NFL updates, and who will buy shirt

KG's back for hat trick and helps is all understand why extending your kicker is a really good idea. We discuss UFL as we head to the halfway point of the season and see who is currently in the short buying chair. We touch on the baseball season and where it is heading, and how confident we all are, and Pete tries to stir Matt about losing DJ.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

This is the Mostly Football Show, a uniquely Australian take on the NFL and all things in the world of sport.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Over to you, Pete. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in this lovely wide world. Welcome to episode 24 of the Mostly Football Show. It's a hat trick for KG. Welcome, KG. Three weeks in a row. Unprecedented. Yeah. And of course, our Birmingham Stallion has come back to join us live from Birmingham itself in the UK, not the US. Matt, uh hope you had a good flight. How have you been?

SPEAKER_06 0:42

Yeah, really good, thanks, mate. Just scan over the jet lag um sunshine, and I've obviously brought it with me to the Midlands. So uh yeah, good to be with you fellas. Nice to see you both across the miles.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Excellent. And timing is good for uh Antipode and podcast, I guess, at the moment. And if if you're looking for good antipodean podcast, look up my other podcast, you'll find me on all good podcast stores. That's the only plug I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_06 1:10

I know you I know you also double elsewhere, and you've never sprooked yours, so come Peter, you're a bit you're better than that.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

I I I'm really not, Matt. I'm really not. Let's just be real. Yeah. So let's uh let's head off to the NFL gents to start with. Quite a few trades been knocking around. Uh I'll open up with the Dontavian Wicks trade to uh the Eagles for a round five and round six draft pick in the upcoming draft this weekend.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

I think it's uh I think it's a good bit of business by Green Bay personally. Uh what are your thoughts, Jets?

SPEAKER_06 1:56

Yeah, um, I mean there's some there's a lot of speculation about AJ Brown um and the Patriots and and the implications of the timing of that trade. So yeah, I think it's smart for the Eagles to load up. Um they obviously traded for Don Tavian Wicks. They've signed Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore as wide receivers as well. So it it feels like the Eagles are prep prepping for like AJ Brown, yeah. Yeah, I'm like AJ Brown. So I think the implications of that are if if he if they move in before the first of June, they're left with left to pay forty-three point four million dollars on his contract. If they move him post-first of June, they're only um accountable for sixteen point three million. So it you know the the dollars drive the timing, but it very much feels like um it's already already set in stone that AJ Brown will be a patriot after the after June the first.

SPEAKER_05 3:00

Yeah, and that's the way I see it, is it was preventative um on the Eagle side. Uh I I guess my question to you, Pete, is do you you you think it was a good move on your side? It was it the right thing? Does it give you a fresh uh start, or are you gonna miss him when the season gets um tough?

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Uh look, it w would I want him to stay?

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Absolutely. Absolutely I would. However, when you look at the wide receiver core, and especially with Matthew Golden expecting to get more playing time uh and a lot more sight on the ball in his second year, you you kind of wonder who's playing that WR4, WR5. Getting uh round getting two picks, around five and round six, I think is pretty good business. I think the Packers have shown through the last years that they make some good choices in the later rounds. You know, Jordan Love wasn't a first round pick, I think he was a second round pick. So, you know, we don't want first round picks anymore. We're quite happy with the second. Uh and we'll take from there. I think I think it's it's gonna be very very interesting when we go into the draft, but I I I I don't think it's gonna hurt us losing him. Um obviously we've lost Romeo Dobbs as well, and so interesting that he's gone to the Patriots now if AJ Brown goes there. I wonder how that's gonna um come out because I I I don't see both of them existing in the same team. Both would expect to be a WR1, I think, going to the Patriots with uh Stephon Diggs moving on.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

That's that's what they'd hope. I mean the anticipation would be that uh they'd be number one and um be um the big star um for the team. So it will be interesting to see which one actually is more rumor than not, because I I suspect that one of them is kind of uh more just to get the uh speculation moving across different teams. Uh I because you're right, I I don't see them both being there and and trying to compete for the ball.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah. And I I'm gonna make one of my bold predictions here as well. I don't think Drake May is gonna have anywhere near the year he had this year, next year.

SPEAKER_06 5:15

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

In fact, I might go as far to say that the Patriots might not even make the playoffs next year.

SPEAKER_06 5:21

Wow, that is a bold call, mate. That is a bold call. I was just looking at his um stats P he caught 30 receptions for 332 yards last year. So fifth and a sixth feels about right. Romeo Dobbs obviously was much more productive. I you know, feel that's gonna be a big hit on you guys. 55 receptions for 724. Replacing Dobbs is gonna be much harder, I think, and replacing Wicks.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, uh and look, I don't think they're looking to replace Dobbs. I think that's the whole Matthew Golden trade last year. I think they were looking for him to step up into it. Um he had an excellent uh playoff game against the Bears. And I think you know his speed is quite frightening. If he can stay out of the injury zone or the Christian Watson era area, uh if if you like, then then he has every chance of lighting the league up next year. And of course a lot of it's gonna depend on the form of uh Jordan Love, but I think he's proven himself that he can manage a team. Interestingly, I saw, and and I'm gonna get on the or not get on the Detroit bandwagon, predicted wins for the Packers next year is ten and a half games. For Chicago it's nine and a half, but it's also ten and a half for Detroit. So I don't know who Jared Goff has in his pocket, but why they continue to get this favorable with good team assessment um is just beyond me. Anyway, that's that's the Detroit Mine of the Week out of the way. What what other trades have been going around, Matt?

