Everything that Mattered from Preseason Week 1

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I don't think I'm over-pumping him up.

We all watched it, right?

Like, I mean, like, he just kind of what you would remember.

Our show is keeping everything in context of who he was facing and what the stage was.

But yes, yes, I would think this is what you wanted to see in Shaddor Sanders' first game.

Hey,

welcome to Heed the Call,

an NFL podcast, Heeding That Call.

On a Monday, Dan Hands is here with Mark Sessler, Connor Orr,

Justin Graver on the ones and twos.

Men, Cecily, let's start it out this way.

A big,

huge shout out to our listeners.

Men, you guys, we asked you to heed the call and send us up the charts across the world in the sports podcast category.

And they absolutely did

through follows, unfollow follows, comments, star ratings.

We went all the way up to the top 10 in the U.S.

in sports podcast.

Look at that.

There we were, right in between a Ringer Fantasy Football show and the Dan Patrick show, number 10.

And then over in the UK, you guys always step up in a big spot as well.

We landed in the top three in between stick to cricket and derashish football.

We fit right in there.

That makes sense.

Oh, these are great.

These are great titles.

Stick to cricket.

De Rush is football.

So, anyway, I guess all we could say, Mark, is thank you to the listeners for heeding the call.

That is awesome.

Yeah, and this popped up on, you know, like Twitter and stuff and Instagram.

And like,

I deal with what you would call imposter syndrome, where it's like, someone's going to find out that you probably shouldn't be doing this at all at some point.

And like

when I noticed that we had the third highest rated show in Europe,

and that, you know, I've listened to Dan Patrick since I was a youth, and we've just nudged him down to number 11, like, it caused me a lot of internal

rigmarole.

I was like, wait, I'm on this show.

I'm part of this.

Like, I'm happy to be part of it.

I know, Dan, from where you're coming from, you'd be like, I'd want you to just say, like, you know, no, I want you to always be honest on the show.

The reason why the show works is because

I have egomaniac syndrome.

I think I should be the only one doing this.

So we balance out.

That's fair.

I think we balance out.

I just was like, wait a minute, what?

That's something that I, that's a product that I'm top 10 for Connor Insider.

Yeah, you heard Stu Gotz.

He said you're top 10, baby.

I know that was sincere from him, so that's at least helped.

Connor, how are you doing, Buck?

Oh, Justin, yes, sir.

Sorry, Connor.

You can say how you're doing in a moment.

I just wanted one last thing to thank.

I'm not sure about power control and issues.

I also wanted to thank the audience, but I also wanted to point out that top 10 is great.

Top three is great.

But you know what's better?

Number one.

So if you guys could keep doing what you're doing, we would really appreciate it.

Yeah.

Year two.

This is where now,

depending on when you're listening to this, it's the exact one year anniversary of the launch of of Heed the Call.

And year two,

we want to be on like the mix.

We want to be on these lists every week, every month, every year, and eventually be at the top.

That is the goal.

So, with that said, to get to that point, Connor, we need to actually do a really good football podcast on a regular basis.

And we're going to do a good football podcast today.

In fact, we're going to...

tell the audience what mattered in week one of the preseason.

I think that's what's important.

Some people are going to overreact to certain elements of the preseason, but we will tell you what you actually should be paying attention to.

There's a lot of fat in these games, certainly.

And when you're able to trim that out and just streamline it into the protein shake version of what fans need to know, I feel like that's the ultimate service.

Well said.

And we are going to ask about Connor's weekend, but maybe a little bit deeper in the show, because he sent a photo to the group chat that was both very expressive and captured Connor in a moment of jubilation that I've never seen before.

So that's a little tease.

There it is.

We're going to get the story on this photo, if you're watching on YouTube, later in the show.

But

let's get right into it.

Let's have a conversation.

Let's talk about the things that mattered in the first week of the preseason.

Who wants to start?

Who's got something that they feel good?

You know, why don't we start with your brown, Ceci?

Because I know a lot of people had eyes on Shador Sanders, who obviously was a very, very buzzed about individual this spring, not maybe for the reasons he wanted to be buzzed about when he ended up falling to the fifth round.

But a lot of people are going to be plugged into how he looked playing, getting a lot of playing time at a time where the Cleveland quarterback room was beat up.

What did you see from Deion Sun?

I feel like Cleveland has a talent to,

via drafts, typically, bring in these like massive lightning rod quarterback scenarios that you don't know if it's going to be a disaster or a pleasant surprise.

This was a pleasant surprise.

Watching Shador Sanders play,

you know, here's the thing.

Number one, he's never been in the NFL for more than a minute and he looked comfortable.

He made a couple throws.

There was a throw he made moving to his left, a scoring throw that was just like, wow.

He seems to me to be in control of himself out there and what he's doing.

They've got this guy, Luke Floria, that they waived today, but he made a beautiful throw down the sideline to him, a one-handed catch by this 5'8 receiver.

It just seems to me like

it's only a matter of time before they're going to find a way to make him the starter at some point because they've got a messy quarterback room.

I see the players around him enjoying him, working well with him, and it just seems to me in control.

I watched it, I was like,

I don't know why he went as low as he did in the draft.

I know it had to do with like his interview process and maybe some of the Sanders experience, but I saw a player that looked better than most Browns rookie quarterbacks would.

Sure.

I don't think I'm over-pumping him up.

We all watched it, right?

Like, I mean, like, he just kind of what you would have remembered.

Our show is keeping everything in context of who he was facing and what the stage was.

But yes, yes, I would think this is what you wanted to see in Shaddor Sanders' first game.

I think we kind of do know why he slipped

based on what the level, the talent level, as we understand it, was in the quarterback class, and then the very real concerns about his attitude and his ego.

And, like, I'm not going to dwell on it, but after the game, you saw him giving, I think it was Tony Grossi some shit for saying negative things about him, which is like, kid, you played two quarters or whatever of a preseason game.

Just take the win and move forward.

My question will continue to be, because he obviously has talent, right?

The question that I'll continue to have is: can he handle the ego death that comes with maybe being further back on a depth chart than he believes himself to be, especially if he finds himself having some success, even if it is week one of the preseason?

That's when I say the Browns are going to mess this up, which I know is annoying to you, Mark.

And as a Jets fan, who am I to talk?

But

it's that concern that his ego can't handle where they might have him on the depth chart especially if things go wrong with the browns early and then you might say to your point like then just play them

but i don't know if they're there but maybe if he balls out for three straight weeks it changes the entire equation where we're at i know connor watched this too so i'm going to be really quick here but like i i will say because i'm probably more like magnified on this than i would be otherwise that i don't think he is an antagonistic negative person in any of his comments for the most part.

He really has been the opposite of that.

And even with the Tony Grossi moment, it was playful.

It ended with a smile and a jab.

It wasn't like something like that was sort of like a

incredibly negative or self-possessed.

I'm kind of just willing to see where it goes.

Connor, I know you watched him as well and you maybe the word is not like

he seems to me, and I think the book is out that he's like an entitled guy and a guy that came from extreme wealth and didn't have to a lot of challenges in his life.

