we all talk about this Super Bowl hangover Like I hate to say it, my Niners they were the ones that lost last year and Super Bowl hangover they were so beat up and injured that guys were dropping like flies this year.
Speaker 1:Who's not the same. That might be fallout from the Super Bowl. Last year for the Chiefs they dealt with a lot of injuries, especially early on this year.
Speaker 2:Well, they've played more games than anybody else in the AFC, going three years to the Super Bowl. Yeah, so they've made a run like this, and I'm going to say this right now, and I will own this if I am wrong here we go, get this on record.
Speaker 1:I am telling you right now Get your record players out or record recorders, get your recorders.
Speaker 2:It's already going to be recording so people can go back and say, hey look, you said this.
Speaker 1:Listen, we don't need that.
Speaker 2:They will not make the Super Bowl next year. Flat out the Chiefs will not be in the Super Bowl next year.
Speaker 1:If they do, can I call you a hack on live air?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, but I'm telling you they're not making it.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. I don't think they're going to make it either. I think they're going to be too beat up from this year. To be honest with you, you can't At some point.
Speaker 2:It runs out, Everything runs out.
Speaker 1:We all. Exactly, there's a power shift. There's power shifts Well, not just power shifts. We won't get all funky funky, but all good things come to an end. Okay, what goes up must come down. You can only keep the momentum rolling for so long.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but I tell you what this team looks like. They gave every single ounce and spirit. They had to beat the Buffalo Bills previously in the championship and made it into the Super Bowl and they had nothing left.
Speaker 1:Look, let me tell you what the Bills want. Nothing compared to the beat down Philly. Just put on them folks.
Speaker 2:Hey, another thing, what the hell? I mean as much as people want to go, andy Reid.
Speaker 1:Mike's using inflammatory language no, listen, listen.
Speaker 2:Andy reed is supposed to be this offensive guru, genius right. Where were the damn adjustments? They came out from half and went three and out. Where were your adjustments? Yeah?
Speaker 1:I remember that play because the game at that point seemed like it was out of reach. But they had to play, just like the Commander's game right against Philly. They reached a point where they had to play perfect and, coming out of the half with no points, you knew you had to get on the board and a field goal wasn't going to be enough and they went three and out. They didn't even try on fourth down and I know they were fourth and long, but still at that point put it up because you're down.
Speaker 2:Before they even went into half, they almost abandoned the run game. There was like no run game at all with either running back.
Speaker 1:They haven't had a terribly good run game all season and they probably just decided. You know what these guys are killing us up front.
Speaker 2:And they probably just decided. You know what these guys are killing us up front. But if Andy Reid is the offensive guru that they say he is, there should have been adjustments. There should have been adjustments in the run game and there should have been alternative plays come up with, because all they really did, all they really did to try to break up that pass rush was do quick bubble screens. That didn't work out because the dbs were on them the second that they threw it.
Speaker 1:I mean sometimes I'm gonna be honest, mike, sometimes I don't mean to cut you short, no, sometimes you just don't have an answer look when you're in the super bowl.
Speaker 2:You got to come up with something because that just looked like the same thing they went into been into half with that's like they didn't try at all and when they were getting these points later in the game, it was garbage time, touchdowns it was. It was really we put our backups in and you scored on our backups. That's kind of what happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they really only scored in garbage time and even without say, colin Barkley having much of a relevant game outside of like the one short touchdown.
Speaker 2:But you know what his impact was. You still had to account for him. Credibility you still had to get in the box, because if they handed that ball off to him and he broke through. You weren't tackling him with one DB.
Speaker 1:Hey, guess what? Josh Allen's not a Super Bowl champion. Jaden Daniels is not a Super Bowl champion. Kenny Pickett is a Super Bowl champion.
Speaker 2:Well, he did play in the game. I was going to say from the bench, but he did come in in garbage time.
Speaker 1:Could you imagine what's it like having to buy his ring?
Speaker 2:No, think about this he gets one stone. Think about this one. Think about this one. He's played more time in the Super Bowl than Dak Prescott. Oh my God, I should have said, who would have had that on their bingo card? Like, kenny Pickett has more time playing in the Super Bowl than Dak Prescott.
