SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, welcome back to the season. It's episode 42. I think we need to kick off the the dust or the rust here a little bit, Nick. It's been like a couple weeks since we had since we've had a show. Haven't opened the show in a while. Uh it's good to be back though. What's up, man? How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:13

I'm doing good. Just staying busy. I know you're busy with what you do. This isn't the only thing we do, but we love it. Um, you know, been working on a lot of dad season, you know, hats and collaborations and partnerships and then preparing for this show. And obviously the big thing we're getting ready for is season two. You know, once August hits, I know all our listeners are always asking, you know, hey, like, are you having a show every week? Like, this is the off-season. Like when we were players, we had the off-season.

unknown 0:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

We trained, it's not as intense, but there is an intensity about it. Right now, it's just preparation with season two. Um, you know, who do we want to partner with? Who do we want to work alongside? Yeah. And then once August hits, just hitting that routine of, you know, probably one to three episodes a week with, you know, awesome content, um, conversations, and then guests throughout the season that can, you know, provide insight that's a really fun conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Yeah, no, so on that note, no formal announcement yet, but this show is going to be a little easier for people to access here at some point uh from a distribution standpoint. We'll just leave it at that. But um this thing's coming to a new stage. Yeah, holy streak. This thing's coming to a new stage uh near you in the not too distant future. So we'll announce that later on, though. We just want to hang that out there for you. Um again, this is episode 42. Please subscribe on YouTube or follow however you do it on Apple, Spotify, hit five stars, all those things that help us out. We really appreciate it. Um last show we did was an NFL draft show with Joel Clatt. I encourage you to go check that out. That's not very time sensitive. I think there's an evergreen component to that. Um you can check that out on YouTube, Spotify, whatever. Joel is as good as it gets at covering these things, has in-depth knowledge on all these prospects that were coming out. We had a really good conversation about Mikhail Lemon and his fit with the Eagles. Uh, we talked about the Cowboys, the Giants, their draft pick. So that's a really good discussion. I encourage people to go check that out. And we were dark last week, largely because uh Nick is a multimedia superstar and had to take his talents to both New York and Philly. You were in you were in New York for the Disney upfronts, and then you went to Philly for events surrounding the PJ Championship. How would that go for you?

SPEAKER_02 2:15

I mean, it's awesome. I mean, you know, having three little kids at home, anytime that these events coincide, and I can do two events with one East Coast trip, um, it's always a great time. And it's it's really fun going to New York City. Um, anyone who's ever been to New York and just walked around um, you know, in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee cup of coffee, walking around the city, um, going to um, you know, a great dinner. I think it was the corner store, a new hot spot. Um, Jalen Brunson talked to him about it. He's a favorite NBA player.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

I'm sorry, Philly fans, my favorite NBA player.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Hey, you know what? He's like he's a Philly's guy, grew up Philly, Eagles, all those things. So it was cool catching up with him. You didn't go to Victor.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

You didn't go to Victor's, though.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

No, we didn't go to Victor's.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Victor's is Cuban cuisine. We stumbled on it last time I was in New York. Best Cuban food I've ever had. Keep going.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Hey, hopefully we hit a New York trip. Just a side note for you. Just a side note. We've got to do a family New York trip. But the Disney up front was amazing. Um, you're you're with a lot of legends of the game, a lot of Super Bowl MVPs, and not to mention like actors and actresses and other, you know, it's it's Disney's big reveal for the year. So um all these different worlds are colliding. There's a red carpet event, which I'm not super comfortable with, like the you know, your step in. Everyone's there's like thousand, not a thousand, but probably a hundred people taking photos, like, look here, look here, look here. And this is what the actors and actresses have to do at all these award shows. So you're just sort of like, and and the one thing you're always thinking of is what do I do with my hands? Like, is it am I in an art? Like, what do I do? Like, because everyone else, I'm watching these like actors.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

And you're by yourself, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I'm by myself. I was with Austin with Athletes First, uh, marketing agent, great friend. Uh, he was laughing behind all the photos because he knows that that's not really my thing. And I was watching the actors and actress do it, and they're so dialed in with their little, you know, smile. And if you're looking on YouTube, I'm trying to do it. They sort of lean to the side and they're obviously smiling at the photos, trying to get through it. And then there's a line of reporters, and I just sort of looked the other way and acted like I wasn't there and just walked through it and then went to the green room and hung out. But it was cool because throughout the process, um, you know, got to talk with a lot of the legends of the game ball, catching up, you know, talked to Heinz Ward for a while, was with Jerry Rice and Emma Smith for a while, Steve Young, Kurt Warner, the Mannings were there. Um, I know I'm leaving someone else out, but just a great oh, of course, Chase Kelsey. This was later in the day, uh night, but Jason Kelsey's there, obviously. So Jason and I are catching up, and this is exciting for all the season fans. The first thing, obviously, catching up, the first thing that Jason says is man, when are you when are you and Evan having me on the season? I love all your clips. I love watching. It's been so much fun what y'all have done in season one. And what I told him was like, hey, we we have we're gonna have you on. Um we're gonna have you on soon. We're working on a few things before we have you on, so don't you worry. You're gonna keep it.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Him and Travis and Taylor, or do we just do Jason by himself?

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Hey, if if the fans want Travis and Taylor, I mean I can we can plant that seed in the next one. But we'll we'll start with you know, I would love to have Jason and Kylie. Um they're they're crushing, they're yeah, they're great friends, and they're they're they're up to so much. I mean, right, you know, right when that event was over, Jason was going to another event, then he had another event the following day, so they they both are non-stop. But it's great because then you know I'm in New York doing those things, and then I go down to Philly, and it's always fun being in Philadelphia. Um, you know, Wawa is everywhere. I know everyone in Philadelphia loves Wawa, so seeing the Wawa signs again, pretty you know, mainly on the East Coast, people love it. And then I'm always looking to see, you know, what new things are out there, and I'm like just you know, checking it out. And then our you know, we're in Orange County, California, and you know, we we're close friends with the guys at the you know, the people at Built Basics, and you know, they've been friends that are localized out here, and you know, they got a store at King of Prussia now. So now they're on the East Coast as well, they're in the Philadelphia area. People are wearing Built Basics out there.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Everybody wants a piece of that market, man.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

No, it's it's a major market, um, you know, great product, great people. And then um, you know, when I was in uh Philadelphia, you know, did a T-Mobile event um at a restaurant that was rented out with uh Amanda Ballionis. She was a sweetheart, uh little interview up there, and uh, you know, it was it was really awesome. And then I didn't make it to the PGA event, obviously watched a little bit on TV. Um, it was cool because you know, NBC Philly is a big thing there. Um, you know, I got interviewed by John Clark all throughout my career. Um, you know, he's messaged me on Instagram so many times when I've posted things, uh, so complimentary, you know, what getting him to getting to see him walk with Gary Player on the course, you know, getting to have Dom as a voiceover, Mr. Lori as a voiceover. We gotta get Dom on the case.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