SPEAKER_06 6:58

Let me uh let me work. I had news from the last couple of weeks. Obviously, um Chris stepped in admirably last week. I think um Terry, you and me are uh hugely at risk if uh if if uh if Chris is going to perform like that in our absence.

SPEAKER_05 7:14

I I know I'm not needed. I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_06 7:17

I know you're needed. News from a couple of weeks ago. Uh um that just I mentioned the Puka and Akua thing. Um there's a lady called Madison Atiabi, she's one of um one of the ladies that he bit uh at dinner on New Year's Eve. Um she's actually withdrawn a restraining order against him, um, which is good news, but the bad news is that that is a precursor to her uh filing a civil lawsuit uh against Puka Nakua, so he's far from out of the uh the woods there. In um there's some interesting non-trade talk about um new uniforms. The commanders have released their next flight uniform, Rams, the Ravens, and the Falcons. So there's a there's a uh there's three new uniforms coming there. In terms of trades, the Falcons um traded Ruca. I'm gonna struggle with this pronunciation, Pete. You might need to help me. Ruca or to the Jaguars from Mason Smith, so swap of 2024 second rounders. But the biggest uh trade of the of the of the last couple of weeks, uh Dixie Dexie Dexter Lawrence was um moved to the Cincinnati Bengals from the New York Giants for the number 10 overall pick in the upcoming 2026 draft. Dexter Lawrence is a uh two-time pro bowler, was taken in the first round in uh 2019. Um and the Giants now hold picks number five and ten, um, as well as pick number 37 and five other picks in the 2026 draft. So there's a there's a complete retool retooling um ahead, I would imagine, for the for the Giants. Um in other news, um talking about um high-profile defensive linesman linemen, Will Anderson signed three-year $150 million contract extension with the Texans. That makes him the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 9:19

So we've obviously talked a lot about Max and obviously Nika Parsons, um the Will Anderson, third round pick in 2023, had Korea um high numbers uh in 2025, 12 sacks, 20 tackles were lost, two force fumbles, sorry, three force fumbles, two fumble recoveries. He was first team all pro in 2025, and he's certainly cashed in. So 150 over three years. Also um counting the money is 38-year-old Trent Williams, 49ers left tackle. He signed a two-year $50 million, $37 million guaranteed. Trent Williams is a 12-time pro bowler, and I think there are only four other linemen in NFL history who've been 12-time pro bowlers. There's a lot of money being splashed around. Kerry, you can talk about the last big bag of money that's been thrown at your kicker. Jerry's um Jerry's Eddie was gonna do.

SPEAKER_05 10:22

Yeah, look, and it's surprising to me because usually what happens is that we do a lot of um kind of bantering around about yes, we were close to um the number, and then it falls apart. But this time he um came through. Um I'm okay with it. It's it's a huge amount of money and um $28 million for I think it was four years. And um that's that's that's plenty to go around for, kicker. I I'd say. Look, he's he's uh been a superstar for us. Um I think 88% is um where he's at. I'm happy with it because at least I mean we we if we can't score touchdowns, we score somewhere, right? So that would that was the benefit of having him around.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Exactly. It's it's a good backing of Dak Prescott's touchdown capability. Although, to be fair, Dak Prescott is probably the leading touchdown not scorer, but provider, I guess, in uh in the NFC most years over the last uh few years. So your attacking flair has never been in question. We'll talk about the defense later. I think that's a really good deal for exactly why you said, uh, Kerry. I think that if you look at the number of games that were lost last year from a missed field goal or a missed extra point, having someone who can eighty-eight percent of the time convert their chances from anywhere between, you know, twenty-six to sixty yards is is well worth seven million. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:55

It was that distance that really convinced me that, you know, we could uh falter um probably sooner than most teams and feel comfortable that you know a 60 yarder is kind of in the bag, and that's strange to say, but it it it felt like yeah, he's he's good for it. It wasn't one of those, you know, sit back and you know, uh close your eyes and and and just pray. It was, yeah, he's he's probably got this. So I think that kind of comfort gives you um you know the deal that he's got. So uh bring it on. And like you said, the next is let's um do something about our defense and then we'll be uh happy.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Well, you've got a couple of first-round draft picks to sort out.

SPEAKER_06 12:38

Yeah, you're gonna go there in the we needs uh we need to question his sanity. Yeah, um uh Randon Albre is 112 of 127 career on-field goal at once. So I agree with you two chaps. I think it's a rarity that we say Jerry's spent his money well, but I think he's spent his money well in this instance.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah, he's done a good job. I think realising the value of the kicker. Um, and and if he doesn't, he'll go off to the UFL and kick four-point field goals for fun, right? So Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 13:11

I think there'd be um uh an enormous amount of other NFL teams interested in signing him before he had to sign for the Louisville team. But um yeah.

unknown 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Right. Right, we'll come on to the UFL later. I I I'd like to touch on the the the tale of two quarterbacks, if I may now. One unsigned, um holding out. Um is he about to shaft Pittsburgh from getting a decent quarterback by holding on for much longer? That's Aaron Rodgers. And rumour also has it that uh the Rams are opening the the purse, digging deep to offer a very lucrative extension to Matthew Stafford in thoughts of winning another Super Bowl and I guess creating a dynasty. But let's start with Mr. Rogers to start with. He has still not made a decision. Pittsburgh are pressing him. Uh what's your thoughts on him coming back or not making a decision on his retirement?