Speaker 1:I couldn't. That's funny as hell. So Dak Prescott actually came out. I wish of other places, but came out publicly. I think he was on X or some stupid thing. I don't pay attention to a lot of social media, but he said point blank that Cowboys are going to be in the Super Bowl next year.
Speaker 2:He's been hanging out with Jerry too long. They're both getting. He's getting. Whatever Jerry's been taking or doing to make him so delusional, he's been doing the same thing.
Speaker 1:I'm going to deviate for a second again. That was another meme I saw related to the Super Bowl. It was the Scooby-Doo crew. They're all there, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy's there. They a Scooby-Doo crew? Okay, and they're all there. And Scooby-Doo and Shaggy's there. They're about to pull off the mask of what is Patrick Mahomes' face and they pull it off and the next screen down is Dak Prescott in a Chiefs uniform Posing as Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2:They got a lot of problems and a lot of needs, and you know they need to figure something out, because now Philly has two Super Bowls in the last 10 years and Dallas hasn't even gotten into the NFC Championship game. So Dallas needs to just sit back and shut up until you've done something.
Speaker 1:Who would have thought Dallas needs to just sit back and shut up until you've done something? Who would have thought? I mean the Commanders just recently made the conference championship game and the Cowboys still. Both Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels were born, grew up, went through high school, went to college, won Heismans, made it to the NFL, one of two made and won the Super Bowl and the other one made the conference championship. All before the Cowboys and Dak Prescott have done such things.
Speaker 2:Yeah Again. No one on social media has ever posted or said the words Cowboys have won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Literally. Ever, or even about the playoffs, for that matter. No, they've won a playoff game game. No, they got knocked out in the first round. They went one and done it was last time, yeah which was against the packers around the relevancy of social media.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so it's always something we can rely on you know, one of those constants.
Speaker 1:Now we do have one more interesting thing to draw off of this Super Bowl. Okay, and this one's a little more lighthearted Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Bucker Okay, this is how angry people were with him. More lighthearted Kansas State Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker Okay, this is how angry people were with him, all right. While many quickly made their way off the field and changed in the locker room and left, somebody stole Butker's clothes, somebody stole his pre-match suit. He was left with only his towel after the game now, no that, that just begs to ask.
Speaker 2:Was it a teammate trying to, trying to get some payback on him or play a trick on him, or was this an angry, you know?
Speaker 1:no, this was definitely an inside job. This was a teammate. Somebody took that.
Speaker 2:Somebody took his clothes and said you're not welcome here anymore hey, I don't know what they're mad at the kicker, for the kicker didn't even have anything to do with this game, really yeah, but either way it's kind of hilarious.
Speaker 1:I don't know what he ended up doing. Maybe he just went home in a towel.
Speaker 2:It wasn't terribly bad weather to have a super bowl I'm sure they just gave him some you know workout gear, like here's some sweats.
Speaker 1:So yeah, he's home, here's here's some uh some football bottoms without the pads in them yeah, yeah so you know some spandex, uh, you know. Interesting now, as this is going on. The rest of the league while the suit, while these two teams were preparing for the super bowl, the rest of the league is in wind down mode and getting ready for nfl free agency.
Speaker 2:Well, it's here, I would say the players in wind down mode, but the this is the time for all the GMs to start getting busy and working out deals and trying to figure out what they're doing.
Speaker 1:This is when smoke season starts to really become smoke season here. But let's start off with a big one the Jets and Aaron Rodgers splitting ways. We'll get to the details of that, but also splitting ways with him. They're likely to split ways as well as with Devontae Adams. His cap number, after all is said and done, after the June 1st deadline will drop to around $38 million. He'd have to agree to a new, new deal to stay. Um, I think aaron rogers deal. They're in for some decreases. I think it's like a 51 million dollar dead cap hit. But I think after the june 1st uh deadline, mike I I think it drops to something like 35 million dead cap. I mean they're eating a significant amount of cap space to part ways with this quarterback. What is the motivation here? I mean, obviously there's new coaching staff coming in and the previous coaching staff and GM told Aaron Rodgers yeah, I know, I know so I'm getting to it.