What's that? We gotta get Dom on, by the way. We gotta talk, we gotta talk some deep Philly ties with Dom here on the show.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Dude, I already planted that seed. Uh, you know, I planted that seed yesterday when we were talking. I I hit a big Dom. I had to ask him a question about something. I was like, hey Dom, what do you think about coming on here? And of course, you know, we're gonna make that happen. So there's a lot of fun guests that we have planned in the future.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Dom can make anything happen. Anything. Yes. Anything you want, Dom can make it happen, including getting him on the show. If you want Dom on the show, please comment in the in the comment section. Get Dom on and talk, talk some really deep, Philly conversation. See all the years he's been there?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Like, I mean, it would be so much fun. I love Dom. One of my favorite things as a player. So I don't know what Dom's office is like now. It might have changed, but it was right in the where you entered the team room, there's a circular area, and Dom had basically just a little closet, but he loved it. And I would always go sit in there and we just have the you know awesome conversations, a lot of which probably can't be on a podcast, but some of which can be on a podcast. We'll try. Um, but I will say this, and this is really cool. I mean, this is sort of why, you know, we do two a month right now, two or three a month, because we have so many different things going on. We're preparing for season two. Um, but it's super exciting.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Um's in a closet still. Dom is upstairs, right in between Howie and Jeffrey Lurie in a corner suite, overlooking with it with a great view, C-suite office. He ain't down in the closet anymore. I gotta find that out. That's something we'll have to ask him. Look, if you think about the fixtures of an organization, right? Like, obviously, there's great players, including yourself, that have played for the Eagles. Like, we know that. But like leadership, like obviously the owner, Jeffrey Lurie, what he's done for the team. Howie Roseman is a GM, what he's done for the team. They've had great coaches. Dom is one of the guys that like is one of the face of the Philadelphia. I mean, it's just the way it is. And we're gonna get him on the show.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

And all our listeners, you know, you got to you got to hear about Philly at the beginning of the show. Um, we're gonna talk all NFL scheduling, um, different things here, but we started out with a little bit of Philly. If we don't believe it, we'll be in New York. So we started out with giving y'all some love. So thank y'all for listening.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

And I made the cardinal sin uh when you talk Philly interrupting you. I'm not supposed to do that, but if we don't hit Philly early, we get yelled at. So we shouldn't get it.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

You've gained a you've gained a lot of traction with the Philadelphia people with how you run the show. So they they they they they love you now.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

I know, I love them too, trust me. Um, okay, we do have a really good show plan here. Uh that's a great intro, though, Nick, with on on some fun stuff over in New York and Philly. Um, there's been some stuff going on. Look, the NFL owns the offseason. It's amazing, right? We're in the middle of the NBA playoffs, and the NFL can still grab storylines like no other. The way they spread news out throughout the year, whether it's free agency, the NFL draft, scheduling, OTAs, minicamps, all the way through training camp. Um, the dialogue, you flip on like Colin Cowherd, and this time of year with the NBA playoffs going on, he's got a long show, so he's got plenty of time to talk NBA playoffs, um, but he still has several segments relating to NFL topics in May. That's crazy, right? That's what like the news cycle in the NFL has become. It's been this way for a while, year-round. And the most recent run, and I think this is a fun discussion, uh, we won't go too much in the weeds here, but just talking generally about the schedule because when they release the schedule and the matchups like they do, uh it gives us some stuff to chew on and stuff to think about as the season comes. Now, keep in mind, like the way the schedule shapes up, we always think there's games, we can't wait to circle them. We think it oh, this game's gonna be huge and whatnot. Uh injuries always sort of shape really how things go. I mean, when on Christmas Day last year, you would have guessed in May that Kansas City and Denver is just gonna be an amazing Christmas Day game. It turned out to be almost meaningless, right? Kansas City didn't have the season people hoped for. Uh Chris Oladukin was the starter for the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. Nobody signed up for that, nothing against him. Nobody signed up for that, but that's just how it plays out. But I will say this, Nick, as I look at scheduling for this year, there's one word that comes across, and that's intentional. The NFL more so than, and and it's it's by design because when you're talking about the way NFL schedules are made, there's only uh there's a limited number of games relative to other sports. They can be very, very intentional with how they do matchups, holiday games, all these things. And uh just a reminder too on why scheduling matters. So last year uh the Patriots benefited immensely from an easy schedule. And there's no debating on that. Like easiest schedule in the league by a wide margin. And it helped them. There was one point during the season, this is a Patriots team that went to the Super Bowl. There's one point during the season they had won 10 straight games and they had not gone further, they had not gone any further west than New Orleans as far as traveling goes. And they had won 10 straight games. One of the softest schedules in the league. It's why we doubted them going to the Super Bowl. We got they have not seen a team like the Seahawks. And that showed is Iran now, just a reminder on how this works, they now have a first place schedule this season. So they play their divisional games, which they'd play regardless, but their out of division games are against other first place teams in other divisions, generally speaking, right? There's some exceptions here and there, but generally speaking, they're now playing tougher teams throughout the year. So it's almost like a prove-it thing. So if I think of teams that really took a step this season, the Patriots are one, the Chicago Bears are undoubtedly one, the Denver Broncos are one. Those teams all will play tougher schedules this year than they played last year. So the league, from a drafting standpoint, where your draft slot is to free agency and getting compensatory picks, all the way to scheduling, is set up for parody. And when teams can be really good year in and year out, it becomes that much more sort of eye-opening because the league is really not set up to let teams continue to dominate year in and year out because there's so many hurdles they have to overcome to get this done. Um, so that's just a really important thing to keep in mind. I thought those were the two things, like very intentional, and then keep in mind as we go through these things that it gets tougher when you're a good team and the teams you have to play the following season. I know you experienced that several times throughout your career too.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Yeah, I mean, anytime you get that easy schedule, I mean, you don't realize it when you're younger. You think that you don't really know how they structure the schedule, and then you realize, like, hey, if you you win your conference and you have a great year, like it's gonna be harder. And it is harder the following year. And what makes it harder too is a lot of these teams that win their conference, they end up losing certain position coaches or coordinators because they did such a great job. And not only are you having a tougher schedule, but you're trying to fill the slots of losing these coaches. You're obviously free agent players, you know, these players that had great years that their contract's up. Maybe you you can't get re-signed by this team because you don't have the salary cap, so they're gone. So, like you said, it's built for parity, it's built for it's hard to you know have a franchise, but that's why when there have been these franchises like the Patriots and the Chiefs, and you know, the Eagles have been so good this last decade. Um, it's really impressive with what these teams have been able to do. Um, with how and I like how the NFL structures are. I think that's the right way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, yeah. Um, so from a scheduling standpoint, I'll start with uh I'm gonna share a screen here so we can kind of go through these things. I'll start with international games. Um, one of the things, Nick, in going through this, that I thought was super interesting is the NFL isn't really playing it safe anymore with international games. Um there's a record nine, as you see on the screen here, nine international games this year. Um yeah, these are so on the left, those are the weeks that are taking place. So nine international games in 2026 across four continents, seven countries, eight stadiums. That's crazy, right? Melbourne, Rio, London, there's three in London. Paris, Madrid, Munich, Mexico City. And the the matchups are real. Like some that I'd highlight here, like 49ers Rams in week one in Melbourne, Australia. Do those teams want to play in Australia? I my guess is no, right? Like Sean McBay, Kyle Shanahan probably would rather not make this trip, but the league is not afraid to make real matchups abroad as opposed to just doing, you know, the Jags seem to be featured in these a lot. I would feel I felt like early on with international games, a lot of it was let's test it out, let's send games over there that really shouldn't be all that meaningful and see how it goes. Um they are leaning into this all the way. So I look all the way down at week nine, Patriots and Lions in Munich, big game, right? Um we talk about the Eagles a lot, the Eagles are playing the Jaguars, Jaguars were a good team last year. Uh week five in London. So the international slate, I think, is is a lot, there's a lot more things to circle this year. Like Steelers Saints in Paris, France is interesting as well. It's the first ever game in France. Um it used to feel like a punishment for teams, especially the Jaguars, to play abroad, have this crazy amount of travel to get where you're going, not really know the field conditions, all these things, and the NFL has fully, fully leaned into it. You played some international games. Like, do you feel like this is a disadvantage for teams midseason or even I mean, these these games go as late as week 11 this year? The Vikings Niners in Mexico City is the latest one on the schedule. So nothing as we get down like the playoff stretch of the season, obviously, but I shouldn't say playoff stretch, but the the last third of the season. When you did this, I never played internationally, but I'm curious from your standpoint how you feel about the NFL really leaning into these games, other than the obvious, growing the game in different countries. I get all that. I'm talking strictly from a player standpoint.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah, I mean we we can talk about the it's a business and it it's a brilliant business. I mean, you gotta grow it worldwide internationally to then make the value of the NFL go up and the you know the fan base and then team's worth go up, grow uh grow up. So this makes this is brilliant. From a player's perspective, um, there's I mean, if you look at this chart that we have up here, if you're on YouTube, or maybe we even have a reel of this, so many teams are playing overseas now that there's not really a disadvantage because almost like everyone is playing over there now. Um, is it difficult? Absolutely, but as a player and a competitor, you have to block that out and just say, hey, this is the way it is. Um, the team we're playing against is doing this as well. Let's do it better. And it feels a lot better on that long journey home to win the game, right? I mean, yeah, it's a long flight home when you lose. Um, when I was with the Eagles, I never actually played in one of them, but I was a part of two going to London, and we won in London against uh the Jaguars, and then I was a part of the Jaguars. I was on IR, and we ended up losing in London. So it was it was a lot, it was a lot more fun of a flight coming home with the Eagles when we won than the Jaguars, but at the same time, I mean, the fan base is crazy over there in the sense of, you know, that's predominantly, I mean, soccer is the sport in all those countries, like soccer is amazing or rugby. And so when it comes to football, you go to these stadiums and it's not a you know, we got the 49ers and Rams, like it's not just gonna be 49ers and Rams jerseys, you're gonna have the entire NFL present in their jerseys in the stadium, and fans don't really know when to cheer. They're literally gonna cheer all the time. Well, I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Is it how do you feel about fan intelligence overseas? Like, oftentimes when I watch these games, the 6 a.m. games on a Sunday morning Pacific time, there's just cheering the entire game. Yeah, and you're gonna be. It's like a soccer match. It's different than like football, where like here, where there's moments where the fans get loud, but it feels like it's just constant cheering. And I wonder sometimes, like, and this is no disrespect to the international fan, but like how how deep is the understanding of what they're watching and sort of, I don't know, like if it's like sort of fan etiquette, if you will, about when to cheer and when not to cheer during games, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:24