And he expects things to be handed to him.

And in case you didn't see it, here's that little moment between Sanders and Tony Grossi, who's kind of like a Cleveland media mainstay.

I think he does radio stuff now.

Let's check that out.

I've been hoping you be

Tony.

I've been hoping you got something positive to say about Cloud.

You always say negative stuff probably.

And I'm like, I ain't do nothing to you.

No, don't listen to that.

I ain't seen nothing positive in you ever

I just don't violate everything.

Harmless.

That's also, if you can't, for those of you who don't know, the Browns director of PR is right in the foreground of that.

And in his head, like, he's just probably like,

like, you know, please stop this right now.

Let's move this along.

All right, let's move on.

But yeah, good start.

And let's see, because they are going to, I guess none of the Browns' injuries, right, are serious ones affecting the quarterbacks other obviously than Deshaun Watson, who's out of the picture entirely.

But Dylan Gabriel, who, yes, was actually a third-round pick, two rounds ahead of Shador Sanders, is involved.

Joe Flacco, of course, is in the mix.

Kenny Pickett is in the mix, but he's down right now.

This is a major challenge for Stefanski to balance this, and let's see how things work.

Yep.

Connor, you're up.

All right.

Can we talk Pats?

Sure.

This is.

Let's do it.

I did not expect, and Shadura was obviously the story of the preseason.

I agreed with a lot of Mark's assessment.

I really liked him, but I do want to see him against a better opponent.

But the Patriots, to me, if you stack up the first and second round picks, probably had the best weekend out of anybody.

Will Campbell, starting at left tackle, eight pass blocking reps, zero pressures allowed, but

it was the run game where Mike Vrabel always takes chances on shorter arm tackles.

And this guy's pulling out to second, third level, burying cornerbacks, looking really good.

He had like two or three pancake blocks where he just smashed people.

And then obviously Trayvion Henderson, this guy's like a mainstay on third down right now already.

And it takes a long time for your factor backs to be able to pick pick up the blocking scheme, to be able to be relevant at that point.

Him and Drake May, Drake May's rushing touchdown, Trayvion Henderson's running a little in-cutting route, makes the whole defense go to the right.

Drake May cuts to the left.

I'm like, holy smokes!

Like, I am buying in on this.

Both of those guys look fantastic.

They dropped a hammer, and it's kind of was like a nice opening note from Mike Vrabel.

And I will say one thing about whether I can get why some people wouldn't be on the Vrabel Express, but

here's him once again after the game tangling

with a journal.

Let's take a look at this if we can.

More?

Mike, just a thought on Drake's performance, and I'm sure the turnover probably

annoyed you with what he did.

Are you asking and answering or not?

Just at the same time, is that what you're doing?

I got you.

Your thoughts.

I would say you've about summed it up.

Well, you know what, Connor?

You're the hardened beat guy here.

The journal, a little bit of a verbal diarrhea there, cost him, right?

Unnecessary.

Here's the thing, and I still suffer with this to this day, because when you're asking a question, you want the coach to know that you know what you're talking about and that you have an idea of how he's going to respond in order to get an elevated answer.

Because if you just sit there and you're saying, football, your thoughts, you know, then you just get kind of the vagaries of it.

And so there's that constant push and pull where if you add too many qualifiers to your question, the coach gets annoyed.

But if you don't add enough qualifiers to the question, the coach answers something incredibly vague.

And so, I respect the internal struggle that this guy's going through here.

I get that, I get that.

It's been,

you know, positive thoughts here

on a 48-18 win.

We're not going to talk about scores a lot because they do not matter in the preseason.

Understand that the games don't really matter, but the players, especially the young guys, and getting a look at certain things, do matter.

But it's been a really, from the darkness of

winning that late season game, was it the week 18 game that cost him the number one pick?

And then

the messiness of firing the head coach and bringing in Vrabel and Kraft basically publicly taking a Mia Culpa that Gerard Mayo was not the right guy, and we kind of messed up the timing of it.

But here's Mike Vrabel.

From that point onward, that messiness onward, it's been been a very nice run here if you're a Patriots fan and you're feeling good about the direction of the team.

So, Connor, this is just another example.

Like, you know, getting some positive things out of this draft class right off the bat.

You know, they got to be feeling good.

How about your boy?

How about your boy, by the way?

I have a lot of boys.

Who?

Your white boy.

Well, your receiver, wide-out fetish.

Good jeans, baby.

Yeah.

Mark and I felt like kind of went into this weekend with dueling short whites, and only one is still on the roster.

So I feel pretty good about Efton Chisholm.

I've been felled.

Who's the white that left a picture, Mark?

Luke Floria, who had this incredible catch on the sideline.

Like, I mean,

it was because of an injury.

It's a pretty severe hamstring tear.

I could see them bringing him back in some.

capacity at some point, but he's not funny.

I'm able to play right now.

It should be said that I strained my quad in my softball game on Friday, but I'm doing this podcast.

So maybe some more intestinal fortitude would be good for your guy, Mark.

Well, okay.

Yeah, Efton Jism.

And by the way, the Chris Hogan hive came for us.

I don't know if you know that we're doing it.

Well,

that's who I was trying to remember.

The Mount Rushmore of Patriot white receivers, like the Chris Hogan heads are out there.

The Hulkamaniacs were saying, give us, you know, give Hogan some respect.

But anyway, six for 50 and a touch.

I think Hogan is a lacrosse player right now, if I'm not mistaken.

Again?

He was only on the Patriots.

Remember that one?

Wasn't that the hook before he became a man?

I think he's engaging in it again.

Great.

Yeah, that's great.

Also, Tom Brady statue.

Did you take a look at that?

Yeah, let's talk about the Brady statue

tall.

Let's take, is it 17 feet tall?

Wow.

The ego on this guy.

He had some comments, and part of his commentary was about

a team that he defeated many times.

Just check that out.

But in the end, this statue isn't just for Pats fans.

It'll also give all the Jets fans something to throw their beers at as they leave the stadium every year.

Probably in the second quarter.

Maybe the third.

Funny.

He's so funny.

You know what?

You know what I want to say?

First of all, your statue sucks.

That's too weird.

Head's too small.

Tiny head.

Yep.

And I love it.

You botched your statue.

Can't fix it.

It's Braun, 17 feet tall.

Speaking of ego,

too tall.

And here is my promise.

You know, when the Jets finally win a Super Bowl, it's going to happen one day.

I am going to propose and make sure it gets to the right decision makers a statue in front of MetLife Stadium, right in that swamp.

And it's going to be a statue of

hmm.

How about Giselle with the boyfriend on the beach running?

We're playing friends together.

Yes, the personal trainer.

Or maybe just a shot of Brady

at his own roast, realizing he just made the biggest mistake of his life.

Just a pensive Brady statue.

They should just put that up nailed.

Yeah, we don't need to win.