Speaker 1:There's just a lot revolving around this, but let's go ahead and get your opinion here. I'll pick up where I'm going in a second. Go ahead and dive into this with me for a second okay.
Speaker 2:So part of what's going on here is usually when you get a new coach, they want their, their guy, they want to start their system. And they did have a meeting with rogers. Rogers did fly out, sit down and talk with the coach and kind of feel out. You know the situation and part of that conversation was saying hey, we need you to be present, you need to be a minicamp, you can't go take noations and we need you to not be a distraction. So this Pat McAfee once a week stuff, that's got to stop, you've got to be fully in.
Speaker 2:You've got to be fully involved. And apparently from that conversation they didn't feel that was where they were with Aaron, so they just basically said alright we're done.
Speaker 2:That has led to a lot of speculatory conversations about what's going to happen, who's going to go where? Because I mean Rodgers. If you looked at him the last nine games of the year, he actually was playing pretty decent. So it's not like Rodgers is shot, he's coming off an Achilles injury. He, he might not be the player he once was, but if you need a guy to kind of just look play for you for a year or two and be the bridge to a better quarterback or the future quarterback.
Speaker 1:That's kind of what you got here with him it's the circus that they don't want to deal with, and man that that Pat McAfee is some guy huh. Look going from podcast host to also WWE announcer and whatever else he does. Yeah, I was going to get on that too. They told Rodgers yo don't go on Pat McAfee's show. Obviously didn't listen. Rodgers is clearly gonna live life.
Speaker 2:Uh, on his own terms what you got for me so, part of the yes, he will try to live out the way he wants to live and not listen to anybody. Yeah, so that's kind of why he's in the situation he's in. But one of the rumors we've been hearing uh, is possibly going to the steelers. So when this rumor was kind of spread around and it's been floating in circles people have heard this uh, it got some comments from some from a steelers player, uh, so steelers safety deshaun Elliott commented on this on Instagram. That's all Posting and making it clear he does not want Rodgers as a Pittsburgh Steeler the new quarterback or as their new quarterback in 2025. What did he say? He says leave his ass at the retirement home because he does not want an aaron rogers on his team. So I think that's pretty clear cut look first they're not sold on rogers coming in and being the
Speaker 1:savior in pittsburgh aaron rogers and tom and uh, mike Tomlin are not a good mix. They're not going to mix at all.
Speaker 2:Look.
Speaker 1:Tomlin's too hard-nosed and Mike Rodgers is too liberal okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, hold on, hold on. You're telling me that the man that kept AB under wraps with his personality and Le'Veon Bell under wraps with his personality and kept a number of players throughout the years under wraps with their personalities, can't handle dealing with an Aaron Rodgers when he dealt with some of the just most outlandish players over the years. Look, I think Mike Tomlin can handle it.
Speaker 1:No, it's not that he can't handle it. Aaron Rodgers is a different breed of circus, okay.
Speaker 2:He comes with a circus.
Speaker 1:Antonio Brown. When Antonio Brown was getting at his worst, they jettisoned his ass fast and, by the way, if you recall, for not very much compensation. They straight let him walk, almost damn near. Basically let him go Okay.
Speaker 2:Honestly, if they got any compensation, it kind of almost feels like they bamboozled the Raiders when they did that, because he didn't stay with the Raiders very long.
Speaker 1:No, no, he did not. No, oh, but you know, antonio Brown, what else? Anyway, aaron Rodgers, the circus that is Aaron Rodgers. First of all, it's not that Tomlin can't handle him or keep him under wraps, it's that Rodgers is very open and public and moody and moody and moody, and especially when he's in discontent, the world knows about it, whether they want him to or not. Now, tomlin and him, personality-wise, I'm telling you right now them two are going to clash. First of all, tomlin loves his run game. Okay, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1:Tomlin loves his run game.
Speaker 2:Okay, don't get wrong, tomlin loves his run game but answer me this why was he making goo goo eyes at Aaron Rodgers when he was still at the Packers and he knew it was his last year?