SPEAKER_06 14:11

Well, I think the thing we've seen with Aaron Rodgers over the last ten years is he'll do what he wants when he wants to do it. I mean, maybe the maybe the Steelers could pay for him to, you know, get on a boat and float off to one of his desert islands to spend three days locked in a whatever it is he locks himself into and and find his thoughts. But um, yeah, yes, yeah. I think we had this conversation in one of our earlier episodes, Pete. I think he probably should have hung his boots up um at the end of last season uh season, and um you know, knowing when to retire as a a legend of the game, I think is uh art form that only some people master and others don't. But he'll do what he wants. I would be surprised if he doesn't come back, particularly um um you know, given the change in you might, you know, you might see it as a as a new a new challenge with the change in head coach and um a little bit of retooling from the Steelers, but yeah, who knows from Aaron. He's uh he's an individual of uh a very special uniqueness, I would say. Um what are your thoughts on him, Kerry?

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Yeah, look, uh I'm I'm with you, I believe. Um my my thought is, you know, um, if I'm the Steelers, I'm thinking into the future. Um, because you have to, right? When you um are at a point where you're uh really holding on to a quarterback who you know is like this, where it's year on year, um at any point they could um make a different decision. You've really got to be uh looking at your uh front office and saying, um, why aren't we preparing for the future? What is our plan be? Because the likelihood is um yeah, he'll probably hang around one more year because you know, um there's no doubt that he can still play, right? That that that is still there. And there's a lot of um, you know, um teams who would love to have someone like him. However, I think as an organization, when you're when you're starting to get to this point where you're just kind of holding on, um, there needs to be some serious conversations in that uh office to say um what is the plan? Um let's let um uh Aaron Rodgers be Aaron Rodgers, but um we need to have a a plan uh without him either way.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

Yeah, I I know that when he left the Packers, you know, the Packers came under a lot of criticism, but they were just very firm. Uh and I I think the Steelers could be the same, which is you've got to tell us because we have to get ourselves ready. And the Packers were were it's not about you you telling us next year it's Jordan, if you don't want to be here, thank you very much, right? Yeah, I think you've got to treat him like that because as Matt said, he'll disappear to a yurt for six months and you won't be able to get hold of him.

SPEAKER_06 17:07

I think you you make a good point that it's that it's a very different situation. The Packers could afford to be firm because they had Jordan in you know in the wings, the Steelers haven't. I think that you know Roth has got all the leverage he the Steelers are very there's an enormous amount of risk here. I think they're all in on him and there's you know scrambling for a plan B that I don't know where they pick in the draft, late teens, early late teens, I would have thought, but they're not gonna there's not a quarterback that's gonna start you know week one for them in the draft. So I think the Steelers have have have backed themselves into a bit of a corner here. But again, shame on him because he kind of dragged his heels a bit last year and did some something somewhat similar. So um, yeah, I think that's a very, very different situation than uh Rams and uh and Matthew Stafford. I mean, the moves that the Rams have made in the offseason, Pete. We talked about them, you know, trading for cornerbacks in previous episodes. The Rams have got to get Stafford signed. I think their window is wide open. It's right now they've pushed the chips in. If they don't sign Matthew Stafford or Matthew Stafford doesn't sign an extension, um, you know, they they're missing a key cornerstone of that their plan to capitalize on on the window that they've opened or main or kept open. So I think that's a very different one. That that that's something that is you know has to work and is probably gonna work. We wait and see with um with the Steelers and and um um Aaron Rodgers.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Exactly. Um thoughts on Matthew Stafford, getting a whole bag of money for building a dynasty at the Rams, worth it, not worth it? Definitely worth it.

SPEAKER_06 18:52

Definitely worth it. Rams have Rams have just got to make it happen.

SPEAKER_05 18:56

Yeah, it's a big big player. You know, you have to think about where we were early in the season last year, right? He was one of our potential uh MVPs, right? And I think that's the um the reality is um always been a solid player, always um, you know, top of the charts as far as um capability. So I think unless you've got a you know mega deal Herschel Walker type, you know, um we're gonna you know retool the organization, which the Rams don't need to. The Rams are are solid, they don't have to do anything like that, then you do go all in on your star quarterback who's um you know gotten in gotten you into the position where you can either be fighting for the Super Bowl or make the Super Bowl over a number of years. So yeah, you keep him.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yeah, I I just yeah, my hesitation is he's potentially about to lose his biggest weapon f from from last year, uh uh through uh whatever means, and and maybe the less said about that the better. Uh can they replace that person and get the same mileage out of them, or is there going to be a bigger load falling on Devontae Adams?

SPEAKER_06 20:09

That's just because of the Stafford contract situations. He signed two years for 84 million last year, um and uh he becomes a free agent in 2027. So he's got one year left, so they're obviously um negotiating with him Pete for an extension on top of that, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 20:27

So he yeah, 84 million over two. Um he had uh 40 million of that guarantee, uh sorry, eighty million guaranteed, 40 million up front. So um yeah, he's um gonna earn a base salary of sixteen million and a twenty-four million dollar sign-in bonus. Um yeah, he's certainly not uh short of change, right? So um we'll we'll watch that one. I I suspect they'll probably look for another couple of years, Pete. How old is he? 30.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

He's younger than Aaron Rodgers. That's the way I put it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:03

Oh, he's 30. He's 38 years and two months, yeah. So Rogers is what, 41 now?