That's a free one to uh the entire woody johnson empire uh we need we can't we can't just take these zings and arrows we need to fight back can i just say what a strategic error this was for brady and not that he has to reap you know the the worst part of this but if you tell a frustrated person from the northeast to do something they're gonna do it and now every year jets fans are gonna line up at that thing and chuck half cups of beers at that until the game starts or when the game ends and what you're doing is you're banging the maintenance staff that's got to come in there now, sweep up all the beer, clean up all the cups, and you're going to have to have an extra security person there.

That was him.

He did this.

Yeah, that's fair.

That's fair.

I do think his wit knows boundaries.

He doesn't strike me as a funny man.

Yeah, he definitely had some comedy writer cook that up for him, I would think.

That would be my guess.

All right, let's swing over to the defending conference champions, the team that kind of unseated the Patriots as the team in the AFC.

It is, of course, the Kansas City Chiefs.

This is interesting

because

every summer we hear about this being the year that the Chiefs are going to get back to being just this offensively dynamic, fun team to watch.

I've reached a stage where I need to see that, to believe that.

Reed and Mahomes, even beyond the fact that when you look at the weapons, you're like, oh, do they actually have the pieces around them?

I think Reed and Mahomes found a formula that really works well for them.

And they are totally cool with winning 23 to 17

13 times a year.

That said, one thing that would make me a little more bullish is if

there was an arrival on the seam of some more kind of difference makers around the quarterback.

And that takes me to the offensive line.

The hype surrounding rookie left left tackle, Josh Simmons,

he was their first round pick, is massive in Kansas City right now.

And

in the opener for the Chiefs, he played extremely well.

Again, he played, I think, 11 snaps.

But people and ball knowers who studied it said all the things that he's been doing throughout camp that's been wowing the beat writers was on

was on display again.

Over on Arrowhead Pride, which does a great job covering the Chiefs, Caleb Jones wrote a really good piece kind of detailing each of the plays that stood out and showed why this guy could be an immediate difference maker on the blind side.

And then I hit up our buddy, Pete Sweeney, a longtime pal,

connected to Arrowhead Pride, of course, as well.

I asked him, how would you rank the hype around Josh Simmons?

And he replied, oh man, here it's at an 11.

He's like a conquering hero.

And then he said he has joked that the fans have LTSD, not PTSD, LTSD from Donovan Smith, Orlando Brown, and then the Kingsley Tooney combo last year, which obviously did not work out.

So, yes, while when you talk about, oh, how does that offense get back to being explosive and fun to watch?

You don't usually go to the offensive line.

But a left tackle who not just is capable, but potentially is a stud,

that's the type of stuff that could give Mahomes that boost to overcome a lot of issues.

If you're not totally sold on the wide receiver group, you have questions now at tight end, things of that nature.

But if they have a lockdown left tackle, that can change things in a big way for that offense.

So keep an eye on this young man, Mr.

Simmons.

And it solves a problem in a key position for a decade.

Like, I do kind of feel like with offensive linemen,

they either hit the scene and they're pretty fantastic right away, or they're projects for a long time.

Like, you know, like a Joe Thomas just was great from the very beginning.

And it's like, it's these practices and the offseason program and now these games where you're like, this guy can just play.

And I would say, like, I'll say quickly, like, I had to do some outdoor work yesterday.

It was a thing where I had to move a bunch of like big giant boards.

Well, I was, I was helping someone out.

And, like,

it was out in the sun.

I got a sunburn.

You can see.

And like,

about 14 minutes into this thing, I was like, I don't want to be doing this.

But offensive linemen are are like, that's got to be one of the most physically imposing, nasty jobs around, and they do it for hours and hours a day.

I love how you connected that somehow.

I was like, I actually went outside and helped move things for the first time in 20 years.

I need to work it into the show today.

Well, I was like, I don't want to do this, though.

I just kind of made it, it was a reminder of like, you know, some people do, are more productive indoors.

Is it true or false that your lighting is slightly different today to protect

your

image because of your sunburn?

It's not vastly different.

I've learned a lot about lighting in general in this room, but I do have sort of a tomato complexion today, and I apologize to the viewer.

Don't apologize, buddy.

Don't apologize.

Yeah, there's that old line in Ocean's 11 when

Rusty, the Brad Kitt, Brad Pitt character,

busts Basher

out of

he got busted robbing a bank with a bunch of guys that that were totally beneath him.

And he has that line where he says, you know, it'll be good to be working with some proper villains again.

I feel like that would,

the key to making Mahomes

a stud again, statistically, and this team fun to watch that we're going to have to watch all the time because they're the Chiefs is getting some proper villains around him again.

And perhaps.

It'll be nice working with proper villains again.

Yeah, exactly.

Maybe we'll get there.

All right.

Let's take a break and then we'll go around the horn again.

The things that mattered in the first week of preseason.

It's football.

We actually have football games to talk about and that's what we're talking about.

Stay right there.

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All right, we're back.

Mark, give us another one, buddy.

I think the Colts obviously have problems at quarterback.

And, you know, you get...

I'm so tired of Anthony Richardson at this point, but like he lasts for about three and a half minutes, then he leaves the lineup.

There is a ray of hope, though.

There is one player that I was really excited about in the draft, and Tyler Warren, the rookie tight end.

Talk about, like we just talked about, like a left tackle just stepping in and doing his job.

Three catches, 40 yards.

It didn't really matter about the quarterback play.

This guy is a nasty individual, and he's very physical.

And I think he can kind of, I'll never forget there was a Dolphins hard knocks where there was a tight end they were working with that couldn't, he wasn't fundamentally a good blocker.

And it was like, you can't really do what we need you to do.

Warren is an absolute beast.

And I think he is just going to be one of the biggest stories of the season on offense.

There have been a lot of better, quickly developing tight ends in the past couple of years, obviously, but a major fantasy asset out of the gate.

And I don't know what to think of the Colts in their quarterback situation.

It's going to be a just rotate each of them in over and over.

But this guy is going to be an, I think, an NFL star.

And we saw it right away.

And so to me, that's exciting from like a trenchant fantasy angle or just like, this is something to build around.

And there's so much they can do if he shines the way that I think he will.

And that's the kind of thing, right, that can bail out someone like Daniel Jones, where it's if you have a more immediate option.

We always used to talk about, and I remember Wes turned me on to the idea of tight ends being that blanket for rookie quarterbacks.

But in a lot of ways, Daniel Jones is a rookie quarterback again.

He's rebuilding himself the way that he goes through progressions, the way that he looks at the field.

And so you need someone like Tyler Warren to try to figure that out for you and to just give you that guy to just dump it down to immediately.

It was disappointing on that same thread that Daniel Jones still looks a lot like Daniel Jones.

And I thought that we were going to have that transformational moment in the preseason that I was really disappointed about.

I mean, you had Anthony Richardson not knowing that he had kind of that hot route and then him getting blasted by a Jomo, then getting hurt.

And then you had Jones, who just, again, like

everything looks so arduous for him.

And it was surprising to me, given how good of a play caller Steichen has been.

Yeah, that could be the only thing that holds back Warren from making a huge splash is really bad quarterback play, but we'll see.

And I think that injury that Anthony Richardson suffered was a dislocated pinky.

It did not

photo if you're on the TV.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Not interested.