Speaker 1:those aren't goo goo eyes, those are cookie monster eyes, and he wanted to eat them okay whatever wanted to eat them. Okay, whatever look shut down look bottom line, they need a quarterback, but they do need a quarterback, because justin fields is not the answer, and neither is russell wilson and r Russ, we do not trust.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Steelers, they've got a game in Dublin Ireland next year.
Speaker 1:Dublin.
Speaker 2:Don't know who the opponent is yet, but they will be playing a game overseas this next season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and didn't they speaking of them needing a quarterback? They've inquired recently about somebody.
Speaker 2:Yes, the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Sunshine.
Speaker 1:You really think that the Jaguars entertain these trade talks?
Speaker 2:Look, I think the Steelers wanted this to be on the down low and it came out because Jacksonville's like no, bro, we're not trading our quarterback to you, sorry, bro. This was them outing the Steelers. That's what this is yeah so what this tells me is Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, they don't like either of them, no they're not the answer. They're not the answer in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1:And Russ we do not trust. No, no, I mean no.
Speaker 2:They're not the answer, they're not the answer in Pittsburgh and Russ we do not trust. No, no, I mean, look, let's not get twisted. They won a lot of games with Russ. Now they don't have very many options because they're back in the later part of the draft and this is not a strong quarterback draft. This is not a strong quarterback draft. I mean really the two quarterbacks that everybody wants in Cam Ward and Shador Sanders. They're going to be gone early. So unless you start giving up stuff to move up, you're not getting one of the premier quarterbacks out of this year's draft. So they've got to seriously ask themselves where they are. Are they a rebuild or are they going to sit here and try to limp along and keep, keep up?
Speaker 1:the never had a losing season yeah, and, and there were trade rumors actually for the last couple years, trade rumors surrounding mike tomlin as well. I don't think they're going to do that, but it's going to be interesting to see what the Steelers do going forward, because they have historically been a really solid franchise. They've been rather efficient overall and they seem to generally, more times than not, come out with a winning record, and even under Tomlin, you know, and even before him, playoff competitive to an extent. So they they have their rough times, but they seem to not let them get too rough before they pick it back up again, right. So it's interesting to see, interesting to see, how this plays out, uh, especially with their draft position.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're not in any way, shape or form, in a spot where they could get one of the quarterbacks out of this year.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think they'd take a quarterback. But maybe they find a quarterback somewhere for the agency and then maybe they draft a high-caliber player to come in and play alongside or eventually replace uh pickens well, pickens isn't there.
Speaker 2:He's with the eagles.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's right, they moved into the eagles. My bad, I'm so far behind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys, we just talked about him being on the eagles, listen so sometimes my mind goes back in history and I just we just roll with it, uh. But moving on, uh, from the steelers another person that may or may not be on the move it seems like he's setting up the, the playing field to look like he's on the move. So yesterday it was made publicly known james cook is ready for an extension. He's coming to the last year of his rookie deal. Uh, today he has scrubbed everything buffalo bills related from all of his social media. How do you read this, mike?
Speaker 2:I read this like every player who's done it since this, since he's done it fair enough it's. It's basically what it is. It's the play to try to get an extension. He doesn't want to leave, he just wants his money. He wants his extension, he wants it now. Now granted, this is not the draft to be acting like I want my money or I want out, because this is a very strong draft for running backs yeah, this is a heavy draft.
Speaker 2:If you are trying to push on a team to pay me now and pay me big time dollars, they could easily just be like no yeah, you could play out your contract and we're going to draft your replacement and and honestly they marty they might already have their replacement in house.
Speaker 1:Ray davis is is rather he's not bad, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:No, but you need more than one running back, as shown by my 49ers. You need more than one running back.
Speaker 1:You need more than one. But maybe, like you say, they say all right, forget you. James Cut, ray Davis, move up the death board. Then they draft a running back.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's going to get that desperate. I, davis, move up the dead board, then they go draft a running back. I don't think it's going to get that desperate. I think they'll pay him. They've got to find what works for both parties and it'll get worked out. I don't think this is a situation where it's so bad they're going to kick him to the curb.