SPEAKER_02 21:08

42 now.

SPEAKER_06 21:09

42. Wow. Yeah, I I could see I don't know about what the Rams are trying to do, Pete, but I could see them trying to do another two years.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Yeah, at least I I would think. Excellent. Well, thank you, Gent. Shall we move on to the UFL? So UFL is two through week week four.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

This week.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Yeah. Out of the three of us, one of us has got half an ass cheek on the shiver buying chair.

SPEAKER_06 21:45

I'm afraid I'm um they have const can constantly disappointing me. So what are we bottom? Second bottom now, I think the standard.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

You are equal on one and three uh with the Houston Gamble. The Louisville Kings and the Columbus Aviators. That is you, uh McKund and Gordy. Gordy. All have a third of an ass cheek sitting on the shirt buying chair. However, if I was them, I'd be looking at the Birmingham Stallions and going, they couldn't even score a bloody point last week.

SPEAKER_06 22:24

No, no. And um, shock horror, they traded their quarterback after that game. So uh weirdly they lost to the Orlando um what are they?

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Orlando, yeah, but everyone's lost to the Orlando Storm. So it's not the end of the world.

SPEAKER_06 22:45

He didn't take the storm because their emblem looks too much like the Melbourne storm, but four and oh. But yeah, immediately after that game, um Stallions traded their quarterback Matt Corral and edge rusher Amani Bledsoe to the Orlando Storm for their quarterback, Dorian Thompson Robinson. So uh maybe that will change our fortunes, but um yeah, one and three and and going pointless in that game was very disappointed.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

In another hold uh hold up there. Are we saying a team that is four and oh traded their quarterback? Yes. Their actual starting quarterback to a shit team who failed to score against them.

SPEAKER_06 23:30

But they also they also got an edge rusher as part of that deal. So the other two cares.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

What the hell is that?

SPEAKER_05 23:38

Well, that that that is they must have a good reserve.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

This this guy who can't score a point against us, well, let's get him on the side. He's obviously what we need. Fuck me. I think there needs to be some kind of inquiry.

SPEAKER_06 23:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

I was looking at support to you in a Birmingham stallion shirt at the end of the season.

SPEAKER_06 24:01

Two other teams traded um quarterbacks this week. Um so the Louisville Kings, who are obviously in the basement with the Stallions, also traded their quarterback, Jason Blau, I believe his name is, straight up to the DC defenders, uh Mike Delilliello. Uh so that's four quick four QBs out of eight teams um have been on the on the move this year. So uh do we should we really be questioning the credibility of this league, Pete?

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Well, I'm thinking is it it it sounds like an in-season draft has gone on, not a fucking trade. Yeah. I j I draft the tea the quarterback from the best team in the league. How the hell does that work?

SPEAKER_05 24:46

Uh they're trying to show the NFL this is how you do it, right? So uh they're doing big moves, no small moves in the in the back corners. This is hey, let's let's change the pool complexion of the team.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Well, to be fair, Dallas did do something about a week before the start of the season last year with their best defensive player, so I guess we can't uh we can we can't jump on that too much. However, uh the Dallas Renegades, Kerry did not turn up this week.

SPEAKER_05 25:17

Not at all, not at all. You know, first half they looked normal, solid, um, look like um what I expected, but then just fell apart. Had zero run game as they always have. That's not been a uh a feature of theirs, but uh absolutely uh passing game fell apart, uh interceptions um, you know, back and forth. So I think um big mistakes, um, a leaky diff defense and no run game. So yeah, we we definitely didn't show up. But I do note that it was our first away game. So maybe that's why we fell apart. Um, you know, we just weren't at home this time. So we had three games in a row at home, and I believe our next few are away. So let's see if we start to slide down the ladder or we pick ourselves back up.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

I reckon you should trade your quarterback. That seems to be the answer to everything. That seems to work, right? Let's see. So I I don't know if you guys have uh managed to watch a game. Um there is a lot of horizontal passing, a lot of screenplays. I noticed, and and uh how Birmingham didn't beat uh the St. Louis Battlehawks a couple of weeks ago because they they pretty much realised that every play was a horizontal one and and kept pushing back but still managed to uh uh allow the Battlehawks in. Um I'm not uh too unconfident that I will not be wearing the uh Battlehawks shirt at the end of the year. The other thing I've noticed, I've watched most games in the 15 minutes highlights on YouTube, and you'll get a big play to the one yard line, and the next thing you're seeing is a fourth and goal field goal. Um and you you know I don't know about you, but I want to see the three plays where they couldn't get it in from the one yard line.