No, don't zoom.

Don't just die.

Justin is just zooming in deeper and deeper.

No, I'm not looking.

I'm not looking.

Horrific nightmare.

Damn it.

By the way, we were talking big on the Ravens kicker transition with Tyler Loop.

He does immediately hook a 46-yarder in the first quarter, but he did come back and hit a 52-yarder after that.

And because it's preseason and beat reporters have shit they got to do, Jamison Hensley of ESPN has documented that in training camp, Loop is 58 of 62, 93.5%.

That will play.

Connor, keep us going.

Can we talk about the Titans, Justin?

Hell yeah.

All right, let's go over Justin's situation right now.

He's wearing a vintage Derrick Henry t-shirt.

He's got the helmet behind him, the big helmet.

He also has the spinning helmet.

He has the Titans book in the background.

I think before we get into Titans talk here, can you spin the helmet a little faster behind you?

Because we got a little juice.

Someone else is bringing up the Titans right now.

It's a very concerning setup, just to be fair.

Titan down.

It's like

that old De Niro movie, The Fan, you know, when he's like obsessed and Wesley Snipes is like the Barry Bonds figure on the San Francisco Giant Giants.

Not De Niro's greatest product, but I think he broke it.

Oh, he's spinning it too fast.

Oh, no, bro.

He took it off the orbit.

He's also eating a sandwich or something right now on the show.

I just looks like avocado toast with fried egg on it.

Am I right on that?

Close.

Jessica made this.

We were supposed to get lunch before taping, and I just had too many elements to prep.

So she just put together a little hard-boiled egg, turkey, open-faced sandwich thing for me.

Very nicely looked like a lot of people.

Someone's eating healthy ahead of the old wedding nuptials.

Got you squeezed into that penguin suit.

All right, let's go.

A little Titan stock.

So

this immediately brought up one of my biggest complaints.

And for reference, Jaden Daniels on the third play of his first preseason start threw the ball like 70 yards downfield.

These guys are jacked up.

They're nervous.

There's a lot of energy.

Brian Callahan, let him throw on goddamn first down.

Let him get his arm out.

Let him get the nerves out.

And instead, we have these little puttery play calls.

And then when it gets time for him to make a throw on third down of consequence, like it just doesn't look as comfortable or the way that it should.

I had a few complaints about him.

Again, let him throw on first down.

He needs to get his energy out.

But also, that first big completion to Calvin Ridley, I went back and I watched it under with a stopwatch.

4.23 seconds.

He's going to get murdered in an NFL game twice before that ball comes out.

Gravy.

I'm with you on that.

I will say on on the first drive, Van Jefferson dropped the second down pass that should have kept the chains moving.

Yes.

The third down right after that, he bailed from a clean pocket and then threw the ball away and he should have, he had Calvin Ridley coming up and on a cross or he missed him.

But on that big completion to Calvin Ridley, this is something that Cam Moore did a lot at Miami.

And I'm very curious to see if it translates to the pros.

Is that not throwing the ball in time?

When he, no, because he does throw the ball like the whole rest of that drive, he pretty much threw the ball at the top of his drop very well.

He did have the one almost interception that was just like a poor, predetermined, pre-snap, bad throw.

But that one to Ridley.

So, Ward does this thing where when he has time,

he takes it and he uses it.

And I feel like he's very aware of the fact that he has good protection.

And this could come back to bite him because there will be a blind side, you know, delayed blitz or something that's just going to wreck his world

one of these times.

But the reason his like average time to throw is so high is because when he has a clean pocket, he sits in there.

He He starts camping in the pocket, and maybe that will be bad.

But I kind of like that he has this awareness of knowing, like, you are

in spin mode, just to be clear.

Yeah, I mean, I will.

How do you watch these games in your abode with Jessica,

like in this, you know,

they were in Vegas this past weekend, Aaron?

Well, I watched this, I watched this game in my bed at 12:30 a.m.

last night because, yeah, I didn't have a chance.

We were doing Jessica's birthday party on Saturday, literally during the Titans game.

So

I I watched that live.

By the way, you were in Vegas and you put down some, not to get off topic, we'll come back to it, but you were in Vegas and you did some NFL bets, you said.

Are you betting again?

I have a number of

the show is Connor just castigating Justin for having a gambling problem, even though Justin gambles like once or twice a year, it seems like.

But

Connor doesn't want to, he doesn't want to open Pandora's box for some reason.

I don't know what's going on there.

Because Justin's like, I cashed $70 worth of wins.

And I was like, what was your net, Justin?

And he's like, well, I bet like $150.

So you lost.

$80.

That'd be another way to describe it.

Like last year.

You lost $80.

And you're about to get married.

And that $80 is like, okay, it's like coffee for three months or it's two months of baby formula.

Like, you got to be, you're in sports media.

Like,

this is not a safe place.

Get after him, dad.

You need to stash that money in a mattress, motherfucker.

Let's go.

But those bets were made last August.

So when I will go cash the tickets this August, it's like $70.

I don't even remember the money I bet.

$80.

That's the root of the problem.

In the course of the year, you've lost $80.

That's how much you lost.

And he's banking on these cashing, and then he's like, by then, he'll be married.

And God, he could have a kid on the way.

It's like, you're really,

you're messing with the very fabric of your family's future with these wagers.

But with that.

He's gambling on college football, which I would find as a distrusting element in any male um uh that i know so when your team is ranked number one in every every man in america from like the age 18 to you know 49

i don't trust them yeah the most interesting thing that happened uh around this game was after the game when they asked camp why

not there i want to know about your nfl gambling bets what were they oh i thought you were going to tease it for later because we're going to be doing our over-unders uh with dave down how many tickets is that oh calm down

foot away from you trying to control

everybody relax we'll be doing our over under uh wins uh

uh show with dave damask and remember this is sese who's been sitting on his 0 for 4 two years ago big comeback event for sessler potentially in the works uh on the on the gambling front we're not a gambling show but uh justin obviously is a burgeoning gambler What are your wagers for the NFL?

What did you do?

I'm going to run through these quickly.

I got Titans to win the division because why not?

It's plus 800.

Plus 800.

I have Bengals to win the division.

$10.

I have Bengals to win the division because

if the Bengals can upset the Ravens, this pays well.

So I took that one.

How much did you spend on that one?

$10.

Okay, $20 down the hole.

Cool.

$10 more on Bengals over $10.5 wins.

$30.

Yeah, the Colts under $7.5.

Connor will hate that one, but I have any faith in the Colts.

$40.

Cam Ward, offensive rookie of the year.

Give me a break.

Cam Ward over 3,200 passing yards.

That's, come on, if he doesn't throw

190 yards per game, this is a bet on Cam Ward staying tall.

So whenever you have a chance, you just put in a ton of bets on your favorite team.

That's the best move to handle.

Yeah, especially when they're the worst team in the league.

All right, that's all the Titans once.

Giants over five and a half wins.

That was for you, Connor.

Thank you.

The Broncos to win the division.

Team of HTC.

The Broncos are like if the Chiefs can't win the division every year forever.