Speaker 1:No, I agree with that. Obviously he brings some significant value and he was a big part of their success this year, majorly. I think they recognize that and, like you say, I think they'll get that. I just want to play a little devil's advocate there, you know? Yeah, yeah, uh, let's get on to some personnel action here. Uh, going back to the college game for just a brief second, marshall falk uh, all-star running back of the NFL, former all-star running back of the NFL, joining Coach Prime's team at Colorado University as his running back coach, coach Prime Deion Sanders, obviously looking to upgrade his staff, upgrade his team's performance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he's already got Warren Sapp there.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I like the influx of former players coming out to be head coaches this year, especially in the college ranks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, we'll see, we'll see the success that comes from it. I mean, we've seen a lot of players go into coaching and kind of fizzle out and not be not be so great, but it's good to see that these guys that you know are kind of bigger names get into the coaching ranks and actually have some success, because we've we've all seen the, the backup quarterback who becomes a good coach, or you know the defensive player that became a great defensive coach.
Speaker 2:case in point, like the Jets now have. You know their new coach, who was a defensive player. Yeah, so I mean it's happened time and time again where players become coaches, and you know it doesn't mean you have to be a player to be a coach. It's just, you know, sometimes through years of being a player, you pick up on how to become a coach.
Speaker 1:And your contacts and your former players that you played alongside. They become coaches and sometimes those contacts reach out to you to pull you into that realm. That happens.
Speaker 2:Speaking of former players becoming a coach. Exactly, kellen Moore.
Speaker 1:Now the new head coach of New Orleans Saints, where we just had our recent Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he didn't have to leave.
Speaker 1:He didn't have to leave because he obviously had the job interview there. Honestly, this is a nice under-the-radar pickup for me and I know we were talking about it the other day. Good move for the salary cap as well, because they don't have a lot to work with, right, they're a little bit limited. They're not planning on going out and getting big-name players. They might not make any splashy moves in the draft. Kellen moore is a good coach. I remember him as a player. I remember when he came out of boise state. By the way, fun fact, kellen moore, uh, boise state, I forget which college, uh, derrick car played for the time. But those teams met and kellen moore's team blew his team out in the college ranks.
Speaker 2:No, I'm sure that'll come up.
Speaker 1:So now that Kellen Moore is at least for a little bit, if nothing longer Derek Carr's head coach, I'm interested to see that relationship unfold.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm interested to see what Kellen Moore brings, because he did a good job with the offense, although I wonder how much of it was Nick Sirianni's design, but before that former offensive coordinator of the Cowboys, so he made a slight switch there.
Speaker 2:So Kellen Moore had a couple of stops. He's been with five different teams and he's been successful in all of those destinations. As far as a coordinator is concerned, he's a really smart guy.
Speaker 2:But the interesting part about this is he wasn't the first choice for the Saints. The Saints actually made it quite clear that they were very, very heavily interested in Cliff Kingsbury. They told him they would gladly pick him up. It's his if he wants it right. And it's his if he wants it right, it's his if he wants it. Cliff Kingsbury came out and told him I'm good. He said I don't want to leave Washington. I want to stay the offensive coordinator here in Washington.
Speaker 2:I like what I have here and honestly, and that is a smart move because they're in cap hell and they've got a lot of needs and not much to build with.
Speaker 1:And I'll give it to you.
Speaker 2:An aging team.
Speaker 1:It's a total 180 from what he's got in Washington. He'd be going from a recently successful overnight team that has, by the way, a ton of cap space 89 million million to work with to build even further. He'd be going to a team that doesn't have much money. They don't have. I mean, they got talent but it's aging it's aging he's going to have to work with it.
Speaker 1:It's not exactly a great move for him. So, logically, yes, you would think, okay, yeah, he's going to stay in Washington. But there's another as uh aspect to this here that I'm seeing. That just goes to say a lot about the culture that they've built in washington, uh, just this year alone under josh harris and dan quinn. Right, uh, because typically most coaches even former head coaches, some of them are eager to get back into the saddle. Some of them take a step back into college ranks for a little bit, take coordinator rank, but usually after a year, like Kingsbury's had, they're looking to step back up. Kingsbury not so much, which I think, aside from the fledgling situation in New Orleans, compounded with the positive situation in Washington, was a no-brainer, if you ask me.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the situation staying there is good for him because of the fact that it's a situation where there's more positives and goods for him, Because one you're just the offensive coordinator, so you don't have to organize the whole team, you just got to worry about your thing and his thing is offense. He's a good offensive-minded coordinator who he fits for them right now. If he goes to the Saints, he would then become the head coach and be the guy and everybody's looking at you to get it done and get it started and get things going.