SPEAKER_05 27:04

Um, no running running plays, right? So it it seems to be a very common theme. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:13

Yeah, the standards the standards not there, is it? I think I you know I watched that first week game between the Kings and the Stallions, and it part, you know, the passes were at players' ankles, you know, the receivers were run running the wrong route. It was ugly. But um, yeah, I'm not surprised. It's uh highlights have been snipped down to uh oh and here's a field goal from the you know from the 13-yard line or whatever after being in the red zone and not being able to capitalise. So uh yeah, maybe this is a one and one year and done, Pete, for us on the UFL. Oh I'm not so sure. I think it's because find a healthier distraction to get us through the uh NFL close season.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Oh well we'll we'll cross that bridge when we come to it next year. But uh if you're sitting here in a Birmingham Stallion t-shirt then or shirt, then then it's obviously worthwhile. We might just have to redraw, draw names out of a hat or something. But I can tell you, any new guest, the Orlando Storm is off the table.

SPEAKER_05 28:19

Don't let 'em.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

You got a choice between the Houston Gamblers or the Orlando Storm. But the storm is off the table. It is blown out. Uh we'll see how we go. Uh six more weeks to go. Long way to go. Uh, I fear out of the three of us on this podcast, Kerry is the one least likely to be wearing a shirt currently. Currently. I do fear that it could be uh uh myself or Matt who may end up in that situation.

SPEAKER_06 28:53

You're coming personally happy for the man from Dallas. It's a it's about time you had bragged rights over the two of us. Yeah, good on your screen and um when you win the UFL championship.

SPEAKER_05 29:07

Well, you know, I'll see what it feels like to be on a winning uh game. It'll it'll be a rare moment in Dallas, many, many years since then. So yes, let's see. Look, um I I know like you said, it's a it's a long season though, so let's let's see if um you know the tables don't turn after all these mega trades. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

I guess so. Well you've managed to keep hold of your quarterback along with three other teams.

SPEAKER_06 29:35

Well the other four teams will spot theirs in the next week, and then everybody will have will have moved to that even in the season. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Well the good good news if you is if you want a good sideways passer, the Battlehawks quarterback is pretty good at that. Yeah, that the one down the field he's not so good at. But the lateral pass into a screen, he must do that 15 to 20 times a game. Excellent. Well, we'll go into week five, we'll come back next week and uh and see where we are. Anyway, let's move on to uh the more depressing news uh for me as a San Francisco Giants fan. Uh let's move on to the baseball. So uh shall we just take a moment of silence for the Mets um over the last week and a half?

SPEAKER_06 30:24

I I I'd like to celebrate the Mets. They've they've contributed to three of our three of his six-game winning streaks. So um was it four actually, maybe um no, they are they're awful at the moment, aren't they?

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Uh well they shouldn't be, right? Uh Boba shit, one soto. I could keep going. I know they've lost Pete Alonso, but he's having a slow start out there in Baltimore. Um yeah, it's it's weird. Eleven games in a row for a team expected to be knocking on the playoffs door. So but let's not worry about them. We'll come to Matt in a second. I am going to come to Kerry and see has he done anything about looking up the Texas Rangers this week? Is there anything you want to add from last week, Kerry?

SPEAKER_05 31:13

No, no big contribution other than you know, we've kind of uh done a uh a little bit of a Dallas thing and kind of sl you know slid down the ranks a bit. But you know, we're sitting at 500, so uh right now I'll take that. It's it's uh it could be worse. So I will uh just say uh I'm my hope is that we start to have a a little bit of a run um to get back uh into form. But uh you know, when we started the conversation, the Astros were on top, and I was wishing I was an Astro, but uh now I think the Rangers is where I want to be. So we're all good.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Yep, no. Astros have have uh been given the curse. They are down at nine and fifteen. So most teams have played 23 or 24 games. Uh I'll just touch on the Giants because I'm finding the Cubs division is quite fascinating, and Matt is off to watch them, so we'll have an in-depth chat with him. The the J Yeah, the Giants are currently nine and thirteen after uh a nine-game road trip going four and five. Um we were hoping a giant as Giants fan that they would come out with a slightly better record. However, their last series against Washington, the Bats finally found the ball. Which is good. They have some challenging um pitches in their starting rotation that I think is gonna need to be looked at. But the bullpen, despite it being um chastised a little bit before the start of the season, is doing well in closing out games. Unfortunately, sitting in the same league as the Dodgers, the Padres and the Diamondbacks, we are seven games off the Dodgers already, going into a three game series starting tomorrow. So by the end of the week we could be ten games behind first place. But fingers crossed, if the Rockies can beat the Dodgers twice, uh so can we. But let's turn our attention to the Cubbies, because the Cubbies sit in in World Cup parlance in the group of death.

SPEAKER_06 33:14

Yeah, all all team over 500, um which is which is just nonsensical. Um but yeah, they they're on uh a last ten games, seven and three. Well, they the Mets have helped us. We've beat the Phillies again this morning. So um it's exciting, and and given the the you know, the litany of disaster around injuries to our pitchers, um we currently have Cade Horton gone for the season, Matthew Boyd on injured reserve, our closer Daniel Palencia went down a couple of days ago, Jordan Wicks and Porter Hodge. So um three uh sorry, two of our starting rotation, Horton and Boyd gone. Our closer has gone, um, and then relievers um Hicks and Wicks and Hodge. So we're really on Struggle Street, but the the the guys are doing it. Schultz is pitching quite well. Um Cabrera's come in and done a good job. Tion's bounced back after a couple of dodgy starts. So and then and the boys have found their bats finally. So um the runs are going in, uh they're playing great defense. Nico's earning his money on that contract extension. PCA's still uh sending in the highlight reel um catches in the in centre field. So I'm I'm here for it, mate. This is fantastic, and um hopefully the winning streak continues for another another three weeks, so um you can listen to my singing.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Well I know you've got a you yeah, you've you've got a series against the Reds coming up, and the Reds are also uh four in a row uh and playing exceptional baseball at the moment. So it's gonna be a tough tough series, it'd be a good one to go and see.