And if anyone's going to knock them off, I feel like the Broncos might have the best defensive.

Plus 325.

That's like two of them.

Say how much dots are because we're getting close to like $100.

No, they're all $10.

Every one of these is $10.

Except for this one.

Chiefs.

So what's 10 times 2,000?

Except for this one.

Over 10.5 wins.

It was minus 170, so if I bet $10 on that, it pays like $4.

Chiefs over 10.5 wins.

Has Patrick Mahomes ever won fewer than 11 games in a season?

He bet the Broncos to win the division, and then you bet the Chiefs to win more than 10.5 games.

Yeah, so one of those is going to hit.

This is a classic.

Which cancels out the other one.

But they both said, no, but the Broncos are plus 325.

That's big time.

That's three times the best.

But I'm just going to say, just to get a bunch of people.

I'm not going to give you money for your wedding, dude.

I'm not.

I'm going to put it in

railroad stocks.

We can't do something stupid with it.

When you keep telling us, oh, it's only for $10, but when you put in $147 $10 bets, that's a lot of money.

But if I move in half of them, then I break even when I win money.

I would be concerned about

your Cam Ward rookie of the year cashing based on

he said that he

to get relaxed before the preseason debut, he had six hours to kill.

So he watched a movie, and then they asked him, what movie did he watch?

And here's an image of this film.

It's a, I think unreleased at this point, maybe never released, never to be released, John Cena action film.

Let's take a look at this.

Okay.

Okay.

It's called.

It's called Freelance.

Freelance.

In 2023, Cam Moore did say in the presser, it just came out, so that's not true.

And he also said he hasn't finished it yet, so he'll wait and let the movie go.

Let me just tell you, like, this is one of those movies that Steven Seagal is currently doing.

And it's a Photoshop of John Cena holding Allison Bree, who I love Allison Bree.

I wish he was getting better roles, hands in like a swamp running through as something explodes behind them and a helicopter that was obviously Photoshopped in roars overhead.

Freelance

retirement didn't suit him with Cena.

That's concerning to me that that's the film that he watches to get ready for his pro debut.

It's ominous.

That's all.

Christian Slater is above the title.

I don't know.

I'm just concerned.

I'll put it that way.

All right.

That's my arrows pointing up here.

Let's move on.

We had a fantasy team named Allison Breed that you and I co-owned in for a number of years.

There are a few actresses that captured the imagination of Mark and myself collectively that rank higher than Allison Bree during her madmen slash community period.

Yeah, I think any sensible person would understand where we're coming from.

Just an absolute comet.

And

I hope her career.

I hope this particular film just

explodes.

Right, based on

I mean, he is the number one overall pick.

Maybe that will shoot it back into the, or get it to the mainstream in a way that it previously wasn't.

That's the only way to look at it.

All right, I'll do my second one.

Let's talk, let's talk the quarterbacks at the Meadowlands and the offenses at the Meadowlands, and if there's reason for any optimism for the Jets and the Giants.

For the Jets, I thought the one drive we saw with Fields went as well as you would want it to go, 79-yard touchdown drive where he made a couple throws.

He had a nice scramble for a touchdown.

So I'm not going to get overly fired up about Fields being

suddenly the guy or whatever.

But I will say this, if there is a path for the Jets to be watchable on offense, it's that they have the bones of a real identity on offense.

Last year, of course, and the year before

was all about what Aaron wants, when he wants, how he wants.

Now they could look at the team.

And I think that's a reason why they aggressively went out and got Justin Fields and said, we have a really good potential situation on our offensive line right now.

And we could drive the offense through it.

And they have in fields a guy that, and trust me when I say this, like if you've watched the Jets for the last 25 years, the number of quarterbacks who can run, who could actually escape a pocket and cause damage, it doesn't exist.

Like they were, like so many things, they've just slowed to understand the evolution of football.

So now you have a guy that can do that.

Like what we saw there, a play breakdown and scramble for 13 yards for a touchdown.

You have

in Brees Hall and Raylon Allen, a running back duo.

And I know Brees Hall is like, there's some percolation about a potential trade scenario.

I would chill on that.

I would want to see what he looks like in a functional offense.

That's a run-heavy offense.

So if you have talent in the running back core, you have a really one of the top three, maybe running quarterbacks in the league, and you have a strong young offensive line, that's an identity, and the Jets can get behind that.

So

that's my Jets' point.

And

I guess I'll open it up to that.

I don't know if you guys caught any of that game, but that to me was promising.

It was like, there's something here.

My concern with Fields is not really a concern, right?

But you're seeing him get the Lamar treatment where defenses have gotten really good at not giving him the edge anymore.

Like he's not going to get around anything.

And you saw his touchdown run was basically had to step up through the pocket and go through a team's front seven, which is a lot more perilous for a quarterback.

You're probably going to take more hits that way.

And I do wonder if

this is the big challenge for Tanner Ingstron, right?

It's like, how are you going to develop an offense that can get the defense compacted enough where fields can consistently get the edge he got it those first few weeks in chicago and then defenses were like never again because that's that's the one thing you can't let him do he has been in a

his career wise it's been a pretty messy setup for him from stop to stop so you'd love to see this be a place where they believe in him and he gets a chance to

i think just evolve into what we've kind of seen in little moments um The Jets have had, I'm including Aaron Rodgers with this, like just a laundry list of dull quarterbacks.

And this is to me like an uptick in excitement.

So, what is happening, Dan?

Why are you?

I don't know.

I'm just like, I'm listening to Mark's point.

It's a good one.

And I see Justin take a gigantic bite out of a sandwich.

He's eating a tremendously large meal right now.

This isn't a thing we do on the show, Justin.

We don't just eat giant sandwiches in the middle of a show.

I'm not even on the show.

I'm in the backstage.

I'm pushing buttons, running just a

little bit.

That's your watching you eat a giant eggplate.

You have to understand that is perhaps a distraction to the hosts of the show when our producer, while one of the hosts is making a very solid point about the state of New York football, takes an enormous hammer bite out of

a turkey and egg white sandwich.

I'm doing this in the interest of the listeners because if I do this now, then I can just edit the show as soon as we're done and it goes up and out to the people.

It's a nice rebuttal.

Can't you eat as you're editing?

My hands get all messy as I'm on the computer.

It's like,

I should pro Justin on this one.

I ran that.

Sound off in the YouTube comments.

Didn't I?

There was no issue with the Justin Fields clip being run.

Let us know.

Justin should be eating during the show.

Let's look at the Giant side.

Your boy, Connor.

Russell Wilson did his thing, let him on a field goal drive.

Jackson Dart getting a lot of juice.

I'm really interested, and we saw the touchdown he threw, which was a great one to our boy, Lil Jordan Humphrey,

friend of the show, Wilcom Horns.

Strong.

Justin's hand was free of the sandwich there, so he did give us the horns right there with the right hand.

Thank you.

That's the type of play where a man right in Dart's face and he makes the throw, he hangs in the pocket and hits a receiver in stride for a touchdown.

That's going to get you in the lineup.