I would say in London it's obviously growing because they've been playing the games over there for so long. Um, but they're so used to, you know, football over there or soccer. Like that's what they're they're used to. They're used to cheering all the time in different moments, and you know, it's gonna be a low-scoring match on the pitch. Now you got football over there, and it's a totally different game, but they love it. I mean, the fans over there love the game. There's a reason the NFL is expanding to all these international games is because it's been very receptive. Why did the NFL, you know, create all these flag football leagues that our daughters play in and that my sons will play in um to grow the game of football in a different way through flag football? Because not everyone's gonna want to play tackle football, but football is a great sport. It's a great team sport, it's a great teacher in life because you have to do it with your teammates and you're gonna face adversity and it's difficult. And that's why they've also, you know, really dove into flag football. When we went over there um in 2018 when I was with the Philadelphia Eagles, you know, we had won the Super Bowl the year prior. Um, we had a play 60 event right after our practice on Friday. And mind you, we had flown Thursday night, so like didn't really sleep on the flight, went straight into meetings, straight into our Friday practice. Wow. And then had a play 60 event. But it was really cool because you have all these kids from, you know, I was in London, so you had all these kids from over there that grew up playing soccer but loved the game of football and are asking all these questions and don't really know it as much as we did growing up. So I think it's great for the game, I think it's great for the NFL and the fan bases are growing. There's a lot of, you know, I get pictures all the time of you know, bars in London that are Eagles bars that you know have stumped from Super Bowl 52, or maybe the Wi-Fi passcode is Nick Foles and stuff, and I haven't even been to this bar, so at some point, you know, maybe the season makes a trip to London or something and partners with the NFL and we go do a fun game or something. So it's really cool though. I I like what the NFL is doing. I'm just glad I'm not a player having to do all the traveling.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

I know. So I um shortly after my career, I went to uh London for like a quick three or four-day deal for Sky Sports, which is a um broadcasting company in London that that covers the NFL. So like for a long time, these networks out there have provided highlights and analysis, and it's like an affiliate of a of a network here, obviously, right? That they'll televise a game here, uh basically what turns out to be the middle of the night over there, and then they'll have their own show pre and post-game, and they'll have analysts that from from the states that have played the game that come out there. So I like went there for four days to to kind of fill in and just go through the experience of seeing what it's like in London. And to your point, yeah, there's all these bars out there that would huddle at three or four in the morning to watch games out here. Now they're getting those games out. The tough thing for them locally, though, is they still televise those games, or I should say they play these games in a in a window that at least feasible to televise the game here, right? So they'll they'll have like midday games out there, so the game shows here at a time where we can watch it. They won't put it on middle of the night here, obviously, right? But 6 a.m. Pacific, 9 a.m. Eastern on Sunday is usually where that London game goes. That works for them for the most part, but there's other windows that make it a little bit tough. Um, like the Australia game's gonna be at an odd time out there, like on a Friday or something like that, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:32

So I do have a question for you. Out of all those games, as someone who follows the NFL, which one of those games and places combined would you want to go to this year if you could choose one?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

So I've I mean, some of this is personal because I've been to London and Paris. Um, I've never been to Spain, but I I would like to I think it'd be awesome to go to that Niners Rams game in Australia.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

I've never been to Australia, it seems like an amazing place to visit. Rio sounds like an amazing place to visit. I've never been to To Brazil and then Munich. I'd probably put it in that order between those three. Just, you know, based on personal preference of where I have and have not been. And also quality of the game. I mean, that Niners Rams game is a huge NFC West tilt early in the season. Now, some could say, like, why are you putting that game in Australia? I I get it. Like, I get asking the question, like, why are we doing this? But um, are we gonna get the best from each one of those teams, right? With the venue and all this stuff that goes along with it. But that's my answer in though in that order.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