SPEAKER_06 35:00

I'm at three of those Reds games. Um so well, unless there's another series before the series that I'm going to. So start of May, I'm at um three of the the games at Wrigley. So uh there might be one before that, Pete, but um definitely uh so Reds and and then the White Sox, and then I see the uh the first few games of the Brewers series. So I'm in the thick of it. It'll be great to uh to be watching games at Wrigley that are uh very meaningful and will have a big amp impact on um the way that division shapes up um leading into the all-star break.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Yeah, I mean it's only uh I know it's nine games over 162, but if you can win nine in a row, you're always gonna put yourself in a good position, I would say. So who who's next? We should probably talk about the Blue Jays and and a fall from Grace, really. They're having a dreadful start to the season. If you think the Cubs have got injury problems, they've lost, I think, four of their starting five starting pitches in the cour course of the first uh few weeks, with obviously uh Dylan Sease being the only standout one, but uh they're not winning games and finding themselves falling behind rapidly in their division.

SPEAKER_06 36:18

Yeah, they've lost some some of their bats as well. Um Springer and Barger are out um as well as their pitchers, so uh they're on struggle street at the moment, the poor old Blue Jays. But um I think they're a good you know, they're a good team once they get their superstars back. Um they'll um they'll start moving up the stand-ins a little bit. So um yeah, fingers crossed. We you know none of us like to see good players out injured for lengthy periods, so um yeah, let's get those batters and pitchers back and see what the Blue Jays can do.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Yeah, it'd be good to see some kind of competition so it's not just the Yankees folding under pressure in October that we have to put up with as as they go to a third Dodgers World Series in a row. Um there has been some moaning around the Shohei Otani rule.

SPEAKER_06 37:07

Yes. Yeah, I saw Craig Council. Well, Kerry, this is a this is a beauty. Craig Council had a better moan about it yesterday, I think. Um he did. M MLB teams uh limited uh Kerry to having 13 pitchers on the roster. Otani bats and he's a positional player, and he pitches. So the role of the league have created uh exemption for Shotei. Um so he doesn't count as one of the 13 pitchers. Um and the Dodgers are the only team I believe, Pete, in the league, that benefit from this. So um with the you know, with the injuries that we're seeing cubbies, we talked about Blue Jays, we talked about to pitchers at the moment, they're going down like flies. The fact that the Dodgers can effectively carry an extra pitcher um is um is is questionable. But um, yeah, what are your thoughts on it, Pete?

SPEAKER_03 38:03

I think money talks, right? That's all it is. All the time.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

All the time. It was a joy in the last game of I think it was the 2021 season where they finally did a ray with a rule that Logan Webb hit a home run in his final at bat for the San Francisco 49ers. And you take it uh 49ers, the Giants. Um you could take it back to the mid-2010s. Matter Bumgarner was a hell of a batter as well. Not Otani levels, but you know, he's got two grand slams to his name, which is no mean feat for any batsman, let alone a pitcher. And yet here we are in 2026 changing the bloody rules. Um so a pitcher gets more time to warm up because he's batting, and uh a team's allowed to carry an extra pitcher. Um it's not like he's out there at first base or anything like that. He's he's sitting in the dugout waiting to have a bat. It's uh quite frankly, money talks.

SPEAKER_06 39:05

Yes, no, that's one for the Dodgers. I think Pete, if uh correct me if I'm wrong, um the American League they went with a designated hitter first. Yes and we're still batting in the um National League. So um ultimately over time the National League um ceded, and and everybody um now has a DH and um and pitchers don't bat, but um yeah, it um it just gives us another thing to dislike the Dodgers about, doesn't it, Pete?

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 39:38

Yeah, yes, you should, this is almost as important as um as learning about Texas Rangers. That's what argued even more important. Hate with Dodgers first, love your team second.

SPEAKER_04 39:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Uh I would say that they also wear the dreaded blue and white, just like Peterborough United, and you just cannot like a team in blue and white. Look, enough said about the game. I've already had a go at Detroit um and the Dodgers. Uh let's uh move on to uh something that could be even more depressing for fans of Tottenham Hot Spur. Uh three weeks ago we talked about their chance of relegation. We finished this weekend in the EFL with Tottenham sitting firmly in the relegation zone by two points. Matt, you're off to see Spurs. Well I am thoughts.

SPEAKER_06 40:32

Well, I said to you the other week, Pete, you know, if you're one of the big six and threaten to break away from the EPL to join the Super League, you can have what's coming to you. I've got absolutely no sympathy for them whatsoever. They're really on Struggle Street. Um I um I can't uh Dad and I kind of watched the 10 minutes of that West Ham Crystal Palace game last night. It was awful. The ball was in the air for I would say four minutes, 50 seconds of the five minutes of it I watched. But that was a solid point for West Ham. So Spurs are two points adrift now, I think, at the bottom. I I just can't see where they're gonna get points from. They've really they're all over the place, aren't they? So um it's almost unthinkable for them to drop out of the Premier League, but it it could very well happen.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Yep, so so uh let's bring it back to contracts as well. Allegedly, Roberto De Zerbi, a five-year contract, five years, no relegation clause in there. What on earth are they doing? Are they hoping he walks if they go down?