So again, I'm very concerned for Connor because I know you're boys with Russ and you connected at that park for 37 minutes.

But like, I really think it's one of those things.

If Dart falls out and looks athletic, he also had a nice run.

He was the leading rusher in the game.

Wilson is going to have to be way better than a game manager to keep this kid out of the lineup.

I am arrow up on 12 and a half starts taking the over on Dart.

And this is just the, if he has a couple one of these couple more of these performances, Connor, it's just a matter of time.

I'll say this.

The Giants offensive line looked terrible and Russ and Jackson Dart were under pressure a lot.

That's why we saw a lot of these screen throws.

I mean, I was wrong with Drake May, where I thought they were just going to let Jacoby Brissette get crucified week after week until they made the changeover because it just wasn't safe for him.

And maybe you're right.

Maybe the same logic applies to Jackson Dart and he gets in sooner.

But with everything that I did like about this start, I think there was some stuff that, you know, not concerned me, but this guy needs a little bit more time.

I mean, he needs a little bit more time under center.

I mean, there's a lot, there's some panic runs here.

There were some overthrows.

There was stuff that, and I was going to make this point with Cam Ward, too,

when I was interrupted by Justin's fantasy about what you can do with, you know, time in the pocket or inventing time in the pocket or whatever he was talking about,

where he's just not going to be able to get away with that in a real game.

And that stuff has to get, you know, dusted up and cleaned up.

So the other aspect to this game

abdul carter is going to be a big problematic influence on the rest of the division i think he had three pressures on three pass rushes like he just oh you look the part and you're going to be very annoying for opponents yeah he looked good put it this way put it this way uh connor At Washington, at Dallas, home, Kansas City.

If they're sitting on a goose egg in the win column, I would not be stunned if home against Chargers September 28th is the dart unveiling.

You would start

him at home against one of the two best defenses from the year prior.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

I would.

I would.

You know what?

In fact, we have.

Why not?

It's not like the Chargers, you know, they're not in a great spot right now themselves.

In fact, we're going to have Matt Money Smith on Wednesday, the voice of the Chargers and former voice of God

around the NFL to talk about the Bolts and the state of the AFC West.

Very fascinating division.

Also, Pete Sweeney, the aforementioned Pete Sweeney, will jump on to talk about the defending division champions side of things.

So that's coming up on Wednesday's show.

Hey, one other thing, and I don't want to like, I don't want to kill him because, you know, we all have

our bad moments

speaking into microphones with things you would rather take back.

But like,

you know, this, the, the dart to Lil Jordan touchdown they catalon andrew catalon and steve tasker are on the call

and it's like steve we got to lay out bro sometimes on a point just check this out

grown here and they're here because

touchdown from jackson dart to little jordan humphrey because they succeeded exceeded their expectations

steve

steve let's just lay out

we'll get back to the whatever that point was

The first round pick of the Johnny just threw his first touchdown pass.

We got to just lay out.

That

it was a theme of

Catalan the runway.

You know what I mean?

Be a storyteller.

Yeah.

You called it

earlier in the week when you talked about like the local weatherman running the preseason broadcast.

And when you watched the Browns Panthers,

it was presented by like, you know, first arthritis healthcare or whatever it was.

And you have these people trying to, trying to handle the largest bandwidth for a preseason game probably ever.

And they're like, let's kick it to a feature on the Panthers evolving defense.

And it's like, no one gives a f,

you know.

Did you say first arthritis healthcare?

Catchy.

It wasn't.

FAH.

Oh, I remember my first arthritis.

Gravy.

I just wanted to make a point that I'm in full agreement with you guys.

I was very annoyed by this because Gravy's got a big mustard stain on his shirt.

No, I don't.

Hold on.

Don't swallow.

This is a thing that has like

this has shifted in the last handful of years and the NFL hasn't caught up.

Is that we all now watch all the preseason games because we, I don't know, this we didn't used to care as much as we do, but everything's bigger and online and everything.

They need to get national broadcasts going for preseason games.

And I know there's like one every week or whatever, maybe, but the local people doing the broadcast, like Cam Ward's debut was a road game.

So Cam Ward takes the field for the very first time in a Titans uniform, not even a mention of it.

We're talking about Bucks defense because it was in Tampa Bay.

This Jackson Dart thing, the game's in Buffalo.

So they're talking about some random dumb Buffalo thing.

They're not talking about Jackson Dart.

And that is just aggravate.

Same thing with the Panthers and the Browns.

It's like it's not in Cleveland.

So you're not getting the Cleveland people doing the Cleveland.

I wouldn't let the Titans in with everything else, but yeah, what you're saying makes sense.

First overall pick, irregardless of that.

Chris Rose and Adidi and Joe Thomas.

I mean,

that's only for the Cleveland people in Cleveland get to see that.

Your point is that it's a lower-tier announcing scenario on YouTube.

My point is that when I go watch this game,

when I go watch this game on NFL Plus,

or

at least there needs to be some effort by the local team market to give both sides a little more of an equal shake in the coverage because because everyone that's watching it on replay is is stuck with whatever the local broadcast was.

Quick shout out in that regard to Steve Smith, who was the color guy in the Panthers Browns booth, and he had the best point of the weekend.

Shader Sanders had an overthrow and he brought up the fact that if Shader had thrown that ball where it was supposed to, that wide receiver was going to get demolished and it's a preseason game.

So that was actually a really heads-up play.

Other than that, it was an absolute minefield.

All right.

Let's go around one more time with a real quick point, something that was fun that you saw, whatever, preseason week one, Cesi.

So Geno Smith visits Seattle with the Raiders and

was caught giving a double bird, if that's what we want to call it, a double middle finger

to a Seahawks fan.

Can we show this?

Now, I typically have a little.

Geno's not my favorite player on the planet, but I kind of want to stand up for him in this situation if we can show this image.

Geno Smith was seen at the Seahawks game making an obscene gesture

and a fan with a sign.

Obscene.

Did you see what the sign said?

Yeah, I saw it.

Next question.

Well,

there's the sign.

And it's a sign.

It said, bigger bust, Geno or Jamarcus Russell.

I mean, what an idiot.

My one thing would be that Geno, if anything, has proven that the journey of a quarterback can move you out of that phase, and you were pretty wonderful with the Seahawks.

This is...

Pete Carroll's absolutely right.

Right.

Geno Smith, by the way, two things can be true.

I think Geno Smith is a little bit

thin-skinned and is somebody you could probably draw a reaction out of because he's a very emotional guy.

So I think that's true.

But this is a bad look for Seahawks fans.

I mean, Seahawks fans should be furious that this guy is even in the news cycle the way he is because, number one, Geno Smith was a second-round pick of the Jets.

He was not a first overall pick like Jamarcus Russell.

So right there, it's not apples to apples.

And to Mark's point, Geno Smith kind of worked his way from being a, you're not even really a bust when you're a second round pick, but like from washing out with the Jets to then rebuilding his career and then getting a big like multi-million dollar contracts.

He's a success story.

So screw this guy.

And if you were a Seahawks fan, you should have pointed out to this guy, put that sign down.