I love it. I mean, I think it's cool. I mean, the only place I've been to like overseas is London. So any of those other places would be would be cool. It's always great to go different areas, see different cultures, different lifestyles. Um, it was cool, you know, experiencing London. I was on IR, so I got to go around, you know, once we had a little break for like two hours and catch up with a buddy and just sort of see um, you know, walk around, grab a bite to eat. But you know, Paris, France would be cool. Munich, Germany. I mean, I've been to Mexico City, what a cool spot. Um yeah, I'm with you. I've always wanted to go to Australia, so I think that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Um the tricky thing, the tricky thing with Mexico City, and like I I've been there as well, and I know you have too, but I've never played there. Um, you're talking 7,500 feet elevation.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Yeah, that's what you're not thinking. You don't realize it's it's elevated.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Most people like, I mean, if you haven't been there, you don't even I know people talk a lot about now because there's games there, but that's that's not nothing. 7,500 feet is I think you start to really notice it over 7,000 feet. I don't think it's a huge deal in Denver. Um, but when you get over 7,000 feet, now you're like borderline in a ski town, and you're like, now I start to notice it, right? So that's gonna be um that's gonna be this international slate is gonna be interesting. I'm anxious to see when the year's over, how we digest all this, these matchups, how it went, and the NFL will be doing the same thing. They're taking basically more steps every year to keep pushing this, and we'll see how much further this thing goes. Um, the other thing, Nick, from a scheduling standpoint, that I thought was interesting is the distribution of primetime games. Um, so five teams, and I I think the general theme here is the NFL has gotten away from like, oh, let's make sure every team has a primetime game. And like, granted, as the year goes on, they'll start to flex games on Saturday night and they'll move games into certain windows, uh, on Sunday night, especially, based on earning it. So some of these teams that don't have any primetime games slated now could end up in those windows if they end up better than expected. But the NFL right now has five teams with zero primetime games as of now. Jets, and this is understandable, Jets, Cardinals, Titans, Dolphins, Raiders. So of those five teams, they could still end up with primetime games. Um but those five teams won just a combined 19 games last year. So I think the league's message is clear. Like going into the season up until flex time, um until we get there, we are not going just to start giving teams primetime games. And we'll get to this in a second regarding holiday games. I think it's super clear that the NFL is leaning toward exciting offensive teams, exciting offensive coaches that they want and that have like, you know, high-profile quarterbacks that they want in certain windows, and they are full on, and part of this is probably their new, you know, they're leaning into different platforms as well, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and how important ratings are. I think the league is really leaning into we will put these teams and these quarterbacks on TVs in these windows. That being said, I do think the game has gotten so popular that the NFL doesn't necessarily have to use teams, or I should say that it doesn't have to use windows anymore, broadcasting windows, to prop up games, meaning, like, okay, let's make sure and put this game in that window because that's a primetime window, and we I think they know people are gonna watch regardless. And so they can put certain games in any window, including international, and instead they're using teams and matchups to prop up windows, meaning, hey, we can put that game now at 10 a.m. and people will watch it. Yeah, we don't have to put it on Sunday night football like we have in the past. That's how popular the sport has become, be it through fantasy football, gambling, all the things that come along with it, storylines. The NFL owns storylines, which is a big reason I think it's so popular. And so I think that's that's also a big thing here as well. So let me throw up as you give us some of your thoughts on here. Um I want to throw up primetime games by team right here. So the Rams right now are slated to lead the league with seven. And you got four teams with six primetime games Packers, Chiefs, Bills, and Seahawks, then five teams with five primetime games. Cowboys, Eagles, Bears, New England, and the Niners, and so on from there. And you see the teams with zero. So there's your distribution going into the season uh for primetime games. It's not this sort of equal, everybody gets their fair share. They are clearly leaning into teams they feel are gonna get a lot of eyeballs and be exciting football teams this year.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

No, I agree with you. I mean, to grow it and make the you know, business, the the shield worth more. I mean, all everything they're doing is that's why they're doing it, right? They're trying to make the game more popular. Um, the team's worth more, the league worth more. Um it I mean, it's a strong league. I mean, being at the you know, upfront event, you know, with Disney, I mean, ESPN has the 61st Super Bowl, and it's a big, big thing. I mean, usually at the upfront event, it's all the movies and TV shows that steal the show, and ESPN is sort of, you know, it's a big you know, entity of it, but it's sort of the afterthought because everyone wants to see the shows and the movies that are coming out this year. It was all about the football, you know, having the Super Bowl, having the Super Bowl MVPs there. It was a different vibe, and that was just from talking to people that had been to the they go to this every year and they put it on. So, I mean, that's what the NFL is doing. Roger Goodell was there, he was on stage, um, you know, presenting it, they're partnering. I mean, having the parody of, you know, Netflix, CBS, Fox, NBC, Amazon, I mean, you have competition with who has games. Um, you want to slot these games with great teams. I mean, I look at this chart and it makes a lot of sense. Uh, the one team that, you know, I think could sort of be a dud, and maybe the storyline is why they're there is New England. You know, New England has had so many issues this offseason with their head coach. And yeah, I mean, I that that's just something that I, you know, everyone else is talking about it. I have no desire to dive into this rabbit hole of what's going on. There's a lot of distractions in New England. And there's, you know, with their strength of schedule last year, how they showed out in the playoffs. I mean, it's gonna be a really tough, you know. I mean, is he even, you know, is Rabel even gonna be the head coach when the season starts with everything going on? Who knows? There's so many things going on. And how do you look at a coach with everything going on and how he's preached you and how he's spoken, and now all this has come out and he's trying to backtrack and say all these things. I don't know. Yeah, um, I know not everyone's perfect, um, but he's also in a leadership position leading a team, so it's a difficult pill to swallow. So New England's a team that I think could slide on um primetime TV.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Yeah, I think I I don't disagree with you on that. Remember, flex games become a real thing, right? So like the Titans are an interesting team this year. Robert Soleid, Brian Dayball leading things. Brian Dayball's the offensive coordinator down there. Um, Cam Ward, I think, is a talented player that slipped up a few times last year, but that's a team that I think will be better this year. Will they get flexed at some point? I don't know. We'll see. But as of now, this is the distribution of primetime games. Uh, this could look quite a bit different when the season's over. If any of these teams at the bottom was zero, uh with Fernando Mendoza, are the Raiders better? Or is Kirk Cousins going to be the quarterback most of the season? We'll see. But that'll be one to follow as well. Um, lastly, with regard to scheduling, holiday games. So, you know, those of you that are listening that like get super excited about the NFL owning the holidays, whether it's Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas Eve, Christmas, um, you probably should just apologize to your families and your spouses now because it is really, really good this year. Even if, like I mentioned last year, I gave it last year as an example of you know, I had circled Chiefs and Broncos on things on Christmas Day. I'm like, that's gonna be a great game. Because of injuries and because of what happened to the Chiefs last year, it wasn't a great game, right? Chris um Chris Oluduk or Chris Oladucan didn't really he wasn't ready for for he wasn't ready for that moment. So I don't think most of us were very excited about that game when it actually came. However, uh they're loaded up this year. So even if there's one dud here or there, it should be really good. So here we are on Thanksgiving week. All right, so Thanksgiving Eve, I believe this is the first, yeah, it is. It's the first ever Thanksgiving Eve game. So the NFL's even grabbing Wednesday the night before Thanksgiving, which I'm sure is gonna make my wife super happy, right? We're supposed to be hanging out with family. I'll be like, wait a second. The Packers are playing the Rams on Thanksgiving Eve. I mean, it's not just a game, it is a real game. This is an incredible game.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