Speaker 2:And because you just had all the success in Washington, they're expecting that you're going to be coming there and hit the ground running Now, whereas with Kellen Moore, yeah, he's had multiple stops and had a lot of, like you know, here for a year, there for a year kind of deals. So to become a head coach he has a little more stability. So he gets a little more runway than a Cliff Kingsbury, even though he is the offensive coordinator for a Super Bowl team. He gets a little more leeway and a little more runway because he's not sitting there with the least amount of stuff that Cliff Kingsbury does with the situation he's in. He's not building with few pieces. As you know, in Kellen Moore's situation he's coming off the best offensive line, two of the best receivers, the best running back. So, yeah, they're going to give him a little more leeway when he has lesser yeah, and I want to add to that.
Speaker 1:I agree with everything you said. And the situation, obviously, situation obviously, yeah, there'd be higher expectations with a coach like kingsbury coming in immediately. The situation in new orleans, uh, would set him up for, would not set him up for success, okay, it would set him for for it for failure, but having a limited situation. So kella moellen Moore is a smart guy and he's been relatively successful everywhere he's been and I remember when he hung up the cleats to pick up the clipboard, okay, that was significant Because it really wasn't a huge announcement.
Speaker 1:So this is the perfect situation when you're limited, when you're in cap hell and you're limited and your roster is kind of aging, but you've got to gotta bring some influx somewhere. This is the perfect situation for a hands-on coach, for a knowledgeable coach who does it. Maybe, yeah, anybody would do good when they had a shit ton of money to spend. But this is where you bring in a young coach who may have really some actual coaching knowledge and potential to get these guys to a competitive level. They might not make the playoffs year one or even year two, and you know what, but you know.
Speaker 1:You want to see progress, you want to see progress and you want to see competitiveness and you want to see enough that they could at least be in contention to win the division first one or two years. Right, I believe, kellen Moore, this is a perfect situation as a young coach, to come in and prove what you have, that you don't need money to win, that you've got it, you can teach, you can teach and you can coach and you can rule them out.
Speaker 2:It's going to take. Also, they've got to get with the gm and they got to figure out what they're going to do with the players they have and figure out who they're going to keep and figure out what they're going to do as far as the draft is concerned and and just see where the chips are going to fall, because yeah, they will.
Speaker 1:They will have. They'll go over the scheme that they want to implement and figure out what players fit and what players don't, and then they'll figure out how to move from there.
Speaker 2:Well, and they also got to figure out who wants to be there and who doesn't, because there's also going to be players that want to move on. This is kind of probably why they moved on from Marshawn Lattimore's cap room, and they probably felt he didn't want to stay.
Speaker 1:Well, cap room. He probably wanted out. He was dealing with injuries. We'll see how that plays out this coming season in Washington, the last one we have, and I'm not big for bringing up negative news, but this is one we really had to dive into. Mike Cam Newton this guy blasts his former teammates, and actually one of them clapping back at him. He called his former team a bunch of losers before he got there. How do you, how do you talk about a franchise, even if it may or may not have been the case, even if things were a little rough? How do you talk about a franchise who drafted you so highly and thought of you so highly? How do you talk about them? Like that sneeze steve smith coming out and clapping back at him?
Speaker 2:so what he said he was on, he was on the travis hunter podcast and he tells travis hunter he said says you could probably be picked up or you could probably be the first pick, but, bro, you have no way of impacting the game the way that a quarterback does. He says you can be a lockdown number one receiver, you can make impact players on offense all you want, but it's still not like a quarterback. My issue is that when I was the first pick, I went to a locker room of losers Just honest. Guys didn't know how to win. Guys didn't know how to win. Guys didn't know how to prepare. They didn't take themselves seriously or serious to realize that they was 2-14. There was a lot of 2-14 mentality of those guys, mentality of those guys.