SPEAKER_06 41:40

I just think it's another fundamentally bad decision by you know the Brains Trust at Tottenham Hotspur. We've seen bad decision after bad decision around coaches, player sign-ins, you know, how you handle adversity, it's just a litany of disaster. Um and and you know, Spurs are clearly gonna have to sell an enormous amount of their players um if they go down into the championship. So yeah, if they sell their players and they're left with a coach on an enormous contract, where are they? There's it just the thinking's just not joined up uh for me. And who is you know who is running this football club and who is making the decisions based around coaching managers and playing stuff? It's it's just they're asleep at the wheel.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Yeah. And you know what the most Spurs thing ever is going to happen is they're gonna get relegated. They're gonna finish third in the championship next year and get knocked out by the team that finishes tenth because they've now opted for the play-in style tournament in the playoffs in the championship. So going down to tenth position in the championship, you can get promoted to the Premier League next year. That is just outrageous.

SPEAKER_03 42:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 43:00

Yeah, thank God they've got that big stadium that everybody's gonna toddle along to go and see Birmingham City next season.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Yeah, uh well exactly, and of course, uh if uh things go the way they have been, they're only one division away from the mighty Cambridge United, who currently sit third in League One in the automatic promotion places with a game in hand, uh, which is tomorrow or tonight, tomorrow morning. So um I may well be shouting with glee at about uh eight o'clock tomorrow morning because that could almost sew up our promotion, which would be awesome. Anyway, um I do have a question for you, Matt. Uh and Kerry, feel free to come in. Not a quiz question.

SPEAKER_06 43:45

It could be united because it's not a quiz question.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

I was watching uh the Golden State Warriors in their first game in the playing tournament. Oh yeah. Um which they won, lost the second. didn't make the playoffs, but they won their first game and they won it because Steph Curry decided it was time to win it and it actually got me thinking about DJ Moore because when you've needed someone in the Bears he's been the player, the go-to player to get that touchdown, that high ball, make something happen and he's not gonna be there for you this year. So now a lot of water has passed under the bridge and and you're you're comfortable that he's moved on. How are you really feeling about that?

SPEAKER_06 44:36

Yeah, I don't think uh my feelings change, Pete. I I always thought he you know he was a great player. I was really pleased when Ryan Poles got him in that trade for the first round two or three years ago. But his production has um has fallen off. Um he's gone from 80, 90 um catches a year down to 50. I just think it's a simple case of um you can't have everything you want in the NFL. Um, you know, in any league where you have a cap, you can't have all the things that you want. And I think Poles and Ben Johnson have sat down and they've thought it's an easier um gap to fill. And I know this is the thrust of your argument or question here in this instance, Pete. They can fill that gap at uh WR easier than they can some of the other gaps on our roster. And when you put you know the sum of it all together, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they, you know, if they spend a second, third round draft pick on a wide receiver this year as well. But um, I think he thinks he's got, you know, he's got um Roma Dunze, he's got Luther Burden, he's got Col Command and Colston Loveland. And I think he feels as though he's got players that that um that Caleb can throw the ball to. So I'd love I'd have loved him stay, but you can't, you know, in cap-era sports, you can't have all the things that you want. So I I am disappointed, but at the same time, it's just part and parcel of the game. Um move on, they maximise their value for him. Um, and um, you know, it's up to Luther Burden and Ray Madunzay now to fill those gaps.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Yeah, look, I I kind of get that. Um I don't think it's just as simple as replacing a wide receiver, though, is it? Because it's uh it was just watching Steph Curry when you needed someone in the clutch moment of the game, you went to him. And that's what Chicago did with DJ Moore. Now, don't get me wrong, Carsten Loveland has stepped up a little bit the back end of last year, but time and time again last year he was their clutch player, and you can't replace that. And that's why I think that that it might come back to bite you. That that's kind of a that was my uh uh attempt at an analogy um to say how do you feel that your clutch player is gone when it's fourth and nine uh and you're on the 35-yard line and the ball's getting host up in the air, the guy who would bring it down 90% of the time no longer sits with a bear's journey on.

SPEAKER_06 47:11

I suspect this argument goes both ways, Pete, but I'll leave it with you to cogitate over and maybe we can ask you about it. I would imagine most people in the Chicagoland area would say DJ Moore isn't our clutch player, it's Caleb Williams. Now, you know, we could argue that DJ doesn't get the ball if Caleb doesn't throw it to him. Um, and you know, we've got our Iceman, and he has proven himself time and time again. Yeah, and then two or three of those last-minute victories he threw the ball to uh to DJ, but in other games he threw it to Colkomat and he threw it to Colston Loveland, and he would have thrown it to Roma Dunzo if it had been fit. So I think they've had a look, they know their clutch guy is. It's number 18, and it wasn't number two, and we've moved on. So, you know, again, very, very sad to see him go. I really hope he does well and um jails with Josh Allen at the Buffalo Bills, but it is what it is, mate. He's um he's gone, we need to move on, and um the futures Roman Dunse and Luther Burden and Colson Loveland, and I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

You know, I'm I'm gonna come back and say DJ would have caught that a load of times next year, right? Yes. You'll write it down each time. Yeah, yeah. DJ would have done that. Very good. Very good. You would have heard last week from Matt, who was at uh Sydney Bears, not the Gary Bears. The Sydney Bears launched last season. The AIHL has pucked off uh this week. So uh Matt, can you give us an update on how things are going, what it's looking like? Uh I think we're gonna turn this into a regular feature because you have the uh AIHL pirate login, I believe.