I mean, do we hey, can you sit in Colby and Tori this uh PowerPoint you've created, um, just so we like give them a heads up like, hey, the season needs to watch these shows together or these these uh games together, and we need to be prepared for you know the podcast. I know that they love our emergency pods that we do late at night.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Nick, I'm I'm telling you, like, look at this. So Thanksgiving, as usual, has three games, right? In every window. So these are Eastern times that you're seeing here. Bears, Lions, legit, Eagles, Cowboys, legit. We'll get into the NFC East in a second. Chiefs and Bills, legit. And then on Black Friday, which we had Black Friday last year, I think it was Eagles, Bears. Uh, that was not good, but was still a good matchup. Broncos Steelers on Black Friday. There's your Thanksgiving slate right there over three days. Three games on Thanksgiving Day. Um, I'm already getting anxiety about how I'm gonna, because I got three kids too. How am I going to figure this out? We might even do Thanksgiving early this year and just say, hey, let's let's go, let's go to let's go Monday, Tuesday for Thanksgiving and just basically simulate and then come Wednesday night and then all day Thursday, you just you just leave daddy alone. Daddy's got some stuff to do. Daddy's got to dive in in the office and watch these games.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

We're gonna watch it in my office over here with the doors you know closed and we're gonna be ready to go maybe do a little Instagram live. But I do have you know, looking at these times, we can still get our family soccer match in the morning on the pitch.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Well, remember, these are poss these are Eastern time, so 10 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

But we we went at like eight o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

So we'll be there at eight. Yeah. Again, everything's based around the NFL. The NFL, you can just have my entire life and my family's holidays. I'm all in, right? They talk about the consumer, I'm that guy. So if you're listening on Apple Spotify, we got a graphic up here right now with all the Thanksgiving week games. Not only are they great matchups, but it basically spans like the entire time with your families. Some people are super pumped about it. Um, maybe some spouses aren't as crazy about it, but nonetheless, we got some awesome holiday games. Are you ready for the Christmas games? There you go. Here's a Christmas slide. So we got Christmas Eve, which is Texans Eagles, at 8.15 Eastern, 515, 5 uh 15, or 515 Pacific, and that game's the link. And then on Christmas Day, we've got two games Packers at Bears, and then Bills at Broncos. And then uh oh, excuse me, three games. Uh just like Thanksgiving Day. The third game in Rams and Seahawks. So that's a fantastic lineup, too. Uh you know, more so than families, I actually feel worse for the NBA. Because the NBA used to, if you didn't not, not in a lot, it wasn't too long ago that Christmas Day was not an NFL thing. And because it just typically didn't work, it was if it was like a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, it just didn't work. So it was NBA time. And so you know, some good NBA matchups, right? Like Steph and the Warriors would play the Lakers and whoever the Lakers had at the time. And then there were always some really good matchups on Christmas. But now the NBA has to look at these holidays and be like, should we consider getting out of this and sliding out and maybe being that weekend because we have no chance to compete with what the NFL is doing on these holidays? And these games are fantastic matchups and great windows. I think it'll add to the holiday experience. Some people don't, but what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 33:47

I mean, it'll it'll for all the fan base. I mean it'll add to the holiday experience. If I'm one of these games just from a player I played on Christmas Day in 2017 um against the Raider, or Christmas night, I should say.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Yikes.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Uh Lily's first Christmas, too. Um, that was tough. You know, being at, you know, we stayed at home the night before, we celebrated Christmas in the morning, but you just you're so prepared for the game. It's freezing cold outside. I would love out of all these games to be the Christmas Eve game would be fantastic because then you get home late at night. You can have, you know, not everyone has kids, but like if you have kids or family in town, like you get to enjoy Christmas, go to church, um, and then have the weekend. You'll have the weekend off as players and coaches. I mean, coaches will probably come in on maybe Saturday and then off on Sunday so they can do whatever they need to do. But you know, it's uh I mean the fan base will love it. Um, you know, the NFL's just taking over everything. But you have to say, like, look, Amazon, Netflix, Fox, like there, it's not all one entity. So, like, everyone, when these packages and they're buying these things, like they're getting these slots of these big holiday games that is is worthwhile to them from a company standpoint.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Imagine like 15 years ago seeing this slide in the future and being like Amazon? Like, like Netflix? The game is on Netflix.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Yeah, the the game's like you're talking about like the thing that you see you get shipped, like moving on.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

They're gonna ship us a DVD for the game. Um yeah, in 2026, I know this is not the first season this has happened, but in 2026, this is what we're talking about. All these different platforms. NBA is the same way. Like I flip on an NBA playoff game and I have to look at my phone first to see what it's on because I have no clue how to find it until I, oh, it's on Prime Video. Let me go. I gotta flip.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

Dude, how many times have we done that where it's like, where the heck is the game? Then I have to use my phone. I'm on Samsung, so I use Jim and I. I know everyone out there on iPhone will be like, ah, well, it's better AI, so I'll use NBA. Where is this game? Where can I find this game? This game is on here. All right, let me find it. All right, now I gotta get the app. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

All right, so to put a bow on scheduling, I'm a fan. I think it's very intentional. I think they've done a fantastic job finding the right matchups. Um, I mentioned too, it's they're not handing anything out, no charity cases here. You have to earn your primetime matchups. Um, I think they're favoring high profile quarterbacks, offensive coaches, great matchups, which is what the league has sort of gravitated to, anyways. And that's what we're getting, especially on holidays, international, and big matchups. And it's gonna be uh it's going to be a great season. I I can, you know, the the schedule release happens right now for a reason, provides excitement as teams enter OTAs, and here we are, and I'm looking forward to it. All right, one of the other big stories that came out this past week, um, Aaron Rodgers, just a couple days ago, decision that Aaron is coming back to Pittsburgh. There was some doubt about that uh throughout the offseason. There were some people, it was very quiet, people hadn't figured out why hasn't he made a decision yet? Um, is his relationship with Mike McCarthy, who he was with in Green Bay for 13 years, is it good? Is it strong enough for Aaron to want to come back? Are they gonna move on from him? Um could they go a different direction at quarterback? All those questions uh persisted around Pittsburgh. Because look, the reality is like last year for Pittsburgh, Aaron kept Aaron kept Pittsburgh out of a bad place because he's good enough at quarterback to still do that. I think he's an all-time great, arguably one of the greatest talents we've ever seen at the position. He was he's good he's still good enough to keep him out of a bad place, got him to the playoffs, but they got they were just outclassed in the playoffs. It's almost like they didn't belong. But he found a way to get him there. He's not the problem, but he's also not the long-term solution to what they're trying to do in Pittsburgh. But he comes back for a one-year deal worth up to 25 million. I believe the base salary is 22 to 23 million, somewhere in that range. Last year was, you know, just a smaller percentage of that. I think he was around 13 to 14 million last year. So this is a significant raise that he comes that he comes back for. He had just over 3,000 passing yards last year, 24 touchdowns, seven picks, 65% completion rate. So here's the key, Nick. He's at OTAs right now, which I'm kind of surprised when I heard that. But here's why, and you can relate to this. Other than DK Metcalf, if you go by just the receivers on this roster, the combined receptions on this roster from Aaron, other than DK, is 16. Okay, they took Jeremy Bernard in the second round from Alabama. Uh Michael Pittman is a guy they signed who's a good receiver from Indian Indianapolis. They signed him in free agency. So they have talent, but these guys have not, other than DK, have not really worked with Aaron and had time to mesh with him. So I gotta believe that Mike, you know, he and Mike McCarthy have known each other for a long time. I gotta believe Mike said, Okay, Aaron, we're signing you, you're coming back, right? Can you please get back here? Like, we've got to get you guys together for whatever it is, 10 to 12 OTA workouts. We need you here to work with these guys if we're gonna have a chance to take a step this year. Otherwise, if I'm Mike, otherwise I'm like, if you're not gonna be here until training camp, like you need to ask yourself if you want to do this or not. Even with Aaron being as great as he is, I think that's probably a question that Mike asked him. Are you surprised, A, that he's coming back based on how things went last year that were good enough last year? And B, are you surprised he's the OTAs? What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Not surprised he's back. I think it's exciting. I mean, obviously he's not done. Mike McCarthy is former head coach, he won a Super Bowl with, was with for 13 years. Um, you know, if he was gonna play, like what a situation. They, you know, hiring him was probably strategic to get him back. I mean, they saw what he was able to do to help him last year. If I'm Aaron, I'm really excited because since I've left Green Bay, and even, you know, when LaFleur was there, he had great years, MVP years, obviously, but he now will have the freedom, like he always wanted, to run the play, audible the play, change the route. You know, with Arthur Smith and other coaches, like he in the in New York, like he didn't have that opportunity. He had to run the offense, and I know he did some of that at times, but it wasn't like the fluency that he had in Green Bay. I played against him in Green Bay and was a part of teams that played against him in Green Bay, and when he had the reins of that offense completely, that he's unstoppable. I mean, what he could do was unbelievable. Yeah, he's older and stuff, but he still got it. Like he can still go out there and do it. So it's gonna be really interesting to see um you know what happens this year. The and the reason he's there, you said it with the receivers, the combined receptions of guys other than DK Metcalf. Um, what'd you say, 16?