You make us look bad.

He just balled out for us for three or four years and gave us more than we could have ever asked for and always represented the franchise well i mean bad fan alert oh my god you could take look at the guy though and in and he's got like his significant other next to him or whatever that is and you can totally tell that he's one of those people who thinks he understands football in in some concept and he's just a he's like babe yeah you just wait to see what everybody thinks about this sign you're just a total idiot you know well yeah can the other thing is because i i as a kid, I

would create like poster board signage when I would rarely go to a game, like a preseason game, and I'd be way up thinking it would get on TV and it wouldn't.

But it's like, you got to care about the penmanship side of things here.

And this is a disaster.

Like, this is planning.

This is just a disastrous presentation.

And I just know that this guy, you know, this butthole, he's wearing a number one jersey.

It's not Warren Moon, I guarantee that.

It's probably like number one fan or like his own last name.

Like, grow up, buddy.

How about we move on in life?

Let's

look, guys.

We are a pro-Geno Smith podcast, apparently, as it turns out.

Wow.

Throw out something, Connor.

What else jumped out to you?

Let's go super obscure here.

The Rams game, just a wealth of depth on this roster.

On the first drive, they have their freaking punt returner, Xavier Smith, making two of the most ridiculous catches that we saw the weekend.

But my new obsession, my new preseason obsession, Willie Lampkin, their undrafted free agent center is just like mauling people like this slightly undersized wood nymph and his movement was mesmerizing and i i've never been that entranced by preseason backup center play before i think this guy could legitimately play serious snaps for the rams this year i love it I love it.

He's stout.

He's like a fire hydrant.

And look at him.

He's not wearing any gloves.

He's like got the tape around the fingers.

He's like a throwback dude.

Tarhill Nation, rise up.

I like that.

By the way, I reached out to Jordan Rodrigue, who will be coming on the show

sometime this month.

And I did ask because I think it was Easton Stick, is it?

He's back up in Atlanta now, right?

And he played very well

in their preseason opener with Pennex.

Pennex didn't play.

And we know the Stafford situation, we'll get to the Stafford situation in a second, but the Stafford continues not to practice and there's no real timetable in place.

I was like, would there be any way that or any reason for

less need to kick the tires and give the Falcons a call?

And Jordan said, McVay is good with Jimmy.

They really like.

Jimmy Garoppolo.

So I just thought that was, you know, because this Kirk Cousins thing,

it does strike me as is he going to get moved at any point?

Or are they really going to ride this out with him on the roster?

Or are they just waiting for someone to get hurt?

And somebody might be hurt for the Los Angeles Rams.

But it looks like the Rams would ride with Jimmy if it came to that.

Just wanted to throw that out there.

Stetson Bennett didn't look bad either, speaking of that preseason game.

Yeah, he's essentially a rookie again, too, after his issues, personal issues.

Last year wiped out his first season.

By the way, what was the Stafford thing?

What is this?

Can you fly that up, Justin?

This is bizarre.

This is true.

I would label this under troubling.

All right.

Here we go from Adam Grossbard on Twitter.

Matthew Stafford walked into this immortal chamber, and it looks like, what would you call it?

What are those?

It's an Airstream trailer.

An Airstream trailer.

Yeah, it's like a big silver with a big reflection, but then this really, it's almost like the logo that you would expect in a movie about like an evil corporation.

I don't know anything about immortal, but even the name bothers me.

The immortal chamber.

Immortal advertises itself as a, quote, wellness device that aims aims to optimize human performance, oh, Jesus, and promote holistic health, Jesus, through a combination of non-invasive technologies, yeeks.

And then I like that Adam tags this.

He is not practicing today.

That's the best part of that.

Can you imagine that vehicle

chugging down the interstate?

Like, that is an insane vehicle.

I'm so alarmed by this.

I cannot tell you how alarmed I am that they roll that thing onto the facility and then the QB1 just walks into it and disappears for X amount of time.

Feels a little bit more okay for like LA.

I think if you tried to park that thing in the Jersey suburbs, you'd get like a city councilman to repo that in a hot second.

But

inside is this very clear,

it looks like a dentist chair, but it's totally clear.

And you can see through it.

And then there's these like energy things.

So there's like red light energy and there's all these different therapies but you also have like a breathing tube in your nose that's helping calm you down and there's a amygdala stuff involved here so you know all that connor why is it like 35 feet long like you like that's that's a good note that there's a chair in there and some wires but like why it could fit like 50 people if you wanted it to

uh here's my ultimate theory and there's no offense to anyone who works at immortal a

mortal amortal it looks too much like immortal like i think that's why I think it's an evil corp thing.

Like, it's something in a movie that had a futuristic slant, like, come in this truck, come in this airstream, and you'll live forever, type things, but then you live forever.

You live forever, and

but then you turn into like an evil psychopath or something.

That's my concern that this turns Matthew Stafford into a serial killer or something.

No, that's a fair kid.

That cannot be killed.

I think it's your apt.

That's apt.

Go ahead, Connor.

No, I'm just a child.

I'm sorry.

That was a good one.

Yeah, it looks like what Jeff Bezos takes a bath in, you know, which is silly.

And I would think not to, you know,

draw out,

you know, negative talk about the Rams, but I feel like that when we get sometimes annoyed by the Rams,

I feel like they very purposely rolled this thing out for people to see that they put their quarterback into this thing

because they're very,

you know,

they're very future-oriented and ahead of the curve.

Look how ahead of the curve we are.

We've sent our quarterback into a spaceship on the ground run by Immortal Corp.

Yeah, a little on the nose is what I'd call the Rams.

I mean, that submarine

before it went to the Titanic, you know.

It's true.

It has a little bit of that.

Anybody see that documentary?

I know.

What an asshole that guy guy was.

At no point

would I ever celebrate the death of anyone in tragic circumstances.

But if anyone ever kind of asked for it and then got it, it was the guy that ran that company.

Check out what's the name of the dock?

What was it called again?

Let's see.

I don't want to point people out to watch this.

This was an evil-oriented individual that was involved with the Titanic.

Yes.

The Ocean Gate disaster.

The Ocean Gate disaster.

Yeah, it was the bad guy in Titanic, Billy Zayn.

Yeah, who was the guy that ran it?

Anyway, check it out.

Let's put a bow on this.

I've got to get the show back under control here.

Anything else?

Anything else?

Let's go to the kicker club.

Let's go.

We got to go.

We got to go.

It's an emergency trip.

Get your shiniest shirt on and your tightest pants.

I want to tell you something that happened today.

I got a text.

I think it was from Gravy.

It was on the group chat thread.

And it was about

a kicker for the Jaguars.

His name is Cam Little.

And he stepped up

in the preseason opener and kicked a 70-yard field goal.

7-0.

And the first thing I did was head to the text thread of my Fantasy Football League of Record that I've been doing with my buddies since the mid-90s.

And

I included that tweet and I said, emergency rule change proposal.

We are 15 years behind the curve on field goal kickers now.

A 50-yard kick should not be worth nearly the equal of a TD.