SPEAKER_06 48:57

Two rounds. Uh most teams have played two games. There's a couple couple of teams that haven't. Uh Newcastle North Stars sit on top of the league uh at the moment. One regular um uh time win and one overtime win. The Bears actually go off to a very um un unexpected start. They lost the Battle of Sydney to the Ice Dogs. The Ice Dogs hadn't been the Bears for about four or five years, I don't think, but they lost that game 4-2. The ice dogs scored an empty netter in the last minute. But um yeah, Bears failed to capitalise on a five or six power play opportunities, but they bounced back the next night and got a win that in their first home game. So ice dogs and the bears share the same facility. So even though the Bears were playing at Macquarie Park, it was an away game against the dogs. So yeah, Bears bounced back first um first home game. I think the uh Macquarie ice rink was sold out 1900, 2,000 people. They beat the Lightning for 6-4, I believe. So um they sit in fourth place on the ladder, uh, North Stars are top. Um, Mustangs, Ice Dogs, and Bears uh are second, third, and fourth. The Adelaide adrenaline uh bottom at the moment, uh, along with the Brisbane Lightning, no points out of their two uh games at the um in in uh rounds one and two. So uh exciting. We'll see what happens. The uh imports will be coming over um for most teams, sort of weeks eight and ten, I believe. But um yeah, go those young kids at the Bears.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

We'll have to get Gordy back on to give us a uh commentator's update as well. Time is upon us, gentlemen, on that bombshell. Thanks for uh KG's hat trick, well done. Hopefully we'll go for four in a row or or a glut. I can't I can't remember. Is it hat trick then a glut and then a haul? I think it's two appearances.

SPEAKER_05 50:56

Yeah. It doesn't have a uh you know like a uh a catchy word, so maybe four is not up for me. So let's but let's see, let's see.

SPEAKER_06 51:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 51:12

I've done three, so yeah, yeah, that's that's kind of clutch.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

I have a I have a have a feeling Chris might end up being our clutch player to be called upon at a moment's notice.

SPEAKER_06 51:24

We have the draft coming up, Pete. When's that end of uh end of the month? So not next week, the week after, right? I think it might be this weekend. Is it?

SPEAKER_02 51:34

Well, okay. I'm prepared to uh be wrong, but if anyone can do some fast googling. Let's see, draft. Yes. Um we'll have to reach out to McKund if it is this weekend. If it's not, we'll reach out to him for the following weekend.

SPEAKER_06 51:55

I will um I will let him know and uh we'll get the man who knows everything about college football back to uh step us through all the genius and disaster moves that are made. And I think we'll have Cowboys rather pick ten, Kerry, so we'll have genius picking.

SPEAKER_05 52:15

That's right. And then in uh fall apart right then, right there.

SPEAKER_06 52:19

But beg your pardon, I think the Giants pick at five and ten, I said earlier, so they're around about that 11 spot. So yeah. Strafe and Jerry.

SPEAKER_05 52:29

Yes, and it is this weekend, so yeah, there's gonna be some uh some fun stuff to watch. Uh the only thing that I enjoy is the sheer spectacle of it, you know, for something that is so mundane in every other sport in every other way. It's just stuff that's done in the back office, right? This you know, this whole you know, uh future of the league, the NFL has done a great job of making it a thing. So for those of you who don't know anything about the NFL draft, uh never watched it, it's a um full primetime program. You know, people are talking about it all weekend in the US. And um, if you just want some random entertainment, um check it out on ESPN or um wherever you can uh check it out at. But it will be fun to watch.

SPEAKER_02 53:21

Yeah, I think so. I think we catch the tail end of it on Sunday and Monday, I believe.

SPEAKER_06 53:27

Yeah, I'm disappointed. It's a very, very bad um time difference for me. I always watch a carry. I think it's fascinating. Um uh viewing yeah, how do you get eight people who who really all should have retired and you know that we'll see a year sitting around a big desk where he's got uh you know insight and uh and opinion. And then the the other thing that completely fascinates me is these absolute you know fanatic lunatics from each team that they have in the crowd who are all dressed up and you know going absolutely mental over, you know, some obscure seventh round draft pick from a college we've never heard before. And uh yeah, they they just manage to entertain us, certainly.

SPEAKER_05 54:14

Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's crazy. But um in a in a in a cool way, because for me that means that uh even though it's still a few months from you know um you know training camp and everything starting, it's kind of the kickoff of the year. So uh it is an exciting time. Season starts next week.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

And on that, bombshell. Yes, Kerry, you are on the clock for making a fourth appearance next week, um, where we'll probably go through our report cards for our relative teams and what they did in the draft. Uh thanks for listening, everybody, and we'll catch you all next week.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

That's a wrap on another episode of the Mostly Football Show. Don't forget to subscribe and review or get in touch at mostly football twenty-five at gmail.com. See you next week.