SPEAKER_01 40:04

16 total receptions on guys on the roster, other than that that's not including tight end. Not including tight end.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

That's a major problem because I know talking to guys that played for him, you know. I was I was with Jimmy Graham.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

It's because they've had guys left though, too. Some guys have left. So you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

But they uh, you know, talking to Jimmy Graham, Jimmy Graham and I were locker mates um in Chicago for two years, and he loved, you know, Aaron and playing with Aaron and all those things. Um, but there are so many hand signals and so many audibles that Aaron can use from any time in his career. Well, is he gonna be able to do that in Pittsburgh? No, he's not gonna be able to because it's a new receiving staff and this isn't Green Bay, it's not he hasn't been there for over a decade, sort of thing, but he's gonna have a lot. And these young receivers are gonna have to pick him up because he's very sly with his signals and he can do it on every single any single play. That's a good point. He can change your route or change something about the play to get him in a better play. He does not want to waste a play. And now with Mike McCarthy, there will be no wasted plays, and there shouldn't be any uh, you know, ego measuring either in the sense of like, hey, I'm the play caller. Like, if he has a different coordinator, like you run the play, Aaron, stay within the system. I I can't imagine someone being that forward with Aaron, but I'm sure it's happened. Um, you know, being with the Jets and even being with the Steelers last year. Another thing that's interesting is Mike McCarthy is an offensive head coach. They're gonna be more aggressive, they're gonna go for it more on fourth down, they're gonna be more offensive driven. That's you know, the Steelers have always been a defensive powerhouse. We're gonna be over 500. Tomlin, obviously, legendary head coach, did an amazing job. Um, will always be a part of a legendary, historic, you know, Pittsburgh Steeler with everything he did. But Mike McCarthy brings in this offensive mind where we're gonna be aggressive and go for it, and then hopefully this defense that they've spent so much money on can do what they were paid to do. Obviously, paying someone money doesn't make them better. You got to get great players, and then you have to have great coaches to create teach great fundamentals and the correct defensive scheme, and then you got to implement that and play call it on I I mean I would say on Sunday, but literally any day of the week that the NFL is playing the game, use your AI or use your phone to find out where the game is because I can't tell you where the game is, but you'll find it if you use it. So I think it's really awesome. I think it makes a lot of sense he's back. Um, I think it could be really good for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. Um, and I I think it's a great way for him to end his career.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

It feels like a good stopgap to to get him to where they want to go because they don't have the quarterback of the future available to them right now, although they they they need to find that at some point. It feels like they're kicking the can down the road a little bit just to be good enough. I think the low-hanging fruit with Mike McCarthy is that they've had success together in the past. Obviously, he had Aaron during his prime. They won a Super Bowl together. I think in 2000, let's see, in 2011, Aaron had 45 touchdowns and six interceptions with Mike McCarthy. But it was also a different team, right? His receiving core was ridiculous, and that and that was Aaron and his prime. But there also is there's friction with Mike and with Aaron. I mean, I was there the first year Aaron started, I was a rookie in Green Bay. There was already friction, right? Then they went on to have a lot of great years together, like any, like any play-calling head coach and superstar quarterback that wants control, much like we heard about Matt LaFleur and Aaron from time to time, right? Really no different. There was friction from time to time. And I quite honestly, I think they got my my perception is that they got tired of each other. And so there had to be a break. And Mike was fired midseason in 2018. Fired in midseason. And I think Aaron was more than okay with that. Okay, so how about reuniting? Okay, so now they come back together, different circumstances. Aaron's older. Aaron's I think a little more even more set in his ways than he's ever been. It appears to be that way. As he should be. I mean, look, Aaron's been around the game enough now to be go be an offensive coordinator in the NFL today if he wanted to be. So I I'll tell you this from an entertainment value standpoint. How is this going to go? I have no idea. But from an entertainment value standpoint, I cannot wait. I cannot wait to watch the dynamic between these two over the course of the year. All right. I'll be lying to you. And Aaron's a friend of mine. Like I like Aaron a lot. But I'll be lying to you if things aren't going well, if I can't wait to flip on the television and watch the body language between both those guys. Right? Because I know there's a side of Mike that's like, well, shoot. I mean, the guy's an all-time great. Yeah, I'll take him back. But there's there's a side to Mike when he goes to bed every night where he's like, how's this gonna go if we're not moving the ball very well by like week three? And I can't bench Aaron. What are they like? Aaron's basically gonna tell me, no, Mike, we're not doing this. We're doing this, this, and this. Mike knows that this is going to be extremely challenging. No matter what set, everyone feels great in April and May and June. Everyone's, hey man, we're gonna be, we're a playoff team last year. We're gonna be great. OTA's is going great. I love you, Mike. We're back. Let's do it. Wait if it happens. I'm not willing this on the Steelers. I don't want to see the Steelers fail, but if it happens, just wait until like five weeks in if they're not moving the ball. I cannot wait to watch the dynamic, the dynamic between these two. Because it's gonna stir up old emotions that have been there for a long time when they were together in Green Bay. Overall, in Green Bay, the prevailing sentiment was it worked. But towards the end, it didn't. Enough friction. Hey, let's part ways. It's not working anymore. I can't wait to see how this goes. This is actually, again, NFL owns storylines. This is going to be a ton of fun to watch. Can't wait to see it.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

I mean, that's great perspective. I don't have much to comment on it other than that. Was great perspective.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