We have five points for a 50-yard field goal, six points for a touchdown in our league.

This guy is a, here's a living, breathing example that 50-yarders are a piece of cake for these guys now.

60-yarders are fairly common.

70-yard has been coming now for a few years, and this will be my prediction: this will not be the first time we see a 70-yarder in the 2025 season.

It's coming, it's a new reality, and it is changing the game.

How the kickers have cracked the code, Connor.

It is changing the game.

And Cam Little,

I usually don't vouch for major celebrations like this in a preseason game, but when you hit one from 70,

go off, King.

Cam Little, bottle service at the Kicker Club.

I mean, any time that you can promise fans you're going to change football and then log three field goals in the first half of your first preseason game, that's, you know, that's time to go bonkers.

Now we're definitely getting a Jordan text.

I would

ask you,

like, because I I think this will happen maybe once this season, right?

Maybe a 70-yard kick.

We finally get it.

In a fantasy league, I'd make that worth like 25 points.

Yeah.

Where it's going to happen, like, once a year, but you just drop a bomb on someone because this one guy did it for you.

Yes.

Yeah, there are leagues that have kind of funky things like that.

I would not, I like to kind of devalue the kicker a little bit in fantasy, but that would be cool.

Like, I could swing a matchup, Mark.

Good call.

Should we just hit a couple quick injury things?

We should, and that's obviously the biggest downside

of

preseason, but you really can't avoid it.

Three-time Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson

suffered an apparent lower leg injury during the Sunday night practice for the Eagles.

Not a game, but a practice.

He was taken inside on a cart after being helped off the field.

As of this taping, Justin, unless I missed it, we don't have an update on the severity of the injury, but Dickerson an absolute stud, and that would be a major blow for Philly along their offensive line.

We talked about Matthew Stafford and his Immortal Chamber.

Everything's fine, nothing to worry about.

Dolphins running back Alexander Madison is out for the year with a neck injury, so the Finns need to go shopping for some running back depth.

And Titans running back Taji Spears has a high ankle sprain.

He's out a few weeks.

And Lions cornerback Maurice Norris, he suffered a head injury that actually ended the Lions preseason game.

They cut it short as a result, but it looks like he is going to be okay.

So there you go.

What do we learn?

What do we learn on today's show?

I don't know.

We learned a lot.

We learned a little.

That's the thing about preseason.

You don't know what to take seriously out of it.

You don't know what to, you should just let go, but we shared what jumped out to us.

I mentioned at the top of the show, you guys, the listeners did an incredible job showering us with subscribes and likes and comments.

Here's just a few of the comments that we received.

Let's see.

Headlines, some great taste.

Now with feminism.

I only listened to socially conscious post-feminist spoken word content.

I caught a cover story in Feminist Weekly that mentioned the transformative work of Daniel Hands of Zeus, Connor, really all the guys.

So we're back on this line of humor.

This is intellectual smelling salts that keeps me and all my friends woke.

That was beautifully written.

I have to give that listener a lot of credit.

All right, that was some JWF.

All right, what else we got here?

I never miss an episode.

This is the best NFL podcast available by far.

If you want NFL talk from guys that are hilarious, genuine and intelligent, hit follow and listen.

If you're looking for eight hours of talk about Dak Prescott's legacy or whether Shadora should have been drafted higher, I think we talked about that today, then stick to ESPN.

I mean, okay.

Next.

Let's see.

Great football with a tinge of mirth from the epic goose.

Got to love these podcast bozos, like talking to your pals after a big game.

Lots of laughs, bits, and even a little football insight to go with it.

Just a bit.

Spelling is a train wreck in this whole thing.

Yeah, but it's all right, goose.

Beware, though, excessive listening to Mark may cause an insatiable pull of the void, a spiraling vortex that burgeons the horizon of life and death itself.

Faint hearts quail

before the as you tow the line.

I'm sorry, faint hearts quail before you, I think, as you tow the line between despair and nirvana, the podcast version of Edging.

Anyway, 10 out of 10.

We got some real perves.

There's a lot going on.

One more.

Funny, informative, and authentic.

I love this pod.

Nothing makes me laugh more.

The team are clearly intelligent and deeply knowledgeable about football, but it's Dan, Mark, Connor, Jordan, and Justin.

There you go, Mark.

You're in this one.

Justin's authenticity and humor that I love the most.

I found this pod when I was very low, and it lifted me up with each episode.

Now I feel like they are a little anchor for me, and I love being a British woman.

Calm down, Mark, who can now wax lyrical about American football.

Anyone who listens to this pod will end up feeling like they are pals with the hosts and better for it.

Thank you, Annie 13.

Nice.

All right, Mark, relax.

It was a nice amendment

where it is.

I will not be taking any action on that front.

I'm excited that we have British women involved in the.

We know you are.

We know you are.

But I'm just saying, let's just let the comment breathe as a nice little capper for the show.

I will attempt to.

Connor, what was that photo?

photo what was that celebration moment you had on the week over the weekend

uh that was at our community tricky tray i had just won a pair of size four women's pants from talbot's

and

uh

everyone was laughing at me but what they didn't realize was when i was putting my tickets in i saw that no one had put any tickets in for it and i googled the pants and they were a hundred and they retailed for 129 dollars this is so connor so what i did was you then hand that to to your wife and you say you go get whatever you want at Talbot's for $130.

I just won you $130

gift card at Talbot's.

You guys and return the pants at the same time.

Yeah, return the pants.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was easy to do.

You know what I would do?

Yeah.

This is what I would have done.

I would have been a little, because you're celebrating and now it's out there in the discourse within the community.

I very quietly take the pants, I slide them into, you know, a carrying case or a backpack, go to Talbot's myself, get the gift card or whatever, and then present it to the wife.

Because you're kind of giving her multiple steps, including taking a stranger's pants to the store.

Well, I don't know.

Do you need money for this stranger's pants that I want in an auction?

Is she a Talbots type of woman?

I don't think so.

It's sort of an East Coast staple for, I think, I'd call rich women typically or Talbot's shoppers.

Yeah.

So there's some trouble with the logic, but what I was doing was you're accumulating mass to be able to trade.

And I got a lot of stuff that I wanted that night and swung a massive trade for free registration to the swim team for both of my kids in 2026.

So if we're talking about maxing value, I had probably one of the best tricky trades I've ever had.

And I've got it a lot.

I want one of those reality show documentaries that just follows Connor's

small town life and just sees all the things that he takes very seriously and all the little victories along the way in his life.

And a plot panel.

And a few of the defeats and just see how he reacts to all of them.

Right.

Connor searches for a woman with size four pants.

If Ozzie could do it, so could Connor.

All right.

Again, coming up this week, the state of the AFC West with Matt Money Smith and Pete Sweeney.

And then also later in the week, Sheck, who has a new podcast out there, Football America,

which we're very excited about.

And

everybody should go subscribe right now if you can.

But we're going to do our over-unders with Sheck coming up later in the week.

So, big week of shows coming up.

Having a lot of fun.

Football is kind of here, and we're living it up.

Till next time, do what you must.

Heed the call.