Speaker 2:So Steve Smith, who is going to be a Hall of Famer? Because Steve Smith was one hell of a receiver and an undersized receiver. So the fact that he's going to be a Hall of Famer makes it even more special, but he was not having it well, yeah, because he was not having it.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, because he was part of those teams before Cam was there.
Speaker 2:Exactly exactly. You know, he put on social media. He was like 53 men locker room minus one, 52 losers. Wow, breaking news to 89 because he wore 89. And he went on to 89, because he wore 89. Yeah, and he went on to say I've watched and listened from afar, meaning you, Cam Newton.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Talk about the Panthers. None of us are perfect. We were 2-14 because you blessed us with your presence or before you blessed us with your presence. The way you talk about the Panthers lately, I'm very disappointed. I wish you nothing but the best, but I am done Like. Steve Smith went on to say some other stuff through other outlets, but he did not like this from Cam and, to be honest, I feel like most of what you're getting from Cam right now this is Cam trying to search for relevance because the man ain't relevant anymore.
Speaker 1:I mean, look at the way he dresses. He does his best impression of clinton portis so well. It's peacocking it really.
Speaker 2:That's what it is. Cam does these flamboyant things, dresses the way he does not because I mean he wants to be, you know, some fashion designer.
Speaker 1:He does it because he wants people to pay attention to him he showed up in person to travis hunter's sideline in colorado to confront him about this and travis hunter was like, nah, I'm good bro. So I guess he found a way onto the show to say what he wanted to say. But uh, look, I don't care how bad the team was doing before you got there. You just can't talk negative, man, and you can't make yourself seem like the almighty pillar that brought them up from whatever depth you're saying they were in.
Speaker 2:Also to keep in mind who their quarterback was at that time. At that time it was Jimmy Claussen, Captain Checkdown. That man was forever thrown to the check down, even if he had guys open deep, he just threw to the check down he was afraid, but he was.
Speaker 1:He wasn't a good quarterback he was a good college quarterback.
Speaker 2:He was not a good quarterback in the nfl. You know this is well. Yeah, he couldn't read the deep ball.
Speaker 1:And Well, he had a deep ball but he couldn't read the deep man open because coverage is tighter at the NFL.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you can be a good college athlete and not be a good NFL athlete. It doesn't take anything from your college career. It just means that there's more expected of you and, like you said, the windows are tighter and what is open in the nfl is not open in college, or in college people are wide open. I mean they got five yards of separation yeah, it's easy in the nfl.
Speaker 1:You have the best of the best of the best playing on that field. Sometimes no, but in theory you have the best of the best, faster you best Speed is faster. You're not throwing to a body, You're throwing to hands. At this point You're throwing to a window at the NFL level In college. You're throwing to a body.
Speaker 2:You're throwing guys open. Most times in the NFL You're throwing them open.
Speaker 1:You're throwing exactly where you think their hands are going to be at. Okay, that's why they have the repetition In college. You aim for the body okay, because they have more separation. There's more adjustment at the nfl. You aim for where you expect the hands to be at, and that also, yes, you mean lead the receiver. Yeah, so you got to know where the receiver's hands are going to be at, at the spot he's going to be in yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where the games are, while they look the same, they're a bit different.
Speaker 2:you know you're spending a lot more time throwing, throwing to the hashes, and you know you're doing a lot more. Uh, you're doing a lot more. You know leading people open in the n, whereas in college you're got you're just going to see him and he's going to be like shrieking down the field and it's like, oh, he's open, throw it. Yeah, where you don't. You don't have that anywhere else.
Speaker 1:Yep, now. On that note, thank you once again for everybody for tuning in. We've set, you know, the uh bittersweetness of phasing out the nfl is one of our dominant subjects, but getting excited for basketball and baseball coming up, uh, in just a couple months, even, in fact, next month, march madness. So we've got some great things on the horizon. Thank you everybody for joining us this evening. Once again, happy pre-Valentine's Day. I'm Brian with an.
Speaker 2:I and I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:And we are Two for the Win.