And let me add this. So you mentioned the defense for the Steelers. So something to keep in mind. Um, the Steelers are like, you mentioned a defense first. So if the Steelers right now are slated to lead the league in defensive spending for a fifth straight season this upcoming year. Okay. And if you look at their record and their performance under Mike Tomlin, it shows there's not there's not enough correlation between spending and winning and being really good defensively. There's just not enough correlation in the NFL anymore, right? Especially as it relates to the Steelers. Now you could argue, well, they'll just made bad decisions. They paid the wrong guys. Fair. But generally speaking, there's there's there's a rift there, okay? And in a way, it feels like the Steelers, as it relates to how they spend on their roster, are pretty old school. You know how like on your phone, like as you're looking at your phone, you'll get like an alert that says you need to do a software update, and you just keep putting it off, and you're just like, nah, I don't have time, dude. I'm not gonna go plug my phone in. I don't have time for that right now. No, no, no. And then eventually, like, it won't sync with your car because you haven't done your software update. That's sort of what it feels like sometimes with the Steelers, like they keep pushing no on the software update, and finally the league is telling them, like, and they told Mike Tomlin, this is no longer working. Like, you if you guys want to be more than just like a 500-ish team and get a playoff win, which you haven't done since 2016, you need to do you need to do your software update.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

And I'm not saying by keeping Aaron and bringing Mike McCarthy in that the Pittsburgh Steelers have done that, but I think it's sort of an admission, especially with hiring of Mike, that we might need to evolve a little bit. Now, Mike, Mike, in some ways, is a dinosaur. I'm not saying he's the answer, but we might need to evolve a little bit and lean more offensively. So here's one of the rumors that's also come out in the last week, which is very meaningful. They might be open to trading TJ Watt this season. Like it, I've heard most likely after this season, not before this season, like after the season, they might be open to it. Um, it's the first time we've heard, this is ESPN's, I think Jeremy Fowler reported that teams believe that Pittsburgh could consider moving on from Watt, not this soft season, but potentially after this upcoming season. Um it's a it's a money issue, right? Because their defense is so highly paid. His contract that he's currently on is a three-year, $123 million extension that he signed in July of 25. Um, he had seven sacks last year. He missed three games with a collapse long. So some of it's been injury related. He's had a fantastic career, right? I mean, he's probably headed to be a Hall of Famer at some point. Fantastic career. But the fact that that's being floated out there is eventually something they'll consider, I think, is that is the Steelers and their general manager and their new head coach looking internally and saying, we got to rethink how we're building this team. TJ Watt's a great player, but we need some of that money to be able to push on the offensive side of the ball, find the quarterback of the future, surround that guy, like they're gonna be better on the offensive line this year, too, but surround that guy with guys that can that can support him and make plays, and then be good enough defensively. Because right now we just we've leaned too much into defense, it's not producing where we want to be at. We got to do the software update. So I think they've sort of said, they've looked at it now and they've said, okay, I think we might do this. And they're really close to plugging their phone in and hitting update. They just haven't done it yet. So I think that might be coming.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

I'll tell you what, you're crushing it with the perspectives and the analogies. The analogy only works because you're on the iPhone. See, it wouldn't work for me because my phone knows the update itself and makes sure everything's rolling correctly all the time, being on Android. So I couldn't have done the analogy. So we're fortunate that one of us is using that device and the other one's using another one.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

But Nick, they again, fifth straight year of leading the league and spending on defense. Last year's defense finished 32nd against the pass. 32nd. They've led the league or been near the top in defensive spending five consecutive years, and it's just not translating to postseason wins. So at some point as an organization, we always feel everyone feels the Steelers are a well-run team. They're stable, right? They're never terrible. But at some point, there needs to be a pivot and a risk. You got to take a risk at some point. If you're living safe the whole time, you're like, hey man, let's just play it safe. Let's just do it. All right, well, here's here's nine and eight, right? Here's ten and seven. Is that good enough? No, it's not good enough. Well, you're gonna have to take a risk. You're gonna have to risk having a losing record at some point to get to ultimately to where you want to go, because this team in the way it's built is not is not heading towards a Super Bowl anytime soon until they take a risk that may land them at four and thirteen. It's possible, but you gotta take a risk at some point. They're not willing to take risks. Hit side hit software update. Maybe it'll happen.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Love it. I got I got anything for you.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

All right, let's go NFC East. Um, this is our last topic of the day. So, Nick, to me, the division feels alive again. If you go back to last year, the Eagles were 11-6, right? And it wasn't a particularly amazing year for the Eagles, but they're still 11-6. And they had no trouble winning the division because the rest of the division had no interest in competing with them. Cowboys 7-10, Commanders 5-12, largely because of Jaden Daniels and his health. Giants 4-13. Okay, so if you look around, if you look around this division, the obvious one is the New York Giants, John Harbaugh being hired. That's immediate credibility from day one. Fantastic football coach. Jackson Dark goes into year two. They upgrade their defense to the draft. Arville Reese, fifth overall, right? They traded Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals for extra, an extra first-round pick. They got more talent, right? They have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL, but more talent. Jaden Daniels, Commanders, like he his health is everything for the Commanders. They've had a little bit of a defensive overhaul, but you know that team is going to be much better than 5-12 this year if Jaden's healthy. He was the offensive rookie of the year two years ago, right? And then probably most interesting in my mind is the Dallas Cowboys. If you look at, so they have no trouble moving the ball. Last year, they just couldn't consistently stop anybody. Their interior defense, Kenny Clark, Quinn and Williams, are two of the best defensive tackles in football. Rashawn Gary's added to the edge, former Packer. They drafted Caleb Downs, who some people, including Joel Clatt, feel like might be the best overall, like the best football player in the draft, right? Best safety DB, probably combo. And there's a lot of things that kid can do in like Ohio State system. He was fantastic. Um they traded Michael Parsons away, obviously, and I thought they got more well-rounded because of it. But the rest of their secondary, too, like this this defense will be better this year for Dallas. So I think the NFC East, you go from it's probably the of all the divisions in the league, you go from being an Eagles team that was 11-6 last year and at times felt disappointing, but never in doubt to win the division because the other teams just weren't very good, to now being like this division's alive. And the teams at the bottom, commanders and giants, they're gonna take a jump. And the Cowboys, I know we always say this, and some people, oh yeah, everyone says the Cowboys are gonna be good, but I've got reason to believe the Cowboys are gonna be a problem for a lot of teams this year, especially because of what they are defensively. So what do you think? NFC East, is it crowded or is everyone still just chasing the Eagles and they'll end up separating themselves at some point?

SPEAKER_02 52:42

I think I think this will be a very um, you know, every now and then there's the NFC East where it's just every team has an opportunity to win it. It's gonna be a really, you know, one of the tougher conferences in the NFL, um, sort of like the NFC West last year, right? You know, just so competitive, great teams. This will be this year. Um this is gonna be a tough year for the Eagles in the sense of competition in the NFC East. I agree with you. Um Dallas' offense was outstanding last year. Their defense was a culprit of issues. Their defense is gonna get a lot better. Um, offense is gonna take another step forward. You know, commanders, I I don't see them having a five and 12 year. Jaden back healthy, Dan Quinn, head coach, leading the charge, David Blau now promoted to offensive coordinator. Cliff Kingsbury's out. Um, you know, been the quarterback coach. Obviously, that'll be the big question mark. Will he be an elite play caller and be able to get them in a correct play, being really his first time ever calling plays? Ex-quarterback, so I like that, but there's always this learning curve. New York Giants, obviously, with Harbaugh as the head coach and you know, draft picks and his methodology, and he's a culture builder. How's that gonna set? How's that gonna be with the Giants? I mean, I would like to say, man, they're gonna be a lot better, but we thought that with Pete Carroll last year with the Raiders. We're like, man, Pete's gonna come in and really instill his culture like he always has, and they're gonna be great. Man, they were awful.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

Great point.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

Do I see that happening with the Giants? I don't see that happening, but I can't sit here with what I learned last year and be like, man, the Giants are gonna be great with Harbaugh. It it might it might not work. I don't know. Um, I can say this. I do think the Cowboys are gonna be better. I'm with you. And then the Eagles' biggest question mark, and this is what I discussed with guys when I was at the Dizzy Upfront event. They were asking me about, you know, Sean Manion being the offensive coordinator. Obviously, people are gonna be like, hey, you got the season show, you're gonna talk about the Eagles, you're all talk about the NFL. What do you think about the Eagles this year? The biggest, you know, Jeff Stoutland's not there. Um, you know, he just went on the new hives with Jason and Jordan Mulata, and they had the conversation. That's a big question mark. Jeff is not there. He's now not employed by the Eagles, he's doing his own thing, and we'll see what he does. Sean Mania being his first year play calling. Like that is the big thing. Will Jalen Hurts in this system excel? It is gonna be a lot more under center play action timing. Um, from a quarterback standpoint, um, I like it in the sense of it takes pressure off you. Um, what I told the guys at the Disney up front is listen, it's gonna be a run first sort of thing. And obviously the the Eagles with their offensive line and Saquon Barkley and other backs they have, they want to run the ball, they want to be inside the chains, they want that good first down run that opens up the play action, that opens up the bootlegs, it opens up the offense, it makes it more simple. That is not what Jalen Hurts has traditionally done. Jalen is a lot more comfortable when plays break down and he gets to run around and make a play. The longevity of his career and what you know, his, you know, him excelling as a quarterback, this is a really good offense for him because there's gonna be times where he's in the shotgun, split out, they're gonna do quick game, they're gonna have concepts that are great. They're gonna do the zone read, they're gonna do the RPOs, but historically, this offense is run the ball, play action under center, timing routes over the middle, over the middle. That is something last year that we didn't talk about a lot. We talked a lot about hitch routes, and we talked a lot. Hey, the the middle of the field is open. You know, when they played, I don't know if it was the chargers, I think it was the Chargers. Was it the Chargers of the Rams in LA? And he hit that, you know, third, fourth down play to Devontae Smith over the middle. It was a beautiful throw, timing throw. I love that. That is gonna be the offense. And there's gonna be big plays. And the reason it's gonna work is this they have to run the ball well. Because if they run the ball well, it'll be a post-safety defense. That means one safety in the middle of the field, an extra defender in the box because they're running the ball well. The defense will want to stop the run. What that does is when you go play action for people who are listening, it then sucks down the second, it sucks down the second level defenders. So the safeties and the linebackers come in to fill their gaps because of the play fake. Then you turn around, there is now air and grass behind these second-level defenders in front of the corners and the safety to where that is where you are releasing the ball, but you have to do it on time. If you do it on time, it is made, it is huge plays, it is explosive plays. If you have explosive plays as an offense, you're gonna have a lot of success. To be a great offense, you have to be able to run the ball and you have to be able to hit those explosive plays in the pass game. So this is a big offseason for the Eagles with Sean Man calling plays with Jalen Hurts, you know, getting used to this style. And if he does and he buys in and he can run it like Sean wants it to, they could be great because they have the personnel. It's gonna be a different style offense than he's ran. Is he capable of doing it? Sure, he's capable of doing it. He's got to have the coaches right there to teach him. It's gonna take a lot off his plate and a lot off his back to where, yeah, he'll still have to scramble around and do the plays that everyone loves to see, and the Eagles fans get excited, but there should be more structural plays where it's timing and rhythm. And right now we might be having a technical difficulty, but we'll keep the show running. You got it? Yeah, I got you. Okay. Man, we might have to upgrade your Wi-Fi, man.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

No, my Wi-Fi's not up. I got the best Wi-Fi in town. Um I wonder if it's me. I don't know. I I agree with everything you just said. And here's what's interesting about the Eagles, too, from a scheduling standpoint. We talked a lot about schedule early in the show, but it also impacts the Eagles. Um we talked about other teams in the NFC East. We're gonna have we're gonna find out real quickly, like it's not gonna be about what teams eventually become in the NFC East as far as the Eagles are concerned, and more about what they are for the first like two-thirds of the season, because seven of eight division games are before December for the Eagles, right? So often like injuries play a factor, teams develop, they they sort of evolve into what they want to become, and then those like key December matchups become so big. A lot of the Eagles are before December, before December one, right? So that that's gonna have an impact on how things play out for the Eagles. They have a late season gauntlet in place, they play the Seahawks at home in week 15. Uh, Texans at home, we'll see where the Texans are, but that's on Christmas Eve. Then the Niners in primetime, week 17. Okay, so in total, from a scheduling standpoint, the Eagles have 11 games this year against 2025 playoff teams. That's tied for the most in NFL history going into a season, right? Now, do all these teams end up being what we thought they were? Who knows? But the reality is 11 games versus 2025 playoff teams. A three-peat for the NFC East is on the line. Remember, last year they they repeated as NFC East champs, and that hadn't happened since like the early 2000s, right? I think it had been a really long time since that had happened. So they and they also have five primetime games. So from a scheduling standpoint, they will be challenged. They have a lot of really good football teams on their schedule. And then these other questions, you know, you mentioned Sean Mannion. We're not going to spend a lot of time today talking about AJ Brown, but after June 1, is A.J. Brown still on this football team, right? Another question. But whether or not A.J. Brown is there, the new toys that Sean Mannion has to play with, like the existing ones, obviously your quarterback, your running back, some key offensive linemen, but then Mikhail Levin comes in, Eli Stowers comes in, and you pair him with Dallas Goddard, another second round tight end. The Eagles have had a lot of success in getting a lot of output from guys in the second round of the tight end position. Um, that is going to be a very fun thing to follow. So we have for a number of different reasons, division related, the other teams in the division, and then also just specific to the Eagles where they're going. Uh this conversation is going to ramp up quite a bit between now and August. And all these things we'll be able to follow really closely, not only throughout OTAs, but also throughout training camp and monitor how the development of the offense is going and all that, because that will that will be a key determining factor in where the Eagles go this season. But scheduling also plays a factor, and that's going to be fun to watch.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a challenge. I mean, everyone loves challenges. The Eagles fans are ready. I know the city's ready. I was just in Philadelphia and everyone's ready to roll. Um, you know, a lot of work in the offseason. This is a big offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles. Um, and it'll be fun as we learn more as training camp gets ready to go, as we get clips from other news sources and get videos. And who knows, maybe we'll be on Philly at some point doing something as well. Um, we'll we'll have more news and more thoughts going forward.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

Um, as OTAs progress, uh, stay in tune to the season. Follow us on Instagram at the season pod. Uh, make sure and follow us on our YouTube channel as well. Um, as things progress with what they are offensively, we'll continue to put out content, put out shows, um, also for the NFC East and the NFL as a whole. Um, we'll continue to put that stuff out. And more and more will come out too as we get closer to the season, too. And we kick off our second season, really starting in August, um, as we push forward here and and keep cranking out good shows for you guys. And we always appreciate everybody watching. This has been episode 42 of the season. Um, we hit some scheduling talk, Aaron Rodgers, NFC East, and Eagles. And as always, we appreciate you listening. Have a good day.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.